Bracing for Hurricane Gustav

Today has been a busy day--it started yesterday evening after work with hurricane preparations. Upon waking this morning, I started outside and identified everything that might become a projectile in the garage and stored some of my heavier potted plants on the side of the house that is usually out of the wind. Hurricanes tend to ignore wind patterns. Am I doing anything special? Not really. Just trying to find high, dry places for some of my valuables (i.e. porcelain cats, quilts, framed art, and my Persian rugs) just in case it floods. I may be naive, but flooding is what I most anticipate. So much for my freshly painted walls!

DoD service members in the NOLA area were given mandatory evac orders to begin on 0800 30 Aug, so the cats and I will be hitting the road tomorrow. There's still a chance that Gustav won't make landfall in LA, but I shouldn't have to return until Wed morning at the earliest.

More to follow. . . .

Modern Day Cattle Drive to Fort Worth

I spent the weekend in Fort Worth because I had some training to do at the Reserve Center there. Luckily, my training was only a couple of hours, so I spent Saturday afternoon at the Fort Worth Stockyards. Below is a pic of the main street:

This is a pic of the cattle drive that they do daily down Exchange Street:

That evening I watched some Professional Bull Riding with a friend from the deployment. Overall, it was a good time. For those interested, below is the link to Oklahoma's Stockyard City:

http://www.stockyardscity.org/index.html

Hummingbirds

This is a pic of the Bottlebrush tree I planted back in June. This is the second time it has bloomed and it has succesfully attracted the hummingbirds. It appears they still prefer the feeder I have hanging from my patio, but I've seen a couple check out the tree today.

San Diego '08

Hello, Everyone! Just returned from San Diego and wanted to let everyone know my trip went well. . . .after I got there anyway. . . .the flight out on Monday was a catastrophe. After waiting for 3 hours only to have it cancelled, I didn't get out of New Orleans until 6 pm which put me in Cali at 11 pm (1 am, my time). And then there was the incident in which I dropped my strawberry limeade in my lap in the truck on the way to the airport. . . .oh, and my baggage was "delayed" and I was lucky I listened to that premonition telling me to pack my uniform into a carry-on! Anyway, below are some pics (You can enlarge by clicking on each picture):

View from my hotel room

Pics from Balboa Park:

A Tiny Tiger in its Natural Habitat

My New Lawn

The front of my house no longer looks like a desert!

Join Pickens Plan!

T. Boone has asked me to reach out to friends and family in order to get more people to sign up for the Pickens Plan. This is a movement I believe in and would like to succeed. Take a look at his website and join me in the groups "Oklahomans for Energy Independence" and "Sooners for Pickens Plan"!


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The Blink Count: Round 1

Goodbye, Pelosi!

Nancy Pelosi, the worst Speaker of the House EVER, is up for re-election. Dana Walsh, a conservative, has entered the race in an attempt to break Pelosi's ultra-liberal stranglehold in Congress. The race will be an interesting one because Ms. Walsh is also competing against Cindy Sheehan, the notorious and most vocal anti-war, anti-Bush liberal activist. She will be running as an independent, being disenchanted with the Democratic Party in not endorsing her extreme ideaology. I invite all to take a look at Ms. Walsh's website and contribute, if possible in order to send Pelosi into retirement. The link is located under the "Links" menu on the right.