Thanksgiving Holiday at the Bertasso's

Starting tomorrow, we will be traveling to Tennessee and Indiana.  While our original plan during our Thanksgiving Week trip was to start furnishing our new home in Tennessee and to move our pop up trailer inside the carport (presently on a neighbor's property), it appears that neither will happen on this trip.  The house is not quite finished yet, and we cannot legally enter it until it is finished and signed off.  While in the vicinity, we will take time to meet a few key people, winterize our pop up, and that's about it. 

So, the main thrust of our trip has changed to visiting Julie, Matt, and our grandchildren further up the road in Plymouth, Indiana.  We are excited to be able to be with family during Thanksgiving.  It's been a while since we have had that experience.

Country living in Houma

It seems strange that in a mid-sized city, we would be able to wake up to views such as these as these pictures depict.  We are fortunate to be able to live in a city, yet have the amount of open space that we have. 

Sugar soared to a 30-year high today

On Tuesday, raw sugar futures topped 30.6 cents a pound, rising to their highest point since 1980, when prices jumped to nearly 45 cents.  To get a sense of the dramatic increase in world sugar price, I have included a link to a more recent (post-2002) trend line. A sharper than expected drop in Brazil's estimated production is largely responsible for this spike. India's decision to withhold their domestically produced sugar from the international market is another other factor supporting the world price of sugar.  Here in Louisiana, the harvest season is well underway, and harvest conditions have been good to this point.  Tonnage is down but sugar content in the stalk has been well above average, so the growers are getting an average amount of sugar to the mills even though they are harvesting less cane.  Profitability is better than it has been for a long time.  I'm very happy for the growers and millers alike.