“Gentlemen, start your engines”

At least football season is all in, all done for now. Basketball is in and the Mrs. would rather watch Duke play than eat.

Tis the season for, “Gentlemen, start your engines,” as NASCAR cranks up their season run starting in Daytona. See that Danica Patrick has won the pole position — good for her. Reading a book or bending a hook is my thing rather than watching a bunch of television, unless, of course, you get to go to a race in person. The Masters is not for another month or so come April 14th — that I’d like to go to in person.

Mardis Gras is starting and got a dose of the beginnings while in Baton Rouge over the weekend, the Louisiana State Patrol was passing out tickets like food stamps and even the local parishes had their men checking for speeders, etc.

If they see you drive across the solid white line on the roadside to make a turn or move into the lane of traffic or simply cross it, you will get a ticket. $85.00 for an improper turn.

The garden has officially started as potatoes have been planted in two laundry baskets. Additionally heirloom tomatoes were planted as well as the chili pequin plants; these were planted in buckets and hopefully they will produce an abundant supply of tomatoes and peppers this year.

Going to make some super hot chowchow for one of the boys, as he says he likes it hot so we’ll give the chili pequin peppers a try in the chowchow.

My gone but not forgotten buddy Thomas Earl Fabian wanted some hotter chowchow one time so I used the food processor to do a couple jars of pure jalapeños, prepared in the normal manner of chowchow and took one to the slaughter house. Boy howdy did he ever fuss about how hot it was and wanted to know if I was trying to kill him.

The Baytown Shriners have a big Oyster Fry this coming Friday, so a ticket for the fried morsels was pre-purchased from a local Shriner. The Shriners do an awful lot for the Burn Hospital and other hospitals, so support them please.

The oyster is a gout kicker as is any shell fish. Am going to see if the meds the doc prescribed work, as a plate of the fried oysters has my name on it.

Charlie Farrar can be reached via email at: xuscg [at] yahoo [dot] com.