nolawitch58 | Trixie's birthday party weekend

Boy, was she ever surprised. I drove up to Shreveport on Friday. Went straight to the department's backup facility in Bossier City. Checked the configuation of all the computers. They were fine for immediate use if we need them anytime this hurricane season.

Then I called Mike and headed back over the swollen Red River to his house. Some dipshit had decided to drive like a moron in the rain that had started that afternoon and have a wreck on the I-220. While I fretted in traffic, he and his mother and landlord awaited me at the Brookshire supermarket. I was glad it didn't take as long as it could have. His mother was antsy to get back to the house to continue prepping for the party the next day. He hopped in my car so they could go ahead and I could get gas. Less than a tank still gets me all the way to Shreveport from here.

Mike and his family live way the hell and gone in the middle of a metric fuckload of trees. That would prove to be convenient for raucous party purposes. I got settled in and we waited for Debbie and Lindy to arrive. When they finally found the house, we all went to dinner at the El Dorado Casino back downtown. We caught up on the latest happenings.

My friends, especially those of you who live in cold climates, what kind of a lame excuse for not answering email is "winter weather?" Unless you're one of those crazy nuts who has to go out and ski or jump into icy water for a thrill, you're pretty much stuck inside when there's ass-high amounts of snow on the ground, right? Some of you continue to blog and surf the 'net and such as long as you have electricity and your ISP is up. You even seem to have MORE time in the winter, because you're not outside enjoying the pleasant weather. So, I called shenanigans on that excuse and asked if these woebegone wonders of the frigid north had to type uphill in the snow or something. That became our rallying cry for the rest of the weekend whenever something seemed difficult.

Speaking of weather, ours didn't seem to want to cooperate. It started raining almost as soon as I arrived on Friday and didn't quit until Vel and I politely asked Yemaya to cut us some slack Saturday afternoon. We hooked up the Shreveport circle with some maidens to take care of the grunt work. Then we set up the party under the four-car capacity carport. As usual, we had food galore and there were nearly fifty people to eat it.

We all huddled under the carport until Mike drove up with Trixie in the car. How everyone managed to stay quiet while he helped her out of the car with the blindfold on her eyes, I'll never know. He had told her that the present he had gotten her was too big to fit in the car, so she had to come by his house to see it. When she pulled the blindfold off, we yelled, "Surprise!" The look on her face was priceless.

Her parents and brother were there. Her kids were there. Her grandkids were there. The core members of her coven were there. A bunch of us from New Orleans were there. Members of the Shreveport Pagan community were there. It was the best-kept secret in Shreveport. Much feasting and drinking ensued. When the guests had all cleared out after midnight, I sat with Mike drinking and listening to his music collection. We were up drinking, rocking out and talking until around two-ish.

They have chickens--and a noisy-assed rooster named Fonzie. That feathered bastard starts crowing before the crack of dawn. "How quaint!" you may think. It has charm the first or second time you hear it. By the third time, you realize that those birds are not like an alarm clock with a snooze button and they'll be making a racket until they decide to stop, whenever that may be. When I return in September for PPD, I'm taking earplugs.

The weekend was fabulous. I had a good time. I didn't get much writing done, but I did make some notes for scenes on the drive up. Normal routine begins in a couple of hours with my Monday writers' group. I can't get into my Gmail account for some reason. I'm sure there are things I need to see. I'll have to figure out what's wrong with it tomorrow evening. I've caught up reading my Friends page here on LJ. I can't do squat over at Facebook. Whatever they did last update doesn't work with my browser, the bums.