Smiley Anders for May 5, 2008

• By SMILEY ANDERS
• Advocate columnist
• Published: May 5, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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I read with interest our Wednesday story about the two gentlemen from Mississippi who had an unfortunate experience with anhydrous ammonia on Interstate 10, resulting in the busy highway being closed for three hours.

What caught my eye was this paragraph:

“The St. George Fire Department … issued a shelter-in-place order in the Galatoire’s Bistro … to protect the patrons and workers.”
I can think of many worse places to be trapped for three hours than this local version of one of New Orleans’ most beloved eateries.
I can just hear some guy calling home and saying, as he orders a martini and a shrimp rémoulade, “I’d love to come home, dear, but orders are orders. …”

Spring cleaning

This isn’t the most pleasant of topics, and it brings back harrowing memories of my Natchez grandmother’s well-stocked medicine cabinet.

But Colleen Templet’s story will no doubt strike a chord with our older readers:

“Secretary of State Jay Dardenne (discussing the purging of voter rolls) commented, ‘Crawfish are purged. People are not purged.’

“Had Jay been a member of my family (a hundred years ago), he would definitely know for sure that people ARE purged — every spring — with castor oil, Black Draught and other awful things that would ‘clean us out after the winter.’

“Congratulations, Jay, for being a ‘youngster.’ ”

Frog wild

Bill Kamp says that one evening recently he and his wife attended an outdoor wedding on the banks of a pristine pond:

“There was a pause in the ceremony and, as if on cue, this huge bullfrog released a window-rattling croak.

“After much laughter, the rites were completed.