Sheila Races (Walks) For The Cure

Sheila was up at 5:30 this morning getting ready to make the Race for the Cure. This is the second time she has done the race and the first since her breast cancer surgery. Thank God for His providence and for the skill and wisdom of people like Dr. Lynette Smith, Sheila's breast surgeon, and Dr. Charles W. Taylor her oncologist.

It is hard to explain what being the family member of a cancer survivor is like. The experience is one that you sincerely hope that no one else ever has to endure. The agonizing waits on test results, the fear, the bargaining with God and the disease, the hope and the terror.

It has been three years now since Sheila's radical mastectomy. There have been two serious scares both of which turned out to be non-malignant. Sheila is healthy and strong now and I praise God for that every day of my life.

The Senior Prom

Bill & Sheila Visit Their Grandson .... Due In Early December

Sheila and I had a very touching experience this afternoon. For half an hour we got to watch our grandson, Benjamin Robert Schatz, move around inside his mommies tummy.

There is a business here in Tulsa called Stork Vision that will, for a fee, allow family and friends to come in and watch a realtime with full movement three dimensional sonogram of their unborn child, grandchild, etc.

It was incredibly exciting, tender and sobering all at the same time. There he was, a little boy. We saw his little boy parts. We watched him pull his hands over his eyes trying to go back to sleep. We watched him stretch his feet almost to his face and curl up in a ball. And eventually, we saw his little face, puffy cheeks, Kumpe nose and all. I don't really know how to explain my feelings at this moment.

It hasn't been so long ago that we didn't even know what the sex of a child would be until it was born. And we certainly didn't know anything about them as a person. But, for half an hour this afternoon, we watched him move, respond to stimulus and even show emotion.

God shares his sovereignty with us in allowing us to create new life. It is a wonder both physically and spiritually. I am still in awe of what I saw this afternoon.

Maddy and Roger and Sheila and Bill Watch a Sobering Movie

We met Roger and Maddy at the neighborhood IHOP early for the BOGO supper and then went to see "2016" at the Promenade. It is a thoughtful, sobering even frightening movie. Following up on President Obama's own recorded statements and the history of his family, the movie develops a picture of a man who has no experience with American culture as we know it, no loyalty to American values as we know them and a burning generationally bred desire to take America and Americans down a few notches the world community.

It is undisputed that his father was a high ranking and respected advisor to the leftist Kenyan independence movement which among other things bred the bloody Mau Mau uprisings there.

It is undisputed that during the 1960's his mother was a hard core leftist with a penchant for third world revolutionaries for husbands when she wasn't posing for porn.

It is undisputed that his closest mentor was a card carrying communist so dangerous that the FBI kept him on the list of Soviet Agents until the day he died.

It is undisputed that one of his close Chicago political friends was a member of the 1960's radical group the Weathermen who bombed US govt. offices, including the Pentagon, and killed policemen.

It is undisputed that his pastor of many years is the high priest of the anti-American, anti-colonial liberation theology movement.

In short, this movie thoughtfully shows that the man in the Oval Office right now admits that he has an agenda forged by his association with these people and their cause, the destruction of America as we know it. If you want to get a historical view of this man's political influences start with the bloody and infamous Mau Mau movement in Kenya. Then take a look at the US "Weather Underground" movement of the 1960's.

The information presented in this movie is not just campaign propaganda. It is factual. The problem is that the people who should see this movie will not and even if they did they have become so addicted to the politics of partisanship, lies, accusations, labels and branding that they no longer have the intellectual capacity to weigh the evidence before them.

Bill Buys A Tablet

(NOTE, this post was originally in error.  I DID NOT WEAR OUT A BLACKBERRY.  As I was getting ready to put my BB Titanium away for the last time, I decided to try the last ditch efforts and did a SYSTEM RESET which wiped it completely and reset it to original factory settings.  It then rebooted and worked perfectly and has worked perfectly ever since.  I just had to reinstall my apps. )

While shopping for a new smart phone, I installed my Sim Card in the last generation Blackberry and discovered something remarkable. It was a remarkably good business telephone and PDA. No bells and whistles but it worked perfectly. It is built like a tank and does everything you would want a business phone to do. And, since it doesn't have a camera or an extended capacity voice recorder, you don't have to surrender it to the door Gestapo in federal facilities. (Make a note of this conspiracy buffs. You surrender your right to privacy to anything you surrender to their custody and it takes about ten seconds to dump your entire life onto another computer for later analysis.)

This set me to thinking about just keeping the old reliable BB. I then stumbled across this remarkable little Android tablet at Big Lots for $65.00. The little guy is absolutely amazing for the investment. With a wifi connection you can check email and Facebook, read the news, etc. Without the wifi you can still use it as an e-reader for your ebook account, watch movies, play games, listen to music, etc. While it is only a 512mhz processor, it handles video fine. I have watched a couple of movies now and it does a great job with them. Same with YouTube when you have a connection.

I don't think this little guy has been out of my reach since I bought it. I have read Kindle books at the coffee shop, watched a movie while waiting for my pharmacist to straighten out a prescription with my insurance company, checked email too many times, did multiple FB postings, etc. It took it all in stride. It even does voice activated internet searches so you don't have to key in your search terms! The only glaring fault I can find is that it has a front facing camera only which is great for video messaging, skype, etc. but makes it nearly impossible to take a picture of anyone else.

Bottom line, it is not a powerhouse but does a great job as a digital companion.

Bill Cooks A Quick and Elegant Little Dinner

Things just didn't work out today. Sheila had to work on her consulting job for a couple of hours, and then there was an emergency at her full time office that required immediate attention. I was stove up from yesterday's doin's and spent most of the afternoon asleep. Bottom line, when things finally came together it was around five and we needed a quick little dinner. I think it came out pretty well. You might call it a "Wal Mart Gourmet" meal since everything came from there.

The salad is WM's house brand Ceaser straight out of the bag. It's not bad at all. The tea is Lipton's "Brisk" Raspberry. I'm quickly becoming addicted to it.

The little bird couldn't have been simpler. I had bought two Cornish game hens for later in the week. I used them tonight instead. I split the skin from the meat near the breast and worked my finger under there until the skin was completely separated but still attached. I then stuffed in a couple of generous sprigs of rosemary and poured in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. After patting them dry with a paper towel again, I massaged the outside with a little more olive oil and then salt and peppered them generously. A peeled shallot in the body cavity finished the prep. It took no more than five minutes.

Cooking the little bird was just as easy. I lit off one side the gas grill (no time for a charcoal or wood fire) and positioned the birds off the heat but near enough to it where they would roast and brown but not burn. I moved them around a couple of times to make sure they cooked evenly. They were a golden brown in a little over half an hour.

It was a very tasty little meal that took less than an hour from beginning to end. And, judging from Sheila's picking every morsel of meat from her bird and what I had left on my plate, I would say a good time was had by all.

Bill and Sheila Go To The Farm

It had been two months since we visited the farm and we were definitely overdue for a work day and a visit. On our last visit we pretty well cleaned house except for the large living area in the rear and of course that final room that doesn't count that is full of mom's stuff that we still have to sort through.
The room in question had succumbed to a summers worth of dead wasps, lizard tracks from the critters eating the dead bugs, etc. It is really a nice room with a large picture window looking out to the south. We attacked it around ten and by noon, the only bugs left were those flying around that we couldn't catch with the vacuum. When we finished, we hung a couple of decorator items, spread plastic drop cloths over the furniture and moved on to other pursuits.


We decided to spend a little time fishing. It was the wrong time of the day and my cousin John's cows followed us to the pond and got in the water scaring any fish that might have been hanging around away. But, I got the chance to show Sheila a little bit about how to use her brand new "Lady Shakespeare" pink for breast cancer cure rod and reel. I must say she got into the thing because her sneakers matched her fishing equipment perfectly. The only thing we came close to catching were turtles. And I have to say, while my ponds may no longer have the number of fish they had when I was younger, they do have some spectacular snapping turtles. The old fishing lore said that turtles will eat up all of the fish in your pond. If I find that that is true, I suspect I may have to do some .22 caliber turtle fishing before the weather cools off.
When we tired of fishing, we drove the little red pickup around the fence lines while I checked out likely hunting spots for the fall season. I do need to get the property posted for whatever good that will do. I would really be angry to be down there on the first day of turkey season and find somebody besides my cousin John or his grandson Johnny hunting the place. We did spot a doe and two nearly grown fawns early on in our drive around. They weren't the least afraid of us or our truck and I had to wonder what in world is happening when you loudly stumble on a deer and two fawns and they don't disappear like lightning. In the olden days, unless your were very quiet and still on your stand, the only thing you might see was a fleeting glimpse of a white tail. Mama just stood there and looked at me for several moments, presenting an almost perfect shot picture. (The deer photo is not mine but this is close to what it looked like.)

When we got back to the house, we had a great luxury, a shower. Not a sponge bath and not a mini shower with a handheld rubber appliance meant for washing hair over a sink. A real, long, luxurious shower. Several months back, Sheila ordered a claw foot tub shower conversion kit and we had a local man install it for us. Wow, what a luxury.

It was dinner time by this time and when we got to the intersection of OK 141 and US 64. Sheila was torn between heading toward Sallisaw for Charlie's Chicken Buffet which is always good and always open or taking a chance on the very good but not always open Wagon Wheel Express Barbecue in Muldrow. I let her choose and she opted for Muldrow. It was open, the food was fabulous and we ate too much.

While my catfish and Sheila's pulled pork could not have been improved upon it was the sides that made the meal for me. Two of my sides were pan fried potatoes and pinto beans. I guess some things never change. They tasted exactly like those that we ate at the farmhouse table many, many evenings so long ago. I guess it is a southern thing and probably even a local thing but to an Okie pinto beans with fried potatoes is the ultimate comfort food. We finished the meal off by splitting a serving of their absolutely perfect bread pudding. Not too sweet, not too bready, not too mushy, perfectly cooked and served with tart lemon sauce that just sends it over the top. You will notice that our huge serving is already half eaten. We both took several bites before we remembered to take a picture of it. It was a meal worth talking about.

It seemed like most of Muldrow had been there for dinner or was coming in soon. They had a good, steady crowd. And I might add, the owners and employees are nice folks. Just plain old nice folks. It is absolutely amazing that Muldrow, the little bump on the map off I-40 has two very good restaurants. Broadway Joe's up on US 64 is about as good a diner as you are going to find anyplace in the US.

We had one final chore to do before leaving town. Sheila had picked up some fall flowers for Mom and Dad's graves. When we got there, we noticed that someone had apparently stolen the flowers from Mom's vase but Dad's still looked fine. So, we gave Mom all of the fall flowers and headed back up 1-40. It was a busy day but a good day. Nothing extraordinary but a lot of pleasant little adventures. A good time was had by all.