He wanted a hug first... haha....
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Yesterday was a wonderful day....
We have had a wonderful run as Grandparents lately... wow.... How luck Ann and I are.
We got together with Jon, Randi, Kaitlyn and Dylan along with Heather and Andrew and Madison and Jake and Trisha last Saturday to share some time with the grand kids... watching them play and grow.. especially grow is truly something. What a very special time this is... and those times are truly numbered and won't be around forever, and we know this too.
Anyway there are photos from that special day online, and then yesterday we went with Andrew on his Zoo Trip with his class from Skyline School in Stillwater.
What a time we had. I have not been to the zoo since being there last when the kids were little, and I mean little! How the place has grown. And to be honest I loved the flowers and trees as much as the animals... they have done an amazing job with the trees and flowers and other plants.
Anyway... we were waiting for the yellow school buses to pull up like all the other schools... and to our surprise... the Big Blue Pioneer School buses pulled up.... how cool....
Look at how this flower looks before....
it opens... and then below to see how it looks open.... click for the big view...
Sometimes....
God's handicraft is just under our feet... all we have to do is open our eyes... especially me!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Cover the tick
Apply a glob of liquid soap to a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the soap-soaked cotton ball and swab it for a few seconds (15-20),the tick will come out on it's own and be stuck to the cotton ball when you lift it away . This technique has worked every time, Oneil
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Recipe contest celebrates
Born and bread
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| Grandma Alice’s Applesauce Cake is a 100-year-old recipe from an Oklahoma family. |
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Recipe contest celebrates Made in Oklahoma products
By NATALIE MIKLES World Scene Writer
4/19/2007 4:23 PM
The deadline for the Made in Oklahoma Coalition's Recipe Roundup is just about a month away, but some of the early entries already look like winners.
Hundreds of Oklahoma cooks' recipes will be judged by a panel in May, and the grand-prize winner will receive a $7,000 KitchenAid makeover. Runners-up will also receive prizes.
Kimberley Bevins, a judge for the contest, has already tested some of the recipes, and shared a couple of favorites.
One standout in the main entrees category is a pasta with chicken, spinach, garlic and cheese.
"It's restaurant quality," Bevins said. "As soon as you taste one flavor, you come across another."
The pasta recipe was submitted by Susan Litchfield of Mustang. Hers is baked as a casserole in a 9-by-13-inch dish, but it can also be made in two smaller casserole dishes. Bake one for dinner and freeze the other for another day. It makes a lot, so it's a good recipe for serving a crowd, and even big families will have leftovers.
Bevins said there are many interesting recipes in a new category in honor of the centennial year -- authentic 100-year-old recipes.
Sandy Day of Oklahoma City sent a recipe for Grandma Alice's Applesauce Cake. Grandma Alice was born in 1884 in Oklahoma. She started cooking for her family's farm hands at about age 15, and did so most of her life.
Applesauce cake, made with home-canned apples, is a recipe Grandma Alice made all those years ago, and that her family continues to make today. It's an old-fashioned cake, with an almost fruitcake-like consistency and spice-cake flavor.
Bevins will make the pasta with spinach and chicken on the KOTV, channel 6, noon show on Thursday, and the applesauce cake on April 26.
There's still time to submit recipes to the Recipe Roundup. Contest entries should include at least two Made in Oklahoma products. A complete list of those products can be found on the Web site, www.miocoalition.com . Entry forms and contest rules are also on the site. Entries must be received by May 15.
Spinach Dippin' Chicken and Pasta
Makes 10 to 12 servings
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups Braum's shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/ 2 cups Hiland sour cream
1 1/ 2 cups Garden Club mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Head Country All-Purpose Championship seasoning
1 bag (20 ounces) Advance Fast Fixin' Fire Roasted Chicken Breast
12 ounces mini penne pasta
1. Thaw spinach and drain very well; chop with artichoke hearts and garlic.
2. In a large bowl, combine cheeses, sour cream and mayonnaise. Add spinach mixture and Head Country seasoning.
3. Boil pasta according to package directions; rinse and drain well. Meanwhile, cook chicken breast according to package directions (microwave method only takes 4 minutes). Slice cooked chicken breast thinly, and then add with pasta to mixture in bowl. Mix gently to combine well.
4. Lightly spray a 9-by-13-inch casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray; spoon mixture into casserole dish. Cover and bake for 45 minutes in preheated 325-degree oven.
Grandma Alice's Applesauce Cake
2/ 3 cup Braum's unsalted butter, softened
2 1/ 2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups applesauce
4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 cups Oklahoma-grown pecans, chopped
4 cups Shawnee Best all-purpose flour, sifted
2 cups raisins (soak in water, see instructions)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 2 loaf pans (9-by-5-by-3-inches).
2. In a small mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the applesauce and baking soda well; add the creamed mixture, and the salt, spices and nuts; stir well.
3. Soak the raisins in a mixing bowl with enough hot water to cover them completely; let soak for 20 minutes to plump, and then drain very well. Toss the drained raisins in the sifted flour to coat evenly. Add the flour and raisins to the batter and stir until all dry ingredients are incorporated.
4. Distribute batter evenly between the two greased loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
By NATALIE MIKLES World Scene Writer
Austyn went to a Tiger Cub/Boy Scout Camp last weekend...
Here he is with some buddies playing games with their bows and arrows... They had a ball. Phil took these super photos... I stole this one, so I will have to ask him to tell about it here if he has time... and if it's ok to post more, or put them in an online album for you all to see.... ???? Enjoy the day!!
from the best kids in the world come the best grand kids...
not braggin' - just fact!!! haha...... enjoy the day....
Saturday, April 21, 2007
They may be cousins... but....
at this second... they are sharing something incredibly yucky... haha.....
Missy Maddie loves her Grandpa Blankinship....
yes she does... but on another note... do you see where her face is.... and how clean it is coming up.. haha... now that is a coy young lady..... haha... but oh my she loves her Grandpa Blankinship, and he loves her... they are fun to watch together... even if his shirt suffers... hahaha...
Click to enlarge....
Andrew got a great hit to open the season, and was, as Great Grandpa Moffat would have said... pouring on the coal to get to first.. he made it and ... SAFE! Great hit and great game Andrew! Ya Did Good!! And in my eyes.. they won, especially in the 'spirit of the game' area!
This might be a photo to share with some young man who comes calling... haha...
oh come on guys.... ya gotta love me with a face like this.... hahaha...... she was the 'hit' of the game.... but oh my goodness, Mom, you might get DHS after you... child endangerment, dirty face! section 341.a subsection 413.b.qe3! haha...
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Jon .. this is for you, sorry buddy.. haha....
BlackBerry Woes Getting Better
POSTED: 11:53 pm EDT April 17, 2007
UPDATED: 1:35 pm EDT April 18, 2007
NEW YORK -- New information emerged Wednesday on a BlackBerry system failure that NewsChannel 4 first reported. The company that makes the handheld device said things were repaired Wednesday morning. Research in Motion, the Canadian company that provides the devices and e-mail service, said the interruption affected users in North America. RIM said the cause of the problems was still under review, but that service for most customers was restored overnight. Online news reports cited message boards that claimed the outage began at 8:15 p.m. EDT Tuesday. A recording on the BlackBerry helpline acknowledged a problem getting and sending messages, but said little else. The company serves about 8 million subscribers, having added about 1 million of them in the last quarter alone.
I am an IMUS fan, and can not beleive that only now somone stands up for him... and look who it is... sigh... what happened to freedom of speech?
I don't agree with IMUS, but loved his show, fresh interviews of real folks in the news, current events, and great music... just had to close my ears to the chatter of the show, which I found I did not listen to much, cuz I hardly ever agreed... but this is AMERICA, right? and Free Speech is one of our principles??? anywho...
KERRY: IMUS FIRING UNFAIR
By MAGGIE HABERMAN
April 18, 2007 -- Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry yesterday said he doesn't think Don Imus should have been fired for his racially charged comments - a sharp break with the current Democratic 2008 front-runners.
"You know, the punishment has to fit the crime, so to speak," Kerry, the Democrats' defeated 2004 White House hopeful, told NY1.
Kerry, who had Imus' support in that race, said he might be willing to go on a future Imus show if the radio host finds a new station - but "if he goes back to doing the same old, same old, I'd have trouble doing that."
OH MY GOODNESS... and he defends the poor???
Q-C barbers call Edwards' $400 haircut 'impossible'
By Bill Wundram | Thursday, April 19, 2007Quad-City barbers put down their shears and sputtered words like “preposterous” and “impossible” Wednesday when they heard of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards spending $400 for a haircut. In the Quad-Cities, $10 or $12 is about average.
“If I charged $400 for a haircut, they’d come after me with white coats,” said Leo Fier, who has been cutting hair for 49 years at his shop in DeWitt, Iowa.
Edwards’ campaign committee filed a financial report with the Federal Election Commission noting that the White House hopeful paid $400 for haircuts in California and New Hampshire, and $248 for salon services in Dubuque, Iowa.
“That’s impossible, $400,” said Don “Dutchman” Braafhart, who runs Dutchman’s Barbershop in Davenport.
Next time he’s in town, Edwards would get a real bargain at Davenport Barber College, where supervised student barbers charge only $7.50.
Even some Quad-Citians who allow their locks to grow long are shocked by a $400 haircut.
“My Santa Claus long hair is my trademark,” said Terry Lunardi, Davenport restaurateur. “I just had my hair cut Monday for $10. And I have a lot of hair to cut.”
Kurt Ullrich, a Scott County deputy auditor whose hair runs long, said, “Edwards and I are of a similar age and I took note of his hair when I visited briefly with him in Davenport. His hair is thick, full and beautifully coiffed, whereas mine is counter-culture long. Sixteen dollars is the most I’ve ever paid for a haircut.”
There are a few Quad-City shops that rise above the $10 average. A man’s haircut may range from $18 to $42 at some specialty salons. Operators at two of those shops said they would welcome Edwards, and not charge his campaign $400.
A barbaric price for cutting hair may not be unusual. Jay Ledford, who runs Cut Rite, Moline, with his dad, Jay Sr., insists that a number of years ago, President Clinton had his hair cut in Davenport. “I can’t remember the barber, but he only charged him $150,” Ledford said.
Bill Wundram can be contacted at
(563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes
Singing competition auditions scheduled
Singing competition auditions scheduled
By RITA SHERROW World Television Editor
4/18/2007
KOTV has scheduled auditions for this summer's "Gimme the Mike" vocal competition for next weekend.
Auditions will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and noon to 3 p.m. Sunday at Woodland Hills Mall, 71st Street and Memorial Drive. Those auditioning must complete the application, available online at www.kotv.com and at the station, 302 S. Frankfort Ave., and bring it to the open auditions along with a photo ID. All auditions will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
To be eligible, participants must be at least 18 years old or older at the time of the audition. Those performing will have up to 60 seconds to sing a song of their choice without musical accompaniment.
A judges' panel will select the top 20 finalists who will then compete on the fourth season of the televised competition on channel 6. Five individual winners, plus a wild card favorite chosen by the viewing audience, will compete in a one-hour live broadcast from Cain's Ballroom in August.
For more information, go online at www.kotv.com.
By RITA SHERROW World Television Editor
the shortest street in the world.
 Street measures up to new record | ||
A town in Caithness is to enter the Guinness World Records for having the shortest street in the world. Ebenezer Place in Wick measures 6ft 9in and has one address, the front door of No 1 Bistro - part of Mackays Hotel. A Guinness World Records spokeswoman confirmed that Craig Glenday, the editor-in-chief of the Guinness Book of Records, visited Wick. She added that Ebenezer Place had beaten the current world record of 17ft Elgin Street in Bacup, Lancashire. 'Great interest' Mackays Hotel owner Murray Lamont said he had always been confident Ebenezer Place would set a world record. He said: "Everyone is delighted. "The street was built in 1883 and people here know about it but I decided to put it firmly on the map. It has certainly become a great point of interest." Mr Lamont said he did not know where the street's name had come from. "It could have religious or Masonic roots," he added. Ed note: the kind of things that fill my mailbox each morning.. haha.. love them! and those that send them!! thanks for taking the time! | ||
no one would guess that this man has given away millions.
Unsung fortune: A rich man's secret
Untours' founder lives abundantly on little as his wealth aids world.
By Art Carey
Inquirer Staff Writer
MAX LEVINE
Hal Taussig, 82 is devoted to living a simple life. Taussig gave away his last car to a hitchhiker in 1973 and commutes to work on a bicycle. (Max Levine / For the Inquirer)
At age 81, he doesn't own a car. He performs errands and commutes to the office by bicycle.
He lives on the outskirts of Media in a narrow wood-frame house that was built for mill and factory workers.
And he has given away millions.
Given the fortune that Taussig has made through Untours, his unique travel business, and has given away through the Untours Foundation, you could call him the Un-millionaire. If he so chose, he could be living in a Main Line mansion and driving a Mercedes. But he considers money and what he calls "stuff," beyond what he needs to survive, a burden, an embarrassment.
"He really walks the talk," says Judy Wicks, owner of the White Dog Cafe and a fellow member of the Social Venture Network, which applies capital to enterprises that reduce poverty and advance social justice.
"A lot of people donate money to the less fortunate but live in high style themselves. Hal sacrifices in his own life by living very simply in order to have more money to give away."
In many respects, he's a 21st-century Thoreau. "Let your capital be simplicity and contentment," the sage of Walden Pond wrote. "Those are my sentiments precisely," says Taussig, who has three children, five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Taussig works three jobs:
He cares for Norma, his wife of 61 years, who was crippled by a stroke in 1999.
He helps run Untours, a tour-planning service that enables vacationers to experience foreign places deeply.
He directs the Untours Foundation, into which he pours all his profits - $5 million since 1992. The money is used to make low-interest loans to ventures and projects that help the needy and jobless - from a craft store in Hanoi to a home-health-care cooperative in Philadelphia.
"If capitalism is good, it should be good for the poor," Taussig declares. "I invest in entrepreneurial efforts to help poor people leverage themselves out of poverty."
As a boy, Taussig lived like a pioneer, in a log house on a cattle ranch in Colorado. His mother made his underwear from flour sacks. His Jewish grandfather married an evangelical Christian. Taussig was reared in a household where no one dare gainsay the Word of God, as plainly revealed in the Bible.
He was sent to Wheaton College in Illinois, "the Harvard of Evangelicalism," where he became a champion wrestler. Cursed by an independent mind, he balked at the story of Creation. It was preposterous, and he said so to God.
The Lord gave Taussig a pass, freeing him to craft his own faith.
"God created human beings in his own image. That is the heart of my faith," says Taussig, who now attends the First United Methodist Church of Media.
After college, Taussig returned to Colorado, where he and his brother resumed cattle ranching - and went broke.
"The cattle market took a nose-dive," Taussig says. "We invested in a sterile bull. We paid $5,700 for him, and sold him for hamburger."
Rather than feel ashamed, Taussig felt cleansed. He wanted, he says, to "own the failure."
"In America, we worship success, and making our way up, and leaving the masses behind," he says. "It's a shoddy ethic that leads us to value who we are by what we are."
In 1957, he came East to pursue a doctorate in American civilization at the University of Pennsylvania. During the day, he taught seventh grade in Upper Darby and later 11th grade in Springfield, Delaware County. After 10 years of teaching, he took a sabbatical, and drove a VW Beetle all over Europe.
Back home, Taussig wrote a book about his adventure, Shoestring Sabbatical. It inspired an idea: a travel agency that would enable tourists to get to know a place intimately by staying at least two weeks in a rented cottage, apartment or farmhouse. With a $5,000 loan from a friend, Taussig launched Untours in 1975.
"Europe is so enriching and rewarding, I decided to help others have a similar experience," he says. His ulterior motive: forging connections and understanding between people and cultures.
In the early '80s, Taussig was making more money from the tour operation than he needed or wanted. He decided to accept about $20,000 a year for his basic expenses.
First, Taussig gave the excess profits back to his customers. The next year, he split the profits among his employees. Finally, he decided to channel them into a foundation.
The motto of the Untours Foundation is "a hand up, not a handout." It provides low-interest loans, here and abroad, to create jobs, build low-income housing, and support fair-trade products: goods such as coffee that are sold at a price that guarantees producers and workers a fair wage and decent livelihood.
The loans, usually pegged to the U.S. inflation rate, range from $6,000 to $250,000. Over the last 15 years, about 50 individuals and organizations have benefited from Untours seed money. Some examples:
- Home Care Associates of Philadelphia, a business cooperative of mostly former welfare recipients who provide health care to the homebound, $250,000.
- A shop in Hanoi that provides a market for crafts made in Vietnamese villages, $8,000.
- A water-bottling company in England that uses its profits to bring clean water to developing countries, $130,000.
- A construction company in Media that builds handicapped-accessible housing while training the formerly unemployed, $275,000.
Along with the successes, there have been failures, but Taussig is heartened by the many ventures that have taken root, paid off their loans, and blossomed. In 1999, Untours received the Newman's Own/George Award for being "the most generous business in America." The award from Paul Newman and John F. Kennedy Jr., the late publisher of George magazine, came with a $250,000 prize, which the Taussigs donated to the foundation.
"He's authentic," says Elizabeth Killough, the foundation's associate director. "He has never tried to be famous or call attention to himself. For the first eight years, he didn't tell anyone about the foundation. It's always been very personal for him."
Taussig and his wife live on Social Security and savings from the modest wages Norma earned as a school secretary and Untours bookkeeper.
"In a world gone mad with greed, he really believes in the common good," says Bob Fishman, executive director of the nonprofit social service agency Resources for Human Development, who has worked with Taussig on several projects. "He doesn't do it to say 'I'm right and you're wrong,' but rather to show, in his own sweet way, that there's another path. By his example, he gets all of us to think, 'can't I do more?' "
Taussig does not consider himself heroic or saintly.
"This is my way of finding meaning," he says. "This is how I get joy out of life. The widening gap between the rich and poor is not sustainable. I fear there will be a violent revolution if we don't find a solution to poverty in the world."
For more about Untours and the foundation, call 888-868-6871 or go to http://go.philly.com/untours
Contact staff writer Art Carey at 610-701-7623 or acarey@phillynews.com.
Rec'd this from a friend online...
When Joni Mitchell was 22, she was a homeless folksinger - the courts took away her 2 year old daughter and the daughter was adopted out. Then Joni Mitch0ell wrote the legendary song, "BOTH SIDES NOW".
One stanza of her brilliant prose...
“Dreams and schemes and circus crowds, I’ve looked at life that way.
But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say
I've changed. Something is lost but something's gained in living every day"
SO FOR ME -- Life is a gift, HOWEVER, it is not a Disneyland ride. No one gets out alive.. spiritually maybe, you be the judge...
Love and much Respect,
Gilbert
One stanza of her brilliant prose...
“Dreams and schemes and circus crowds, I’ve looked at life that way.
But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say
I've changed. Something is lost but something's gained in living every day"
SO FOR ME -- Life is a gift, HOWEVER, it is not a Disneyland ride. No one gets out alive.. spiritually maybe, you be the judge...
Love and much Respect,
Gilbert
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Heather sends along this funny note....
My husband, being unhappy with my mood swings, bought me a mood ring the other day so he would be able to monitor my moods.
We've discovered that when I'm in a good mood, it turns green.
When I'm in a bad mood, it leaves a big red mark on his forehead.
Maybe next time he'll buy me a diamond.
Be The Change:
Be The Change:
Experiment with looking at the child within each person you interact with. How does this change the way you relate to them?
Experiment with looking at the child within each person you interact with. How does this change the way you relate to them?
You can understand and relate to most people better if
You can understand and relate to most people better if you look at them -- no matter how old or impressive they may be -- as if they are children. For most of us never really grow up or mature all that much -- we simply grow taller. O, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple, whose daily life is still best described by fairy tales. --Leo Rosten
Monday, April 16, 2007
A view from inside my world on Saturday, April 14, 2007...
I am sure this is not a big deal to some but as I got to thinking about it, it becomes bigger and bigger... haha....
When Ann and I bought our first computer it was a Tandy SX 1000 and it had 2 mgs of storage.... yes MGS. We also bought a subscription to PCLINK, the first online service available in Stillwater and when we got home, we could only dial up and hook up at 600 bps... and could only call the Stillwater Airport and get time and temp. nothing else.. then we discovered we had bought the first system available from Tandy in Stillwater, and then we discovered we were the first ones 'online' from Stillwater, OK. and on and on..
Well, Saturday was another first... We helped bring Pickens Auctions to the world.
What you see are my tools inside my office on Saturday. I used my Blackjack as a modem and hooked up my laptop and a Creative Live Pro webcam with audio and signed on to NAAlive. com and we had an auction open to the world. We had bidders from Mexico, Netherlands, and all over the USA. Now to a lot of you this is nothing, but it was quite an honor for me to be involved in this and now an even bigger honor of being the first in Oklahoma to offer this service and the first in Stillwater to do such. What a ride this has been. Al Gore may have invented the internet, but we have used it for as long as it has been open to the public!
it is still hard for me to believe we did the auction on Saturday. I had a total of about 3 pounds of equipment, three pieces and one cord and ran all off of the cigarette lighter in my truck! wow...
Wonder what will be next. It is such an honor to be working with Gregg Pickens, a long time family friend who loves to stay up to date with things...
Anywho.. just sharing an exciting time in my life.. haha... there are pics from the auction online at pickensauctions.com and then to the photo gallery two...
Enjoy the day....
Stan
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