Mardi Gras is getting into full swing in New Orleans. We can’t tell you how many times our neighbors have warned us not to move our cars because we’ll lose our parking spaces for days.

Eighteen parades roll this weekend in the New Orleans area, according to MardiGrasNewOrleans.com. If you work today, no worries. You can catch the ones Saturday and Sunday.

FYI – “roll” is the local verb for what parades do when they start and then make their way through their route. For example, Barkus rolls at 2 p.m. Sunday. And when people talk about “picking up their throws” or “the parade throws,” they are talking about the free items the parade participants throw to people. Beads and doubloons (metal coins) are the most popular throws, but there are usually special throws for each parade. And no, you don’t have to flash your boobs to get beads. Just wave your hands and be alert.

Click here for the list of all the parades and their routes.

We’ve heard the most hype so far about Krewe of Barkus, which is the dog parade that rolls Sunday at 2 p.m. in the French Quarter. The king is on Twitter (@kingbarkusXX) and the throws include glitter bones.

Should be a cute parade. And, if and your dog want to walk in it, you can register Sunday for $50 (info).

BTW, MardiGrasNewOrleans.com has a mobile app (click here).

Also cool: WDSU has a GPS tracker at some of the parades and tweets the progress so you know where they are. Twitter feed is @parades.