Hot and Humid

It’s been hot and humid lately here in the heartland.

Let me talk about humid first. I put a ceiling fan on our back porch yesterday. It took me a lot longer than it should have to get it done because this one was designed to be installed by somebody with three hands and lots of manual dexterity. I stuck with it and got’er done though. And of course since my whole life is spent looking for something to blog about, I grabbed my camera and took a picture of my the ceiling fan in action. Here it is.

No fancy photo editing here. Just condensation on the camera lens. That’s humid.

Sweetie, as always is so appreciative anytime I get off my butt and actually do something she agreed to sit for a pic under the fan.

Lets talk about HOT.

Last week we decided to go to Nana’s house. Great, she has a pool, lets party! I decided I was going to run to Nana’s house. At about 2:30 in the afternoon. It was only 92 degrees but the heat index was over 100 degrees because of the high humidity. (Review above section on humidity of you need to.) So off I went (Sweetie and SuperPizzaBoy went in an air conditioned car.)

Things start out so nice. Here’s a dove in our flower bed. He didn’t want to go with me for some reason.

Things got hot fast.

I finally find some shade, I ran in the shade for a while instead of the designated trail. Don’t tell anybody, I’m sure I violated the law against shady running.

I stopped to smell the flowers but they weren’t looking the same.

I finally staggered to Nana’s front door. I was totally disoriented but there was an angel there to guide me. I was worried though, I didn’t know where she was taking me.

Man, I burned lots and lots of calories!!

Just don’t look at the pace. I’m sure many of you could of walked the distance faster.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I just finished reading The Help. It is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960’s and is about the often cruel relationships between white middle class housewives and their maids “the help.” “Skeeter” a daughter of one of the housewives comes home with a degree from Ole Miss and finds out that Constantine, the family maid and lady who raised her as a baby, is gone and Skeeter’s mother refuses to talk about it and won’t even say where Constantine went.

This gets Skeeter thinking about the maids and their relationship to the families and begins to see with new eyes the help’s predicament. She has an idea to write a book about the stories the maids could tell. Writing such a book is a dangerous thing to do in the Mississippi back then. The novel then goes on to describe the efforts f Skeeter and the maids to solicit other women to tell their stories and get the book published.

Despite my lackluster synopsis above, I found the book very compelling and interesting. The stories ring true and the book is very even handed, given the situation. I fell in love with the characters.

I give it four stars out of four. It’s a great book.

Check out Kathryn Stockett’s web page. Apparently they are going to make a movie out of this book.

Jerry Jones, I’m Here for You Brother.

Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys (for you RHOKers and Canadians) called me and said “Dang Yogi, when you going to come down and blog about my new football stadium? I mean cmon son, I look at your blog every day and I’ve had my fill of the sunsets, movies, books, and your son eating pizza. You need to talk more about football! Especially mah football team.” He just begged and begged and so I said alright I’ll be down. He said that he had a surprise for me. Sweetie even agreed to go with me.

Jerry did right by putting a statue of Tom Landry out front.

Of course, right after Jerry bought the Cowboys he fired Tom Landry. But hey, that’s football.

I couldn’t get a decent shot of the outside of the stadium. I searched and searched on google and flickr but the structure is so huge and so hulking it’s hard to get a good image of it. The show is on the inside.

Jerry just couldn’t quit talking about his huge digital televisions over the field.

One person I know that has attended games there talks about “retina burn” because the screen is so bright and sharp. I’m just glad that the Cowboys had a halfway decent season last year. Jerry’s video presentation of the mid 1990’s team was getting a little stale. I didn’t tell Jerry that.

Sweetie was not very impressed but she was a good sport.

And then we down on the field

And then he said to go try out the bench. I know all about benches. I got real acquainted with them during my brief stints in sports. I’m an expert on benches.

You know I think for $1.3 billion he could have made softer benches.

I then I went and got near the Star in the end zone.

And then I got my picture with a couple of cheerleaders.

You know Jerry they are very cute but they look a little malnourished. You need to pay them a little more so they can eat. Plus the uniforms look like they were made about three sizes too small. Budget a little more material for the uniforms. And Jerry, I never did get my photo dangit!!

And then Jerry said, “Hey lets check out the girl’s locker room.” I said “you sure?” He said, I own this place Yogi, I go wherever I want whenever I want.” OK, lets go Jerry.

It’s pretty nice, its decorated in Cowboy blue and Cheerleader pink.

Then we went to the football player locker room.

No cheerleader pink here.

And then he showed my surprise. My very own locker!

So I’ll be blogging live from the Cowboy locker room. I’ll be letting people know what is real with the Cowboys this year. Jerry said that is great but if I wouldn’t mind helping out with the laundry and cleanup that would really be helpful. He’s such a nice guy. So be looking for number 20 on the sidelines this year. I’m the first string Dallas blogger.

I was pretty impressed with the new Cowboys Stadium. It’d be nice if they would win a few football games.

So that is the report on Jerry’s new stadium. Jerry I hope that you are happy. I’ll see you in August when the season begins.

Skywatch Friday – Bike Ride

Sweetie and I went bike riding last week after work.

I just love the light on the tree trunks.

Fuzzy downtown Tulsa

A few miles to go, the sun is going down.

Changes in the sky – it took only a few minutes

Please click over to Skywatch Friday to see more views of our sky from all over the world.

Eclipse – The Movie

The other day Sweetie and I loaded up and went off to see Eclipse. I was smart this time. I didn’t read the book! The second book in the series was one of the most excrutiatingly bad books I have ever read. I mean it had its moments but I almost missed them because of hundreds of pages of brooding and moping. Magically, the movie, covered those hundreds of page in literally five seconds. Oh the magic of film!

This movie starts out pretty good. There is a slaughter going on in Seattle. Somebody is killing off lots and lots of ordinary citizens. The good vampires of Forks are concerned about it but don’t quite know what to do.

While they are concerned the mopestress Bella is mooning and moping over Edward. She is at the same time teasing poor old Jacob, or he is teasing her or I don’t know what is going on. Edward finally asks Bella, “Doesn’t he have a shirt?” Meanwhile Bella is trying to seduce Edward. He finally has to say, “Bella, would you please stop trying to take your clothes off?” So I think the real romantic story in the movie is Edward and Jacob. Yep, you read it here first. But I’m not going to spoil it for you, go see the movie yourself and tell me what you think.

I mean really, why is Edward wasting his time on teen age moper doper Bella, when he could have a woman.

Yeah, Victoria. You know Bella got her boyfriend killed so Edward would just have to hand over little miss useless to Victoria and she would be forever grateful. I think Victoria is a million times hotter than Bella. What do you think? C’mon Edward wake up, scrape Bella off, she is no good for you.

And Bella, what’s wrong with Jacob? At least he is alive and better looking. Plus Bella, what are you doing proclaiming passionate love for Edward but then cuddling up to Jacob every chance to get and then acting shocked when he thinks you like him. Oh, I just plain don’t get it. You know they should have let Tom Clancy write the screenplay. He knows whats what. Know something else, Sharon Stone would make a great Bella. She put a little oomph in the role.

But hey, there is lots of action in the movie to save it from the lame romantic parts. The best part is a vampire amphibious invasion that would have made General Douglas MacArthur proud. A few of these guys and the WWII would have been over a lot sooner. After the invasion there is some great vampire/werewolf battle scenes. They’ll make you want to go see the Lord of the Rings trilogy again.

The movie is not too bad. I give it three stars out of four.

Hey, can anybody tell me if the book is any good or is it a waste of time. I need to know.

Ammo, Tobacco, Whiskey – Ruby Tuesday

General Store at Mountain River Ranch near Heise, Idaho.

Check out Ruby Tuesday for more red from everywhere.

Fourth of July, Dogs, Baseball, and Fireworks

I don’t know why but the dogs were piling on me at Nana’s. The little guy I’m holding is our newest, “Rascal” probably about 5 months plus or minus. He just walked up and introduced himself in May. At first our vet thought he might be a pomeranian, so I took to calling him “The Pom” and now the thinking is sheltie. I still call him The Pom. He has pretty much taken over the house. The white dog is Abby, who loves playing with The Pom but wishes he wouldn’t get so much lap time. Ginger is the ginger colored dog. The black dog, front and center is Fiona, who is one of Nana’s dogs.Fiona and I are pretty close. Nana’s other dog, Reba still doesn’t know about me and I’m just letting her warm up gradually as the weeks go by. The dogs must be trained with the obedience lessons from Off Leash K9 Training at the early stages itself so that they grow up to a well-disciplined dogs in the future. People can check out Dog Works if they need the best dog training services.

Reba is a very nice dog. She was a breeding dog but got sick and had to retire and Nana rescued her. She wasn’t used to being a house pet but has a sweet disposition and is going to be ok. She will let me pick her up but is stiff as a board. So I’m just letting her get more used to me. She’ll come up and act friendly but she isn’t ready to jump up on the couch with me on her own. She will one day. The K9 Dog Training site lets you choose the kind of professional you want to be training your dog.

We were at Nana’s to eat an early dinner, visit with family friend Patty. We had steak, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, fried okra, fresh tomatoes, marinated cucumbers with vidalia onions, and asiago cheese bread. What a feed. The best dog obedience training is what your puppy needs at an early stage so they grow up to being obedient and fun as well.

We staggered home to get ready to go downtown to ONEOK Field to see the Tulsa Drillers play the San Antonio Missions.

I just love live baseball games.

The “Famous San Diego Chicken” showed up. He was hilarious. I couldn’t capture his antics on film (silicon?) but we enjoyed him.

You cannot have the Fourth of July without fireworks. No way! We sweated it out because th game got rained on. They kept on playing but finally they announced they were having fireworks with or without rain. Yay! we all said.

Anyway, I hope everybody had a great Fourth of July. If you are not American, I hope that you were happy for us.

Fourth of July

Have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July

Lets remember all those who sacrificed so that we can be free.

A Run on Turkey Mountain

I had Friday off. I decided to go run a few miles on Turkey Mountain on the running trails there as change. I’m sorry about so many posts about running lately. It could be worse, I could be posting about geocaching. Or the latest evil plot by our President to make all our future children be born naked.

I love it Turkey Mountain. There are not too many people there. I just love trails.

Every once in a while you can get a get good view of the Arkansas River and the city of Tulsa beyond. Kind of hard to imagine. Somebody over there is getting mad about something trivial. Not me, I’m totally zoned out.

Lots of rocks on Turkey Mountain. I haven’t seen any turkeys yet. I saw a beautiful whitetail doe while running. But she wouldn’t stay put until I got my camera out.

I had a short lived interruption on my running prayer at the turnaround point.

Woops, ugly, I’m glad the trail turned back into the woods. I know that we need electric power, sewage treatment plants, and ugly streets but it makes for a jarring transition.

Soon enough the trail turns back to the woods and my equilibrium is restored.

“I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”
Psalms 119:32

Toy Story 3

Sunday afternoon the Yogi’s loaded up and went to see Toy Story 3 3D.

SuperPizzaBoy and Sweetie ready for 3D

Andy, the owner of the toys, is all growns up and is getting ready to leave home for college. His mother is after him to clean up his room and either store the toys or give them away. They end up in … Hey I’m not going to give away the story. I’m just going to tell you if the movie is good or not.

The movie is good. Its a kids movie that parents can enjoy. I liked it better than the first two Toy Story movies.

Check out the web site. It is packed with features.

YogisDen.us

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