Life’s Too Short–Build A Pool! – Part 1


After braving four summers in Oklahoma’s dry heat, we made the monumental decision to build a pool. This summer, with its particularly brutal 100-plus temperatures and little rain, served as the final impetus for us to seek out one of our neighbors who manages Blue Haven Pools and get the ball rolling. On August 6, the fun began.

Here is how the nice green grass looked with the pool outline.


The logistics of getting Bobcats into the yard made us nervous. They had to first go through this narrow space.


Part of our new fence was dismantled, and the crepe myrtle had to be temporarily relocated.


Our little garden fence had to be partially removed.


After that, it was clear sailing.


Apparently all it takes to bring rain is to start a pool. On the second day, we received over an inch.


You can see why Oklahoma is famous for red dirt!


As the work progresses, the removed dirt is spread onto the yard.


These guys work hard.


The excitement continued after the weekend; gravel was brought to the driveway and carted back to the hole.



This pipe will have to be rerouted.


Scott, the Blue Haven manager, assures Randy all will be well, while my mother and Buddy the dog look on approvingly.


Steelwork was completed.


And of course the rains came again, and again. Here is the back yard after a three-inch rain.



In spite of the mud, progress was made on plumbing and electrical work. Now we are finally dried out and anticipating the concrete work this week.

At Last!


After a long, hot, dry spell with a high pressure system firmly in place over Oklahoma and weeks of 100-plus heat, a slow moving cold front yesterday brought enough instability to trigger some boomers, resulting in almost an inch of badly-needed rain with a bonus of cool temperatures.

I first observed a buildup of cumulonimbus north of us about 3:00. At 4:30 I heard the first crackle of thunder and grabbed my camera to capture pictures of the rapidly developing storm.





The sheets of rain and wind gusts and frequent, close lightning increased, and by 4:40, small hail began falling, so I had to stop taking pictures and seek shelter inside.


A few minutes later the hail became one inch ice chunks and finally golf-ball sized hail! It looked like someone was throwing dozens of golf balls into our yard and the noise was incredible. The rain was blowing sideways at that point so I was unable to take the camera out the door and capture the sight. I did soak myself grabbing these souvenirs from the yard.

Crumb-Topped Fresh Peach Pie


There is never a better time to make peach pie than when fresh peaches from Porter, Oklahoma are in season.

I used my old stand-by, Betty Crocker’s Cookbook and modified her Fresh Peach Pie recipe to accommodate a crumb crust. Instead of trimming and crimping the edge of the crust, I left on the excess and pulled it up over the peaches, crostada-style.

Fresh Peach Pie
Pastry for 9-inch One-crust Pie, unbaked
5 cups sliced fresh peaches (about 9 medium)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt

Crumb topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) salted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix together crumb topping ingredients, pour into bowl of food processor, and pulse until mixture forms clumps. Set aside.

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Mix peaches and lemon juice. Stir together sugars, flour, cinnamon, and pinch of salt. Mix with peaches. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan. Sprinkle with crumb mixture until peaches are covered. If desired, cover edge of pie crust with 3 inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning; remove during last 10 minutes of baking.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes, or until crust is brown and juice bubbles up through crust.



Rosie’s Baked Beans and a Celebration


Our Fourth of July dinner was a traditional feast this year, with Nathan’s hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad, deviled eggs, and baked beans. Dessert was homemade Heath Bar ice cream. In other words, a total pig-out.


In the early 1970s, a wonderful gal named Rosie shared with me her baked bean recipe (she also taught me to crochet), and I have never been interested in any other recipe.

Rosie’s Baked Beans
4 slices bacon (nitrate-free Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked Bacon imparted a wonderful smoky flavor to these beans)
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 – 1 lb cans pork and beans, undrained
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar

In a large skillet, fry bacon till crisp. Drain, reserving 2 teaspoons grease, in which onions are sautéed till tender. Mix remaining ingredients into skillet, along with crumbled bacon. Pour into lightly greased baking dish and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Dessert could not be easier–into my Cuisinart Automatic Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream Maker, I placed whipping cream, milk, half and half, sugar, crushed Heath Bars.


The perfect end to our Fourth celebration was the arrival of nature’s own fireworks in the form of a noisy, windy thunderstorm.

It’s a Beautiful (Waffle) Morning


One of my favorite “groovin’ oldies” songs, It’s a Beautiful Morning by The Rascals, perfectly expresses my feelings today. And there is nothing that gets my groove on like a beautiful Oklahoma morning with a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast. To further brighten my day, the Rose of Sharon bush has finally started blooming. Who needs fireworks when nature provides such dazzling displays?

On to the kitchen–armed with about 15,000 recipes I’ve bookmarked the past few days to make for the Fourth of July weekend, I decided to pump up my energy with a crispy Whole Grain Waffle by What A Dish!.


These waffles meet my strict standards for crispiness, which is surprising, because applesauce is subbed for part of the oil. Plus they are wholesome and nutritious with flax seed, whole wheat flour, and oatmeal; and Hubby, who shies away from anything labeled “healthy”, loves them! The grains lend a nutty, sweet flavor that just adds to the crunchy appeal of these waffles.

Happy Fourth of July!

Adventures in Dallas

The old homestead
Last week, Hubby and I made the three and one-half hour trek from OKC to Big D. Why? Simply to spend a couple nights away from home in one of our favorite places. Back in the 1970-1980s, when lived in a suburb near Dallas, our kids were in elementary and pre-school, we had several young couples as neighbors, and life was golden in that halcyonic way that one’s mind remembers good times. In spite of my passion for Oklahoma, the lure of Dallas is still strong.

Of course we did a drive-by of the old house, and what shocked us more than anything was the size of the trees. In a former neighbor’s yard, a tree that was 10 feet tall when we helped plant it is now 35-40 feet tall and nearly overwhelms the yard. And a former drainage ditch at the end of the street is now a lovely, park-like bayou with walking trails. Sadly, our old house was minus the loquat trees we placed in front, and other landscape details we established were missing.

Also on our agenda was a visit to a shooting range, where I discharged my new .22 for the first time. Learning to competently handle a gun is high on my to-do list this year. While I felt marginally comfortable shooting the .22, firing Hubby’s .38 almost knocked me down. I fearlessly shot and destroyed the clip holding the target as well as a chunk of the ceiling. I feel certain that the gentlemen marksmen in nearby lanes feared for their lives. Hubby laughed bravely.


We purchased cupcakes at Sprinkles, attended a gun show in Mesquite, and wait, there’s more–we shopped at a Kroger Signature grocery store, where we purchased gourmet goodies for a picnic dinner on our hotel bed. Oklahoma has no Kroger stores, and we keenly miss them.

Mostly we relaxed, ate what we wanted when we wanted to, took dorky self-photos, and enjoyed having no pressing plans. Good times in Dallas. But we were happy to go home to Okie-Land.

Shredded Wheat Bread

I will use almost any excuse to make bread. I have often used bread-worthy lefovers as my bread base–pancake or waffle batter, the remaining bits of granola, bits of fruit, and of course potatoes–all can be successfully incorporated into one’s favorite bread recipe. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but the process of invention is always fun. So yesterday, I had a few bite-sized frosted shredded wheats left in the bottom of the bag, and I got the brilliant idea to make bread from the crumbs.

First I pulverized the shredded wheat in the food processor, and then I added a cup of warm water to it, to soften it.


In the meantime, I added 2 teaspoons of yeast to a cup of warm water, then whisked in a cup of flour. After about 30 minutes, the yeast mixture was bubbly, and the shredded wheat had become a nice, fragrant “wheaty” mass.


Into the KitchenAid mixer bowl went the softened shredded wheat and the yeast mixture, along with 2 tablespoons of yogurt from Wagon Creek Creamery (an Oklahoma dairy), two teaspoons of salt, and enough flour (maybe another 3 cups) to make a slightly sticky dough. After a decent interval of mixing with the bread hook (God bless it), I let the dough rise for about an hour. I then turned it out onto a floured Silpat, gave a knead or two, and formed it into a Vienna-shaped loaf.

I had to run some errands, and when I returned, the loaf had risen to the size of a flattened whale; so I did not slash it for fear it would collapse. I baked it at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, and while it did not make a pretty loaf (think buff-colored whale) the finished product was delicious.


The texture was nice and moist and chewy, the shredded wheat lent an addictive nuttiness, and the crust was especially tasty toasted.

Useless Commentary


Random thoughts and mindless ramblings from my brain this week:

Yesterday I received an email ad for this new “vibrating” mascara. Not to disparage the Maybelline company or anyone who buys this product, but is this not the ultimate in laziness? Although I cannot put on my mascara at the rate of 7000 vibrations per stroke, I have never been rendered physically exhausted by the act of applying mascara. And with my klutz reputation, I am not keen about putting a vibrating wand within millimeters of my eyeball.

A major movie began production this week in Guthrie, Oklahoma, a pretty little town about 20 miles north of Edmond. The Killer Inside Me will star Jessica Alba, Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, and my current favorite actor, Simon Baker, the Australian star of one of our favorite TV shows, The Mentalist. I have a crush on him I think he is hot I really like him and find him attractive because his eyes reflect kindness and humor. And I don’t think he wears mascara.

We are having a new fence built in our backyard, which means our dogs, Buddy and Holly, are spending quality time in the house this week. Their boredom is evident in their frequent yawns and whines, and the week promises to be a trying time for all of us. Buddy sighs and stares forlornly out the window. Holly declined to have her picture taken, as she was napping at the time.

The weather is beautiful, but boring, as high pressure has set up over the state. I try not to complain, because the temperature is near-ideal, with low humidity, but it is May, I live in Tornado Alley, and I want thunderstorms. Here is a photo from a more exciting day last week.

I Love Weather


Living in the heart of Tornado Alley is definitely not boring, although I do find clear, sunny days a little dull.

If you think that all the weather-related links and posts on my blog indicate that weather is a major focus in my life, you are right. I have suffered from college degree-remorse for many years, having obtained a degree in mathematics instead of meteorology; so weather has become an avid hobby a freakish obsession instead of a vocation.

In March, I completed an evening of training to become a storm spotter for the National Weather Service. According to the Spotter page on the NWS website:

The training lasts about 2 1/2 hours and includes instruction on how to safely observe severe storms, how to identify important features, and how to make accurate and timely reports. In our area, storm spotters are a resource of each local community, and work with local emergency management officials to help protect their community from dangerous storms.

Very capably taught by Norman, Oklahoma NWS Office Warning Coordination Meteorologist, Rick Smith, the training was informative and fun. Such a diverse group was gathered, including newbies (like me) as well as people that had “spotted” for years. There is always something new to learn about weather. My favorite part of the evening was the discussion of how to differentiate between SLC, or Scary Looking Clouds, and a rotating wall cloud, which usually precedes a tornado.

Armed with my newly acquired spotter knowledge, a weather alert radio, an official rain gauge, and my camera, I can’t wait to “spot” those storms.


This week is memorable for many Oklahomans, as Sunday marked the 10th anniversary of the May 3, 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. Incredibly, almost 60 tornadoes occurred that day, along with the highest recorded tornado wind speeds (300+ mph), during the mile-wide F5 tornado that hit Moore and Bridge Creek, southwest of Oklahoma City. Sadly, forty people lost their lives in the state that day and over 600 were injured. However, thousands more lives were saved due to warnings from media personnel such as Gary England, Chief Meteorologist for KWTV Channel 9, who continuously urged viewers and listeners to “get below ground now”. Credit also goes to live video coverage by storm chasers, spotters, and helicopter pilots.

Here is the classic hook echo of the F5 tornado:

And here is a map showing the path of the tornadoes:

The reason for the difference in these two radars of the same storm is phenomenal:


The radar on the left is of the tornado on open land. In the radar on the right, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory,

The bright red colors at the tornado location represent not rain or hail — but the aggregate signature of car parts, pieces of houses, shredded tree branches, dirt and other debris, hoisted thousands of feet skyward by the tornado vortex!

I highly recommend Storm Warning, a very readable account of that terrible day by Oklahoma native Nancy Mathis, not only for its riveting personal stories and interviews, but also for the scientific data on the devastating storm and a well-researched account of the evolution of storm prediction.