Our 50th!

50th game of Ticket to Ride, that is. 

Brenda & I launched an on-going series of Ticket to Ride games last Oct 31.  Whenever we have a few minutes to spare (often on a Sun evening) we sit down play a game or two and add the score to our running total.  Last week we played the 50th game of our match.  

If you've played this game, you might understand why we enjoy it so much. 

Indeed the game keeps your interest while playing and it is fast paced - we can play a game in 30 minutes or less.  For me that is very important! :)  Also, you just can't tell who is winning until you count things up at the end of the game.  That really helps keep you involved.

If you haven't played, stop by sometime.  We'd be glad to teach you the best board game going!

Who's ahead in the series?  Well, why worry about something like that?  We're having too much fun... and it is pretty close.

Trip to Oklahoma City

Over Brenda's spring break we took a quick trip to Oklahoma City to see Kyle. We saw where he works, where he lives and who he hangs out with! Our next planned trip to OK will be for the wedding in June. 

We also went to see the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial & Museum.  The museum is shown behind Kalynn & Kyle.

On our way west, we stopped in Rolla, MO and had supper with my cousin Bill & Lois.  They highly recommended that we take time to visit the bombing memorial and now that we've been there, we too would suggest that if your travels take you to OK., you really shouldn't miss this site.

Dwarfing K, K & B is the entry to the memorial.  The bombed federal building would have been situated behind and to the right of this wall.  On the opposite side of the wall toward the top, engraved in the stone is 9:01

Stepping through the entryway in the wall above, you see a reflecting pool which is where the street used to be, the federal building to the right.  The wall on the opposite end of the block has 9:03 engraved toward the top.  The truck packed with explosives was detonated at 9:02 AM on April 19, 1995 which would be 17 years ago yesterday.

There is far, far too much history, facts & figures to mention in this blog but it might be of interest to note that aside from destroying the Murrah Federal Building, the blast The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a sixteen-block radius, and shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings.  It registered in the Richter scale.  More details can be accessed here

Of the 168 fatalities, 163 were from the federal building.  These chairs sit where the building once sat and each chair represents a person killed.  The base of the chairs illuminate at night and the are arranged in 9 rows representing the 9 stories of the building.  The victims found on the first floor have memorial chairs in the first row of this display and those on the second floor are in the second row, etc.

The chain link fence bordering the grounds is covered with notes, flowers, stuffed animals, photos and much more.  We took a few minutes to look.

We found evidence of previous visitors from IL including someone who left an ILLINOIS t-shirt attached to the fence.

Because photography was prohibited inside the museum, I have no photos from there.  

The museum website is OKC Memorial & Museum

2nd Annual Wild Game Dinner

Without a doubt the second wild game dinner was a hit.  Calling it the "second annual" not only indicates there has been a previous dinner but also suggests there could be more if all goes as planned.

  

I was able to shoot several photos at last year's dinner.  This year I only thought to grab the camera a couple times, so there are only a handful of photos to choose from. 

Brenda helps Cadence cut up some meat as the rest of us enjoy the conversation and variety of dishes.

Unfortunately I didn't take a photo of the finished product but this combination of onions, peppers, mushrooms & spinach were sauteed in olive oil before being united with sun-dried tomatoes,  artichoke hearts, marinara sauce, cream cheese and finally penne to make a delicious pasta.  Oh, the wild game?  

Shredded squirrel meat.  

If you stop by our house sometime and ask politely, I'll make you some!!! 

Here we have meat chunks, breaded and fried in a cast iron skillet.  

We got a chuckle out of 6 yr old Paige, after having cleaned up her first serving, politely ask, 

"Please pass the rabbit".  Not something you hear every day.

Yes, Paige, it was worthy of a second helping!

Grilled pheasant breast wrapped in bacon.  Need I say more? 

Unfortunately that is all the photos I have.  Too bad because in addition, we had:

Bacon wrapped Duck, marinated with teriyaki seasoning and grilled.

Venison chili.

Meatloaf also from Venison.

And yes, we did have some vegetables & salad.

Awesome meal.  Looking forward to the 3rd annual!

Back to the construction project

Time to update the construction project.  I'm a couple weeks behind on my posting updates which works out well because I've not done much in the past two weeks... which means if I was up-to-date, I'd have nothing to post!

Front door is in place

Windows in and ready to start siding.

This particular day, Kurt is going to work on the siding while I mud all the drywall.  We'll see who is done first.  Probably not me.  I'm too slow and deliberate.  Drywall compound and ladder are ready and with a nice sunny day, it's the working conditions are perfect.

Looking upstairs from the window. 

Kurt puts the first strip of siding in place.  No doubt he's going to get done first.  I've all ready stopped working so I can take some photos!

1st side is complete.

Front will be complete with just two more pieces.  The shadows indicate it's getting toward late afternoon and the exterior is really, really close to being done!!

CDL

Last fall after harvest, I enjoyed tilling about 3000 acres for a local farmer.  My work schedule allows for some free time occasionally and so whenever obligations at the office were complete, I'd take off for the field.  It worked out well for both parties.  Kamela spent some time with me in the tractor one of those beautiful autumn days last October and wrote about it HERE.

Meanwhile, I've thought for some time having a CDL could potentially be useful.  Not that I intended to get into the trucking industry but with all the farmers in our area you never know when one of them might need a driver for a day here and there.  And since I have a free day here and there...

A few weeks ago I passed the written portion of the test.  Today was the driving portion which went well.

As it turns out, I've a few free days next week.  I'd be glad to haul your corn wherever you need.  Call me for a quote!   HaHa.

Media & Children

Perhaps I find this so interesting partly because Brenda tells me frequently that she and fellow teachers
often comment about the large percentage of young children who cannot sit still, have no attention span, don't know how to listen,etc.  More and more students seem to have learning disabilities and/or behavior issues.  I suspect it would be hard to find a teacher who doesn't think it's a growing concern.

For those who have raised children without a TV and a plethora of entertainment type videos and feel that was proper because of a certain value or standard you were/are trying to instill, it is wonderful to know that you may also have provided a great assist in the mental development of your child by avoiding such.

The information contained in this video is research-based, not someone's theory, and is quite intriguing.

Media & Children  is about 15 minutes long.

Igloo Time

 As she did last year, Brenda had students save plastic gallon jugs over the holiday season and then bring them to school in January.  With the collection of over 200 jugs, we spent a couple hours one evening creating this igloo.  The kids love it as you might imagine and they each are given time inside the igloo to read over the month or so it stays in place.