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When you have two state schools in the same conference, you are going to have a ready-made rivalry. In Oklahoma, we call it BEDLAM. Oklahoma University is the home of the Sooners and Oklahoma State University, the home of the Cowboys.

This will be the 103rd meeting of the schools in football. While we also play against each other in basketball, wrestling, softball, baseball, golf and any other sports both schools play, football is king and brings out the beast in nearly every Okie whether they are particular sports fans or not.

This year OSU is hosting OU at Stillwater. Each year they swap hosting duties. You can never be definitely sure who is going to come out on top because every player and every coach is focused on this game. Unexpected things can, and often do, happen. This year will be no different.


As a fan, what is difficult for me is being pulled in both directions. My oldest brother and my youngest brother both went to school at OU for their pre-med. My sister got her RN degree from OU School of Nursing. My middle brother, Bro, went to OSU, and our youngest brother went to OSU's Osteopathic School of Medicine after his pre-med at OU. And for the big kicker, Mike Gundy, who is head coach at OSU, and his brother Cale, the running backs coach at OU, are our second cousins.

Whew... that was a mouthful. So what I hope for is a hard fought game, no injuries, no lousy calls and may the best team prevail. I will be hollering for, or at, both of them.

And I'll never tell who I'm really hoping to win in my heart.

Puppy Update...

After we stuffed our faces with a wonderful Thanks-giving lunch, my Bro and I pried ourselves off the couch and drove to Bethany for a visit and a puppy fix.

I caught this shot of mom looking up like "are we done yet?" with a bit of the bloodshot eyes like all new moms, 2 legged or 4 legged seem to have with 19 day old spawn.

Madeline is being a very good mom. If people are around and petting on her or the babies, she is always counting them, making sure that they are all at her side.

This is a lousy photo but I decided to put it in for a size reference. If you look back at the newborn post, you would see that, at birth, the babies were a bit longer than my hand from the tips of my fingers to just about my wrist. Now they are almost from the tips of my fingers to my elbow.

Please ignore the wrap.I had a blood vein burst yesterday and I had to wrap it and ice it, but that is another story. This is all about puppies today.

Steve and Nancy Lu, my niece and her hubs, have moved Madeline and the puppies out of the den. The pups were already getting out of the baby pool, so Steve cleared out an area in the garage and they are living out there now.

They have a heater to keep the room warm and if they get out of the pool the concrete floor can be hosed down.



I had to put this shot in because of that little pink tongue. It was just precious and since this is my blog I can put in what I choose. That little pink tongue belongs to one of the two girls. The other three puppies in this photo are boys.

They lost one more puppy last Sunday. A little girl. She had to have something wrong inside because, while all the other pups were growing, she was not. They even tried bottle feeding her but she continued to lose ground.

So the final tally is 4 boys and 2 girls.

This is another photo to show the growth of the puppies. If you look back at the first post, I had another pic of a baby laying on mom's neck. This is the other little girl. She is going to be a dark brindle. Two of her brothers are brindle, but they are lighter like mom.

The babies are starting to exhibit more of the great Dane looks now. Their little ears aren't plastered to their head anymore, as you can see.

It is so fun to watch them grow.


This is Max.... big daddy. Max is an old man. He just turned seven this month. I thought you ought to meet him, too.

Max is a big lump of love. He gets so excited when they come out to feed or let him out to run in the big yard. They are not letting him out when Maddie is out taking care of business.

While they get along great and love to play, because of their rambunctious play Nancy is being cautious with Maddie until the pups are weaned. He misses her sooo much and will be glad to have her back with him.

Now... for the Melissa update. If you remember, Melissa is the 20 month old child Steve and Nancy Lu are adopting. She was so afraid of the big dogs that she would start hollering, even if she was being held, when the gentle giants were out in yard or when Madeline came into the house.

Now she wants to lay against Maddie. She often will suck her thumb and rub on Maddie's ear. Nancy said that last week they let Maddie in and Melissa walked all over with Maddie, always with her hand on her.

Yesterday, while I was there, Maddie came into the house and was standing next to different ones getting petted and several times I noticed Melissa would be leaning on her, touching her or laying her arm on her.

They have become companions. It is such a huge step from where that child was when they first got her. Here, in this shot, she is laying on Maddie and her head touching one of the pups.

Well, I have been a wordy girl today. I'll shut up for a while and give your eyes a rest in just a moment.

This is my niece, Nancy Lu. I just want you to see Maddie's mom, my sweet niece. They have such a wonderful connection, but Nance is so good with dogs, as well as children.

She and Steve both are so gentle and loving, but also firm with Melissa and I give them all the praise for the changes I see in Melissa.

She is becoming so much more confident and secure. It is a joy to watch the changes, but that, again, is another post.

One more picture of a pile of puppies... I'm going back to bed for a nap. You all have a great day and thanks for putting up with this 'novella'.


A Pile Of Puppies!!!


The End (for now)

(If you want to see any of the photos better, click on them... they'll get bigger.)

It's All About The Bird Today

What better day to talk turkey than today. No fowl is more famous than the turkey. They are known for their big breasts and their stupidity despite the fact that they are not blonde. They, if raised properly, can also be very sweet.

Henny Penny is such a bird. She lives in a turkey pen at my niece's place with 15 0r 18 other turkeys. When I did my baby-sitting job, or rather chicken and turkey sitting stint, for my niece and her hubs last March is when I became acquainted with Henny Penny

When I was doing the walk-through with Laura about who to feed what and how and where to clean and fill the water containers for the chickens and the turkeys, Laura told me about Henny. A lot of times when you go into the turkey enclosure, Henny will decide that it's time for some loving and will fly up on your shoulder. If you aren't aware of this possibility, it can be disconcerting when a 20 pound turkey is coming at you.


As if on cue, not a minute after we entered the pen, here came H.P. She will sit on your shoulder and likes for you to stroke her breast feathers and she will go to sleep, cuddled up to your cheek.

Another thing you will want to know if you ever go in a turkey pen is they like gold shiny things... did I mention blonde earlier? The reason I'm holding onto my head is another turkey was on the roosting bar behind me that had pecked out my earring (thankfully she dropped it and I was able to recover it) and was pecking at the gold adjustment buckle on the back of my hat. And they can deliver a thump like a second grade teacher used to be able to deliver, back in the olden days before child abuse suits.

The other thing about H.P. ... if she's not had enough lovin' by the time you off-load her onto the roosting bar, she will come back for more. I just managed to catch this shot on the fly (as it were) and I knew I was in for another round of a 20 pound bird landing on my shoulder. (Better than 20 lbs. of turkey poop landing on my shoulder.)

Needless to say, Henny Penny is nobody's dinner today. My niece and I both love her and she's a good layer and cuddler. What more could you ask for out of a turkey. A "blonde" turkey at that.

I hope all of you out here in our blog-sphere have a wonderful and thankful day today. Thanksgiving is all about doing just that, giving thanks for our blessings, no matter how small, and one of the many things I'm thankful for is my experience with Henny Penny. Another blessing is being able to share it with all of you.

So all you good cooks out there, go ahead... Strutt your stuffing. Those of us who love good cooks will count our blessings and, hopefully, remember to thank those good cooks.

Happy Thanksgiving to all and to all a good morning.

You, Too, Can Learn To Dance...

Last spring I house sat for one of my nieces and her hubs when they went to Germany on a business/pleasure trip for a week.

When you have chickens and turkeys you don't get to leave home for more than a day unless you have some one you can call to come tend them and Laura knew just who to call.

Naturally, I said "You bet!" I went over a couple of times and went through the feeding and watering with her and then came the big day. I took them to the airport, went back home, picked up my girls and we went house-sitting and bird watching.


One of the best parts of the day was in the morning when we, me and the schnauzers, would go open the chicken house and let them out for the day.

I checked the feed and water, filled what was needing filling and then go get a bucket of scratch and throw it out for the chickens all around the yard. They loved seeing me and that bucket.

They weren't so crazy about the schnauzers, but they put up with them just so they could get the scratch. Chloe and SueSue tried real hard to check out the chickens, but the chickens and roosters were having no inclination to make friends, at least not with the dogs.

And the truth be told, Chloe was wanting her some chicken on the hoof. Suess didn't care so much about catching them, she wanted to play chase, but my little old lady wanted to kill them.

I have no idea where she got that. She has always minded me. I mean, I've called her off a squirrel before, but when I first found out about her chicken and duck chasing propensity was three years ago when we were visiting another niece.

Launa and I were walking around checking out her chickens and a pet goose and I am here to tell you my Chloe was off and running close to the ground after that goose. SueSue said, "Oh, that looks like fun, let's play chase!!" I was able to get Suess's attention, but Chloe was focused on G.O.O.S.E. I did manage to keep goose murder from happening, but feathers were flying.

But I digress...

After the goose experience, I had to help my sweet Chloe to understand that when mom says no, mom means NO, and we, the dogs and me, could go out around the chickens and roosters and I could take some photos and tend to my chores without worrying about chicken murders.

And although I was unable to teach the girls to herd the chickens back to the coop at night, we got through the week, we all had a lot of fun and spent quality time wandering all over outdoors, taking photos and caring for the chickens and the turkeys.


And what, you might ask, does this post have to do with dancing?

If you've never been in a chicken yard, throw a bunch of marbles or little rocks in a confined area, take off your shoes and try to tippy-toe through all of them without stepping on any of them.

Maybe then you'll get the drift of what I'm talking about, especially if you relate the marbles or rocks to chicken or turkey shit. You'll find you can dance just trying to keep your balance without steppin' in it and getting it all over your shoes.

I like to call it "The Poo-Poo Dance."

Turkeys will be featured next week, as is appropriate for Thanksgiving week.

Thank you and good night.

It Was Supposed To Storm...

About a week ago, when I was having on of my 'lousy' days...

I heard thunder.

"Dang!", I told myself "you've got to get up on the roof and fix that hole that you saw when you were taking the tin off the roof of the back deck."

So I pried myself off the couch, got the repair stuff I'd gotten the day before and got my brother to help me get the ladder up so's I could get on the roof.

I went up, walked over to the place that looked like it was torn up and it was a second vent pipe. As I stood there looking at it thinking "you dummy"... there was a crack of lightning and a roll of thunder. God said "Hi, you dummy. Now get off this roof."

The first photo is what I saw when I looked up (and, yes, I do take a camera with me sometimes on the roof) above and to the northwest. You know, I decided that that would be a pretty good idea to take that advice and get off the roof.


This second photo was looking to the north of our place. Kinda had the look and feel of a bit of a wall cloud rolling to the east. While it is uncommon to have tornadoes in November, it is not unheard of by any stretch of the imagination.

They had talked about that possibility the night before on the weather and I had just kind of ignored it. After all, I was born and raised in Oklahoma and it's something you try to be aware of, but you don't really plan on.

So I'm thinking, as I'm getting down... I might ought to check the weather channel.

I decided to look to the east just to see what was happening out that way, and when I did I was so glad I had my camera. One of the more beautiful sky shots I've seen in a while. This is straight out of the camera.


It is so good to be alive and to get to see beauty like this.


Life is good.




Even on a not so good day.

You Might Want To Print This Out...

Since the holiday season is upon us and a lot of us will be doing some traveling I thought I'd share something with you all.

I originally received the following in an e-mail. There was no indication of who originally penned this, but I was so taken by the appropriateness of the wording in today's computerized world that I printed it out and have carried it with me in my travel bag ever since I received it.

So without further ado.. here it is:

A High-Tech Psalm

The Lord is my programmer. I shall not crash.

He installed His software on the hard disk of my heart;

All of His commands are user-friendly;

His director guides me to the right choices for His Name's sake.

Even though I scroll through the problems of life,

I will fear no bugs for He is my backup;

His password protects me;

He prepares a menu before me in the presence of my enemies;

His help is only a stroke away.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,

And my file will be merged with His and saved forever.

I wish for all of us who will be traveling during this time safe and protected travel.

Helen

Melissa And The Puppies...

Okay for all of you that have said "what about the puppies?" here are some new photos.

My original plan was to go in on Sunday afternoons after church to take photos and visit with my niece and her sweet hubs.

My reasoning is, since it's about a 45-50 minute drive to their home and Sundays are when her kids, my great nieces and nephews, usually come over to visit and bring their kids, my great-great nieces and nephews, that's when I get to visit with all of them also, more bang for the buck as it were...

Whew... That almost wears me out just typing all that out. Anyway, I was feeling really crappy this Sunday, so I didn't drive in to Bethany, a suburb of Okla. City, and didn't get any new photos. When I got fussed at, I called my sweet and wonderful niece and she sent me the photos I'm posting today.

The baby in the photos is Melissa. Nancy and Steve are adopting her. She is their niece, but due to some familial problems, they are in the process of adopting her.

She has been afraid of the dogs, I'm sure because they are so big and she wasn't raised around them. When Nance lets Maddie, the pups mom, out to go to the bathroom so she can change the bedding in their bed, they started showing Melissa about the puppies and letting her pet them.

The next thing, the baby wanted to be in with the puppies, so they let her get in their bed with them and showed her about being easy with them.

Obviously, she is having a great time. One of the puppies is wiggling around her head and neck, probably hunting ninny, but it is tickling her and she is laughing.

This is a great, huge, step for the baby girl, and we are all hoping that this will help towards calming her fears about the big dogs.

They are such gentle dogs, especially Maddie, and they would never hurt her, except maybe by accidentally bumping her or wagging their tail or such, but maybe watching the babies grow it will help her over her fears.

So here is your puppy fix for the week. By next Sunday they should be opening their eyes and, hopefully, I will feel like making the trip to town and getting "as they grow" photos.

Here's mom, back in with the babies.














And, finally, nap time.


Y'all come back and see us again, ya hear?!


(And if anyone can tell me how to get the underline off whenever it pops up like it did in this post, I'd sure appreciate it. I don't know what caused it to start and I don't know what caused it to stop, but it happen once before and I posted it just like I'm posting this one...)