international respect

It would be funnier if it weren't so scary...



The video was produced by Our Country Deserves Better. Be sure to have a look at their Why We Oppose Obama page.

(thanks to Gateway Pundit - one of may favorite blogs)

modeling my office in SketchUp

I mentioned that I'd gotten new bookshelves in a previous post. I've got the bookshelves done and I've been cleaning up lots of other stuff as well. I had boxes of computer parts also stacked in the office since moving into it. I got big plastic tubs to move that into (culling out useless bits) that will keep spiders and the like from it in the garage.

I'm also thinking about rearranging the office to make better use of the space. I decided to start with some house drawings I'd done before and add detail to the office so I could play with placing the furniture in 3d. This allows me to try things without unplugging the multitude of wires, etc. And it lets me try out potential future furniture before buying it.

Here's what I have so far - in the configuration that it currently is arranged:



It's obviously missing a lot of smaller clutter like computers, basses, etc but it's enough to begin playing with. I'll update more later as I have it...

fish or pole

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." -- Chinese proverb

Along the lines of a late-night rant I had on Sheena's blog recently, I like this graphic:


I think it gives a good quick point of comparison when evaluating a candidate. It comes from a great post on sociopolitical design.

random Blackberry photos

All aboard!


obligatory dog pic:


Keegan waits for the Tommy Emmanuel concert to start:


out for a bike ride (made my legs hurt!):


cool bus I saw this evening:


very distant shot of Macy and her wind ensemble with the homeschool choir tonight:


entertaining a restless and loud Lathen:

go Tommy go

Sunday night, Keegan and I went down to Norman to see a concert by the legendary Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. I expected him to be good, but I didn't know what we were in for. He's not only one of the best guitarists you could see, but he's a great entertainer and comes across as an all around super nice guy.

Here's a sample of his original music:



And for a sample of his personality and humor (and a quick guitar lesson) watch this video (they disabled embedding for some reason).

I've decided that the thing that makes him such a great entertainer is his obvious love for playing guitar and his unpretentious desire to share it with people. If you get the chance to see him live - do it! (His next visit to Oklahoma will be March '09 in Tulsa).

one eyed Egyptians

Since we now have a daily surplus of eggs, I thought I should learn how to make more than just scrambled eggs. I've now learned to fry eggs "sunny side up" and "over easy" pretty well (surprise Mom - I love fried eggs!). Today, I decided to try something that Kendre's grandfather called "one eyed Egyptians". I've found that they are also called "toad in a hole", "hobo eggs", "eggs in a basket", "bird's nest", and more...

Basically you cut a hole in a piece of buttered bread and fry it with an egg placed in the hole. Naturally I decided to experiment, so I scrambled the eggs first so they would be a more kid-friendly uniform consistency. Also, for most of them, I flipped them over and put cheese on top to melt. Don't forget salt and pepper!



They turned out to be quite good! For the most part, they were a hit. I think for just me I will not scramble the eggs in the future - I like the runny "over easy" effect, but this was better for getting kids to try.

Also, I found that if you put the circle that you cut out on top of the egg (after toasting it) it's called "one eyed Jack". I have a theory that a dish with many different names (especially odd ones) is probably a good one!

ophiological update

Last week I posted about finding a rattlesnake. Now I think I need to update and correct that posting based on new information.

Today, Kendre found a large Black Rat Snake eating an egg in the chicken coop. She wasn't very happy about that so she called on me to deal with it.


(this is not my picture)

It was in the corner of the coop and close to the chicken door so I was concerned that if I opened the outer door and came in with a shovel, it would just make an exit through the chicken pen. So I got the .22 (in an effort to minimize collateral damage) and shot it through the window opening. After that I extracted it with the shovel and finished it off with many a "oooh!" and "yuck!" and "cool!" from the home school class that gathered to watch.

I was doing some reading about it and came across some information related to juveniles. Their coloring is akin to that of the massasauga rattlesnake and they will also "rattle" their tails when threatened (see the OKSnakes link). SO... I think that must be what I found last week and erroneously identified as a rattler. Perhaps today's snake was the mom I had wondered about...

Anyway, I hope this is the last snake related post for a while.