quote of the day

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.

--Anais Nin

little mules

Dorothy's cousin recently acquired these miniature mules and the wagon. Saturday, he gave all the kids in the family a ride.

murphy's law extreme

Murphy's law. You know how that goes. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. That's how things went during last week's training. The instructor showed up late the first day and quit the second day. The hand held computers that were issued to us didn't work. By the third day everyone's computer was working except mine. I was getting behind in the training because of the technological malfunctions. The hotel where I was staying was across the street from a rail road track. Every hour all night long freight trains barrelled through town with their whistles screaming like a banshee. Thursday morning, after struggling with the effects of sleep deprivation and frustrated with the equipment failures, I turned in my stuff and came home.

quote of the day

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.

- – William Blake

temporary job

I got a job. I'm working for the 2010 Census for the next 8-10 weeks. I'm spending a week in Pryor, OK to train. It 's something new and different to do. I don't like being away from home, though.

my first cake

I've made pies before, so I thought I would try my hand at a cake. This one required 3/4 cup of cocoa powder. I couldn't find any so I called Dorothy and she recommended substituting chocolate squares. I didn't want to mess with the computations required for converting chocolate squares into the equivalent in powder. ( I know, I could have found the formula online). I found some instant hot cocoa mix and used that. It made a great cake. Dorothy liked it and said it was moist. You can spend years eating delectable desserts and never give a thought about the healthiness of what you're eating. When I put this recipe together I was shocked at the amount of butter and sugar it takes to make a cake. Oh, my poor arteries. Have the paramedics standing by, or better yet, call roto-rooter.



You have to remember this was my first attempt. I forgot to put frosting between the layers. I didn't make enough frosting and was too tired to make more. ( I did this after a morning of cutting wood and working on my truck). As bad as it looks it's a pretty good cake.

signs of spring

The warm weather has brought out these harbingers of Spring. I always look forward to seeing the first green tips of the daffodils peeking through the earth. I know that warm, fragrant days full of birdsong are just over the hill.

annual visitors

Yesterday, I cleaned out the guest house for our visitors who will be flying in from South America next month. The Martins have been our annual guests for years and usually stay with us from March until September. Every year they bring new additions to the family and we look forward to seeing the younger kids. In fact, we've known and appreciated the friendship of several generations of the Martin family.

The "guest house" ready for the Martins

what i'm reading now

September Songs - The Bonus Years of Marriage by Maggie Scarf is a book about how marriage has changed over the twentieth century. Longer life spans require that married couples adjust to their own and their partner's needs during the "bonus years" that have been added to the average marriage. It's interesting to find that most of the couples interviewed in the book report greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their relationships than when they were younger.

the family came down

The kids came down today and we killed two birds with one stone. We cleaned up some of the branches still on the ground since the ice storm and we celebrated Burk's birthday.

A grotesque pruning by Mother Nature.

When the limbs began to fall they narrowly missed my riding lawn mower (under the dark green tarp) the grand kids' 4-wheelers (under the blue tarp), and our satellite dish.

"The crew", Burk, Kelly, Hunter, Samantha, Dusty, Tara, and Dorothy

Next year's firewood is piling up

Jenna, Marley, and Hunter help Burk to blow out the candles on his birthday cookie.

Jenna and Marley lick the icing from the candles

Tara does her homework at the table

quote of the day

Philosophy and science have not always been friendly toward the idea of God. The reason being that they are dedicated to the task of accounting for things and are impatient with anything that refuses to give an account of itself. The philosopher and the scientist will admit that there is much that they do not know, but that is quite another thing from admitting that there is something which they can never know, which indeed they have no technique for discovering. To admit that there is one who lies beyond us, who exists outside of all our categories, who will not be dismissed with a name, who will not appear before the bar of our reason, nor submit to our curious inquiries: This requires a great deal of humility, more than most of us possess, so we save face by thinking God down to our level, or at least down to where we can manage him.

-- A.W. Tozier

the grandkids are coming over tomorrow

The grand kids, Marley, Hunter, and Jenna are coming tomorrow and they are going to spend the night. I'd better make a list and make sure we're ready:

• Spaghetti - we've got plenty of it and they'll eat plenty of it
• Corn dogs - Jenna can't function without those.
• Sunny D - absolutely essential
• Kool Aid Bursts - (grape and blueberry) the emergency back up drink
• Strawberry Marshmallows
• Fruit Roll Ups
• Cookies
• Chips
• Flavor straws
• Apples

I think we're prepared.

ice storm redux

• When an ice storm has been forecast be sure to have plenty of batteries of every kind. Don't' wait until you lose electricity. You may find out that there are no batteries at your local Wal-mart.



• Keep a flashlight by your bed. You may think you know the way to the bathroom, but when the night is as dark as a black cat eating licorice in a coal mine you may bump into things you thought weren't there.



• Since I learned that kerosene won't keep til next year I had intended to continue to use it in the small heater after the power came back on. But I don't think I can stand to smell it any longer, so I'll use it to start the fires in the piles of cut branches that are accumulating.



• I was worried about carbon monoxide poisoning from the kerosene heater and the burners on the stove, but our detector never sounded an alarm. I sure didn't want to lose any brain cells from that. I don't have many to spare.



• Although this ice storm was a catastrophe for the power infrastructure and and the emergency response teams it was a boost to the local economy. Department stores like Wal-mart were packed and merchandise flew off the shelf. Even the electronic stores had an increase of sales for televisions, computer, etc. How were people going to use these things? Restaurants were doing a brisk business as were hotels and motels. Candles, kerosene, and batteries became hard to come by.



• I've lived in Oklahoma for almost 30 years and I've never seen anything like this storm. Yet, the meteorologists say we'd better get used to it. This is a product of global warming. When the winter is as cold as normal, snow and sleet will result, but when the air is warmer than usual the precipitation will fall as freezing rain which sticks to trees and power lines resulting in widespread damage. I think I'll check the real estate ads in the Virgin Islands.

the twetlth day was just like christmas

After twelve days without power the restoration crew finally arrived at our house. No more sitting around in the dark. No more cold house. This ice storm will probably be the subject of posts for several more day. I've learned a few things. I'll share them with you, but I think I'll just relax for a day or so.

it aint over til it's over

On day five we were up early. Two electric utility truck were parked nearby. Oh, boy! I thought. Surely we'll have our power back before the day is out. Dorothy and I took the laundry to Kelly's house and spent the day with them. It was dark when we started home and we were delighted to find lit up houses all along the way through the town of Watts and Westville, but when we pulled into our drive our house was dark. They had restored electricity to the main line but had not restored it to ten houses in our neighborhood. They simply packed up their tools and drove away. And never came back.

It is now day ten. We get updates every morning on the radio. Out of 47,000 customers who lost service there are now only about 5,000 without power. As the number of people still in the dark and cold shrinks we seem to remain in that group. I'm getting impatient.

In the beginning I wondered how people survived before modern technology. The plains Indians lived in tepees whose animal skin walls had an R-value of about one. They still had to go out into the cold and hunt for food. How did they do it? And whatever motivated people to move to Canada? It's colder than this up there. Maybe my fellow blogger Lorna can answer that question. But as the days go by and I'm having to be out in the frigid air to clean the place up and do all the things we have to do to survive, I'm reminded what remarkably adaptive animals we humans are. After ten days I'd still rather my house be warm and cozy but I'm getting by.

I think it's the loss of my daily routine that has had the greatest effect on me. It makes me wonder where we find real life. Is it in living a basic existence, close to the bone, being careful to make few mistakes that would jeopardize well being and safety? Or has the artificiality of modern homes that insulate you from the climate become reality for us? What about cars, cell phones, computers and all the other gadgets that separate us from the physical world? If all those things suddenly disappeared would we be able to carry on? With the current world wide economic situation we may soon find out. Someone should do a psychological study on the effects of the sudden loss of the anchors we depend on to keep ourselves stable.

Today I spent some time on the roof throwing limbs to the ground. Tomorrow I'll fire up the chain saw and continue the clean up. Who knows? We may get electricity tomorrow.