This article provides a perfect opportunity to illustrate how close life is in a small southern town.

Ms. Madaline Gibbs, candidate for judge, was referred to in a post below. My husband has done legal work for Investigator Dennis Cowan. Sheriff's office spokesperson Kathleen Stevens lives across the street, two doors up. Sheriff Randy Maxwell will be renting our condo in Orange Beach next month. And, well, Ms. Kathy Johnson was on page 3A of the Concordia Sentinel this week.

I don't know any James White. Why should I? He is from Jonesville.

My favorite school teacher -- Earth Science, Junior High -- has just told me that she had a bout of TIA. That is Transient Ischemic Attack, otherwise known as a mini-stroke. In one-third of cases this is a precursor to a major stroke.

This was not MY teacher. This is the woman who is two years my husband's senior, voted most beautiful in a class of about 70 in 1962.

Lyman has always said that if he could get rid of me and her husband of 40 years, she and Lyman would have a lovely life together.

I have a new concern.

It is a dark and thunderous day. Can I sweet-talk Lyman into cooking this recipe? It's from Jambalaya, a cookbook written by the Junior League of New Orleans in 1980. My mother-in-law, Girl Gore, gave us this cookbook shortly after Lyman and I married in 1994. It is one of the best short prep-time cookbooks I have on my shelves.

Shrimp and Crab Etouffe

2 pounds peeled shrimp

1 and 1/2 sticks butter

1 cup finely chopped onion

1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped celery

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 teaspoons cornstarch

1 to 1 and 1/2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup white wine

4 teaspoons tomato paste

1/4 cup finely chopped green onions

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Tabasco to taste

1 pound crabmeat

3 cups cooked rice

In a Dutch oven, melt butter. Add onion, green pepper and celery. Cook until tender. Add garlic. Dissolve cornstarch in one cup stock. Add to sauteed vegetables. Add wine, stirring constantly. Add tomato paste, green onions, parsley and Worcestershire sauce. Blend well. Add shrimp and cover. Simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If necessary, add more stock. Add salt, pepper and Tabasco. Add crabmeat, stirring gently, and continue cooking until thoroughly heated. Serve on cooked rice.

Just returned from the Vidalia (pop. 4700) Public Library where Mr. Ken Layne's book, Dot.con, scored two rave reviews. The librarian and I were pining for about 5,000 more books as entertaining.

Keep it up, Mr. Layne. We'll make you as famous as Jimmy Swaggert!

I might point out that Mr. Swaggert and Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley grew up in Ferriday, the next town over.

I am a Weevilette!

I haven't felt so honored since ... the University of Alabama's Homecoming Queen of 1967 (or so, Dottie isn't free with her age) attended my anniversary party in January!

Dottie is still a cute girl. Told me she always carried a packed overnight bag to football games featuring Joe Montana, just in case.

Working on the tag, Mr. Possum. HTML is best pronounced 'hatemail'.

Baby possums aren't very pretty, are they? (See http://www.possumrescue.com/foundababy.htm. The link won't work from here.)

Greg Hlatky over at A Dog's Life admonishes us:

Please, I beg of you, don't get any dog unless you're willing to make a lifetime commitment to be its provider, its master, and its friend.

That goes double or triple for parrots. Provided she is properly nourished, attended and does not fall to disease or accident, Lucy can live at least 35 years. African Greys can live 50 or more. Larger parrots can live even longer. I have read of a 75-year-old Amazon.

When Lyman brought up the subject of owning a parrot, I said, "Good grief, Jason just graduated from college, and you want a lifetime toddler?"

Mr. Betta bit the dust.

Did your town go through the phase of the "War and Peace" arrangement, you know, the shapely vase with the rocks and a Samurai Fighting Fish and a cup in the top with more rocks and a Peace plant?

When we returned from a trip to Italy two summers ago, the first thing my friend Cossie asked was if I wanted a fish. Ask somebody in Louisiana if they want a fish and the Louisianan will ask "Is it cleaned?" Cossie, who is a wonderful cook, but not given to other crafty pursuits, had been bitten by the "War and Peace" bug. She had made arrangements for all of her other friends and wouldn't hear of me being without one.

It was actually very pretty and made a nice ornament for the coffee table. Mr. Betta survived a bout of the "ick" and a crashing fall to the floor that broke his jar. Now Mr. Betta is dead of old age.

RIP, little Betta guy.

The short article I referred to below in the Concordia Sentinel has a tag to page 3A. Hon, on page 3A there is no alligator, but there is a large picture of the first woman judge elected in Concordia Parish. (Isn't that an idyllic name, Concordia Parish?) Said judge has alienated every lawyer in the Concordia Parish courthouse.

Why, you ask? Is it because we are idiot sexist Deep South racist bigot fat-eating cigarette-smoking woman-haters? No, it's not. In the words of a woman lawyer campaigning for Miss Madaline, a female assistant district attorney, said judge has "set the women's movement back 50 years with her PMSing and tantrums and general lack of jurisprudence". My husband, a lawyer who was told to "get [his] ass down to the jail" the sole time I have ever attended court (my, was that ugly), and others in the district concur.

Miss Madaline herself, who is in contention with PMS judge and two other candidates for the judgeship, said, "We are running a very positive campaign, because we all realize that we need a change". She is vying against a very competent male ADA whom my boy Lyman has worked with for many years. Miss Madaline makes it a hard choice. She, too, is competent, though she has far less experience, having gone to law school after a twelve-year career as a school teacher. Me, I like school teachers.

The big question here is "Did the editor tag the article wrong on purpose?"

If the neighbors are wondering why the yard is looking a little shabby this year here is one reason.

A little local color from our weekly Concordia Sentinel:

Alligator causes roadblock in parish

Motorists using highway 565 two miles south of Wildsville Monday morning came upon an unusual road block.

An 11-foot, 10-inch alligator lay dead in the road before officers with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries were able to remove the massive reptile.

The alligator had been shot.

Wildsville is fifteen or twenty miles from our little burg, Vidalia, LA.

Lucy, our one-year-old Soloman Island Eclectus, was upset by this report posted by Tim Blair.

The news is dreadful for Hector. Parrots hate change. Mean old bitches, indeed.

Testing.

This weblog is the outside child of Terry Oglesby at Possumblog. Please forgive, Miss Reba, it was just a casual (causal?) thing.