cool sunrise pic...

I shot this Wednesday morning on the way to work.....I love the sunrises this time of year!

Close call!!

Well, it was a great Christmas! I had family over, we had dinner, laughed, finally cleaned most of my yard up, I almost had a 60+ year old tree fall on my house (and myself) with my wife standing close by, and I ate too much. I really thought that the tree would fall the other way.....I cut a wedge in it, then cut at it from the other side, but when it finally started falling, it fell the wrong way! It hit a tree closer to my house, and a 6 inch limb shot off of it and hit my house and damaged my gutter right above Michelle's head! I am not sure if I have ever been that scared before......I said, "God don't let this tree hit anybody or my house" right as I was running to get out of the way, and He answered my prayer! God really looks out for stupid people. My lumberjack days are over. Time to call the pros.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas everyone!
It's a great morning here in Oklahoma....this picture is misleading...it is NOT snowing here. That shot was from early 2007. I got a new laptop bag, and some long sleeved t-shirts! Also got a new camera---a Cannon point & shoot 35mm on sale at Wally World for twenty bucks!!
Family is coming later to help cut trees & clean up my yard. More later....

Back to normal.....

Well, it's been a whole day since my power came back on....and I am enjoying it. As I start to look at the damage and concentrate on cleaning up my yard, it will be a daunting task. My brother said he will bring his chainsaw & our family will come together & do cleanup. I am very blessed to have a wonderful family!!

Oh yeah, 4 days 'till Christmas!!

I HAVE ELECTRICITY!!!!!!!

SHA-ZAM! I HAVE LIGHTS!! YEE-HAW!! WOO-HOO!! SWEET!! COOL!!

I'm gonna turn on every light in the house!! I may even "Griswold" my house with Christmas lights!!!!!

There's fleas on my dog.......

Day 10 without power......
I heard a funny song this morning, a parody of Feliz Navidad called There's Fleas on my Dog. I laughed for a long time--cars driving by must have thought I was crazy. It is good to be able to laugh in a time of crisis. VVEC says today is the day-----I hope so. Our family seems to be stressed badly. I am grouchy, and that makes everyone grouchy. I try to keep smiling so everyone else will, bit it's hard......
As soon as the powerlines are out of my yard, I will be cutting & burning brush for quite some time:) I'll post pics of me actually working!

Church tonight....looking forward to seeing "my" kids.....

The sun will come out.....tomorrow........maybe

Day nine without power......VVEC says they don't know when power will be restored.....most of my neighbors now have power except for my side of the street.....

Ok, this is getting a little hard for my family. I start to wonder if we should have just taken a cruise or something (like I could afford that). Beginning to wonder about Christmas & how we will have money to pay the bills and buy the kids a little something for Christmas. We know that Christmas is not about presents, but we celebrate our Savior's birth by remembering why He had to come down here in the first place, and by giving gifts, because the best & most important Gift has already been given. Total expenses so far for keeping my family warm & fed-----about 1,200.00, give or take. But know this, we are better prepared when this happens again!

I could ramble about the problems I have had with VVEC, but it would not help the situation. What will help is what I already have, friends praying for me. I just got a message from a good friend & he said "I was just checking up on you & praying for you." Brother, you do not know how that simple statement has helped. As I thought about this message, tears welled up & I am so thankful for friends........

Maybe today will be the day that my power comes back on........

Chin up, dog!!

Day 8 without power......

My poor fat Boston Terrier is about to go crazy! It is like she's depressed. My mom's electric was turned on yesterday and she is happy. I am also happy for her as my generator gas bill was cut in half! My family & my brother & his wife all converged on mom's trees yesterday & cut limbs & trees galore! We worked for a long time piling limbs & here comes my buddy with his front end loader & scooped them all up & pushed the limbs into a big pile!! Thanks, Andy!!

...just now spoke w/ VVEC, and reported my power lines down for the bazzillionth time, and besides them acting as if it a new report every time I call in, they could not give me an ETA on my repair!! At least yesterday they said I would have power by Wednesday, and now no ETA!! They had crews working in my area both Saturday & Sunday, why couldn't they repair the lines lying across my back yard?? Maybe an hour or two to repair the forty some odd homes still dark in my addition.

...on a positive note(I really am trying to keep a good attitude during this crisis), I was able to go to church yesterday & that was refreshing. All the folks at New Life are awesome & I believe I attend the best church in the world! We had our Christmas program last night & our OnTheEdge youth group did a skit to the song Mary Did You Know and they did a great job! Hubert also put on a great program with the choir!

Well, that's all my thoughts for now. Maybe my lights will be on tonight...(I keep saying maybe today's the day).....

Day 6 without power........

I am growing tired and impatient with my electric company. I understand that the linemen and crews are doing all that they can, but I am disappointed with the administration. VVEC started with 9,000 homes without power last Monday, and I heard that on Friday that they were down to 5,000. I also heard that my house may be back on by Wednesday! And others will be dark until Dec. 23rd!!! About half of my addition is back online but I have the line down in my backyard.......
I actually got some good rest last night....about 6 hours of sleep.

It is misting/snowing right now, some call it "snizzle". I am prepared, I bought a Poulan chainsaw yesterday so I can now vent my frustration & stress out on the poor fallen trees:)

Please understand, I am extremely proud of our electric crews, especially those that came from other areas, but my rural company I am extremely dissatisfied with. Crews have been in my neighborhood, so I ask while they are out here, why can't they repair my line? What is their strategy? Most of the time, you cannot even get through to VVEC........I wonder if my bill was late would they tolerate my phone being constantly busy? Or would they simply disconnect my service?

In the dark........

Extreme emotions....

Day 5 without power at my house.......

Well, after working every day at work, then going home and working on different solutions to the electricity situation, I am exhausted. I have went from being totally satisfied with my electric company, to being totally upset with them, and back again. As I made my way home, I saw lights on in my neighborhood but when I got home, I realized that power was on across the street, but my side is still dark due to lines down (see picture back a few entries).

I have spent probably in excess of a thousand dollars this week trying to provide for my family when I probably should have simply went to the Claremore shelter......stubborn, I guess but I fear for my property and my animals.......

The awesome thing is that I have gotten closer to God. It is amazing when everything is quiet how one can hear His voice more clearly. I have been up in the wee hours each day of this disaster just spending time alone with Him.

As I drove to work this morning, I saw several Pike Electric trucks heading into Tulsa. I honked, and rolled my window down & gave them all thumbs up. I also cried a little too maybe due to the stress, maybe due to my just being thankful that they are here. . I know that they weren't headed for my home, but they have left the comfort of their homes and families to help others in a time of of need. Sure they are getting paid for it, but I think they deserve it. So, for the few of you that read this (thanks, mom!), when you see an electric truck, honk & give them thumbs up!!

What is important??

Day four without power in Verdigris......

After contemplating the great ice storm of 2007, also the largest power outage in the history of Oklahoma, I was up at 3:00am wondering why we rely so much on creature comforts such as electricity......yes, I said creature comforts!! God has "loaned" us everything we have(no, we cannot take it with us when we go), and so it is His to take back anytime he wants. No questions asked... so, along that line, I think(my opinion only) that maybe God wants us to slow down and realize what is important. As I tried to sleep in my living room floor last night, I realized gone are the movies, video games, and TV, but what remains? Family and friends. That's what's important--the only thing that is more important should be your relationship with God. End of story.

...measured 2 inches of ice on the trees! WOW!!

The culprit.....

Well, here is the scoop....this is the transformer that feeds my home.....power company says maybe next week:-0 More later....

Ice storm in Oklahoma!

Ok, this is the second ice storm of 2007. Aaaarrgghhh!! This time my house lost power about 5:30am, and the power company says at least 1-1/2 days.......I kept hearing trees collapse under the weight of the ice all night. We had thunderstorms with freezing rain! At least one inch of ice on trees & powerlines.......this will be interesting.......

Executive Decision.....

Well, I have decided to let my website lapse for now. I have shelled out thirty bucks per month and sold exactly zero pictures from it.....maybe it's me and my lack of computer & Internet savvy, but I just didn't get the traffic I had expected. If anyone knows a cheaper solution for photography websites, now is an excellent time to chime in & leave me a comment.......
{EDIT}----I am leaving it up--I'll give it another month due to the time it takes to design & upload my work.......