Just FYI, that's a photo of a painting in Woolaroc Museum, about a dozen miles away from Bartlesville, OK. I had loads of fun at Woolaroc on a sunny, cool Saturday. If you ever happen to find yourself wandering around in northeast Oklahoma, it's worth a stop.
How long has it been since I wahooed? Too long, I think. The time has come for all good men and women to drop everything and wahoo.
Spring has sprung! Wahoo for the new kids on the block:
Wahoo for family. These are my guys:
Handsome Eldest with Traveling Cat, who has now been to Oklahoma three times (very wahooey -- she's an excellent traveler):
This is just a wahoo because it's kind of funny. Saturday the Mississippi was due to crest at Vicksburg and we heard the river hasn't been this high since 1973, so we sauntered downtown to look at the high water. Click on the photo to take a gander at the sign describing the "waterfront expansion project" on the riverfront in downtown Vicksburg. This photo shows the entrance to the riverfront dock, usually a dock with two rows of parking and a slope down to the water:
Haven't finished a book, yet, but I'm now balancing five. I think it's just that I'm so excited to be back to reading that I want to read everything at once. I'm currently reading:
The Disagreement by Nick Taylor
Loose Ends: Short Stories and Poems by Les Combs
It Happened in Oklahoma by Robert L. Dorman
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine and
Cabin Pressure by Josh Wolk
I'm enjoying all of them. I don't have much reading time, thanks to the mess the guys made while I was gone, the urgent need to get our den finished up so we can stop tripping over furniture, and an annoying migraine that won't give up and go away. But, hey, I'm still glad to be home. I'll take whatever reading time I can squeeze in.
Next up:
More flood photos
Book drawing post
You can hardly wait, right? Have a happy day, wherever you are!
Silly humans. Why do we think we can tame rivers when they've been here so much longer than we have and, in all likelihood, will be here long after we're gone?
ReplyDeleteRule number one: Do not build on flood plains.
Love the pictures, and again, you seem to have more than your fair share of handsome young men around you!
cjh
CJ,
ReplyDeleteVicksburg is interesting in that it used to be right on the Mississippi River, but the river moved away from the downtown area. So, technically, what you see is the Yazoo Diversion Canal in that photo. It's a rerouting of the Mississippi to protect the city from lost commerce. Interesting, no? There aren't actually any flooded buildings downtown. They've got a pump going to protect the old train depot (which looks like it's surrounded by a moat but is safe). North of town, though, Eagle Lake has flooded some homes. Yep, that was a lousy place to build.
LOL! I definitely have some handsome guys around me. Thanks. :)
3 trips to OK for the cat? I don't know if mine could do it. The furthest she has gone is 5 hours (Dallas to Lubbock several times), but she sits on my lap and shakes the whole time. If I sing to the radio (which I do often because I listen to showtunes during roadtrips) she just meows and meows.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable flood picture! It seems like we either have too much or too little (can't we ever be satisfied??).
I love that painting...it reminds me very much of one of the tribes that I just finished reading about in that book The Raven that I just reviewed.
ReplyDeleteYay for Wahoos again! Isn't this river flooding stuff crazy? We haven't flooded yet in New Orleans and I'm praying to God that we don't...it would be like Katrina all over again down here...good Lord...
Great picture of all your boys! That's one for a frame! With all those wonderful pictures that you take, I'm surprised that you don't have picture frames covering your walls...or maybe you do!
What a gorgeous family you have. I know what you mean about wanting to read everything at once!
ReplyDeleteTrish,
ReplyDeleteIt's wild how quickly our kitty has adjusted to road trips. The first time we took her to OK, it was because we had to leave in a hurry and the vet's office was closed (so we couldn't have her boarded). She was wide-eyed and panicky for the entire 9-hour drive. The second time, she was a little nervous but not as bad. The third time -- no problem. She actually is quite a little furry music lover, so no problem playing music and singing. It actually seems to soothe her!
The water level is really quite a fascinating sight. Fortunately, Vicksburg has been seriously flooded in the past and businesses have mostly moved uphill in the city. Apart from the fact that they have to barricade the dock entrance and exit and pump water away from the old depot, it looks like everything is pretty well protected. I was impressed, especially considering the fact that the water hasn't been this high since 1973.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteIsn't that a cool painting? It's so lively and spirited. Darn it, I may have to read that book. I'm trying to get rid of things, so it's hard not to wish list absolutely everything that appeals to me, but I'm trying. :)
The water is definitely headed your way, Chris. I don't know what the situation with the Mississippi River is in New Orleans, these days, but those floodwaters have been rolling toward the ocean for weeks. A friend in St. Louis posted photos to my book group listserv, when that area was flooded. I hope they have managed to build up some flood walls in N.O., but I wouldn't bank on it. If I were you, I'd pay close attention to the news about the river! Tell me you're nowhere near the river, please!
Thank you. Actually, nope, I have hardly any photos up at all. We've been slowly painting walls and hallway, so our former photo wall is completely empty. But, I do have piles of framed photos that are just waiting for me to hang them back up. Plus, now I have a few photos of me as a little squirt. Man, I was cute! Too bad I got over it. LOL
Tara,
ReplyDeleteThank you. I've always thought the view in my house is pretty nice with all those good-looking males. :)
There just aren't enough years in one lifetime for all the books crying out to be read!
Wahoo! for wahoos!
ReplyDeleteThat river reminds me of my river back home that would flood. When I was at school and the New River flooded, it flooded a school parking lot. A TON of cars got flooded and no longer worked.
I agree that you have a beautiful family. Something great to wahoo about.
I know what you mean about wanting to read everything at once. I have so many calling my name...
ReplyDeleteAnd yay for wahooing again. I'm loving those dimples! ;)
It's astonishing how much your boys look like your hubs. Especially Youngest....wow!
ReplyDeleteGreat pics! I freakin' love that painting.
Nikki,
ReplyDeleteThanks for wahooing about my wahoos! LOL
The water in downtown Vicksburg is actually pretty well contained, so I don't think any damage has been done. Up at Eagle Lake, though, where people used to just have fishing camps, folks have built homes in recent years. Eagle Lake is fed by the Mississippi, apparently. Anyway, there have been photos of swamped vehicles and houses, up there. I guess it had been long enough since the lake flooded that people didn't realize they were in a danger zone. I feel for them; water damages everything.
Thank you. I'm rather fond of my guys. :)
Nat,
I have a terrible time settling on just a few books at a time! I need to concentrate and finish something, though.
Speaking of dimples . . when I was pregnant with Daniel, my husband and I were talking to his grandmother and we all laughed. G'ma L. looked at us and said, "If that baby ain't born with dimples, it's not y'all's fault," because we both have dimples. Sure enough, both kids are also dimpled. Daniel looks kind of pained in that photo, so you can't see his, but he's got 'em. :)
Andi,
ReplyDeleteDaniel actually looks a bit more like me than his father (which, fortunately, doesn't seem to have ruined him for looks), but William . . . when he was a baby, I got out David's baby photo and we both said, "Oh, my gosh!" Will was the spittin' image of his daddy.
That painting would probably be a good one for your office. It makes you want to jump up and dance, doesn't it?
Your eldest is that handsome and loves cats also? I knew they existed!! Does he need a girlfriend? ;) I'm currently juggling four books - one of which is an omnibus by Stephen Lawhead. Glad you all are safe.
ReplyDeleteErin in Boston
Erin,
ReplyDeleteMy eldest is going to get a swollen head, thank you. LOL Yes, he grew up with cats and our recently departed kitty, Sunshine, was a stray that he brought home from school. So, they love him right back.
He does have a girlfriend, but they seem to be off and on. :)
Thanks, it's so good to be home and reassuring to know that other people juggle several books at once. Stephen Lawhead is an unknown to me, so I looked him up. Oooh, sounds like fun reading!
I'm not too near the river. I live in a suburb of New Orleans about 12 miles out from the river...we didn't get levee/river/flood damage from katrina...all of our water was from the rain/canal overflowing. So hopefully we'll be ok if something happens. They're saying on the news that the river here is at 16.7 feet. It crests at 17 feet and our levees are built to protect up to 20 feet. But that's assuming that the levees would actually hold which they absolutely did not during Katrina. What a scary mess, huh? Keeping an eye on the news!
ReplyDeleteFor the record, you have a beautiful family!!
ReplyDeleteI think it's wonderful that with all you have going on you still have time to say Wahoo! Good for you. Enjoy your books and hope the migraine goes away.
ReplyDeleteHandsome family!
ReplyDeleteThat is so your posse in that picture. You can't fool me.
You finished Fraction? I haven't, yet. I agree, it's alternately great and exhausting. In fact it's simultaneously great and exhausting.
Thank you, Miss Carrie!
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, that's my posse all right. We boogie on the weekends. LOL
Yep, I finished Fraction. It was not easy. I kept taking breaks from it, but in the end I really just had to find out what was going to happen to poor old Jasper. It was exhausting, but I the characters and plot were unique enough that I could walk away from it for a week and have no problem getting right back into it where I left off.
Cute kid and great looking men! Wow, you must have amazing genes to have those handsome knock outs! Girls must be busting at the door!
ReplyDeleteTeddy Rose,
ReplyDeleteThank you. I think the handsome genes all come from my husband's side. I'm certainly not anything worth looking at. Eldest is a bit of a chick magnet but so far the youngster has been too shy to ask anyone out. He does get a lot of phone calls from girls, though!
How can you say your "not worth looking at" you are beautiful! Now I want you to look at yourself in the mirror at least 3 times a day and say to yourself "I am beautiful" like you really mean it. I'm not joking!!
ReplyDeleteDid you tell your youngest that those girls who are calling are dropping a hint to him?
Teddy Rose,
ReplyDeleteSigh. I look haggard, but I'll try. :)
I think the youngster knows. When he was 13, he reached his full height and a 17-year-old dropped broad hints that she'd like him to ask her out. He said, "You realize I'm just 13, right?" and I think the poor girl didn't stop blushing for a week. Last year, he got a buzz cut and people in the airport kept asking him if he was in the military. He calmly told them he was just 15. He's shy, but I also think he's not so sure he's caught up with his own age, now that he's hit 16. It's kinda cute. :)
I love the photo of your guys! They are so happy-looking and handsome. This picture is definitely one to frame.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Les. They were pretty happy, although Daniel said Will was gripping him a little hard with that elbow, hence the slightly pained look! :)
ReplyDeleteThose are some really cute guys - love the dimples! Hope the water level stays where it is or goes down real soon. No floods please.
ReplyDeleteIndigo,
ReplyDeleteThanks. I like those dimples, too. :)
The water level has dropped significantly -- 6" in two days, it said in the paper. There were some folks flooded, unfortunately, but it sounds like at least one house has been flooded repeatedly for decades and the woman who owns it simply refused federal buyout money. That kind of boggles my mind.