Look Who Came to Visit Today

A Great Day For Visitors

This doe came right up to the fence to eat. I feed the squirrels corn, peanuts and sunflower seeds. I am guessing she likes it too. I threw an apple out last night and I think she ate it so she came back for more this morning. The neat thing is she also came back tonight for dinner. The dogs do not scare her. She ran off because "I" was yelling at the dog to leave her alone and quit barking. Rudy just goes crazy and kicks dirt with his hind legs, throwing it everywhere. It is funny. She just does not get bothered by them at all, however she does drive them crazy!!!

So after I raised the window and kept softly yelling at the dogs to leave her and to come back to the house, then she finally ran back into the woods.

We also had some finches stop by for a snack. They seem to like the new feeder that Scott bought me. It holds a lot of food and other birds like it too. (And so do the squirrels, they have already torn it up once!)
Then I found this rose and decided I need to take a picture of it because it won't last long I am sure. This poor plant is nearly hidden by shrubs and other plants.
Of course Zoe is watching over things. She is getting old but is still the best dog. She doesn't get too excited about things, but she sounds terrible when she growls. Even in play, she sounds mean. But not a mean bone in her body.
Now these two are just silly. This brother and sister play together all the time. You would think Rudy (right) being the larger male would be dominate, WRONG. Callie is. She is also quicker and louder! Pretty isn't she? So is he, that just is not a very good picture of my handsome boy. I call him lover boy, for he is a very big baby and loves to be loved on. Sweet sweet sweet.
I also have a hummingbird feeder on the patio. Today was overcast, very cool (comfortable, about 72 or 73 all day!) with storms coming in again. So I think that is why everyone was in eating and in such good moods all day. I have several hummingbirds that come to feed and it is neat to watch the boss ones drive the others away. I wonder where the nests are and if I could ever find them. Scott says he can if given a couple days to do it. Don't know that we need to know that badly.

Thought this picture was a little better, and just different. I can't get a really good shot of the hummingbird though, darn it. Maybe I can learn how in my photography class????
And just another because I have a ton of them. I love the hummingbird and feeder. I mixed up some more juice today and filled it full.

And of course the squirrels came to feed as they do every morning. One of the squirrels comes within feet of me and takes a peanut then goes and buries it. Good grief, why doesn't he just eat it?

And this little one plays in the brush pile. He is not scared of me either. But the dogs do chase them off. They come in the yard to eat at the bird feeder, rather, under the bird feeder and the dogs just can't stand it. Sometimes they let them eat for a while then they give them a good chase. I fear one day the dogs will get one. Mainly because they can double team it, or triple team it if you get what I mean. Zoe will chase a squirrel!!! Probably will till the day she dies. She's such a good girl.

And this little rascal was jumping from tree to tree. Why? Because he can. He was not really going any where, I think he was just doing it to torment the dogs, or to keep me from getting his picture. He might be on the FBI witness protection program and doesn't like his picture plastered all over the Internet. So if you recognize him please do not disclose to anyone his where abouts. His family wants to stay here where they can be safe and well fed.

Plenty of room on the patio for a "come and sit for a spell" for any one that wants to come and join me. I can fix you some coffee or even a diet coke. I am retired you know so come on!!!!

Glass Half Full or Empty?

Well, let's just get right to the chase of things. TJ did not get the job he had interviewed for. This is about the third or fourth thing he has wanted and did not get. Please do not think he is not capable of doing things....for he can. He is just young. He has been on the police department four years next month and he has to remember that there are others that are equally qualified but have more time. He wanted the juvenile detective position very badly, he gave a great interview according to one of the sergeants, but they placed a female officer in that position instead. She does not have as much experience, no detective/investigative experience, but she is a female. That is not intended to sound bad, please do not read into that statement, it is a very good place for a woman to work and I agree. I wanted to work Juveniles all my career, but knew that I would not be allowed to be a DARE officer if that were the case. Just like promoting to Sgt., I would have to give up DARE and I was a really good DARE officer. I had weekends, holidays off, made great contacts all thorough out the city, did tons of speaking and educational talks city and state wide. I did not want to give that up so I never promoted. In hind sight I have a few regrets, I would like to have been the first female Sgt, but not at the expense I would have to pay. Plus I know, I KNOW, I would not have fit in and my life would have been miserable. NOT WORTH IT. So TJ will be fine. He is a GREAT officer, he will go back to the streets in July and I have a feeling that he will become a training officer. They call them FTO's Field Training Officers. He will have the honor of teaching new recruits the right and proper way of being a good officer. TJ is a great one to get DWI's. He has a lot of training and a big heart for keeping the public safe from drunk drivers. So he will continue working with that. He was one of the first officers to try out some new systems on report writing for DWI cases and he has a lot of training for detections as well. Plus he is good at finding and working drugs. I worry about him in that area, but I know he is well trained. And he is smart, good head on his shoulder. He is a much better officer than I ever was. He is a lot like his dad (my ex) who was a very good officer as well. They both just have that sense about them. TJ is just very smart and once he reads something he has it just about forever. Plus he has very good comprehension skills/abilities. That is a plus for him. He can read the law and interrupt it, and not be afraid to act on it. I have a lot of respect for him and the job he does. So am I disappointed that he did not get the detective position, of course I am. But do I feel that there is something else coming his way, something meant for him? Yes, he wants to promote to Sergeant in the next year or two. And he can do it. He has a plan, a timeline in which he wants to accomplish things. And TJ is determined. So I look at this at the glassbeing half full, not half empty. He may not have got THIS position, but he is in training for bigger and better things. I love you son, you make me very proud, not only in what you have done, but how you handle yourself in life. That is what makes a MAN.

Busy Day

Today has been a very busy day. But it actually started last night. My cousin called and asked if I could pick her boys up in the morning after their workout. I said yes. But we stayed on the phone talking until after 1:00 a.m. We just needed to talk. Then I got up this morning to get the boy, I don't know around 7 or so. I didn't need to get up that early, but I woke up and there you have it. I went to get the boys and I have forgotten how boys smell after a good hard workout in the morning. Oh yes, brought back memories from my own son and days gone by. So we are on the way back to the house when the oldest says, "hey, do you have a key to the house?" UM NO! Great. You guessed, the house was locked tighter than a drum and no key. So to my house we go. I call her and say what do you want to do. She has a meeting at 9:30 so we will have to wait till she gets done with that. She does get finished about 10:15 and we decide to meet so she doesn't have to come all the way back home. We do. Now the boys are hungry. I offered to feed them, but they are so polite, they always tell me no, I don't need to feed them or get them anything. (but I was hungry too!!!) So we go to lunch and grab a quick bite to eat because their momma was running by to pick up some lunch for others. We get back home and thankfully the key works, the boys are dropped off, I will head home.

Now my husband is getting home from getting our 1/2 beef from the butcher back near Enid. His brother raises Angus cattle and had a couple show steers for the grandson that were through being shown. We should eat good for a while. Steaks anyone? They sold us a half beef a few months ago and I just love having a beef in the freezer all the time. I am bad about giving a lot of it away to my kids and other family members as they need it, but I just don't mind. I love helping others! But it will be really nice to have steaks and roast and ribs around whenever we want it, but it means SOMEONE has to cook. Darn it! The last beef we bought was just out of this world delicious. Sure is nice to have a family member in the cattle business.

So after putting everything in the freezer and getting my hands thawed out my husband is leaving to go help my parents do some spraying. Good, now I can maybe get a quick nap in. I am really tired. It seems we have either been on the go, had company or had the grand kids for the past six weeks. I'm tired. I think I will just shut my eyes for a little bit. Phone rings. My son calls to tell me he is getting ready for his interview for the detective position. Oh I am so excited for him. I hope he gets it, he really wants it, he will be good at it, and he LOVES having weekends off. And the take home car is a bonus as well (yeah with gas 3.93 a gallon!) Oh I hope he gets it. He has been in a six month rotation so this would be a permanent placement. He wants the spot for juvenile detective. I think that would be good because he doesn't have any kids yet. And he is good with kids, so I hope he gets it, plus that is what he wants. OK, phone call over.

Now I will rest my eyes for just a minute. Phone rings again. Now my cousin is off work and had a quick Dr appointment. She wants to know if I want to run to town with her and get some hair products at the state supply store. I have a card to get things because my sister in law is a licensed hair dresser and I get a card to pick things up for her. I live much closer than she does to the store and I don't mind getting things for her. Plus bonus for me! Yes, I will go. So we do. We had to run by the ice cream store too and grab a cone. Might as well, we NEVER get to do stuff like this. Then we have to run by the house where her husband is living with "the other woman" just so I can see where it is. I am still just in shock with all of that story, but I needed to see where they are living. No, I am not making any plans of any kind of anything. He will be taken care of later on, if not this life, then later, for the choices he has made. Of course I want him to pay for it now, but i don't get to make those decisions. I like NOT living in jail so that influences my decisions/actions!!!!

I get home and decide to shut my eyes for just a minute, my head is hurting and I need just a quick nap. THE PHONE RINGS AGAIN. (I know, you would think I would turn it off or something by now huh?) My daughter calls to see what I am doing. Nothing. Just sitting here. Was THINKING of taking a nap. "oh, must be nice to not have to do anything". Yes, it must be, I will let you know if I ever get to do NOTHING. We talk a few minutes, she is returning to work from a training class for evaluating personnel at the bank. Oh, I forgot to tell you , I ordered you two converter boxes and a new TV antenna for your TVs. As luck would have it, one box was sitting there on her porch. Good thing I told her, she was not expecting anything and would have sent it back she said. OK, go back to work and I will talk to you later.

I think I will read the paper for a minute, my eyes keep shutting, I think I might have drifted off, yes, the phone rings again. My husband calls. He is on his way home do I need or want anything???? I AM NOT GOING TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION. I am tired, I WANT a nap, I NEED some sleep, I am getting cranky, no dear, I don't need anything. OK, now....forget it, it is time to feed the dogs, read my blogs because I have not done that all day, and now I will post because I have not posted anything today. There you have it. Nap? Nope, but I will go to bed early tonight. Wanna make a bet on that? Maybe I should turn the phone off?

ps. by the way MORE STORMS Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Oh wait for the next five days we have chance of rain. I need to buy a boat.

Photography Class

Here We Go Again!

Well I am taking another class for photography. I don't know why, it will not do me any good, but I don't really have anything pressing on my calendar for Mondays so why not? I don't think there is that much help for me, and I really need to take a photo shop class more than anything. I will try and do that this fall maybe at the vo-tech or maybe even at the junior college here. But I will show you what we did tonight.

This is the old train depot in Bristow. I have been there before, but I do find it an interesting place.

I like trees, and just thought this made for a different view of them.

This is the court yard, or something like that up by the street. It was probably where people waited for the train years ago.

Michelle is one of the students. We made her be our model for a couple shots. We had the class together last semester and became friends. She lives near me so she rode with me to the class. We have to drive 20-25 miles down the turnpike to this class so we should car pool as much as possible.

One of the old doorknobs at the train depot. This belonged to an old shop where people would go spend their money while waiting on the train. Sounds like a good plan to me.

This is just a piece of drift wood. I thought it looked like a dead bird so I needed to take its picture. Sick huh? Well I just needed some pictures.

A piece of wood with four bolts in it. The importance? None from my point of view. It is however a cross beam holding up a roof, so there fore it probably is important. I was trying to see how close I could get and still get a picture. Looks like I got a pretty close shot huh?

And this is Tara! She is a really good photographer. I had class with her last semester as well. I enjoy hanging out with her and I love looking at her work. We were just sitting in class listening to me ask a bunch of questions. They will probably wish I had not been invited to attend this class. Oh well. I paid my money, I am going to get my money's worth this time!

Guess How Much Today?

3" of MORE RAIN

Can you believe it? Three inches of more rain today. I know that there are so many that are in need of rain, so don't be angry with us for hogging it all. But we really would be more than happy to share. I promise!

I had the kids today, that would be my niece and nephew. They love coming to Aunt Lisa's house as much as I love having them. And I had told them if they would come over we would go see the movie Kung Fu Panda. It was sooo cute and I had a great time. Plus Trent knows how to really doctor up the popcorn. UUMMM GOOD. Then we came home to play in the water that was still running down the "wet weather" creek. The kids had a lot of fun. Trent is also taking guitar lessons so I had to get a shot of that too.

And look who is missing their two front teeth. I want to go on record saying "I" had nothing to do with her losing them. I did not tie them to a doorknob, I did not have her eat an apple, I did not tie them with dental floss, or any other torturous method. In fact I do not know how she lost them, but they are gone.

It was cute, when Trent got through with his guitar lessons he begged his mother to let him come stay the night with me. I was so happy to see that he wanted to do that. I don't know why, we don't really do anything, maybe it is just to get away from his sister for a while. But he is getting to the age that he is pretty fun to be around and he is pretty easy to keep. I like that. Not to demanding of the time, but yet wants to hang out with me. That's cool. I am SURE that won't be the case for much longer. I can rest assured it won't be. But I had my photography class starting back up again tonight so I couldn't keep him. Maybe later, definitely later. Let's see I wonder what else I want to do that I need a "cover" that I can use the nephew for? I will have to think about that. He's easy.

Good Friends= Blessings

Here They Are

Mike and Nancy arrived Saturday morning, well almost noon. They have come to see family and friends in Oklahoma all the way from Georgia! Riding his motorcycle, his tricycle. Mike is a retired police officer from Enid (we worked together and have some good stories). Nancy works in the school system with the handicapped children. (I think that is right, don't quote me on that!) Mike and Nancy have been married for one year this past May. I met her for the first time last June when they rode the bike to Enid and stayed with us for about a week.
Mike was married to Becky before Nancy. She was a teacher he met on the Internet from North Carolina. They were married for about five years, he married her and moved there soon as he retired from the PD in Enid. Becky and I had become very close friends, visited as often as we could. Then she developed cancer in the lungs (never smoked) and liver(never drank) and passed away very quickly. It was hard on Mike after finding a person that loved him as much as he loved her. I have not seen Mike as happy as he was with Becky. We all made fun of him finding love on the Internet, but they really seemed to make it work. They had the blended family, the exes to deal with and Mike had moved away from home by a lot of miles (I don't know how many...alot!) When Becky got sick it was just devastating. When she died, I felt a part of my soul was ripped out and stomped on. This was the first death I had dealt with of a close friend, one of two more to come within the year. Well Mike is not one to be alone. He searched for love again on the Internet. He found Nancy. I was not happy. I thought it was too soon, he needed to grieve longer. I told him so. And he told me he had already been grieving, the months that Becky was sick he grieved knowing he was going to lose her. They talked about it, and made plans for his life. He wanted/needed to move on. I was not ready for it. But he was bringing Nancy to the house and was staying with us. In just a few weeks. Oh my. I told him, Mike, this is going to be hard, I might cry and I might even call her by the wrong name.... I won't mean to, but it might happen. He said, Lisa, it's OK. I really love her and you will to. (I doubt it!) But OK. The moment I met her, we hugged. It was warm, it was sincere and she was WONDERFUL. From moment one!!!! I fell in love with her too. How did he get so lucky to find love twice? On the Internet, and with such good people? How did he do it? Nancy and I are great friends. Two peas in a pod. We are so similar and our birthdays are two days apart. We are both Taurus, that is why we get along so well! She is such a blessing to Mike's life AND mine!
We played dominoes last night. She said she didn't know how? I think it was a ploy. Mike showed her a couple times then asked her if she wanted him to help her...NO. We played till late into the night and the girls lost by only 6 points I think. Mike counted the points but I kept the scores. I think I should have done better with the math on the paper, we should not have lost. What was I thinking?
Mike loves his bike and has put a lot of miles on it. However this is the last journey for him and Nancy. He says it is just too hard on his back. They rode a lot of miles, the wind was TERRIBLE and the heat was pretty bad too. Last year same thing happened. They got caught in rain on the way back and was miserable. So he fixed the bike up into a trike, enjoys it, but will keep it for short trips and shows maybe.
They packed their bags this morning around six, came in for a cup of coffee, loaded everything up, and left. Heading to Missouri to the Bass Pro Shop and to stop off and see another retired officer that is chief in a little town. Then they will drive through Kentucky to head home to Georgia. Where they are lacking in rain, have way too much heat, but are ready to get home where the remodel is suppose to be done on their home. We are going hopefully in Oct.

Good friends=Blessings.

I MAY Have A Problem

I don't know if you remember me posting a while back about the webkinz that I had purchased, but it started with just two. I got involved thanks to my niece and nephew and of course I can blame it on a grandson as well. He NEEDED one. So I GOT him one. Then I NEEDED one, and I GOT me one. Now just take a look at how they have multiplied. And they each have a name, clothes to wear on the Internet, not in real life, and they are all fed on the Internet, not in real life, and they are all in my living room on top of the TV in my very nice, entertainment center.. Not what most people would expect to find in a nice entertainment center. But then I am not your "normal, average" person either. I really like these little guys, and now I have gotten my seven month old her own. She has a Panda Bear named Ling Ling (we call her Ling for short!) Allie will sit on my lap while we do the webkinz stuff and if I switch it to something else she will rock her head back into my chest, grunt, fuss, and stiffen the body, or just flat squirm around to look at me. When the old guy comes on to do the gem mining she lays her head over to the side and just lays it there till he is through talking. It is really cute, sad, but cute. I am not exaggerating, you can ask my husband, I made him come in and watch her. We will definitely have to monitor her computer use to make sure she does not become addicted like other people can do. Thank goodness I don't have to worry about that with me. Wheww. (I think there are 15 in the picture, but there is one more here at the computer with me.)

And then I had to add my other possible addiction. Miss Allie.
It takes the whole trunk area to pack up this little girl to take her to stay with her Aunt Sherri and Great Grandma Mary. (G.G for short!)
And I had to get a picture of all the ladies. This would be a four generation picture if Sarah had been there. Sherri is Sarah's mother's sister. Kim passed away nearly 15 years ago and Sherri has been very close to Sarah all her life. Mary is a very good grandma, very giving and loving. So when they accepted me into the family that was very sweet and overwhelming. It was not easy for them I am sure, but with time they have become some very dear people to me and I think they feel the same about me.
And this little girl can wrinkle her nose, snort at me and make me laugh. She is such a good baby and I missed having to give her back to her momma a couple days ago. But the wonderful thing...they are now only on hour away. I am sure we will be seeing more of the grand kids!