# First impressions of Northern Louisiana



## kchaystack (Aug 23, 2016)

So,  I made it to Monroe, LA last week.  I am still waiting on my furniture to catch up (tomorrow is what I have been promised).

1.  Its hot.  And humid.  And HOT.
2. People are very polite, and I really like it.  I had forgotten what it is like to have every one say please, thank you and you're welcome.
3. The water tastes funny.  Almost sweet.  
4. Even soap with EDTA isn't washing off.  No matter how hard I rinse, I still feel like I could lather up...
5. There is a funny smell in the air.  It isn't refineries or anything.  I guess it is the bayou.  
6.  It is hot and humid.  I sweat walking to my car - not 30 feet from my front door.
7. I love stained concrete floors.  they are so much cooler than carpet.
8. There is a fried chicken place at just about every corner.  
9.  Did I mention how hot and humid it is?

So to combat the funny water taste I just signed up for a water cooler.  I chose distilled water, since I have to use it in my cpap, and once I start making soap here.  It will also be better for my coffee maker and such.

I will have to experiment with chelators.  Maybe the bars from the FO blend swap don't have enough in them.  Or maybe sodium citrate will work better.

 All in all I think things will be ok.  As soon as I get my bed here so I am not on an air mattress.  haha


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## cmzaha (Aug 23, 2016)

:evil: maybe the odd smell is sweaty bodies :twisted:....


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## penelopejane (Aug 23, 2016)

kchaystack said:


> So,  I made it to Monroe, LA last week.  I am still waiting on my furniture to catch up (tomorrow is what I have been promised).
> haha



Very best of luck for your move. I hope it works out well. 

Is it a temporary move or permanent?


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## kchaystack (Aug 23, 2016)

cmzaha said:


> :evil: maybe the odd smell is sweaty bodies :twisted:....



Hehehe.  Then I really need to start making soap.  

No, it is not body odor.  Thank goodness, because not much turns my stomach like that.


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## kchaystack (Aug 23, 2016)

penelopejane said:


> Very best of luck for your move. I hope it works out well.
> 
> Is it a temporary move or permanent?



Permanent.  At least until IBM decides to move me again.  Which I hope is not for YEARS.  I hate moving.


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## dibbles (Aug 23, 2016)

I am glad to hear you made it there safely. Good luck and post a picture of your inaugural LA soap.


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## Susie (Aug 23, 2016)

Congratulations on the move!

1.  Yes, it is hot, and humid.  Now you know why we consider the humidity in cure length.  It makes a huge difference, even inside with the A/C going full blast.  That is also why I monitor the weight of my lyes.  I am a hobby soaper, so it may be a year before I use up 4 lbs of NaOH/KOH.  Storing in a dry bucket is a great and wonderful thing.

2.  Having been raised less than two hours from there, I never knew that people were any other way until I was grown and visited up north.  Word of warning, though, we can make life long friends in the grocery line.  We don't meet strangers, just friends we haven't met yet.  Don't be surprised if total strangers strike up conversations anywhere and everywhere.

3.  Yep, water in the south is unique.  You'll get used to it.

4.  You should have awesomely soft water.  I checked the maps.  If you have oily skin, you may want to try a solseife bar with at least 30% CO.  My hubby says that he feels actually clean with that combination.  He is from Alaska. 

5.  Summer in bayou country brings many not so wonderful smells.  The heat causes the water to "turn over", that is that the rotting/rotted vegetation on the bottom of the bayou rises to the top and you get to enjoy that until it gets cool enough that things settle down again...usually by the end of October if we have a warm fall.  

6.  Yep, I carry a washcloth/hand towel with me everywhere to sop the sweat from my face.  But I am a post-menopausal woman, and that is what we do in the hot and humid summer.  You could, however, keep a hand towel in the car and at your desk.  If you carry a backpack or briefcase, you can stick one in there.  Lowe's carries "cool cloths" that you can moisten and put around your neck to cool off a bit.

7.  If I ever build a house, that is what I am doing.  They are also easy to care for, and take a lot of abuse without showing it.

8.  Yep, fried chicken places and churches are ubiquitous. 

9.  My husband says he can hardly wait until "real summer gets here in December".  He says we have no seasons that he recognizes.  It is what it is.  He's been here since 2001.

Your furniture and bed should help a great deal with settling in.


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## snappyllama (Aug 23, 2016)

Congratulations on the move!

I love the sounds of the south in the summertime: katydids singing in the trees, crickets going at it and bullfrogs croaking. 

The humidity does take some getting used to. I just made my move to North Carolina and have been reminding myself daily: that's why everyone's skin looks so good, the constant sauna is good for the complexion, etc. Southern trick: leave windows just a little cracked to let some heat escape during the day. It also helps keep junky car's ceiling liner from unsticking and falling down (ask me how I know).

I'm surprised you didn't mention snowcone stands.  My memories of Louisiana include them all over the place. Nothing was finer than sitting on a rickety picnic table eating a rainbow cone on a warm evening. 

Find a cajun butcher. Get a turducken with dirty rice stuffing. You can thank me later.

ETA: make sure to m'aam everyone you meet. It shows your parents raised you right and you come from good people.


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## shunt2011 (Aug 23, 2016)

Congratulations on your move. Hope you Re able to get settled in soon.


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## CTAnton (Aug 23, 2016)

Well look at it this way...you have a whole bunch of new resources to play around with? Instead of felting your soaps you can wrap them in Spanish moss...sans chiggers of course...hope everything works out for you...


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## kchaystack (Sep 15, 2016)

So, I have finally gotten all the boxes unpacked.  And some how I am missing some stuff.

My Kitchenaid - even tho I have the whisk, paddle and dough hook, and the quilted cover that was over it.
All my flatware - every fork, spoon and butter knife.
and the lids to my glass foodsaver containers, along with the lids to my travel mugs.  

Sigh.  It was all in the same place in my apt.  the mixer was under the drawers that had the flatware and lids.  

How do you loose a kitchenaid?  That sucker is HEAVY.  **** it.


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## dixiedragon (Sep 15, 2016)

Ugh, that sucks. It really sounds like a box must be missing. Of all the things to loose!

Well, at least the heat has broken. It has here in Alabama anyway. I think we're going to have a lovely fall.


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## kchaystack (Sep 15, 2016)

dixiedragon said:


> Ugh, that sucks. It really sounds like a box must be missing. Of all the things to loose!
> 
> Well, at least the heat has broken. It has here in Alabama anyway. I think we're going to have a lovely fall.



Has it?  Because it is still in the 90's here and humid enough to make me not want to breathe while I am outside.  Haha!


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## Susie (Sep 15, 2016)

Yep, still in the 90s here in east Texas, also.  And I just got an email from the weather alert that the humidity will be climbing today.  Considering that it was already 83%, I doubt I will notice the increase.:???:


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## TeriDk (Sep 15, 2016)

I think I would be looking at a reverse osmosis water filter for drinking and cooking...water should not taste sweet.  And perhaps a water softener or other filtration system.


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## kchaystack (Sep 15, 2016)

TeriDk said:


> I think I would be looking at a reverse osmosis water filter for drinking and cooking...water should not taste sweet.  And perhaps a water softener or other filtration system.



Well, I am renting, so I can not do either of those.  I got a water cooler, and they drop off more 5 gal jugs of distilled water every month.


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## penelopejane (Sep 15, 2016)

kchaystack said:


> Well, I am renting, so I can not do either of those.  I got a water cooler, and they drop off more 5 gal jugs of distilled water every month.



I don't know what they cost but you can buy bench top RO "machines".


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## dixiedragon (Sep 15, 2016)

kchaystack said:


> Has it? Because it is still in the 90's here and humid enough to make me not want to breathe while I am outside. Haha!


 
Yup. It's actually quite cool for this time of year here! It's about 78 at 8 am (that's what my car says, anyway) vs being in the 80s. ANd it cools down a lot at night. So 12-4 is still pretty hot, but morning and evening are very nice.


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## Susie (Sep 15, 2016)

TeriDk said:


> I think I would be looking at a reverse osmosis water filter for drinking and cooking...water should not taste sweet.  And perhaps a water softener or other filtration system.



I am a native Louisianian.  The water in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin (the only places in the north that I have spent enough time in to taste the water) tastes...odd.  I don't know how to describe it.  But, compared to those places, Louisiana and east Texas water tastes sweet.


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## earlene (Sep 23, 2016)

*kchaystack*, has your KitchenAid turned up yet?  Did you use a professional moving company?  If you did it yourself or had friends help you, maybe what happened was what happened to us once when we moved.  We accidentally left a box on the front porch and drove off without it. What a bummer, though, right? 

Maybe you can get one used somewhere if you browse CraigsList and so forth.  Good Luck and I hope you get what you need soon.

I know you say your are renting, but is it possible the water is softened where you are living?  The only time I feel like I can't wash the soap off in the shower is when the water softener salt is brand new and the first cycle or two is run.  That is when the water is the softest and for me that's when it feels like the soap isn't rinsing off.

Water tastes different everywhere I go. In fact I started carrying a Brita Water Filter pitcher and filter with me when I travel because sometimes the water is so awful that I can't stand to even make tea with it let alone drink it straight out of the tap.  The best tap water I've ever tasted was in Manhattan.  The worst was on my grandfather's ranch in Southern California.

When my husband & I moved here to Illinois, I went and bought a new kitchen faucet set that included a water filtration faucet just for drinking water, for making coffee and for making tea.  I also use the filtered water for making ice (I drink a lot of iced tea).  Luckily for me there were enough holes already drilled into the kitchen sink to accommodate the extra filtration faucet as well as the regular faucet and the spray nozzle.  I think one of those holes was used by the previous owner for a liquid soap dispenser, so it was an easy solution.

BTW, you might want to change your listed location in your profile.  Or not.


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## kchaystack (Sep 23, 2016)

earlene said:


> *kchaystack*, has your KitchenAid turned up yet?  Did you use a professional moving company?  If you did it yourself or had friends help you, maybe what happened was what happened to us once when we moved.  We accidentally left a box on the front porch and drove off without it. What a bummer, though, right?



No, it has not turned up.  IBM used professional pack and move, so I have to file a claim, and they should reimburse me for what was lost.  I am currently trying to figure out what I need to do this.



earlene said:


> I know you say your are renting, but is it possible the water is softened where you are living?  The only time I feel like I can't wash the soap off in the shower is when the water softener salt is brand new and the first cycle or two is run.  That is when the water is the softest and for me that's when it feels like the soap isn't rinsing off.



No, as Susie said above it is REALLY soft water.  I must have never lived in a place with soft water.  I actually pulled out a salt bar w 20% SF and used it.  I did not like them in MI because even at a 6 month cure it was drying.  But down here it is great.  So I guess my CO will go up. 



earlene said:


> Water tastes different everywhere I go. In fact I started carrying a Brita Water Filter pitcher and filter with me when I travel because sometimes the water is so awful that I can't stand to even make tea with it let alone drink it straight out of the tap.  The best tap water I've ever tasted was in Manhattan.  The worst was on my grandfather's ranch in Southern California.



I just got a water delivery service.  It is not expensive at all, and I use so much distilled for things anyway I might as well have them deliver it.  

I tried a Brita here, the tap water was still funny tasting. 



earlene said:


> BTW, you might want to change your listed location in your profile.  Or not.



Doh!  Done.


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## Scooter (Sep 28, 2016)

kchaystack said:


> No, it has not turned up.  IBM used professional pack and move, so I have to file a claim, and they should reimburse me for what was lost.  I am currently trying to figure out what I need to do this.



Oh gosh good luck on that. IBM is pretty good with their movers I am told.

I used to work for IBM in RTP. Man, the stories I could tell... ;-)

Good luck in LA. I don't know much about northern LA but I have spent quite a bit of time south of I-10. What a gorgeous place, so rich in culture... and MARDI GRAS. One of my goals before I die is to experience rural Mardi Gras.

--Scooter


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## topofmurrayhill (Sep 28, 2016)

kchaystack said:


> No, as Susie said above it is REALLY soft water.  I must have never lived in a place with soft water.  I actually pulled out a salt bar w 20% SF and used it.  I did not like them in MI because even at a 6 month cure it was drying.  But down here it is great.  So I guess my CO will go up.



I'm told that NYC water is considered to be soft, and it's true that I've never seen the more noticeable effects of hard water that people describe. But "soft water" is a relative thing. I stay in hotels often, sometime weekly, and occasionally the higher rated ones have water softening systems. When I stay in those, soap just never feels like it has rinsed off, even when it totally has.

Good luck in your new 'hood.


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## Susie (Sep 29, 2016)

Scooter said:


> Oh gosh good luck on that. IBM is pretty good with their movers I am told.
> 
> I used to work for IBM in RTP. Man, the stories I could tell... ;-)
> 
> ...



Rural Mardi Gras is so very different than the drunken mess that is in New Orleans.  And, if you ever get a chance to go to a Courir de Mardi Gras festival, go!  It is truly the traditional Cajun (as opposed to Creole that is celebrated in south east Louisiana) Mardi Gras.


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