Category Archives: Sweetie

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

We had a little family birthday party for her.

Her mother got her a nice cake.

You want to know what kind of nice guy I am? I know you don’t really but as you can guess I’m going to tell you anyway. I took the numbers off the cake for the photograph.

Speaking of her Mother, here is Nana.

I warned her. You mess with me, I’m putting you on the blog! So here you are.

Nana also provided the legendary Birthday Angel. Its been a part of Sweetie’s birthdays ever since she was a little girl. It used to embarrass Sweetie. Now she adores it.

Nana also sponsored a tea for Sweetie. Over a score of her dear friends came in her honor. Security was posted to keep low life crusty gas guys bloggers off the premises so I missed it. All reports though were that it was a great success. Sweetie was certainly thrilled.

Happy Birthday Sweetie

Jeremiah 1-5 – Baloney’s Sunday Challenge

5 “Before I shaped you in the womb,
I knew all about you.
Before you saw the light of day,
I had holy plans for you:
A prophet to the nations—
that’s what I had in mind for you.”

Jeremiah 1:5 (The Message)

Heaven’s Very Special Child
by Edna Massamilla

A meeting was held quite far from earth
“It’s time again for another birth,
Said the Angels to the Lord above,
“This special child will need much love.”

“Her progress may seem very slow
Accomplishments she may not show
And she’ll require extra care
From the folks she will meet down there.

She may not run or laugh or play
Her thoughts may seem quite far away
In many ways she won’t adapt
And she will be known as handicapped.

So let’s be careful where she is sent
We want her life to be content
Please Lord, find the parents who
Will do a special job for You.

They will not realize right away
The leading role they’re asked to play
But with this child sent from above
Comes stronger faith and richer love

And soon they’ll know the privilege given
In caring for this gift from Heaven
Their precious charge, so meek and mild,
Is Heaven’s very special child.”

For perfect pairings check out That’s Baloney.

Day Off and Blessings

I’m a blessed guy. I don’t know know why. I certainly haven’t done anything to deserve it. But its true. Not only am I married to the best Wife a man could have and am honored to be the Father to a Son that is the best Son in the world, but I get great parking spots. Ask Sweetie, I have parking place mojo. When I pull up to the front, somebody just pulled out, We almost always park near the front door. Legally; Not always, but often enough.

I’m blessed in other ways also. My employer in the last year decided to give everybody vacation commensurate with their years of experience in the energy industry, not just years with the company. Wow, I have 32 years in the energy industry so they handed me 5 weeks of vacation. It has just floored me. I don’t take it for granted. It is going to go mainly toward spending more time with the family, but who knows what else. Our church, like a great many others, has mission trips availble year round. You can do them here in Oklahoma, or the States, or elsewhere from Mexico, to Lithuania, to Tanzania. Who knows? I have been handed a gift I didn’t deserve,I have to figure out how to give something back.

The other thing my employer did was give us the option of a 9/80 work schedule. In other words we can work our 80 hour two week schedule in 9 days and get every other Friday off. That was just handed to us. It makes for long days for nine days, but it is worth it. Yesterday I had one of those days off. We dropped SuperPizzaBoy off at school, ate breakfast together, ran a couple errands and then loaded up the bikes to Tulsa’s Mohawk Park.

Mohawk Park is on the north side of town next to the airport. We parked at the Mary K. Oxley Nature Center in Mowhawk Park.

We rode down to Lake Yahola where I took a picture of Sweetie. Note the golf course in the background.

Some of the waterfowl on Lake Yahola. We didn’t ride there too long. Too darn windy!! Plus the geocaches I thought we could get were not reachable from the dam.

We got off the dam and went meandering around the park. We came upon an area where beavers had been active.

Oh, oh, the dweeb himself.

Stylistically a disaster right? You know what drives Sweetie crazy? The little bell near his right hand. That’s what. He comes upon people, he goes ding, ding with the bell. If he yells, “On your left!” then they move to the left. The ding dong likes the bell, what do you think is best? I listen to my readers. Especially those who leave comments!

Here you go, here is Sweetie again. It has finally dawned her the last few years that Yogi got a far better deal in this marriage than she did. You agree? – Hey, its a rhetorical question. You don’t need to answer!

We got off into some wild and wooly parts of Mowhawk. I hadn’t been here since the middle 1990’s during a Corporate Challenge Marathon Relay. Narrow roads. Abandoned roads.

The course went down this way and back. I was a little cranky because they didn’t have any water stops. I had a little “attitude.” Hey if you are going to put on a race then do it right!!!!! There was a race crew out there putting up barricades early in the morning and they got behind me in their truck. I was running down the center of the road and they were following me and I knew they wanted around me so I stayed in the center. They followed me at my extremely slow pace and after a while couldn’t stand it any more so they gave me a little honk of the horn. I guess to tell me that I was doing a good job. So I gave them a middle fingered salute without looking back to let them know I appreciated their hard work.

They gave me a long loud blast of the horn to encourage me even more, so I gave them a a two handed salute in appreciation. This went on for some time. Turkeys!

Hey, can you tell I have issues? Got any advice? Sweetie does, its along the lines of “Get over yourself. You have been talking about that for years.”

Hey, we got to the end of our ride. I saw a tree with leaves on it where I thought the sunlight reflecting on the leavds would really pop out.

The leaves reflect fine and I could enhance it in Corel but I think the best pictures are the ones right out of the camera. What I liked about the ppic looking at it now is the tree’s shadows on the road. I didn;t even notice it before.

Anyway, that was our ride Friday and some of my blessings. Tell me a blessing you had.

Halloween Run Down and Run

Last night was Freaky Fun Night at SuperPizzaBoy’s school. Everybody had a great time.

We started out early evening with an almost full moon.

SuperPizzaBoy was a ghostbuster. He has his work cut out for him, the place was full of ghosts.

SPB’s friend Nicholas was Zeus

SPB scarfed down some pizza. But, is that really news?

Sweetie was a Gypsy, a cute Gypsy. Sorry for the blurry photo Sweetie. I like it though.

There were games. I made this last year. It has seen lots of use at various events.

SPB’s other friend Quinn got the Scariest Costume award. He scared me, I’ll tell you that.

The joint was jumping!!

Sweetie helped organize the event. I sat in on a meeting with her and the other women organizing the event. They were amazing. You know, I’m thinking about that. I’m tired of hearing about Obama this and W that and Bill this and so on. How about we get Michelle and Laura together and let them run things.I tell you what, we would have decent health care and a balanced budget. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars would get figured out as well. We guys, we just need to be told what to do, and we are fine.

Hey, I’m not done! (Yeah, well I am you mutter) I ran a race today. The Tulsa Run 15k. Its my 16th. This won’t take long.

Here is the starting line. It took me about 3 minutes to get here when the gun sounded.

I only took one picture during the race. This is at about 6K I think.

We finished in front of the BOK Center.

Runners get candy bars courtesy of Quik Trip. This year they had Snickers bars left so I grabbed a couple.

At the finish line we had a band led by Oklahoma’s own Grady Nichols.

They had a very long line for the beer. I hate beer lines. I like it when you just mob the beer truck. I’m pretty good at getting to the front. I don’t elbow anybody. I find a seam, turn sideways, and move through. Square up, find another seam, and repeat. Works wonderfully. Not much can be done with a line.

I got my cup of suds. I think they were running out. The people doing the serving seemed to be in a sour mood. Runners can be pretty demanding. We like to get our moneys worth of free beer.

So right now Sweetie is carving a pumpkin and we are going to go trick or treating tonight.

Proverbs 5:18 – Sunday Challenge

May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.

Proverbs 5:18

For other “Perfect Pairings” check out That’s Baloney.

20 years Today

Sweetie and I got married 20 years ago. Isn’t she beautiful?

She hasn’t stayed still for a photograph since. She is in constant motion.

A blur.

Always “saddling up” to go somewhere.

But she always has time for me.

Happy Anniversary Sweetie, I love you very much!

Pancakes, more pancakes, bike riding, getting stalked, and puppy love

A lot has been going on lately. It is hard to keep up with it all.

First up is it is United Way season. The Yogi’s are big supporters of United Way and so is my employer. Thursday they had their Pancake Breakfast. I’m always up for pancakes! Here is the lineup of this year’s cooks.

What a fine looking crew, left to right, there is Dave (my boss) his pancakes were great, his boss Bob (his pancakes were even better), Steve (Co-worker), and Mike. The lady at the end is fellow geocacher Teresa (“Mommakiss”). $5 for all you can eat. The place was packed. I think they made a lot of money. The event was organized by another fellow geocacher Linda. Great job Linda!

I converted both Linda and Teresa to geocaching. I witnessed to them and gave my testimony and they saw the light. I walked them right up to the altar of their first geocache and they have been faithful witnesses to the Department of Defense Satellites encircling the globe emitting their steady dependable signals that enable us to find old M&M tubes hidden in the shrubbery of abandoned Wendy’s restaurants.

Friday was the start of a three day weekend. My employer has gone to an optional 9-80 work week so Sweetie and I had a big day planned. We dropped her car off to get fixed, then we dropped the kid off at school. We drove downtown to meet with our attorney. No we are not suing you, yet. Don’t make me mad though, our attorney is a mad dog.

We were hungry after all that legal stuff so Sweetie and I hoofed it over to the Blue Dome Diner. Tulsa blogger Bill Miller posted about it recently and I had to go try it. Sweetie and I each had the blueberry walnut pancakes. I ordered three, Sweetie, one. I followed Bill’s example though and ate only half and took the other half home. The pancakes are wonderful! (Sorry for the out of focus photograph.)

We waddled back to the car, went home and changed out of lawyering clothes and into our biking clothes and drove out to the river and rode a short ride of about 12 miles or so. I only got one photograph. (Sweetie will leave me if I don’t keep up!) It is of downtown Tulsa where I work. I had to wave at my coworkers still working. Don’t worry, next week they will have Friday off and they will be waving at me from the river.

Look at those big old fat fluffy clouds.I love them. They day was perfect. Temperature in the mid 80’s, a little breeze, and low humidity. I was in heaven! The sun was straight overhead so all the trees had perfect little round shadows underneath them. What a day off!

It came time to go to Quik Trip get something to drink and then pick up the kid from school, the car from the shop, and go home. This is where I found out I’m getting stalked.

There was this waiting for me in the mailbox at home.

I think it is a little ominous, don’t you? Anybody have any ideas who this could be. Sweetie says it is my fellow blogger Baloney. Couldn’t be, could it? She’s my friend. We went dancing last week! Go check her out, let me know what you think. Is she the one or not? I sent her something earlier this week. It was real nice.

Don’t laugh. It’s a poop cache. They are very rare.

Then it was time to go check on Nana. She is recovering nicely from her broken leg and will be and running around Dress Barn again in no time. We took our two mutts Ginger and Abby because they like to play with Nana’s Fiona. After the playing it was cuddling time.

Ginger is on the right, Fiona on the left, Abby is the white blur behind Fiona. We couldn’t get all their faces in the picture. They are friends but not that good of friends.

By then I was worn out. I made the most of my day off don’t you think. And I’ve got two whole days to go this weekend!

Bike Rides, a Dog Park and Other Amenities

Last night Sweetie and I went bike riding afer stashing SuperPizzaBoy and his buddy Nicholas playing with the Wii at Nana’s house. We got off to a late start and only did about 13 miles. I had my camera but I didn’t take too many pictures. Sweetie will leave me if dally, so best just to keep moving.

The end of our ride was a loop around Hunter Park in South Tulsa. The newly opened dog park was there and it was busy!

They have two enclosures. Pictured is the large dogs, off to the left, out of the picture, is one for small dogs. Sweetie and I agreed that we are going to grab our two mutts, Ginger and Abigail, and Nana’s dog, Fiona and take them. This looks like great fun.

Is there anybody out there familiar with dog parks? If so, please tell us a little something about them. They look like a blast.

Speaking of dogs, I found the following while running on the river earlier this week. Tulsa is rebuilding many of the river trails and I’m glad they are thinking of our four legged friends. I think this is a wonderful idea. I had never seen anything like that.

Have you seen something cool for dogs or other pets? I would like to hear about it.

Summer Soiree

Sweetie and I went partying Saturday night. Left SuperPizzaBoy with Nana and headed to Southern Hills Country Club for a fund raiser for SPB’s school. Town and Country. It is our annual get dressed and go have fun event.

Town and Country School is very dear to us. SPB has really thrived there. They go to extremes to help kids learn. It is for kids with learning difficulties including Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism.

The past two years we have been a sponsor.

As you can tell from the picture below, I was out of control. Sweetie had to rein me in. I need to get a handle on partying one of these days. I just go berserk. Are we not cute? Purple and purple, Sweetie’s favorite color!

We had martinis, a fine meal with wine, desert. A short talk was given by a graduate of Town and Country School. A young man,Brian C. Britt, diagnosed with Tourette’s Syndrome, who could not function in public school. He enrolled in Town and Country and thrived. He graduated from there as a National Merit Scholar, obtained his B.S. in Communication from the University of Tulsa, and is now studying for his Master’s Degree in Organizational Communication at Purdue University. He teaches two classes in public speaking , an astounding accomplishment for a person afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome.

Then we had the live auction. I love live auctions. Jay Litchfield did this one. He is good at it. He does lots and lots of charity auctions in the Tulsa area, free, gratis, many times more than one a night. He is a great guy.

They had a band, we danced the night away, sorry, no party pics. Believe me, you appreciate that.

First Bike Ride of the Season

Last Sunday Sweetie asked, what do you want to do? I said geocaching, she said how about a bike ride. Darn right, lets go. SuperPizzaBoy went swimming at his Grandmother’s house.

Here is Sweetie all styling and everything.

“SMYS” pipeline term for “Specified Minimum Yield Strength” it has to do with the strength of the steel in used in pipelines. 100% SMYS is right at the limit. Legally you have to be at no more than 72% in remote areas. Less as areas are more populated. I’m at about 125% for my biking shirt. I’m going to wear it till it busts for two reasons:

1. My Sister Ellen gave it to me and not only is she my Sister she is also one of my most faithful readers.

2. It is a Fat Tire shirt. My favorite beer. I can’t buy the beer in Oklahoma but I can sure wear the shirt.

We met this guy on our ride. He was being a little protective of the herd.

Some ladies have no sense of humor. I yelled “Nice Rack” to this one. She turned and stomped off before I could get her picture. These modern ladies just aren’t the same. I mean if she doesn’t want anybody looking at her, quit flaunting it.

Sweetie and I had a great time. She was very patient with me stopping all the time and taking pictures.

YogisDen.us

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