When visiting New Orleans years ago, I searched for a book that would give me a quick feel for the City – a collection of information and ideas about culture and suisine, along with a historical overview.  Sadly, no such document existed.  I wrote Murder Etouffee to correct this vacancy and to provide both old and new visitors to the Big Easy with a wealth of ideas and information to help them enjoy their stay in the city.

Murder Etouffee is a collection of stories about Louisiana and New Orleans in partcular.  It also contains regional recipes and cooking tips that embody Creole and Cajun cuisine – stories and recipes giving readers an authentic “feel” for New Orleans.

Lagniappe is a French word meaning a gift or something extra, and Murder Etouffee gives its readers a “little something extra,” taking them on a whimsical and historical tour of one of the most unique regions in the United States – a region recently subjected to the worst natural disaster in the history of this country.  I hope you will give it a read.  ISBN 1569396599.  Available in April. http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com

I remember as a youngster in 1957, standing outside our house after dark with my brother, parents, grandparents and staring at the October sky for a glimpse of Sputnik, the newly launched Russian satellite.  We watched as its dim yet visible light crossed the sky in what seemed a slow-moving arc.  It was near the beginning of the Cold War and I had a feeling of both awe and fear as I watched it disappear from view.

Tonight, courtesy of NASA and MSNBC, I watched the launch of a Soyuz rocket from the comfort of my home via my own personal computer.  Three astronauts. bound for the International Space Station, rocketed from the Baikonur Comodrome located in Kazakstan.  Only one of the astronauts was Russian, the other two American and Brazilian.  The launch went off without a hitch, the vehicle traveling at more than 15,000 mph after only ten minutes, or so.

As I watched tonight’s launch, I felt no less awe than I did as an impressionable eleven-year old.  Gone, however, was the fear I vividly remember feeling, replaced now by pride and hope for an even better future.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com

Since I’m on the subject of men’s college baskeball, what’s up with Eddie Sutton and Kelvin Samson?  Hey, congrats to Sherri Coale and the entire OU women’s basketball team.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com

I’m not a huge sports fan, but I do like college basketball.  And like every college basketball fan, I love March Madness.  What I think is funny are the so-called experts on ESPN and CBS, etc.  Until a few days ago, the prediction was that there would be four #1 seeds in the Final 4.  Ahem!

Even after George Mason trounced Michigan State, North Carolina, Wichita State, and University of Connecticut (yes, I said trounced) they are still considered the underdog against Florida by our experts at ESPN and CBS.  And speaking of Florida – The SEC supposedly was having a down year.  Well, they have 2 teams in the NCAA Final Four and 1 (South Carolina) in the final of the NIT tourney (at least that’s the way it looks with a 14 point advantage and only 4 minutes to go)  Hello!!  Is there anybody in there?

And who picked UCLA?

I have a suggestion.  Maybe ESPN and CBS should fire Dick, Digger and Seth and hire me.

http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com

     More pictures from February trip to New Orleans.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://ericwilder.blogspot.com

Yesterday, I took my parents to north Louisiana after a prolonged visit to Oklahoma.  On the way home, I stopped at the Myrtis Mill pond for a few pictures.  The pond is an integral part of my short story, Southern Fried Murder.  Here are a few pics of the pond.        http://www.ericwilder.com  http://ghostofachance.blogspot.com

       November pictures from Eureka Springs, Arkansas. http://www.ericwilder.com  http://ghostofachance.blogspot.com

  Old wooden oil derrick, Trees City, Louisiana, circa 1918.  http://www.ericwilder.com

Oklahoma is known as “tornado alley,” and for good reason.  Since 1950, the State has recorded almost 3,000 tornadoes, a yearly average of almost 55.  http://www.ericwilder.com

Rain covered much of Oklahoma yesterday, and today, doing much to break the stranglehold of the drought.  Oklahoma City got 1.31 inches of rain yesterday, almost twice as much as it has recieved for the entire year until now.  http://www.ericwilder.com

A poet’s art transcends death.  If it speaks to someone with meaning, then it lends the poet immortality.  But the poem must first be felt by the poet.  Stringing together empty words does not a poem make.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com  http://ghostofachance.blogspot.com  http://ericwilder.blogspot.com

There is much we don’t understand.  Truth is hidden behind a painted veil – an allusion to what we believe is reality, but is not.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com  http://ghostofachance.blogspot.com  http://ericwilder.blogspot.com

Here is a picture of the Uncle Sam diamond I found on the web.    http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com  http://ghostofachance.blogspot.com  http://ericwilder.blogspot.com

Today’s newspaper reports a lucky Oklahoma man recently found a 4.21–carat yellow diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park located near Murfressboro, Arkansas.  Yes, it’s a real diamond.

Diamonds are found at this location because it is the site of a Cretaceous kimberlite plug.  A line of Cretaceous plugs exist along the south side of the Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas, likely the result of ancient plate tectonic activity.

The latest reported diamond find at the mine is not the largest ever found.  That record goes to the Uncle Sam, 40.23–carats of the largest diamond discovered on American soil.  Marvin Culver of Nowata, Oklahoma dubbed his newly-found monster diamond the Okie Dokie.

What’s a good time to visit the Crater of Diamonds?  Before it gets too hot.  Even though I have never personally found a diamond there, a friend of mine has – a white beauty more than a carat in size.  Check it out.  I highly recommend the experience, even if you don’t find your own 4.21–carat monster.

Oh, by the way, I think there is a yet undiscovered diamond plug just waiting to be found, somewhere in the thickly overgrown forests of southwest Arkansas.  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://justeastofeden.blogharbor.com  http://ghostofachance.blogspot.com

 Edmond storm clouds.  http://www.ericwilder.com

 http://www.ericwilder.com

The month was July, the temperature hot.  There were no trees at the drilling location for shade.  It was the height of the 80s-drilling boom, everyman on the drilling rig a weevil (translation – a person having no earthly idea what they are doing).  Anne, Ray, and I were not worried.  We had our chicken fries to look forward to three times a day.

 

Returning to the rig after breakfast on the second day of drilling, a State trooper, directing traffic and pulling selected cars to the side of the road, halted us.

 

“Where you folks headed?  He asked.

 

“We’re drilling a well about a mile from here.  What’s going on, Officer?”

 

“Someone cut up a cow out there last night,” he said, pointing to the adjacent field.  “Cut its udder smack-dab off.  Not a drop of blood anywhere.”

 

Anne glanced at me, and I looked at Ray.  “What’s going on?”  I asked.

 

“A coven,” he said.  “Last night was a full moon.”

– to be continued –

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Years ago, I worked up a geologic prospect in Grant County, Oklahoma and sold it to a company that bought it under the condition that I would personally sit the well.  This means I would stay near the location while the well was drilling and personally look at the drilling samples as they came to the surface.  This occurred before Anne and I were married, but not before we were living together.

 

Deciding to make an adventure of it, we rented a 33’ recreational vehicle - country and western singer Wanda Jackson’s RV, according to the man we rented it from - and headed north.  We took along a good friend, Ray DeRieux.

 

The well was in the middle of a wheat field, without a tree in sight.  The drilling rig did not have enough power to generate electricity for the RV, so we had to run the generator full time.  It was hot that summer, 100 to 105 degrees every day.  The weather was hot, the wheat field dusty and the drilling rig noisy.  We did have a daily respite, three actually.

 

There was a café in Pond Creek called the Curb Café.  The County sheriff owned the café, and the specialty of the house was chicken-fried steak.  Soon, Anne, Ray and I were eating chicken-fried steak and eggs for breakfast, the chicken-fried steak luncheon special, and the dinner that included a fully-loaded, baked potato.

 

We soon learned that Sheriff Archie’s chicken-fries were not his only claim to fame.  He was also the state expert on witchcraft, crop circles and cattle mutilations – of which there were many.  STAY TUNED, THERE’S MORE  http://www.ericwilder.com  http://ericwilder.blogspot.com

Rouge, my Maine Coon cat prowling in a jungle of aloe.        http://www.ericwilder.com  http://energyissues.blogharbor.com