What a Day

Yesterday was a different day altogether.  I awoke in the morning to hear the rain falling.  My first thought was "Yes!".  The next thought was "Oh, no!"  Two big events were happening that day.  One, by the time I had rolled out of bed, had started.  The Memorial Marathon in OKC.  Now, I didn't worry for myself, (it seems I may never make it to another one) but for the thousands of runners, 6 in particular.  I could hear occasional thunder and just hoped that it was closer to our house than it was to them.  The second was a wedding that was to take place that evening.  An outdoor wedding no less.  There was still plenty of time for it to dry out before the ceremony, but it was supposed to stay cool.  Downright cold for May 1st.  I'm not sure how either turned out, but I made sure to pray for all of them.

Later that morning we headed to downtown OKC for the first of the second round games of the NBA playoffs.  (It was still raining and there was still lightning and the marathon was still on.  We passed several runners who were finished already.  Cold, wet, yet mostly smiling.  These were surely ones who had participated in the 5k walk or the first leg of the relay, but they had participated and remembered why this marathon is run.)  Anyway, as we were walking to the arena in our emergency ponchos, I just had to think about my friends running and hoped they were still at it.  Unlike teh three previous home games, it was dead outside of the arena.  There had been only a very smallblock party planned because  it lies on teh marathon route.  Since it was raining, even that was cancelled.  It just seemed to kill some of teh normal spark, the game stunk by-the-way.  I think players from a parallel universe showed up for the Thunder.  Oh well, there are 6 more chances to win 4 games.

We missed baseball practice and the wedding since we got home too late to prepare for either one.  We don't generally make it to a lot of weddings.  Knowing what they symbolize we ought to try harder, they just aren't our thing.  Isn't that so lame?  I think from here on out I will resolve to go to more.

Finally the evening ended with some long overdue news.  Bin Laden was dead!  I hope that people don't think that this is over with by any means.  There are still thousands of those men out there who want to see us dead just as much or more than he did.  It's jsut nice to see that our government stuck with it and saw it through.

A Little Touch of Color

Purple pansies are some of my favorites

Medieval Fair

Friday, we took a few hours to head to Norman for the annual Medieval Fair. No small feat since this is one of our busiest times of the year. For years I have wanted to go to it, but usually didn't know when it was being held until it was too late. (This year I have marked on the calendar many of the events I want to make it to, but never seem to remember. Hopefully that will help.) We had a great time with our friends. The boys really love knights and all that goes along with them. I got a little adult conversation in the deal as. There were many vendors selling wooden swords and shields. Some booths were informational, like the one about vikings. You could purchase all sorts of period clothing, and some not so period. Think Keira Knightley as Guinevere. There were a lot of things to see and do and we didn't see or do half of it. I guess that means we'll have to go back next year!

http://medievalfair.org/

Just Some Miscellaneous Stuff

First of all, I managed to spell "miscellaneous" right the first time.  Considering how often it is abbreviated and that I've had a rum and coke, that's pretty nice!  (I think I will leave the rest of my misspellings and typos in this just so I don't get too cocky, and you ca nsee how much i de[end on spellchecck, it's rather sad.  Wow even just in that last sentence!)

last week on my yahho home page there was an article about the greatest inventions ever.  There was one glaring omission.  The self-cleaning oven.  If you have ever had to clean an oven the old-fashioned way, you will understand why.  Now, while the smell will run you out of the house, it is well worth it!

So clean! And no woek!!

So how many of you have children who seem to end up with more food on their clothes than in their mouths?  Okay, those who are under three years-old don't count.  it seams no matter how hard we try to get Elijah to take smaller bites, lean over the plate, poke with the fork instead of scooping, he gets someting on him every meal.  Well, tonight I tried a new tactic.  To set teh stage, he had some fresh strawberries and scrambled eggs for dinner, he even cooked his own eggs.  jeff and i weren't hungry, so we left him to himself (first mistake, I know) at the kitchen bar.  A few miutes later he came to the office with his hand over his chest like he had been shot.  Then we say the strawberry red all over his white, t-shirt.  This was purposely done so that he looked wounded.  I had to turn away and laugh because it was rather creative of him, then we had to get onto him for it.  That;s when I decided it was time for him to learn how to remove stains from his own laundry.  We filled up teh sink, got some detergent and he got to scrubbing.  At first it was neat because teh stains turned purple when we put the detergent on them, but then we (he) had to sscrub.  A little less fun.  That is his new chore.  EWe'll see how it goes.

We also clipped teh chicken's wings this morning.  We usually do thattwice a year.  It is just usually much warmer.  We do this to keep them out of teh garden once we close all the gates.  They will fly over the fence if we don't and scratch up every plant in the garden.  This doesn't hurt them.  It would be like clipping your fingernails.It was cold and early.  How cold?  Well, i put on the Carhardt and teh ear warmers.  How early?  I still hadn't had a shower.  You may want to avert your eyes.

On a mission

Clueless

She's fine, other than she can't fly now.  Not that chickens do much of that anyway.

Wow, looking back at this post, I really do make a lot of typos.  And there were quite a few that i corrected out of ahbit as i went along.  And i apparently don't hold teh shift key down long enough when I type "I".  As you can see.  I won't subject you to that again!

Making Pizza

Since we are trying to rid ourselves of some of our leavening products, we have been baking a little more than usual.  Today it was cheddar biscuits with our chicken and rice soup (we should be well past soup weather but we're not).  Yesterday was pizza.  Elijah helped me out some so here are some pics.

Some of the toppings/mini pepperoni

Measuring, slicing, putting together

Viola'

Spring is in the Air!

If you are unsure of that, just try to get into your allergist!  Anyway, one of the first sure signs in Oklahoma are the red buds budding out.  You can tell in our area why they are the state tree. They are everywhere.  Soon their little heart-shaped leaves will be budding out!

The neighbor's red bud

You can also tell from the sound of little league baseball being played everywhere.  This is the first spring Elijah has played in the spring, it is usually the summer league he plays in.  His first game was this week.  He has never played machine pitch so the fact that he didn't get a hit is no big deal.  He has a great swing and with some practice he'll be knocking the cover off of the ball.  He made a great stop in the outfield and one as shortstop, even getting the runner out on second!

A swing and a miss, but what a swing!

Today he went to archery.  He missed the class last fall, but I made sure to get him signed up this spring.  He is loving all the activity!

Archery at the MAC

The Joy of Gardening

Whether it is a beautiful flower garden solely for the purpose of visual pleasure or a vegetable garden meant to provide your family with food, gardening can be immensely rewarding.  This weekend we got the soil for our veggie garden tilled.  We have some amending to do after it is tested, more than likely, but really the hard part of the preparation is finished.  Not that it necessarily physically difficult, it is more of the getting around to that seems to be the obstacle. 

Over the next several days we will test, add to, re-till, cover, and finally plant.  I may try some new varieties of the yearly staples, but for the most part I will not venture to far from what I know will work.  Throughout the spring and summer there will be many hours of hard work put in a relatively small space.  Hopefully that will result in a great deal of reward.  That reward, no mater how meager or great will be frozen, canned, and of course eaten fresh.  We will enjoy the fruits of our labors to the fullest!  I can't wait for that first vine ripe tomato or bowl of fried squash!  That is truly joy!

I think this quote I received really sums it up quite nicely.
“ For me gardening is a journey not a destination. With any luck I will be finishing this place forever”

That is going in the title of my gardening blog!