A visit, ducks and (of course) some flowers

Last weekend Kita came for a visit.  We were going to go to the Admiral Twin Drive In on the opening night.  Those plans did not work out.  Not everybody could get off early enough and the line to get in was way too long.  So we settled on going to the theater later that evening and then we played Monopoly.  It wasn't TOO long of a game.  By 3:00am it was all but over.  Mattie won, the brat.  It was a good day, but very long, and we were all so tired by the time we called the day done.

Kita doesn't make it back to Owasso very often so I took her for a walk at the neighborhood park to show her some of the improvements.  We found a duck family hanging out by the creek.  There was only one baby and mom was being very protective. 

Wonder of wonders.....

I also managed to take a few pictures of flowers too.

I am feeling a bit better.  Not fighting a fever as much today.  I did get the garden watered and picked two more tomatoes.  I didn't hang out too long out there, 100 is a bit too hot. 

Scratch and sniff

I am not well.  Sinus infection, again, white spots on my throat and somehow I got Poison Ivy on two of my fingers.  Not that the Poison Ivy is so awful.  It is a puzzle how I got it.  I worked last weekend in the garden but the blisters just came up this morning.  How in the world did I catch it? 
I need to give in and go see about getting alergy tested.  I know dust and mold bother me and cause most of the sinus problems.  For some reason the thought of being stuck by needles keeps me from making the call for an appointment.  I did call the family Doc and he gave me some meds.  So by the end of the weekend I should feel all better just in time to go back to work. 
The biggest shame is the trip to MO has been cancelled.  I do not want to share white spots with them.  Any how, I did manage to mess up this weekends plans.  No getting hugs from Mr. Man for a few more weeks now. 
I think I will just go put my self to bed. 

Hope you all have a much better weekend!

Busy day

Today was very busy! 

First BT and I went to a car show in Collinsville this morning. 

Did you notice the green flames on the second picture?  Who would have thought flames would look so cool in green?  Well.....other than the person that owned this car.  Obviously he thought it would be cool.  The last photo reminds me of what happens with all the leftovers.  A Tulsa World Newspaper box for a blower?  HA! 

Then Mattie, James and myself went to a wedding this afternoon.  It was a very sweet service and I hope they have a good life together.  It was very nice to see Zach and his bride looked beautiful!  I did not take my camera in with me at the wedding. Someone else was taking those pictures. 

Then since Mattie and James were all dressed up we stopped by the park.  This time I did get to be the photographer.  It can be difficult to get a good picture of both of them in the same shot.  They are both clowns and love to cut up.  I did get a few that I really like.

They do make it a challenge to capture them together.  One of them seems to be moving all of the time, OR one of them has their eyes closed......
One of the last pictures I took was sweet.  Mattie was tired and hungry and ready to go home. 

So..... I took them home so she could find something to eat.  Then I headed to Grams house for a visit.  We made coffee and played two games of cribbage.  Grams let me win a game so I let her win the next one.  It was a nice way to end a busy day.   

Vacation part Two

I figured I better get the post for the second part of our vacation done before I forget about it. 

I have already had to go back and look at where I left off to see where I needed to start this time. 

We both have visited Tsi La Gi before but it had been years since our last visit.  The village has changed a lot.  My first visit was in the early 80's and at that time they had Cherokee people live in the village all summer long, so it made me feel like I was visiting strangers at their home.  That was my first experience visiting a place that was a mixture of an reenactment/educational/heritage teaching tool.

If you have never been to or heard of Tsi La Gi I guess  I should try to explain what it is.  Back in the late 70's the Cherokee tribe built a replica of what a native village would have looked like before they had contact with the white man.  For a fee you can have a guided tour of the village that includes replicas of buildings and Indians dressed in period costume.  The employees are usually making something like arrows. blow darts, napping flint or making a basket.
 

Our guide was pretty new but he did a nice job explaining things AND answering several strange questions. 

(I have noticed that I have the "people are strange" thought a whole lot, like bunches and bunches of a whole lot.)  He did good not laughing at some of the questions cause there were some very strange questions asked. 

The only original building left from my first visit was the council house.  If I remember correctly he said that it was built 43 years ago. 

While our Guide was showing us the Council house he explained that this one would be torn down to make a new one soon.  When this one was built they did not realize that the Council house was SUPPOSED to have 8 sides, not the 7 that they built.  They are continuing to try to learn some of their culture that was lost. 
There is also a replica of what a Cherokee town would have looked like after their move to Oklahoma.  There are a few log houses, frame houses, a school, church, a smoke house and a general store.  There was a small visitor at the school.  We tried to encourage it out the door but it seemed to be more comfortable inside.

The Cherokees were very educated by the time they were forced out of their native home.  Not long after moving to Oklahoma they opened schools and there was a higher literacy rate among the Cherokee than among the whites.
None of the tribes forcibly moved to Oklahoma were stupid savages.  It does amaze me that there are still people that think what they see on TV is real.  Did I mention that there were some really stupid questions asked?  I was afraid that I would start laughing so I had to walk away. 
We made one more stop before we headed home at the Fort Gibson National Cemetery.  The battery in my camera was used up by this point.  I thought I might capture some photos on the cell phone.  BUT my phone was also dead so I tried to get some shots with the hubby's phone.  I think I was able to get a few that looked pretty good BUT unless I buy a storage card for the phone I will not be able to download them from the phone...... anyway I am glad we stopped.  It was worth it.  I would love to go back again with a charged camera. 
I guess this blog is long enough so I will end it before the end of our vacation.  Maybe I will get motivated to blog more later about our trip to Woolaroc.  I have lots more to do in the next few weeks and  I really hope I get to put my camera to use. 

Not bad for a Monday

Today wasn't so bad for a Monday. It is always hard to go back to the grind after a vacation.  It didn't help that I could not sleep last night.  My muscles and joints were really hurting and by the time the Naproxen kicked in it was after 4:00am.  The alarm went off at 5:00am.  *sigh* 
I was a bit fuzzy headed at work.  But as I said it wasn't too bad for a Monday.  My co-worker did a good job of keeping work caught up.  There were only a few things waiting for me to handle and I was able to get them all done.  I thought it would take much longer to wade through a week worth of emails but there were less than 100 of them.  I left at 3:00 so that I will be able to "flex" off the overtime I will get on Friday.  (gotta keep the budget in check!)  I came home and took a quick nap, made dinner for BT, Mattie and James.  Then we loaded up and went to the hospital.

The baby boy finally decided to be born today.  He wasn't ready yesterday.  Mom is tired but good. 

Baby boy is too cute!

I think Mattie looks really good holding a baby......  

I think his Daddy likes him.

We didn't stay too long.  There were several other people coming and going and Mom was tired.  I took them the CD of the photo shoot we did Sunday and they seemed to be pleased with them. 

As Mattie, James and I left the hospital grounds they spotted this pretty guy!

Finally I had my camera when a Scissortail was in sight.  James stopped the car and I snapped a few shots out the car window before he flew off.  The hospital is very close to the fields where I took photos of wild flowers this spring.  I see one or more of these birds just about every time I drive past those fields.  Of course the day I was there with a camera the only bird I saw was a Robin.  The fields won't be there much longer.  There was already digging and construction fencing up in one of them.  We didn't get two blocks away before Mattie and James spotted a turtle in the middle of the road.  James stopped and saved him.  Ya know turtles just don't do well against cars. 

I think I can count this as a good day.  I should be very tired but I just don't feel like I am ready to sleep yet.  Maybe I should have a glass of that wine that is still in the fridge. 

It's a boy!

I have known this young lady for several years.  I have watched her grow up, get married and now she and her husband are getting ready to have their first baby.  She called last night to ask if I would take some photos of her.  Her Dad decided yesterday that he would like to have some maternity pictures.  She has an appointment later today to have her baby.  She apologized for the late request and asked if I had any free time.  I am so glad she asked!  This is exactly the kind of thing I need to do for practice.

Here are a few of my favorite shots we took today. 

I am so happy for them and their little baby boy is going to make a great addition to their family.  I can't wait until I get to hold him.  I really hope she will let me take pictures of him too.  I hope this is a very happy Birth Day for them all.

Vacation part 1

It has been a nice week.  I know without any doubt that I would make a great retired person.  Getting up early in the morning is painful, awful, horrible and inhumane!  The best thing about being on vacation is I don't have to hear that horrible alarm going off.  Plus it is nice not to have to worry about fixing things at work.  Very nice.  Very, very nice!
We haven't been in a hurry to do anything.  Sleeping until I feel like waking up and taking my time getting around in the morning is such a treat.  I could get used to that really quickly.  I wonder how long it would take for me to forget how horrible alarms are to wake up to? 

Here are a few shots from our short day trips around Oklahoma this week.

Beautifully ugly creature at the Jenks Aquarium.

This albino Red Ear was too cool!

I wish the photos of the Shark tank would have turned out.  It was just too dark and of course the sharks are always moving.  All of that with low light and the fact that the flash would just show up on the glass and obscure whatever was in the tank.....blah, blah, blah. 

(In other words I don't know how to capture photos with all of the challenges yet.)

Next was the 

USS Batfish in Muskogee

This was THE best thing I have seen in a long time.  Walking through all the small areas that these soldiers lived and worked was amazing.  I cannot imagine the courage these men faced each time they were submerged and had an enemy spotted.  There is a great web site that has tons of info on this vessel and the brave men that served on it, http://www.ussbatfish.com/ .  I have only started reading the patrol records listed.  It makes it so real when the Capt is complaining about the one "favorite" record that did not get broken during rough seas being played over and over. 
Inside the museum area there were several newspapers with war headlines from the 1940's. 

The date for this paper is June 13, 1942.

And the date on this one is May 2, 1945

  I have zoomed in and read many of the articles.  One that stood out was on the Hitler killed paper.  It is about a potato shortage and that there wouldn't be any until a local harvest was ready.  The article stated that there were 50,000 acres of Irish spuds were nearing maturity in Kern County and that there should be enough for Military and civilian use.  Can you imagine a potato shortage making the same front page as Hitler being killed?  Maybe it is just me that finds that odd. 
I would love to go again.  Next time I will not have my zoom lens on the camera.  I will take pictures of the rest of the newspapers so that I can read them all.  I would love to have a squid with me to be a tour guide.  *hint hint* Mr. Notned!

This is a photo of the mast off of the Oklahoma that was sunk in Pearl Harbor.  It is in the same "yard" as the Batfish.  The condition that this object is in tells the story.  I remember hearing that this was being brought here.  The story didn't awake any feelings when I heard it.  Seeing it did.

We hadn't planned on making this a stop.  I am so glad we did.  It turned out to be the best thing all week.  We were on our way to Tsa La Gi in Tahlequah.  We still made it there with plenty of time to enjoy that part of the day.  I will include that part of the day in another post. 

I will share one more photo that I took on the way to Tahlequah.  This is a sure sign that it is summer time in Oklahoma.  I wonder where this farmer was taking these big watermelons?