Category Archives: RHOK

Geocaching – Scouting Chandler Park for the RHOK

Son and I have been scouting geocaches lately. Not that I need an excuse, he hates geocaching with a passion. If they ever came up with a videogame “Zelda the Windwaker Geocacher” he might be interested. Otherwise forget it. But he’s a good sport. The reason we are scouting geocaches is that my friend Baloney of “That’s Baloney” and I thought it might be fun for her and some of her fellow Real Housewives of Oklahoma (“RHOK”) members to go geocaching and then for us to blog about the experience.

(In case you are wondering, all is well with my Soul)

I think it would be fun but I don’t want to take them to find geocaches that I’ve already found. What good would that be? On the other hand looking for a cache and not finding it is a bummer. Especially if some of these ladies bring their kids along. And then you want to take them some place different, but not too far away, after all these women are busy. Sometimes I think they should change their names to the Real Busy Housewives of Oklahoma .They are on the go all the time, here, there, and everywhere.

So anyway SPB and I decided to check out a cache in Chandler Park in west Tulsa. The cache is called “TAG CITO 2011 Commerative Cache“. (A little translation, TAG is Tulsa Area Geocachers, a local geocaching group, CITO is Cache In, Trash Out where cachers help clean up parks and such as a way of giving back to the community.) Anyways, nobody had found it in a while so off son and I went.

(Nope that is not a cache, it really is a birdhouse, I checked)

There was a little disclaimer in the description. It described the terrain as “rough.” That can be troublesome because no geocacher will ever claim that terrain is too “rough.” If somebody planted a geocache at the summit of Mount Everest the description would say “possibly rough terrain.” Well anyway, off we went. The first thing we saw was the birdhouse. You know if some girl scouts could make it this far, so could the housewives.

(You don’t really need to climb this wall)

Now, I’m not going to spoil anybody else’s fun by showing how to get to the cache or the details of its placement or any of that. But I have to ask myself, could the RHOK women climb up this wall of rhoks? Heck with them, could I climb up this wall?

Assuming they got up the wall and down the other side and into the canyon, could they get out? I wasn’t sure that I could get out! The shadows were getting kind of long. Maybe we’ll find something a little less challenging. I’m not worried about them, they can do anything, I’m worried about me. I guess that I’ll keep on looking.

The Ten Things I Couldn’t Do Without

The Ladies of the Real Housewives of Oklahoma have a little meme going on with the McLinky Monday where you are supposed to list the 10 things you couldn’t do without.

Here is my list.

Number 1 My GPS devices!
I have five of them. Here is my primary Geocaching Device

The Magellan Explorist GC. I have two backups to it. One is a Garmin the other is a Lowrance. Plus I have a running GPS that tells me how far I run and for how long and a combination navigation and geocaching unit. You really cannot have too many of them.

Number Two are my Running Shoes!! Mizuno Wave Alchemy Rules.

I love to run. I don’t run very fast nor very far nor very often but I love it. These shoes are a nice ride.

#3 is my Satellite Radio

I grew up with so called Classic Rock and liked it fine but I started hating it before hating it was cool. I’ve had satellite radio for almost 6 years and I’ll never be without it ever again. Whatever genre, whenever. I haven’t listened to commercial radio in years.

#4 is my Ipod Touch.

Its not an Iphone but it doesn’t have any monthly fees. I can play Scrabble and Words with Friends just like my sisters at RHOK (but not as good as most of them). I’ve got over 100 apps on it plus its loaded with music. It is wonderful.

#5 is my Ipod Nano

I have about two thousand songs on itunes on my laptop. I rotate them in and out of my ipod. I have run hundreds of miles listening to tunes. Everything from Metallica to the Carpenters, Jazz, Classical, whatever. This thing just keeps on going.

#6 is Coffee

I love good coffee. I can’t drink the swill at work so I have my own Keurig coffee maker. Sweetie has a Tassimo we use at home. Love it, love it, love it. I can’t imagine a world without coffee.

#7 are my Cameras

I have a Canon Powershot sx120. I love it. It’s not too complicated and has a nice zoom. I have a couple other cameras also. I’m still learning about photography and I love it. I marvel at the skill of my fellow bloggers.

#8 is our Electric Blanket

In the winter I like it cool at night for sleeping but I like to stay warm and I don’t like a lot of covers on me. I cannot stand it. So Sweetie indulges me. I love it. Don’t laugh at me, or even with me on this. I’m warning you.

#9 is my Fat Tire

I love malted adult beverages. Fat Tire by New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins, Colorado is my favorite. Alas, they cannot sell it in Oklahoma. I called the brewery and talked to them a few years about it. The Oklahoma state liquor laws are such that can’t for some reason. So when I go on business to the People’s Republic of Kansas I stock up.

# 10 is Having Every Other Friday Off.

This is my favorite. I work 80 hours over 9 days so I get every other Friday off. I spend them with Sweetie. During the school year we take SuperPizzaBoy to school and roll him out the door. “Duck and Roll, duck and roll” we yell, why can’t he get that straight? Sometimes he gets so banged up. It is his fault. Then we go to breakfast. If the weather is warm we ride our bikes, if not we go to the movies!! Thanks Gas Company.

That’s my list. What is yours. Link up with the RHOKers.

Favorite Ornament

Mrs. Bundy of the Real Housewives of Oklahoma wants to know about our favorite ornaments. In our house Sweetie takes care of the Christmas tree ornaments and does a darn good job it also. All the ornaments have a story behind them and she places them just so. She even allows by Dallas Cowboys star to be on the tree, at a place of here choosing of course.

I decided recently to make my own ornament. You didn’t know that I was a crafty guy did you? I made it from a kit.

Here is the pieces before assembly.

Of course anybody who has had a boy around the house any of the last twenty years immediately recognizes this as Legos. Can anybody guess what it is?

Here is an interim step.

And the final

Sweetie loves snowmen. She tolerated mine in amongst her other snowmen. We didn’t put it on the tree though, even though it is made to do that. You know what happens to Legos when they drop.

Do you have a favorite ornament. Tell us about it and link up with RHOK.

Black Friday – My Plans

The ladies over at the Real Housewives of Oklahoma want to know what our plans are for Black Friday.

I don’t know for sure where I am going to be but I can assure you that it is not going to be shopping.

I’m going to be here:

or here even!

Or maybe with my Sweetie, sharing one of these,

So when you are out there fighting your fellow humans for parking and bargains, be sure and remember me, because I’m planning on a great Black Friday.

What I’m Thankful For

The Real Housewives of Oklahoma are asking what we are thankful for.

I’m thankful for my wife Sweetie. She is the greatest wife anybody ever had.

I’m thankful for SuperPizzaBoy. He is quite the boy.

Together they make a great team.

I’m also thankful for my mother-in-law Nana. She is great, just ask SPB.

I’m also thankful for my Dad, Gramps. Its best to keep Gramps and SPB apart. They are always up to something.

I’m thankful for the rest of my family. Here we are in Idaho. On the back row left to right, my sister Ellen (check out her awesome blog!), her husband Irv, Sweetie, and me. Front row is SPB, Mr. Beans, Gramps, and brother Bob. Brother Bob has recently moved to Tulsa from California.

Here is a portion of my extended family in Idaho.

Go check out the Real Housewives and let them know what you are thankful for.

My Worst Job, Ever

Mrs. Albright over at Real Housewives of Oklahoma wants to know what our worst job ever was. My first thought was, “I have never had a bad job.” Then I thought, well wait a minute…

My second job out of college was working as the Plant Process Engineer for a large natural gas processing plant in a small town in east Texas for a large independent oil company. It was the late 1970’s and the first oil boom was in full swing and things were wild.

The Plant Superintendent was a drunk and on the take. The Area Manager was in way over his head. The plant was old, overloaded, and very profitable. Shoot, everything connected with the business was profitable at the time.

I worked there for about nine months until I got transferred to another plant located near Houston.

In those nine months, the plant had nine fires. Eight of those fires didn’t hurt anybody.

One of the fires was a propane vapor flash in our refrigeration compression building. Three guys were walking into the building when the propane vapor in it ignited. There was no explosion just a flash like when you are trying to light your grill and it takes a while and then it goes “whuff” and it lights. Only this was on a lot bigger scale.

The guy leading the trio was burned very badly on his upper body, hands, face, and neck. He was a new employee only there a few months. He was terminated immediately, probably before the helicopter got him to the burn unit in Dallas. When he got out of the hospital months later the company gave him a contract job as a janitor in the office.

After the accident, as stated by a car accident law firm, something I’ll never forget was seeing something that looked like cellophane hanging a metal handrail. I looked at it real close and it had whorls and patterns. I realized that it was the guy’s skin from his hands that stuck to the rail as he staggered back out of the building after the flash and grabbed the rail.

The guy behind him was a more veteran employee. He was a Plant Operator which meant that he had to work a rotating shift. His main injuries were to the sides of his face. He was off work for several weeks with his injuries. When he came back, they kept him but made him work shifts even though he asked repeatedly just to work days as working nights caused him too much anxiety. He told me that his skin sounded like bacon in a frying pan when the flash fire happened.

The third guy was the Lead Mechanic. His burns were mainly his hands. They caused him a lot of discomfort. I remember being in the Plant Superintendent’s staff meeting where he told the Maintenance Foreman to make sure that the mechanic was not allowed to go inside to warm his hands up in the winter. They were trying to make him retire you see.

I could tell you a lot more but I’ve probably wrote too much already. I was not happy with the slipshod half ass maintenance and operation of the place and the overheated concentration on production at the expense of safety. Thanks to the attorneys of a traffic accident law firm in McAllen who helped me to claim my compensation for my injury that helped me to recover faster and also I was able to finagle myself a better job (I’m good at finagling!) into a much safer situation. You can also use the help of Baltimore injury attorneys for hire who can help you to recover full compensation for the injury caused.

That company eventually got bought out by another company and the plant was spun off to yet another company. The Gas Processing industry is very safety oriented now. Most companies keep the safety department’s management totally apart from the operations management so there is not the pressure to continue unsafe situations. Plus there are lots more Federal and State regulation of safety. Things are night and day compared between now and then.

I became an Operations Manager in Oklahoma in the mid 1980’s. I only had one lost time injury among my 55 guys and gals during my tenure (which is one injury too many, so I’m not bragging.) I’m not sure how good a boss I was but my biggest fear was having to call somebody’s wife or parent to tell them that their husband or son was hurt. I never had to do that (the one injury was a sore back) and I’m grateful for that.

Go check out the RHOK Stars. Tell them what your worst job was.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

My favorite Oklahoma Ladies, the lovely, talented, smart, and very hot RHOKing RHOKette’s of the Real Housewives of Oklahoma have as the subject of this week’s McLinky Monday:

What is your favorite John Hughes movie and why?

I have to tell you “16 Candles, isn’t it.” Sweetie likes it, when its on, I grab my Sports Illustrated. Nothing wrong with it, its just not me.

The Breakfast Club isn’t it either. I like it and, even though I was never a Generation X slacker nor did I ever spend a minute in detention or ever get in trouble because I was such a perfect guy. Funny enough though, I can see a couple of the RHOK’ers and their spouses in the movie. No need to explain myself. Nope, I’ll just leave it at that.

My favorite John Hughes movie is Ferris Bueller’s Day off. The first time I saw I laughed till my sides hurt. I have seen it dozens of times and it still makes me laugh.

I never get tired of watching it and it seems like I have the whole thing memorized. I recently got a DVD of the movie at an Energy Industry function. Actually my door prize was “Flash Dance” which I was going to throw in the trash but I ran into somebody who loves that movie and her door prize was Ferris. So we both ended up happy.

I put it in contention for the fourth best movie ever. (“Chinatown”, “Cars”, and “Down With Love” are ahead of it.)

Anyways, go check out the RHOK and tell them what your favorite John Hughes movie is and buy a tee shirt.

Super Hero

Its Labor Day today so I’m doing something a little different. It’s Real Housewives of Oklahoma’s McLinky Monday and the theme of their meme is SuperHero. So here is mine, 666BOI. You can make your own Super Hero here if you want.

666BOI can do lots of things, he can eat pizza with SuperPizzaBoy, go to concerts with Sweetie, and provide lots of entertainment at his doctor’s office with his various maladies related to geocaching. He is also the slowest runner on the planet, but he always finishes vertically.

Where did 666BOI come from? That is an ironic story. You know in the Bible how it says that God spoke the world into existence? Well RHOK’s own Miss Priss blogged 666BOI into being. She denies it of course but the proof is here. 666BOI did not exist before Miss Priss created him, fact. Of course Miss Priss denies a lot. For example she denies that she is Oklahoma’s Hottest MommyBlogger. You can see the proof of that here. (Don’t click on that in the presence of children or at your place of employment, I know seven people who have lost their jobs because they viewed the web site at work.)

Check out RHOK, create your own superhero, join’em.

Three Ringed Circus

We took our dog pack for a walk tonight including our new puppy, “Rascal.”

It’s a three ringed circus.

Speaking of, Oklahoma’s hot housewives, The Real Housewives of Oklahoma, have a new topic on their Monday meme. I know its a Monday meme but I’m doing it on Tuesday because, well, because I’m special that’s why. Here is the question of the week.

Think about the day you met your spouse. Since then and due to their influence, what is the one thing that has changed about you that you never expected to happen?

I’m going to violate the rules some more. Sweetie has changed in my in a bunch of ways. Some of these are illustrated in the YouTube clip believe it or not.

First, notice the color of my clothes? I was a man of beige and browns before we got married. I thought it was cool. I wouldn’t be caught dead in color unless it was camo. Now, I’ve got all the colors of the rainbow, hardly any brown tones at all. In fact, this is no lie, Sweetie will slap me if I’m lying: I have about three times as many clothes as she does. We have two closets just for me. And I wear them all also. Yep, I rotate through all of them.

Second, notice the shorts. I didn’t wear shorts as a kid. We grew up in small towns in the west. I wasn’t a cowboy but I grew up in amongst them. Nobody in them towns wore shorts except effete tourist kids and doctor’s children who we looked upon with combined pity and disgust. Mom tried to get my brother and I to wear “bermuda shorts” one summer. She had to give up, we wouldn’t go outside the house. We would rather have worn our underwear outside than to be considered a doctor’s kid and be considered with polite pity, and sneering disgust. So I didn’t wear them as an adult either. The fact I had the whitest legs in the world didn’t help. Sweetie got me to wearing shorts. Now I wear them all the time. Sometimes even in the winter.

Third, the dogs. I always liked dogs and cats but you know, they were just dogs and cats. Sweetie and her family love animals and shower them with love and affection. I’ve learned to do so myself. I don’t really “get” people who don’t like animals.

Fourth, notice the big ole pot belly? Sweetie can cook! I’ve really learned fine dining since Sweetie and I got hitched. She can cook anything which is great because I’ll eat almost anything.

I could go on and on. Sweetie is wonderful. What can I say?

You want to participate in this? Follow the link to their page and check it out.

Hey Kid, is School Out for the Summer?

SuperPizzaBoy says “Yippi, School is Out”. This is what he plans on doing this Summer. Sweetie and I are still discussing the rest of it.

The Real Housewives of Oklahoma have their Monday meme going on. And I’m posting it on Tuesday because … well because that’s the way it worked out. Go check them out, they are fun.

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