Storm Chasing Vehicle

It is not unusual to see various versions of this vehicle in Norman on occasion. It is used by storm chasers to go into a tornado (or as close as humanly possible). This one was parked in the post office parking lot today when I went to drop off our mail. I, just like all the other gawkers, had to take pictures too. If you watch the Weather channel, or sometimes the History Channel and/or the Discovery channels, they will have specials about storm chasers and their vehicles.



This is a picture from the circus that we went to on Sunday at the Cox Convention Center. Joe had to work the show and Kaitlyn, Michael, Kristen, Casey and me all went. It was fun except when I had to go to the bathroom. I mean there is ALWAYS a line into the ladies room, right? Only this time, for every woman in line, she had 3 or 4 little children with her. So instead of 30 people in line, there were like 90. Glad I didn't wait until the last minute.....


These were the German chocolate cupcakes I purchased for Kaitlyn and Joe's birthday celebration. I've managed to eat about half of them myself. They were good, too!

Fun Day at the Lake and Help With My Knitting

I started a new scarf for my next knitting project. Only this time I am using a pattern for the first time. It has several different stitches in sections of the scarf. It's called "road scarf", I guess because it's like sections of a road. I had almost finished this section when I somehow dropped a stitch. I didn't know how to tear it out and keep everything else intact so I went to my local yarn shop and asked for help. A young lady about Kristen's age, took it from me, ripped out past where I was, all the while keeping the stitches on the needle. So she got me back on track. Thank goodness. I'm still learning the right and wrong sides of the stitches, etc. I'm a good knitter, but that's all I do is straight knit. I can purl okay too. But those are basic stitches. Everything else I'm learning as I go. This is a basket weave pattern here.
Yesterday we went to the lake again with a full boat. Kaitlyn and Michael came, along with Kaitlyn's roommate last year at the sorority house, Gloriana (she was in town for sorority stuff) and Kristen came down with her old roommate and sorority sister, Casey (who was in town from Tulsa). We had a great time on the lake. I think it was a little too much estrogen for Joe and Michael, however, so they drank the beer (I guess to keep their testosterone levels up). Here's Kristen and Casey riding in the front of the boat.

Michael in the back watching Kaitlyn and Gloriana on the tube and sitting next to the beer.

Kaitlyn and Gloriana in the front of the boat, while Kristen and Casey were on the tube.

Weekly Update - June

Well, nothing much going on here in Oklahoma. Just hotness - we're heading into another week of 100+ degree heat after having a small respite the past few days (of 95+) Joe and Kaitlyn had fun on their ski trip. Kaitlyn did NOT get to ski in a bikini it was actually cold on the mountain. Cold enough she had to wear a fleece jacket and a hat every day. They were supposed to go white water rafting on Monday morning but woke up to snow and the raft trip was canceled. We didn't see Kaitlyn on her birthday; she had to work. Thursday, she and Michael took a day trip to Arlington, TX to go to Six Flags. Tomorrow (Saturday), we are going to the lake again with Kaitlyn and Michael and Kaitlyn's best friend sorority sister, Gloriana is joining us. Kristen and her BFF Casey (her roommate 2 years ago) are coming down to the lake and joining up with us later on in the afternoon. We will have a full boat (7 passengers). Hopefully the wind won't be blowing at 30 MPH as it is supposed to here in the metro area. Sunday, we are having a "combo" celebration for Father's Day, Kaitlyn's Birthday, and Joe's Birthday. I bought German Chocolate cupcakes from Jemz. Joe and I sampled one last night - yummy and much better than the cake balls I purchased for Kristen's birthday.

Skiing in June????

Hopefully I will have some pictures early next week, but Joe and Kaitlyn went to Colorado skiing this weekend. This is like the last weekend the mountain is open until the fall. If you remember, Joe's biological father, Joel, passed away last October. He was cremated and Joe's half-brother took the ashes back to his home in Moore, OK (about 10 miles away from us). The 4 "brothers" all discussed it and decided to carry out Joel's wishes to have his ashes spread over Arapahoe Basin ski mountain at some point in the future. Well, everyone's schedules were not cooperating, so they decided to pick a late spring date where they could all go skiing together and do this last final wish. Ultimately, they picked Father's Day to do this. Steven (Joel's only grandson) and Kaitlyn (Kristen wasn't able to go) are representing the 3 grandchildren. No spouses are there. On a personal level, Kaitlyn also wants her picture skiing in a bikini. She wants to one-up a friend of hers, who had a picture taken skiing in her bikini top under a jacket at spring break. IF I can get a hold of a picture I'll post it for ya'll to see. Otherwise, you may have to just picture it.

These are pictures from last weekend at Arbuckle Lake. This picture was zoomed in. People climb up this rock and jump off in the water like idiots.

Kaitlyn and Michael laying in the front of the boat.
Looking out the back of our boat. We have a sundeck back there but it's usually covered up with the tube we haul around. The tube was tied at the back and you could actually use the sun deck.
This picture is out of order. It's a red-velvet cake ball I ordered for Kristen's birthday. After eating one of these, I don't think I particularly like cake balls; or maybe just not this kind. Maybe I'll just stick to cupcakes. This was waaaay tooooo sweet!!!

Where I usually sit in the boat. But this time I was on the back couch looking forward in the boat.




Two of the 3 wake boards we usually have in the boat. This looks like Kaitlyn's on top and Joe's underneath.

Caught a "Bug"

Friday evening when I came home from work (we left early) I laid down on the couch and took a nap. I NEVER DO THAT. I got up, went to Taco Bueno, then decided to go to a movie to see "Water for Elephants." Joe was playing golf with his buddies and wasn't going to get home until 9-ish anyway. I enjoyed the movie very much. It follows the book closely.

Saturday, Joe and I, and Michael and Kaitlyn went to the lake. About 5-ish, I started not feeling well but just sort of chalked it up to being out in the hot sun, etc. We finally got home about 10 and I went straight to bed, by then feeling pretty green. I was up most of the night with a stomach bug that kept me in the bed all day on Sunday (Kristen's birthday). So I missed going to church to hear our new preacher (a woman) on her first Sunday; I missed going to my monthly prayer shawl circle meeting; and I missed going to dinner with the family to celebrate Kristen's 23rd birthday. I stayed at home yesterday just to "ease" back into eating, and standing up. Today, I feel pretty good, but still only eating things like bananas, toast, baked potatoes, and sweet iced tea.

We moved Kristen into her new apartment in Oklahoma City last Thursday night. I hired a couple of fraternity boys ($50/each) to help move the sofa, love seat, chair, and her matresses. The new bedroom furniture she bought was delivered by the furniture store so we didn't have to deal with that. She's living with 2 of her sorority sisters and her apartment is literally about 5 minutes from where she works. The apartment complex is where a lot of Chesapeake employees live along with a lot of medical/dental students who are going to the OU Health Sciences Center. Let's keep our fingers crossed that she meets someone who lives up there! Just kidding - I think she'll like it alot now that she can sleep about an hour and a half longer each morning.

Prayer Shawl Completion

I completed another prayer shawl today. This one looks pink-y but it is really reds and variegated reds. I tried my new shawl pin on this one.
Here is a close-up of the shawl pin.

A view of the shawl opened up. I was worried I was going to run out of the plain red before I finished putting the fringe on it. I literally had one strand of fringe left over. It worked out PERFECTLY!!

Time for a New "Drink" Refrigerator

Well the first refrigerator we ever bought has finally given up and died. RIP - 26 years, we got our money's worth. We replaced it in our kitchen a couple of years ago and put the old one out in the garage for "drinks" along with the frozen game birds that Joe shot when he went hunting, and sometimes he buys part of a cow from one of his friends and we keep the meat out there. We also keep Joe's insulin pens out there too, because when an order comes in, it takes up some space. We recently ran out of "room" in the freezer outside so he bought a small chest type freezer. Our old refrigerator stopped working this week, and even though we could have gotten by with the chest freezer and our inside side-by-side refrigerator (because there is only 2 of us now, ya know); Joe couldn't stand it and purchased a new smaller refrigerator with the freezer on top to go out in the garage. He wants to be able to keep drinks in it and his insulin. He also keeps his frozen lunches in the outside freezer and I keep mine in the inside freezer.

I have to admit it is nice to ALWAYS have cold drinks (sodas, beer, wine, bottled water, Gatorade, Rock Stars, etc.) available. I don't like to have to get a soda and put ice in it. We are SO spoiled!! The girls and their friends know where to find the cold drinks when they are here too.