life on peach eater creek

Southwestern Bean Soup

2012-01-20T13:15:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a cold and windy day so I thought a pot of chili would be good for dinner. I put on some beans in the morning and let them cook most of the day. In the past I've let the water cook out of the beans and was left with a big burned mess. So, yesterday I made sure to add water to the pot from time to time to prevent that from happening. I browned some ground beef in a skillet along with some chopped onions and garlic. After pouring off the grease I added a can of diced tomatoes with green chilies, an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce, 1/3 cup of coffee, 1 tsp of beef base, 3 tsp brown sugar, 1 tsp cumin, 3 Tbs chili powder, 1/4 tsp cocoa powder, and 1 tsp oregano. I stirred all that together then added it to the pot of beans. I learned that in my effort to make sure the beans didn't boil dry I had added too much water and the result was a very soupy chili. So when Dorothy came home I told her that I had made some Southwestern Bean Soup. She loved it.

So now I have two recipes: one for chili (with a tightly controlled amount of water in the beans), and one for Southwestern Bean Soup ( water added with abandon).

quote of the day

2012-01-20T11:31:00.001-06:00

Your problem is how you are going to spend this one and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.

From her graduation commencement address to Berkeley."
— Anne Lamott

What I'm Reading Now

2012-01-20T11:23:00.000-06:00

It seems like I've been laughing at Bill Cosby all my life. I've laughed at his TV shows, his stand-up comedy routine, his LP records, and his books. This latest offering by Mr. Cosby deals with everything from his childhood, the book of Genesis, teenage dating, husband and wife relationships, to grand parenthood. I laughed out loud on every page. That's as good a review as any funny writer can receive.

quote of the day

2012-01-20T11:09:00.001-06:00

Poverty is not wholly a personal failure. It also represent the failure of an economic system. And the remedy is not wholly one of charity, but of political and economic action. Poverty is a reflection also on those who are not poor.

--Brooks Atkinson

What I'm reading now

2012-01-17T09:54:00.000-06:00

It’s an age old theme, the hero against the villains, good vs. evil, but with a twist. In the literature of the Western world the protagonist (hero) has mostly been male. The role played by females was generally the damsel in distress who depended upon a male hero to slay the dragon for her. In modern American culture men are no longer heroes to women and now we have this story that has as the protagonist a young female who is competent and possesses the skills to slay her own dragons. I always wanted my own daughters to grow up as independent women and I think this is a good story for young girls. After all, boys have always had their own stories with strong male heroes to set an example for them. John Wayne movies always filled the bill for me. So, I think the modern young woman will find that this story strikes a chord within her psyche that feels right to her.

fire in the sky

2012-01-16T22:58:00.002-06:00

Dorothy and Iwere sitting at the table this evening looking out across the pasture. The clouds in the west were dark grey as the sun was setting. Within a few minutes the underside of the clouds turned pink and then this fiery orange.

Christmas Pajamas

2012-01-04T16:17:00.001-06:00

Every year everyone gets pajamas for Christmas. We take an annual photo. Here is the one for 2011.

Party Animals

2012-01-01T20:10:00.000-06:00

It's been years since Dorothy and I stayed up until midnight on New Year's Eve. We were having over for the weekend three of the most party loving people we know so we thought we would go for it. Our guests were Hunter (9yrs old), Jenna (5yrs old), and Gracen (10mos). We made pizza, drank lots of root beer and ate plenty of Little Debby snacks. Those kids consumed enough sugar to put a grown man into a diabetic coma. We watched "Home Alone", and "A Day at the Races" starring the Marx Bros. and also a few Larry and Hardy shorts (as Jenna calls them).

Gracen got the evening off to a good start by eating some red licorice.

Jenna was helping me roll out the pizza dough when Gracen decided she wanted in on the deal.

We couldn't allow that baby to fall off the stool and bump her noggin.....

So I scooped her up while Jenna continued to roll out the dough.

Pizzas all done. Jenna even made a little one for Gracen.

Dorothy, Jenna, and Gracen fell by the wayside and had to go to bed by nine o'clock. Hunter and I pressed on toward Midnight. Actually, I nodded off a few times in my recliner and Hunter was the only one to make it to the New Year wide awake. After we watched the ball drop in Times Square we went to bed and fell asleep as the neighbor's celebratory gun shots echoed through the hills.

This morning we had pancakes and bacon for breakfast. Gracen was on Dorothy's lap then slipped over into Hunter's chair to sit with him.

Now she's ready for breakfast.

She likes to do what the big kids do.

With nine you get eggroll

2011-12-24T09:52:00.002-06:00

Last night we had the family over and Dorothy made egg rolls. Lots of good food and laughter.

Gracen and Santa

2011-12-24T09:44:00.002-06:00

Hunter's turn

2011-12-19T16:19:00.000-06:00

It was Hunter's turn for a birthday dinner.

Here is Hunter's first appearance on the blog along with Tara, Marley and Sam.

Marley's Party

2011-12-17T18:18:00.000-06:00

Last night we were at Marley's 12th birthday party. Her mom did a great job organizing and putting this thing together. It had a cake decorating theme and the girls enjoyed it.

Here's the cake Dorothy made.

Marley begins to design.

They all get busy with their cakes

Even Hunter tries his hand.

Jenna gets some assistance.

I took this picture before the girls posed.

Here's the first picture of Marley to ever appear on this blog. She was four years old.

quote of the day

2011-12-14T20:05:00.002-06:00

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

--Henry David Thoreau

Recipes

2011-12-12T22:38:00.000-06:00

Since my retirement I've been doing most of the cooking. I'm always searching for new recipes and every once in awhile I find an exceptional one. I've decided to feature the good ones on the blog.
This recipe is very simple to make and is very tasty.

Boudin Stuffed Peppers

Simple ingredients make this an easy project. I used red bell peppers but any color will do. Pickled banana peppers, Boudin sausage, a tomato and two slices of cheese round out the main fixings.

Cut the tops off two bell peppers, remove the seeds and boil in water for at least three minutes. Warm two links of Boudin sausage in the microwave for two minutes, then remove the casings and crumble into a bowl. Remove the peppers from the boiling water, shake black pepper into the interior of the peppers (you'll be glad you did). Spoon the Boudin into the peppers pressing down with the spoon to compact. Fill only half way. Add a layer of the sliced banana peppers then continue to add the Boudin pressing it down to fill the peppers. Top off with another layer of banana pepper some of that tomato you see in the photo (chopped) and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, place a slice of cheese on the top of each pepper and return to oven for another five minutes. I served mine with leftover pinto beans and dinner rolls:

Marley's Birthday

2011-12-12T22:23:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe but our Marley Kate is going to be 12 years old. We had her dinner at our house yesterday.

The rest of the kids are singing "Happy Birthday" to her.

I'm just a little horse

2011-12-05T08:11:00.001-06:00

A pony with a cold was giving a speech to all the animals in the barnyard. Before he began he explained, "Excuse me, but I'm just a little hoarse."

Saturday evening, when all the kids were over for Sami's birthday, my eight year old grandson asked me this question:
     "Grandpa, are you in puberty?"
    "No", I replied. "I left puberty behind more than fifty years ago."
     "But, when your voice changes, isn't that when you're in puberty?" he asked.
     I explained to him that I had a cold and was just a little hoarse and that my voice would be back to normal in a couple of days.

Tara and Sam, growing up

2011-12-04T10:47:00.001-06:00

It takes all the cousins to blow out the 23 candles on Samantha's
cake.

It's hard to believe that Sami is 23

Gracen likes to pose for pictures too.

We had a cake for Tara on Thanksgiving day.

Tara 24 years old.

the telephone company

2011-12-02T08:13:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I called the phone company and had my land line disconnected. When we bought our first cell phones we continued the land line because that was our only source for the internet. Two years ago we had satelite internet installed so I called the phone company to have the land line disconnected. The customer service representative talked me into keeping it for a low monthly fee of around five dollars. After the taxes and fees were added the bill came to twelve dollars. In June of this year the bill jumped to 22.00 then this month it jumped to 27.00 That's increasing faster than the rate of inflation. I called. They explained that the price of local service went up, but had no explanation as to why it increased. I had them to disconnect the line. The government tells us that inflation is quite low. The truth is that inflation is quite high. We're being lied to.

gracen pics

2011-12-02T08:09:00.001-06:00

Gracen and her dad at the keyboard

Gracen helps herself to great grandma's dessert

2011-11-30T18:28:00.001-06:00

I went for a walk today. The sun was low in the sky and the shadows of the trees lay long across the highway. There was a brisk cold wind blowing. I wore just a long sleeved flannel shirt but I was warm from the walking. These Fall afternoons signal the approaching end of another year. It may be the influence of my yearly bout with SAD but I’m always reminded that life ends in the same manner. A slow dimming of the light. The ebbing of potential.

miscellaneous paraphernalia

2011-11-14T17:09:00.001-06:00

Last week at breakfast we had this view. The sun was not shining on the trees in the foreground but the ones in the background were bright in the morning light

The next morning was foggy and as the sun began to burn off the mist, the foreground trees burst into light leaving the distant trees enshrouded in fog.

Friday night Dorothy, Kelly, Marley and her friend Madison went to a Zac Brown Band concert in Tulsa. I stayed home with Hunter and Jenna and we ate hot dogs and french fries then watched old Laurel and Hardy movies all evening.

I picked up Jenna and Hunter from school and we stopped at the ice cream parlor for a cone.

Occupy Tahlequah

2011-11-05T11:23:00.002-05:00

This morning I drove over to Tahlequah to check out the occupy movement there. I met with Richard and Ashley Oates and Kate Starr who were occupying the space in front of the local Bank of America. They were distributing fliers urging people to transfer their money from the big banks to local smaller banks and credit unions. Smaller regional banks are actually sounder than the commercial giants who ran the economy into the ditch and then came to the taxpayers for a bail out. Credit Unions are owned by the share holders themselves and traditionally loan at lower interest rates and pay higher interest for deposits. Transferring your money is a practical move. If you are in the Tahlequah area stop by and give these people your support.

Richard, Ashley, and Kate

What I'm reading now

2011-11-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

Inspired by Kay's list of banned books on Kay's Thinking Cap I decided to read a banned book. Although not on Kay's list Stranger in a Strange Land is a book that I have been intending to read for some time. It's a story of a young man who was born on Mars and is brought back to earth. Having been raised and educated by Martians he is in fact a stranger in a strange land. He has super powers. He finds the earthbound human culture and mindset confusing and eventually creates a new religion. Heinlein received the Hugo award in 1962 for this story that explores human sexuality and religion. Books do not necessarily end up on banned lists because of being sexually explicit or politically incorrect. They are banned because they provoke the reader to think. A thinking citizen is a danger to the status quo enjoyed by political, religious, and economic leaders.

Newspaper coverage of Occupy Tulsa police action

2011-11-02T10:26:00.002-05:00

Here is what the Tulsa World had to say about last night's action against Occupy Tulsa. (includes photos)

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=298&articleid=20111102_298_0_Tulsap195784

Autumn

2011-11-02T09:11:00.003-05:00

On my way to Tulsa I took these photos.

Occupy Tulsa

2011-11-02T08:43:00.000-05:00

Last night the Tulsa Police Dept. closed in on the Occupy Tulsa site and arrested nine people. They also confiscated several tents. Here is a link to video taken with a cell phone. The video portion is shaky but the audio is very interesting. Those arrested were pepper sprayed before being carried to the police vehicles.

http://www.justin.tv/tulsaslick/b/298959450

Occupy Tulsa

2011-11-01T15:21:00.001-05:00

I drove to Tulsa to donate some supplies to the Occupy Tulsa movement. While I was there I took these photos and visited with some of the demonstrators who were holding a vigil outside the Bank America building.

They pitched their tents in the shadow of Bank America

In some of the media stories Occupy Wall St. demonstrators have been portrayed as homeless or unemployed people. The people I talked with were students or people with jobs who gave their time to the cause after work or on their days off.

www.occupytulsa.com

listen...

2011-10-29T18:31:00.002-05:00

There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it.

William Jennings Bryan, in an address to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, July 9, 1896

listen...

2011-10-26T10:17:00.000-05:00

We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788-1860)

listen...

2011-10-26T10:15:00.002-05:00

When I was young, I was amazed at Plutarch's statement that the elder Cato began at the age of eighty to learn Greek. I am amazed no longer. Old age is ready to undertake tasks that youth shirked because they would take too long.

--W. Somerset Maugham

Grand Kids

2011-10-24T17:56:00.001-05:00

Gracen at 8 mos.

She waves hi.

She thinks she's a big kid because she can crawl into the kitchen.

I went to school lunch today with Hunter.

Class Warfare

2011-10-24T17:33:00.002-05:00

Whenever it is suggested that the rich should pay more taxes and share more of the burden of recovering from this deep recession, Republican/Teaparty politicians claim that class warfare is being waged against the rich. My question is: Who is waging this war against them? Is it the middle class? I don’t think so. If the middle class had declared war on the American plutocracy the bankers who ran their businesses into the ground and took the economy with it would be sitting in prison. The politicians who were willing accomplices to the Wall St. miscreants would be sitting in a cell beside them. If the middle class had fought against the corporatocracy they would not have allowed their jobs to be outsourced to other countries.

Class warfare has been a part of American life, especially since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, but it has been waged by the upper classes against the working people. Most readers of this blog can remember a time, just after WWII when the economy was booming. Having a job meant staying with a company for a lifetime and receiving retirement and other benefits. Home ownership was within the grasp of most workers. Automobiles were affordable. A college education was inexpensive. So, what happened? Did the carpenters get too greedy and bring it all down? The teachers, policemen, and factory workers? Did unions get so powerful that they ruined the economy with their demands? During those post war times rich people were taxed at higher rates than they are now, but they were doing well. They certainly weren’t suffering. But, if you are rich enough to buy a congressman or two, you can legislate your way to even greater riches. Financial practices that were banned in the banking reform of the 30’s are once again legal although still just as unethical and immoral.

Corporate and government leaders are now telling us that entitlement programs such Medicare and Social Security have brought us to brink of national bankruptcy. They say it’s necessary to outsource labor to stay competitive in the world market place. Are they telling us the truth?

According to a study done by the Brookings Institution in 2008 the citizens of Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and Australia as well as the Scandinavian countries are living the American dream as Americans are failing in the attempt. What do all these countries have in common? They all have high taxes, universal health care, generous social services and well maintained infrastructures. So I ask this question: Who is waging class warfare against whom?

listen

2011-10-11T08:17:00.001-05:00

I like spring, but it is too young. I like summer, but it is too proud. So I like best of all autumn, because its leaves are a little yellow, its tone mellower, its colours richer, and it is tinged a little with sorrow and a premonition of death. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor of the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and is content. From a knowledge of those limitations and its richness of experience emerges a symphony of colours, richer than all, its green speaking of life and strength, its orange speaking of golden content and its purple of resignation and death.

--Lin Yutang

quote of the day

2011-10-03T16:26:00.002-05:00

"You know, Paul, Reagan proved that deficits don't matter".

--Dick Cheney (To Paul O'neill the former Secretary of the Treasury after the Secretary warned the vice president of the danger of running large deficits. Mr. O'neill was fired a month later.)

what I'm reading now

2011-10-03T16:18:00.001-05:00

I read Slaughter House Five a few years ago so I thought I might try Breakfast of Champions. The reviewers had much praise for this novel, calling Kurt Vonnegut a genius at black humor and satire. I didn't like it. It had enough pull to keep me reading to the end, but I thought the story line was too disconnected. The lives of a car dealer and an unkown author seem destined to cross the same path and that meeting results in utter chaos. That's it. There's some commentary by the author about pollution, politics, religion and sex, but no cohesive story that takes you for a ride and lets you off at a destination.

what I'm reading now

2011-09-26T08:55:00.002-05:00

This is the second book I've read by Gary Zukav. It's a curious meld of evolution and reincarnation. Although I was able to glean some valuable insights from the book, I just couldn't grab onto the concept.

supply or demand?

2011-09-22T16:44:00.001-05:00

I recently read a magazine article that said the leading economists here in America are still scratching their heads wondering what caused the 2008 financial melt down. That came as a surprise to me because both political parties depend on these economists to give direction to their monetary policies. The ideologies of each political party hang on the economic theories that give expression to their world view. That leaves me scratching my head and wondering if these people have no clue as to what happened then who does?

I’m not an economist but like every other voter and tax payer I have my own opinion and it is based on what I have observed in the political arena and the books and articles I have read. So here’s my take:

Throughout history there have been many schools of economic thought. Here in America those theories seem to have been narrowed down to two: Supply side economics and demand side or Keynesian economics. Supply side economics proposes that economic growth can be achieved by tax cuts and deregulation of business. It also maintains that lower taxes will raise revenue by improving the economy making it possible to collect taxes from a broader base of working people and businesses who were able to make more money in a lower tax environment. It is also called trickle down economics because its proponents claim that as the rich get richer the poor are eventually helped as the benefits of a growing economy trickle down to them. John Kenneth Galbraith says that it would be more aptly called the horse and sparrow theory: “If you feed the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows." Supply side economists claim that the tax cuts of the Reagan administration lifted the country out of the 1981-82 recession, and increased tax revenue. Those who disagree claim that if you factor in the effects of inflation there were no actual increases to tax revenue. One thing is true: record setting deficits were left behind by the Reagan presidency. The Congressional Budget office has recently informed us that if the Bush tax cuts were allowed to extend past the 2010 expiration date it would add 1.8 trillion dollars to the deficit over the following decade. And yet, President Obama signed a bill to extend those cuts for two more years.

Demand side economics asserts that the combined demand of consumers, government, and businesses are the power behind a healthy economy, and that it is necessary for the government to take measures (such as deficit spending) to stimulate demand and insure full or near full employment. One historical example of Keynesian economics was during the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover, a laissez faire Republican had decided to take Adam Smith’s advice and let the “invisible hand” of the market place bring the economy back to health. That didn’t work and led to the election of Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt put into place public jobs programs and regulations to oversee the banking industry and Wall St. The Glass-Steagall act was signed into law and ended some of the financial practices by banks and Wall St. that led to the collapse of 1929. The economy began to grow again from 1933 until 1937 when we slipped back into a recession. WWII provided the impetus for the massive government spending that ended the depression and brought about a thriving economy that lasted until 2008. (There have been recessions in the intervening years but the trend has always been toward growth.) Some say that what is needed is a massive spending program of the scale of WWII to increase demand, put people to work and revive commerce. But, we’ve been fighting two wars at the same time for the better part of a decade and the eventual cost is projected to be 3.7 trillion dollars. The military-industrial complex President Eisenhower warned us about has been billing the government for the cost of war for decades and we now spend more than all the other countries on earth on defense. With the debt we are carrying there is not much room for additional extreme spending of the scale needed to jump start an economy as large as ours.

So, supply side, demand side. Which one is best? The supply siders say that lower taxes increases government revenue, but there is no historical evidence of a sustained increase that strengthened the economy. I don’t like paying taxes but I see the necessity of revenue sufficient to operate the government services and social safety nets that make our nation a civilized place to live. Another claim the supply siders make is that government regulation of business is a job killer and a drag on the economy. Let’s look at how federal oversight has benefited us. Remember the Glass-Steagall act mentioned above? It kept banks and Wall St. investment firms from participating in the practices that led to the Stock Market crash of 1929. For years the banks had been lobbying for changes in federal regulation and in 1999 a Republican congress passed and President Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which effectively repealed Glass-Steagall and allowed banks the freedom to merge, buy and sell mortgage backed securities, credit default swaps and derivatives; actions which were prohibited by Glass-Steagall. We all know the outcome. Other government regulations that protect the quality of our food, the safety of our transportation and work places are, in my mind, absolutely necessary to the welfare of our citizens.

And now the Democrats and the Republican/Teaparty are so polarized that responsible government is impossible. The Teapartiers were even willing to allow our nation to default on its debt before it would agree to a new debt ceiling, an event that would have triggered a global financial crisis. What do we do? The politicians are not able to govern responsibly. It’s not that they aren’t capable to performing the job. It’s that they lack a heart for public service, more willing to lend an ear to the corporate lobbyists than to their constituents back home. They lack integrity, it’s hard to find an elected official that hasn’t been involved is some kind of scandal. The American public bears a large share of the blame because we keep returning these miscreants to office.

America has seen the last of its glory days. In order to be healed it will take a lot more than our politicians are willing to do. And probably a lot more than American citizens are willing to do.


    .

another musician in the family

2011-09-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

Most of the members of my family can play a musical instrument. Now Marley is taking lessons on the French horn.

What talent!

reunion

2011-09-05T18:13:00.000-05:00

Today, Dorothy's family met for a reunion at the Proctor Community Center. Here are the pics.

Dorothy's niece, Paula and her husband Harvey

Samantha and Gracen

Gracen

Our daughter Kelly with Paula

Greetings out front

This is Chris with her daughters, Paula and Kristi and their kids.

Dorothy and I with our brood.

Dorothy's sister Becky and her daughter Juella

second cousins

first cousins, Juella, Paula, Kristi, and Kelly

The siblings that started it all: Bill, Chris, Becky, Dorothy (Gail)

what I'm reading now

2011-09-02T13:58:00.001-05:00

I've read Alexandra Fuller's previous memoirs about her and her family's lives in Africa, Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight, and Scribbling the Cat and was delighted to see that she had published another one. Coctail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is the story of Alexadra's mother, Nicola Fuller, born on the Isle of Sky but growing up in East Africa. It's the saga of a family struggling to exist in the land that they love in spite of the weather, climate, snakes, and war. The Fullers move from Kenya to Rhodesia and then to Zambia in their effort to make a place for themselves. The story is heart breaking, funny; a portrait of a woman who endures tragedy and hardship and yet finally flourishes in the beautiful, yet hostile land that she loves.

quote of the day

2011-08-24T08:59:00.002-05:00

We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements...profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

--Carl Sagan

Gracen's growing

2011-08-24T08:55:00.002-05:00

Gracen is a true Southern baby. She loves her iced tea.

Gracen has a new horse to ride.

When a baby can do this, it's time to buy a bigger car seat.

1st day of school

2011-08-15T11:58:00.001-05:00

We have always accompanied the grand kids on their first day of school. Today was the last first day for us. Jenna started kindergarten.

She was met at the front of the school by Wild Willy

She finds her seat and name tag

And is ready for class to begin.

In five years we'll be ready to go to Gracen's first day.
.

quote of the day

2011-08-15T11:48:00.002-05:00

We should bring our troops home from Afghanistan this year. No previous foreign power that has tried to work its will in Afghanistan has succeeded--not Alexander the Great, not the Mongols, not the British, and not the Russians , who , after nine years of fighting, had sent some 25,000 of their soldiers home in coffins. The soviet treasury was emptied and the Soviet Union collapsed. Even if it were desirable for us to stay a decade more, we simply cannot afford to do so.

--George McGovern

66

2011-08-15T11:40:00.002-05:00

The family gave me a birthday party on Saturday.

We didn't get too close to the flame in order to prevent body parts from being singed.

Kelly, Gracen, and Hunter

Gracen has already learned there's good stuff in cups.

Jenna makes Gracen laugh.

It's hard for Dorothy to believe that her 11 year old grand daughter is taller than she is.

Jenna saw a grass hopper on the door screen so she got the binoculars
to get a better look.

The family got me a Nookcolor eReader.

these Oklahoma storms

2011-08-11T13:34:00.001-05:00

Night before last I woke up to the sound of thunder. I immediately got up and unplugged the computer, TV, satellite receiver, microwave oven, and the kitchen stove. I should have unplugged the upright freezer and our new refrigerator, but I didn't. An hour later we were awakened by a Pop!Bang! clash of thunder. I new something electrical had been hit but decided to wait until morning to check it out. Later we found that a circuit breaker had been tripped. I flipped the switch to find that our 35 years old freezer had bit the dust. It had burn marks on the side and there were some on the floor as well. Our new refrigerator was plugged into the same outlet but fortunately the electricity took the path of least resistance which was obviously to the old unit. That will be cheaper to replace than the new one with all its fancy electronic gizmos. It wasn't until later that we noticed our home phone was not working. It had been zapped too. We're lucky the house didn't catch fire.

This is the phone's AC adaptor. It was encased in a white plastic cover but it's gone and I don't know what happened to it. Could it have evaporated, or disintegrated? There's no sign of it.

You can see how the plastic is burned and the insulation melted off of the wire.

quote of the day

2011-08-10T10:50:00.000-05:00

“The next time you are tempted to swallow your truth, try speaking it instead. Everything you are afraid of will happen, but eventually you will fall in love with the sound of your own integrity.”

--Naomi Wolf

quote of the day

2011-08-09T08:18:00.004-05:00

“Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events.”

--Abraham Lincoln

gem from the past

2011-08-03T22:14:00.000-05:00

I rolled up to the local Walmart this morning and discovered this beauty sitting in the parking lot. A 1956 Chevy Bel Air. According to the owner it has the original motor and transmission.What a find!

the temperature's rising

2011-08-03T10:47:00.001-05:00

This is how I like to keep my Hostas looking. But, this year we are having record breaking heat.

Here's what they look like now. Daily watering is futile when the temps rise above 100.

107.8 yesterday and 112 is forecast for today.

quote of the day

2011-08-03T10:36:00.000-05:00

We normally think of history as one catastrophe after another, war followed by war, outrage by outrage--almost as if history were nothing more than all the narratives of human pain, assembled in sequence. And surely this is , often enough, an adequate description. But history is also the narratives of grace, the recountings of those blessed and inexplicable moments when someone did something for someone else, saved a life, bestowed a gift, gave something beyond what was required by circumstance.

--Thomas Cahill

what I'm reading now

2011-08-03T10:29:00.000-05:00

I saw the ads for Life of Pi when it was first published in 2002. A story about a 16 year old boy who was adrift in a life boat with a Bengal tiger seemed a little too fanciful for my reading tastes, so I ignored it.
My daughter, Rachel, read the book recently and enjoyed it so much she mailed it to me. I started the book and couldn't put it down. Yann Martel is such a good story teller that he makes the fanciful plausible. In this tale Pi Patel, a boy who was raised by zoo keepers, establishes himself as the alpha male and stakes out a territory at his end of the life boat. He realizes that he must not only keep himself alive but must provide food and water for the tiger to avoid becoming a meal for the huge cat. It's not just a story about survival on the high seas but also about faith, religion, and our perception of reality. Read this book.

lemonade

2011-07-27T15:34:00.001-05:00

Marley, Hunter, Jenna and friends mad a lemonade stand to help support World Orphans.

Jarrett's birthday

2011-07-27T15:32:00.000-05:00

Jarrett cooked his own birthday dinner. And we were all glad

We had smoked pork loin stuffed with provolone cheese and bacon, and a smoked pork shoulder marinated in brown sugar and bourbon.

Plus burgers, dogs, brats, and cheese stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon

what i'm reading now

2011-07-22T13:46:00.002-05:00

The Dancing Wu Li Masters and overview of the New Physics is not just an account of the latest development in quantum theory that a layman can read but it also connects the new physics to some of the concepts of eastern thought and religion. Here are some passages from the book that I found intriguing:

"Acceptance without proof is the fundamental characteristic of western religion. Rejection without proof is the fundamental characteristic of western science. In other words, religion has become a matter of the heart and science has become a matter of the mind. This regrettable state of affairs does not reflect the fact that, physiologically, one cannot exist without the other. Everybody needs both. Mind and heart are only different aspect of us."

"Physicists are people who have pursued tenaciously this endless series of questions. What they have found is startling. Wood fibers, to continue the example, are actually patterns of cells. Cells, under magnification, are revealed to be patterns of molecules. Molecules, under higher magnification, are discovered to be patterns of atoms, and, lastly, atoms have turned out to be patterns of subatomic particles. In other words, "matter" is actually a series of patterns out of focus. The search for the ultimate stuff of the universe ends with the discovery that there isn't any."

"...classical physics says that there is one world, it is as it appears, and this is it. Quantum physics allows us to entertain the possibility that this is not so. The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics eschews a description of what the world is "really like", but concludes that whatever it is like, it is not substantive in the usual sense. The Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics says that different editions of us live in many worlds simultaneously, an uncountable number of them, and all of them are real."

recovery

2011-07-22T11:03:00.002-05:00

I had the stitches removed yesterday. Before I left for my appointment I had Dorothy take a picture of my nose. I thought it would be good to post it on the blog as a public service warning about skin cancer. Then I thought better of it. It's too gruesome. The doctor did a great job and I'm sure I'll look as good as new in a few weeks, but I can't help but regret the procrastination that led to surgery instead of simply freezing off a little speck. I paid as much attention to it as I would have a fly I waved away during an interesting conversation. So, if you ever have a little itchy spot that you're barely conscious of, or if it can be scratched away or taken care of with a little anti-bacterial ointment, until it comes back, see a dermatologist immediately.
Last week my eyes were black and swollen, I couldn't wear my glasses, so now I'm in catch up mode. I'm trying to get current with all the blogs I follow, the magazines that are piling up, and the novel I began before the surgery.
In recent months I've had some medical tests done and my health is excellent except for my blood pressure. I had a scary episode with that during the first attempt at surgery a few weeks ago. So, it's time to do something about it. I have "White Coat Syndrome" so my pressure always reads high in a clinical setting, but it has been creeping up even at home. In the past I've had success controlling hypertension by losing weight, so now that I'm 65 years old it's high time I took some responsibility for my own health. My plan is to increase exercise and decrease food intake. I've already resumed my morning walk and now I need to match that with a little restraint on my fork. I created a poster which I have taped to the refrigerator door and the cabinet where the cookies are kept. I'm hoping that seeing this image when I'm tempted to snack will help be to stiffen my resolve.

surgery

2011-07-15T13:17:00.001-05:00

If you'll remember, last month I had surgery postponed for a basal cell on my nose. High blood pressure prevented the procedure then and in the intervening weeks I've been able to bring my hypertension under control. So yesterday the surgery went off without a hitch. I'm using pain medication so I won't post for a day or two until the fog evaporates from my brain

wistful solitude

2011-07-11T07:49:00.002-05:00

I woke up this morning to a deafening silence. There was no Spongebob Squarepants (Absorbant and yellow and porous is he!), no Dora the Explorer (Swiper, no swiping! Swiper, no swiping!). The grandkids weren't here. The house is woefully empty and quiet. I miss Marley, Hunter, and Jenna.

quote of the day

2011-07-11T07:45:00.000-05:00

Reality is what we take to be true. What we take to be true is what we believe. What we believe is based upon our perceptions. What we perceive depends upon what we look for. What we look for depends upon what we think. What we think depends upon what we perceive. What we perceive determines what we believe. What we believe determines what we take to be true. What we take to be true is our reality.

--Gary Zukav

last day with horses

2011-07-09T15:22:00.001-05:00

Today was the last day for us to have the grand kids. Hunter went to a birthday party yesterday and spent the night with a friend so today we just had Marley and Jenna. In our neighborhood there is a cowboy race every Saturday morning and I thought that it would be fun to watch that.

Before the event started Jenna and Marley were able to ride a horse.

This event displays the horsmanship skills of both the horse and rider.

Some of the events involved having your horse to walk through tractor tires...

Stand still while you spray his feet with water.....

ride or lead the horse through a shower of water.....

and lead him into a trailor. This horse was in no mood to enter the trailor and broke loose from his halter

and ran away.

When the event was over Marley got a chance to mount up and have Kathleen lead her over the course on her horse Blue

s'mores

2011-07-06T20:48:00.000-05:00

This was probably not a good time to do s'mores what with it almost 9:00pm and still just short of 90 degrees. But, they were good.

We got a good fire going

Applied the marshmallows

Boys love fire

Good idea Jenna. Sit behind the gate so you don't have to share with Lizzie

day trip

2011-07-06T16:16:00.002-05:00

Four years ago Kelly and I took Marley, Hunter, and Jenna to the Blue Bell creamery in Broken Arrow.

Today, Dorothy and I took them there again. It's interesting to see how ice cream is made.

Plus, there are free samples at the end of the tour.

We also went to Porter for fresh peaches and then on the Chouteau for lunch at the Dutch Pantry and then to the Amish Cheese House where the kids found their favorite flavors of Jelly Belly jellybeans and Dorothy picked up fresh loaf of jalapeno cheese bread.

4th of July

2011-07-04T22:55:00.001-05:00

The hummingbirds get the last of the nectar before the fireworks start

I cleaned up the yard before family arrived

A brisket has been smoking for 4 hours

Gracen is dressed for the occasion

So is Hunter

Here's Jenna with a sparkler for Lorna in Ottawa

quote of the day

2011-07-04T09:43:00.000-05:00

America is much more than a geographical fact. It is a political and moral fact - the first community in which men set out in principle to institutionalize freedom, responsible government, and human equality.

--Adlai Stevenson

sisters half a world away

2011-07-04T09:03:00.001-05:00

Our two daughters are as far away from us as they have ever been. In fact, they are half a world away from each other.

Rachel and her husband, Brad, are in Hawaii visiting his family.

And Kelly is in Uganda on a mission trip with her church.

miscellaneous photos of the week

2011-07-01T16:00:00.000-05:00

You never know who you'll see along the creek

Like these horse riders.....

Or my neighbor Mike looking for his cows.

Everytime Hunter goes into the water he comes out with a differnt hair do, like this one....

or this one.

quote of the day

2011-06-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

"You can either practice being right or practice being kind."

--Anne Lamott

creek day

2011-06-29T15:59:00.000-05:00

We spent most of the day at the creek. Well, at least until we got hungry for corn dogs and macaroni and cheese.

The kids ride across the pasture in the back of the truck

Then a walk through the enchanted forest.

Sun block by the gallon for these fair skinned kids

Testing the depth of the water

Who needs a swimming pool when you have this?

They found a little bit of sand and were happy to make sand castles.

keeping the grand kids fed and entertained

2011-06-28T14:50:00.001-05:00

This is the second day of my two week stint of caring for the grand kids while their mother is in Uganda. They will spend the weekends with their dad so I've been trying to plan meals and events for their time with us. Yesterday they spent time at Tara's house swimming in the pool. We had tacos for dinner. Today we went to the creek but a thunderstorm came up before they could put a toe in the water. So, we came home, ate some taquitos for lunch and went to the public library to see a magic show that was part of the summer reading program.

Jenna volunteers to assist the magician

Jenna wanted a picture of her posing with the magician

let them eat cake

2011-06-24T07:50:00.002-05:00

Dorothy enlisted my help for another cake. I used my pasta machine (I never make pasta with it) to roll out fondant to make the black squares for the checkerboard effect, It also came in handy for the roads.

handy

2011-06-23T08:39:00.000-05:00

If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

--Red Green

Our washing machine stopped working. My first thought was, "Oh boy!". I enjoy trouble shooting machines to learn the problem and then making the repair. The washer started the cycle just fine but when it came to the rinse and spin cycles it just stopped. My first thought was maybe the timer went out but if that was so then it shouldn't have been able to fill with water and agitate. So, I decided to check the lid switch. The lid switch turns the machine off whenever the lid is lifted during the rinse and spin cycle.

I removed the cabinet and found that the lid switch was broken and part of it was laying on top of the tub.

I used 14 ga. wire to fasten the two parts of the switch together as you can see in this photo. I used my meter to test the continuity and the switch actually worked.

I reinstalled the switch, put the cabinet back on the machine, and the washer worked good as new with no money spent for a repair man or parts.

the latest lily

2011-06-21T08:12:00.000-05:00

Every few days a new lily blooms

quote of the day

2011-06-20T17:56:00.000-05:00

"For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die."

--Anne Lamott

oh, the irony of it all....

2011-06-15T17:43:00.000-05:00

or, funny how things turn out...

A few weeks ago I went to the doctor about a mole on my face. I spent over twenty years outside delivering the mail so it's expected that I would have trouble with sun damage. Well, the doctor didn't share my concern with that particular mole, but he noticed a spot on my nose that he suspected was a basal cell. A biopsy was done and surgery was scheduled for this morning. I showed up, the monitors were attached and it was revealed that my blood pressure was sky high. Now, I have white coat syndrome and my pressure goes up in the presence of a doctor, but this was higher than I had ever seen it. He rescheduled the surgery and sent me to the ER where they were able to get me under control. I have an appointment with my regular doctor tomorrow. I'm 65 years old and this will be the first time I have had to take medicine on a continual basis. I'm glad I caught it before something happened.

more lillies

2011-06-14T12:13:00.000-05:00

This is shaped like a Stella D'oro Lilli but it is a brighter yellow. See the bug?

I like to take pictures of flowers in the early morning light. These are Asian lillies.

I was walking along the gravel bar down at the creek this morning and came across this old hulk of a lawn mower. You never know what's going to be swept down the creek bed by a storm.

lillies of the yard

2011-06-13T14:03:00.001-05:00

quote of the day

2011-06-10T08:24:00.000-05:00

"Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived...Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation... Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend. What people somehow forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here."

--Anne Lamott

what I'm reading now

2011-06-10T08:20:00.000-05:00

Who Owns the World: The Surprising Truth About Every Piece of Land on the Planet
If you like books with lots of statistics and lists then this one is for you. Who Owns the World by Kevin Cahill reveals the ownership of every piece of land on the planet. Some interesting facts gleaned from the back cover:

Two of the largest landowners in the U.S. are the federal government and Ted Turner.
80% of the American population live in urban areas
The least crowded state is Alaska with 670 acres per person. The most crowded is New Jersey, with.7 acres per person.
60% of America's population are property owners.
Queen Elizabeth II own 1/6 of the entire land surface on Earth.
Only 15% of the world's population lays claim to landownership, and that landownership in too few hands is t arguable the single greatest cause of poverty.

new trail to the creek

2011-06-09T15:49:00.001-05:00

For several years whenever the grand kids wanted to go swimming in the creek I took them to places other than my own property because over time the trail to the water has become overgrown.. The storms from this spring have created a gravel bar and swimming holes that are just too beautiful not to use so this morning I started a project to clear the way. Here are some photos:

Here's the overgrown trail.

Making progress

Looking back up toward the truck. Almost done.

Now we have access to this swimming hole.

I found these wild flowers

quote of the day

2011-06-07T14:41:00.001-05:00

A good marriage is where both people feel like they're getting the better end of the deal.

--Anne Lamott

misinformed quote of the day

2011-06-06T10:15:00.001-05:00

"He who warned, uh, the, the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells.... and uh making sure.... as he's riding his horse through town... to send those warning shots.. and bells that, uh we were going to be secure... and we were going to be free.

--Sarah Palin

Warned the British?
Ringing bells?
Warning shots?

Bonus misinformed quote of the day:

"I know my American history."

--Sarah Palin

Sad note: Fans of Sarah Palin were actually attempting to edit Wikipedia's page on Paul Revere to change the web site's narrative to agree with Palin's.

quote of the day

2011-06-05T10:32:00.001-05:00

"The society to which we belong seems to be dying or is already dead. I don't mean to sound dramatic, but clearly the dark side is rising. Things could not have been more odd and frightening in the Middle Ages. But the tradition of artists will continue no matter what form the society takes. And this is another reason to write: people need us, to mirror for them and for each other without distortion-not to look around and say, 'Look at yourselves, you idiots!,' but to say, 'This is who we are."

-- Anne LaMott

a summer day in spring

2011-06-05T08:18:00.002-05:00

I always like spring days working in the yard after a bone chilling winter. The warm sun on my back thaws not only the body but the psyche. But this year there was only a brief tornadic interlude between winter and summer and it's not even officially summer. It is hot.

The grand kids came down to spend Friday night with us. At their request I made fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. I timed it so Dorothy would be home from work in time to make the gravy. She's the gravy expert. Then, Saturday morning it was pancakes to fortify us for the day ahead.

The little ones wanted to go to the creek so I called our friends Kathleen and Rick and asked if I could take them to their creek. They have a wonderful space for swimming and picnicking.

We drive down this highway a few miles.....

turn up this dirt road,.......

and into this gate.

I spent most of my time in the shade.

Marley and Jenna rode in the back of the truck until we got to the state highway and then they joined hunter and me in the front.

quote of the day

2011-06-04T16:13:00.001-05:00

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.

--Helen Keller

haycutting

2011-06-04T16:11:00.000-05:00

I haven't seen egrets around for a long time, but as soon as my neighbor, Mike, started cutting the hay they arrived to feast on the insects scared up by the mower.

quote of the day

2011-05-25T22:24:00.000-05:00

Even very recently, the elders could say [to the youths]: "You know, I have been young and you never have been old." But today's young people can reply: "You never have been young in the world I am young in, and you never can be."....This break between generations is wholly new: it is planetary and universal.

--Margaret Mead

storm

2011-05-25T08:11:00.001-05:00

Just as the region is recovering from the Joplin storm the weather service forecast an explosion of storms with potentially equal deadliness. The super cells started popping up in the early afternoon west of Oklahoma City so we had sufficient time to get prepared. We haven't taken shelter during a storm for the last thirty years, but things are changing. Dorothy and I picked up Tara and her baby and met Kelly and her family at the First Baptist Church in Siloam Springs, AR. The church is built into the side of a hill and the lower level affords ample protection against a tornado.

When we arrived we were surprised to see so many people already there.

Sunday School class rooms were filled.......

As were the hallways

This morning I went outside to check for damage. Some yard furniture had been tossed about and some branches were on the ground so we were very fortunate.

quote of the day

2011-05-23T17:34:00.000-05:00

If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character....would you slow down? Or speed up?

-Chuck Palahniuk

kelly turns 40

2011-05-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

Birthday Dinner

Kelly displays her choice of birthday dinner: chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn bread.

Blowing out the candles on her blackberry cobbler.

Gracen always enjoys a party.

what I'm reading now

2011-05-20T15:35:00.000-05:00

Hard Laughter was a quick read. I decided to read some of Anne Lamott's books after reading this quote in a magazine: "Part of me loves and respects men so desperately, and part of me thinks they are so embarrassingly incompetent at life and in love. You have to teach them the very basics of emotional literacy. You have to teach them how to be there for you, and part of me feels tender toward them and gentle, and part of me is so afraid of them, afraid of any more violation." Hard Laughter is a novel about a young woman and the family she loves. It covers an emotionally wrenching time for the family members when their father is diagnosed and treated for a brain tumor. Ms. Lamott reveals insight into the human condition as she creates believable yet eccentric characters who are trying to make their way through life the best way they can.

quote of the day

2011-05-19T10:09:00.000-05:00

There is a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don't reconcile the poles. You just recognize them.

--Orson Welles

what I'm reading now

2011-05-19T10:05:00.000-05:00

Ten Degrees of Reckoning is a true story of survival at sea. It chronicles a family's adventure of sailing around the world and then the tragedy of shipwreck and the survival of one of its members. It was a very interesting book. It describes what it's like to sail a vessel, navigate with GPS and charts, the hazards of weather and coastlines, and all the other things that are necessary to know in order to safely keep on course. It's also a story about a woman's search for justice after she loses her family at sea when a commercial freighter broadsides them and leaves the area without rendering aid. The book will keep you turning the pages with anticipation.

why medical care is so expensive

2011-05-15T12:20:00.000-05:00

Via: Medical Billing And Coding

what I'm reading now

2011-05-13T13:36:00.000-05:00

The Mystery of 2012, Predictions, Prophecies, and Possibilities is a compilation of essays dealing with the fundamental change that is supposed to occur on Dec. 21, 2012. The ancient Mayan calendar marked time starting at around 3000 B.C until 2012. This book brings together all of the Mayan, Christian, and New Age theories, myths, and philosophies about what is to become of this planet and its inhabitants. Evidently the sun is in the process of aligning with the equator of the Milky Way. This will signal the end of the present age and the beginning of a new one. Some theorists think that there will be catastrophic earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, etc. Actually, that’s already beginning to happen. The part that intrigues me is that mankind, according to these experts will experience a shift in consciousness and will have the opportunity to turn things around and start being good stewards of the earth and it’s resources. It may be a time when wars end, greed will no longer hold sway, and people will begin to work in harmony for betterment of all mankind. Personally, I don’t see that happening . I think the human race will allow itself to become extinct before they will put aside greed, ambition, and aggression. But that’s just my opinion.

climate change

2011-05-09T15:08:00.001-05:00

The floods of recent weeks were just the insult added to the injury of the winter cold. The frigid nights of January and February damaged or killed plants that have grown well for me for the last 20-30 years.

This dwarf Yaupon Holly has been a beautiful part of my garden. It was easily shaped and pruned. It didn't survive the -19 degrees.

This is an Euonymus Japonica. It is usually an evergreen maintaining it's green leaves throughout winter, but as you can see it's been heavily damaged. It will take several years to recover.

This one is a Crape Myrtle. The frost killed it dead to the ground. There are some small shoots growing from the roots so I may be able to start over by cutting all the top dead wood.

flood

2011-05-09T07:43:00.001-05:00

We were driving by this place yesterday so I took a picture. The building is being cleaned out after the flood.

Here's how it look a few weeks ago

mothers day

2011-05-08T08:32:00.000-05:00

This is the breakfast I made for Dorothy this morning. Southern Pecan Frenchbread sprinkled with confectioner's sugar and cinnamon, with bacon, and a hot cup of coffee. After breakfast I took her outside and showed her a new Dogwood tree that I'll be planting for her tomorrow.

are you looking at me?

2011-05-05T15:01:00.000-05:00

on to Africa

2011-04-29T16:10:00.001-05:00

My daughter Kelly will be taking a mission trip to Uganda this summer with a group from her church. They are raising money for the trip in a number of different ways. The most appealing fund raiser is selling cinnamon rolls made in the church kitchen.

Dorothy took orders for the rolls at her job with the hospital. I took some photos of Kelly, Marley, and Jenna making deliveries.

quote of the day

2011-04-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

Common experience shows how much rarer is moral courage than physical bravery. A thousand men will march to the mouth of the cannon where one man will dare espouse an unpopular cause.

--Clarence Darrow