Yes, the Creek Is Up

17 days and counting.

It has been raining for 17 days today. Everyday. Just the other day I was commenting, to anyone willing to listen, that having lived here my entire life I could not remember this many days of rain in one spring. It rained the week before the wedding. It rained the week of the wedding. In fact the day before, and the day of the wedding, the rain was absolutely torrential. Monsoonish. Rain may roll off a duck's back, but the ducks were having a hard time keeping up with it. I mean, this was a real test of a duck's dri-back feathering system. Anyway, it's been raining ever since. And just days after I made that comment it was reported that we have broken a 100 year old record of number of consecutive days of rain. Amazing.

Last weekend the report was that it would stop by Saturday and turn hot. Hello summertime! But the next day? Rain. And the report was that it would probably rain off and on until mid-week. And the report now? Well one station said that July 4th will be hot and dry, and the other two said get out your waders. So far today its rained pretty steady, heavy rain, light rain, mist, repeat. Of course the creek is up and has been for several weeks now. But it is much more likely to overflow in the last few days. We had some trouble driving home the other day due to water on the roads.

Today was my day to lead the devotional at work. I said that I had given thought to reading about the flood, but since we still had 20 days of rain to go before we needed to worry I decided to read something else. All this water though, it sure makes me appreciate the power that God has. It's silly to compare this little bit of water to the Biblical flood, but it's still very impressive to me. Which would bring us to God's promise of course, I've seen a reminder or two lately of that promise. Richard and I saw the other day what I consider to be the most impressive rainbow I have ever seen. It was so low to the ground it looked like a halo on the earth. It was very compact, and the colors were brilliant. And if I was to describe a normal rainbow as "hollow", I would say that this one was full. As in, the purple on the bottom was so bright that it made it look like half of a ball rather than an arch. The picture just does not do it justice, but I didn't have the right filter attached to get the color.

My daughter called a little while ago. She said the creek was running pretty high today. She was out splashing around some and she said she heard a loud crack and a large tree near her just fell over. I don't know which one fell yet, but if it was by the creek it probably lost enough dirt from the water washing it away that it just couldn't stand anymore. Amazing what a little water can do. I'm hearing a lot of thunder right now, so I stepped out of my office to look out the window. It's raining, visibility is about 50 yards I'd say, and I just saw a duck go by with an umbrella and a pained look on his beak. I wonder if Lowe's is having a sale on gopher wood........




Stay dry,

Craig

PS. If it rains until the 4th that'll be 22 days and counting. Amazing.

What a Difference a Day Makes......

Last Saturday I left the house fairly early, (for me anyway) to go and help a friend work on his car. Tandy said she had an errand to run and wanted to go to Lowe's and look at some paint for the entry hall. I said great and maybe look at light fixtures too and see what you might like, then I went on about the day's business. Well, the car fix did take longer than I first thought, (I'm a little out of practice I guess), but when I got back home there was a lot more done in the entry hall done than I thought possible. Now, the house was built in 1973 and we moved in when it was 5 years old and that wallpaper had never changed. In fact, there was a big bright square spot where the mirror had been for years compared to the darker paper around it. I never gave it a thought. That's the way it always had been and I never had a problem with it. Until it became MY entry hall, then it occurred to me. That's some ugly wallpaper there. And the light fixture, I'm not sure I can describe it all that well, kind of a lantern shape with a gold colored glass that gave off poor light. Well, that's why there was no objection to Tandy's wishes and since it was cheap to do such a small area it has become our first finished decorating project with, I'm sure, many more to come. Now, I failed to take a picture before she began so I had to go looking through some old family pictures to get a "before" picture of the hallway. But you'll be able to see quite a difference. I took a picture of the light out on the front porch since it matched the entry fixture. Tandy did all of the work. She taped it off and painted 2 coats and then she helped me hang the quilt rack for the flag that used to hang in my living room. Then we ran off to Lowe's together and quickly agreed on a new light fiture that was well within budget and I installed that and there you have it. For those of you that know that entry hall well it will be a striking change, for those that don't.......Hopefully the pictures will be enough to tell the tale.

A christmas picture from a few years ago, you can make out the pattern around the mirror.

Some of mom's flowers here, a better look at the 34 year old wallpaper.

Here is the lamp that matches the old indoor fixture.

Here is the bright, new hallway from the dining room point of view, note the new light fixture much brighter than the old one.

And here is a picture of the hall from the living room.

The "Mini-Moon"

I think I remember mentioning it rained on our wedding night. Torrential rains in fact. Anyway the next day was perfect. We went to a bed and breakfast in Guthrie for the weekend. Tandy didn't know what I had planned even though she had tried to pry it out of me several times. I had teased her more than once telling her that I thought we'd just stay at home since the kids would not be there. She'd just laugh and say, "No".

So, on the trip that night she asked where we were going and I said, "Oh, you'll see". When we approached the exit to go home I slowed down and started to pull over. "Are we going home?" Tandy asked nervously. I just laughed and said, "No".

Aaron's Gate country inn is an extension of the Arcadian Inn in Edmond, and is located near Guthrie.

You get a private cottage all to yourself instead of a single room in a boarding house. Breakfast is in the fridge in a ready-to-make condition and we had a plate of strawberries and cream and chocolate waiting for us. It was great. Breakfast was just for the first morning and we stayed there 2 nights so that Saturday evening we went out to dinner and then into Guthrie to get some things for the next morning.

We went to a place called Woody's on highway 33 East of Guthrie for dinner. Tandy's employer, (and friend) Holly said it was really good so we went searching for it and boy was she right. Some of the best bbq I've ever had. We had a Woody's sampler platter and shared it. Steak, chicken, a rib, sausage, and a baked potato. We meant to ask for a menu to keep as a souvenir but we forgot, I guess we'll just have to go back again another day. Tandy had never been to Guthrie before so I showed her around town a little. Cottonwood creek was out of its banks (of course) after the rain from the day before. We stopped at the store and got snacks and stuff for breakfast and communion the next morning.

We had a really pretty sunset that night but I didn't get a very good picture of it. Unfortunately we had to leave our little paradise the next day and it was immediately back to the real world. We set up Elizabeth's bed and her closet that afternoon when we got home so that she would have a place to call her own. She and Amanda are sharing a room for the first time, and there are still adjustments being made, but so far so good.

We had a good time that weekend, played cards, watched a movie, ate strawberries and chocolate and, you know, did some other stuff too. A good start.......

More of Tandy's Handiwork - Hereafter referred to as "Tandiwork"

Now that I know for sure it has been received by the giftee, I'm going to brag on Tandy a bit and show off the needlework she did for Louise Jane Wilson. Tandy was really working hard to get it done before she arrived, but didn't quite make it since Louise came a day or two early. Still, I was pretty impressed with the amount of work that was done in about 2 weeks time. The pictures don't really do it justice, but you can see she crocheted a dress with booties and a bonny little cap to go with. Pretty amazing stuff. We've asked for a picture of Louise in her dress so hopefully either here or on Laura and John's blog you'll get a special treat soon. For a special treat now, check out Laura and John's blog for pictures of Louise. OK, here are pictures of the latest "Tandiwork" (Click on the picture for greater detail):

Hola!

No promises of daily blogs this time. But I will try to catch up on events of the spring in not-to-distant future blog postings. Here's the Reader's Digest version of the Dodgen's spring 2007:

1 Got married March 30

2 Had the "mini-moon" that weekend at a local B&B.

3 Began moving Tandy into the house that following week. (Busy week)

4 Had my main editing computer at work crash, and tried to produce a program without it for 2 weeks. (Frustrating week)

5 Sold my house and began repairing it for the new owners.

6 Finalized (I thought) arrangements to buy my parent's house.

7 Found out that both house deals were falling apart while I was loading the truck to move from my house to parent's house. Literally the day prior to closing.

8 Changed the closing date.

9 Finalized (Again) arrangements to buy my parent's house.

10 Changed the closing date.

11 Scrambled to save the house deal (financing) on my parent's house and settled on a closing date finally.

12 Nope. Changed the closing date. Again.

13 May 18 Closed on my house. For real this time.

14 May 23 Closed on my new home. (Which was my old home years ago)

15 Rested. Just kidding. Tandy developed Bronchial Asthma, I hauled kids to many multiple year end school events, hauled stuff from storage to house, hauled kids all around town, and tried to keep Tandy from emptying boxes and wearing herself out.

16 Discussed putting off our official honeymoon. Didn't. Tandy got better finally.

17 June 1 Left for Groveton, Texas, then San Antonio, Houston and points South.

18 Reversed the above having completed the "full-moon"

19 Back to the real world of work and etc. Trying to catch up the week of work I missed.

20 Resting when I can and daydreaming of Cozumel........

Well, just an outline for now. Hopefully, I'll climb back up on the blogwagon and roll out some stories soon. Until then here's sunset on the beach June 7, 2007....