The Digitalization is Complete.

Every year the kids and I go to Homecoming. None of us really care about the game, we only go to eat a bunch of crap and talk to everyone we see. This year we managed to spend about $40, which wasn't very hard to do...but we only go once a year.
About 15 minutes after we walk in the door, I noticed the house was silent, and with 3 kids here that makes me wonder.....I guess this is what most parents find nowadays... children quietly clicking away... It's just funny, they were all doing it at the same time. Kenyon was blogging about her brother, and had taken a picture off my blog to use.... which impressed me. Thad was getting cheat codes for his brother who was playing a game.....

The Egg

This is a picture of an Eco-Dome under construction. We plan on building several connected in a complex style. I am going to live in one with my slightly eccentric boyfriend after we build it. This means
A. I get to have goats again.
B. I get to have chickens again.
C. I will be fullfilling a social responsibilty I feel by being able to live less wastefully.

Home

The introverted extrovert. He is going to make an egg for us to live in......

My Hot 35th Birthday!

A group of us met to celebrate our mutual birthdays at The Solo. After a few pitchers of beer someone decided it would be fun to get me to eat what is supposed to be one of the hottest peppers on earth and I in the spirit of living life to the fullest decided to do it. Wow was that Dumb. I can say that I did provide about 10 of my closest friends some of the best laughing they have had in a long time. I would like to "Thank" Danny Jo and Carey for providing the pepper and Tommy for taking time from laughing to give me the milk and not even charging me for it!
The group photo is some of my most loved men ....

Just another example of Bartlesville's "courageous Firefighters"!

Firefighter accused of embezzlement
By Tim Hudson From the E.E.
E-E County ReporterAssociate District Judge Curtis DeLapp found probable cause Friday for the arrest of a former Bartlesville firefighter accused of embezzling more than $160,000 from the firefighters union insurance fund.Lloyd Douglas Lay, 39, will likely face counts of embezzlement and delivery of a forged check. He will be charged on Monday afternoon.According to the Sept. 23 probable cause affidavit in the case, authorities reported that representatives from the Bartlesville Professional Firefighters Association reported that Lay had embezzled $166,653 from their fund.Lay had reportedly been with the insurance committee for the union for 12 years and was authorized, along with one other man, to handle funds and write checks on the account.
Problems for Lay began when an employee with 66 Federal Credit Union called OK Federal credit union concerning a suspicious check, according to the affidavit. Lay was reportedly attempting to deposit the check, in the amount of $9,432, into his account.When the bank contacted the signor on the check, the man reportedly said he did not sign any checks to the insurance fund and that he was not authorized to sign such checks.When union representatives confronted Lay about the check, he reportedly said he had not written any such check but then admitted that he had and that he had taken approximately $40,000 from the fund since March of 2004, the affidavit states. He later reportedly changed that figure to around $100,000. A union investigation into the incident reportedly revealed that the amount in question was $166,653 and that Lay had forged the signatures of three members on a total of 35 checks, according to the affidavit. All three of the men reportedly viewed the checks and have signed forgery affidavits. The checks range in amount from $1,659 to $94,32, reports indicate.
According to the affidavit, Lay reportedly told officers that he used the money for gambling.Lay reportedly resigned his position with the Bartlesville Fire Department on Monday. Fire officials could not be reached for comment. Lay was later released on $5,000 bond.

My winged Omen bearing good news. 

Starting left: Great Aunt Betty, Duffy, Aunt Liz, Big Nana, Mom, Me, my cousin Melissa. I was 19. 

A Day to Remember.

Today is my grandmothers birthday, "Big Nana" as she was called by me as "Baby Nana" my much smaller Great Grandmother lived upstairs in the same house when I was little. This is a picture of possibly all the women in the family were together in celebration. A couple of us weren't even women yet as you can see. I believe this was either Mothers Day or St Patricks Day... All holidays meant a huge dinner at the table together, (Corned beef and cabbage for the Irish in us and all hell broke loose if there was no turnips at Christmas) Liz, Mom and Duffy with their constant jokes and digs at each other and Nana sitting at the head of the table, being the matriarch of the family which has now been passed on to my Mother and then finally Manford earned his place at the other end, which he deserved. He was the first man we didn't kill, and have not yet, so hopefully that curse is over because I have no intention of starting it up again with the wonderful man I love.
So this picture was taken after we knew she was sick, we knew this was the last holiday and this picture was taken with everyone in full realization of what was to come. Notice my Great Aunt Betty, she hated her picture taken, and saw no reason to celebrate at that moment. She showed it in typical Snapperhead style, but I don't blame her.

My Great Grandmother was a lady from a time that no longer exists. I only wish she could have met my children and influenced my daughter.

My Grandmother lived life facing incredible strife for a long time and was opinionated, eccentric, and I loved her more than I could have ever told her. While she was dying I knitted a blanket for her, I was learning and I had to work on it while she was laying under it and she would hold onto it and smile at me. It never was finished and is now in a cedar chest at moms. Maybe I will finish it someday.

Aunt Betty could be very difficult, but I still loved and protected her especially when she was the only one left. I took her to the store endless times, and even dusted her lightbulbs like she wanted much to my dismay. I remember the day talking on the phone telling her she had better be around for a long time because I still need to know things from her. I always called with cooking questions ect.... She told me cryptically that I better get ready and wouldn't explain herself. I didn't know, but she already knew she was sick. I was with her to the very end, as with the others. Mom and I are good at it now, no one will ever die in a hospital in my family if I can help it.

So here is the thing. Today, my Grandmothers birthday , I opened the front door and a dragonfly lay dead on my doorstep sitting upright facing North. An Omen. I think brought to me from Nana. A Dragonfly is a bearer of News. One facing North means the Great Mother, the Great Nurtuter, is aware of my current dilemmas and help is on the way. There is no better way to open the door than to find good news awaits you. Happy Birthday Nana, I love you, and I miss our combined Birthday parties together. Remember the year I turned 16 and you turned 61? It was the best birthday party ever.

My Mom is a Star!

Mom was recently Vera in the female version of "The Odd Couple". She did great and made me proud. I love this picture because even though everyone isn't lined up "all purty" you can see how happy she was surrounded by her family right after the play.

A sidenote, I think the funniest part of the play was hearing Joanie Elmore say the words "piece of shit". She is a preachers wife for those who don't know and I have known her all my life to be extremely proper. I almost fell out of my seat!

On Dewey Street

A wild turkey. Don't ask me why..... it was just there.

Situation of Mothership Refridgeration

It's under control. Now "let's jam."

A walk downtown.

One afternoon we decided to take a walk downtown and played around wherever we found things. Here the kids decide to add to the art. I think they did a great job.

Worn out.

Moments like these are frozen into parents minds all across the globe. They are some of the most precious and perfect.

The angel has wings

This is what every child should look like on the drive home from camping.

The Dud Man

He is a pain in the butt when taking him fishing. I recommend you don't. He will chase every cast, and chase every catch. He is guaranteed to get a hook in his mouth. Boats don't work much better I hear.

MR Ducks

This is the day my wonderful son Dillon shot a duck in the butt when we took the kids fishing and for a picnic for the day. He was supposed to be shooting at a can on a stump, but could not resist the quacking duck. He is a pretty good shot to tell the truth, and he has been along on deer hunting trips with me thru the years so I can't really blame him.... He was only 11 at the time and thats kinda what boys do. But I still did get onto him. The duck was fine after some loud quacking.

Imagine

Imagine the thrill of flyfishing in this water. The rush of sound encompassing you as you throw your line into the next spot, the cold blast of water on your skin knowing that the big one is there just waiting..... for your bug.

"Really old Stuff"

So anyway, back to my story about the "really old stuff" Donnie wanted me to see. They were Viking inscriptions in Heavener Oklahoma, made in 860 A.D. (or something close to that, go look it up!) anyway the Vikings made it to Oklahoma and carved the name "Glomes Valley" in a huge rock on the side of the mountain. The Vikings made it here up thru the river system in ships that could float in a shallow as a few feet of water. We had a long walk and had to go under a place that the sign reads pretty much"if you walk past this point, be aware huge chunks of rock can fall and kill you at anytime" so we QUIETLY walked past and went and saw this. These inscriptions took alot of work to make back then and to have a sort of "contact" with these unknown people was very cool. You could still feel their presence with their mark right there. I wish I could have touched it! (I know, I know)

"Sequoia Park"

On a recent trip to the Heavener area I took a hike along the river and I took time to really enjoy the beauty of the trees, rocks, and water. I got shots of a few of these trees, and as I did took a moment to reflect upon a peom that my late grandfather had written and had been published in his book "Pearls from inland seas" His name was Estel Staib and he died when I was 5. He was a wonderful man who gave to the community in many ways. He worked as an mechanical engineer for the Apollo missions and in his time off he went into the black community and taught young men drafting so they could get better jobs. This was in a time when racisim was still quite prevalant. He is the reason my family now lives in Oklahoma, they are originally New Yorkers, but moved to Tulsa so he could work at Rockwell. So anyway, back to the poem.


When I am weary, worn and old, dear God

let there still be

this unspiled spot of virgin earth where

my grandchild can see

the gradeur of a tree.

The arboreal majesty

of branches arching haigh

to form a living canopy of green against the sky.

Let her there wander, unafraid

beneath this wondrous living wood

and find within it's dappled shade

a sense of peace and solitude.

Perhaps to know a reverance there- -

or be inspired to breathe a prayer. Aware that God is very near:

assured that God will care.

Nature

Flowers along the Lower Mountain Fork River.

The Donnie Lhama

He is strong and powerful. He knows all.

Trains!

A nice one I thought.

Heavner Refueling Post.

This was an unexepected treat on my recent trip with Donnie to Shreveport. He asked me if I wanted to take a sidetrip and see some "really old stuff" and of course I said yes, not quite knowing it meant several hours out of the way up thru the Kiamichi mountains on roads that would freak me out, but we went and found this gem. I had to get out and take pictures of it for my son Thad who loves trains as much as I do. So here's to you little man, a few pics of the good stuff.