Weather forecasting

You can click on the photos and get an enlarged version.

It's starting to get cloudy and rainy looking around here. Earlier today, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Sure is hard sometimes to figure out what it's gonna do unless you have the latest technology.

Dishwashers

Debbie bought a new dishwasher in January. I've blogged about her problems with the dishwasher and that a tiny Lego was discovered stuck in the drain line about a month ago. During the last month, the dishwasher still does not get the dishes clean. What's wierd, is the dishwasher gets the food off, but puts something else on the dishes. The glasses are cloudy. The silverware is discolored and some of the spoons are getting black. Some bowls and glasses will have stuff on them that doesn't even look like food. Debbie had completely rinsed everything off of the dishes just to make sure there is no food inside the dishwasher and some of the dishes still come out with something on them. She's tried different detergents and additives. She will run the water to make sure it's hot before turning on the dishwasher. Makes sure the disposal is empty of food. Debbie is pretty ticked off about it, especially when the salesperson raves about how nice her Bosch dishwasher works. Debbie took a day off work today to go visit the appliance store. She took some of the dirty dishes with her. Apparently, they are going to replace the pump. It is possible that the pump was damaged when the Lego was clogging the drain line, but I don't know for sure. We'll see. If they replace the pump and there is a dirty dish after that, the salesperson better have a large jar of Vaseline in her store cuz she'll need it when Deb shoves that dishwasher... um, well, you know. Word up... don't buy a Bosch. Maybe we got the only lemon in the whole pile, but it's a worthless piece o' crap as far as I'm concerned. Based on Debbie's emotions when she pulls a dirty dish out of the dishwasher, her opinion is that it's not even good enough to be a piece of crap. There might be a day when I post some photos of a dishwasher heaped in the back yard and a giant hole in the cabinet where the dishwasher used to be. Debbie might go ballistic on it like she did many years ago when a dryer door wouldn't close properly and she got tired of me procrastinating about repairing it. hee hee. (or not)

It's so hot...

It was 104 today. Dang that's hot. A few days ago, we saw a white and brown cow standing in a pond. Debbie wondered what black cows do when it's hot. If you can see the three cows at the far side of the pond, guess we know now. hee hee. It's really hot.

It's so hot the farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice so they won't lay hard boiled eggs.

It's so hot the birds are using potholders to pull the worms out of the ground.

It's hotter than two hamsters fartin' in a wool sock.

It's hotter than a stolen tamale.

It's so hot a dog was chasing a cat and they were both walking.

Yeah, but it's a dry heat.

I never realized how few "it's hotter than" type of jokes there are until you try to Google some. I mean, that's just nuttier than squirrel turds.

While searching for stoopid "it's hot" jokes, I found a bunch of other funny stuff. Like the two dinosaurs and the pig having a contest.

You ever watch that Sham Wow commercial? The guy shows you it will hold 10 times it's weight in liquid. Soaks up a bowl full of water then rings it out. Then he says you can wash it. Hello! Won't the damn towel soak up all the wash water?

Debbie grilled some burgers, hot dogs and made some German tater salad. Oh, yeah. Good eatin'.

Have a good evening and stay cool.

TGIF

After the morning adventure, the afternoon was pretty uneventful by comparison. By the way, the $582 was for a tire ($176) and labor to put the new tire on the wheel, rotate the tires, some scheduled maintenance on the CX9, and the oil change. I believe the damaged tire is the same tire we bought when the motorcycle knocked the new off of the CX9 a few months after Debbie got the car.

Debbie and I went to Longhorn Steakhouse for a great meal. I really like this place. Good place to eat. Couple of New York strips, sauteed mushrooms and a sweet tater. Tea and a Newcastle brown ale. mmmmm. Debbie got a box to put her leftover steak and sweet potato in to take home. "Olive Garden" was stamped into the top of the box. LOL.

Ever watch the Food Channel show, Diners, Driveins and Dives? That's a good show. Always have some good looking food on there.

We are watching one of those ghost hunter shows on the Travel Channel. The guys are at an old plantation in Louisiana. In an old slave quarters, a light was going on an off for no reason. The guys locked themselves in one of the quarters and were freaking out. Tad too dramatic, but fun to watch.

Have a good nite.

New tire, oil change, service...

I got to the office this morning before anyone else. One of the guys comes in around 8:15 and told me one the tires on the CX-9 was leaking air. I went outside and sure enough, the right rear was leaking audibly. Big chunk of metal sticking out of the tire. Shoulda taken a photo, but I didn't think about it until later. Anyway, I unload the spare and try to remove the lug nuts. Ya know, the Japanese are pretty creative people but didn't give much thought to tire removal. A five-inch long lug wrench, such that it is, isn't long enough to generate adequate torque to remove a lug nut from an SUV. After almost pooping my pants straining to turn one of the lug nuts, I gave up and drove to the dealership. I scheduled an appointment at 9:30 to have the oil changed, so I went early to get them to take care of the tire, too. From 8:30 until about 11:15: I'm sitting in the lobby of the dealership watching stuff about Michael Jackson, Regis Philbin, and The Price is Right on their television; reading some cooking magazine about home barbequeing (yeah, I was stinkin' bored); reading The Oklahoman (they have way too many articles about OU); reading several brochures about the new Mazda 6; meandering through the lot looking at the new Mazda 6's (I like the dark blue one with the V6); and making a couple of laps around the showroom... boring!!! I did score a 4-way lug wrench from the service manager. Said he found it in a trade-in and I could have it. It's all rusted up, so no wonder he was gifting it. But hey, it's better than that short-handled lug wrench that came with the CX-9. Anyhoo, Five Hunnert and Eighty-two Dollars later and I'm headed to Jersey Mike's to get a sammich. Except Jersey Mike's isn't there anymore. Darnit. OK. Schlotzky's is down the road. I went inside (cuz it's usually quicker than the drive-thru) and ordered. Several people come in after me and get their food first. I asked about my order. The register where I paid wasn't sending orders to the back. Are you shittin' me? This day surely will get better.

Have a better day.

Charlie's Angel and Thriller

Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died today. RIP.

Heard on the radio earlier today that a prostitute was arrested in OKC after making a deal with a guy who was going to pay her with a case of Doritos. Gives new meaning to Frito-LAY. hee hee.

Debbie has had a few interesting telephone calls on her office phone. Some gal called early yesterday morning and left two voice messages griping at her because her husband is fooling around and texting Debbie. From his cell phone to her office phone... a land line. You can't send a text message to a land line. She has the wrong phone number and doesn't even know it. LMAO. Late last nite, the gal called and left another voice message demanding that Debbie call her back and talk "woman to woman." Debbie changed the greeting on her voice mail today and told the woman to leave a number. LOL.

Late yesterday afternoon, Debbie was with a client. The client handed her cell phone to Debbie and told Debbie to read a joke. Debbie had to scroll down to read all of the joke. But she scrolled a tad too far and saw a photo of the woman's, um... mommy parts. LOL. Debbie said her mouth fell open and the woman grabbed the phone. Too stinkin' funny.

We are watching a television show about extreme dining. They are showing 2 lbs hamburgers with gobs of cheese. yuck. I like burgers, but those are gross. My stomach hurts just watching that.

Another show is talking about a restaurant called Cluck-U. A buffalo wings restaurant that has a Wall of Flame of photos of people who ate their 911 wings in 5 minutes. No drinks. No other food to kill the heat. Hilarious watching those guys. Reminded me of my foolishness at Wing Stop in Greenville. whew. LOL

Have a good one.

Cabin filter

I took the Mazda 6 to the dealership today to get the oil changed, tires rotated and to have the a/c refrigerant recharged. They took the car to the shop and I settled into a nice leather chair in the waiting room to read ESPN magazine. Just as I was getting into a good baseball article, the service manager walks up with this nasty looking filter. He said, "Your refrigerant is probably ok but the cabin filter needs to be replaced. It's choking off the air flow." I told him I didn't even know the car had a cabin, much less a cabin filter. He chuckled and said, "Believe it or not, we didn't know Mazda 6's had these filters either until about two years after they came out." OK. So what's a darned cabin filter and where is it located? "Behind the glove box. Easy to get to if you know where it is to check it." When will you know what mine looks like? "Now." THAT'S OUT OF MY CAR??? Again, he chuckled and said, "Yep. This is the worse one I've ever seen. I'll have to put it up on the wall of shame" as he points to the wall behind me. Yup, mine is the gold medal winner for nasty-ass filters full of dirt, weed shrapnel, bug parts and some other crapola that is way unidentifiable. And I thought the interior smelled funny cuz Debbie and I are having fart contests on the way home... Anyway, $50 worth of filter and the a/c blows hard enough to remove a toupee. Didn't need to do anything else to the a/c either. Oil changed. Tires rotated. Good to go. I don't know which automobiles have cabin filters, but you might want to have your car checked for it. It definitely can get clogged with stuff. By the way, Debbie always wins those contests... hee hee.

Sushi and plums

Nice day today. Gonna be another scorcher.

Deb and I went to a Japanese restaurant last nite for dinner. Both of us had sushi. Ten years ago, there is no way I would have said either of us would do that. Heck, two years ago I would have said no way. Believe it or not, it's pretty darned tasty. Debbie likes the California roll type of sushi. I'm adventuring into the big chunk o' raw fish on the rice ball type of sushi. Not sure I'll eat it at the buffet line, but at a restaurant I'll give it a try. Last nite's meal was really good. Debbie likes Kyoto's in Stillwater better, tho.

We bought some fresh plums on Monday nite. Pretty good. As a public service announcement, I must warn everyone that two of those things will make your gastrointestinal tract shout, "Fiber! Let's party!". Just sayin'. Also, ever noticed that a plum kinda looks like someone's ass? Kinda has a crack-like seam down the middle. And when you rip the stem off, that looks like the anal orifice region o' the derriere. Freaky. Again, just sayin'.

Have a nice day.

Japanese Volcano

Cool photo of an eruption from the International Space Station.

Rush hour craziness

Man, the loonies were on the road this morning. The usual types of people that are in a big hurry to get somewhere and drive 5 mph faster than everyone else. Changing lanes alot and cutting off other drivers. A pickup and a Cadillac were running together and cut in front of us. The truck slammed on his brakes to keep from rear-ending the car in front of him. Of course, the Cadillac tailgating the truck slammed on her brakes. I had to slam on my brakes. Debbie said her heart almost stopped. Somehow I managed not to rear-end the Cadillac and not get rear-ended by the Nissan following me too closely. For the next several miles, this ridiculous racing and suddenly slamming on their brakes occurred repeatedly. Eventually, the truck changed lanes and as we were passing him, Debbie rolled down her window and flipped him the bird. LMAO!! Finally made it to the exit to go to her office without another incident. We made it a couple of blocks from her office and a car comes racing up behind us. The driver swerved at the last second to avoid hitting us. As he's going around us, we saw that his right front tire was flat and he is driving on the rim! I'm driving about 30 mph and he's going much faster than that. Not sure he knew he had a flat the way he was driving. Interesting start to the day.

Debbie's road rage reminded me of a story she told about her, Tara, Megan and Kelsey on a trip through OKC several years ago when they had a road rage incident. I'm a not entirely sure who started what, but apparently there were many expletives verbalized by people in our car toward a guy and his gal in the other car. Either Debbie chased the other car or the other car chased Debbie. Eventually, they all ended up taking an exit ramp off of I-35. The guy in the other car hit a trailer being pulled by a pickup. The driver of the pickup apparently was a pretty big guy who didn't seem too happy about the wreck. I don't remember the specifics of the story, so Debbie and Tara will have to provide the details. I do remember that Debbie was driving the brand new Mazda 6. I remember hearing that Tara was dropping some f-bombs. Knowing Megan and Kelsey, they were too. Dunno why Debbie talks like that around them... Anyway, Debbie told the girls not to tell me what happened. Several years after the incident, Debbie spilled the beans. Not entirely sure I've heard the whole story, but I realized my wife and daughters might have worse road rage than I do. At least I don't chase people all over the place although there might be a bird or two flying... and some salty language. LOL.

Nice Sunday

Debbie made a great breakfast. So what's new there? Scrambled eggs with mushrooms, green peppers and onions. Cinnamon rolls. Kinda nice to sleep in til 8 am. Lazy. LOL.

Washed the white car this morning. Took me about an hour. Pretty dirty. But looks good now. Til our trip to OKC in the morning and the front gets coated with insects again.

For Father's Day, Megan and Kelsey gave me a gift certificate to Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and Bahama Breeze Restaurant. We go to all of those except Bahama Breeze, so that's a great gift. They gave me a gift certificate to Hastings, too. And one of those cards that talks when you open it. Hoops and Yoyo are hilarious.

Tara, Evie and Maggie called this afternoon and wished me a Happy Father's Day. The girls were busy watching something on TV so they didn't talk much. LOL

Debbie and I went to Rib Crib for dinner. Always good food. Cleaned out the interior of the white car after we got back home.

Pretty nice day today.

Gran Turino

Debbie and I watched Gran Turino tonite. Pretty good movie. Not what I expected. Clint Eastwood is pretty cool.

That might not be a chocolate chip in that cookie

Nestle is recalling some of its raw cookie dough because it might have e-coli in it. You tellin' me those chocolate chips might not be chocolate chips? Kinda thought that cookie tasted like shit. hee hee.

Cool bat trick

A baseball bat. Not the flying mammal sort o' bat.

Cool bat trick

I wonder how many times he knocked the tar out of his fingers or threw the bat across the yard? LOL.

Rough day

The day started out with a call from the FAA. There are a couple of canopies that are moving sideways alot in the wind. An architect out there thought the canopies were going to fall down so he blocked access around them. The canopies were constructed about 4 years ago and no one thought anything about the side-to-side movement until yesterday. Yesterday and today, the wind is blowing about 20 mph and gusting near 30 mph. We've had much higher winds over the last 4 years. Anyway, get a call as I'm dropping Debbie off at her office indicating the FAA architect wants someone out there ASAP to investigate the canopies. I get to the office to finish another project for an owner review submittal. While I'm taking care of that, a call about another project and another request to drop what I'm doing to rush something through cuz the contractor needs an answer ASAP. I send out the owner review stuff. Go to the FAA and discover the canopies are ok and it's not a big deal. Explained to the architect that canopies are sometimes designed to sway alot but that doesn't mean they are going to fall down. Talked about canopies at gas stations and convenient stores, street light poles, traffic light poles and similar things that move alot repeatedly during high winds. They are ok although they look kinda freaky moving around like that. Agreed to run some numbers and double check those canopy columns just to make the architect feel better. Get back to the office and find an email about another hurry-up deal and another project. Bent joist during erection, wanting to know if it will be ok and can I check it out now cuz the crane costs a bunch of money and it's just sitting there waiting for my answer. Plus an email asking if I'm "finished yet" with the hurry-up that came in before the trip to the FAA. Plus another email asking if I have the detail ready for the parapet extension that was a rush on Wednesday. Plus a call from an architect on a project in Tahlequah asking if I can review the existing framing for the skylights they want to add in an old library building. Can I do that today cuz they want to issue drawings this afternoon and it shouldn't take me long? dayum. Some days are rough. But as usual, my day ain't as rough as it is for others. Deep breath and dive in, bro. What day is this anyway?

Test report

Debbie got the results of her tests from the other day. Everything except the cholesterol levels are ok. Cholesterol levels in the 300+ range. Not good. Doc Oltmann referred Debbie to an endocrinologist (hope I spelled that correctly). She visits that guy on July 22. Doc told her to take 4000 mg of fish oil every day. Dang, that's alot. Wonder if it's possible to O.D. on fish oil? Wonder if her breath will smell like a seal's? Wonder how that will be different from now? Wonder if Debbie will slap me up after she reads that? One of those questions has an affirmative answer. Got a feeling the next time I see everyone will be after the swelling goes down around my left eye. Hey, I'm fast on my feet as long as my knee or my back doesn't give out on me. hee hee.

Temperatures around here are hot. Upper 90's today and this weekend. Definitely summer time. Sunday is first day of summer and the day when we have the longest number of daylight hours. Starting Monday, the daylight hours get less and less as we move toward winter. Depressing. It's so nice to drive to work and back home in daylight.

Have fun while the sun is shining and it's warm.

Bird attacks!!

As Debbie and I were leaving the Stillwater city limits this morning, a bird came out of nowhere and crashed into the top of the driver's side windshield. Either that or it was the biggest darned bug in the world. Pretty certain it was a bird, though. Nice way to start the day. The bird isn't too happy about it either, I'm sure.

Spider crossing

Debbie, Megan, Kelsey and I went to Kyoto's for dinner tonite. On the way back to the house, we saw a huge tarantula crossing Lakeview near Atwoods. Pretty cool to see a huge spider like that strolling across the street while cars are zooming by. It was about 3 feet from the curb the last I saw it. Hope it made it.

Happy birthday!!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Eleanor/Mom/Mema/Mema! Happy birthday to you! Even if it is a day late.

Love ya.

naughty stuff

I was watching Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning, and they had a bit on a very naughty billboard in Times Square. The billboard is advertising Calvin Klein jeans. The ad shows three men and one woman involved in what appears to be an orgy-type scene. One guy is laying on the floor and appears to be undoing his Calvin Klein jeans. One guy in laying on the couch with his shirt off and wearing Calvin Klein jeans. A woman, also without a shirt, is laying on top of that guy. She is wearing some Daisy Duke jean shorts. A third guy is sitting on the couch, without a shirt and wearing Calvin Klein jeans. He and the woman might be kissing. Not sure, their tongues are doing something to each other. Or maybe he is looking for his gum. Or trying CPR. Dunno. Is it porn in Times Square? How many people will buy Calvin Klein jeans after seeing that ad? How many NYC residents even look up at the ad? They are too worried about stepping in the loaf of #2 left on the sidewalk by the homeless guy. Will it adversely affect people in NYC? Nah, they probably see the real thing in Central Park or in the alleys between the buildings. Or similar stuff on cable television.

There are thousands of cattle in this country. You can see them when you travel along the highways. Cattle in the fields eating grass. Cattle in the fields standing around chewing their cud. Cute little calves running around. It's great fun to drive down the interstate and check out the animals in the fields. It's a shock, however, to be looking at the calves and then suddenly see... bovine porn. That's right. Bovine porn. Right there in the middle of an open field. Two bovines makin' bacon. Why in the middle of the field? Where do they think they are? Times Square? Get behind a tree for Pete's sake. How do people traveling with their kids explain that? "Daddy, why is that cow climbing on the back of that other cow? Are they wrasslin'?" "Yes, honey. That one cow is trying to do a belly to back suplex like those guys do on WWE." How do you tell your kids that is bovine porn? It's too late to avert their eyes at that point. Not only do we have to worry about ozone depletion caused by bovine flatulence, now we have to worry about exposing ourselves and our kids to bovine porn. If I want to watch animal porn, I'll tune in to Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel. There is only one thing to do about this. Eat more hamburgers. It's a race to eat beef faster than the beef can make more beef. I'm thinkin' it's a losing battle. We'll die of clogged arteries or skin cancer (remember that ozone thing?) before those dreaded bovines stop bumping uglies in the pasture and perpetuating their species. Maybe the answer is to stare straight ahead whilst traveling the highways. There is naughty stuff happening in the fields and on the billboards. Aren't we distracted enough trying to send text messages while driving anyway? hee hee.

It's raining Gatorade

My favorite racecar driver, Mark Martin, won today's NASCAR Cup race in Michigan. I was checking out photos of the race online and saw a photo of his crew throwing Gatorade everywhere in victory lane. Cool photo.

Debbie, Megan and Kelsey are on their way back from visiting Tara this weekend. I'm hanging out at the office getting a bit o' work done waiting for them to pass through OKC. We'll go get some dinner and then head to the house.

Have a good one.

Tropical Fruit Salad ain't Citrus Salad

Del Monte makes cans of grapefruit that I like to eat as a snack sometimes. Each can is about the same amount of grapefruit as a whole grapefruit. Nice thing is I don't have to cut up or peel the whole fruit, which sometimes gets messy at the office. Del Monte makes cans of other fruit, also. Megan apparently likes the Tropical Fruit Salad. It has pineapple, papaya, and passion fruit juice. Whatever the heck passion fruit juice is. I might not wanna know. Kinda like the chihuahua cheese queso at the local Mexican restaurant. I don't wanna know where they get chihuahua cheese. I mean, how do they milk those little dogs anyhow? Anyway, back to the fruit stuff. Today, I grabbed a can out of the cabinet and took it to work. I just opened it and instead of grapefruit, I see pineapples staring at me from inside the can. Dangit. Both cans o' fruit have almost the same label on them. Except where it says "Citrus Salad" on one can and "Tropical Fruit Salad" on the other. And each can has a different fruit shown on it. But otherwise, each can has Del Monte and yellow labels. Surely you can see how confusing it can be. Especially when a person really isn't paying attention. Sorry, didn't mean to call you Shirley. Anyway, I really don't like pineapple. And I hope this passion fruit juice doesn't have any wierd side effects like a sudden urge to wear a grass skirt or go surfing. whoa.

Have a good day.

Gardner's Field of Dreams

Very cool story about a Yankees baseball player that visited a children's hospital, met a young woman awaiting a heart transplant who gave him a bracelet, and... well, watch the video. Might need a tissue. It all ended up very well.

Gardner's Field of Dreams

Nice outfit, John

Golf veteran, John Daly, is playing in a PGA tournament this weekend. He wore a couple of interesting outfits the last couple of days. whoa.

Debbie, Megan and Kelsey went to Tara's this weekend. I'm staying in Stillwater to get caught up on some work. Two huge thunderstorms passed through Stillwater today not long after they left town. One or both of them had some big hail. Megan's Neon and Kelsey's Bonneville got banged up. Couple of big dents on the Bonneville and one big dent on the Neon. Lots of leaves laying everywhere, so the hail must have been intense. The local newspaper said the hail stones were between half-inch and 3 inches. Dangit. Glad Debbie's CX-9 wasn't here. Just got it out of the shop from the last hail bangin'.

Have a good one.

UPDATE: check out the pants and other stuff on this website. This is where Daly gets his golf trousers. hee hee.

Loudmouth Golf

UPDATE #2: Daly isn't the only pro wearing some, um, interesting attire.
Golf fashion can be a real trip

Gotta like the plaid pants. Reminds me of a pair I wore in 1976.

Pit stop in Times Square

Interesting stunt in NYC.

Brian Vickers' pit stop

'nuther day

The plumber checked out the clogged drain. Said he had to run a machine through it to clean it out. Kelsey said it took them about 30 minutes. No major catastrophe and $154 later, apparently the drain is unclogged. Now gotta figure out how to get the carpets dried out.

Have a good one.

Wet Wednesday

Got some rain today. Also, the drain line for our air conditioner is clogged. Not as easy to access as Tara's and John's was last summer. Ours disappears into the concrete slab. Gonna have to get the plumber to make a visit. It's been clogged for a couple of weeks. The carpet in the hallway was wet over Memorial Day weekend but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The hallway dried up so I figured wherever the water came from was not leaking anymore. Last nite, Megan said her bedroom carpet has been wet for several days. Looking in the a/c closet, I could see some dampness and saw a leak. Thought it was the water heater. Placed a bucket under the leak. This morning when I got up, I couldn't hear the water dripping into the bucket like it was last nite. Can't be the water heater leaking or the drip would still be happening. Looking around inside the closet, I finally noticed the drain was full of water. This evening, the hallway carpet was soaked again. Dangit. The plumber is supposed to be here tomorrow afternoon. Hope it's a cheap fix.

Debbie stopped on the side of the road tonite and picked a bunch of the white clover blooms. Kinda funny watching her in the ditch wearing sandals and using a pocket knife to cut weeds. She's at the dining table putting the blooms in an old phone book. Wigging out cuz there are bugs in the weeds she brought into the house. hee hee.

Megan has to "shadow" professionals this summer. Today was her first day of that. Eight hours of watching someone massage other people. wooohooo. hee hee.

Haven't seen Kelsey in a few days. She is going to be at the house when the plumber stops by tomorrow. After she takes her "horse" to the vet. That puppy gets bigger every time we see him. LOL

Deb and I stopped by the Golden Corral buffet for dinner. They always have this big pot of roasted jalapenos that look really good, but I'm usually too chicken to get one. Tonite, I forgot about the feathers up and down my legs and got one. Dang. That sucker was hot! Two bites were all I could do. Good meal after my tongue stopped burning. hee hee. Kinda reminded me of this funny joke. You've probably read it before but it's always a hoot to read.

Have a good one.

Smiley face

Debbie had a doctor's visit this morning. She was supposed to be taking Pravastatin over the last several months and the doctor wanted to do a blood test. What he didn't know was that Debbie won't take the statins after having tried a couple of others that caused severe joint and muscle pain. About 3 weeks ago, her podiatrist injected steroids into her foot to help with some pain she was having. It caused her sugar levels to spike. Debbie has been taking Actos for 7 or 8 years. She was concerned about a reaction between Actos and the steroid shot. Deb was checking out some stuff on the www and discovered several side effects that she's experienced the entire time she's taken Actos. Swelling hands and feet. Weight gain. The various websites she visited stated that if a patient experienced those side effects, the patient should tell her doctor. Which is what Debbie has done for years without any doctor really taking her serious. Deb's feet and hands swell two or three times per week. For the last three weeks, she's gone without the Actos. No swelling since she stopped taking the Actos. hmmm. I went with her today and talked to the doc for about half an hour. He agreed to do some bloodwork to check her thyroid (been done before), pituitary gland, adrenal glands and some other stuff. Hope they can turn up something besides she's getting old, which she's been told too many times. Anyhow, next step will likely be a visit to an endocrinologist.

On the way to OKC after the doctor visit, I saw a smiley face in the road heading out of Stillwater. Sometimes, the department of transportation uses tar to seal cracks in the asphalt. Did you hear about the guy who thought asphalt was a rectal problem? Anyway, one of the workers got a bit artsy with his crack sealing. I stopped and took this photo of it on the way home tonite. Pretty funny.

Meatloaf

Debbie made meatloaf, green beans, dirty rice, blackeyed peas and mashed potatoes for dinner last nite. That was awesome. She is such a great cook. Having some leftovers now for lunch. Yum.

One person track team

Cool story about a Texas high school "team" winning the state championship for the 2nd time... with only one person on the team.

Rochelle team wins state track title

Iron Starr

Debbie and I tried an new restaurant tonite. The Iron Starr Urban BBQ. Never heard of "urban" barbeque before, but my business partner went there with his daughter so figured we'd give it a try. It's a different place. Eclectic group of people. Lots of younger folks between late teens to thirtysomethings. Older folks trying to be alot younger. Saw a guy who must have been in his late 50's or early 60's... balding head was fairly thin on top but his hair was spiked up kinda like Ty on Extreme Home Improvement. Several people who were dressed up a bit too much for a barbeque restaurant. Could have been white collar work attire, but not sure. Get the feeling this place is one of those "in" places. Deb and I are too far out to be "in". hee hee. Food was decent. Debbie had iced tea, baked beans, dutch oven sweet potatoes, pulled pork and sausage. She didn't care for the sausages. I had a Newcastle ale, sliced brisket, pulled pork, collared greens (love those) and "fried" jalapenos and onions. The jalapenos and onions were not really fried, but barely sauteed. Pretty good. They served cornbread with the meals. With full kernels of corn in it. Tasty. Guess the "urban" is the eclectic part of it all. Definitely not your hole-in-the-wall barbeque place. What kind of barbeque place serves beef tenderloin meatloaf?

Thinking outside the box

Debbie sent the photo to me today. The email subject was "Redneck Tube Top." This gal was thinking outside the box when she decided to use some guy's drawers for a tube top or tank top... whatever you call it. I wonder... is a skid mark on the front? You know, racing stripes. Some people do some hilarious stuff.

The Sillies

Don't be silly, Nana.

DUR!!!!
I see you!

My face is melting!!

The Drooler

Drool? No, itsnot!

Stop taking my picture

Please, Nana? I wanna play washers, too.
Hey, this clover tastes like... grass!Daddy's dancing funny after that washer hit his ankle.

Playing

Washers

Faces

What is she studying??

Sitting around watching NCIS reruns and having a bowl of ice cream. Megan is sitting at the dining table doing homework for her summer class. Suddenly, the word "scrotum" blasts out of her laptop speakers. What the heck??? Several other words, too. One of them sounded like "asburnia". Is that what you get when you sit on hot concrete? Not sure. Not sure that was the word, either. hee hee.