READ THIS VERY SLOWLY.... IT'S PRETTY PROFOUND.

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, don't know it was coming or are too regid to depart from their routine.

I got to thinking one day about all those women on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out ti dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word "refrigeration" mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched ' Jeopardy ' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said, 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain.' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because people cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Stevie toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet... We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out
of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Roller blades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in a long time. I love ice cream.. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day I stopped the car and bought a banana split. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to......not something on your SHOULD DO list. If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?

Have you ever watched kids playing on a merry go round or listened to the rain lapping on the ground? Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight or gazed at the sun into the fading night? Do you run through each day on the fly? When you ask "How are you?' do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed with the next hundred chores running through your head? Ever told your child, 'We'll do it tomorrow.' And in your haste, not see his sorrow? Ever lost touch? Let a good friendship die? Just call to say 'Hi?

When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift....Thrown away..... Life is not a race. Take it slower. Hear the music before the song is over.

Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND. To those I have sent this to... I cherish our friendship and appreciate all you do.

'Life may not be the party we hoped for.. but while we are here we might as well dance!

It's really sad that they will stop making a Pontiac. We got a brand new 1960 Pontiac Ventura in '60. It was a beautiful blue (International Klein Blue - in the swatch ) with teeny little silver specs in it. That was the smoothest riding car in the world. It was huge inside and it was only a two door. It had a gigantic trunk. We absolutely loved that car and it was terrible when we had to go to Turkey for three years and couldn't take it with us. There were some truly neat cars in the 50s and 60s. I loved the shapes and colors of those cars. Those were the years of the beautiful shaped cars. And they weren't made of plastic back then either!!!! This will blow your mind - we paid only 16 cents per gallon of gas back then.

144 years ago this month President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and I thought I would share one of our local legends with you:

The legend says that John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, died in Enid around 1903. A man named David E. George, committed suicide in Enid, Oklahoma Territory, in 1903 and is believed to have been Booth himself.

John Wilkes Booth was a noted actor and Confederate sympathizer and had originally planned on kidnapping Lincoln in exchange for Confedrate prisoners. Due to a change in plans Booth decided to assassinate President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, at the Ford's Theater in Washington. After shooting the President, Booth jumped to the stage, caught and broke his leg on a flag and fled the theater.

History states that Booth escaped, but was found by federal soldiers several weeks later. He had hidden in a barn near Port Royal, Virginia, and would not surrender. The barn was eventually set on fire. Booth was supposedly shot and killed by Sgt. Boston Corbett of the Sixteenth New York Cavalry.

Conflicting stories still exist about the identification of Booth's body, and there were errors made in the identification process along with errors in supplying information to the public about the identification. Legend tells that Boston Corbett, the man who shot Booth against orders, was involved in identifying the body as Booth's. This has fueled the speculation that Booth may not have been killed that night, but some other individual.



Many years later on January 13, 1903, in the Grand Avenue Hotel in Enid, (upstairs in the current Garfield Furniture building) Oklahoma, a man calling himself David E George was found dead. A doctor diagnosed his death as self-administered arsenic poisoning. George had been a house painter who did not know how to paint and always had access to money but died penniless. Legend has him quoted as saying "I killed the best man that ever lived."

After George was embalmed, he was placed in a chair in the window of the furniture store/funeral home so that the public could view him, and a photograph was taken due to his "remarkable likeness" to Booth. George's leg had also been broken above the right ankle-the same break that Booth had suffered in jumping from the Ford's Theater balcony. However, the doctor who had set Booth's leg had reported it to be the opposite leg.

About that time, a man named Finis L. Bates came to Enid to inspect the body. Bates identified George as an old friend and client of his named John St. Helen. Bates claimed to have known St. Helen (George) as a client and friend in the early 1870s. Bates stated that St. Helen had become seriously ill at one point and confessed that he was John Wilkes Booth. He supposedly gave information about the assassination and escape that only Booth would know.

Many facts that Bates published about St. Helen were proven to be inconsistent with documented facts. However, the body, which had been embalmed, was given to Bates, who began to lease the body to interested parties.

The body was even displayed at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 and also at many sideshow carnivals. The body then went on a few more adventures and eventually disappeared.

(If this interests you and for more on this being true, see the part called "and another article" at John Wilkes Booth)

This is our huge expo center that supports everything from basketball to monster trucks and even craft shows. The tornado caught the roof at the back, right end and wrapped it around a portion of the bldg that is on top of the roof. Then the yellow insulation and pieces of metal can be seen for literally miles. There was a second tornado that followed almost exactly the track of the first one and did some more damage, mainly fences, trees, roof shingles and loose objects. No leveling or people hurt thank goodness. More photos here if you are interested: EnidBuzz Blog

Just had (approx 10:45pm Saturday) a tornado about 2 miles north of my house. We did go to the basement. (we are the red area straight up from the "l" in Oklahoma City). Another one may be on the way. There was some damage on the North side of Enid (where we are). No people hurt. We had lots of warning and Norman Oklahoma (south of Oklahoma City) has the best tornado weather center in the world. They can tell us down to the street where a tornado is.

I've sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, and diabetes. I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But, thank God, I still have my driver's license.

What is an Oxymoron? Wiktionary states: A figure of speech in which two words with opposing meanings are used together intentionally for effect; A contradiction in terms. Once in awhile, it is kind of fun to look at the most used and top oxymorons.

Top Oxymorons list...

Act naturally
Found missing
Resident alien
Advanced BASIC
Genuine imitation
Airline food
Good grief
Same difference
Almost exactly
Government organization
Sanitary landfill
Alone together
Legally drunk
Silent scream
British fashion
Living dead
Small crowd
Business ethics
Soft rock
Butt head
Software documentation
New York culture
Extinct life
Sweet sorrow
Childproof
“Now, then...”
Synthetic natural gas
Passive aggression
Taped live
Clearly misunderstood
Peace force
New classic
Temporary tax increase
Plastic glasses
Terribly pleased
Computer security
Political science
Tight slacks
Definite maybe
Pretty ugly
Twelve-ounce pound cake
Diet ice cream
Rap music
Working vacation
Exact estimate
Religious tolerance

And the NUMBER ONE top OXY-Moron . . .

.

.

.
Microsoft Works

A friend sent this to me and I felt like it would be worth sharing with you. Nothing Democrat or Republican about it, nothing conservative or liberal, nothing religious so I do not think it will offend anyone, unless you happen to be a member of congress. Their approval rating is in the low 20s so think I am fairly safe. Don't judge this by who said it until after you have read it.

Love him or loathe him, he nailed this one right on the head. By Rush Limbaugh

I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound. No one is really talking about it either, because you just do not criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can not let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you are going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million. If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable. Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt. Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it is not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers. (Actually, soldiers are put in harms way by politicians and commanding officers.) We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well. You see where this is going, do you not? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense? However, our own US Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you do not know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they did not have to pay into the system. If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E7, they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harms way receives a pension of $15,000 per month. I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting. "When do we finally do something about this?" If this doesn't seem fair to you, it is time to forward this to as many people as you can. How many people CAN YOU send this to? **************************** How many WILL YOU???

My grandson has wanted to ride a horse forever. Finally on Saturday there were some free pony rides at a BBQ Cooking contest. Here is a picture that tells it all.

Later, he excitedly told me "I said I can not do it, I just can not do it." I asked him if he was scared and he said "no"! The "firsts" for kids are so special. Never forget to take pictures.

I got tagged by "The Retired One" and
here are my answers:

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Garage Sale Saturdays
2. The smell of mowed grass
3. A nice Spring rain
4. Doing things with my kids and grandkids
5. Doing computer work for my son
6. Eating out
7. Meeting my former work friends for lunch on some ones birthday
8. When the weather is nice enough to sit on my screened porch

8 Things I wish I could do:

1. Walk all I want without back pain
2. Lose some weight
3. Lift heavy things and move them like I used to
4. Write a mystery book
5. Have a vacation home in the mountains
6. Have more patience
7. Like to exercise
8. Become a millionaire

8 things I did yesterday:

1. My grandson and I put other limbs out front for the city to pick up when they came after the broken tree limb.
2. Picked up my granddaughter from Jr High
3. Reading on my second book on my Kindle2
4. Read blogs
5. Finished adding pages to one of our family web sites for my son
7. We went to Oklahoma City to pick up one of my granddaughters
8. Did some washing

8 shows I watch:

1. Young and Restless
2. Bold and Beautiful
3. The Apprentice
4. Most shows on HGTV
5. Real Housewives of New York City, Atlanta and Orange County
6. Millionaire Matchmaker
7. Fox News
8. Bill O'Reilly

In case you don't have anything to do, I thought I'd give you 5 sites where you can waste your time and they are free.


Falling Sand
Just experiment with everything and realize you can use the choices at the bottom to change your "drawing tool" and rate that things happen.

Samorost
If you have not experienced the incredible graphics and engaging point and click game play of Samorost you must give it a try

Subservient Chicken
Your wish is the Subservient Chicken's command. Doesn't this guy ever get tired?

Spirograph
I had a Spirograph as a kid and loved spending hours making amazing geometric drawings with it.

SymmetryLab Machine
This is a work in progress, but you can still have a lot of fun and waste a lot of time building animated machines from a simple set of parts.

graphic from Free Clipart Pics

I was sitting in my living room around noon, when my son stopped by and said something about my tree limb and I didn't know what he was referring to. He said my tree was half gone out front. I thought he was kidding. There was no wind or bad weather, it just fell apart. This old elm tree must be 70 years old or so. Can you believe this, the whole trunk is empty and it was budding out anyway!!! I can't believe it fell there and not on someones car. I had called the city last year that this tree needed to be cut down but they never came by. I need to put an old pair of sweat pants in that hole with the legs hanging out. Think that would stop traffic?

Dear President Obama,

Thank you for helping my neighbors with their mortgage payments. You know, the ones who live down the street who in the good times refinanced their house several times and bought SUVs, ATVs, RVs,
a pool, 3 HDTVs, and XBox, 2 wave runners, new flooring for their home, an enlarged patio, and a Harley. Also I was wondering, since I am paying my mortgage AND theirs, could you arrange for me to borrow the Harley now and then?

Sincerely,
Amy Hardison
Lewisville, Texas

P.S. They also need help with their credit cards, when do you want me to start making those payments?

P.P.S. I almost forgot, they didn't file their income tax return this year. Should I go ahead and file for them or will you be appointing them to your cabinet?

The Sand Dollar or Holy Ghost Shell is one of the most unusual specimens of marine life. The markings on the shell, to some, symbolize the Birth, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. On top of the shell, an outline of the Easter Lily is clearly seen. At the center of the Lily is a five pointed Star representing the Guiding Star of Bethlehem that led the Wise Men. The five narrow openings are representative of the four nail holes and the spear wound made in the body of Christ during the Crucifixion. Reversing the shell you will recognize the outline of the Poinsettia, the Christmas flower, and also the Bell. When broken, inside the shell are five little birds called the Doves of Peace. Some say they are the Angels that sang to the Shepherds the First Christmas Morning.

May you all have a blessed Easter.

A goldfish has a memory span of three months .
(Some days that's more than my memory span is)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
(I know some people like that also . Actually I know A LOT of people like this! I even worked for several people like this!)

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
(Good thing that was all that melted)

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.'
(Yes, admit it, you are going to say, a e i o u and check them out)

Almonds are a member of the peach family.
(Now this is something I have always wanted to know)

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
(now I know who to blame next time my grandson cuts his own hair!)

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!
(So, how exactly are peanuts involved in dynamite you ask? Well....Dynamite is made from Nitroglycerine, Nitroglycerine, also known as trinitroglycerin, and glyceryl trinitrate, is an oily, explosive liquid made by nitrating glycerol. So nitroglycerine is made from glycerol. Glycerol or glycerine, is a viscous liquid used in soap, cream, and food. Glycerol is made of……….Peanut oil! Peanut oil of course being made of peanuts!
So there you have it! The principle ingredient of dynamite is peanuts!)

Now don't you really feel somewhat smarter?

And you also find out interesting things when you have a son, like...

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq ft. house 4 inches deep.
2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.
3.) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.
4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.
5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.
6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan
7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words 'uh oh', it's already too late.
8.) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.
9.) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36- year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.
10.) Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.
11.) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.
12.) Super glue is forever.
13.) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.
14.) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.
15.) VCR's do not eject 'PB & J' sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.
16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.
17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.
18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.
19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.
20.) The fire department in Austin, TX has a 5-minute response time.
21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.
22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.
23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.
24.) 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.
25.) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

These pictures are of the roots of two trees that were ripped right out of the ground. We've had so much high wind lately, it made me think of what we went through a couple of years ago, when we had what the weather man calls "straight line wind" damage.

When the National Weather Service does a storm damage survey they distinguish between straight-line wind and wind produced from a tornado. Straight-line wind damage will push debris in the same direction the wind is blowing (hence the creation of the term straight-line). Tornado damage will scatter the debris in a variety of different directions since the winds of a tornado are rotating violently. This type of survey can be used to determine if straight-line wind occurred instead of a tornado or vice versa. Straight-line wind intensity can be as powerful as a tornado. Because of this some people in the general public will believe a tornado occurred when in reality one did not occur.

This is a sample of what straight line wind can do. we had a line through one neighborhood with a lot of trees that looked like this. Pulled the whole tree out, root and all! If you'd like to see more of our pictures, check this out.

I don't know if any of you have a Sonic Drive-In in your town. The headquarters is in Oklahoma City and they may be only in Oklahoma. They are a neat drive in, they have the best ice in town and they have a happy hour everyday (2-4pm). Their only problem is they never seem to mark the different drinks. The drink filler person never punches the tops right. You can have eight people in your car and you all have to figure out whose drink is whose unless you can see cream or cherry on the top. Forget it if you don't like vanilla in your coke, because you are bound to get that one. Forget it if you have pneumonia and should not drink and then give your drink to someone else. We have 4 Sonics in town and none of them mark the tops and neither do some of the other fast food places in town. What is the problem? We even ask "Please mark the drinks" and they still get them wrong. It is like Mickey Ds will hardly ever get your order right if you are in the drive thru. Where is the good old "good customer service"? What happened to the people who used to listen to what you ordered and get it right? In my jobs, if I treated the military members who came in my office for service like I get treated, I would not have lasted very long. I guess the solution for drinks is go through the line the number of times that you have people who want drinks and order one at a time. As for Mickey Ds I might have to do what my son did - park his car and went in and asked "Do your instructions tell you to get everyones order wrong?"