Tag Archives: Heather

The Kid Bows Out and Other Happenings this Weekend

Last Friday was Logan’s last performance with the Laughing Matter Teen Improv Group at the Clark Youth Theater here in Tulsa. He is aging out of the program. Heather and were trying to figure out how long he has been with the program. We think that it has been about eleven years but we are not sure. What kind of crappy parents are we anyway??

He’s really enjoyed it and it has been fun watching the other kids grow up also. We are going to miss it. He hasn’t really started looking at what’s available for him now in the community but we’ll keep you posted. He just finished his first year of college and did very well. His mother and I are pleased.

The kids have really blossomed. Maybe they blossomed too much. They are an independent bunch and I think that is a good thing.

Saturday morning we did our cat rescue gig at the the Petsmart in Broken Arrow. We have gotten kind of fond of the cats and are happy that they all eventually get adopted.

There were three new ones Saturday morning. The one above is a male that got caught in a fence and some asshat shot him with a bb gun. He’s a sweetie but he is a little traumatized by his new surroundings. He’ll make somebody a great cat.

After the cat gig Heather and Logan went home and I went geocaching. I’ll post in detail about it later but I bushwahacked for 0.3 miles through the woods alongside the Verdigris River looking for a geocache. All told I spent two hours on that gig and didn’t find it. Three ticks found me though! The cache above is one I found later. I guess that I can find them if they are painted pink and have yellow caution tape so that I don’t trip over it. Yep, I love geocaching whether I find them or not.

We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy II later on. Heather and Logan loved it, and me I was just confused. Still am. We did build a fire in the patio and chill out for a bit afterward though.

Sunday was a work day at the house. Logan and I mowed the yard. Heather “amended” the soil. I got my chainsaw down and cut down a volunteer tree in the greenbelt behind the fence. We got a lot done, heathen pagans that we have turned into.

Later on we went to Nana’s house (Nana is the world’s greatest MIL) and grilled burgers and chilled. That’s Nana’s dog Reba above. She is my model for chilling.

And that’s a wrap on the weekend. How was yours?

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Easter at Nana’s House

This is Nana, the world’s great MIL. We had Easter dinner at her house this year.

And this is Nana’s daughter, my wife.

And Logan, the kid, the big kid.

We had quite the spread. You can tell we are really heavy drinkers.

And after dinner, while everybody else is working I am snooping around. These are Heather’s cowboy boots from she was just a toddler. Her grandfather had a ranch you see. No matter, if you live in Oklahoma you have cowboy boots even if you hardly know what a horse looks like. Next the boots is a photo of our son Logan on a horse.

And this is Nana’s mother’s Easter hat. Nana wouldn’t model it for me. When I was a kid, all the women had Easter hats, and gloves, and white shoes. The little girls had little muffs and me and my brother Bob had bow ties.

Yep that’s us, rocking the bow ties. Better than muffs but still torture. In case you were wondering, I’m the good looking guy.

Back to Nana’s mother. These are her Iris’s that Nana transplanted from the family home in western Oklahoma. I love these flowers.

And this is Nana’s father’s saddle and hat. I love this old family stuff.

And here is our family photograph. We hope you had a great Easter with family and friends because we sure did.

Skywatch Friday – A Family Walk at Oxley Nature Center

Last Friday the family decided to go for walk at Tulsa’s Mary K. Oxley Nature Center. One of the best kept secrets in Tulsa. Acres and acres of trails, woods, marsh, lakes, and meadows and hardly anybody ever visits it.

Well somebody had been visiting. We saw a few of these in the park but they didn’t look like they had been used.

I love the big and small ponds, lakes, and streams on the property.

It looked like some beavers had been hard at work.

A sign needs either replacing or fetched.

A nice surprise were some pelicans. They were cruising about. The geese seemed a little put off their visitors.

Heather taking in the view near the photo blind.

Yep, I’m a lucky guy is what I think.

Heather and our gentle giant of a son, Logan checking out some storm damage from last year.

And here is our route. About 3 miles and a good mix of woods, open land, and water. We saw nobody else during our three miles.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday this week.

Somebody is Having a Birthday!

She is holding the Birthday Angel!

Yep, Heather is having a birthday.

She doesn’t stand still too long, she is often on the go and usually ahead of me.

Oh what does she have up her sleeve now?

I try to keep her and mother separated to minimize the mischief.

Oh, yeah, and she can cook too.

She flies high

And can sneak in under the radar!

Happy Birthday Heather, I love you!! Have a great day!!

River Parks Ride with Heather

Heather and I went on a bike ride today on Tulsa’s wonderful River Parks trails along the Arkansas River.

We started on the east bank and went north a ways. (“A ways” is how we say things in Oklahoma, just so you know.)

That was about a mile and then we went across the west bank across our brand spanking new pedestrian bridge with emergency call stations every 50 yards or so.

And then headed down south past the PSO Tulsa Power Station.

Not as many people on the west side of the river compared to the east side. It is a lot more remote with fewer access points.

Heather kept the pace up even though she said she said her legs were dead. She teaches Zumba classes a few times a week. I’d be dead myself.

I injured myself in a Labor Day run but I guess that I’m cured. My knee doesn’t hurt at all any more. Don’t tell Heather or I’ll have to vacuum or mow the yard or something. Can you keep a secret? Yeah, well I can’t either.

Anyway, we got about 15.5 miles. My garmin shows a half mile less but I didn’t get it started until we started the ride.

You know, I think a 15 mile plus or minus is a good ride. So we celebrated by going to a frozen yogurt place. And then home to watch the Cowboys lose to the Giants. Heather cleaned house because she didn’t know about my miraculously cured knee that you promised you wouldn’t tell her about.

So, what did you do Sunday afternoon.

Driving Lessons, Tourists, and a Rant

The kid is starting formal driving lessons next week. He has never been behind the wheel before so we went to our local community college parking lot and he sat in the driver’s seat and we went through all the controls and knobs and all that. Then he started the car, put it in drive and we idled through a few loops. I had forgotten how hard the steering thing was to learn, going into and out of a turn. He did great! The best thing was that he had a million questions. I like it when I’m teaching somebody something and they ask questions. It shows me that they have the want to’s. You can’t give people the want to’s I have found out.

So what do you think? Would this be a good first car for Logan?

In other news, Heather had a weak moment and let me go grocery shopping for her. I like taking action shots of her. She is always on the move so basically that is all that I have, is action shots. She is not much of sitter.

Well, I’d been whining about not being able to go to the pool and we went over to Nana’s house and hung out. She has a very nice and inviting pool and back yard. It was getting late afternoon and and I loved the light.

Saturday morning I went on a run on the Arkansas River close to the Creek Tribe Casino. They are building a big huge Margaritaville hotel, bar, and restaurant. They are putting part of it in the river. We have lots of tribal casinos here in Oklahoma. My gambling budget the last several years has been, let me see, approximately zero. If I want to flush money down the toilet I can do that at home.

On Friday there were several tour groups downtown. Tulsa is getting more and more recognition for the art deco architecture. Plus there has been an explosion of new hotels, restaurants, and night clubs the last several years and there are lots and lots of housing options. I think that is all a good thing. We just got through electing a new hipster, progressive mayor. He did a great job as a city counselor. I’m hopeful that Tulsa and Oklahoma will start backing out of the economic dead end and false promises of the tea baggers who have pretty much destroyed our education system in their quest to make Oklahoma “A shining beacon of liberty” as my idiot state senator puts it. (Unfortunately, he got re-elected).

Anyways, that is that, sorry for the rant.

What is new with you?

Mother’s Day Nursery Trip

Sunday was Mothers Day and Heather went to a local nursery. Heather went to gather plants for her mother’s pots. I went along to take pictures.

I can’t believe nurserys let people take pictures for free. Talk about a target rich environment for photographs.

I love the plants and also the ornaments. That is Heather in the background. Somebody should be helping her don’t you think? Oh, yeah, well I was busy also.

I found a whole flock of pink flamingos. Heather didn’t really act like she wanted one.

She didn’t want these statues decorating her garden either.

And back to Heather. She is having almost as much as fun as I am. She is a certified OSU Master Gardener so she knows her plants.

I also know my plants. For example these are yellow flowers. In the background are some red flowers. Impressive huh?

I love these rusty sunflowers. Here in Oklahoma you better tie them down good unless you want to see them sailing off in the wind.

And then we went to Home Depot. I was amused by these two guys who were having trouble getting a fitting on a hose. You should have seen the tools they were using to get it done. Remember when the Home Depot guys knew their stuff?

Home Depot has some nice flowers also.

And I love this wind vane. Made me want to sing “The wheels on the truck go round and round… round and round…”

Anyway that’s a wrap on our trip to the nursery.

What have you been up to?

Who is my Valentine?

This is my version played out on Picmonkey of the old scissors, glue, paste, and lace valentines I made in grade school back in the 60’s.

Hey, just in case there are few people who don’t know who my Valentine is. That is about the beamiest smile anybody is going to get from me. I’m one lucky guy.

Happy Valentines Day to you!!

Weekend Roundup

Busy, busy, busy that was us this weekend. Friday was my 9/80 day. I work 80 hours over nine days and get every other Friday off. It makes for long hours when I’m working but I love having the extra days off. Friday, Heather and I dropped my car off to get tires and then we went to breakfast and then on to the movies. We decided to see The Revenant.

Heather went to see it as a favor to me and I don’t think she liked it as much as I did. The Revenant is a powerful movie and very raw and incredibly brutal at times. I was worn out by the time it was done and I can see why it was nominated for a bunch of Oscars. I can’t really say much about it because almost anything would be a spoiler. I’ve some research I need to do and then maybe a dedicated blog post.

Friday night Logan’s Improv group put on a new show. Logan loves Improv and I love watching him light up when he is onstage. It is great watching his fellow performers also, some of whom have been in the group for years and I love watching the kids grow up. Logan and several others are seniors this year so they will be aging out of the group. We’ll have to see how Logan can continue doing Improv.

The nature of Improv is that you have to have a quick wit and you have to move on. Some skits work and others don’t and you don’t look back, you just go on.

Saturday morning I went for a trail run on Turkey Mountain. It is a great place to get my head on straight.

I saw this note card stuck in a tree. It’s a nice gesture and all that but the first rain this will turn into mush or the wind will blow onto the ground. I’m such a cynic.

Saturday night Logan got all spiffed up for his school’s Winter Ball. Heather and I were the chauffeurs for the night. We drove him to a country club where the Senior Dinner was and then later picked him up and took him to the dance venue and then picked him up. We were glad to do it. It was great seeing the young men and women being all dressed up, excited, and glowing for the event.

Heather and I went first class. I took her to one of the finest convenience stores in the country and offered to get her anything she wanted. I was even prepared to get here the X Large Pizza. Nothing but the best for my wife. She opted for a bottle of water.

Christmas 2015 – In the Books

Christmas happened this year. Hear you go a rare shot of me in my snuggie.

The kid with his Nana. The kid is getting taller and taller. Is there something we can spray him with to slow him down a little bit.

Heather and Nana, quite a team.

I got a candid shot of Heather. She said she hated it but then she made it her profile pic on facebook. Should I hit her up about royalties?

I captured Nana also.

Before the Christmas meal. We decided to have it more informally this year in the kitchen. Lots less work that way.

My sister Ellen posted this on facebook today. She’s the cute one in the middle. I’m the good looking guy on the right and brother Bob is on the left. I’m guessing mid 1960’s in Price, Utah. We always had a great Christmas. Often we would load up afterward and head up to southern Idaho to see our relatives there. That was fun, or we would head down to Phoenix and see people down there. That was fun also. Bob and Ellen, with her husband Irvin, spent Christmas in Idaho with my dad this year.

She also posted this picture of her three girls. I’m guessing in the 1980’s. Dana is on the left. She and her husband Adam are in Australia visiting his family with their little girl who was born this year. Adam is an Australian citizen you see and their little girl has dual citizenship which I think is totally cool. Jillian in the middle is also visiting my dad, her Grandfather for Christmas in Idaho. Her husband Brian is in the Army serving his country overseas this season. Mary on the right spent Christmas in Colorado Springs with her son this year.

This isn’t a Christmas picture but it is Ellen and her Husband Irvin with Logan back at the turn of the century.

This is also not a Christmas pic but it shows my dad in between Logan and brother Bob.

And this is brother Bob and me with our mother a long time ago in Coyote, New Mexico. She is never far from our thoughts.

Hey you know, when we celebrate Christmas we celebrate it with the critters also. This is abby our sweet but not very smart mutt.

And Rascal, he is sweet and smart. You can see that he has been reading the paper.

And our sweet but perpetually cold mutt Ginger. My niece Dana pictured above lives in the Phoenix area and I think Ginger would like us to move there also.

And Nana’s dog Fiona. She always enjoys visiting us, but is ready to go home when that times comes also.

That was our Christmas this year or at least part of it. I’m big into Christmas not running into a huge stop on Christmas Day so I’m going to go ahead and everybody a Merry Christmas.

YogisDen.us

Welcome to my world