May27

Memorial Weekend

Posted on May 27, 2012 by rmprudolph

Once upon a time…

There were three boys. The three boys didn’t know each other. Over a period of time, each of the three boys met three girls. The three girls were sisters. The three sisters really liked the three boys. The three boys suddenly found themselves married to the three sisters. When the three boys married the three sisters, they became relatives. The three boys are now friends who help each other with being married to sisters. They help each other a lot. The three boys sometime wonder how they got themselves into such a sticky situation, but mostly they just laugh at their predicament. The three boys are shown in the picture below. The three boys all had hair when they met the three sisters. The End.

Ok….I don’t know where that goofy story came from, I started typing and that’s what I got.

Our family got together for Memorial Weekend. We played another wild and wooly game of softball. I can’t seem to take pictures of the softball game while I playing, so you will just have to take my word for it.

We ate good food. I hate to toot my own horn, but the brisket I made was excellent. My sister Paula made a huge pasta salad, and Penny brought baked beans. They did an amazing job with their food as well. Danielle’s family brought apple cobbler for dessert. I don’t think Ellen knows how to make bad pie crust. I don’t know what’s wrong with Cristin in this picture. Maybe she ate too many beans. Smile

Danielle’s brother Tony brought a hammock. It was a hit with the kiddos.

Spud and Tater in the hammock.

Tater and his momma.

Kris brought his dogs. Their names are Daisy, Lorraine, and Ginger.

This is a picture of two of the sisters who married two of the boys from picture 1. The person on the right is the mother of the sisters.

Ellen and Danielle.

Tater ate the watermelon with gusto.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve told him not to eat the green part. Smile This is Clay doing what he does best….eating.

I hope his mother told him not to eat the green part.

He has watermelon juice dripping from his chin.

Spud.

Katie.

This is the boy who married the girl who is typing this post. Smile

What are they talking about? It looks like they are discussing the watermelon.

The three boys again. Smile

Let me add to the story….

When the three boys and three girls got married, they had children. The children grew. Now the three sisters get together with the three boys and their children and they eat watermelon and play softball. They invite friends. The friends play softball too.

The End…again.

May24

Bike Ride Part 2

Posted on May 24, 2012 by rmprudolph

Bike Ride Part 2

In about a week and a half, Clay will be leaving for his 1,000 mile bike ride. I have asked him to do an updated post about his training experiences. Below is the flyer for the send off ceremony. The second picture is the group from the Cherokee Nation. The group picture does NOT include the eastern band of riders that will join them once they arrive in Georgia. The last picture on this post was a thumbnail picture so it didn’t enlarge well. The last pic was taken after a practice ride. He is going to an amazing job on this ride. I know he will be the master of the mountains with the power of the pedal. I couldn’t be any more proud of him.

My son Clay.

It’s almost here! The two month wait is almost over and the riders from the Cherokee Nation will leave Tahlequah in only a week and a half. On the morning of June 1^st, 10 other riders and I will depart from Oklahoma to arrive at North Carolina where we will meet with our fellow riders from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. While there, we will visit a few important historical places and then we’ll be off to New Echota, Georgia where our journey begins. Just three days into the ride will be one of the hardest. In our agenda that each rider was given it said “there are 2 major hills to climb.” I know one of these hills will be the Cumberland Gap but I’m unsure about the other hill. Something interesting about the Cumberland Gap is that it is just north of the spot where the states Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia meet, and it was also a very important part of the Wilderness Road.

Training has been going great. Every Saturday, all the riders meet in Tahlequah and ride as a group. Training individually in the town we live in is much different than training in Tahlequah. The area I ride at during the week has many good hills to climb but all of them are steep and short; the hills in Tahlequah are all steep and looooong. Climbing a hill in Tahlequah that is a good half mile long is…painful. Although I am in good shape, the first ride my leg muscles were not used to being engaged that long. I didn’t think bicycling would build my leg muscles bigger than they already were from running but it really has. My thigh muscles are enormous and it’s a challenge to fit into jeans that I was wearing just two months ago; they’re starting to look disproportion, but it’s AWESOME! Not to sound cocky, but I’m probably the strongest rider in the Oklahoma group and the last two times they have asked me to be the lead rider during practice. It feels awesome to be given that responsibility. The responsibilities of the lead rider are to set the pace that we ride, which is usually about 14-15 M.P.H., watch for cars coming from the front and sides, and also give the hand signals. We have signals for turning, slowing down, stopping, and debris in the road. Sometimes when we are riding on the shoulder of a highway I think our hands spend more time doing debris signals than they do on the handlebars, but when there is a rider in front of you it is hard to see what is coming up ahead. The bikes that the Cherokee nation purchased us are so cool! I’ll make sure mom posts a picture of mine with my blog post. The bikes have 27 gears which make it easy to find the right gear while riding. It feels weird when I think that I am riding an $1100 piece of equipment.

This Saturday will be the last group training and the next Saturday we will be arriving in North Carolina! I’m kind of worried about being away from for that long; a week is the longest I have ever been gone. I cannot wait to see the Cherokee homelands. I have heard that the Smokey Mountains is some of the most beautiful scenery I will ever see. I’m going to be taking tons of pictures and posting them on Facebook and Instagram on the trip. Also on the trip, the riders will be posting blogs every evening to update on where we are what we are doing and events that happened during the day. The blog is available to whomever that wants to read them and can be found on the Remember the Removal website.

Clay Rudolph

May22

Happy

Posted on May 22, 2012 by rmprudolph

Happy

Today is one of those monumental days in the life of a parent and child. It’s a day that’s made Chance happier than I’ve ever seen him. He can’t stop smiling. Of course, I’m an emotional wreck, but it’s a good kind of emotional.

Chance got his driver’s license this morning.

This little red stamp means he passed his driver’s test.

Let’s rewind to 6:30 this morning. Apparently, you have to get to the testing location really early to get a spot in line because they only do so many driver’s test per day. We were there at 7:15. They open at 8:00. Even though we were the first people there, two others got in line before us when the doors open. We didn’t know there would be a rush on the door when the doors unlocked. Wow, people get crazy sometimes.

Anyway, Chance was 3rd in line for the driver’s test. The wait gave him plenty of time to marinade in his nervousness.

The first two drivers were gone for about 10 minutes with the examiner. When they got back from their test, the examiner got out of the car right away. When Chance was out with the examiner, he was gone for about 15 minutes and the examiner sat in the car with him after the test. I WAS A BASKET CASE???? Why were they gone so long? Why did she sit in the car for so long talking with Chance? I was sure this was NOT a good sign.

Nevertheless, he passed with flying colors. Chance asked the examiner if she saw anything he needed to work on with his driving. She said no, but then they chatted in the car. For the sanity of the parent, this should not be allowed. Smile

By 9:45 we were at the tag office getting his driver’s license. He didn’t like the picture, but who ever likes their DL picture?

Now that we are home with a driver’s license fresh off the press, he is anxious to go somewhere without me in the car. He was so excited to leave, he forgot he was starving. This is huge!!! He never forgets he’s hungry. He ate a sandwich very quickly and now he’s ready to leave.

What I would like for you to notice about this picture is that he is alone in the vehicle and it’s moving. This is the “monumental for parent” moment that I mentioned in the first paragraph. My stomach was in my big toe.

Notice I’m on the sidewalk taking pictures and he is in the truck moving down the road ALONE.

Even further down the road ALONE. Sad smile

*tears flowing while typing*

He is all prayed up though. God has heard a lot from me today. If you are a driver in my town…watch out for that truck. Smile

May18

Treasures

Posted on May 18, 2012 by rmprudolph

Treasures

About a year ago, I decided that I needed to scan family pictures. Over the course of a couple weekends I scanned about 500 pictures. Even though scanning pictures is a repetitious and boring job, I’m so glad I took the time to do it. I plan to do more this winter.

I have posted many of these pictures on my blog, but many remain unseen. So here are some of my most precious unseen treasures.

My dad as a young man. He’s on the beach while stationed in Vietnam.

The day my sister Paula came home from the hospital.

My dad and Penny on my horse in front of the house where I grew up.

This photo was taken at Monarch Pass, Colorado. There was snow on the ground right behind us…..in July.

My sisters and I.

I think this was my 13th birthday.

My dad. He was so fun.

Five generations of my hubby’s family. The little one is my 21 year old son.

Chance and my FIL.

One of my favorite pictures ever!!! My son and I after his football game.

My hubby with his 30 pound flathead catfish. This was about 21 years ago.

Clay and I.

Penny and Clay have been buds for quite awhile.

Zach and Chance at Penny’s wedding.

Cristin in her flower costume.

My hubby when he was a baby.

My dad with Penny and Clay.

Paula and I.

Me.

Katie in her bikini.

Penny and Clay again. Penny may not be happy about this one. Smile

My sisters, me, and Buck.

Katie and Cristin.

Chance with Michael in the background.

The day Cristin was born.

Love this picture of Paula and Katie.

My hubby when he was a baby. That’s the only picture I have of my inlaws when they were young.

Chance.

Clay.

Cristin.

My kiddos.

I hope you enjoyed. I have many more pics to scan. I may post more “treasures” in the near future.

May12

Family, Friends, and Fun

Posted on May 12, 2012 by rmprudolph

Family, Friends, and Fun

I don’t know much about anything, but I do know this…. there is nothing more important than the people in our lives. Nothing…notta. Not the car we drive, or the house we live in, or bank accounts, or things we own. The only thing that really matters is the people you share your life with. I thank God everyday for the blessings he has given me. Each one of my blessings has a name and sometimes my blessings all get together in one place.

Most of the time, when my blessings gather, we eat food. Lots of food. And sometimes (like this evening) we play softball.

Katie

Mom doesn’t like having her picture taken, but she gave me a little smile. This evening was supposed to be a get together for Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day Mom!!!!

OK….Zach is weird. What is Cristin doing back there?

Punkin loves cheeseburgers.

My sister Paula.

Danielle made a coconut crème pie. It was so pretty.

Chow time.

After we had food, we picked teams. This was…the “other” team. Names from left to right are Clay, Danielle, Ellen, Cristin, Morgan, Tater, Penny, Paula, and Zach.

This was THE team. My team. From left…Spud, Hub, Hannah, Katie, Tater (again), Tony, Chance, Me, Terry.

Spud.

Clay and Danielle rode 30 miles this morning in preparation for their 1,000 mile bike ride coming up in June. Then they played softball. They are young…they can handle it.

Clay. He still has oil on his leg from his bike chain.

This may be my favorite picture from today. Morgan had to run bases while carrying Tater.

Zach.

This is Danielle’s mom, Ellen.

Cristin’s friend, Hannah.

Danielle’s brother, Tony.

Spud trying to steal home.

Danielle’s dad, Terry.

Cristin pitched this evening.

My Hubby.

Chance hit several home runs.

Tater played in the dirt. The little weirdo. If I had Paula’s camera, I would show you pictures of when he was pouring the dirt in his mouth.

Love. This. Dog!!!!

Danielle’s family. I hope we didn’t scare them away tonight with our loud, obnoxious weirdness.

These are the desserts that Danielle brought.

My hubby loves crème pies. He didn’t want to share.

Gathered around the food. Smile

My piece of apple cobbler.

Danielle serving her pie. It was perfect.

Clay eating his pie. I also feel you should know, that in addition to this pie, my son ate 3 cheeseburgers, 3 hot dogs, and chips and cookies. I am taking donations for my grocery bill. Smile

Clay and Danielle.

What is so funny?

Tater decided to lay down in the middle of our softball field.

We had ourselves some fun tonight. I would like to do this again before it gets too hot.

The End.

May11

Evening at Home

Posted on May 11, 2012 by rmprudolph

Evening at Home

I don’t like to be idle. I like for my brain and hands to be occupied and productive at all times. This evening, I found myself in a rare situation. I didn’t have anything to work on. Oh…I could’ve done a load of laundry or cleared a stack of clutter, but I didn’t want to do that. After sitting on the couch for a few minutes, I thought “I will do a blog post”. I didn’t know what I would post about, so I just took photos of the happenings at my house this evening.

So here goes….

This is the skillet meal I made. This is actually my sister Paula’s recipe. We call it “Goulash”. Anything we make that doesn’t have a recipe is called “Goulash”. It has lean hamburger, elbow macaroni, chili seasoning, onions, melted American cheese and a few other items. My bunch eats it up. Of course, my bunch eats everything. They are easy to please.

Then I headed out to the shop to see what the guys were up to.

My hubby is insulating his shop. My hubby built his shop as a pole barn structure. It was metal on wood. Well, that gets really hot in the summer and is cold in the winter. So he is insulating the part of the shop where his new machining equipment will be.

And that is what my boys are working on…

If you look closely, you can see the sheet of insulation on top on the board. Most of the walls are finished. Now they are working on the roof. It’s only partially finished and I can tell that it’s cooler in this part of the shop.

Clay is holding the board up while his dad screws it in place.

I never realize how dorky the athletic short/cowboy boot combo looks until I see it in pictures. UGH!!! I try….I really do, but he is determined to look like a goof ball.

My hubby is getting another board ready to go up.

Chance is holding his cell phone. I am going to challenge him to go a week without his phone. I can’t think of anything that would do him more good than a week without texting.

Pioneer Woman posts pictures of her hubby’s back side. I don’t see why I can’t. After all this is my blog.

Want to see another one? I took 10 different shots. He said it was “irritating” when I was taking pictures while he was trying to work. He thought I was taking photos of the insulation process. Smile

Everything is looking super good here. Ok….next item…

If you read my blog regularly, you know we have a new dog. Her name is Pickle. She chews on everything.

She chews on sticks.

She chews on my Punkin dog.

She chews on shoes.

She chews on Clay.

It’s hard to see, but in this picture, she trying to eat the chair.

Punkin has been the only dog for 11 years. She enjoys having a puppy to chew on. The puppy eats the chair, Punkin eats the puppy.

This is Chance’s truck. He sold the old Ford. He had a hard time driving the standard with the shifter on the column. This is his new wheels. I just decided to take a picture of it for my blog. Smile

We are having a big family and friends cookout tomorrow evening. It’s going to be a blast. We are going to play softball. I love softball. Clay’s friend Danielle is going to be there with her family. She is super nervous that she will stink at softball and that we will be softball professionals. I can’t wait for her to see how bad we stink at softball. It’s all about having fun. The cookout post will hopefully happen tomorrow evening if I’m not too tired from attempting to play softball.

Ta Ta for now….

May6

Our New Adventure

Posted on May 6, 2012 by rmprudolph

Our New Adventure

My husband is one of those motor head type of guys. He has worked as a machinist for over 25 years. He can fix anything. He can machine anything. He can make anything. He’s like Superman when it comes to his machining abilities.

Within the last week, we spent a big chunk of change and purchased machining equipment. My hubby plans to make some extra money with this venture. We believe there is a big demand for this kind of work in our area.

In order to get his shop ready for this equipment, he had to take a lot of stuff out and place it in the yard. Also, he has been insulating his shop so he can stand to spend time out there when it’s 105 degrees and 10 degrees.

My hubby has a lot going on right now. He took 3 days of vacation last week so he could move equipment.

Keep in mind that my hubby and brother-in-law already loaded this equipment once, now they have to unload it at our house and get it in the shop.

The equipment is very heavy and awkward.

My hubby called a friend with a big tractor. It’s the only way to lift equipment this heavy

My hubby says this piece of equipment weighs 3800 pounds.

They strapped the equipment to the bucket to move it.

You can see the sheets of insulation in the back of the shop. He can’t put the equipment in place until that is done.

Putting this very heavy piece of equipment on blocks made me really nervous. My hubby has to be able to roll it into position.

Does this look smart? Smile

They are forming a plan.

See all of that junk in my yard? My hubby now has that all cleaned up. He has worked his buns off the last 5 days.

This is the man of the hour. My brother in law, Morgan. He helped my hubby all day long. We couldn’t have done this without him. We owe him…big. Clay had to work and Chance had a dental appointment. I’m so glad he was willing to help.

I will be posting more about our business venture in the future. I have my fingers crossed that it goes well, but if I know my husband, it will.

May4

Best Day Ever!!!!!

Posted on May 4, 2012 by rmprudolph

Best Day Ever!!!!!

Ask me about my favorite days spent with my mom and sisters and I will tell you about going to garage sales.

We come from a long line of people who like to garage sale. My grandma on my mom’s side took us when we were little. My grandma loved to find a bargain.

Garage shopping (as I like to call it) gets in your blood. It is something we MUST DO every spring. Each sale holds the possibility of finding something great and let me tell ya…we found great stuff today.

There is a nice neighborhood in the town of Verdigris called “The Vintage”. It is by far the best place to garage shop. Today, they had a neighborhood sale. Which means that many houses have sales on a scheduled day. We went to approximately 40 garages sales in this one neighborhood. Smile

Anticipation was coursing through my veins when I woke up this morning. I knew it would be a good day.

We packed my Suburban totally full with our purchases. Notice in the picture below that my nephew can’t straighten his little legs because of my roaster oven.

I bought a tripod for my camera. Mom is holding that for me.

Here is the view from the back.

Mom and Paula are looking at the DVD’s they bought.

All of this stuff was in my Suburban, along with 5 full grown people and one toddler in a car seat.

I’m giving you a peek into my favorite bag of purchases today. I got 8 OPI nail polishes, Urban Decay eye shadow, and other high end makeup. Love this bag!!!!!

I got one of those giant roaster pans. No, I’m not sure how or when I will use it, but I wanted it and I got it. Smile See those giant 4 man sleds? 4 dollars for both. I bought a Craftsman tool box for my hubby.

My sister got this makeup mirror, lots of cute clothes, toys for her kiddos, and lots of miscellaneous.

What you see here is tradition. Garage shopping makes us very hungry. A local store serves something in their deli called Crispitos. They are an Oklahoma delicacy. This is what we eat when we all go garage shopping together (except for my weird vegetarian sister). Smile They are made with a thin flour tortilla and filled with with a tasty chicken and cheese mixture and dropped it in the deep fryer. Yes, they are totally unhealthy, but so, so good.

We refer to them as “garage sale power food”.

We were ready for drinks and snackage.

My nephew Tater with his Bug juice.

When Tater gets tired he gets a little “odd”. See his nice “clean” foot? Well, the only way he would eat his potato wedges today, was from between his toes.

Isn’t he precious?

Then he crashed.

Today was one of my favorite days ever. We got lots of good stuff and made lots of good memories.

Apr30

Bird Technician

Posted on April 30, 2012 by rmprudolph

Bird Technician

My 4H group volunteered to help out at a bird dog competition. Actually, the hunting group paid us for our labor. Let me tell you…they got their monies worth out of us.

Here’s what we did…

We got up at 4:00 am on a Saturday morning. Smile We drove an hour to Bernice, Oklahoma. Our group was in charge of launching the ducks with catapults so the dogs could retrieve them. The dogs had to follow hand and whistle commands to find the birds. The best part of the event was watching the dogs work. Those dogs were so smart, they brought tears to my eyes a couple of times.

The hunt was held on a privately owned ranch. This is the ugly side of the clubhouse. Smile I should’ve taken a picture of the deck on the back of the house. This house sat on the top of a huge hill with an amazing view of Grand Lake.

This picture of Grand Lake didn’t do the scenery justice.

This was NOT my favorite fund raiser that we have done. I enjoyed spending time with my hubby (we were in the same blind) and watching the dogs work, but sitting out in the middle of a pasture while flinging dead, stinky ducks, without a bathroom in sight just doesn’t count as fun for me.

Here is one of the dogs.

They were so well behaved and obedient. I wish this guy would train my kids.

Here is my Hubby with his catapult loaded.

This lady came from Texas. She brought 5 dogs. I was most impressed with her dogs and the way she treated them. I talked to her for a moment. She said she raises, trains, and hunts her dogs for a living.

My husband and I were bored so I started taking pictures of the extremely dead ducks.

There’s Jim in his blind. I took this picture because I thought I caught him sleeping. This was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. It had been a long day by this time.

My daughter and her catapult.

Her friend Alexis.

And her other friend Hannah.

This was the man that took me a mile up the hill to the bathroom at 11 am. I hadn’t peed since 4 am. This man will forever be my hero.

My group was the first to finish. When we were sitting at the clubhouse under the shade tree, talking about the nastiness of the ducks and the snakes we encountered. The man running the show said we were the best “bird technicians” they ever had. I was irritated by this. He was trying to cover up the awfulness of the job by a fancy name. I wasn’t buying it. I just smiled and thanked him.

My daughter plays softball with Hannah and Alexis. As the girls played softball this evening, their mothers and I joked about the major surgeries and root canals we are planning on the day this event is scheduled in October.

I try to find something enjoyable in every situation, but this event….I don’t know….I just don’t feel it. Smile

Apr23

Pictures

Posted on April 23, 2012 by rmprudolph

Pictures

I’m about to rush out the door for my daughter’s softball game. I can hardly wait to be outside in the spring sunshine and watch my girl play softball.

Softball is my favorite sport.

It is sunny and 70 degrees in Oklahoma today. I know I’ve said this before, but this kind of weather makes me feel so lucky to be alive and above ground and free to sit outdoors in crisp spring air.

Ok….I only have 20 minutes to make this post happen. I’m not going to edit the size of all the pictures. I have a few of Cristin from last weeks game. The rest of the pictures are of a family in my 4H group. They wanted me to take family pictures and because I love taking pictures…I complied.