The Mardi Gras colors are purple, green, and gold. Two out of three isn't bad, and it's only a week away.

Another blah day today--home stuff in the morning, and then WalMart in the afternoon for some stuff (such as critter food) that I was getting low on.

I made a bit of a detour on my way to WalMart to leave off a prescription at Walgreen's. My route from there to to the big blue box took me along a stretch of road that more or less paralleled the railroad track. And a train was headed in the same direction as I was, and going only a little bit faster. At least I didn't have to wait at a crossing for it.

When I went out earlier this evening to pick up the prescription I almost got stopped by another train--also headed east. However, I decided to go in the other direction and get some supper at Arby's. By the time I was back at the crossing the train had long since passed.

There have been times when I've been stopped by one of these trains, and had the opportunity to count the cars. The number of cars is usually more than a hundred.

I've taken the passenger train to and from Atlanta, and that's not nearly as long. When stopped at a railroad crossing for one of those there's barely time to downshift.

When we lived here in the sixties I seem to recall that several of the crossings did not have gates. By the time we returned, they all had gates. The population had grown enough that they were needed. I also remember that a teenager (either a babysitter or the friend of a babysitter) was the loser in a race at a crossing. That tragedy was a spur to getting gates at that intersection.

It's hard to believe that Slidell's population in the 1960 census was about 5000 for the incorporated area.

I'm not going in to Newcomb till after Carnival--too many people, too many parades, etc.

Maybe I'll get some yard work done?