M - Tubin' on Arcadia

While I hope we get to go again, Noah and I had a great time playing at Arcadia this summer. In addition to swimming in different places around the lake, we added a tube to our repertoire this year.

Dana found this tube at a garage sale. Normally these things are quite expensive but this one had a big tear in the cover that filled up with water when pulled behind a boat. I have access to LOTS of industrial sewing equipment at work so I figured there was a good chance I could make a solid repair. Considering I only paid $5 for it, and it works like a charm, I'd say it was quite a bargain.

Here is Noah waiting to start for the first time out. We worked out a few hand signals prior to just jumping right in. I was a little hesitant to turn him loose out on the lake behind the boat for the first time, not knowing how he'd react. We had three hand signals, thumb up for faster, thumb down for slower, and a fist in the air to stop. Of course...I should have known. The only signal he cared anything about was 'go faster.'

Every time I looked back, which was frequently, he had one hand on the strap and the other hand up in the air giving me a thumbs up. In fact, he just left it there, signaling me to go faster. I was already going about 20mph and he was bouncing all over the place when we hit the waves. The kid is fearless. Finally, I told him I'd go as fast or slow as I wanted and we narrowed the hand signal offering to one - STOP. He's still never used that one.

Occasionally, even the most die-hard boaters need to eat.














Hauling the massive tube around the lake is a bit of a challenge. We still haven't figued out the very best way but this one isn't bad.














Here is Noah flying across the water about 30mph. At one point in a big turn, the tube caught some wind underneath, he came up off the water about 4 feet, and the tube literally turned perpendicular to the surface of the water while flying up in the air. I thought sure he was going to flip upside down and that one would scare him into submission. I let off the throttle, he floated back down right-side up and was ready for more.











Here is some shaky video of the action.

D - Little River Zoo

After an incredibly boring week last week of doing nothing but go to the Y every morning and stay in the house all afternoon, I decided we really needed an outing. So Friday morning we headed down to Norman with Mary and Joel and explored the Little River Zoo. This was a first for us, and I was very impressed. It is much more hands-on than the OKC zoo and just a totally different experience. Obviously there aren't as many animals, but what they do have is a lot of fun.

Here they are petting a ferret...


Feeding the goats....


Throwing bread to the kangaroos (that we were in the cage with)...


Petting a porcupine....



And our favorite part of all, talking with these 2 funny monkeys. It sort of happened by accident as we were leaving. We walked past these guys' cage and I talked to the one on the left and asked her if her head was itchy. She started talking to us. Then the guy on the right came over and talked with us too. We liked him because he sucked his thumb. Anyhow, one of the zookeepers came over and gave them a treat so they would show us some of their tricks. I just love monkeys - they are so funny! They actually had several different varieties and they were all fun to watch.



So to sum it up, go to the Little River Zoo! It's a great time.

D - Gems for Sale!

If you drop by our house today, you will likely see a sad-looking, dejected little boy sitting in the driveway trying his best to peddle his "gems." As you may recall, his love of gems stems from his great love of Webkins where you have the opportunity to go into the caves once a day and try to find a treasure. He has found a way to bring this love into real life now by breaking open rocks with a hammer to check out their centers.

Today he decided that there is a market for these great treasures so he made himself a sign and set up a booth at the end of the driveway. Unfortunately, we live on a cul-de-sac and we don't get much traffic, so he's not getting any action. He's not too happy with me that I won't go put up a sign at the neighborhood entrance directing all the buyers to our house. I guess we just have to hope some really kind-hearted neighbor will stop by on their way home from work!

D - August

***Disclaimer! I felt much more strongly about this particular rant last week when I wrote this and it was much warmer than today AND we were stuck in the house all day AND I had crazy thoughts of getting my house clean AND apparently my patience was running a bit low. But I just downloaded the pictures today and thought I'd go ahead and post.


I hate August. It's hot. It's REALLY hot. There's no Sonshine School. And it's hot - REALLY hot. There's no Sonshine School, it's hot, and there are far fewer activities to participate in because out-of-doors is hot.


As I frantically try to clean my house, I picture Susan and Cathy sitting beside their swimming pools, eating grapes, looking at their blissfully clean homes with no young children in them and laughing at those of us moms who have grown to depend on them throughout the year. They enjoy that, don't they? I've noticed over the years that they love asking me during the month of August how I am doing. They watch with a gleeful look of anticipation as they await my tales of woe and longing for the month of September when they reopen their doors. Oh, how they enjoy this torture.


Don't get me wrong, I LOVE all this extra time with my kids. I love to mop when they are home. I love that THEY love to mop when they are home. I love re-mopping after they do the mopping. Love it, love it, love it!



The mopping duo




Katie with her toy mop




Noah with the real thing




All of the standing water that I got to mop up after they had enough

D - Playdoh - The reason for mopping

Trying to keep cool last week, I did something that has become quite rare around here. I broke out the Playdoh. I don't know when I decided that I really don't like cleaning up after playdoh, but at some point over the past 7 years, I made that decision. So, despite our great abundance of playdoh materials, this is a rare site around here. And they loved it!

M - Dinner with Barry...........Switzer

Dana and I had a very unique opportunity on Thursday night to have dinner with Barry and Becky Switzer at their house in Norman. I had a fantastic time and appreciate very much my bride's willingness to tag along with me even though she really does NOT enjoy social settings like this. What a good sport!

You might be wondering, "Mike, how did you end up at Barry Switzer's house for dinner?" As it turns out this is something we've been doing once a month for most of 2008.

Uhhmmm...okay, maybe not. Actually, a very gracious colleague of mine invited Dana and me, along with a handful of other people, after he won an auction for the casual dinner at a Ronald McDonald House fundraising event. The Switzers are very involved with Ronald McDonald House and it's always great to see someone using their social status to help those in need.

Becky Switzer was the OU Women's gymnastics team coach for 18 years and led them to three NCAA National Championship appearances plus tons of other interesting accolades. She was also the coach of the 1988 US Women's Olympic team in Los Angeles. How cool is that? Of course, Dana thought Mrs. Switzer was more interesting to listen to than Barry! Indeed it was fun hearing stories about her time with Bella Karolyi on his ranch.

Coach Switzer's office was a mecca of football memorabilia both college and professional. His college coaching career ended with an incredible overall record of 157-29-4.









Some of the cool things in his office:

A collection of his championship rings and such. We'll talk more about the Super Bowl ring in a minute. It's the only one he doesn't keep in the case.







His University of Arkansas letter jacket:









Game ball and other stuff from Super Bowl XXX:










Look at at the large version of this picture and check out the Big 8 Championship balls along the top row of the shelf.










To be brutally honest, it was pretty darn cool to stand right next to a genuine Vince Lombardi Trophy! These tropies are generally valued at about $25,000 each.









For dinner, we really lucked out and ended up at a table with Barry and Becky Switzer and the Development Director for Ronald McDonald House charities in Oklahoma City. I really enjoyed the conversation. Both Switzers were great storytellers and genuinely seemed to enjoy having guests in their home. As it turns out, Barry Switzer and I both spent time at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO after joining the military and I think he enjoyed telling some old stories about his time in the Army but mostly back in that time he said he was just ready to get back to coaching as soon as he was discharged. He spent about 2 years in the Army right out of college.

1) Hors d'oeuvres – Stuffed Mushrooms with Spinach & Feta Cheese and Smoked Salmon
2) Appetizer - Cantaloupe and Prosciutto
3) Salad - Marinated Seafood on Bed of Boston Bib Lettuce
4) Entrée - Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin with Mango &Pineapple Salsa, Rice Pilaf and Sugar Snap Peas & Carrots (or roasted asparagus)
5) Dessert - Shortcake with fresh Mixed Berries and Whipped Cream

There was lots of wine there but I think Coach Switzer had more than everyone else combined! With Dana and I being teetotalers as we are, we had some fine tasting water for the evening. Who knew you couldn't get a glass of iced tea at something like this?!



























Of course their ~7000 sq. ft. house was beautiful and we had the run of the place if we wanted. I didn't venture far but in hindsight wish I'd taken more time to look around. There was a really pretty pool in the backyard along with a very nice playground for all the grandkids. We also got to meet their 13yr old German Shephard named Blitz. He said he never really thought about the football connection so much as the German word Blitzkrieg. Blitz has her own room in the house which was recently added on.

We heard lots of great stories during the evening. My two favorite ones follow:

One night eight Japanese football coaches showed up at 11pm and rang their doorbell. Becky was in the kitchen in her bathrobe and was afraid to answer the door. Coach Switzer opened teh door and let them in and showed them all around. He also signed all the OU stuff they brought in with them. He said there was ALOT of bowing and they didn't speak a word of english.

He also told the story of an autographed tequila bottle on his shelf. It was from an old friend and teammate who really wanted a job with the Cowboys. Coach Switzer wouldn't hire him because the man was an alcoholic. Coach told him if he quit drinking he'd talk to Jerry Jones about getting him a job. The guy said he'd do it and that same day Coach took him to rehab. The tequila bottle was apparently the last drink the guy ever had and is still 'dry' to this day. In fact, he recently just retired from the Cowboys organization.

Becky Switzer at the table telling a tale. She was a very fun lady and quite energetic.


















Here is a picture of their house from the street view feature at Google maps (I forgot to take a picture myself). Their house is directly across the street and to the west of the Natural History Museum on the OU campus.





Here is a picture of Coach Switzer at his desk signing autographs or anything else someone wanted signed. He was extremely gracious and was obviously enjoying himself. One of the guests brought about a dozen footballs to have signed for some of his friends and clients.














Here is my favorite picture. By golly this is THE 1995 Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl Championship ring. Dana couldn't quite understand why this is such a big deal. Sheesh...women! Coach Switzer said this is the only ring he wears and keeps out of the case I showed you earlier. He said that's because it is worth more than all the other ones combined. Anyone who has ever competed in any endeavour, athletic, musical or otherwise, can appreciate the trophies and awards that usually come with being the best of the best. I once rode on the same plane as Barry Switzer on a flight to Las Vegas and I remember how much his Super Bowl ring stood out as he walked by. I never thought I'd be wearing that sucker for a few short moments!

M - Grasshoppigus Gigantis

Perhaps the largest grasshopper I've ever seen. The pictures don't do it justice.**

**No grasshoppers were harmed during the making of this blog.

M - Animal Rescuers

Noah and I always have a busy time outside in the summer. In fact, we seldom come in the house before dark (notwithstanding the occasional shoulder surgery). Katie is big enough now that she is starting to tag along on our adventures more frequently. About a month ago we decided to go scope out the wildlife population living in the creek.

Every summer when it starts to get dry of course the creek dwindles down to barely a trickle. Fortunately, there is a small leak in the pond dam and it keeps water in the creek for much of the summer until it gets REALLY dry. Unfortunately, there is a small leak in the pond dam and it drains the water a little more quickly than I'd like.

Noah is quite fearless when it comes to trudging through a mossy creek in search of creepy crawly treasures like tadpoles, crawdads, leeches, frogs, fish of all kinds, and the occasional snake.






































We found a ton of tadpoles, some of which had just started to sprout tiny little legs under their long tail. I had never actually seen this myself and I think my fascination with seeing the tadpole-to-frog transformation up close caused Noah to be fascinated as well. It might sound a little crazy but it's sort of a elementary school science lab in 'real life'.

Here is Noah showing off a little tadpole.



















We also found a bunch of baby mudcat hiding in some moss. I suppose there were well over 60 little fish schooling up in this one tiny hole but we could only manage to catch about 25 of them. They are fast little boogers!















Here is a close-up of one:










Mudcat are really not good for a pond. They are considered a 'trash fish' of sorts and increase the turbidity (cloudiness) in small bodies of water. BUT, the bass love to eat 'em and we like to help our bass grow big and strong. We took these from the creek and put them in our pond initially because we made a mistake and thought they were channel cat. Paul Mauck (Kyle's dad) identified them properly from a picture I emailed him. He said the bass should pretty well keep the mudcat in control. Right now we keep every single mudcat we catch even though they seldom grow over 2 pounds. MommaBoz WILL NOT eat them but Noah and I have and they taste fine as long as you fry them up in small chunks. Otherwise, they get a little gamey. :-) We had hoped to use the tiny mudcat as bait to see what we could catch but we didn't get around to it before it got brutal hot outside.

Most of all, we just have an incredible time hanging out together and exploring our backyard zoo. By next summer, Katie is probably going to be the champion naturalist in the family. You can see even from a year ago she has a special knack for the wild.

























Golly, I sure love my baby girl.

M - So I had me some shoulder surgery

On July 25th, my dear bride awoke with me around 0400hrs to shuffle me off to Northwest Surgical Hospital for what we both perceived to be a little minor outpatient surgery. It's been a week now and I'm frustrated by my progress yet realize I have NO CLUE what my progress should actually be. Living predominantly one-armed for about 10 days now has been quite an adjustment. To be sure, I have not enjoyed it. :-)

I am thankful though for good health insurance that makes something like this possible for us. Hopefully all the pain and inconvenience I was experiencing in my left shoulder prior to surgery will be gone and will warrant the pain and inconvenience I am now experiencing...insert whiny sound here.

Here are some pictures from during the surgery. I took my camera to the hospital, got the nurse/surgeon to agree to take pictures, then forgot to take it with me to the operating room. Fortunately they were kind enough to take these two pictures. Click on each picture for a full view.

























Here is a picture of what I call my shoulder diaper. I had to wear it for 72 hours after the surgery. It was nothing but a big gauze pack taped securely over the 3 points where the arthroscopic instruments were inserted.










Here is the 'waterproof' shoulder concoction created by my bride using Press-n-Seal from the kitchen and waterproof tape from Walgreens. This is required in order for me to shower.









Here is my torture chair where I'm 'supposed' to spend 4-6 hours every day. If that sounds impossible to you, it is! It does nothing but raise my arm up, bring it back down, then rotate it out and back again. The big blue thing on my left shoulder is a pad through which ice water circulates and is connected to a special ice chest with a pump inside. The thing hanging around my neck is a pain pump that slowy injected numbing medicine into the surgery site for the first 72 hours. The medicine was delivered through that tiny little tube hanging out the bottom of it. Pulling out that tiny little tube was an adventure. I could feel it moving around deep down inside my shoulder. It either really hurt or really grossed me out (or both) because I was pretty queasy afterward.










My poor kiddos, especially my Noah, have found themselves to be quite bored at times without their daddy play buddy. Noah knows I'm really bored too and built a car track around my chair to keep me entertained as the cars went round and round.. He did it when I was out of the room to surprise me. Noah took this picture.











The doctor said I probably need to have the this same operation on my other shoulder in the coming months. Perhaps the truly most difficult part of this surgery has been my supremely naive expectations that it would be NO BIG DEAL. In reality, I had alot of bursitis, essentially NO cartilage, and my shoulder bone had fused to my collarbone. I'm not entirely sure I understand how that's possible but that's what the man said.

Here is a short video clip from various parts of the surgery. Dr. Calvin Johnson was kind enough to narrate it and hand me the DVD in the recovery room. This is one EXPENSIVE MOVIE my friends!