Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation with Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson

I had my Fridacation yesterday, the last one before school starts next week. The family packed up and went to the movies to see “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation.”

The movie stars Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson. I would give you a synopsis but you know what you can find better descriptions of the movie somewhere else. I’ll just tell that it involves a seemingly impossible mission and lots of stunts involving airplanes, motorcycles,  BMW’s, swinging ropes, knife fights, and long jumps. Lots of cars get crashed and the body count ends up being pretty high. There is also going to be a lot of betrayals and double crosses and confusion in the plot. Check out its IMDB site for the cast, photos, and the like.

I’ll also tell you that Rebecca Ferguson steals the show from Tom Cruise. She is sexy and sultry she also gives us some totally gratuitous side boob and underwear photo ops. For no apparent reason she takes her clothes off a couple times during the movie. Not that I am complaining or anything you understand.

So it is an entertaining movie and a great way to spend the day when the temperature is shooting out the roof.

I give it three stars out of four.

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Saturday’s Critters – More Yellowstone Bear World

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As I wrote about yesterday we visited Yellowstone Bear World in eastern Idaho this past weekend. Bear World has lots of critters. I liked the bison above and appreciated him posing for me. That is a classic look. Bison have such big heads and they stand around a lot. I have always suspected that they think deep thoughts while doing so.

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The property also has elk including this white elk. Their web site explains that it is not an albino elk. I got confused about the whole thing.

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They also have about 45 bears. They were all up and moving. We have been there before and the bears were pretty sedentary, last weekend, the bears were on the prowl. It was nice seeing them so active.

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The web site explains that none of the bears were captured from the wild. They were all born in captivity.

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They had some cubs in a separate area to protect them from the adults. Is there anything cuter than a bear cub?

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And they have moose, Their is nothing ungainlier looking than a moose. Give them room though. They are notoriously bad tempered. They must be Dallas Cowboys fans. The Cowboys make all their fans cranky.

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And swans.

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And chickens

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And some ducks. Sorry about the picture of duck sex going on. I try to keep it family friendly but what the heck. 

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You know, fawns may be cuter than bear cubs. This one found a secluded spot away from everybody in the petting zoo.

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Heather and Logan found the goats.

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And Logan found a pig. He loves pot bellied pigs.

We had a great time.

I’m linking up today with Saturday’s Critters

Weekend Reflections – Yellowstone Bear World

The #Moose is loose! #YellowstoneBearWorld #Rexburg #Idaho

On our recent trip to Idaho we visited Yellowstone Bear World near the town of Rexburg, Idaho. It is not anywhere close to Yellowstone National Park but you follow the road it is on and you will get there eventually. The facility has lots of bears (all born in captivity) on site in a fairly natural setting and you can drive around (with your windows up) and view them. They also have other animals including this male moose and a female in a separate area with their own marsh.

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They also had this guy enjoying a dip. It was hot the day we were there and there were lots of bears in the water and under the shade trying to stay cool.

Linking with Weekend Reflections

Skywatch Friday – The Grand Tetons from the “Quiet Side”

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Everybody knows about the Teton Mountains of Wyoming, the spectacular peaks soaring out of the west side of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  I had an uncle who had a drug store right on the square in Jackson and when I was a kid we visited him a lot so we got to see the mountains a bunch. Things are far different now than then. The gazillionaires have taken over. They have bought the ranches and built their big houses. The traffic is horrendous and prices for food lodging is ridiculous. Depressed? There is an alternative.

The west side of the Tetons overlooks the Teton Valley of Idaho. There are only about 6000 people in the whole valley and farming and ranching dominate the economy. There is no traffic and everybody is pretty laid back. It is called the “Quiet Side of the Tetons.” There is lots of history here. Lewis and Clark journeyed through the valley on their expedition. The fur trappers of the early west held their annual Rendezvous in the Valley in 1829 and 1832

You better hurry though, the signs of the early Californication of the Teton Valley are there. Big houses are going up and you can tell the tourist trade is on the upswing it appears. Word is that the Billionaires in Jackson are squeezing out the mere millionaires to the small towns of Driggs, Victor, and Tetonia.

Rainey Creek Country Store

Outside the Teton Valley to the south is Swan Valley. On your way to Swan Valley check out Rainey Creek Country Store. A small convenience store at the crossroads of Highways 26 and 31. They sell ice cream there it is pretty darn good. Especially the Huckleberry and Cream. They also use square scoops. I don’t know why but I think that the square scoops make the ice cream taste better. Why? Who knows. Check it out!

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Anybody know of an Ice Cream Meme??? Should I start one?

And a postscript, Heather and I are fans of HGTV’s House Hunters section. Here you can find an episode where this typical self obsessed TV actor couple that has ruined Jackson, Wyoming look at houses in Driggs, Idaho. A charming couple but they don’t realize how much destruction they cause.

Southeastern Idaho’s Snake River

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We just got back from a long weekend trip to Idaho Falls, Idaho to visit my Dad. While there we headed off east to see some sights including the Snake River as it goes through Swan Valley.

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The Snake River is a major draw for trout fisherman. Above was a fisherman on a sandbar. You can see his dory anchored nearby. I hope that he had it secured because if that thing gets loose it would be long gone. The Snake is a swift river.

#SnakeRiver #SwanValley #Idaho #Latergram

We admired the view for a little bit and moved on.

Boys Night Out – Exiled from the House

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Heather has her monthly book group all year but she hosts it one month generally in the summer. Lots of preparation goes into a book group meeting. The house gets cleaned and the decorations refreshed. Menus are examined, the wines and other refreshments purchased. And of course the book has to be read. It is a big deal. The group has been meeting I think for around twenty years or more.

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Logan and I always bug out when the book group is at our house. When he was basically a newborn I stayed with him upstairs in the nursery while the book group was meeting. All the other times we go somewhere. We call it “Boys Night Out.” On school nights we generally just go eat and check out a bookstore or something. During the summer we can stay out later. Last Tuesday night, we went downtown and had some barbecue and then walked down to the stadium from the restaurant. I love that we can do that now.

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I love baseball at any level from peewee games to the major leagues. Tulsa has a AA team that plays at a high level. My employer bought naming rights to the stadium and so we get tickets at half price. I love it.

DSCN4262Now Logan hates baseball and so he takes his book and he likes to get up and wander up and down the aisle. So here he is going down. DSCN4268

And here is coming back up with his Harry Potter book under his arm.

DSCN4258He finally settled down some so we could watch the game. Not many people out on a Tuesday night so we could stretch out. DSCN4254

We left with about an inning to go. I am not one who has to stay until the bitter end. I just like watching the game and my fellow fans

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Like this guy who was looking for a family member. Such an expressive look.

Do you ever get locked out of the house because of something your spouse has going on?

Not Quite Singing in the Rain – Getting Soaked on Turkey Mountain

During the downpour yesterday #DownTownTulsa

Wednesday nights are my night to go running after work. I have a little routine. I leave work and go to a liquor store and pick up some craft beer and then I head out either to the Arkansas River trails or Turkey Mountain. Last Wednesday it started a downpour just as I was leaving downtown but my good ole Accuweather app on the phone said it was not going to rain for at least two hours so I’m good right?

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So started out on the Yellow Trail taking pics with my Ipod Touch using the Hipstamatic App. I just love blurry photos. My intention was to try and do six miles or so.

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This is my favorite spot on the Yellow Trail. I just tell people to follow the arrow. Nobody listens to me but I say it anyway. I repeat myself a lot that way.

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This is my favorite new landmark on the Yellow Trail. It reminds me of something new I’m reading a little about lately Trail Marker Trees.  Trees that Native Americans shaped as trail markers or other uses. Check the link. I’d love to see a few live. I’m a little skeptical about them personally.

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I stopped a smelled a few roses. Metaphorically.

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And check out some color.

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Just as I got to the north end of the Yellow Trail it started raining, hard. I put away my Ipod and got out my waterproof Nikon. People tell me about how much they love raining in the rain. I don’t like it too much but if you are out in it and wearing tech clothes then it is not so bad. I decided to cut my run short and run the upper Yellow trail back.

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The mud sticks to your shoes and things get a lot slipperier but I eventually got back to my car.

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The only thing worse than running in the rain would be riding a bike. The thunder and lightening was getting pretty bad also. That can ruin your whole day.

If I had it to do over again, I’d do it over again. And no, I didn’t go home and drink the beer I bought earlier. You see we are much more godly people in Oklahoma than where you live because our laws don’t allow us to purchase cold full strength beer. So I drank some of the beer I bought last week!! That is called pre-planning.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Yogi Takez an Art Clazz

Friday night Heather and I met with our friends Jim and Leanna for dinner and drinks. Afterward we headed over to Pinot’z Palette on the Jenkz Riverwalk for an “Art and Wine” clazz.

My art needz a little polishing up. To the best of my recollection my last art clazz was in 6th grade at Harding Elementary School in Price, Utah which was not too long ago. I mean 1966 is just like yesterday, right. I think one should take a refresher course every 50 yearz to keep their Art Skillz sharp. UntitledAnywayz (I’m liking the z’s instead of s’s at the end of wordz right now. That’z allowable in Oklahoma if you are good at football. I’m not good football but I wish I waz.) This waz almost easier than paint by numberz. The instructor got up on a pedestal and basically told uz what to do every step of the way and they had already pencil sketched the owl shape we were working on that night.

It waz fun! We got to wear apronz so we didn’t have to be too neat. We mixed colorz and used three different brushez and even used the butt end of jthe brushez a little bit. They had wine available and we indulged and everybody had a great time and the resultz were good.

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So here are Heather and I (yez, I am smiling so shut up). I tried my best to make my owl not so feminine. And I wanted pluz sized eyez and a big beak. You know, not az big az mine but bigger than most.

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And here iz Jim and Leanna with their work. You can tell they both have true artistic tempermentz.

Anywayz, I think I’ll be having another session before another fifty yearz come. And I’m done with z thing at the end of wordz. I am not sure what why started but it iz irritiating the bejeeberz out  of me, and I’m sure you but once I the idea popped into my head halfway through writing thiz, I just had to do it.

Senior Picture Shoot

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I always claim the right to take pictures of people taking pictures in public places. I did that yesterday of the photographer taking pictures of son Logan. The guy was good! He put Logan, who hates getting dressed up and especially hates changing out of perfectly clean clothes into other clothes. I just tagged along.

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Heather made a great assistant holding the reflector as the photographer did his thing. I’m going to have to get one of those things. I wouldn’t know what to do with it but it sure looks cool.

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I think both Heather and I teared up during the session. Our baby is getting all growns up. It seems like just yesterday we loaded him up for first grade.  He has turned into quite the young man. He has overcome a lot of challenges and I think will do well.

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Anyways we get the proofs in about a week and a half. The guy was good so my expectations are high. I imagine we’ll buy almost everything. We might have to get a second mortgage but you only get Senior Pictures once. Well, at least hope it is just once.