Interesting editorial regarding the situation in Arizona.
Graphic evidence of what Arizona is fighting against
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
They took my pie...
Jimmy loves apples and loves apple pies. So, when he was a young man, he planted several apple trees. For years he cared for those trees until they were able to bear fruit. When the first few trees produced apples suitable for eating, Jimmy picked several of the apples and took the fruit home. He peeled and prepared the apples so he could bake a pie. He prepared the crust, put everything in the pan and baked the pie. The wonderful aroma filled Jimmy's house and he could barely contain his excitement about eating the pie. At last the pie was finished. Jimmy pulled the pie out of the oven and placed it on the kitchen table. With plates, forks, a knife and tall glasses of milk, Jimmy and his family sat down at the table to enjoy the pie made with apples he grew himself. He planted those trees almost 20 years ago. Jimmy was proud of himself and knew the pie would be delicious. Just as he was about to cut into the pie, several men in dark suits burst into the back door.
"Just a minute, sir!"
"What's this? Who are you and what do you want?" Jimmy demanded.
"We are from the government. It is our understanding that you have baked a pie. Is that the pie?"
"Yes, this is the pie. Who cares about the pie?"
"Your neighbors, sir. They have watched you grow the trees and smelled the pie cooking. They want some of the pie. We are here to collect part of the pie for your neighbors."
"What? Why don't they bake their own pie? This is for me and my family."
"We understand that, sir. But you have to understand that your neighbors want pie, also. They do not own apple trees and do not know how to cook pie. But they want some pie and it is your patriotic duty to share that pie with those not as fortunate as you. You own the apple trees and know how to bake pie."
"Well, I can sell them some apples and give them a recipe for pie."
"No, sir. That will not do at all. They do not have money to buy apples or apple trees. And why should they bake a pie when you have already done so. They have a right to enjoy apple pie, just as you do. We will take half of your pie and distribute it to a few of the neighbors. Thank you, sir."
And, the men took half of the pie and left the house. Jimmy was angry and picked some more apples. He cooked another pie so he and his family could have enough pie to share. Again, the men showed up and took half of the new pie. Jimmy baked several more pies, and each time the men came and took half of each pie.
Finally, Jimmy tired of it all. He stopped baking pies. His neighbors were angry because he stopped baking pies. They threw rocks at his house and cursed his family. How dare he deprive them of the pie they had become accustomed to receiving? The neighbors started stealing his apples. To stop the theft, Jimmy cut down his beloved trees and burned the wood in his back yard. The men arrived and confiscated his property as a fine for burning without a permit.
"Just a minute, sir!"
"What's this? Who are you and what do you want?" Jimmy demanded.
"We are from the government. It is our understanding that you have baked a pie. Is that the pie?"
"Yes, this is the pie. Who cares about the pie?"
"Your neighbors, sir. They have watched you grow the trees and smelled the pie cooking. They want some of the pie. We are here to collect part of the pie for your neighbors."
"What? Why don't they bake their own pie? This is for me and my family."
"We understand that, sir. But you have to understand that your neighbors want pie, also. They do not own apple trees and do not know how to cook pie. But they want some pie and it is your patriotic duty to share that pie with those not as fortunate as you. You own the apple trees and know how to bake pie."
"Well, I can sell them some apples and give them a recipe for pie."
"No, sir. That will not do at all. They do not have money to buy apples or apple trees. And why should they bake a pie when you have already done so. They have a right to enjoy apple pie, just as you do. We will take half of your pie and distribute it to a few of the neighbors. Thank you, sir."
And, the men took half of the pie and left the house. Jimmy was angry and picked some more apples. He cooked another pie so he and his family could have enough pie to share. Again, the men showed up and took half of the new pie. Jimmy baked several more pies, and each time the men came and took half of each pie.
Finally, Jimmy tired of it all. He stopped baking pies. His neighbors were angry because he stopped baking pies. They threw rocks at his house and cursed his family. How dare he deprive them of the pie they had become accustomed to receiving? The neighbors started stealing his apples. To stop the theft, Jimmy cut down his beloved trees and burned the wood in his back yard. The men arrived and confiscated his property as a fine for burning without a permit.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Dude, where are my keys?
Megan and Kelsey had an adventure yesterday afternoon while making a trip to the bank. Somehow, they locked the car keys in the car. Kelsey's keys were in the car, also, so they had no way to get into the house. Megan called Debbie and me trying to find out if we might have left a window unlocked so they could get into the house. Nope. Megan was about to call the locksmith when they decided to call a friend's brother. He took a coat hanger and eventually got the car door open. I think the whole incident is hilarious. They are not amused at my being amused. I guess they were sitting in front of the bank long enough to get sunburned. LOLOLOL!!! Kelsey has had several episodes of locking herself out of her car.
I was telling my partner about what happened. He had a similar situation occur to him a few years ago while on his first date with a woman. They stopped at a liquor store to buy some spirits. He was apparently distracted by the woman enough to lock his keys in his truck. Being the gentleman, he tried open the passenger door but it was locked. He dug in his pocket for the keys. Nuh, uh. He could see the keys in the ignition. He called his daughter to go get the other set at his house, but she wasn't around for some reason. So, he called his brother. His brother, being the wise older brother, told him that it was impossible to lock the driver side door with the keys in the ignition. Russell, being hard headed, disagreed. His brother refused to drive 30 minutes to help late at nite and told Russell to call a locksmith. The locksmith said it would be about an hour before he could get there. While waiting for the locksmith and after 30 minutes of waiting already before calling the locksmith, Russell decided to check the driver side door. It was unlocked. He and his date got in the car and left before the locksmith showed up. Another hilarious story.
To avoid appearing as if I've never locked myself out of anything, I'll share a couple of stories. I rarely leave the house or get out of the car without my key rings hooked on my fingers so I know I have the keys. I rarely ever put my keys in my pocket unless we go into a restaurant or store. When we lived on Chester and I was attending OSU, I left the house and went to get in the car. My keys were not on my finger, so I assumed I locked them in the house. I took off the window screen and raised the window. As I was climbing through the window, I hit my leg and my keys jingled in my pocket. Doh!
One day at work, I left to run an errand and left my office keys on my desk. When I returned to the office, everyone had gone to lunch. I was locked out for about an hour before anyone returned. Now, I never leave the office without my keys.
I believe Debbie and the kids were shopping in Stillwater while I was at work. Debbie got out of the car and left the keys and the girls in the car. The girls decided to go into the store and locked the doors, with the keys inside the car. As I recall, they called someone to come pick them up, take them to the house for the extra key and go back to the car. It happens.
A funny joke about keys...
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" I asked.
She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door locker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenient store) would have a battery to fit this?"
"Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm too?" I asked.
"No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me.
As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries; it's a long walk."
*****
hee hee
I was telling my partner about what happened. He had a similar situation occur to him a few years ago while on his first date with a woman. They stopped at a liquor store to buy some spirits. He was apparently distracted by the woman enough to lock his keys in his truck. Being the gentleman, he tried open the passenger door but it was locked. He dug in his pocket for the keys. Nuh, uh. He could see the keys in the ignition. He called his daughter to go get the other set at his house, but she wasn't around for some reason. So, he called his brother. His brother, being the wise older brother, told him that it was impossible to lock the driver side door with the keys in the ignition. Russell, being hard headed, disagreed. His brother refused to drive 30 minutes to help late at nite and told Russell to call a locksmith. The locksmith said it would be about an hour before he could get there. While waiting for the locksmith and after 30 minutes of waiting already before calling the locksmith, Russell decided to check the driver side door. It was unlocked. He and his date got in the car and left before the locksmith showed up. Another hilarious story.
To avoid appearing as if I've never locked myself out of anything, I'll share a couple of stories. I rarely leave the house or get out of the car without my key rings hooked on my fingers so I know I have the keys. I rarely ever put my keys in my pocket unless we go into a restaurant or store. When we lived on Chester and I was attending OSU, I left the house and went to get in the car. My keys were not on my finger, so I assumed I locked them in the house. I took off the window screen and raised the window. As I was climbing through the window, I hit my leg and my keys jingled in my pocket. Doh!
One day at work, I left to run an errand and left my office keys on my desk. When I returned to the office, everyone had gone to lunch. I was locked out for about an hour before anyone returned. Now, I never leave the office without my keys.
I believe Debbie and the kids were shopping in Stillwater while I was at work. Debbie got out of the car and left the keys and the girls in the car. The girls decided to go into the store and locked the doors, with the keys inside the car. As I recall, they called someone to come pick them up, take them to the house for the extra key and go back to the car. It happens.
A funny joke about keys...
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. "Do you need some help?" I asked.
She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door locker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenient store) would have a battery to fit this?"
"Hmmm, I dunno. Do you have an alarm too?" I asked.
"No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me.
As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries; it's a long walk."
*****
hee hee
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Exciting Wednesday
Yesterday around 5 pm, a thunderstorm popped up west of Stillwater. By 5:30 pm, the storm was tracking due east toward Stillwater and had already produced at least two tornados. One near Hennessey and one near Marshall. The KOCO video is of the third tornado that was just at I-35 when the video was taken by a storm tracker at around 6 pm. That tornado was about 15 miles west of Stillwater.
KOCO television coverage of tornado west of Stillwater
The next two videos are one of the tornado near Hennessey, which is about 60 miles west of Stillwater. That storm eventually passed through Stillwater and produced the tornado seen in the KOCO video.
Video of the tornado near Hennessey
Tornado near Hennessey - KWTV
Here are some videos taken by people at OSU while the storm passed through Stillwater. This appeared to be directly over campus.
Video from OSU campus - Math Science building
Debbie and I were in OKC when the storm fired up. I picked up Debbie around 5:30 and we started heading toward Stillwater while listening to the radio coverage as best we could. Some of the OKC radio stations were simulcasting the television coverage. We stopped and got gas and something to eat since we didn't know what we'd find in Stillwater once we got there. Kelsey was headed to work at Rib Crib. Megan just got off work and went home. She ended up going to the neighbor's in-ground storm shelter. The storm hit Stillwater when we were about 30 miles away from Stillwater, just north of Guthrie. By the time we got on highway 51 and headed toward Stillwater, the radio broadcast was telling about a 1/4 mile wide tornado passing through the north side of town along Lakeview road. Our house is about a half mile south of Lakeview, so we had no idea what we would find. The rain was torrential by that time and the wind was really blowing hard. I was concerned about another tornado forming behind the one reportedly in Stillwater. We arrived in Stillwater and saw no damage along 6th Street. I was planning to go see if Kelsey was ok at Rib Crib, but she called and said all was ok there. So we drove through town to check Megan and our house. We found a lot of tree limbs and other stuff in the road north of the OSU campus. That damage was very likely caused by the funnel visible in the videos I posted above. We drove down Lakeview near Boomer Lake and saw no other damage. I drove south from Boomer toward the high school and we found more tree damage. The power was out in that area. We drove to the house and nothing was wrong. The streets were really flooded from all the heavy, heavy rain. Megan came to the house carrying a very soggy, shivering kitten that was not very old. There were two or three in the neighbor's back yard that were caught in some standing water from the heavy rain. Some friends of the neighbor took the kittens with them. The mother cat was nowhere around. Stillwater dodged a huge storm. From the way the storm chasers and the guys on tv were describing the storm, it had potential to be a very bad tornado producer. Glad everyone was ok and hope that those caught in the tornado are ok.
Here is a video of a runner who was caught in the massive hail storm last Sunday that passed through Oklahoma City.
Caught in the hail storm
Video from some young guys in Stillwater. Not sure where they are, but they are definitely Okies. Who else stands outside watching the tornado instead of getting in the fraidy hole?
Ryan's video from Stillwater
Another video taken from campus looking at the same storm visible in the other OSU video. This person was in the engineering building near the football stadium.
Video from OSU campus - engineering building
Crazy, crazy weather the last few days.
KOCO television coverage of tornado west of Stillwater
The next two videos are one of the tornado near Hennessey, which is about 60 miles west of Stillwater. That storm eventually passed through Stillwater and produced the tornado seen in the KOCO video.
Video of the tornado near Hennessey
Tornado near Hennessey - KWTV
Here are some videos taken by people at OSU while the storm passed through Stillwater. This appeared to be directly over campus.
Video from OSU campus - Math Science building
Debbie and I were in OKC when the storm fired up. I picked up Debbie around 5:30 and we started heading toward Stillwater while listening to the radio coverage as best we could. Some of the OKC radio stations were simulcasting the television coverage. We stopped and got gas and something to eat since we didn't know what we'd find in Stillwater once we got there. Kelsey was headed to work at Rib Crib. Megan just got off work and went home. She ended up going to the neighbor's in-ground storm shelter. The storm hit Stillwater when we were about 30 miles away from Stillwater, just north of Guthrie. By the time we got on highway 51 and headed toward Stillwater, the radio broadcast was telling about a 1/4 mile wide tornado passing through the north side of town along Lakeview road. Our house is about a half mile south of Lakeview, so we had no idea what we would find. The rain was torrential by that time and the wind was really blowing hard. I was concerned about another tornado forming behind the one reportedly in Stillwater. We arrived in Stillwater and saw no damage along 6th Street. I was planning to go see if Kelsey was ok at Rib Crib, but she called and said all was ok there. So we drove through town to check Megan and our house. We found a lot of tree limbs and other stuff in the road north of the OSU campus. That damage was very likely caused by the funnel visible in the videos I posted above. We drove down Lakeview near Boomer Lake and saw no other damage. I drove south from Boomer toward the high school and we found more tree damage. The power was out in that area. We drove to the house and nothing was wrong. The streets were really flooded from all the heavy, heavy rain. Megan came to the house carrying a very soggy, shivering kitten that was not very old. There were two or three in the neighbor's back yard that were caught in some standing water from the heavy rain. Some friends of the neighbor took the kittens with them. The mother cat was nowhere around. Stillwater dodged a huge storm. From the way the storm chasers and the guys on tv were describing the storm, it had potential to be a very bad tornado producer. Glad everyone was ok and hope that those caught in the tornado are ok.
Here is a video of a runner who was caught in the massive hail storm last Sunday that passed through Oklahoma City.
Caught in the hail storm
Video from some young guys in Stillwater. Not sure where they are, but they are definitely Okies. Who else stands outside watching the tornado instead of getting in the fraidy hole?
Ryan's video from Stillwater
Another video taken from campus looking at the same storm visible in the other OSU video. This person was in the engineering building near the football stadium.
Video from OSU campus - engineering building
Crazy, crazy weather the last few days.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Stardate 63846
Ever wondered what all that star date stuff was on those Star Trek episodes? I mean, when they say, "Star date 44381.1. We just arrived at Deneb 3 to investigate massive unobtainium emissions", when is based on our calendar system? Is that January 3, 2256? Or when? No. Whattaya mean it's just me? C'mon, just admit your inner nerd is dying to know. Or... um... not. I know you caught the reference to Avatar when I wrote "unobtainium." hee hee. You didn't? sigh...
Anyway, here is a website that you can use to figure out the star date for any date you are interested in finding out the star date for. Um, I wrote that and not sure I understand. Click the link and it should be easy to figure what to do. Scroll down to the first calculator doo-hickey and do a few calculations. You know you wanna...
For instance, my birthday this year is equal to star date 63761.1. My birthdate is equal to star date 12760.5. Holy crap! I'm almost 50000 star dates old! Yeah, whatever...
Dunno what a "star date" actually means. It is based on a fictional television show, ya know!
Star Trek star date calculator
Speaking of Avatar, Debbie and I watched it the other night. My first time. Debbie's second time. She wouldn't tell me crap about what was gonna happen or if I guess what was gonna happen. "You'll see"... sheesh. Good movie in an of itself. Too much effort trying to make the Na'vi into some sort of Native American humanoids. There will be horse-like critters with six legs another world? Bows and arrows? Seriously? Hadda know from the beginning that Sully would save the day or something when the dandelion seed/jellyfish floaters landed on Sully's body. Wonder if there will be an Avatar 2?
Anyway, here is a website that you can use to figure out the star date for any date you are interested in finding out the star date for. Um, I wrote that and not sure I understand. Click the link and it should be easy to figure what to do. Scroll down to the first calculator doo-hickey and do a few calculations. You know you wanna...
For instance, my birthday this year is equal to star date 63761.1. My birthdate is equal to star date 12760.5. Holy crap! I'm almost 50000 star dates old! Yeah, whatever...
Dunno what a "star date" actually means. It is based on a fictional television show, ya know!
Star Trek star date calculator
Speaking of Avatar, Debbie and I watched it the other night. My first time. Debbie's second time. She wouldn't tell me crap about what was gonna happen or if I guess what was gonna happen. "You'll see"... sheesh. Good movie in an of itself. Too much effort trying to make the Na'vi into some sort of Native American humanoids. There will be horse-like critters with six legs another world? Bows and arrows? Seriously? Hadda know from the beginning that Sully would save the day or something when the dandelion seed/jellyfish floaters landed on Sully's body. Wonder if there will be an Avatar 2?
Monday, May 17, 2010
More hail photos
Don't know why I didn't notice it this morning, but it is easy to see the mud and grass splashed on the windows with the sun shining from the west this afternoon. All of the windows have splatters full height of the windows. Mud splatter from the hail stones hitting the ground yesterday. dang. No wonder one of the OKC weather guys was screaming like a little girl while the tv station was getting pummelled.
Dunno if anyone knows, but you should be able to click on the photo to enlarge. Use the "back" button to get back to the blog.
Oh, hail!
Yesterday afternoon around 4 pm, a huge hail storm hit a big portion of the Oklahoma City area. There was damage at our office. Knocked out tho skylights in each building in our complex. Knocked off alot of leaves. Left good sized divets in the ground. Here are a few photos.
You can see the leaves in the "pond".
Pine needles on the grass.
Those are not low, vine-type growies. Those are all leaves from the trees between the buildings.
The damaged skylight on the building behind us.
Divets in the grass from the hail stones. Most of these are golf ball size and about an inch deep.
The empty office upstairs.
Three box lids were damaged by the hail coming through the broken skylight. This is the worse of the three. Yup, hail did that. Crazy, huh?
Sure am glad I decided to work at home yesterday. The hail would have totalled out the white car. There are a bunch of vehicles in the neighborhood behind us with broken and missing windshields and back glass.
Crazy weather!!!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Tornado outbreak
Cloudy almost all day. Between 4 and 4:30 pm, several storms fired up west of Oklahoma City. By 5 pm, a very strong thunderstorm was producing multiple tornados west of OKC. One formed over Norman and touched down on the south end of the OU campus. It rumbled east-northeast just south of Tinker AFB and into the Shawnee area. According to the Weather Channel and as of 9 pm, the same tornado was still on the ground and moving into Arkansas. The Weather Channel said the tornado has tracked over 150 miles. Winds in the Choctaw area were over 150 mph. Very strong tornado. Five people died and many injured in the OKC area. No word as of now regarding injuries east of OKC toward the state line. Hopefully people in the eastern part of the state had more warning than those in the OKC area. That storm formed fast and started creating damage in less than an hour. Incredible. I was listening to Gary England's weather broadcast on Channel 9 in OKC. It was being broadcast over one of the local radio stations. The channel 9 news helicopter was flying around the storm and suddenly the pilot started talking about his chopper being thrown around by high winds. By the time he moved away from the area and looked back, he saw the huge tornado. He said he must have been caught in the vortex as the tornado was forming. Wow.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Megan graduated!
Congratulations to Megan for graduating from OSU on Saturday with a degree in nutrition. Debbie and I are very, very proud of her. Eleanor, Laura, Tara, John, Evie, Maggie, Oliver and Megan's boyfriend, Shawn, joined Kelsey, Debbie and I at the graduation ceremony in Gallagher-Iba arena. Mona, Philip and Gordon joined all of us at Boomer Lake for a picnic. Kinda cool and really windy for a summer day, but Debbie cooked up some good eats. A friend of Laura's made a great cake. We played some redneck golf and then decided it was too cool to stick around. By the time we got everything packed in the cars, the wind died and it didn't feel as cold. Went back to the house and played a few more games of redneck golf in the back yard. Great day.
One of four separate graduation ceremonies on Saturday. Pretty full group for the 1 pm ceremony. Took about an hour to get all of those kids across the stage. Megan was sitting a few rows from the stage.
Megan is in the orange cap.
On the big screen. Pretty cool that they showed each graduate as they walked across the stage.
You're welcome. Mom was big part of it, too.
Thank you, John, for taking the photos.
Cutting the cake Laura brought. Very tasty.
Watch out for the goose. They seemed to chase Shawn and Oliver around.
Maybe the geese thought Shawn had food like Laura.
Maybe the geese were protecting their babies.
One of Megan's friends decorated her car while we were at the graduation ceremony.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Indy Racing League in Kansas City
David and I went to Kansas City to watch the Indy Racing League race on Saturday. Fun day. David bought tickets so we could go into the infield near the garage and pit lane areas. Very cool and alot of fun. We were able to get close to several drivers as they went from the garage area to the building where the drivers' prerace meeting was held. Amazed at how tiny all of the drivers are. Danica is about Kelsey's size. None were taller than me. Good thing, because the cars are tiny. Just large enough for a person to sit in the car with an engine behind the seat. Great day. Worth a little sunburn and a long, long day. The track is the same length as Texas Motorspeedway. One and one-half miles. Half the seating, tho. The Texas track can hold about 150,000 fans. Kansas holds about 80,000 fans. There were probably 30,000 people at the race. The cars were traveling around 215 mph. It takes them about 25 seconds to complete one lap. When we drive in our cars at 60 mph, it takes us 90 seconds to go one and one-half miles.
I think we were parked about a half mile from the track. Not sure why they made us park so far away. After the race, it seemed like 2 miles.
Some of the cars getting fueled up before the race. They fill the cars with fuel before taking them to the inspection line.
Marco Andretti's car. His dad is Michael Andretti. Michael's dad is Mario Andretti. You might have heard that name before from years ago. Mario won the Indianapolis 500. Marco's cousin, John Andretti, was in Saturday's race, too.
John Andretti's car going through the inspection line.
Scott Dixon's car leaving the inspection area. He won the race.
Close-up of one of the cars leaving the inspection area. We were about 10 feet from the car.
Danica's car going through inspection.
David checking out Danica's car. That made his day so far. Until later, when we were much closer to her than he was to her car. LOL
Al Unser Jr in the red hat. He is from Albuquerque. His dad, Al Sr., and his uncle, Bobby, were open wheel drivers many years ago with AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti.
John Andretti signing autographs.
Helio Castroneves. He was on Dancing with the Stars a few years ago and won.
Danice Patrick signing autographs. All of the drivers were within arm's length from us.
Standing in Victory Lane with the start/finish line and grandstands in the background.
Bro.
Podium.
Victory Lane.
View from our seats. All of the cars are on pit road getting ready to start the race.
Danica's car on the track.
One car hit the wall after running into another car.
"Towing" one of the wrecked cars. They pick the cars up on a hook behind the driver's seat and carry it. One of the cars lost a front tire during the caution lap and it drove all the way around the track on 3 tires without wrecking. The guy finished the race in the top ten. Amazing.
Later, I will try to post a video of the cars going around the track.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)