I was blind, but now I see

Is it true? Could I have been so deeply ground into the longing I had for the return of my rose-colored glass world (aka: The Clinton Administration) and so gravely frightened by the leader of the group taking us straight to Armageddon (aka: #43 and the Moral Majority) that I honestly missed a truly great band when it was introduced to me? Had I truly forgotten the face of my father? How in the name of Eld could this have happened?
Please walk with me down this very alarming path of the beam.
Sunday night, May 27, 2007 I highly recommended that my sister and brother-in-law attend a concert that I wasn’t particularly interested in attending. The ticket was only $20. I knew that Jimmy would like the music. They, from what I gather, are very southern rock in the Leonard Skynard way. I truly like Skynard and so does Jimmy.
That morning began rather gloomy with rain and well lots of rain. The concert was to be outdoors at an amphitheater. Daddy and Jimmy worked on my car. Patty and I returned to her home and anxiously watched the radar on the Weather Channel and various local stations. Ok, I also had an ice cream and two hotdogs to alleviate the anxiety. To our surprise the sun did come out. I felt as though I was in that wonderful story – All Summer In A Day… the author’s name has long been forgotten.
Back to the concert day, when we arrived we parked a long distance away assuming that we couldn’t find a place close. We were wrong. However, to our surprise and my delight, the line at the gate was literally a quarter of a mile, at least. We settled in for the long wait to get in. Commenting on the fact that the Chamber of Commerce probably had no idea how big a name they had actually acquired or that running spots on Texas radio would actually pay off. Another happy surprise came when a security guy told us of a shortcut to get in if we already had tickets, which we did. I might note that it was sometime around me hearing – shorter line this way and well nothing else that Patty decided to hand me one of the tickets. It seems I actually took off running. SOWISA babyluv.
I could hear a voice I recognized resonating from the stage. I knew I would be hearing Robert Earl – but to my great pleasure I was hearing Stoney! Pray yer forgiveness of Jimmy and Patty that they did not recognize the presence they were about to be in.
Ok we get in the gates and encounter what can only be called pure MUD. It was awesome. I was almost ankle deep in it at one time. We settled Patty in to her lawn chair and Jimmy and I were off in search of what the gods drink at these palavar’s. We got a bargain. Only paid $25 for a 6 pack of 16oz cans. Not to mention the highway robbery for water - $3 per bottle. Who the smuck needs water?
At some point Patty and I made it over to the souvenir line. Yes, I now have a t-shirt other then JB&S to wear at the JB&S concerts. We also had one of Jimmy’s cousins take this picture of us. Aren’t we cute?
Robert Earl was awesome. I wasn’t let down. Thanky sai Jo. While we were in the t-shirt line he sang Feliz Navidad. I had no idea that was his song, but have loved it for years. Again, thanky sai Jo.
Then came the main attraction.
I had completely decided to forget the Jesus Loving Freak song that I had heard a few years back. Really, would Jo love a band as much as she loves this one if they were JLF’s? I don’t think so. She has played enough PFG and other groups for me to think that. I settled into my own lawn chair and paid attention. Cody rocked. Yes I said it. He really caught my attention when he plainly stated that whoever had thrown that beer at him had better drink his smucking beer or he would kick his ass. From that point on he had me. Should I say, “He had me from I’ll kick your smucking ass?” We didn’t stay for the whole show, beg pardon sai Jo. We did see an hour and a half and I did hear Boys from Oklahoma. And I’m seriously considering buying their latest CD. They have a new one due out in October. I'll pre-order it.
Long Days and Pleasant Nights to Ye…

Ah Vacation...

This may take a few blogs to cover the whole time off. We had a blast! By we, I mean Toby, Millie and me. I’m not sure how much fun Patty had.
I’ll pick up the vacation story with Thursday. It was a rather rainy day. Hayden was on his first day of medication for a double ear infection. We couldn’t find him to begin with. Mom nor Dad were answering their phones. When we finally made contact it was only to find out he had been at Grannie’s waiting for us, when Grannie noticed a very high fever. We picked him up at Poppie’s work, had lunch with Nannie and spent time at her house cleaning and doing little things for her.
Friday was a little longer. Hayden was feeling much better and was in fact very talkative. We began with breakfast at Sonic. Then went to Eufaula to buy flowers for graves. We fed the ducks at the lake downtown and then to the dock. At the dock you can buy a handful of fish food for a quarter. We went through $3. Hayden also scored a frog ring that lights up and a real cowboy hat with a cop star on it. We spent the afternoon watching a three-hour marathon of Sponge Bob Square Pants. If you have never watched SBSP that long, I really recommend it if you can’t sleep. Mom made spaghetti for dinner Friday night. Let me just say that I have probably gained back all the weight that I lost over the last few months.
Saturday was fun. My kids came to Eufaula. We had lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant. The family met at the cemetery later in the afternoon then went to Nannie’s. Nicole and Hayden had a good time playing football in the cemetery after they dutifully placed flowers on the proper gravesites. We bbq’d at Patty and Jimmy’s then the kids were off to Norman again (loaded down with food) and I spent the night with Nannie.
Sunday’s blog will be split into two sections. Here is the first. Sunday morning we went to Decoration day service at Palestine. Patty swears that Ralph Wayne (yes that’s the preacher’s name) doesn’t always preach hellfire and brimstone, however, the last two times I have been there he has felt the need to do just that. My only comment to the service is that I guess I’ve been an Episcopalian too long to revert to the more loose structure. Nannie was happy to have me there, and that is all that matters. I left before the potluck lunch. My car was making a horrible noise that Jimmy and Ryan agreed were the wheel bearings going out. Daddy and Jimmy spent most of the afternoon repairing my car. Turns out the wheel bearings weren’t the noise culprit. The tires had the wrong pressure and seems that those tires will just be noisier than more expensive tires.
Toby and Millie had a blast primarily because at Eufaula leashes aren’t used. They did give us a fright when Toby followed by Millie took off chasing a dog that was headed straight to a Doberman pincher. Toby received that spanking. So the next time they felt the need to chase they stayed in “their” yard.
The rest of Sunday will come later.
Long Days and Pleasants Nights to ye.

Donkeys and Vacation

The day we went to Claremore, Monday, when the crew arrived at the Station, there was a pack of donkeys at the RV. They were the cutest things. We thought they were just visiting for the morning. Turns out they have adopted us. They walk up and down Mt. Crumpit and hang out at the helipad, as you see in this pic.

Now, on to the fun stuff. I'm actually on VACATION! Patty and I spent the day doing my errands. We began in McAlester. I had Hayden and had to get two new tires. Who knew that tires with threads showing and bumps were the reason my car was driving funny? Anywho, Hayden and I bought breakfast for Grannie at McDonalds, retrieved my car then were on our way to get Patty. First stop, Coweta for heartworm pills. Then we were off to Claremore to find the classroom I'll be spending the next two months in and to get a parking permit. Then to downtown to take care of a no seatbelt ticket and expired insurance. Tulsa doesn't make it easy to take care of traffic violations, three buildings, not to mention lines, later and that task was complete.

Next stop was Ollie's. Hayden loves to eat there. The trains run constantly. We basically shoved food into his mouth as he was watching the trains in fascination. After Ollie's we went to the station. Hayden talked to everyone except his hero, Frank. He just stood and watched him.

Then we went to the hospital to check on our friend that had a heart attack the day before. He is doing fine. His wife took my apt key so she could get a shower and a quick nap. While I was straightening the apartment Aunt Patty took Hayden to Krispy Kreme and then for an ice cream.

Last stop was Irene's house to drop off food for the sickies. We went back to McAlester and took everyone to dinner at the Chinese place. Hayden was worn out and still managed to stay awake until 2am. His mom was ready to shoot his two favorite aunts. =)

Today was a little more quiet. We had lunch with Nannie and kept Hayden occupied for a few hours. Turns out he has a double ear infection. He doesn't act sick and in fact says he feels fine. Except for the temperature, he was fine.

Patty has dial-up. So I may not blog again for a few days...

Long Days and Pleasant Nights to ye.

Girls Night Out

Ok, I realized yesterday that I really am NOT as young as I used to be. I thought the Calf Fry was different. I mean, we had to drive all that way to Stillwater. Then we were basically standing for hours! Not to mention the beer.
Saturday night we had our first monthly Single Girls Only night. I was home by 1am and in bed by 2am. I literally slept all day yesterday. Millie had to stand on my chest and bark at me to get me up and outside before she went inside.
The party was fun. There were probably 15 ladies there. We ate and talked and had a wonderful time. Sorry, no pictures or exact stories, they are both strictly forbidden.
Today, we went to Nowata. That was an interesting trip. It is actually the first time I've gotten lost inside the town we were visiting. Everything was going well, I left about 6:55 to get the breakfast we had ordered last Friday. When I arrived, there was no food. The lady that took the order wrote that we would be in town next Monday. So, I settled into a seat and chatted with the folks in Nowata.
Nannie had another Dr. appt today so I had lunch with them, then came home to the babies. Millie has done nothing but whine today. Well, whine and chase a few rabbits. She actually drew a crowd when I allowed her to run back and forth at the fence while the rabbit sat safely on the other side having dinner and laughing at Millie. Toby thought about getting into the action, but honestly, he would have to run and well, he isn't into running.
Now we are back in the apartment and I'm finally sitting still so Millie can lie down and go to sleep. She was panting like crazy when I finally made her give up the chase and come home.
Tomorrow is Claremore in the morning, then I have a hair appointment. I'll be spending the night at mom and dad's then Hayden will go to "work" with me Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
One more note: Fasten your seatbelts or you will get a $20 ticket. I found out first hand today. The officer and I had a good laugh as she handed me the ticket.
Long Days and Pleasant Nights to Ye!

Traffic Cop Tammie

That's right, I was a Traffic Cop this morning. Oh my it was fun.

The morning began around 3:30am. Millie was up and ready to go before the alarm! She even forced Toby to get up. I hate having a dog that likes mornings.

For those of you that don't know, we gave away $25 of gas for 2 hours this morning at a pre-determined QT. I arrived around 4:20am and was assigned to Officer Jason. He and I had the sad duty of telling people that although the giveaway had not yet begun, they were in fact too late. Then, once we cleared that group and the actual pumping of gas began, I found myself directing traffic at the gas pump.

You may think I'm nuts, but I had fun this morning. We unfortunately had to turn away about double the amount that were able to get gas. Approximately 195 people received free gas. Most of the management team were there, I was the only "girl" and the best part is that I was allowed to use my "MOM" voice to keep things moving along.

We were very well met this morning. Now, I have to finish up a couple of things and then I'm off to Mid-World!

Long Days and Pleasant Nights to ye.

Can you wear a T-Shirt to Church?

This won't be a long blog, however, it is necessary. The weekend was rough. Daddy had that stress-attack and Nannie found out her sister has alzheimer's.

When I talked to Nannie on Monday she was more depressed than I have heard her in two years. So, Tuesday was especially important. She had a doctor appointment and then Patty had one later in the day. We had lunch then Nannie came back to work with me. She was like a school girl. It was so fun. I heard stories I have never heard as she told them to my co-workers. They gave her some "goodies" to take home, including a t-shirt. Now, if you know Nannie, you know she doesn't wear t-shirts.

Imagine my shock when Patty called to tell me Nannie wore the t-shirt to lunch the next day, and planned to wear it to church that night! She told everyone at lunch where she had gotten her new clothing and that she searched her closet to find matching pants. She ended up in white slacks because none of the blue ones matched.

The best part of the story is that she is smiling again.

Long Days and Pleasant Nights to Ye!

Life Smucking Sucks

Did you ever feel like running away would solve all your problems? Maybe get a whole new identity and start over... Sounds good, except new problems will arise and then what do you do? Start over again?

The last couple of days have made me wonder what it would be like to run away and begin new as someone else. I used to do it. When I was a teenager, that was the beauty of being on stage. You could be someone else for a couple of hours. There was always a beginning and an end to every situation. No guessing, no incomplete synopsis. Somehow, things always worked out. I really wish that's how things were in real life.

Why can't life be like a day on the river. Not Jimmy's river, my river. The toughest thing you do is open a can of beer or soda. The worst thing that happens is you bite into a bologna and cheese sandwich expecting mustard but get mayo. I long for this life!

I'm tired of living on the edge of Boo'ya Moon looking at the Sweetheart Trees and hoping the long boy stays asleep a while longer.

Long Days and Pleasant Nights to ye...

Mother's Day

I've been a bit down this week. Sunday is Mother's Day, my daughter will be working and unable to join the BBQ fun with the rest of the family. The whole morning thing is beginning to wear on me in ways that I can't go into online. I think only 2 people read this, but well, you never know when something from your blog will be printed in a newspaper in say, California. So, I'll keep most of my thoughts to myself.

This is finals week at OU and move-out is going on. So Nicole has been very busy and stressed. However, for some reason has also found the time to call and just "chat" with her mother, several days this week. Only one phone call being for money. I found this suspicious.

Today, I woke up at the absolutely ungodly hour of 3:30 am. I was terribly surprised when my phone rang and it was Nicole at 4am. She claims that she hadn't been to bed yet and just wanted to make sure I would actually be at the station today to call and wake her for class or something. Again suspicious but, she is 20.

The rest of the morning wasn't so good. I went to QT for coffee - all the pots were turned off. So I'm off to Bristow, coffeeless. Which explains why I took the wrong exit off the turnpike and ended up back in Sapulpa, adding 30 minutes to my 30 minute drive. GGGRRRR

Finally made it to the station around 7:15am. Started to leave around 10am to run an errand for Chris Lincoln, when I was called to the lobby. Those beautiful tulips you see in the picture were waiting for me. They came with a card saying "Love you momma. You're my Favorite!" So now my day is much better.

Long Days and Pleasant Nights to ye - and don't forget your mother this weekend.

Toby and Millie are Home

Sorry I haven’t updated anything this week. Honestly it has been an extremely weird week.

I left the babies with Aunt Patty and Uncle Jimmy Sunday because my apartment was scheduled to get sprayed for unwanted critters. Then the plan was that I would spend the night with Nannie Monday, then head on down to Wilburton Tuesday morning for the Roadshow. On the way back I would stop and pick up the babies. Well, the weather had a different idea. The Vinita show Monday morning was practically rained out, the forecast wasn’t great for Tuesday, so the crew (minus me) filmed the Wilburton stuff Monday afternoon to be aired Tuesday morning. What does this mean for me? Well, I didn’t get to go to Wilburton and the babies had no way home. Although, I’m sure they could’ve driven if someone would have offered keys. I worked my regular schedule Tuesday, which turns out, has screwed up my whole week. Then Jimmy was told he has to work 12/7’s until further notice. So they brought the babies home Tuesday night.

I tried to get a pic of the babies together, this is the best I could do. Now I’m preparing for bed. We just got back from a walk, and with our new schedule, 8pm is very late!

BTW: Lisey’s Story is worth the purchase. Classic King.

Long Days and Pleasant Nights to ya

Hayden's Day

Hayden had what can be described as “the perfect day” yesterday. Uncle Jimmy and Aunt DaDa picked him up early and off they went to the Armed Forces Day parade. He loves to play the drums; in fact his momma bought him a drum set. So imagine his delight when the marching band walked by with a whole row of people carrying huge drums that you played on both sides. He has told everyone that he really needs those. He also got to climb into some of the military vehicles, and “shoot” a gun from one of the vehicles.

Then Aunt DaDa and Aunt Tammie took him to put flowers on Grandmomma’s grave then to the Dam. In the process of this adventure he scored a badminton set and a new shovel and rake, not to mention the green ice that was yummy. He loved the lake. There were people fishing and oh my the size of the fish they were reeling in.

We went back to Aunt DaDa’s house where he and Millie tried to build a lake like the one we went to in the front yard. Poppie and Grannie came over and we grilled chicken. The day ended with a bath that had sponge bob soap or something like that.

I guess it is a good thing that Patty and I don’t have our own grandchildren. If yesterday was any indication, that is.

A Boland Bool?

Was it a bool? A Boland Bool? It’s possible. After-all, once you visit Boo’ya Moon you automatically think everyone understands when a bool is in progress. Unfortunately for Jo and me, we had not been to Boo’ya Moon when we witnessed the Boland Bool at the Calf Fry. We thought he had simply lost his smucking mind.

Here we were thinking that he had forgotten the Face of His Father, when in actuality, he was probably just in a bool. Now the question is, are there stations to this bool? This could be fun, yet, when dealing with bools, you never know what awaits you at the end. Most of the time, the really good bools, the end consists of a nice RC or candy bar in exchange for a job well-done on figuring it out. Hopefully, in the Stations of the Boland Bool quest, the end will find us at a JB&S concert that doesn’t feature the band from Boo’ya Moon or Mid-World for that matter.

Sai Boland, I beg ye pardon for losing faith and thinking ye had forgotten the face of your father. Now I understand that when I closed my eyes that night, your aim was true.

We were well met after all. Long Days and Pleasant Nights to ye…

I know Horses, Damnit

This isn’t going to be a very long blog. The new sweeps hours are about to kill me, and Millie swears she gets absolutely no attention now. I did have to blog about today’s trip though…

We were in Pawnee. This weekend is their annual Pawnee Bill Wild West Show. It was fun. There were horses, tractors, people in Wild West outfits, even a couple of gunslingers. One horse was a bay, mind you not anything as handsome or loving as my Strait, however he was mild-mannered and very tired, kept yawning. Then there was an appaloosa – the one in the picture. Yes, I had to call Jo and ask what the horse that looked like a Dalmatian was. Then when I saw a horse that I thought was very pretty, and I had never seen like it before, I asked the self-described wrangler what kind of horse it was. He looked at me and said “the kind with 4 legs.” I replied that I knew that so then he kindly told me it was a quarter horse. Well hell, anyone that has spent more than 5 minutes with Jo could tell you that, so I’m pretty much a damn expert. So at that point I was a bit fed up with this so-called cowboy that pegged me for nothing but a City Girl – pointed at the not as handsome or bright as my Strait and said, “that’s a Bay, what is this?” Well he became a bit nicer and said something about spotted gray or some crazy something. Then we began swapping horse stories, you know I have so many.


Anyway, the morning was fun, a bit muddy, but fun. Then I spent a very long day at the station.

Traffic Jam at 4 AM?

As you know, I’ve been working with the morning crew. Today we went to Sallisaw. I drove myself since I had to be back at the station to cover for Darrean and do the rest of my regular job. I’ve also discovered they really don’t need me until around 5:30. So I stopped at QT for gas and coffee and then was on my way by 3:45ish. As I top a hill barely on the Muskogee turnpike, I’m stopped by a semi literally parked in the middle of the turnpike. I had seen what can only be described as a plethora of emergency vehicles so stopping to me seemed to be the logical thing to do. Then immediately I called the station. There had been a semi crash and evidently it had caught fire. Exactly an hour and 15 minutes later – I was able to confirm that indeed there was a shell of a truck on the side of the road. Needless to say, instead of arriving at my destination at 5:15ish, let’s say it was more like 6:20ish. Tomorrow we are off to Pawnee. Hopefully no more excitement on the road will happen.

Long Day and Pleasant Nights to ye…