"Historic" Near Miss


As noted below, I skipped the inauguration ceremony here in Red Stick, although the F-15's were quite audible here in my humble abode. That said, I couldn't resist a quick look at the aftermath. Besides, the whole shebang was about a ten minute walk and the weather was pleasant: a little on the chilly side, by Loosiana standards (high 50's-low 60's), but not a cloud in the sky.

As I walked up Fourth St., I noticed a crew removing American flags that had been placed for the event: wingnuttia might have gotten all atwitter given that the procedure was more workmanlike than reverential, but hey, it's not like the flags were going to remove themselves. Others were busily taking down the temporary stands put in place for the ceremony. For a minute I thought about seeing if the upper floor viewing deck was open, but decided to skip it...odds are it was closed anyway.

Interestingly, the memorial/grave of Huey (centrally located on the Capital grounds, as you can see in the picture above), had a wreath in front. Upon closer view, it was signed by "The Long Family."

Jindal's speech seems pretty standard at first read: the people are good, corruption is bad, ain't freedom great...as far as delivering what the Gret Stet really needs, I suppose time will tell.

I expect I'll also get to witness some of the egress from the inaugural ball--exiting traffic from the Centroplex/River Center routinely flows through my little neighborhood, as drivers look for a way to avoid traffic (thereby creating traffic in the process).

Let's hope that's not an omen.

Update: Well, no traffic--yet--but damn if some stupid helicopter isn't annoying the hell out of me, flying lazy circles in what I guess is a pattern between the Centroplex and, I don't know, from the looks of it, maybe the Governor's Mansion. Geez. Worse than a lawnmower.

Another Update: So far, it's calm around here...I couldn't resist and walked over to a local watering hole (and yeah, it's nice to FINALLY have some "local watering holes" in downtown Red Stick)...but there was ZERO spillover from the festivities just down the road. Oh well. Tomorrow's a workday. Catch you then.