Adult Winter Reading Program

Anybody out there like to read? Do you like FREE STUFF? If so and you live in the Tulsa area then you need to run over to your nearest Tulsa City County Library and sign up for their Adult Winter Reading Program. To lazy to drive? You can sign up online.

All you have to do is read eight books between January 1 and the middle of March, turn in your list and you get a free coffee cup and coupons good for discounts at area bookstores and coffee shops.

Okie Blog Awards Nominees

(Photo from flickr) by david.nikonvscanon

The nominees for the 2009 Okie Blog Awards have been posted here. There are 24 categories with 10 nominated blogs in each category, all of them Oklahoma based. I have made a quick survey in about 5 categories and I am very impressed with the quality of the nominated blogs. Oklahoma has a very vibrant and active blogging community and it shows.

If you are an Oklahoma Blogger then you are eligible to vote. Check the link for how to go about casting your vote. If you are at a loss on a blog in the "Family Blog" category I would appreciate your vote for this blog in that category.

Voting ends midnight on Valentines Day so get your entries in early.

Jen of jenX67 volunteered to be in charge of the contest this year and has worked very hard on this year's event. Her blog is not eligible for any of the awards  but click on over there anyway and say hello.

Temple Grandin on HBO Films

Sweetie and I watched the HBO Film "Temple Grandin" late Saturday night. Temple Grandin  is a Professor in the Agriculture School at Colorado State University. She is famous in agriculture circles for her revolutionary concepts in the design and operation of feedlots and slaughterhouses and she is an inspiration to those of us in the Autism and Asperger's Syndrome community. She has a form of autism called Asperger's Syndrome. Asperger's Syndrome is characterized by problems relating to people but goes way down deep into the inner core of people and how they think. Dr. Grandin's unique way of thinking led her to develop much more humane ways of handling cattle. Dr. Grandin was able to  overcome her social difficulties to achieve greatness. Her web site is here.

Claire Danes plays Temple Grandin in the movie. The movie does a great job trying to show how strange, frightening, and alienating the world is to a person with autism on the one hand and how strange and off putting an autistic person's behavior and affect is to others. The movies also shows how an autistic persons's different way of thinking and visualizing problems can come up with unique solutions to various problems.

The movie also shows how just a few people, teachers, coworkers, and friends, who can see through what's on the surface to the core beneath and provide support and encouragement can make a huge difference. Temple Grandin's story is an inspiration and hope for all us parents of children who are afflicted with autism.

I give the movie four stars out of four.

This, That, and the Other and Genesis 1:20

Saturday was an errand running day for SuperPizzaBoy and I. His Mom spent the whole day preparing for a fund raising event at SPB's school so she didn't get to join us. Lucky for her she says.

I made breakfast believe it or not. I used a recipe from "The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook" by Ree Drumond of the blog "Confessions of a Pioneer Woman". Check her blog out, I'm a big fan of MommyBloggers and that blog is a MommyBlog on steroids. Back to breakfast, she has a dish called "Egg in the Hole" which is simple enough.



Instead of egg and toast separately, you cut a hole in a piece of bread and then toast the bread in a skillet in a pool of butter and then put an egg in the hole and cook it. So its a combo type thing.



The way it actually works out is that it is a stick of butter with toast and egg added for texture. I made one for him and I ate two. I used a whole stick of butter. Its a good thing I hadn't seen my dietitian in a while. I'm not sure how heart healthy it is, but they are good and they are filling.



I wondered if SPB would like it. New food is a sometimes thing with him, but hey he ate it!!

Then we set out to run a few errands. The main thing we were interested in was getting ready for the upcoming "Great Backyard Bird Count" We thought it would help out if we restocked our bird feeders. I've been wanting to get started bird watching for sometime now and I guess this will be our introduction. In our geocaching ventures in the woods and fields we come upon lots of birds and I really couldn't tell you waht 90% of them are except in the most general way.

Anyway the great backyard bird count looks like a fun way to get introduced. They have bird lists by area and all sorts of references. Basically you just count the birds by species for at least a 15 minute period during the February 12-15 dates and submit your count online at the web site. I can handle that.

So we bought some sunflower seeds, some finch food, and a suet cake and set them out.







I know, I know, there are all sorts of guidelines about how high, and how far, and what kind of cover. Our neighborhood doesn't have cats running around and my main guideline was I wanted to see the feeders from the kitchen.

We had an immediate customer. The little suckers are hard to photograph. I don't know if Sweetie is going to put up with a tripod full time in the kitchen. On the other hand I washed the window I was shooting out of. I didn't wash the ones adjacent but maybe later.



It looks like LJ want to help us count birds. Can cats count?



Then SPB and I took down our Christmas lights. It may seem a little late for that but we have had a messed up winter. Oklahoma winters are normally pretty mild. It may get cold for a while but it almost always warms and we get bright clear days with temperatures in the mid 40's or so. Hey, sunny, no wind, and 40's is a great day. Its almost shirt sleeve weather. So that is when I take the lights down.



Not this year, it stayed cold. So we got them down. SPB helped. I was up on the ladder and he took the gutter tabs off. We had a good time. Once you get him started he is like the Energizer Bunny on a task.



Later on SPB went to spend the evening with his Nana and Sweetie and I went to the fundraiser at the school. Sweetie had been putting together a table for a Silent Auction. She is queen of hospitality and presentation.



"And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth and across the expanse of the sky."

Genesis 1:20 (NIV)

Check out That's Baloney for other pairings of scriptures and photographs.

Critters, a Missionary, and Snow

We have a lot of ice and snow in Oklahoma this year. This has been hard on the people of the state. Icy roads, power outages, chilly temperatures. Most people have made it fine but what about the critters in the state. How are they faring? I decided to venture into the deepest snow and coldest temperatures to find out. This is my report.

It was hard going at first.



I finally found a bear, a friendly smiling bear. He needed the snow knocked off and had a few icicles but he was ok. I guess the positive outlook and thick fur coat is serving him well. There is a lesson in there for us people don't you think?



I found a coyote sitting on a stump. He wasn't in too good of a mood. With the cold weather he is getting a little hungry.



I found a flock of fat turkeys. Hey you guys better watch out! There is a hungry coyote nearby.



Then look who I found! It's Francis Asbury, famous missionary, on his horse.



I think he's lost. It doesn't look like he is moving. Not too many souls to save out in this weather anyway.

So, anyway, the critters seem to be doing OK, I'm not so sure about Francis.

For other images of animals check out Camera Critters.