11th Place Isn't Bad at All

Not when you haven't ever run on a team before. But Jeff improved from having never run to finishing in 11th position in his last meet this year. He was close to running in the district race the next week, but not quite, maybe he'll do that next year.

They started out back behind the school, about 10 different schools were there.

I saw Jeff in the middle of the pack and he saw me too and started to angle over towards me.

He looked right at me for that first 100 yards while he ran to the edge of the path in front of me.

Then he broke out in a crazy, ain't I somethin' grin as he passed by that I almost missed completely with the camera.

The next time I saw him was over a mile later and he wasn't quite as grinny as he was at the first pass.

But at the end, what was left of him was hustling towards the finish line in position for a medal.

Tired but well rewarded for his efforts, he got home in 11th place. Pretty cool. Deer Creek won the meet and finished with 6 runners in the top eleven in this race. Jeff learned what it means to be on a team and made some new friends. He had a couple of days off and then basketball practice started last week.

Go Antlers!

Just Another Day....

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 10, the 283rd day of 2007. There are 82 days left in the year.

On this date in the year:

1775 - General William Howe is named the interim commander in chief of the British army in America, replacing Lieutenant General Thomas Gage. He was permanently appointed to the post in April 1776

1780 - A powerful storm slams the islands of the West Indies, killing more than 20,000 people. Known as the Great Hurricane of 1780, it was the deadliest storm ever recorded

1795 - The United States mint hired its first two female employees

1813 - Composer Guiseppe Verdi was born in Le Roncole, Italy

1830 - Queen Isabella II is born, she died in 1904 and was queen of Spain from 1833-1868

1845 - the U.S. Naval Academy was established in Annapolis, Md.

1877 - the U.S. Army held a West Point funeral with full military honors for Lieutenant-Colonel George Armstrong Custer. Killed the previous year in Montana by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Custer's body had been returned to the East for burial on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, where Custer had graduated in 1861-at the bottom of his class

1881 - Charles Darwin published "The Formation of Vegetable Mold Through the Action of Worms." (Let's not forget Darwin's stellar posthumous work as worm fodder, no book has been published on that to this date but certainly evolution cannot continue without a food source. Thank you, Chuck!!)

1886 - the tuxedo dinner jacket made its American debut at the autumn ball in Tuxedo Park, N.Y.

1900 - Actress Helen Hayes is born

1901 - Henry Ford drove one of his own vehicles in his first and last automobile race. Today Ford is the only automaker that can lay claim to victory in the Indy 500, Daytona 500, 24-Hours of LeMans and Daytona, 12 hours of Sebring, the Monte Carlo Rally, and the Baja 1000

1911 - Revolutionaries under Sun Yat-sen launched their overthrow of China's Manchu dynasty

1917 - Jazz musician Thelonious Monk is born

1935 - George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess" opened on Broadway

1943 - Chiang Kai-shek took the oath of office as president of China

1949 - Country singer Tanya Tucker is born

1957 - Milwaukee Braves win World Series game 7 over the New York Yankees, 5-0

1964 - the 18th Summer Olympic Games opened in Tokyo, Japan

1969 - Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre is born

1970 - Fiji became independent after nearly a century of British rule

1973 - Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned his office pleading no contest to one count of federal income tax evasion

1979 - Wayne Gretzky played his first NHL game and scored the first of his NHL record assists for the visiting Edmonton Oilers against the Chicago Blackhawks

1985 - U.S. fighter jets forced an Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro to land in Italy, where the gunmen were taken into custody

2002 - The House voted 296-133 to give President George W. Bush authority to use military force against Iraq. The Senate followed on the 11th

2004 - Superman actor Christopher Reeve died at 52, after becoming a paraplegic in a horse riding accident in May 1995

2006 - Google Inc. purchased YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in a stock deal

Aaaaaaaaaaand, finally, in 1967, 40 years, or 14,610 days ago.......

The Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits the placing of weapons of mass destruction on the moon or elsewhere in space, entered into force

In 1967 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.
In 1967 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.
In 1967 in the US there were approximately 1,800,000 marriages and 479,000 divorces.
In 1967 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)

The top songs were:

To Sir with Love by Lulu
Windy by the Association
Somethin' Stupid by Nancy & Frank Sinatra
The Letter by the Box Tops
Happy Together by the Turtles
Daydream Believer by the Monkees
Ode to Billie Joe by Bobbie Gentry
Groovin' by Young Rascals
Light My Fire by the Doors
Hello Goodbye by the Beatles

Last but Oh, most certainly not least:

Craig Howard Dodgen, who is not a weapon of mass destruction and will therefore thankfully be allowed access to space and the moon if he so wishes, was born.

More than you wanted to know........

Fair Fireworks, It's Spectaculous!

I've only once or twice tried to take pictures of fireworks and they just haven't come out very good at all usually. I'm much better at taking pictures of roses that have just been rained on. And, while I'm thinking about it Annaleise, you are quite welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's pretty rare I think that you have enough available light to take pictures of fireworks, but when you are standing in the midway at the fair that is definitely not a problem. I think I still need some work on technique and some fine tuning but there are one or two shots here that show some of the colors that we saw Thursday night. The last one is a picture of the "big finish" and therefore has no detail due to the multiple simultaneous explosions. It's not a great picture, I just like saying, "multiple simultaneous explosions." Sounds like the guys on Mythbusters. Happy Birthday, Oklahoma!!

A (state) Fair Assessment of Tandiwork

Centennial day at the fair was Thursday the 13th and tickets were only 100 cents each. What a deal! Regular ticket prices were 8 dollars for adults so I saved almost 45 dollars on the entrance fee. Tandy entered two items in the fair this year, which was the other reason for going on opening day. As I understand it, we were far too excited to wait until the weekend to see how we fared at the fair.

Here is a picture of the whole gang, excluding the photographer of course, arriving at the fair. It was very crowded that night.
This is Jack and his girlfriend Mariah.

First stop was the arts and crafts building. Tandy was nervous and in a hurry to get there.

Jack's OSU blanket won 5th place! Doesn't that just beat all? Well, all but the top 4 places anyway. Not pictured is a crocheted OU blanket that placed 9th. Tandy was pleased with 5th place but disappointed that it didn't place higher. She says that she would like to make a blanket of several of the big 12 schools and put them in a book. She thinks the team colors of A&M and KU would make really nice blankets.
She was less hopeful about her tablecloth and was quite excited to see that it won 1st place. Now that really does beat all. Oh, except for best in show. For those of you that were there, this is the tablecloth that was on the guest table at our wedding. Not pictured is an extremely elaborate blanket with intricate details of an Indian (Native American) scene. It was easy to see why this blanket won best in show. What do you get when you enter stuff in the fair?
A blue ribbon and a yellow ribbon on this day. And a bit of excitement from the competition. If you make it by the fair this week, both items are in the arts and crafts building across from the live cooking show in the lefthand case along the wall. Check it out and tell all your friends, "I know who made that blanket/tablecloth." It'll be neat!!
What did I get at the fair this year? A cowlick and a corn dog. What else do you need?

I Picked a Flower for You Today.....

Whoever should happen to pass by today, this rose is for you.

Absence and Fond Hearts, Part 1....

April 19, 1929 - August 14, 2006

"Live a good life."
Bernice Dodgen

1. She believed in the promise.
2. She was faithful. That is to say, she was full of faith.
3. She was one of God's people.
4. She worked hard and was diligent.
5. She was bold.
6. She lived a good (Godly) life.

Most of my last words to her came from the bible. Emphasis is mine.




Hebrews 4

The Promise of Rest

1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “ So I swore in My wrath, ‘ They shall not enter My rest,’” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “ Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. 14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I miss you mom.....enjoy your rest, you deserve it.

Roots and All

Friday afternoon Amanda reported to me that while she was outside playing in the considerably larger than normal creek, she heard a cracking noise and then this tree just fell over. I didn't make out which tree it was from her description, but it turns out that it was a large cottonwood. A very large and old cottonwood tree and perhaps the tallest one on the property. Now it's just the longest tree on the property. This tree was big when I was just a kid and I have no idea how old it is, but it was there for a long time. The wind storm that we had 3 years ago did some damage to it and that may have helped along it's downfall. But I suspect the main culprit was the 4 or 5 days of constant rushing water around the roots that made it fall. And that's exactly what it did, pulled the roots out of the ground and fell over. I have no idea how I'm going to get it cleaned up, but I'll definitely have to wait until the ground dries out. We haven't had any rain yet today, but the streak is still alive. I decided yesterday that I could get some mowing done before dark and after about 3 passes it began to sprinkle. That was about the same time that my mower stopped in its tracks, buried to the axles in the soft ground. I ran in to get some help thinking that I could rock it out or something like that, but this new zero turn I have weighs a lot more than my old mower. A lot. Then, of course, with all of us out there trying to move it the sprinkle became a downpour. Eventually I tied it to the car and pulled it while Jeff sat on it and backed it up and we got it unstuck leaving 2 pretty healthy ruts in the front yard, not to mention 2 fairly deep holes where the rear tires sunk into the ground. So it's official then, the consecutive streak of rainy days is neat and all, but for me the allure is gone, I'm prayin' for shine.

The blank area marked with the red square is not Moscow, but the portion of skyline that once was dominated by the cottonwood tree.
This is a picture of the roots the day it fell while the creek was still up. You can only see just the top portion of the roots there on the left of the picture.
This is a picture of the roots on Sunday afternoon. I am standing right next to them and they are a little over head high to me. That would make it a little over 6 feet wide at the root.
My guess of the source of the loud cracking noise would be limbs of this cedar tree being stripped off of it when the big boy fell. I'm actually standing on the tree near the roots in this picture and you can kind of get a sense of the length of the tree looking up the trunk in this picture.
Here is a picture of the trunk from the opposite direction. You can kind of judge the thickness of the trunk in this picture. It was a massive tree and all it took to bring it down was a little water. Having known this tree since I was 11 years old, it kind of feels like I've lost an old friend.

Craig