Scooter's Corner

Closing up shop (at least, for a while) . . .

2009-08-05T23:06:00.002-05:00

Since I seem to be spending so much time on Facebook and can do anything over there that I can do over here, I don't see any reason to keep this blog going at the same time. If anyone can think of a compelling reason for me not to abandon this blog, please leave a comment and let me know (or send me an email if you have my address). If you'd prefer to keep up with me on Facebook but you're not on my Friends list over there yet, please send me a request. The link to my profile over there is:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#/pcherry?ref=profile

Even if I do decide to abandon this blog and do the small amount of blogging I do over at Facebook, I'll leave the posts that are already here and find some way to periodically keep the site updated (by adding to my lists of movies and books, if nothing else) to keep my account from being closed due to inactivity--just in case I find some other way to use it later on.

Blood Sugar Blues--Not So Blue

2009-06-17T11:54:00.001-05:00

I had finally had my long-awaited appointment with the endocrinologist on Monday, and so far the news is all good.

One of the nurses took the usual fluid samples for the usual tests, and I'm expecting to hear more about the test results sometime in the next few days (assuming there's anything unusual to report, and there may not be). Another one checked my blood pressure and said that it's a little high, but not bad. She also did a "pin prick" test to check the degree of feeling in the big toe on each foot. They're mostly numb, but I was able to feel a little bit of what she was doing, so they're not completely numb yet.

The best news is that my blood sugar is low enough that the doctor feels I should be able to keep it under control with diet and exercise (which is what I've been doing for the last few months) and I can continue checking it just once a day.

The not-quite-so-good news is that I have poor circulation in my legs and feet (which isn't really news to me) and I've got a prescription for something that may help with that, but I'm supposed to hold off on taking it until I undergo a "Doppler test" (a form of ultrasound) to determine what sort of circulation problems I'm having. Since there's a history of heart problems in my family, I'm also going to have a stress test done to determine how well my heart is working. I don't know yet when I'm going to have either test done--someone on the doctor's staff is supposed to check on that for me and contact me later.

More news later when I have something else to report. Meanwhile, I have a front lawn that desperately needs some attention.

Blood Sugar Blues, Part Deux

2009-05-26T17:17:00.010-05:00

If you haven't kept up with what's been going with me for the last year or so, you really need to read my August 22 post so you'll understand what's going on. Go ahead, I can wait.

Caught up now? Good.

Things went along okay for a while, then started getting worse around the first part of December when the weather started getting colder. My feet and legs began to hurt more, and my feet and ankles began to get uncomfortably puffy. My doctor said I was probably suffering from peripheral neuropathy and possibly arthritis, but only gave me medication for the arthritis and some new medicine to help bring my blood sugar down.

By the end of the year, I was starting to have more trouble walking and more trouble sleeping. By the middle of January, my feet were so puffy that walking was very awkward and uncomfortable, and wearing any kind of shoes was usually out of the question, never mind getting out of the house to do any driving or run any errands. I was housebound for a couple of months and had to rely on my brother and my friends to run errands for me (and I'm extremely grateful to all of them for being loving and supportive and helping me out as much as they could). Another doctor I visited back then confirmed the diagnosis of neuropathy and suggested I might have some other problems as well, and recommended I see an endocrinologist to have some tests done to find out what exactly might be wrong with me. In the meantime, the only thing he could do to help me sleep was prescribe some Vicodin for a month, which helped immensely.

Which brings me to the present . . . I'm doing a lot better and getting around more. I'm not currently on any medication for my blood sugar or anything else, but I suspect that will change very soon. I'm keeping my blood sugar down with diet alone (not quite as low as I'd like it, but not too bad, either) and I'm finally losing weight (I'm currently hovering between 190 and 194, which is the lowest my weight has been in a long time). I finally figured out that the swelling problem was mainly due to fluid retention (which I seem to have been prone to for a long time) and got into the habit of drinking a lot more water, tea, coffee, diet soda, etc., to keep it under control. I'm getting around better, feeling better, and able to wear shoes (suede loafers) for longer and longer periods of time, which allows me to get more house work and even some yard work done. I still hurt a lot if my blood sugar gets a little too high or the weather turns cold and/or rainy (and it's been doing a lot of both around here for the last several weeks). I'm sleeping better most of the time, and rely heavily on chamomile tea (and/or occasionally Dramamine, but NO Vicodin) to help me relax during those rare bouts of insomnia.

I'm due to see an endocrinologist in three weeks to have some tests done. I would have liked to have seen her sooner, but almost all of the endos around here work out of one clinic across town, and she was the only there one who's seeing new patients right now. On top of that, the appointment was originally scheduled for May and had to be rescheduled twice because she kept having to be out of the office on the days I supposed to be there. (Keeping my fingers crossed and rubbing a rabbit's foot and hoping it doesn't happen a third time, and hoping as well that there isn't too much wrong with me.)

More on this after my endo visit in three weeks. In the meantime, any prayers, happy thoughts, warm wishes, etc., would be much appreciated.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2009-03-18T11:02:00.004-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

WILL ROGERS TURNPIKE

Night views of the entrance to the fabulous Will Rogers Turnpike connecting Tulsa, Oklahoma and Joplin, Missouri. Will Rogers Turnpike was opened to traffic on June 28, 1957 and named after world citizen and native son Will Rogers.

Thanksgiving Greetings

2008-11-27T09:19:00.005-06:00

Something appropriately silly for today:

I hope everyone reading this has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-11-26T11:47:00.003-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

ENTRANCE TO WILL ROGERS TURNPIKE

Main entrance to the Will Rogers Turnpike, connecting Tulsa, Oklahoma and Joplin, Missouri. This Turnpike was named in honor of the world-famous humorist, Oklahoma's native son, Will Rogers.

Vegetarian Chili

2008-11-24T20:13:00.002-06:00

Just tried a recipe for Vegetarian Black Bean Chili that I stumbled across on Yahoo! about a week ago. It's very good, pretty easy to make, and surprisingly satisfying for a meatless dish.

The recipe doesn't say whether or not the beans should be drained. I got the impression from the pictures of the finished dish that they should be, but I didn't drain mine and the chili came out okay. I guess it depends on how thick or soupy you want your chili to be.

The recipe suggests serving it over quinoa, a baked potato or brown rice. I had mine over instant brown rice and it was really good. (Yes, I know that instant rice is an abomination to some people--I can already see my friend Bev making a "yuck, phooey" face at her computer screen--but it's what I grew up eating and I still like it.)

Gas prices

2008-11-20T10:07:00.005-06:00

When I went out to get some breakfast earlier this morning, I noticed that gas was down to $1.58 a gallon at the corner convenience store (OnCue Express, which usually has the lowest gas prices in my neighborhood). Will it get down to $1.50 or lower? I'm betting/hoping it will.

(Actually, I'm hoping it will get down to $1.00 or less, but that may be too much to hope for. Or maybe not.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-11-19T14:36:00.005-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

MUSEUM OF ART
University of Oklahoma, Norman

Jose Rey Toledo (Sho-Bah-Woon) b. 1915
PINE TREE CEREMONIAL DANCE Tempera-Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico 1940, 28 x 32.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-11-05T17:59:00.007-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

THE MING ROOM. "Different" is the word for the Ming Room, one of the Southwest's truly fine dining rooms. Decorated in an Oriental motif, this luxurious room is widely known for its superb cuisine and the utmost in thoughtful service.

OKLAHOMA MEMORIAL UNION
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA, NORMAN, OKLAHOMA

(Postmarked July 9, 1957.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-10-22T12:20:00.004-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

UNIVERSITY STOVALL MUSEUM
Norman, Oklahoma

Oklahoma's largest museum of natural history. Contains many fine exhibits of present and prehistoric wildlife. Outstanding exhibits of Oklahoma Indian archeology and ethnology are world famous.

Belated Birthday Greetings

2008-10-16T18:34:00.003-05:00

Just realized that I'm a day late in wishing my friend Leonard a very Happy Birthday.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-10-08T13:00:00.002-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE
C-124 Globe Masters, part of the 1707 air transport wing, on the flight line at Tinker Air Force Base.

(Postmarked May 3, 1963.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-10-01T12:12:00.003-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma state capitol

(The postmark on this one is March 26, 1961.)

Birthday Greetings

2008-09-08T11:02:00.002-05:00

A very Happy Birthday to my brother Tom.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-09-03T18:59:00.003-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

OKLAHOMA STATE CAPITAL
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma State Capitol building as seen from the South. Note the Oil Wells in the foreground. The Capitol building is surrounded on all sides by oil wells and is truly an inspiring sight.

Birthday Greetings

2008-08-27T08:05:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to everyone I know who's having a birthday this week: my friends Kevin H. (today), Syd (the 28th), Tommy Jean (the 29th), and yours truly (also the 29th).

Anniversary Greetings

2008-08-26T11:04:00.002-05:00

A very Happy Anniversary to my friends Bev and Mike.

Blood Sugar Blues

2008-08-22T13:02:00.001-05:00

I've been intending to post this for the last week or so, and I finally decided I need to post it today before it becomes old news.

For a long time now, I've been wrestling with an unusual physical problem--my lower legs, ankles and feet are constantly stiff and sore (or sometimes cold and numb), and there's very little I've been able to do to make them feel better.

My brother and several of my friends have been urging me to go to the doctor for a check-up because they suspected that I might have diabetes. I've promised to go several times, but I kept putting it off (I have a phobia about doctors that I'm trying to overcome) until one friend finally threatened to make an appointment for me and drag me there, kicking and screaming, if I didn't take care of it on my own.

Three weeks ago I finally went in for a check-up. The bad news is that I'm definitely diabetic (I have a "touch of diabetes," as the doctor put it). The good news is that she said I should be able to get my blood sugar under control with oral medication (Avandia) and daily glucose checks, along with paying more attention to what and how much I eat and getting more exercise and losing some weight (which are all things I should be doing anyway). The other good news is that my blood tests didn't turn up any other problems, so bringing my blood sugar down and keeping it there is the only thing I need to focus on.

So far things have been going okay--I've cut waaaay back on how much snacking I do and started making better choices when I feel like I absolutely have to have something to munch on. My blood sugar is coming down, but I haven't had any luck in losing weight so far, which means I either need to get more exercise or possibly switch to some different medication (since one of the possible side effects of the Avandia is water retention and weight gain), or maybe both. I'm going to give it a few more weeks and see how things go, and hopefully I'll have something positive to report then.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-08-20T12:42:00.004-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Located at N.W. 23rd and Blackwelder, it has long been a landmark in Oklahoma City. The statue in the foreground--"The Eternal Challenge"--is a witness of man's eternal search for knowledge. The girl carries a book, while the boy holds high the symbolic lamp of learning.

(The postmark on the back is a little hard to read, but the date looks like Sept. 21, 1964.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-08-13T21:03:00.003-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

STATE CAPITOL BANK
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

This beautiful and unusual modernistic designed bank, located at 3900 No. Lincoln Boulevard, is called the "Bank of the Future." It is equipped with a floating air lobby from the main floor to the lower floor, and a cashier to customer TV drive-in banking window.

Birthday Greetings

2008-08-11T09:13:00.002-05:00

A very Happy Birthday to my friend Gerald.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-08-06T12:54:00.005-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

SEQUOYAH AND WILL ROGERS BUILDINGS
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

These modernistic buildings, housing State and Federal offices, are a part of the Capitol complex. They are named in honor of Sequoyah, famous Cherokee Indian chief who invented the Cherokee alphabet, and Will Rogers, Oklahoma's favorite son and world-famous humorist. "The Avenue of Trees," a part of the landscaping, is made up of 77 trees; each tree represents one of Oklahoma's 77 counties.

(The postmark on the back--my aunt sent this to my grandparents while she was here for a visit--is dated Nov. 12, 1963. FWIW, the message mentions that the weather was in the 80s that day.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-07-30T23:00:00.004-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City University, Northwest 23rd Street and Blackwelder Avenue. This beautiful Methodist University was established at this site in 1923.

Jilly, RIP

2008-07-28T10:41:00.009-05:00

Condolences, hugs and warm thoughts to my friend Bev and her husband on the loss of their beloved dog Jilly (named after Charles de Lint's character Jilly Coppercorn) over the weekend.

Jilly was an Australian Shepherd who had been with Bev since she was three months old. She was very sweet and affectionate and loved being around people and having her butt scratched. (Whenever I was at their house, my primary duty was to make sure that her butt was properly and thoroughly scratched, and she didn't let me forget it.)

She turned 12 this year (the average life span for an Aussie) and had started showing signs of slowing down since the first of the year. She was arthritic and had a lot of trouble getting up and moving around.

Over the weekend, while Bev and her husband were out of town, a friend from our gaming group who was house-sitting noticed that she was unusually sluggish and would lay in the same place for several hours at a time. We thought that she was just feeling the effects of all of the hot weather we've been having lately until late Saturday evening, when she began experiencing respiratory problems. Her breathing was shallow and labored and we could tell from the look in her eyes that she knew something was wrong.

We took her to the vet's office and left her there for the night, and spent the rest of the evening hoping that everything would be alright. By Sunday morning she was starting to show some signs of improvement, but just before noon she had a heart attack and she was gone.

Our gaming group gathered at their house that afternoon and had a wake of sorts, just so Bev could have her extended family around her for a while. (Jilly always liked to have people around, so I know she would have approved.) The other two dogs, Zoe and Kaylee, were enjoying all of the extra attention, although it was obvious that Zoe (who had grown up around Jilly) knew that something wasn't right but couldn't figure out what it was.

(I'm having trouble figuring out how to end this, so I'll just say that I miss Jilly more than I can say and I'm looking forward to seeing her again someday and giving her butt-scratches again. Maybe Zoe or Kaylee will develop a liking for them, but it just won't be the same.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-07-23T13:18:00.002-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

SCHOOL OF RELIGION
METHODIST GOLD STAR MEMORIAL LIBRARY
OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

Name That Blog

2008-07-20T09:41:00.004-05:00

My friend Larry is looking for a new name for his blog. He needs something more creative that has something to do with Star Trek (and "Captain's Blog" is already taken).

I suggested "Where No Blog Has Gone Before" (which may already be in use) and "Blog On The Edge of Forever."

Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated. (You can post them here as comments or send them to me via e-mail.)

Anniversary Greetings

2008-07-16T09:07:00.005-05:00

A belated Happy Anniversary to my brother Tom and my sister-in-law Charlotte, who celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary yesterday. (I did remember to send them a card on time, though.)

Birthday Greetings

2008-07-09T15:18:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday to my favorite (and only) sister-in-law Charlotte (who's celebrating her "Happy To" Day, as my niece would say it).

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-07-02T21:14:00.003-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

THE OKLAHOMA THEATER CENTER
400 West Sheridan, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73102
Office (405) 239-6884-Box Office (405) 239-7333
One of America's most unique theaters-2 performing stages-opened Dec. 4, 1970-Architect, John Johansen-showcase for Oklahoma talent-tours.
Season, October-April.

Birthday Pictures

2008-06-29T12:26:00.007-05:00

Finally posted some of the pictures from my niece Emelia's second birthday party. You can find the album here. (I'm still working on my SoonerCon 2008 pictures and should have those and a con report posted sometime soon.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-06-25T14:25:00.003-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

GOVERNOR'S MANSION
Oklahoma City, Okla.

Birthday Greetings

2008-06-24T10:36:00.013-05:00

Happy Birthday to my niece Emelia, who's celebrating her second birthday today.

(I'm going to try to post a current picture of her later today--I'm going over to Tom and Charlotte's later for dinner and a "family only" celebration, and I'm planning to take my camera and get some new pictures.)

UPDATE: Here's a picture of the birthday girl with her new "bubble mower" (which is what I bought for her):

I'll post the rest of the birthday pictures on Photobucket as soon as I can.

Birthday Greetings

2008-06-18T07:31:00.006-05:00

Happy Birthday to my friend Ted, who's turning 40 today.

SoonerCon 2008 Video (and other things)

2008-06-14T21:33:00.006-05:00

Weather: Sunny, hot and a little humid (and we may get some more thunderstorms over the next few days).

Music: Nothing at the moment.

Mood: Restless and a little frustrated--mostly because Saturday night is when I usually hang out with my friends, but there's nothing going on tonight so I've been spending the evening trying to find other things to do and not being terribly successful. (There are plenty of things I need to do around the house, I just don't feel like doing any of them right now.)

What I've been doing lately (aside from the usual): I spent last weekend at SoonerCon 2008 and had a very good time (and I promise to post a con report and my con photos sometime in the next week). In the meantime, here's a video montage that someone else made with pictures she took at the convention:

Birthday Greetings

2008-06-11T10:20:00.008-05:00

Happy Birthday to my friend Nancy, and a belated greeting to my friend Rosemary, whose birthday was one week ago and I forgot to send her a card (but I did see her last weekend and wished her a Happy Birthday then, and I sent her a belated e-card yesterday).

SoonerCon 2008 Commercial

2008-06-02T12:45:00.005-05:00

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-05-28T13:22:00.002-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

Oklahoma State Firemen's Museum & Conference Center, 2716 N.E. 50th, Box 11507, Oklahoma City, OK 73111. This building houses offices of the State Firemen's Association and provides room to hold a conference of 300 people. The museum displays many pieces of early day fire fighting tools and equipment.

(The date written on the back of the card is Oct. 1, 1970, which is probably the date it was purchased.)

TrickConTreat 2008 Videos

2008-03-20T09:02:00.002-06:00

Some video from last year's TrickConTreat:

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-03-19T12:07:00.002-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

Boot Hill Cemetery at Frontier City, U.S.A.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-03-12T10:19:00.001-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

FRONTIER CITY, U.S.A.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Frontier City Marshall and his Deputy on the boardwalk of the Longbranch Saloon.

Birthday Greetings

2008-03-10T12:16:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday to my friend Bev (whose birthday is today, but she started celebrating two days ago--our gaming group celebrated Saturday night with chocolate cake and tacky cards, but she's got one more card coming because I forgot to bring mine).

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-03-05T13:54:00.003-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

FRONTIER CITY, U.S.A.
On U.S. 66-77
near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The Dalton gang shoots it out with Doc Holliday several times each day at Fabulous Frontier City U.S.A. Doc has just downed one of the Dalton gang and is firing on the other. This event is held several times each day and is very exciting for visitors to watch.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-02-13T22:03:00.003-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

FRONTIER CITY, U.S.A.
On U.S. highway 66-77
near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Episcopal Diocese Church of the Guardian Angel formed by Rev. Russel Rausher. Built for meditation and rest for visitors of Frontier City U.S.A.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-02-06T16:19:00.001-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

FRONTIER CITY, U.S.A.
NEAR OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA.
ON U.S. HIGHWAY 66 & 77

Near entrance way to the fabulous Frontier City. This covered wagon is an authentic part of the old west. Gun fights, Indian fights--stop in and see the old west in all its glory.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2008-01-16T18:24:00.001-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

FRONTIER CITY, U.S.A.
NEAR OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA.
ON U.S. HIGHWAY 66 & 77

Gateway to the fabulous Frontier City, U.S.A. of national interest. Frontier City is a composite of all the old time frontier towns rolled into one! Bank robberies, gun fights daily reinacted.

SoonerCon 2007 Video

2008-01-07T21:15:00.000-06:00

Christmas Stuff

2008-01-01T19:26:00.000-06:00

Weather: Cold, but sunny and clear.

Music: Nothing at the moment.

Mood: Pretty good.

What I'm doing right now: Decluttering the house and taking down some of my Christmas stuff.

We almost had a white Christmas this year--there was a prediction of snow on Christmas Day but we didn't get any until the next day. This is what my yard looked like last Wednesday morning:

The snow stopped by early afternoon, and by 4:00 it had warmed up enough that almost all of it had melted and dried up.

Christmas week was a little busier than usual . . . I got to spend a lot of time visiting with friends, catching up on movies, and eating a lot more than I should have. It was a lot of fun, but I'm kind of glad it's all over now so I can spend a few days at home catching up on other stuff.

I spent Christmas afternoon at my brother Tom's house, enjoying a truly wonderful turkey dinner (did I mention that he and Charlotte are really good cooks?), visiting with the two of them and watching my niece Emelia enjoying her presents, which included a fairy dress, a new chair, and a really cool electric car (which she was a little wary of at first because of one the sound effects):

I've got some other ones, but it'll be a few days (probably longer) before I can get them resized and posted.

Christmas Greetings

2007-12-25T08:24:00.001-06:00

Just dropping by to wish everyone a safe and happy Christmas Day. Hope you get to spend it with someone special.

The weather outside is frightful . . .

2007-12-14T20:20:00.000-06:00

For anyone who hasn't been keeping up with the news, Oklahoma is currently recovering from the most severe ice storm and most extensive power outage in the history of the state. At one point over 600,000 homes and businesses had lost power and the estimated time for getting that power back was 7 to 10 days.. However, much of the power has been restored now, thanks to the round-the-clock efforts of the local repair crews and the 1000 extra repairmen who came here from six other states to help out. Other clean-up crews have been busy taking care of all of the downed tree limbs and toppled trees all over the city (and other parts of the state as well).

The storm started sometime very early Sunday morning and continued until late Sunday night/early Monday morning. I stayed inside and stayed warm, listening to tree limbs cracking and crashing to the ground all over my neighborhood and wondering when one of them was going to hit a power line.

Just after noon on Monday, my brother Tom called to let me know that his power had gone out, and he and my sister-in-law and niece came over later in the day to spend a few days (or so they thought) at my place. However, my power went out around 4:00 Tuesday morning, so we decided to head back to his house and try to use his gas stove to stay warm (which we did and it worked out pretty well). Later in the day a friend of his who still had power brought over his generator, so we were able to use a space heater instead of the stove and enjoyed some light and TV news as well. We camped out in the living room to be close to the heater and spent much of our time entertaining my niece (who was enjoying the extra company and attention), and we managed to have a good time in spite of everything.

Their power came back on Wednesday night, and mine was back on when I came back to check on things Thursday morning, so things are slowly returning to normal. I have a few downed tree limbs in my front yard, but that's the worst thing I still have to deal with as far as I can tell.

I've posted some post-storm pictures in my Photobucket account (just use the link in the sidebar on the right and look for my "Ice Storm 2007" album). All of the pictures except for the last one were taken on 12/10 at various times of the day. The last one was taken on 12/13 (just after I got home from Tom's house) and shows some of the tree damage in my neighbor's front yard (she has four trees and all of them lost most of their limbs).

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-11-28T17:22:00.000-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME AND WESTERN HERITAGE CENTER

GARY COOPER'S SADDLE. One of many famous saddles in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center located at 1700 N.E. 63rd, Route 66, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Taking A Break and Thanksgiving Greetings

2007-11-21T08:59:00.000-06:00

I'm going to be busy with family and friends over the next few days (who isn't?), so I'm going to take a small break from posting until Sunday, maybe a day or two longer.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and a good weekend.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-11-14T21:55:00.000-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME AND WESTERN HERITAGE CENTER
1700 N.E. 63rd Street, Route 66, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Great Map of the West, 40x45 feet, Portrays Settlements, Trails and Historic Sites.

TrickConTreat 2008 Pictures and Review

2007-11-09T22:30:00.000-06:00

(Which I should have posted a month ago, but I did get it posted before the end of the year like I said I would.)

On Saturday, Oct. 6, I spent the day at TrickConTreat, a one-day horror/Halloween convention put on by the same people who work on SoonerCon (and held at Soonercon's current hotel, the Biltmore at I-40 and Meridian).

Attendance was okay, but lower than I expected, even for a first-time, one-day convention. The probable culprit was the OU-Texas game; I'm surprised that the con was scheduled for the same day as a major football game, but it's possible that that was the only date that would work for the hotel, or the staff, or maybe both. Hopefully, they'll be able to avoid having the con on the same weekend as the game next year.

The dealer's room was small but had a good selection of new and used books and movies, t-shirts, toys, artwork (by my friend Kevin Hopkins), and a few other things, and the four authors who were there (Craig Wolf, Steven Wedel, Bill Allen and my friend Bev Hale) had tables in the outer lobby where they were selling and signing books and visiting with congoers. There were also four local clubs/organizations that had display tables: the Oklahoma Space Alliance, the Ghostbusters: Central Oklahoma Division, the Colonial Marines (an "Alien" fan club), and an animal rescue/welfare group whose name escapes me at the moment..

Activities included two tracks of programming, one primarily for adults and one for kids. The adult panels were focused mainly on Halloween themes: horror readings, a history of Halloween, monster make-up, planning parties, decorating pumpkins, and paranormal investigation (which I planned to attend but didn't and I can't remember why). The two panels I did attend were a writers' panel on "What's Happening in Horror and Fantasy" and a panel called "Horror Hosts" with Dr. Fear (Brian Young, a radio and cable horror host from Enid) and Count Gregore (John Ferguson, who became the country's first horror movie host back in May, 1958, and has hosted several local horror movie shows over the years).

There were two other activities that I passed up: a "Zombie Ball" (an "adults-only" costume dance) on Saturday night, and a ghost tour of Ft. Reno in El Reno on Friday evening (which I'm hoping they have again next year because I heard it was a lot of fun and I'm sorry I missed it this year).

Overall, it was a good event and I'm already looking forward to next year (the theme for which is "A Tribute to "B" Movies," and I'm eager to see what sort of movie-related guests and activities they have planned).

(The handful of pictures I took at the con are posted in my Photobucket account, the link to which is in the sidebar on the right.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-11-07T14:26:00.000-06:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME AND WESTERN HERITAGE CENTER
1700 N.E. 64rd Street, Route 66, Oklahoma City, OK

The American Flag and the Flags of the sponsoring seventeen Western States.

Just a little news . . .

2007-11-06T21:31:00.000-06:00

Weather: Nice but steadily getting colder.

Music: Nothing at the moment.

Mood: Somewhere between "okay" and "bleah." I came down with a cold the Thursday before Halloween after waking up with a sore throat for several days. This one has been pretty mild as colds go, but the symptoms have been hanging on for dear life . . . I'm still dealing with some coughing and congestion (although neither is particularly bad) and I'm still tired most of the time because I haven't been sleeping well. Other than that, I'm feeling pretty good.

What I've been doing lately: Aside from the usual, trying to catch up on my reading (I just finished Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman and I'm trying to finish The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman before the movie comes out in December) and trying to finish a review of a one-day horror convention I went to back in October so I can post it here (and there's no good excuse for not having it done and posted already and I'm going to try really, really hard to start working on it again this week so I can finish it and get it posted sometime before the end of the year).

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-10-17T18:11:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME AND WESTERN HERITAGE CENTER
1700 N.E. 63rd Street, Route 66, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Pioneer Memorial Walk and Garden Pool.

Birthday Greetings

2007-10-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to: my friend Leonard (whose birthday is today, but our gaming group celebrated Saturday night with some truly awesome Tex-Mex snacks and entrees, most of them homemade--tortilla chips with guacamole and three different salsas, refried beans, rice with smoked sausage, two different kinds of grilled sausage, big soft tacos with steak filling, enchiladas and sangria).

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-10-10T18:51:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME AND WESTERN HERITAGE CENTER
1700 N.E. 63rd Street, Route 66, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

"Blessing of the New Camp" Ceremony by the Oklahoma Indians on Dedication Day, June 26, 1965

Wednesday Photo Blogging

2007-10-03T19:59:00.001-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME AND WESTERN HERITAGE CENTER
1700 N.E. 63rd Street, Route 66, Oklahoma City, OK

Twilight on the Fountains and Garden Pool

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-09-26T20:07:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

NATIONAL COWBOY HALL OF FAME AND WESTERN HERITAGE CENTER
1700 N.E. 63rd Street, Route 66, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Dedicated to the pioneer spirit of America and to the men and women who built the West.

(I have two other copies of this that were actually mailed to someone, and the postmarks are from 1966 and 1971, so that should give you a rough idea of how old this one is.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-09-19T16:50:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

SPRINGLAKE AMUSEMENT PARK
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

One of the largest swimming pools in the state. Grassed sun bathing area near pool. Also shown in background are some of the outstanding rides Springlake is noted for.

Sunday Photo Blogging

2007-09-16T18:42:00.000-05:00

I couldn't think of a better picture to post today than one of my niece Emelia from her first birthday party back in June (this is one that my brother took):

(The figure in the background in the pink shirt is me, and that's probably as much of me as anyone will ever see posted here, except for pictures of me when I was in grade school or earlier.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-09-12T20:29:00.001-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

The New and Elegant Boulevard Cafeteria
N.W. 10th and Dewey
Oklahoma City, OK! 73109
Breakfast served daily except Sunday

Monday Musings

2007-09-10T20:25:00.000-05:00

Weather: Rain off and on for the last couple of days. It's been nice and sunny today, but we may have more rain on the way.

Music: Something classical (I'm currently listening to KCSC, our local classical station). Whenever I'm feeling a little more stressed than usual, I tend to listen to a lot of classical and/or New Age music--for some reason, it makes my world seem more civilized and organized than it really is.

Mood: Okay, I guess, although it could be better.

I've been spending the last few days dealing with another round of poison ivy (this is my third--I had two really nasty encounters with it last summer) after spending some time clearing out part of one of my flower beds last week. This batch isn't nearly as nasty-looking as the first two--I've got some pink blotches and little blisters on both arms and my left hand and a couple of blisters on my right hand, as well as some blotches on my forehead, the left side of my face, and a few other spots on my face and neck. I've also got a puffy area on the left side of my jaw next to my chin that's slowly shrinking, and the skin under my left eye feels really dry and tight for some reason. The first two encounters made me look like I had some really severe radiation burns, so I'm just glad this one doesn't look any worse than it does. It itches a lot, though, so I've been using a lot of clear calamine lotion mixed with antihistamine for the blisters, and aloe vera gel for the spots that are starting to dry up and itch the most.

I've also been having some issues with our local garbage collectors . . . when they came by to pick up my trash last Friday--two big bins and two bags full of grass clippings--they emptied both bins but tore one of the bags and left both bags on the curb. I carried/dragged both bags from my back yard out to the curb and back again without any problems, so I can't imagine how they managed to tear one, and I'm equally puzzled about why they didn't haul them off.

I wasn't able to get to the bags until today, so they've been sitting out by the curb and getting thoroughly soaked. Now I have to wait until the rain stops (which may not be for another two or three days), dump them out somewhere in the back yard, let the grass dry out for another few days (and hope we don't get any more rain in the meantime), then rebag all of it and take it back down to the curb again.

I really, really hate it when stuff like this happens. (Well . . . maybe I don't hate it, but I dislike it a lot.)

What's happened to my Sunday photo blogging: Okay, I know promised to post something a week ago, and I apologize for not following through, but there was so much going on that day that I decided to put it off until Monday (Labor Day). When Monday rolled around, I was so tired from all the activity of the last three days (I was pretty busy on Friday and Saturday, too) that I put it off until Tuesday, then put it off again until Thursday.

On Thursday I took a look at the pictures I was planning to post (three pictures I took in my back yard several months ago just for the heck of it), decided they weren't really that exciting, and decided not to post them after all.

I want to continue to post pictures, but I need to look at what I've got to work with and pick something new. Hopefully I'll come up with something by this Sunday (but this time I'm not going to promise anything because I have no idea of what sort of mood I'll be in by then).

Birthday Greetings

2007-09-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to: my brother Tom (and I hope the card gets there on time because I put it out on the mailbox on Thursday, but for some reason the mailman didn't pick it up until Friday).

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-09-05T12:31:00.001-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

El Charrito Restaurants
"Best Mexican Foods"
OKLAHOMA CITY, TULSA, WICHITA, KANSAS

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-08-29T21:46:00.001-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

Skyline view of downtown Oklahoma City. What is now the site of Oklahoma's capital and largest city was barren prairie on the morning of April 22, 1889. By nightfall the population numbered 10,000. Indian land was on that day opened to white settlement. The City is in the midst of an oil field; there are even wells on the capital lawn.

Anniversary and Birthday Greetings

2007-08-26T20:27:00.001-05:00

Happy Anniversary to: my friends Mike and Bev, whose anniversary is today.

Also, an early Happy Birthday to: my friends Kevin H. (Aug. 27), Syd (Aug. 28), and Tommy Jean (Aug. 29, which is also my birthday, as well as Michael Jackson's--a little trivia I thought I should throw in).

I know I've been lax about not doing my usual photo posting for the last few Sundays and I apologize. I promise to pick it up again next Sunday, and anyone who wants to can call me or send me an e-mail and fuss at me if I don't.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-08-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

The 89'er Statue on Park Avenue in downtown Oklahoma City. Dedicated to the men and women who opened this part of the country April 22, 1889 in the run. The Statue is a man and boy staking their land--a gift given to Oklahoma City by Mr. and Mrs. B.D. Eddie.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-08-15T10:53:00.001-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Actual Anchor from Battle Ship U.S.S. Oklahoma. It is a memorial to Navy Veterans who have served their country in one or more wars. The U.S.S. Oklahoma was sunk December 7, 1941. This memorial located on Park Avenue was dedicated by Admiral Arleigh Burke--Chief of Naval operations May 19, 1960.

Birthday Greetings (and not much else)

2007-08-14T23:06:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to: my friends Mrs. D and Gerald (whose birthday was actually last Saturday, and I did send him a card on time).

And that's all I can think of to post about right now . . . I haven't been doing much lately except for trying to deal with the heat and humidity--it was still 101 degrees at 7:30 this evening--and chasing bugs all over the house. Everyone has had a lot of problems with bugs this year because of all of the rain we've been having--I've been seeing a lot of crickets and spiders, and for the past few days I've been dealing with a lot more flies than usual--I reduced the local fly population by eight or nine today, and every time I killed one I saw two or three more buzzing around. I haven't seen any for a few hours now, so I may have finally gotten all of them (but I'm not betting on it--they'll probably be out in force again tomorrow.)

(So I did find something to post about after all, even it was nothing more exciting than bug hunting. Yippee.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-08-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

THE NEW Y.M.C.A.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

I'm not sure exactly when this was "new" (early 1960's? or the late 1950s?), but it was one of the casualties of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in 1998 (a fact I had forgotten until I did a search on the Web to see if I could find out when it was built).

Photo Stuff

2007-08-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

Just remembered a few things I've been intending to post about (and kept forgetting because I've had a lot of other things on my mind lately) . . .

First, I finally got around to posting some of the pictures I took at my niece Emelia's first birthday party back in June. They're in my Photobucket account in the sub-album titled--what else?--"Emelia and her First Birthday Party."

Also, I noticed recently that the SoonerCon website has been redesigned. There's a new discussion forum and a photo gallery with pictures from SoonerCon 2007 and one of the con committee meetings. There's also a space for pictures from SoonerCon 2006, but no pictures posted yet.

Finally, I took down all of the pictures I had posted in my Yahoo! photo account. They stopped accepting new uploads and announced that the photo service would be shut down for good in September, so I decided to go ahead and take everything down since I'm sure most of the folks I know have already seen everything that was posted there.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-07-18T13:39:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Main entrance to the mall at Penn Square. This beautiful entrance is accented by clusters of tall pedestal canopies which look like huge mushrooms or inverted umbrellas. Penn Square is Oklahoma's largest shopping center--it covers more than 580,000 square feet of shopping area.

(This is the entrance on the east side of the mall. The store on the right was John A. Brown's, which would eventually become Dillard's.)

When my brother and I were much younger (back in the early 1960s), our parents used to take us to Penn Square on Sunday afternoons after church for some window shopping. (This was back when everything was closed on Sundays and window shopping was about the only kind of shopping you could do.) The only two places that were open were Val Gene's cafeteria, which was just east of where the center court is now, and the Humpty Dumpty supermarket, which was north of the center court--roughly where Macy's is at now, but a little closer to the main part of the mall.

Anniversary Greetings and Sunday Photo Blogging

2007-07-15T22:35:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary to my brother Tom and my sister-in-law Charlotte, who are celebrating seven years of marriage today.

************

Today's pictures are some that I took in my yard, just for fun.

The first two are of some of my daylilies:

The third is of one of my white crepe myrtles, which just bloomed for the first time this year:

The last is of my poor overloaded peach tree:

Some of the peaches are finally getting ripe enough to be picked, so I'm hoping it won't look this way too much longer.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-07-11T20:01:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

DODSON'S CAFETERIA
4101 S. Western, Oklahoma City 9
Continuous Service 11 A.M. to 8 P.M.
7 Days a Week
"Our Best Advertising is Not Written . . . It's Eaten."

(Not sure what the "9" after the address means, but that's what's printed on the card.)

This is the Dodson's that used to be at the Reding Shopping Center at SW 44th and S. Western, which was torn down quite some time ago to make room for expansion of the parking lot and facilities at Integris Southwest Medical Center. There was a second Dodson's at the Hillcrest Shopping Center at SW 59th and S. Pennsylvania, but that one is gone as well.

I have very fond memories of eating at both locations because the food was incredibly good--I really liked the fried chicken, green beans and devil's food cake, which is what I usually got. (I especially enjoyed going there on my birthday because it meant getting a complimentary cake, and they had the best birthday cake I've ever tasted.)

Birthday Greetings and New SoonerCon Link

2007-07-09T20:31:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law Charlotte (hope the card I sent got to you on time).

************

I found out a few days ago that SoonerCon has opened an online store where they're going to be selling t-shirts, caps, posters, coffee mugs, tote bags, and maybe some other stuff later on. Scooter says check it out. (I've added it to my list of local science fiction links in case anyone needs to find it later.)

Holiday Greetings and More SoonerCon Photos

2007-07-04T19:17:00.001-05:00

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everybody has had/is having/is going to have a safe and fun holiday. (Nothing special going on here . . . I was invited to join some friends for dinner and a trip to a local park to watch the fireworks from downtown Okla. City, but I decided to stay home and try to catch up on some rest since I haven't been sleeping well for the past few nights.)

I've been intending to mention (and kept forgetting until tonight) that JediOKC has seven pages of SoonerCon 2007 photos posted on their site, including some good ones from the charity dinner and show on Friday night and the costume contest on Saturday night. Just go to the main page of their site and look for the photo album link on the left side of the page, under "Board Navigation."

Wednesday Postcard blogging

2007-06-27T19:05:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

WILL ROGERS FIELD
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma City's Jet-Age Airport, with five scheduled airlines operating daily offering approximately 60 flights per day and the latest in Jet air service.

"The Merlene Show"--A Right Good Thing

2007-06-26T19:25:00.000-05:00

"The Merlene Show" was a skit that the funny and talented folks at Yard Dog Press performed on Saturday evening at SoonerCon. I thought it would be a good idea to discuss it in a separate post since a lot of people may not be familiar with the history behind it.

Several years ago, the writers at Yard Dog Press came up with an idea for a collection of humorous stories about a plague called Yuppie 25 that kills off most of the people on Earth and turns them into brain-eating, yuppie zombies, or "Yumbies." The only survivors of the plague are the "Bubbas," the redneck, white-trash, trailer park denizens who are rendered immune to the virus by the ingredients in the cheap barbecue sauce that they put on everything they eat

The first collection of stories was called Bubbas of the Apocalypse, followed by The Four Bubbas of the Apocalypse: Flatulence, Halitosis, Incest, and . . . Ned and International House of Bubbas. A fourth collection, .Houston: We've got Bubbas, is currently in the works.

(Still with me? Good. If you're not, it's not going to get any clearer. Sorry.)

"The Merlene Show" was intended to be the Bubba version of "The Martha Stewart Show"--arts and crafts and home decor with a redneck, white-trash twist, plus a beauty pageant between a couple of trailer park beauty queens, Harley Dee and Nova Dawn. The final production was loud, raunchy and incredibly funny, and I hope whoever took the video of the show will post it on the net sometime soon. (If I see it posted anywhere, I'll post a link here or send it out by e-mail, or both.)

Here's the cast:

Merlene--Sherri Dean
Billy Dee--Bill Allen
Nedina--Selina Rosen
Security guards--M.H. Bonham and Rie Sheridan
Rhonda Lee--Rhonda Eudaly
Harley Dee--Audree Hitchcock
Nova Dawn--Sally Allen
Pearl Mae Ledbetter--Susan Satterfield
Glen Tirwiliger--Glenn Sixbury
David Lee Anderson--playing himself
Bennie Grezlik--also playing himself (I think)
Plus the Stonebender Sisters:
Cary On--Cary Osborn
Berly Ann--Beverly Hale
Katie Ellen--Katharine E. Kimbriel
Ruby Sue--Kristi Hutson-Price

If you have any questions about "The Merlene Show," SoonerCon, or any of the pictures I posted, please e-mail me or leave a comment and let me know.

SoonerCon 2007 Pictures and Review

2007-06-25T21:01:00.000-05:00

Finally got all of my SoonerCon 2007 pictures resized, tweaked and posted. Just click on my Photobucket link in the sidebar and look in my sub-albums. I have a separate sub-album for my pictures from "The Merlene Show," but I'll post more about that tomorrow. Most of the pictures I took came out pretty well, but there were a few that were too dark and needed to be lightened and a couple that came out fuzzy and had to be sharpened (and even then they don't look as good as they could have).

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I intended to, usually because I'd see someone or something interesting, think "I really need to get a picture of him/her/that before the weekend is over," then I'd get lazy or sidetracked and never get around to taking one. I already promised myself I'd take more next year (and anyone who reads this has my permission to nag me next year to make sure I do it!).

This year's SoonerCon was very well-run and very well-attended--the last attendance estimate I heard was about 1000 people, which is very good for the second year of a convention. It was good to just hang out with friends for three days, including a few that I hadn't seen in a long time.

Correction from the comments: the actual attendance this year was around 700 people. Thanks to Angie for posting the correction.

The art show and dealer's room were both good, but the dealer's room really needed a button dealer, since buttons are inexpensive and one of the things that lot of people (including me) usually look for at conventions.

The programming schedule had a good selection of panels and other activities, and the ones that I went to, or saw in passing, were usually well-attended. (The children's writing workshop I went to on Sunday morning didn't attract any kids, but the adults that were there had a lot of fun.)

The con suite seemed a little small for a con this size, but it was always kept neat and clean and had a good selection of consumables available (including fresh fruit, which is always a nice change from cookies and donuts).

The one big disappointment about the con was the lack of room parties. At a convention this big, there are usually at least one or two open parties on Friday night and three or four on Saturday night. This time, however, there was one party on Friday (hosted by the ladies of Yard Dog Press, who can always be counted on to throw a good room party) and none at all on Saturday. I know there were two local clubs that usually throw parties that decided not to this time, but nobody knows what happened to all of the groups from other conventions that are usually on hand to throw parties to promote their cons. Hopefully this was just a fluke and we'll have a lot of parties next year.

The con hotel (the Biltmore at I-40 and S. Meridian) handled their first science fiction convention pretty well (or seemed to) from what I could see, although I heard about some problems some other folks had with them later on. The sleeping rooms were clean and comfortable and reasonably priced and I hope the con can arrange the same price or something close to it for next year. The hotel restaurant was good and also reasonably priced, although the wait staff was sometimes a little slow about bringing drinks or refills. There were plenty of couches and chairs in most areas of the hotel, so there were always places for the fans to sit and visit.

My one big complaint about the hotel (and the weekend in general) had to do with the location of my room. The hotel is divided into three buildings--the main building, the south wing, and the west wing. All of the convention function areas were in the main building and the south wing, while my room was in the back hallway of the west wing, which meant a seven-minute walk to get from my room to the art show/dealer's room area. (The only way my room could have been any farther would be if it had been across the hall and up on the second floor.) Needless to say, I didn't make any trips back to my room unless I absolutely had to.

Next year, the con needs to strongly encourage the hotel (and maybe require it via their hotel contract) to keep all of the convention sleeping rooms as close to each other and to the convention function areas as possible, and they have enough rooms available that this shouldn't be a problem. The only convention guests who need to be in the west wing, IMHO, are the ones who specifically ask to be there for any reason.

Overall I had a great time and I'm already looking forward to next year (and I'm already thinking about volunteering to work on the con next year, but I haven't made a final decision yet).

Birthday Greetings and Sunday Photo Blogging

2007-06-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my niece Emelia, who's celebrating her first birthday today! Bev and I went to her party earlier this afternoon and I got a lot of pictures, mostly of her enjoying her cake:

I've got more, but I need to resize all of them and get them posted in my Photobucket album later in the week.

(A big "thank you" to my brother Tom for loaning me a couple of batteries for my camera to get me through the party--mine were about to run out of power and I didn't realize it and I carelessly forgot to bring my extra pair.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-06-20T14:37:00.000-05:00

This week's postcard:

The caption on the back gives the same information that's on the front.

Does anyone remember when we stopped calling it the Municipal Auditorium and started calling it the Civic Center?

Birthday Greetings and Some Yahoo! News

2007-06-18T19:41:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my friend Ted (whose birthday is today and I almost didn't remember to post about it).

************

I found out something about Yahoo! recently and I've been intending to post about it but didn't remember it again until tonight.

I said in a recent post that I was planning to add more pictures of my niece Emelia to my Yahoo! photo space sometime soon. I went to my photo space a day or two after that to upload some pictures and read that Yahoo! is planning to shut down its photo hosting service sometime this fall to focus more attention on Flickr, so I'm not going to add any more pictures to my Yahoo! photo space after all.

Later in the summer I'll have the option of moving all of my current Yahoo! albums to another hosting service (which would probably be Photobucket since I already have an account there). However, all of the photos I have on Yahoo! right now are older pictures of Emelia, so I may decide to just take them down and work on posting some newer ones (and I have plenty of those to work with, thanks to Tom).

In the meantime, I've added a link to my Photobucket account to my sidebar and I've posted two new albums of pictures of Emelia there for anyone who's interested in seeing how much she's grown. (I'll also have a couple of albums of SoonerCon photos posted soon--I had hoped to have those posted by now, but I keep managing to get behind on everything.)

Father's Day Greetings and Sunday Photo Blogging

2007-06-17T12:50:00.000-05:00

Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers I know (especially my brother Tom, who's celebrating his first Father's Day today).

I looked through some of our old photos to see if I could find a good picture of me (or me and Tom) with Dad, and this is the best one that I could find right away:

This was taken in November, 1963 at Red Rock Canyon State Park near Hinton, OK (west of Okla. City). Tom was a little over a year old and had recently learned to walk, and keeping up with him was a bit of a challenge that day. (I'm not sure why we had our eyes closed, unless it was because we were facing the sun for the picture.)

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-06-13T12:23:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

PARK AVENUE
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Looking east on Park Avenue, one of the beautiful and principal avenues in the heart of downtown Oklahoma City, with the Municipal building pool and fountain in the foreground.

Birthday Greetings and Feelin' The Blues

2007-06-11T21:09:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my friend Nancy (who I shared a room with at SoonerCon this past weekend) and a belated Happy Birthday to my friend Rosemary (who I also saw at the con and whose birthday was a week ago when I was taking a break from posting).

The con was great and I had a wonderful time, but I'm still incredibly tired and sore and feeling generally lousy, so it may be a few days before I'll feel up to posting a con report and my con pictures. I'm also having a really severe bout of the "post-convention blues"--which, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, is the condition of feeling depressed about a con being over or about to come to an end and having to go back to dealing with the "real" world again. It's a pretty common condition among science fiction fans, and I've discovered today (from doing a couple of Google searches) that it can affect anyone who attends any sort of special interest convention or gathering, not just science fiction conventions. (Do your own search of Google Groups if you want to learn more--you can also search using "letdown" or "depression" in place of "blues" to get some alternate results.)

Taking A Break

2007-06-03T21:29:00.000-05:00

Next weekend I'm going to be attending SoonerCon, so I was planning to be away from my computer from Thursday evening until Sunday evening/late night or maybe even Monday morning (depending on what time I get home from the con and how much energy I have left by then).

However, I still have a lot of things I still need to do before then, so I've decided to start my "vacation" from posting today. Once the con is over I'll be in a better frame of mind to deal with blog stuff.

Hope everyone has a good week, and I promise to be back on my blog a week from tomorrow.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-05-30T13:13:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

THE BEAUTIFUL SKYLINE OF OKLAHOMA CITY
THE STATE CAPITAL OF OKLAHOMA

Memorial Day Greetings and Monday Photo Blogging

2007-05-28T12:08:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone is having/going to have a safe and relaxing Memorial Day. (Nothing special planned here . . . I'm probably going to spend most of the day taking care of some odd bits of housework and maybe running an errand or two.)

Last Friday I spent some time visiting with Tom and Emelia (my brother and niece, for anyone who hadn't been keeping up with my previous blog on Bravenet) and I took a few pictures while I was there:

I'll be adding all of the pictures I took to one of my Yahoo! photo albums sometime soon (probably sometime this week).

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-05-23T14:47:00.000-05:00

Is everyone else enjoying the postcards as much as I am? If so, please leave a comment and let me know. (Or send me an e-mail if you'd prefer to keep your comments private for any reason.)

I've been having such a good time with them that I've starting looking for other postcard sites and bookmarking them so I can visit them later. I've also added the ones that I've visited so far to my list of links in the sidebar (scroll all the way down to the bottom) and I'll add the other ones once I've had a chance to check them out. Most of the sites I've found so far have motel postcards from the 50s and 60s, but I've also found a gallery of restaurant and diner postcards, as well as a weblog devoted to postcards and pictures from older malls and shopping centers.

Anyway . . . on to today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

OKLAHOMA BUFFALO

Buffalo at one time roamed the plains of Oklahoma in great herds. They provided the food, clothing and homes for many of the Indian tribes. The buffalo are now protected on state preserves and private ranches.

Too Much Noise

2007-05-22T21:19:00.000-05:00

Pet peeves of the week (so far--I may be able to come up with some more before the week is over):

Parents who turn their children loose in stores, restaurants, malls, etc., and ignore them while they behave like wild animals.

Last Saturday I went to one of the local hardware stores to pick up a couple of things, and while I was there I saw a couple of kids--a girl about eight or nine and a brother one or two years younger--chasing each other around the store, squealing and talking loudly, and generally annoying everyone in the immediate vicinity (and it's not a big store, so you couldn't help but notice them). I overheard several of the employees talking about them while I was doing my shopping, so I think they must have been causing problems for a little while before I got there. One employee said he saw the brother take a hammer off of one of the displays and pound on the floor with it. Where was their mother while all of this was going on? Shopping in another part of the store and not paying any attention to her kids, as far as I could tell.

(Eventually their mother did catch up with them and get them under control--I saw her headed toward the front of the store with both of them and a third child in tow--but I still wonder if she decided to discipline them on her own or if one of the employees had to ask her to do it.)

Anyone who thinks that whatever he's listening to on his car stereo is so incredibly cool that he MUST share it with everyone within five miles of his car.

It's bad enough when someone who does this lives in my neighborhood (right around the corner, in fact) and I get to listen to his music (and I use the term very loosely--all I can hear is a loud thump-thump-thump) several times a week, sometimes in the middle of the night. It's worse when I get to hear it coming from a car close to me when I'm stopped at a red light. Last Sunday, though, I got to hear it at the drive-through at the local Whataburger.

The guy who pulled in right behind me had his stereo cranked up as loud as it would go, and he only turned it off long enough to turn in his order. After that, he turned it up again, and I got to listen to my car windows rattle while I was waiting on my food. I'm sure the Whataburger employees weren't real thrilled about having to listen to it, either.

(I'm pretty sure Oklahoma City has a city ordinance that deals with noise problems like this. Why isn't it being enforced more often?)

Monday Photo Blogging

2007-05-21T21:01:00.000-05:00

Sorry for being a day late on posting new pictures . . . I spent much of the afternoon yesterday trying to clear out one of my flower beds, and by the time I decided to quit for the day, I was hot, tired and cranky and not in the mood for posting anything.

I also spent some time yesterday setting up my new camera (finally!) and taking a few test pictures, and so far I'm very happy with it. There were one or two controls I couldn't figure out that weren't fully explained in the owner's manual, but the Kodak website has some great tutorials that told me what I needed to know. My only "complaint" so far is that the LCD screen is impossible to see when I'm taking pictures outside and the sun is out, but I'm sure that's a fairly common complaint with most digital cameras.

I did, however, have a bigger complaint about the rechargeable batteries I bought. I assumed (incorrectly, I discovered) that they were fully charged when I took them out of the package, so I was very surprised when I started getting a "low power" signal from my camera after taking only nine pictures. There was nothing about this particular problem in the instruction booklet, so I did a search on Google and finally found a page on the manufacturer's website that said that rechargeable batteries aren't fully charged at the factory and need to be fully charged before the first use. Seems to me that information that basic should be included in the instruction booklet, so I e-mailed the manufacturer and politely requested that they consider adding it to future printings of the booklet.

They wrote back today and assured me that the information in question is included on all rechargeable battery packaging. I checked mine again and finally found the phrase "charge batteries before using" in the upper right corner of the back of the package, in small white print against a black background--in other words, it was printed in a place, size and style that made it easy to miss. (I pointed that out in my reply, but I'm not sure that it will make any difference.)

Anyway . . . here are three pictures I took of my peach tree, which is loaded with fruit (and in desperate need of trimming/pruning after the peaches are all gone):

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-05-16T13:25:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

GREETINGS FROM OKLAHOMA

Top--Oklahoma State Capitol
Bottom--Will Rogers Memorial

Mother's Day Greetings and Sunday Photo Blogging

2007-05-13T01:21:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers I know (especially my sister-in-law Charlotte, who's celebrating her first Mother's Day today).

In honor of the holiday, I'd like to share a picture of me with my mom from a long, long time ago:

This was taken in June, 1960 in front of the Humpty-Dumpty supermarket at the Reding Shopping Center, which used to be at the corner of SW 44th and S. Western in Okla. City. The shopping center was closed and torn down quite some ago to make room for expansion of the parking lot and facilities at the Integris Southwest Medical Center.

After promising myself several times over the last few years that I was going to buy myself a digital camera (and putting it off every time), I finally started doing some serious shopping over the last couple of days and came home yesterday with a Kodak EasyShare C653 (6.1 megapixels, 3x optical zoom) plus some accessories--a camera case, a battery charger and batteries, and a 2 GB memory card. I haven't started learning how to use it yet, but I'm going to do that over the next few days, and hopefully have a picture or pictures ready to post by next weekend, if not sooner.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-05-09T12:06:00.000-05:00

Today's postcard:

The caption on the back:

THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

CAPITAL: Oklahoma City. AREA: 68, 782 sq. miles. POPULATION: (1970 census) 2, 559, 253. MOTTO: "Labor Conquers All Things." NICKNAME: Sooner State. 46th state admitted to Union--Nov. 16, 1907.

Sunday Photo Blogging

2007-05-06T21:18:00.000-05:00

Today's photo:

This is one small part of the garden at my grandparents' house in Kentucky from the summer of 1962. Both of my grandparents (or maybe just my grandfather--my memory is a little fuzzy) enjoyed gardening and they had quite a few large flower beds around their house as well as a pretty big vegetable garden.

Wednesday Postcard Blogging

2007-05-02T19:16:00.000-05:00

Last night I decided to take a break from working on photos and started going through a couple of boxes of postcards, just to see what I have (since I hadn't looked through them in a long time and only had a vague idea of what was there) and to try to consolidate them into one box (which I did). I was pleasantly surprised to discover quite a few postcards from Oklahoma and Oklahoma City, most of them from the 1950s and 1960s, along with a lot of other cards from various times and places that we've bought, received or inherited over the years.

Just for fun (and to try out more of my scanner's various bells and whistles), I've decided to start scanning and posting some of them here, starting with this one (which my grandmother sent to my aunt while she and my grandfather were here for the State Fair in 1969):

The caption on the back:

OKLAHOMA STATE FLAG

The Flag is symbolic. The tan center is an Osage warrior's buckskin shield, representing defensive or protective warfare. Across the shield runs the red man's Calumet (Peace Pipe) crossed with the white man's peace symbol, the olive branch. The small crosses are Indian stars and represent lofty ideals. The blue field represents the blue skies of Oklahoma.

Sunday Photo Blogging

2007-04-29T19:07:00.000-05:00

Still working on sorting photos, and I've got one storage box almost full. I'm slowly bringing order out of chaos, but there's still an awful lot of chaos to deal with. (I've also got several trays of slides and a lot of older postcards that I want to sort and scan, so I'm going to be working on this for a long, long time).

Speaking of photos, I've decided to start scanning and posting some of them, beginning with this one:

This was taken at my grandparents' house in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky (which is in the northern part of the state, right across the river from Cincinnati). I'm not sure exactly when it was taken (the back of the photo only says "September"), but I'm guessing it was sometime in the early 1960s.