Vacation!!!

Thursday, we got away on a badly needed vacation.

As I discussed in September, we went to Crater of Diamonds State Park. We ended up taking our pickup truck since we couldn't get everything we were taking into the Caliber. So, after getting it loaded up, we hit the road around 10:00 Thursday morning, and we were all excited!

Things were going basically as planned until somewhere in Arkansas I noticed the truck pulling to the left pretty bad. My wife asked if we had a flat. And she was right, we did. So we pulled into a driveway just a bit away to change it, ESPECIALLY since there was no shoulder on the road!

So, we pull into these peoples yard to change the tire, and we had never changed the tire on the truck before. And of course, the jack etc was under the back seat of the truck, so we had to unload the inside of the truck to get it all out. Then we had to figure out how to get the tire down. Things were going pretty well. When I was trying to get the lug nuts off, the ratchet was working right, and my boy said, turn it around. Course that worked. We got the spare on and the truck reloaded, and off we went. I was a bit worried about the tire since it had never been used since we've had the truck, and who know how long before then. We got to the next town, and they had a Walmart! So, we stopped and I went in to find a tire. They had the size our truck used for 80 each, so I got 2. Come to find out, they only had 2 of that size.

So while we waited on the truck, we walked a few blocks to a mexican restaurant (YUMMY) for some lunch. Now, the problem was, we took our dog Gizmo with us on the trip. So, we couldn't exactly leave him in the truck, so we took him with us. But, you know how restaurants can be when it comes to dogs in the them (unless they are on the menu), so we put him in the pet carrier, and did our best to pretend he didn't exist. And since he's a pretty good dog and didn't make a peep, we didn't have any problems.

So, lunch in us and 2 new tires on the truck, we continued on our way. But it's not looking like we'll make the park before the 5:00 check-in, which wasn't that big of a deal, but I just didn't expect the trip to take that long.

The rest of the trip there was uneventful, well, except for a minor problem of finding the place once we got to Murfreesboro. It wasn't bad except for one part in town, the sign was less than clear (well, I think it's less than clear) so it took us a bit longer to find the park.

So, we got there, found our camp site and started setting up. My boy and I set up the tent as my wonderful wife was getting a lot of the other stuff unpacked and set up.

We managed to have a nice campfire every night which is just wonderful. There is nothing quite like a camp fire. We roasted some marshmallows and they ate some smores.

I managed to get up first every morning and get the campfire started to warm us up by, cause my oh my, it got quite chilly!

There is also something to be said for the cool, quiet mornings with the sunlight coming through the trees lighting up the smoke from early morning campfires.



Friday morning, we had breakfast, and then headed off for some diamond mining! Even Gizmo got to come with us. We all had a lot of fun, but after a couple hours, we went back to camp for some lunch.




My boy found some kids around his age to play with, so when I went to go back to look for more diamonds, he didn't want to go. I hunted for a few more hours. Neither of our hunts were very successful. Well, they were. We found lots of really cool rocks, but no diamonds.

Our air mattress had a leak Friday night, so that made for a rough night. My wife likes camping OK, as long as she has things like electricity, water, and her air mattress. My Saturday morning, it was completely flat! So, I had another trip to Walmart.

We did manage to go for a hike on Saturday, and that was nice. Saturday night, they had a little show that we went to. Which our son was much opposed to. We had a real good time. The amusing thing was my wife new nearly EVERY song they sung. I think I might have known 2 or 3.




Sunday morning we got up and torn down camp and was on the road by 10:15. Course we promptly stopped for breakfast. We then decided to go a different way back then we took there, so we meandered our way home. We managed to go on part of the Talamena drive.





It was a really nice trip. Really needed.

My boy told me Thursday night that the best part of this camping trip was that

1. Mom was with us.
2. Gizmo came too.
3. Digging for diamonds.
4. Hiking.

Though after the diamond mining, I think he switched 3 and 4.

For those that care, the fall foliage of the Talamina drive was just starting. Peak will probably happen in the next couple weeks.

I've added more pictures on Flickr.

Sister Visits

Saturday, while my boy was playing the PS2, he was getting frustrated at a part and stopped for a couple minutes. Then he sighed really big. I asked him what was wrong and he said

"I just saw this picture of Sissy. I sorta miss her."

It was the cutest thing you had ever seen. I told my wife that, and I guess she called our girl up, and she and her dog came by for a visit Sunday afternoon.

She spent a lot of time with her brother, and that really made me proud. With so many years between them, it's not really be the easiest for either for them. Both being only kids, and at the same time, not.

It was really neat sitting back and watching them sit, swing and talk on the swing set.


Later on, during her visit, they were looking at this spider that was on the swing set (not the picture above), and she tried to get him to touch it, but he wouldn't do it. She even offered him a dollar if he would touch it.

He turned, and looked at her and said

Which is more important? A dollar, or my life? It could be poisonous.

At which point she told him, he was a very smart boy.

That made me smile.

The verdict is...

NO! The tax did not pass!!!

This makes me so happy.

For those of you that voted, good for you.

For those of you that voted no, thanks!

C-ville Spoke

Well, Collinsville spoke it's peace about the River Tax.

Yes: 333
No: 1475
Total: 1808

And according to Tim at cvilleok.com, that was only 36% of the registered voters.

As of this moment, it appears the No votes are winning 51% to 48%, but it's only with 70% reporting.

We'll see.

Go Vote

Tomorrow (or today if you are reading this Tuesday) the poles are open concerning the County River Tax for the Arkansas River.

I'll proudly be voting NO.

Not because I don't think the river doesn't need to be developed, but this isn't the way to go about it. Last month, I had stated some reasons, but the main one is I don't see any way this vote is good for the county. And since I don't live in any of the cities work is being planned for, it's defiantly out.

Now if I did live in one of those cities, then more reasons to vote NO tomorrow you can find here.

ARGH!

At 3:00 yesterday, I got paged and was on the call till 3:15 this morning, the problem wasn't resolved. I got back on a call at 10:00 for an hour, and while the DBA's rebuilt the DB, I mowed my and my grandparents yard. Then, at 3:00 this afternoon, I got on the call again.

It's now 6:00 and I'm still on the call. No hope in sight.

16.25 hours and counting.

UPDATE:
18.5 hours... problem FINALLY resolved.

UPDATE 2:
19.25 hours... hopefully this will be the last call. This is getting crazy. At least me and my boy got dinner and were on our way home before I got paged again.

Lost

Here it is the end of September. The new shows and new seasons are coming on. But where is Lost?

I think it must be Lost. :)

I did some searching, and according to SpointerFix.com, it looks like we wont see Season 4 of Lost till Februrary.

October Camping Trip

We finally got our Fall Break Camping trip scheduled today.

We are going to go to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. We initially were going to go to Devil's Den (AR), Robber's Cave (OK), or Roaring River (MO), but all three were out of reserveable camp sites. Since the were out, we started looking elsewhere. We almost went with Roman Nose (OK), but I wasn't sure. Then I found Bull Shoals (AR). It had hiking, camping, fishing in a lake or river. It sounded great. Plus the town also had a cave. So, I went to reserve, and none were available. I guess everyone is going camping that weekend. Then I found Crater of Diamonds. It sounded great, and they had availability... can't beat that!

My boy loves rocks! And even that statement is probably an understatement. So the opportunity for him to dig for diamonds and other stones is a real treat for him. Plus, we'll have hiking trails we'll take and who knows what else. Plus with the trip scheduled in October, hopefully we'll have some nice fall foliage too!

Roaring River Men's Retreat

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Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

I had a great time this weekend. The fishing this year was harder than last. I'm not sure why, but Thursday and Friday were killers as far as getting my limit. Saturday, luckily, was much smoother.

My dad and I didn't get our long hike in cause of how long it took us to get our limit on Friday, but we did manage to go on a small hike.

Saturday, after we got our limit, we walked around and took some pictures. This one is where Roaring River starts.

The Worship service each night was great. And I really enjoyed hearing 30+ men just sing praises to God. Wow!

100_6281
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

Oh, and here is one of those pesky little fish that gave me such a hard time this week.

It really was a great trip!

I have a few more pictures on my Flickr account if you're interested.

Talk like a Pirate Day Update

Talk like a pirate day was a blast. I had a lot of fun with it, and made just about everyone I met laugh. I even got several people to try it, though one couldn't even manage an "Arrrr". I found that amusing.

I hoped eveyone else had a good day as well.

Well, I'm off to Cassville, MO. I'm going on a men's retreat up there, and plan on doing some Trout Fishing!!! I can't wait.

Talk like a Pirate Day

Wednesday is Talk like a Pirate Day! In fact, every September 19th is.

Try to have fun with it everyone.

Aye, Der be much fun to be 'ad. Savey?

Okie Blog Awards

Alrighty. Yes, I know. everyone is shocked that I'm posting again! Who knows, this may be a new trend.

The reason for this post is to brag on my brother-in-law who runs the blog 4 Color Commentary which is a comic book related blog.

Anyway, he has been nominated for an Okie Blog Award. The award he's up for is the Best Culture Blog.

So, if you are from Oklahoma, and have an active blog, head on over and vote for him.

And while you're at it, you might want to stop by his blog and take a look-see.

It's official, I'm old

Today is my 35th birthday, and it's bugging me a bit.

I don't think it's the age itself that's bothering me. It's the fact that when I fill out forms, I'll no longer be in the 2x-34 age category, I'll be in the 35-50 or whatever it is.

35-50!!! They might as well sign me up for AARP!!!

Anyway, I come home from work today, I look through the mail. I had 3 birthday cards and some mail from AARP telling me I qualify for their life insurance policy!!!!

WHAT?!?!?

Now I really feel old.

But the day ended well with my wonderful wife grilling me steak and shrimp for dinner and get getting me a new stove for camping!

Sex

Wow, very long time since I last posted.

Last night, my boy and I were watching TV when a commercial came on with kids talking, telling their parents to talk to them about sex.

After about the 3rd one I'd seen that evening, my boy looks at me and asks. "What's sex?"

So I explained that sex is something God gave a man and woman that's really nice and it's how babies are made. And just like the commercial said, it should be saved till he's married. That's also how God made it.

He was like, "OK" and he moved on to other conversations.

I'm sure that will be the first of many other conversations to come. Just wasn't expecting the conversation at 7.

River Tax

Well, I'm sitting here running another 101+ temp again for the 3rd time this week (I was "normal" yesterday") and the urge struck me to talk about the River Tax. Why? No clue, but why not.

What do I know about the River Tax? Not a whole lot, and I'll happily admit that.

• Do I think developing the Arkansas River in Tulsa would be a good thing? Sure do. Shoot, it's working for Jenks, especially if the Drillers move down there.
  
• Do I think we needs to be a tax for it? I'm not really convinced one way or the other.
  
• Do I think there needs to be a county tax for it? Nope.

Here is the deal. There are shopping centers going up all over the place. Nice ones that people come from all over. Shoot, I know people from the Sand Springs area that frequent the Owasso shopping Center, and that's just one example.

Concerning a county tax, I'm not sure how having a tax to build at the river will help the Collinsville economy. Nope, don't see it at all. I do, however, see how it could benefit Tulsa.

There has to be some rich person out there that feels the need to get richer and develop the area with private funds. There's gotta be. And if not, any rich person that wants to do that, they can give me their money, and I'll get richer doing it.

Email or comment if you need to know who to make the check out to.

Happy "Birthday"

Today is my daughters "7th" birthday.

Yes, my almost 19 year old daughter turns 7 today. It was 7 years ago today that her adoption was final.

Every year, I have bought her a card and a small present. The card always reads which birthday it is. She ran across her 5th birthday card a few weeks ago. This is a little something that we've always done that's special to both of us.

First Day of 2nd Grade

Today was his first day in Second grade.
He is getting so big! It really can just break your heart sometimes watching. We took him to school and walked him to his class (like normal on the first day of school). Tomorrow, he'll ride the bus to school as he continues this grand adventure!

And as in Kindergarten and in first grade, we again took his picture on the first day of school.

Compilng

This is just to funny not to share. Of course, it may only be funny since it's the line of work I'm in...


And I've done stuff like this while compiling. hehe

Computer Room

Now that my daughter has moved out, we now have another room.

This weekend, my wife and I painted over the pink & black, and moved in some stuff. The room now has a TV, DVD, satelite, and PS2. My computer is also in here, and we've also got a recliner.

We'll keep our eyes out for a few things to finish off the room. I want to set up a second computer. My wife also wants to get a different chair.

It's been a long weekend, but now it's done... (well, we still have to finish cleaning the other room).

*sigh*

There are days I wish I could turn in my "Daddy card".