Leaving….

If you look closely at the picture above it almost looks as if the grackle is scratching his butt. The gray feathers look like hands against the black tail. We know, it doesn’t take much to keep me amused. In an hour or so we’ll be loading up the car and heading back toward Iowa, we just haven’t decided the route yet.

On the one hand we could go interstate highway and on the other, Route 66 and two lane black top. Our son, who looked up both ways on his GPS, said there was about a 7 minute difference between the two routes. I’m leaning toward the two lane black top and Route 66 as once we get into Missouri we’re taking two lane black top back to Iowa anyway.

Some say the major highways are the way to go but I’ll stick with the back roads because there are so many more sights to see. If we leave this morning we should get home sometime tomorrow and see if the house floated away in our absence. As mentioned in an earlier post, we do have more pictures and will share some once I get back to my desk top that can handle the chore.

Enjoy our Wednesday as that means only two more days until the weekend. Now I need a smoke. Comments are always welcome.

Had to happen

We’re beginning to think we need to build an ark. Been getting a ton of right yet most of it has been at night. That just ensures the humidity will be crazy high during the day. Because of all this we’ve seen some interesting clouds and even got a few pictures that will have to wait to get uploaded. We’ll share them after we get them on the desk top at home.

We beat the rain back to the motel, but not by much. We didn’t make it inside so under the front canopy must count for something as we stayed dry. For supper we stopped at a barbecue and steak house type joint complete with a Koi pond out front. I tried the chicken fried steak and was happy with it while the wife had some kind of ribs.

One thing we notice down here is that when it feels like it’s 100 degrees out everyone has their air conditioning set on 65. While it does feel good at times, other times you think a sweatshirt would work great! And tomorrow morning we load up the Ford once again and head north until the next trip. We’ll be back home Thursday and things at home could get back to normal around 2121.

Friday we should be doing a post from our own house and away from motel wi-fi. We’ll see how that works out. We’ll probably head to Mom’s Diner one last time before heading the hood north and who knows where for lunch. The place does a lot of business for a small place all by itself. Except car lots.

Enjoy our Tuesday if you woke up not dead again today. Comments are always welcome.

Starting Monday

The weekend brought a lot of rain with it and when we went to leave the motel yesterday I quickly found out I had left the drivers side widow down just a little. Found out because when I sat in the bucket seat my butt got wet and I could see just about a half inch of open window. Hopefully the seat has dried by now.

Tulsa got right at 3 inches rain Saturday night into Sunday morning and the humidity reflected that. We had big plans of going to the zoo but the rain and then gray clouds after changed the plans. So we homesteaded a local Cracker Barrel instead. Being a Sunday the place was packed and gave us the impression that perhaps missing the zoo wasn’t an altogether bad thing.

Haven’t seen too many interesting cars even when the weather was nice. Hopefully that will change. Have seen a lot of imports with fart cans. Did see one car that I believe had Braban on the side that was different later yesterday but didn’t have my camera with me to get a picture. Had more curves than a cootchie cootchie girl.

Now I have to figure out why this lap top is so slow and have a smoke. We’ll add more later when possible. We can’t leave the light on for you but will tell you the switch is on the right side. Enjoy our Monday. Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

Whenever your kids are out of control, you can take comfort from the thought that even God’s omnipotence did not extend to God’s kids.

After creating heaven and earth, God created Adam and Eve. And the first thing He said to them was: “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Adam asked.

“Don’t eat the Forbidden Fruit.” God replied.

“Forbidden fruit? We got Forbidden Fruit? Hey, Eve..we got Forbidden Fruit!”

“No way!”

“Where?”

“Don’t eat that fruit!” said God.

“Why?”

“Because I am your Creator and I said so!” said God, wondering why he hadn’t stopped after making the elephants.

A few minutes later God saw the kids having an apple break and was angry.

“Didn’t I tell you not to eat that fruit?” the ‘First Parent’ asked.

“Uh huh,” Adam replied.

“Then why did you?”

“I dunno,” Eve answered.

“She started it!” Adam said.

“Did not!”

“DID so!”

“DID NOT!”

Having had it with the two of them, God’s punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own…thus the pattern was set, and it has never changed.

More troubles…

Went to get on my lap top this morning and it was no go. For some reason the goofy thing would not let me log on. I rebooted it a dozen times and still couldn’t log on so just a short while ago I rebooted one more time and it let me get on. This lap top has been a pain since I got it and I might get a new one when we get back in Iowa.

We saw these fountains in the swimming pool during the day and they weren’t lit up. They changed to about half a dozen colors after dark. And yes, there were still people in the pool after dark. Don’t think we’ve seen that before, but we don’t get out much.

On the outside of the fence around the pool, these plants begged attention. There were lilac colored one and white ones and I couldn’t tell the difference except by the colors. There wasn’t any bees around these bushes which surprised me unless it was heat of the day that kept them away.

So this morning, on the way to be tourists in Oklahoma City we stopped at a place called “The Apple Barrel” and after everyone else ordered I told the waitress I’d just have a slice of apple pie with my lemonade. She even asked if I wanted the pie warmed up and got me drooling.

But as my luck goes, she came back to the table and said they were our of apple pie, which got us all laughing. We’re at the Apple Barrel and they ran out of apples? The waitress waited us out then said I could have an apple tart or a slice of coconut cream pie. It was a good pie but it wasn’t apple.

All day today we’ve had a threat rain here in Tulsa and some even hit the ground, yet it is cooler today than yesterday. The picture above is from when the sky was the clearest. The rest of today has been a gray, cloud filled, day. Enjoy the rest of our Saturday as we will. Since I just had another coffee, going out for a smoke after this is finished. Comments are always welcome.

Another day…

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So Kenny checked and the birds we’ve been seeing are grackles. They are actually called long tailed grackles and there are a lot of them here in Tulsa. While out and about yesterday we saw six outside our motel and more everywhere we went. People don’t seem to notice them and the birds sure don’t care if there are people around.

Ran into a guy from Iowa at the motel and had a short chat as he was walking his dog. Turns out he was heading back to Iowa from Texas. Guess the dog was heading to Iowa also but didn’t ask. We stopped by some park that is supposed to be world famous that we’d never heard of and weren’t impressed when we got there.

At this park you can walk, run, jog, hike, exercise, ride a bike, or rent a scooter in the process of staying fit. We had just finished eating and it was around 98 degrees out, the last thing on my mind was exercise. My life goal at that point was a nap.

This isn’t our motel but it is across the street. We’ve stayed in places with a worse view. If you look closely at the parking lot you’ll notice the wife’s’ Fusion isn’t in it. That’s because we’re across the street at our motel and taking this picture.

We don’t dine out much when at home and every time we do it amazing how big the meals are. Gave up thinking a cheeseburger is a safe bet for a small meal as most places have a half pound patty to start with. We went to a good place last night and I had the fish and chips. Four pieces of battered and fried fish with fries. What could possible go wrong there?

Well, when the waitress brought the food out it filled a platter and the fries were piled about a foot high! Just going to stop trying to figure it out and watch everybody else eat. Too early to think about eating this morning anyway. Enjoy our Friday. Now for some coffee. Comments are always welcome.

At last!

Been trying to access my blog posting page since Tuesday night and finally got through. We arrived here in Tulsa around 2 pm yesterday and got our room for the duration. To me, nothing is more frustrating than an operating system that won’t co-operate. Rebooted too many times to count, reset the settings on the blog host, and just now got things up again.

The entire time wasn’t spent on the problem as we do have to eat and sleep yet I believe when we get back home a new lap top is top of the list. When we left Iowa Tuesday morning it was 49 degrees out and when we got to Lebanon, Missouri it was close to 30 degrees warmer. Today here in Tulsa the high is really close to 100 degrees and windier than Hell’s blast furnace.

Not sure what kind of bird this is, but they are strange critters. Once they land on the ground they walk or hop everywhere and you can’t scare them off. Looks almost like a grackle with a weird tail but when you see them in action you’d think they’re a road runner.

Hopefully we’ll be back posting again and sharing some pictures. At least as much as possible with an antique lap top with an antique trying to keep it running. Enjoy the rest of our Thursday. Now for some coffee and a break. Comments are always welcome.

We’re off

This is a picture of Yoda, the old many toed cat. Not sure how old she is but it has to be pretty old for a cat. She was a rescue cat and has 24 toes with a mellow disposition. Been a great cat and we’re leaving her in charge of the wifes feline brigade.

It’s amazing how many things have to get done when you leave everything until the last minute. Think I had a few short breaks yesterday and hope everything is ready to go. If we missed anything I apologize now. Once the wife gets home from work we’ll load the trunk and be on our way.

Not sure what all we’re going to see except Lake of the Ozarks, the world’s largest candy store, and a really old gas station in Lebanon, Missouri. Of course we’ll also be on Route 66 by this evening and will hook up with the mother road again in Oklahoma tomorrow. No toll roads for us.

Until we get to our regular motel in Oklahoma posting may be sporadic as well as the pictures. We hope to get plenty of pictures but one never knows what the weather will do. So if we missed something we’re sorry and we’ll keep you informed as we can.

Enjoy our Tuesday as we will. Now for some wake up coffee.

One more day

Now that Father’s Day is behind us we know our vacation is just a dream away. Figured a way to go mostly 2 lane black top and still see some of the attractions along the way. We are ready. Now, here are some pictures-

Going back to our post the other day, this moon shot is cropped. This was done to help show the detail on the moon. This was taken around sunset and yes, the sky was that blue.

Not to confuse anyone, but this picture of Missy is not cropped. We just got close enough that her face filled the screen. We wanted to see in detail what an ornery cat looks like. If she feels she doesn’t get enough attention she will swat at you until she gets it.

This picture of Lil One isn’t cropped either. Took this just as she was getting ready to attack something or someone. It was probably Lil Bit she was after but she was focused.

Had to share this one of Lil One acting like a hunting dog. This picture is was taken because we like it like that. Grateful to have time some days to witness things like this, and get it on camera. The small burrs on Lil One were all gone this morning so we didn’t have to work on that.

This shot is cropped and shows an angry robin on a fence rail. Now sure what he was mad about but he was very vocal about it. Didn’t realize birds could turn their heads around that far and got a sore neck just looking at the picture. He did eventually fly off and didn’t come back.

Enjoy our Monday as we will. Now for some coffee. Comments are always welcome.

Sunday snicker

Before we start the snicker we’d just like to say Happy Father’s Day!

Three men die and go to heaven.

When they arrive at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter says to them, “Congratulations; you made it into heaven! God has one rule, however, which is: YOU CANNOT STEP ON, KILL, OR TOUCH A DUCK. If you do, you will be punished.“

The men think this is rather strange, but they agree.

A couple of days later, they decide to have a picnic. It’s a beautiful day; the sun is shining, the skies are blue, etc. As they lay down the blanket, one of the men sits on a suspicious-looking lump (which turns out to be a duck).

St. Peter appears instantly. “I GAVE YOU ONE RULE!“, he bellows, “And you could not follow it!? I have no choice but to punish you.” Despite the man’s pleas, St. Peter continues, “As punishment, you are now bound to the ugliest woman in heaven for all eternity!” Both St. Peter and the man vanish.

The next day, the two remaining men take a walk in a park. One of the men doesn’t look where he’s going, and all of the sudden… CRUNCH! – a duck has been stepped on.

As with the last time, St. Peter appears instantly. “You know what I must do – you are now bound to the next ugliest woman in heaven for all eternity!”

Three years later, the final man is relaxing in his house, when out of the blue, St. Peter appears. Expecting something bad, the man gets on his knees and asks what St. Peter wants. he replies, “Since you have been so good as to not touch
a duck for the past three years, I will reward you by binding you to the most beautiful woman in heaven for all of eternity.”

As St. Peter describes her, the man really thinks she sounds gorgeous. He is so eager to meet her that he asks, “When do I see her?” St. Peter snaps his fingers, and POOF – the man is meeting his soul mate. They talk for a while,
until he says to her, “You’re so beautiful and smart and funny; what did I do to deserve you?” The woman responds, “I don’t know; all I had to do was step on a duck!”