Far East

Made a trip to Wilburton USA today to look at a headstart project under construction for the Choctaw Nation.  Beautiful day.  Long trip.  Picked Debbie up a little early and we had a great dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse.  Took a few photos in the McAlester area.

State prison at McAlester

Prison Rodeo statue and Welcome to McAlester sign at the edge of town

Pete's Place in Krebs.  Italian restaurant just east of McAlester.

Arachnid relocation expedition

Early this morning, before sunrise, a wildlife team of one embarked on an expedition to relocate a large argiope aurantia from its adopted home adjacent the left rear wheel of a crossover SUV to a more remote area near the back yard privacy fence.  Equipped with a large flashlight and a well-used wooden-handled straw broom, the intrepid team cautiously approached the argiope from the west.  Nervous with excitement, the team took a few steps forward when suddenly, it happened.  Someone broke wind.  SSSSHHH!!  The team paused briefly, listening for any sound that might indicate the argiope was aware of the team's presence due to the massive gaseous expulsion.  Hearing nothing, the team moved forward as the guilty team member grinned sheepishly.  Although argiope are not known to hunt or attack humans, the team was cautious because this particular argiope had already dispatched a large cicada a day earlier.  The team carefully approached the large web the argiope had constructed several days before.  At first, the argiope was not visible at the center of the web where it had been spotted previously.  A few tense moments were spent searching for the argiope.  The team did not know if the argiope had sensed the team's approach.  Could it be on top of the car waiting to pounce on the team?  Could it be under the car?  Perhaps it had already moved to another site.  Since argiope are well known to stay in one area for days or weeks, it was unlikely that the argiope had moved.  General knowledge of the argiope's mannerisms proved key to finding this particular argiope.  The argiope was found near the bottom of the web where the web was attached to the ground.  The argiope appeared to be making repairs to the web foundation.  The team paused briefly, assessing the situation.   The flashlight was shining on the argiope.  The argiope turned, perhaps sensing danger.  Slowly, the team crept closer to the web.  The argiope shook the web as if it was trying to warn the team not to come closer.  The team used the broom to sweep away the top of the web where it was attached to the car.  The argiope fell a short distance to the ground.  Temporarily stunned, the argiope did not move.  The team used the broom to gently brush the argiope toward the grass adjacent the car.  When the argiope was in the grass, it tried to crawl away.  The team blocked the escape route with the broom.  Hesitantly, the argiope crawled onto the broom.  The team used the broom to transport the argiope to the back yard near the fence.  The team put the broom on the ground and the ariope crawled onto the side of the house.  The argiope glanced briefly at the team as if to say, "WTF???"  before crawling away.  The team returned to home base, happy that the argiope was relocated without injury to either the argiope or the team members.  Mission accomplished.  The team is looking forward to its next adventure.

Arachnid garbage

Gonna have to have a discussion with the spider about throwing his garbage in the driveway.  Can't just suck the goo and toss the cicada bones where people will trip on them.  The cicada carcass was found a few feet away from the web this morning.

Arachnid captures a cicada

Found this when we got home tonite.  Yummy.

Arachnid

Debbie and I arrived at the house last nite and pulled into the driveway next to the CX9.  I got out and started to get stuff out of the back.  Debbie opened her door but did not get out.  I could hear her talking but not the actual words.  Kinda normal, but that's another story.  Anyway, I opened the driver's side door again and asked her what she was saying.  She said, "There is one of those writing spiders over here on my car."  And there was.  This spider decided for some reason to build its web on the left rear tire of Deb's car.  I guess we need to drive it more, huh? 

This dude is pretty big.  About 2 inches from the end of one leg to the other.  This morning, Debbie wouldn't go between the vehicles to get in the car.  I had to back down the driveway so she could make a wide path around the spider.  hee hee.  Gonna have to figure out a way to move this dude tonite without killing it or him eating me. 

It was still dark when we left the house this morning.   We usually travel along a mostly country road, Lakeview, west of Stillwater.  No shoulders on either side of the road once you get west of Western Ave.  So, we are travelling about a mile west of town along Lakeview.  There is a car in front of us.  A car behind us.  Several cars going the opposite direction.  As a car is approaching me in the other lane, we encounter two runners in our lane.  I have to hit the brakes and swerve enough to not hit the runners and not hit the car in the other lane.  After passing the two runners, I swerve back into our lane because there is another car coming toward us.  As I get into our lane, we encounter a large group of runners in our lane.  I hit the brakes and then swerve again into the other lane to avoid hitting the runners.  It is dark.  They are not wearing anything reflective so you can see them.  On a busy, narrow two lane road with no shoulders.  One of the runners threw up his hands as if to say, "Hey, we are here!  Watch out!"  Listen, pal.  You are on a road.  Not a sidewalk.  The road is designed for automobiles.  Not people.  You are in the lane where cars are traveling without wearing anything reflective that will help drivers see you.  Who is the dipshit here?  Ain't me.  Hoping we don't learn about one of these runners getting injured or killed on that road.  I am not travelling it anymore in the dark.  Between these guys and the deer, it ain't safe.

College football mascots fight

The mascot for the University of Ohio decided to take on the Ohio State University mascot during the pregame ceremonies.  Rufus the Bobcat versus Brutus the Buckeye.  Gotta watch those bobcats.

Rufus versus Brutus

Rufus versus Brutus - a different vantage point

Hilarious.

Rufus got fired, by the way.  Well, the guy in the Rufus suit anyway.

Climbing a Tower

Video of a maintenance worker climbing a guyed tower. 

Nice view.

Another gorgeous sunset

Debbie and I saw another gorgeous sunset as we left Wal Mart.

Big Storms

On the way home tonite, we saw large clouds to the north and west of Stillwater.  Made for a beautiful sunset.  Too bad the photos never seem to do the view the proper justice. 

"I am the dancing master!"

More Dean sisters dancing

You gotta watch this one more than once and watch each of them.  Megan's wild head bobbing and hitting herself.  Kelsey dancing on her heels.  Tara's facial expressions.  Debbie and I were laughing til we cried.  LOLOL

Some Weekend at Tara's pics

Evie trying on Jeremy's boots.

Having some pancakes.

Stinker.

We had a great weekend!

Cotton Eyed Joe

Presenting the Dean Sisters and their Wii version of  "Cotton Eyed Joe" with a little flair at the end by Megan.  hee hee

Weekend at Tara's.

Pretty fun weekend at Tara's.  Megan came from Midland.  Eleanor, Kelsey and Jeremy went with Debbie and I.

Tara, Megan and Kelsey played Wii Dance last nite.  Lots of funny videos that I'll share as soon as I get all of them downloaded.  Sometimes, the stuff they do between the dances is funnier than the dancing.  Especially when they don't know you are recording.  I had to turn the camera around to show them it was recording.  LOL

Um, I'm recording you

Can't Touch This

U.S. Citizenship Quiz

See how ya do.  I'll post my score later.  I took quiz #2.

citizenship quiz

You Wanna go on a Cruise?

Maybe not after watching this.

How a storm looks inside a cruise ship

I dang near ralfed just watching the video.

Labor-less Day

Sleepin' til 7 a.m. Cinammon rolls for breakfast.  A few episodes of NCIS.  Cigar and a Tall Grass Buffalo Sweat ale.  Deb in the kitchen makin' gumbo.  Smellin' good.  Kelsey and Jeremy came over.  Played some Monopoly on the Wii.  Jeremy kicked butt.  Grilled some burgers, had another cigar and a Left Hand Sawtooth Ale.  Deb made German potato salad and Mexican caviar.  Played some washers.  Debbie and I (mostly Debbie) kicked butt.  Nice relaxin' day. 

Hope everyone else had a great day, too.

another fireworks video

Fireworks show

more fireworks

More fireworks video

Here ya go, Oliver.  Fireworks at Stillwater

Fireworks Show

in September???  Yup.  Stillwater planned a fireworks show on July 4, but a sudden thunderstorm washed it out.  They rescheduled it for Labor Day weekend.  It was tonite.  Beautiful evening.  Debbie and I had dinner at Hideaway with Kelsey, her boyfriend Jeremy and his parent, Dan and Tonya.  Debbie, Kelsey and I went to the fireworks show afterward.  Great evening after working lots of hours this week.

Staked out a good spot.

Supposed to start fireworks at dusk.  Gettin' close...

Been here awhile.  Someone is bored...

It is dusk-thirty...

The bright lite in the sky is Venus.

Oh, purty...

end of the show

Have a few more videos that I will post tomorrow.  Kinda late now.  Gotta hit the sack.  Have a good one.

Hump day

Debbie stayed in Miami overnite.  Lillian was not moved to a nursing home.  Talked to Debbie this morning and there appears to be some miscommunication or misunderstanding or something about who is really in charge of Lillian's care at the hospital.  Debbie and Eleanor plan to talk to the medical staff to sort out whether or not the doctor they saw last nite is really the doctor who is coordinating her care.  Debbie has the impression that everyone is waiting for someone to make the decision to move Lillian but it is possible the nurses, doctor and therapist are waiting on each other.  Hope they sort that out.

Anyway, I got up early and came to work.  It was dark when I left the house and traveled thru town.  Typically, we travel along Lakeview Road that is along the north part of town.  It is mostly rural.  The last couple of weeks we have encountered either OSU or Stillwater HS cross-country runners on Lakeview.  There are several hills and no shoulder for them to run on, so it is kind of unnerving to encounter a runner on the road in the dark or twilight.  On Saturday morning, I had my bright lights on and if not for that I would have been unable to see the reflective stuff on several shoes.  In addition to the cross-country folks, the ROTC guys are out running in the darkness around campus.  Anyway, this morning I avoided Lakeview and took a different route.  At the west side of the OSU campus, I arrived at an intersection and stopped at the stop sign.  There was no street light at the intersection, but there is one about a block away to the north.  I looked that direction for cars and saw none.  But I saw what appeared to be trees along the edge of the street.  I thought, "Hmm.  I don't remember trees there."  Then I realized the "trees" was a herd of runners! If not for the streetlight back-lighting these people, there is no way to see them.  dang.

It is raining around the area.  On the way to OKC, it rained occassionally.  In the darkness, I could see what appeared to be a leaf stuck between the wiper and windshield.  As I got closer to OKC and as daylight slowly arrived, I could tell that the "leaf" was really an ENORMOUS dragonfly.  Somehow, during the night, it got trapped there and I have no idea how.  It was not there last nite when I arrived at the house.  Weird.

Have a good day.