Columns

EDITOR’S NOTE: We welcome our new columnist, Jann Franklin, who moved to the Grand Cane area with her husband about two years ago. Join me in getting to know our new DeSoto Parish residents, Jann and John, in her upbeat weekly column. Enjoy her perspective from living in the bright lights of the city to making friends with the lightning bugs of the country.

Two years as a Louisianan and I feel extremely blessed to be living in this wonderful community. We have fantastic friends and neighbors and feel right at home. I have to admit though that when we made the decision to move, I wasn’t very excited at all.

Everybody has a Passion

My “Passions”, … or more correctly, hobbies, are collecting old coins and building scale models. I particularly love the coins of the early Twenties like the Buffalo Nickels and Liberty Standing Quarters. They were so intricate and lovely that you can hardly find any without some type of wear on the higher surfaces. The Buffalo’s horn or Ms. Liberty’s shield are two good examples of the top surfaces of each design that wear quickly. And my modeling hobby that I’ve been doing for sixty-plus years now gives me lots of satisfaction in detailing and completing the intricate builds. I’m currently working on Ford Motor’s GT2000 LeMans racer in 1/16 scale. It’s incredibly detailed but large enough for my 71 year-old fingers and sight to handle.

Luke Siegel was nine years old when he was seriously injured in a golf cart accident in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas.

It was July 2015, just twenty days after his dad, former Texas Tech men’s tennis coach Tim Siegel, resigned to spend more time with his wife and four children.

Luke suffered from an anoxic brain injury. And despite the doctors’ grim prognosis for Luke’s future, he did show some slow improvement. His fight inspired many people all over the country, even Drew Brees. This was incredibly special to Tim because of his and Luke’s love for the New Orleans Saints.

Breakfast Burritos

One of the quickest, easiest and most delicious ways to prepare eggs is with a Breakfast Burrito. When we make these, we usually double or triple the recipe, as they are great to store in the refrigerator for a quick breakfast on the go!

Breakfast Burritos

1 pound ground Breakfast Sausage, 1 cup Ham, or 8 slices of bacon

6 eggs, lightly scrambled

1 Bell Pepper, seeded and cut in Julienne strips

1 Onion, sliced thin

Butter (for sauteeing and cooking the eggs)

1 Tablespoon Milk

Seasonings of your Choice (we like a bit of pepper, Tony Chachere’s Cajun Seasoning, and a splash of Garlic Powder

Flour Tortillas

If you choose to use sausage or bacon, cook this in a skillet. Drain well and set aside. If you are using ham, cut into small cubes. If it isn’t precooked, be sure to saute it as well. Drain and set aside.

It’s Time to Start Thinking About Fall Gardens

It’s that time of year again, time to plant those Fall gardens! As we enter the first part of September many home gardeners have already began preparation and planting for those Fall vegetables. There are numerous different vegetables that can be planted this time of year. Some of those are snap beans, beets, celery, garlic, spinach, and many others.

I Have to Have One Now!

Lots of response to my “Hybreds” Column: First on all, yes, I know it’s correctly spelled Hybrid but I was just trying to be funny lots of funny name combos (combinations), you know; Second - there sure are a lot of strange pairings - like with Zebras or chickens, whew; Third - most of the responses were sadness and dismay at my callous tone about the demise of the little Bobcat hybrids I had my excuse is, hey, I was at work; and, finally, I reported that Wikipedia called the cross of a bobcat and house cat “Pixie-Bobs” but my friend, Janis from South Louisiana (who has two), calls “Bengal Cats”. And she is right because I immediately Googled them and there is a whole culture of these crosses! Besides, Bengal Cats sounds alot cooler than Pixiebobs.

History comes in several forms - about people, places, happenings, & etc. Today’s topic is about things most citizens of DeSoto have heard about but have never actually seen - at least not in use - a “Brush Arbor”.

Brush Arbors were used by our early settlers for one of two purposes. The early arrivals by wagons used brush arbors for temporary homes. After traveling from the Carolinas, Alabama or Mississippi and cramped in a wagon for several months it felt good to live under a brush arbor where you could stretch your legs and walk around.

This writer has been repeatedly asked how certain area towns received their names. Let’s start with a little information about Louisiana.

Louisiana was discovered 27 years after Columbus landed in the New World in 1492. Robert de La Salle, early French explorer named Louisiana for Louis XIV, King of France. Ten different flags have flown over Louisiana. The original Louisiana territory comprises all or part of several different states. All ten flags will not be named in this article but the first flag was Spain’s ‘Leon and Castile’ flag by DeSoto in 1541.

My 15-year-old niece Sadie recently asked me what it was like being a kid in the 80s and early 90s.

“Well,” I said, “people knew each other better. Kids couldn’t hide behind a screen and say whatever they wanted. You had to pick up the phone and call, and sometimes your heart would beat out of your chest while it rang.”

I told her that teens hand-wrote notes to each other on loose leaf paper. They folded the notes in a specific type of triangle where one corner would tuck neatly into another corner, creating a neat little compact envelope.

We didn’t write “LOL” but we did write “LYLAS” (Love Ya Like a Sis).

If something was cringeworthy or someone was picture-worthy, it didn’t matter. There were no phones with a camera to document anything. It was just in someone’s memory and you had to take another kid’s word for it.

8 Facets of Homemaking - Get Ready for the Sparkle!

Although there are many facets of homemaking, there are eight basic categories that seem to take priority. Why call them ‘facets’? Because a homemaker really should be labeled as one of the most precious gems - a diamond.

Facets # 1: The Home - Homemakers take pride in their home. In their skills tool box, they find ways to reduce the amount of time they clean through organizing, decluttering, and delegating chores to both reduce the time spent cleaning, and as a way to teach their children how to be healthy, happy, productive adults.

Facet #2: Meal Planning - Meal planning is one of the great organizational skills of a homemaker. Having a meal plan takes the guess work out of meal time, and helps the homemaker prepare healthy, frugal meals for her family.