My World – Route 66 Road Trip

Last week I ventured down to Oklahoma City for an industry meeting at the Oklahoma History Center. If you find yourself with some time in Oklahoma City, check it out. Its right near the State Capitol Building. I love this sculpture by Allan Houser at the entrance.

I decided to take a section of Route 66 back to Tulsa and see if I could find some geocaches on the way.

I passed Pop’s Restaurant on the way. It is gas station, diner, and soda pop stand on the the highway. It hasn’t been around that long but is an attraction in its own right.

The giant soda bottle has a microcache on it somewhere. This is the second time I have looked for it but darned if I can find it. Pop’s claim to fame is that huge variety of soda pop they carry. Last time I was there I say flavors I hadn’t seen when I was a kid. I was not in a mood for cold sugary refreshment this time so just gassed up my car and got on my way.

One of the interesting things about Route 66 is that it is not just one route. The road was constantly rerouted, improved on, and bypassed. Many of these old sections are now county roads and private driveways such as the above section. It is now a private drive to a farm. They owners put a geocache near the section and invite people to drive down the road to find it. Notice how narrow the road is. I felt the ghosts of a lot of cars driving by. Hardly anybody goes by now, just nerds with the GPS receivers looking for tupperware. Notice my cachemobile. I love my license plates on it. Some think I’m condemned to the furthest reaches of hell for them.

Here is another old section of route 66. I just couldn’t not go down that road. I’m not very linear on my planning. I mean I have a general plan but that is just something that gets you going in a particular direction.

You see why they call this “Red Dirty Country?” There was a cache down at the end of the road. So I had to go, yep, had to. Really.

On the trail at Chandler Lake looking for caches. Got my dress shoes and slacks muddy. It was worth it. I found a couple of caches that hadn’t been found since late last summer. I love that kind of thing

Nice place for an ammo box geocache, or a snake, or both. Happens, but not too much in February. No ticks either. Winter geocaching has a lot going for it.

Lake Chandler was beautiful and I appeared to be the only one there.

So the tally for the day was 11 geocaches found, lots of trees, rocks, roads and trails explored, got the car, my shoes, and slacks coated with red clay and I had lots of fun. Got home in time for dinner.

For photographs from all over the world check out That’s My World.

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day Sweetie!!

Life has been a party with you.

Saturday Sweetie and I had a little running around to do. Our church gives corsages to members who have been married 50 years or more. There are a lot of them. Sweetie and I help deliver them. This is our fifth year of delivering the corsages. It is a lot of fun. The couples appreciate the recognition and we almost always get invited in to “sit for a while.”

We get to visit for a while and hear a little about their lives, where they came from, what they did, the kids, the grandkids, and the great grandkids. It’s pretty cool. Some of them we have delivered to before so we get an update.

Sunday the couples are specially recognized during the services. Its a pretty big deal in our church. The Tulsa World even has a front page article about it. Read it here.

I’m looking forward to Sweetie and I getting her corsage in 2039. I wonder who is going to be delivering them. What kind of car are they going to be driving?

After five years of delivering corsages to these couples you know what I have seen and not seen? These couples have a deep love for one another and quiet respect. They don’t talk over each other, they are good listeners. They have smiles on their faces, and lots of pictures of friends and family scattered around the living room. The television is hardly ever on (unless the OSU Cowboys or OU Sooners are playing basketball.) You know what I haven’t seen? I have yet to see my first “Type A” personality.

My verse for today:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I Corinthians 13: 4-7 (NIV)

Check out That’s Baloney for other pairings of photographs and scripture.

Sell your Block Buster Video Stock Now!

Remember Blockbuster. The video rental company. Sell your stock; do it now. We were in there yesterday looking for some movies for SuperPizzaBoy. Well they have really cut their selection down. I mean Redbox and Netflix have been kicking some major Blockbuster butt. But I have proof that the end times are near.

They are now selling books.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Buying a New Car round Two

Poor Sweetie hates car shopping. We went out about a month ago and test drove a few cars and talked to A few salesman. Then we started pondering and decided to get her another Toyota Highlander but then the whole safety issue blew up and even the Wall Street Journal was writing that Toyota has historically been slow to respond to safety defects so as we oilfield trash say, we P&A’d the Highlander. (Plugged and Abandoned to you genteel non-oilfield trash.)

So we’ve decided to go after the Honda Pilot, a somewhat larger mid-size SUV which we finalized when we were surfing through the Honda City website and got satisfied with the decision that we made.

So off we went to one of our local Honda Dealers. As we drove up we could see the salesman looking out the window at us and I remarked to Sweetie. “I wonder which one of the blood sucking maggots (“BSM”) we are going to get.”

Turns out, we didn’t get a BSM. We got a real nice young man (about my age in other words), Joe. Joe was cool. He showed the cars, explained the various trim lines, the various features, how stuff worked. He didn’t insinuate himself on us, didn’t ask if we were Sooner fans, blah blah blah, didn’t point us to the most expensive car on the lot. Hey in other words he is a professional salesman acting professionally.

We went on a test drive and liked it. He took our car and had his used car guys look at it while we wandered around the showroom. They had a beautiful old 1966 Honda sports car.

And then he presented us an offer without us having to wait a long time. We weren’t ready yet to buy, we always sleep on it. We have to check things out, do a gut check. It has got to feel right. I’m just that kind of guy. He was ok with that. He didn’t do the old “Well somebody else was looking at that one and they are coming back, blah blah blah.” He didn’t do any games at all. And he said, “I’m not one that is going to pestering you on the phone.” Wow.

We went home and checked out their offer online. Their offer is right in line with what the car is worth and their offer on the trade in is in line also.

OK, but I’m not here to get an average deal. I mean who else is buying cars in February? So I’ll be calling Joe today. With any luck at all Sweetie will have a new car soon!

Facebook Scrabble and Words with Friends

I have two new Facebook addictions that I can play on my Ipod Touch. I mean this in addition to my geocaching, Dallas Cowboys, coffee, Fat Tire beer, blogging, reading, running, Survivor, Metallica, and Taylor Swift addictions.

Scrabble – I love this game. I’m not that good at it, about average. I used to play a lot of online Scrabble. One on one with somebody and the game is timed. That was grueling and then not very much fun when some of the players started using software to find words. This game is a lot more social and you play at your own pace.

The app will cost you a few bucks for your iphone or ipod touch.

Words with Friends is another word game. Its kind of like Scrabble but more free wheeling. I have the free version so I get ads. I think if you pay a few bucks you don’t get the ads. I don’t mind the ads. I don’t look at them.

So, anybody up for a game? Get the apps, hit the Facebook link and lets be friends. My ID on Words with Friends is YogiABB.

I hope to see you soon.

Skywatch Friday

View from a fountain looking up.

Lucky me, no water in the fountain in Winter.

What’s with the green? Hey its a new Holiday Inn.

Actually it was a Holiday Inn 18 years ago, then closed, then a Ramada Inn, then closed, then a Best Western, then a few other names, now, after a very extensive renovation, its a Holiday Inn again..

From the River Parks

A refinery – I used to work in a natural gas processing plant, sometimes late at night. Its almost deserted and being all by yourself is pretty spooky. Lots of lights, but not enough light, lots of noise, lots of things that go bump.

A view of downtown from the Arkansas River.

Check out Skywatch Friday for photographs of the sky from all over the world.

Adult Winter Reading Program

Anybody out there like to read? Do you like FREE STUFF? If so and you live in the Tulsa area then you need to run over to your nearest Tulsa City County Library and sign up for their Adult Winter Reading Program. To lazy to drive? You can sign up online.

All you have to do is read eight books between January 1 and the middle of March, turn in your list and you get a free coffee cup and coupons good for discounts at area bookstores and coffee shops.

Okie Blog Awards Nominees

(Photo from flickr) by david.nikonvscanon

The nominees for the 2009 Okie Blog Awards have been posted here. There are 24 categories with 10 nominated blogs in each category, all of them Oklahoma based. I have made a quick survey in about 5 categories and I am very impressed with the quality of the nominated blogs. Oklahoma has a very vibrant and active blogging community and it shows.

If you are an Oklahoma Blogger then you are eligible to vote. Check the link for how to go about casting your vote. If you are at a loss on a blog in the “Family Blog” category I would appreciate your vote for this blog in that category.

Voting ends midnight on Valentines Day so get your entries in early.

Jen of jenX67 volunteered to be in charge of the contest this year and has worked very hard on this year’s event. Her blog is not eligible for any of the awards but click on over there anyway and say hello.

Temple Grandin on HBO Films

Sweetie and I watched the HBO Film “Temple Grandin” late Saturday night. Temple Grandin is a Professor in the Agriculture School at Colorado State University. She is famous in agriculture circles for her revolutionary concepts in the design and operation of feedlots and slaughterhouses and she is an inspiration to those of us in the Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome community. She has a form of autism called Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s Syndrome is characterized by problems relating to people but goes way down deep into the inner core of people and how they think. Dr. Grandin’s unique way of thinking led her to develop much more humane ways of handling cattle. Dr. Grandin was able to overcome her social difficulties to achieve greatness. Her web site is here.

Claire Danes plays Temple Grandin in the movie. The movie does a great job trying to show how strange, frightening, and alienating the world is to a person with autism on the one hand and how strange and off putting an autistic person’s behavior and affect is to others. The movies also shows how an autistic persons’s different way of thinking and visualizing problems can come up with unique solutions to various problems.

The movie also shows how just a few people, teachers, coworkers, and friends, who can see through what’s on the surface to the core beneath and provide support and encouragement can make a huge difference. Temple Grandin’s story is an inspiration and hope for all us parents of children who are afflicted with autism.

I give the movie four stars out of four.

This, That, and the Other and Genesis 1:20

Saturday was an errand running day for SuperPizzaBoy and I. His Mom spent the whole day preparing for a fund raising event at SPB’s school so she didn’t get to join us. Lucky for her she says.

I made breakfast believe it or not. I used a recipe from “The Pioneer Woman’s Cookbook” by Ree Drumond of the blog “Confessions of a Pioneer Woman“. Check her blog out, I’m a big fan of MommyBloggers and that blog is a MommyBlog on steroids. Back to breakfast, she has a dish called “Egg in the Hole” which is simple enough.

Instead of egg and toast separately, you cut a hole in a piece of bread and then toast the bread in a skillet in a pool of butter and then put an egg in the hole and cook it. So its a combo type thing.

The way it actually works out is that it is a stick of butter with toast and egg added for texture. I made one for him and I ate two. I used a whole stick of butter. Its a good thing I hadn’t seen my dietitian in a while. I’m not sure how heart healthy it is, but they are good and they are filling.

I wondered if SPB would like it. New food is a sometimes thing with him, but hey he ate it!!

Then we set out to run a few errands. The main thing we were interested in was getting ready for the upcoming “Great Backyard Bird Count” We thought it would help out if we restocked our bird feeders. I’ve been wanting to get started bird watching for sometime now and I guess this will be our introduction. In our geocaching ventures in the woods and fields we come upon lots of birds and I really couldn’t tell you waht 90% of them are except in the most general way.

Anyway the great backyard bird count looks like a fun way to get introduced. They have bird lists by area and all sorts of references. Basically you just count the birds by species for at least a 15 minute period during the February 12-15 dates and submit your count online at the web site. I can handle that.

So we bought some sunflower seeds, some finch food, and a suet cake and set them out.

I know, I know, there are all sorts of guidelines about how high, and how far, and what kind of cover. Our neighborhood doesn’t have cats running around and my main guideline was I wanted to see the feeders from the kitchen.

We had an immediate customer. The little suckers are hard to photograph. I don’t know if Sweetie is going to put up with a tripod full time in the kitchen. On the other hand I washed the window I was shooting out of. I didn’t wash the ones adjacent but maybe later.

It looks like LJ want to help us count birds. Can cats count?

Then SPB and I took down our Christmas lights. It may seem a little late for that but we have had a messed up winter. Oklahoma winters are normally pretty mild. It may get cold for a while but it almost always warms and we get bright clear days with temperatures in the mid 40’s or so. Hey, sunny, no wind, and 40’s is a great day. Its almost shirt sleeve weather. So that is when I take the lights down.

Not this year, it stayed cold. So we got them down. SPB helped. I was up on the ladder and he took the gutter tabs off. We had a good time. Once you get him started he is like the Energizer Bunny on a task.

Later on SPB went to spend the evening with his Nana and Sweetie and I went to the fundraiser at the school. Sweetie had been putting together a table for a Silent Auction. She is queen of hospitality and presentation.

“And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth and across the expanse of the sky.”

Genesis 1:20 (NIV)

Check out That’s Baloney for other pairings of scriptures and photographs.

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