It has happened more than once. A cold, wet, tweenage dog shivering on a stranger’s front porch. Who knows what goes through people’s minds as they toss the last of the litter out of their vehicle?
But what if it really isn’t that way? What if the puppy owner is deliberately placing a dog on the porch of a stranger to Pay It Forward?
Mae joined our team as a walk-on in May of 2008.
Early one morning, I noticed something odd through the satellite windows at the front door … a scary feeling out in the middle of the country at 6AM. I calmed my fears, smoothed my linen skirt, and opened the door. A muddy puppy. Hmmm.
Pay it Forward.
With three indoor cats already on the roster, we decided that Mae needed to be an outside dog. However, she quickly worked her way into our hearts and into our home.
Over the past three years my “free” dog has cost me countless holes in blankets, a door, the window trim (she broke out of a locked kennel) and most recently a car radio. But even as I sit here wearing shorts with part of the back pocket torn off, preparing to put on pajamas with one strap chewed in half, I can’t help but love this dog.
"Mom look at the SPIDER DOG!"
Mae went through a ten-week obedience class and barely passed…but she passed and she has the certificate to prove it. She proudly donned a tarantula costume during the March of Dogs to benefit the Hardeman County Humane Society. She performed flawlessly in the Christmas parade with eleven other rescued dogs.
A complete stranger gifted me the best dog anyone could ever hope to own. I hope that I prove to her daily that my life has been changed for the better since her arrival.
Pay it Forward.
Last Friday my husband brought home two three-week old kittens that had lost their mother. Within twenty-four hours they had a new mom…and it wasn’t me.
(Click photo below to see video of Mae mothering our baby kittens.)
It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of cooking. Just take a look in my pantry. You’ll find tablecloths, napkins…just about anything one would need for entertaining. But no food. I never really tried to carry on any kind of cooking tradition. I was complaining to my mom about the lack of chocolate meringue pie at my recent Thanksgivings, and she confided in me that Marie Callender made her pie this year. She also told me that my great-grandmother used to make an oyster dressing that she (my mom) despised. The oyster dressing never made an appearance at Thanksgiving after great-grandmother’s death.
I need to thank my mom for making this executive decision to discontinue that tradition. I’m sure I would not have liked it…but now – my lack of interest in cooking has landed me in a Thanksgiving predicament.
My husband can't wait until the "day after" pie slice, so he can eat it on a steaming hot bowl of oatmeal.
I married a Yankee with three kids. They were raised on lots of northern dishes like chicken and waffles and shoe fly pie. Since I’m the odd woman out, I have learned how to make a few dishes since I would like for them to keep me around. It was clear one Thanksgiving that it’s going to take them a little longer to warm up to some of my Oklahoma dishes. I can’t understand anyone not liking brisket for Thanksgiving, but…whatever.
Lamar was thinking about his daughter today when writing about Legacy.
by Alfred Lamar Jackson
Good Saturday to you all. I hope your Thanksgiving holiday went well and you were able to celebrate with friends and family and be thankful for all the blessings, great and small, God has given us. I didn’t participate in Black Friday. I never have and hopefully never will have to. If you did participate in Black Friday, however, I have no ill will toward you – it’s your time and hard earned money!
I’m still in Jeremiah. I do enjoy looking for relevant truths in the Old Testament just because some people think that the Old Testament isn’t applicable to modern times. I came across a passage that made me think about what I will leave my children with once I die unless, God willing, He comes back to finish the “story.” It is strange what becoming a parent and being responsible for another life does to your thinking.
Jeremiah 22:8-9 reads,
People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?” And the answer will be: Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshiped and served false gods.
Now I have no idea when Christ will return, but I don’t think it will be before my daughter grows up. I could be wrong (smile). However, it makes me start to think about, as a father and as a believer in Christ, what I’m going to DO about what I leave behind to my kid(s). In the scripture, Jeremiah has been chosen to prophesy for God about the coming destruction on Israel by the Babylonians. He is continually distraught about his task because he knows it will happen and because God has already decided the city’s fate. He still tries to urge people to repent and even leave if they will. In the end Jeremiah’s generation will be left with a legacy. Everyone will know just why they were destroyed.
As a resident in this great country of America I am slowly watching the descent into darkness portrayed in the government and social medias. There are still bright lights and God is still working, but ultimately I know how the story ends. The question I ask myself is “What am I going to do? What can I do to make sure she and her generation doesn’t have to repeat the same mistakes? Ultimately I must leave her in the ever so capable hands of God. Yet, the father in me wants to protect her and fight off the evils inherent to this world.”
With a gullet full of turkey and the anticipation of tomorrow’s Bedlam showdown, this weekend is simply the most wonderful time of the year.
The right way to welcome someone to the best day in Oklahoma sports (courtesy sportsgifts.com)
Houses will be divided, trash will be talked, and twelve months of bragging rights will be on the line.
It’s tough to find an Oklahoman who doesn’t care about this game. But tomorrow, Bedlam will be foremost in the mind of a football crazed nation. The game has the prime time slot on ABC and ESPN’s College Gameday is setting up shop in Stillwater. I might make the journey to the land of orange if for no other reason than to give Erin Andrews my phone number. No doubt, I’m exactly what she’s looking for.
OSU is in unfamiliar territory because there has never been this much at stake for the Pokes. The program has never played for a Big 12 championship. Beat the Sooners, and the Cowboys will do just that. Not to mention OSU can secure the first 11-win season in school history and snap that pesky seven game losing streak to its in-state rival.
Ronnell Lewis and the Sooners crushed the Cowboys 27-0 in 2009 for OU's 7th straight Bedlam victory (courtesy Oklahoma Daily)
Pressure can do funny things to a football team, but the Cowboys have proven themselves in crunch time all year long. The Sooners? Well, not so much. OU still hasn’t figured out how to solve the equation of a road game on prime time TV against a highly ranked opponent. The win over Baylor was nice, but routing an overrated Bears team doesn’t mean the Sooners’ road issues have suddenly disappeared.
While the Sooners may have been victimized by expectations, the Cowboys came into this season without any. They’ve been a looser bunch because of it. When asked on a local sports radio show which of his players were playing over their heads, Mike Gundy named nearly every starter on both sides of the ball. Can Bob Stoops make that statement about any OU players outside of DeMarco Murray and Ryan Broyles? I’m not so sure.
The post below was originally published on my blog on May 7, 2010… the day of my grandpa’s funeral.
"Wedding." Award-winning photo used by permission from Jeff + Jeanie at stu-di-o.com. Click photo to visit their site.
As I get ready for my grandpa’s funeral today, I’m reminded that a real man is not afraid to show his emotions.
As men, when we’re happy or excited about something, most of us will visibly and audibly celebrate. When we’re angry about something, we have no problem letting the world know. And yet, when we’re upset, hurt, or sad about something we often try to “hold it in” for lack of a better description.
While something could certainly be said about the degree of discipline it takes a man to hold in his tears, I would argue that it takes a lot more discipline to let them out.
Most men, if we’re gut-level honest with ourselves, would say that we typically don’t cry for one of two reasons. The first reason being that we don’t want to appear weak. And the second? We just can’t make the tears come out no matter how hard we want to.
As it gets colder outside I am constantly looking for new yummy, fulfilling things to make for dinner. I love anything spicy so this recipe really caught my eye!
My friend April made chicken chili and I knew this would go very well with the cornbread. I will say that most of my girlfriends are constantly watching what they eat, so the chili was a Weight Watchers recipe – and – well, this cornbread is not so healthy.
I decided to make it not-so-hearty by cutting down the meat in it. I also was unable to find jalapeno cheese in OKC. If you live somewhere around a Kroger, my mom said she found some there. I added chopped green chili’s to the mix instead.
Jalapeno Cornbread
by Matt Gilson
2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix (I was raised on sweet cornbread so I substituted instead of Jiffy, although Jiffy is only 50 cents per box)
I guess “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” came at just about the right time. I keep on singing, “Let’s do the time warp again,” but I’m not dancing. We can’t avoid the time change, at least around here in the good ole Central Time Zone. I’ve always heard people lament over Daylight Saving Time (DST), but now I’m realizing that that is the time I really like. I despise Standard Time (ST).
If "time is money," I am broke at least until next March.
I’ve read over and over the reason for starting Daylight Saving Time. It had something to do with Benjamin Franklin and saving oil for lamps. I guess I just don’t understand why it’s only important to do that March – November, and furthermore, what is so great about Standard Time?
This Standard Time is really messing with my life in so many ways.
I think my body operates on the sundial system. During DST I am up at 4:00AM; during ST I am up at 3:00AM. That makes for a really long day. This is compounded by the fact that I go to bed at 8:00PM or 9:00PM during the summer and 7:00PM or 8:00PM during the winter. No kidding, I went to bed last night at 6:30PM.
Good Saturday to you all. I pray you are refreshed and ready for what God has in store for your life.
I felt extremely blessed to go on a family vacation and just relax, for the most part, an entire week. If you get the chance you should definitely go and check out the U.S. Virgin Islands. The best island is St. John in my opinion. It’s small enough to not be crowded, yet big enough to sight-see and stay in a nice place.
"I felt extremely blessed to go on a family vacation and just relax..."
Heart Felt
Today I wanted to share with you something I read from Jeremiah about the heart. It’s something that I think might get overlooked when people are on the subject. If you could picture the heart as a pair of eyes, I would liken them to someone with tunnel vision. When we go with our heart (or emotions) we are often mislead, let down, or get easily confused. Jeremiah 17:9-10 reads,
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” Continue reading Simple Sabbath: Matters of the Heart→
All of us should count our blessings everyday, but this time of year, we all put a little more thought into what we’re thankful for. Family, friends, and turkey are the obvious choices. Even though there are few things I like more than a plump, juicy bird on my table, I don’t know what I would do without sports.
So, to get you ready for the week ahead, I present to you 101 things that bring me happiness in the wonderful world of sports.
I am thankful for…
Football on Thanksgiving
Being able to watch Sportscenter on a loop every morning
Whoever invented fantasy football
Every time I see a game live
The NHL playoffs
An entire channel devoted to nothing but tennis
The voice of Mike Shannon on the Cardinals’ radio network
Rivalries in any sport
March madness
Winning the March madness office pool
A summer evening at the ballpark with a hotdog in one hand and a cold beer in the other
You won’t find a glassy-eyed 10 point buck blankly staring down at you from the walls of my home. I’ll never be found in a deer stand at 4 am, covered in doe urine, peering through the scope of a bolt-action Remington. You’ll never peek into the bushes to find me laying there in head-to-toe camo, with grease paint on my face and a branch on my head blowing softly into a duck call. If I do happen upon an animal in the woods, I may yearn to pet it or at the very least feed it. Shooting it isn’t on my agenda. But, make no mistake. I’m a hunter, through and through.
When you walk through my home, you’ll see my hunting trophies scattered around but none of them have been freeze dried or mounted. I’m a bargain hunter and I rarely pay full price for anything. Among the bargains I have conquered, you’ll see our last name artistically displayed on the wall in the entry way. I saw the concept of vinyl lettering on the wall in a decorating magazine. The company had beautiful ideas but their prices were far above what I was comfortable paying. So, I found something very similar in an E-Bay store and had them custom make my idea for about 10% of the cost.
In my kitchen, you’ll definitely notice my cobalt blue KitchenAid stand mixer. This particular bargain was a real fighter. I had to track it for months before I finally bagged that beauty. You see, it has been my dream to own a stand mixer ever since I started tuning into the Food Network years ago. I just couldn’t get past the cost. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t justify to myself spending that much money on something I wanted but did not need. So, last year, I grew tired of just stalking stand mixers and decided to pull the trigger. I studied the migratory habits of stand mixer sales and learned which store had the best price on the color that I wanted. Then, I asked my family for gift certificates to that store for Christmas. I gathered some additional store credit and scouted for online promo codes. Locked and loaded with my own personal brand of ammo, I hunkered down and waited for that big sale to come along. When it did, I sprung into action, redeemed all of my credits, gift certificates, promo codes, and rebates. Before that stand mixer even knew what hit it, I scored it for the grand total out of pocket cost of $35.
"In my kitchen, you'll definitely notice my cobalt blud Kitchen Aid stand mixer..."
The secret to big game bargain hunting is to never buy something simply because it’s on sale. If you didn’t intend to buy it, don’t need it, or can’t afford it, you aren’t doing yourself any favors. The biggest thrill that I get is from saving money on something I need or plan to buy anyway. So, I’ll share a few tips to get you started on your own shopping safari but promise me that you’ll be careful. I don’t want anyone accidentally shooting themselves in the foot by overspending.
If you’re making a considerable investment in an item, a little reconnaissance can’t hurt. Once you decide on the item you want to purchase, make sure you will be getting the best price and brand. I like www.amazon.com to check out user reviews and ratings.
Before you buy anything, check out sites like www.retailmenot.com and www.couponcabin.com. These sites have both free printable coupons for in-store expeditions as well as online promo codes that you can redeem for online shopping. I check them every time I am ordering online and almost always find something that saves me a few dollars. A great local site is www.consumerqueen.com.
Sometimes it’s nice to sit back and let the bargains come to you. Limited time sales are hot right now. You can sign up to have daily offers e-mailed to you. Websites like www.Groupon.com and www.livingsocial.com offer limited time deals in your area and some are just too good to pass up. I recently scored a manicure/pedicure for $25 and gave it to my friend Christy for her birthday. I also bought 10 Zumba classes for $10 and a professional housecleaning for $49, which I plan to use around the holidays.
Other sites offer sales that may last a few days such as www.ideeli.com for adult, kids, home items, and travel deals. Ideeli has many great sales on designer items that you may not be able to afford otherwise. For special kids’ deals, www.totsy.com is a great place to find everything from clothes to toys. All of these sites are free to join.
I don’t want to see any of you on a future episode of “Hoarders” so it’s important to only buy things you need and don’t get carried away with the high that bargain shopping can give you. While it’s fine to be proud of scoring a sweet deal, I have realized that I need to dial back on my tendency to “over share”. Now when someone says, “Cute skirt!” instead of “Thanks, I got it for 75% off at Kohl’s!” I just smile slyly to myself and simply say, “Thank you”. How much (or how little) I paid can be my little secret.
Now get out there, bag some bargains, and save a few bucks!
This week I have an easy casserole that you are sure to like if you are like me and have a hankerin’ for Mexican food. Honestly I could eat Mexican food everyday of the week; the sad thing is we don’t really have any good Mexican restaurants in the Memphis area. I remember as a child/teenager, any time we left Harmon County for “The City” we would go to Casa Bonita for Mexican food. We even took our kids to the one in Denver when they were little. That was a real treat since they have cliff divers while you are eating!
On to this weeks Stockyards City recipe…
Mexican Casserole
from Debby Keeler
3 cups cooked rice (I used Minute Rice)
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 can diced Rotel
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb. ground beef, browned
1 can whole kernel corn (do not drain)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Spray cooking dish with non-stick spray. Layer the rice in the bottom of the baking dish. Combine ground beef, taco seasoning, corn, Rotel and mushroom soup. Spread over rice. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.[slideshow]
As you can see from the picture I used Mexican cheese instead of the cheddar. Also, if you like spicier food as my family does, then I recommend using the hot Rotel and the Hot and Spicy Old El Paso taco seasoning.
Like the Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole I fixed a couple of weeks ago, this recipe makes a lot of food. I have decided that in the future I will cook half for dinner and put the other half in the freezer for a later date.
Be looking for Whitni’s and my posts between now and Christmas. There are a few recipes that we want to share with you for your holiday cooking.
Happy Cooking & Happy Thanksgiving, Jani
*Editors Note: To check out other Stockyards City cookbook recipes, simply go to the “categories” section on the right hand column of our home page and find “Stockyard City Cookbook.”
He fights… for what’s right, for the people he cares about, for the power of love, against adversity, to make a difference. He fights… for the cause, for answers, for truth, for honor, for justice. He fights fires. He fights apathy. He fights for his life.
He fights in France and he fights on the oceans and the seas. He fights with growing confidence and growing strength. He fights on the beaches and the landing grounds, in the fields, in the streets, and in the hills.
He never surrenders.
The strength of his hands may be required from time to time, but his fight is not physical. He does not fight for bragging rights or to prove someone else wrong. He does not fight for the sake of fighting itself. He does not fight in a fit of rage.
He fights for principles and values. For people, not things. He fights the good fight and though he may be fueled by passion, he’s bridled by experience and tempered with wisdom. He knows that the most powerful weapons in any fight are the ones that no one actually sees him use.
Real men are fighters.
P.S. Fighting in France has nothing to do with being a real man. I just thought this was a good opportunity to paraphrase Winston Churchill.
My Juniors and I just finished reading and discussing Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. You may remember reading the play when you were in high school. As a refresher, The Crucible is about the Salem witch trials, and the tragic account of how all hell breaks loose in a community when theocratic leaders abuse their powers, drugging the masses with the opiate of absolutist rhetoric, and scapegoating and killing everyone on the margins that represents a threat to the status quo. The play was written in the midst of the Red Scare era, and was meant to critique Joseph McCarthy’s “witch hunts” for communists in academia, Hollywood, even the White House.
What struck me this time while reading the play was how those who were in power – Parris, Judge Hawthorn, Judge Danforth – were able to take bad theology and convert it into a kind of mythological drug for the masses. Specifically, they were able to create stories with the capacity to reshape reality to serve their agendas – most importantly to keep themselves in power. Thus they told their story of the “Devil’s work” in the Salem community until the people in the community were telling the stories to each other. After awhile, the leaders were able to sit back and watch the myth work like a wild-fire, devouring anything amendable to reasonableness.
The play descends into hell as these God-ordained leaders substitute theology for ideology, and come to actually believe in the stories they have created. The point Miller makes as hundreds hang from the gallows is this: it’s not reality that we believe in; it’s the stories about reality that we believe in. And these stories are powerful enough to make us believe we have the right to torture, persecute, and ultimately kill (aka bomb, bomb, bomb) in God’s name.
What’s tragic then, as personified in John Proctor’s character, is that when a minority of people refuse to fall under the spells of such silver-tongued wizards, they become the perfect antagonist for the stories that the myth-makers are telling. Thus the John Proctor’s of the world get cast as the “enemy of God”. And so for those like John Proctor, who represent grounded-reality folk, who represent the prophetic voice, who represent the voice from the margins, who represent the Church as the Conscience to the State (as opposed to the Masters of the State or the Servants of the State) – they get what tends to happen to minorities, prophets, those who live on the fringes – they get shunned, branded, vilified, demonized and ultimately silenced. It happened to Isaiah. To Amos. To John the Baptist. To Jesus. To Peter. To Paul. To Martin Luther King Jr. To Oscar Romero. To Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And so many more. And it still happens today.
Sometimes I wonder if there are enclaves of evangelicals who are like the Salem denizens – drugged victims of a mythology, ignorant cogs in a industrial-military-machinery, who believe in a reality that is a gross parody of the way things really are. Just ask most evangelicals what their eschatology is, for example, and you’ll probably sense what I’m getting at. What you’ll get an ear full of is not theology but mythology, a boilerplate version of The Left Behind series, where the “us” (those who think and believe like us) get raptured up to heaven and the “them” (anyone who doesn’t think like or believe the things we do) get left to suffer the wrath of God. Ultimately this version of the biblical story tends to leverage our fear of losing power, which then fuels our desire to preserve the status quo, which then involves ultimately keeping the powerful in power to take away that fear, which ultimately then gives those in power the ability to pass policies that involves raping the earth, feeding our addiction to oil, making the rich richer, borrowing billions from China, torturing our enemies (thus making us like them), bombing and killing the innocent, and doing nothing to truly end extreme poverty in third world countries. I mean really, what’s the point of re-arranging the lawn chairs on the Titanic if it’s all going to sink anyway, right? If the story ends with the total annihilation of all things created, as opposed to the total restoration of all things, then what’s the point?Religion then, as Karl Marx famously points out, becomes the opiate of the en masse. We are drugged into living passively for the afterlife and not actively for this life. Rather than engaging the problems and seeking to put the world back to rights, we instead seek to escape the problems and demand our rights to keep the world just the way it is – titled to our advantage.
By writing this, I know that I may be putting my neck in the noose like John Proctor. But is it worth sticking my neck out? That’s what I asked my Juniors at the end of class today. Was John Proctor’s sacrifice worth it? Was his death heroic? Or pathetic?
I leave that question for you to explore. As for me I’m wanting to learn how to be brave. Ironically I find it is easier to be brave with those who aren’t Christians than it is with those who are. Why is that? I’m not sure. But it’s because I love my evangelical brothers and sisters, and it’s because I want to honor my evangelical roots, that I ask them to humble themselves before God with me and seek His face and His truth with all their being. My critique comes from within as an evangelical. It’s a lovers quarrel, really.
So I say, Absolutely! It’s worth the risk. Because I am trying to live deliberately by another story. Not the story of domination. Not the story of revolution. Not the story of purification. Not the story of victimization. Not the story of isolation. Not the story of accumulation. But the story of restoration – the story of heaven crashing into earth and making all things new. This is the story I seek first and foremost. This is the story I have been summoned up into, which is the story of Jesus launching a project to put the world back to rights, to reconcile heaven and earth, to usher in a never-ceasing age of shalom (Isa. 11).
This was not the day I was expecting. My school was closed in honor of Veterans Day. I woke up at 3:00AM (my usual time), got comfortable, and managed to stay in bed ‘til 7:00AM. My day had endless possibilities. I walked around in pajamas, drank coffee, and watched a little TV, but a missed call from my husband plus a voicemail was how I learned that my father-in-law, Chris Allgyer, the reason we get to enjoy this beautiful country life, died in his sleep. Chris had spent the last five days at home but the previous six weeks in the hospital fighting complications from cancer.
The rest of the day was a whirlwind of tears, visitors, and funeral arrangements. Even the animals were confused at all of the activity. One of my indoor cats ran outside and had still not come back in by our bedtime adding to my conflicted emotional state. I went to bed but did not sleep.
Westerns
There weren't many places we went without Chris. This was before a Valentine's Day dinner at a local church.
In 2004 after we sold our house in the city, we moved in with Chris. The trailer was small, but cozy. Well, not as cozy as it was HOT. He kept the thermostat at 73 degrees all while running the propane heater in the living room. I tried to watch Friends reruns, but he insisted on watching anything on the Encore Western channel instead. Chris loved Western movies. Gradually, the Westerns grew on me. I loved the horses and the old-fashioned cowboy attire. I even consented to watch different versions of the same movie…the old one…. and the really old one. We continued the “watching Westerns during dinner” tradition even after we moved into our own house. Most Sunday nights I would cook dinner for Greg and Chris, Chris would complain that I didn’t put enough chicken in whatever we were having (he called it “dragging the chicken through”), and I would find a Western for us to watch during dinner. After dinner Chris would settle in the big chair, close his eyes, and ask for a blanket. Our thermostat was not set at 73 degrees.
Blackberries
One day while I was mowing Chris’s yard, I came across some wild blackberries. He informed me that he knew about a gold mine of the berries and promised to take me. The next morning we gathered our buckets and I met him at the tractor. I stood on the Bush Hog (kids, don’t try this at home) and he drove us down to the corner of his property. We picked pails of blackberries and I made my first blackberry jam and cobbler. This past summer he was too sick to take me, so while my OSU friend Kim was visiting, I took them both to a nearby blackberry farm. Kim complained about the thorns and Chris could not breath well enough to get out of the car to help. Chris, sitting there in the car, reminded me of how he used to sit in his own truck in the shade and take a nap. The cobbler didn’t taste nearly as sweet as it did the summer before.
Windfall Profits
In the summertime, it was often only Chris and I at the ranch. If I had a little cash on me, I would text Chris and ask him to lunch. His first question would always be to ask me where I got the money. My standard answer would be “Don’t worry about it. I’ve had a windfall profit.” He always laughed and started calling any amount of cash I had on me a windfall profit. We would try to go to lunch at least once a week or two to the post office in Laconia, TN. It was one of his favorite places to eat. For me, not so much, but I would still go and get a little cornbread and green beans while he loaded his plate down with chicken livers, greens, and other country-fried foods. It didn’t take me long to clean my plate so I could be the first to survey the dessert table and report back the selection. I’d pay the tab (a total of $8.50 for all-you-can-eat) and we’d head home. On into the evening he would walk out onto the back porch, turn on the porch light, start up the diesel (I could hear it from my house) and take off for a late night cup of coffee and a lottery ticket. Before I went to bed I would wait for his headlights to come up his driveway. If my husband was still awake, I’d simply say, “Dad’s home.” The truck was parked and the porch light was turned off.
Mitchell, Christin, Chris, and Melissa at Greg's 50th birthday celebration. Chris was proud of his grandchildren.
This morning I woke up to find my missing cat scurrying on the porch past the French doors that face Chris’s trailer. I noticed the porch light at Chris’s still on. I know the evenings of looking for his headlights coming up the drive are gone and that porch light will stay on until one of us goes up there to turn it off. Once I let the cat safely in the house, I thought to myself, “Dad’s home.”
Here we are, nine games into this college football season and Mike Gundy has a better record than Bob Stoops. Raise your hand if you predicted this before the season. Anyone? If you do have your hand up, I’m calling you a liar or a massive OSU homer.
I guess I still find it funny that a coach with one loss can be considered brilliant and “having a great year,” but a coach with two losses has suddenly lost his way. Fans are fickle creatures, and the media only seems to add fuel to the fire.
Maybe we’re all in need of a little perspective, and as they say in politics, a move to the middle. A move away from the fringes of the fan bases who either view their coach as the second coming of Vince Lombardi or a no good bum who is slowly ruining their beloved football program all because a national title is out of reach.
What some fans simply cannot grasp is the impact of players on coaches. When a team loses or plays poorly, the coach takes the brunt of the criticism. Does he deserve blame? Absolutely. But a coach’s job is to put his players in a position to succeed. Then, it’s up to those players to execute as they’ve been taught.
Stoops' championships are quickly forgotten when the Sooners are struggling. (courtesy dixiefriedsports.com)
Take the Sooners for example. Is it Bob Stoops’ fault when Landry Jones can’t catch a snap that hits him in the hands? Is Stoops on the hook for Jones’ overthrow of Kenny Stills on what could have been an easy six for Oklahoma? Didn’t Stoops dial up the perfect fake field goal call? Should James Hanna’s inability to catch a perfectly thrown football come back to Stoops? Of the course the answer is no on all accounts. I think sometimes we shy away from criticizing college athletes because they aren’t paid and these coaches are making millions. I know these kids are playing their hearts out and I would never question their will to win. But let’s remember, most of the coach’s job takes place Sunday through Friday, and when Saturday rolls around, it’s time for the players to do their job.
Two years ago Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson was the man behind one of the greatest offensive juggernauts in school history. The Sooners put up 50 or more points in nine games and led the country in scoring offense. Sam Bradford was number one in the nation in passing efficiency and OU scored touchdowns on 85-percent of its trips to the red zone.
Has Kevin Wilson lost the ability to coach offense, or are his players simply not getting the job done? (courtesy neilcornrich.com)
Was Kevin Wilson a genius two years ago who suddenly forgot how to coach? It sounds that way if you listen to the Sooner Nation. To some clad in crimson, Wilson is predictable, unimaginative, and washed up. Yes, I agree Wilson could have shown some creativity down near the goal line in OU’s loss to Texas A&M. But is it a bad play call to hand the ball to Demarco Murray inside the one yard line? How many times has that play resulted in a touchdown for the Sooners? It just so happens that this time around, the offensive line got no push and got blown off the ball by the Aggies defensive front. Is that Wilson’s fault?
I’m pleading for some perspective here, please. When are fans going to wake up and realize, “You know what, maybe this team just isn’t as talented as we thought before the season started.” DING! DING! DING! Congratulations on entering the world of sanity!
Gundy is enjoying one of his best seasons in Stillwater, his Cowboys are 8-1 and take on Texas this Saturday. (courtesy espn.com)
Now that we’re all feeling liberated, maybe we can also admit that Oklahoma State has far more talent than anyone realized. Mike Gundy is a very good football coach and he’s doing a fantastic job in Stillwater, but guess what? His players are making plays at crucial moments of every ballgame. Gundy and his staff have recruited well, and they’ve put their players in a position to win. Right now, the Cowboys are executing better than the Sooners. Brandon Weeden is already mature because he’s 83 years old (actually 27), but with every game, he’s growing up as a quarterback. No Dez Bryant? No big deal. Justin Blackmon is filling his shoes rather nicely. Kendall Hunter is the back he’s always been, and the unsung heroes of this OSU season are the big boys on the offensive line. They’re creating space for Hunter and time for Weeden. So is Gundy all of a sudden some kind of genius? No, but his players are making him look like one.
Justin Gent forced a fumble in the last minute against Troy to preserve a 41-38 OSU victory. With Texas A&M driving for the winning score, Shaun Lewis intercepted a pass to set up Dan Bailey’s game winning field goal. Johnny Thomas returned a pick for a touchdown in the fourth quarter at K-State, a play that blew the game wide open and allowed the Pokes to earn another road win. The right plays at the right time. OSU is getting them, OU isn’t.
For a heavier dose of perspective, consider the fact that the Sooners and Cowboys can still play for a conference championship. Both teams have the chance to end up in a BCS bowl. No, it’s not a national title, but it’s still better than 95-percent of the programs in the country.
Stoops and Gundy will accept the criticism and they will also deflect blame away from the players because that’s just the kind of men they are. Both will admit they don’t do everything right. Stoops desperately needs to find someone who can kick a 30-yard field goal, and he needs to find a way to inspire passion in his team when it leaves the confines of Memorial Stadium. Gundy must find a way to keep his team improving on the defensive side of the ball, and turn this recent success into lasting success. Both men are outstanding football coaches even if their stock seems to be heading in different directions. So before we go thinking that a loss makes a coach an idiot and win makes a coach infallible, let’s realize that the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
Not long ago my wife, Amy, posted a picture of my night stand on her blog.
It was a picture of the books propped up on my stand.
From left to right.
Tim Keller’s The Reason for God.
Abraham Heschel’s God in Search of Man.
C.S. Lewis’s Quotables.
Eugene Petersons translation of the Bible, The Message.
And, N.T. Wright’s Matthew for Everyone.
An anonymous blogger saw this picture and posed this question directly to me (and indirectly to all Christians):
Why do so many Christians just read Christian books?
My first mental response was of course immature, arrogant, condescending, and reactionary:
How dare you try and pigeonhole! I peruse the Fiction and Literature section at Barnes and Noble more frequently than I do the Spiritual Devotion section.
I have a undergraduate and graduate degree in English literature.
You name a classic or contemporary author, and I’ll bet I have studied him or her. Shakespeare. Check. O’ Connor. Check. Camus. Check. Kerouac. Check.
But later, after I had calmed down, I sat down to think a bit about that anonymous person’s question. It’s an appropriate question, really. And it was probably not meant to stir up conflict. But conversation.
So after some reflection, this is how I responded to this blogger.
Simply put: I’m interested in reading any story that is written in blood.
Take East of Eden by John Steinbeck, for example. Now that’s a book written in blood. Who of us hasn’t felt an acute sense of displacement? It’s not that we are living in the wrong place; just the wrong way. Or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I’ve got a son now and the thought of dying for Silas – not a iota of fear. But the thought of Silas having to live beyond my dying love – nothing but fear.
Any story then that struggles with what it means to be human, what it means to walk upright in a bent world, what it means to live within tensions and questions and doubts – that’s a story I want to read and participate in because it is written in the author’s blood. Whether it is written by a Christian. Or agnostic. Or atheist. Or Buddhist. Or Muslim. Because all truth is God’s truth. And part of the theology of common grace includes the animating belief that when we tell the truth about our experience of being human, regardless of our “worldview” or religious belief system, somehow, in some mysterious way, a “gleam of the evengelium”, as J.R.R. Tolkien argued, shines through.
J.R.R. Tolkein, smoking his famous pipe.
So I pose this contagion of questions for you to ponder – Christian or not:
What books have you read that are written in blood?
What stories have spoken and resonated with your deepest humanity?
What narratives have shaped the way you understand the narrative we live in?
No doubt, I’m always looking for a good read. And by good, I mean a story where the author simply has the courage as Fredrick Buechner puts it, to “open a vein.”
Men eating dinner while aboard the Atlantic Clipper. (Photo by Bernard Hoffman//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)
When dining out at a restaurant with another person or group of people, a real man is just as likely to pick up the tab for the people he’s with as he is to graciously accept someone else’s offer to pay. A real man doesn’t argue over who’s going to pay. He either pays for his own meal, pays for both his and the other party’s, or if the other party attempts to pay for his meal, accepts their offer without making a fuss.
There’s no middle ground here.
There’s nothing masculine about arguing with another person over who gets to pick up the check after dining out. It’s like dancing. When it comes time to settle the check, the first person to speak is the one who gets to lead. If you’re the first to speak, then you get to lead. If not, just go where the other party takes you without stepping on their toes.
This really is a finer (and in many ways lost) art of manhood, I think. To continue with the dancing metaphor, it’s the difference between looking like a couple of junior high kids at the 8th grade sweetheart dance and Gene Kelly. The latter pulls it off with grace and style while the former just fumble around the floor trying not to let their hands fall below the predetermined, chaperone-approved line on their partner’s back.
The next time you’re out to dinner with another person, either pick up the tab, pay for your own meal, or graciously let them pay if they offer before you speak. Don’t try to appear chivalrous by going back and forth with them only to fold a few seconds letter with the same end result.
I learned this from my dad who likes to pick up the tab for other people. I’ve seen him pick up the tab over and over again throughout my life and I’ve rarely seen another man accept it without resorting to the obligatory give and take, back and forth debate before letting him actually pay. I’m not sure, but these types of scenarios may even offend my dad. At the very least, whether it offends him or not, the men who dicker back and forth with him about it just end up looking silly… at least in my humble opinion. And yet, on those occasions where I’ve seen other people offer to pay for my dad’s meal, I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed him argue with them. He just rolls with it… usually.
I mean, think about it, what’s at stake here? At most (if you’re at a fancy place like Taco Cabana or some other swanky joint like Sizzler or Jack in the Box) we’re talking $50 to $100 maximum. In the grand scheme of life, being able to pick up a $50 or $100 tab, while generous, is not necessarily some great feat of manhood. In fact, just about any dude with a credit card has the ability to do this at will.
Just as picking up the tab for others doesn’t make a man more masculine, the converse is also true. Letting another man pick up your tab when he asks to does not make you any less of man. It’s not like the man who offers to pay your tab thinks you can’t afford the $50. If he thought you couldn’t afford to pick up your own tab, he wouldn’t have invited you to the Taco Cabana. He would have invited you to Taco Mayo, where even the poorest man can eat like a king.
The man who offers to pick up your tab is doing so out of a spirit of generosity. And if there’s anything I’ve learned in my brief stint as a professional raiser of funds, it’s to let people who want to be generous, BE GENEROUS.
Well… now that I’ve beat this issue to a pulp, I only have one other thing to say in relation to picking up the tab. No matter who pays, NEVER EVER skimp on the tip. There’s nothing that screams, “I am not a real man!” any louder than leaving a lame tip.
15% is the standard so unless your waiter or waitress is just a complete jerk, never leave less than that. In fact, in keeping with the generosity theme, if your service is half-way decent and the person serving you is even half-way friendly, why not leave a 20% tip and make their day?
The next time you dine with someone else and they offer to pay for your meal, all you need to do is respond with a simple and authentic THANK YOU. Instead of putting up the obligatory and, in most cases, contrived fight, just make a mental note of the occasion, enjoy the rest of the meal, and the next time you dine with that person, remember to take the lead and offer to pay for their tab before they have a chance to speak.
Not exactly fish eggs…much better! I am a hairstylist and any excuse we can find to bring food to the salon we jump at. The day before Halloween we all dressed up and had a pot luck. I have to say I don’t think I have ever seen that much food in one place before! I knew from the past that its best to take something that can easily be snacked on in-between clients. Everyone at work “jokingly” calls me Betty Crocker; little do they know it’s really not as hard as it looks!
Flipping through the cookbook I looked for a recipe that had ingredients that I might already have at home. I finally decided on Cowboy Caviar. It definitely doesn’t look too pretty, if you’re a presentation person, but sure does taste good! (Friends at work turned their noses up at first but by the end of the day it was gone!) This is a very simple recipe if you need something last minute. Also, if you are following through the cookbook with us and cooking most of these items I would suggest buying a large bag of shredded cheese and a box of cream cheese from Sams. It will save you time and money, both of which I know we can all use these days!
Cowboy Caviar
by Tracy Holland
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 cans chopped black olives
2 T. oil
2 T. lime juice ( I cut one lime in half and squeezed the juice from it into the mix)
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
Combine beans, olives, oil, lime juice and spices. Let sit 2 hours. Spread cream cheese on a plate and top with bean mixture. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Happy Cooking!
Whitni
Editor’s Note – Want to see the other recipe’s Whitni and Jani have prepared from the cookbook thus far? Simply go to our “Categories” section on the right hand of our home page, and use the drop down selector to find “Stockyards City Cookbook.”
So my husband and I are building this barn, right? And it’s really going pretty well thanks to our family and friends who have sacrificed some Saturdays and our two friends Trial and Error who are there every day. The posts are in the ground and the trusses are up. It’s not that I don’t trust my husband’s judgment, but I just wanted to talk to an expert; enter former Oklahoma State University and NFL quarterback Rusty Hilger.
After a successful college and NFL football career, Rusty is again leading his team in the home construction industry.
Julie: How did you get into the construction industry?
Rusty: I had just turned 16 in the summer of 1978 and I needed a way to pay for my first pickup truck. Trust me, it wasn’t much of a truck, but the $2.00 per hour I was earning at the local skating rink was no longer an option. South Oklahoma City was growing and new construction was everywhere. My truck and I got a job with a local homebuilder cleaning and organizing home sites prior to the final landscaping. In the summer of 1979, I worked for a roofing company and roofed my first house. During college, I worked summer construction jobs in Oklahoma City, Stillwater, and Tulsa for 3 different OSU Alumni. In 1985, an NFL career put my construction career on hold until 1990, when we undertook a four-month project to remodel and re-open the old Split-T restaurant in OKC. After retirement from the NFL in 1992, a career in construction seemed natural.
Julie: What kind of roof system is best suited for Oklahoma residents?
Rusty: Sooner or later (strike that; sorry Pistol Pete) at some point, most roof shoppers ask this simple question. First of all, the best roofing system for Oklahoma is not really a roof system at all. The best roofing system is actually “Full Replacement Cost” insurance with a $500 dollar deductible. Why? Since January of 2008, according to the National Weather Service, we have had more than 140 days of severe hail measuring 3/4” or larger in Oklahoma. In May of 2010, the hailstones were so large they came through the roof and into the home in some neighborhoods. No roof system will withstand these conditions and it is only a matter of time before it happens at your home. Many of our clients have replaced their roofing systems twice within the past 3 years. Check your policy or contact your agent for details. If you don’t have Full Replacement Cost insurance, get it!
Julie: Winter is on its way. Do you have any advice regarding protection from Oklahoma ice?
Rusty: Protection against ice dams is required at eaves wherever the January average temperature is 25*F or lower or where there is a possibility of ice forming in the eaves. From Kansas to the North Pole this product is required as code. In Oklahoma it is an option, yet Oklahoma ice storms and snow create problems if this product is not used. It creates a 100% watertight seal that keeps water out at the most vulnerable areas of your roof (at the eaves and rakes, in valleys, around chimneys, pipes, etc.).
Julie: What is the biggest mistake that home owners make regarding roof upkeep or maintenance?
Rusty: With the exception of storm damage, the weakest link in any roofing system remains the pipes sticking up through the roof. Most pipes are made of PVC and the pipe jack is a rubber-like material used to seal around the pipe. This rubber-like material will deteriorate over time at a faster rate than the shingles. The pipes should be checked every year and a special roofing silicone should be used to ensure a watertight seal.
Julie: What do you love the most about Oklahoma?
Rusty: Oklahomans are committed to the values important to me: God, family, friends, and football!. I was born and raised in Oklahoma City and attended Oklahoma State University before being drafted by the Los Angeles Raiders in 1985. I loved the time I spent in Manhattan Beach, Ca; Birmingham (Detroit) MI; Seattle, WA; Indianapolis, IN; Dallas, TX; and Nassau, Bahamas. Although these are some terrific cities, none of them compare to the down-home family lifestyle and attitude of our neighbors here in the great state of Oklahoma.
Julie: If anyone has more questions about roof replacement, how can they contact you?
Rusty has lots of great information to share about protecting your home.
Rusty: If you have questions, send an email to contact@oklahomaroofing.net or call anytime at 405.227.9689.
Wow! Rusty had some great information to share. The most surprising to me was that we both spent time on roofs in the 70’s! If you want to know more about that, contact me. If you need to know more about getting a new roof, you need to contact Rusty.Thanks to Rusty for sharing his expertise with me….and now with you! Happy building!
That was my thought as I stared at the boxes piled high in my garage. Clearing out my house in preparation for a move, made me come face to face with the harsh reality of just how many things I actually own.
There were several items that flat out needed to be trashed, while many others made for great garage sale material. However, there were a couple enormous boxes I didn’t even think about tossing, donating, or selling. These were the special boxes, the “don’t you even think about throwing that stuff away” boxes. Those squares of cardboard contained all of my sports tokens, souvenirs, apparel, memorabilia, and mementos.
A shoebox full of media credentials from my days in TV, everything from bass tournaments to college basketball to arena football.
I wouldn’t call it a collection. It’s more of a random gathering with absolutely no rhyme or reason. There are the obvious items like the jerseys and the posters. There are the things which take me back to my childhood like the football cards, the action figures of my favorite players, and the stickers I used to put on my closet door. And then…well, then there’s the other stuff. I don’t know why I have this stuff, but I don’t want to get rid of it either. I have a souvenir baseball from the Class A Clearwater (Florida) Threshers. Long story, don’t ask. There is a single golf ball commemorating the 10th anniversary of Texas Motor Speedway. I’ve never been to Texas Motor Speedway, never teed it up, don’t need it, but kind of like it. And speaking of worthless, look no further than the 2007 Indiana Football Media Guide. I picked that up at the Insight Bowl a few years back when the Hoosiers faced Oklahoma State. Haven’t looked at it once, not quite ready to chuck it.
I acknowledge that I have a problem, but I also feel like these things tell my own personal sports history. They are the fabric of what makes me a fan. I don’t know if you can put a price on that. All my stuff is worth a couple hundred bucks, tops. In other words, its junk. But there’s a difference between junk and stuff I have a connection with.
A $3 racket turned into a little piece of family history.
Take for example, the old wooden racket I picked up at a thrift store. When I showed it to my dad, he told me it was the exact frame he played with when he was in high school. Now I’ll never look at that racket the same way. For three bucks I got myself a reminder of my father, the man who got me started playing the game I love so much.
Unpacking the boxes, I stumbled across a dozen different Dallas Cowboys’ hats. They were dirty, sweat stained, and beautiful. As a young Cowboys fan, I would watch every game with several hats at my disposal. If my ‘Boys weren’t performing well, obviously the hat wasn’t performing well, and so a change needed to be made. This hat rotation went on for years and I’m so glad I still have every single one. Maybe I can pass them on to my son one day, and tell him about the tradition as we suffer through Cowboys games together.
Hats from the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills in Tulsa. Do I need three almost identical hats? Probably not. Will I get rid of one? Definitely not.
My girlfriend doesn’t understand this obsession. My mom really wishes I’d stop using my old closet as a long distance storage space. They don’t get it, but they don’t have to get it. I need these things to feel at home, to feel like myself. I like to walk into my apartment and be surrounded by my stuff. Maybe it’s wrong, shallow, superficial, and psychologically weird, but my stuff is me. The pennants, the pucks, the sweatshirts that don’t fit anymore, it’s all me. The golf club head covers, the stained coasters, and those stadium cups you get with your nine dollar soda (I’ve got six), all me as well.
A reminder of a trip to Wrigley, one of the coldest nights of my life watching Kerry Wood throw a 4-hit shutout of my Redbirds.
I’ve got the ticket stub from every sporting event I’ve ever attended. I’ve saved countless issues of Sports Illustrated, and cut out newspaper headlines from some of my most memorable sports moments. The one that stands out is from the front page of the Calgary Sun on June 6th, 2004. It’s a picture from game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals with my beloved Calgary Flames and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The photo shows the puck resting on the goal line as two Flames’ players crash the net. I was in Calgary that day, ready to erupt with the rest of the city. My brother and I promised each other we’d find a way to make it to Calgary if the Flames had a chance to win the Cup on home ice. Tickets were too expensive, but we settled into a sports bar, just two anonymous fans in the “C” of red. The puck didn’t go in. Tampa Bay won the game in double overtime, and won the Cup in game 7 two days later. I’ll never forget walking the streets of Calgary with my brother, consoling complete strangers, and reliving every moment of that game. The headline reads, “THAT CLOSE.” Funny how a piece of paper can connect me to one of the best and worst sports memories of my life.
Looking at this is a form of self-torture, but also a reminder of my brother and the greatest spur-of-the-moment sports trip ever taken.
I don’t have the space right now, but maybe one day I’ll realize the dream of displaying all my stuff in one big room of my house. It will be like my own personal sports bar, the man cave of all man caves. Until then, I will continue to search, clip, buy, and yes, save this stuff.
I want to know I’m not alone. Please tell me about your weird sports collection, or that one item that means the world to you, but very little to anyone else. Leave a comment, tell me your stories, or just tell me about something cool you stumbled across at an estate sale. Make me feel better about myself, don’t let me think I’m the only sports hoarder out there.
Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.
All of us should count our blessings everyday, but this time of year, we all put a little more thought into what we’re thankful for. Family, friends, and turkey are the obvious choices. Even though there are few things I like more than a plump, juicy bird on my table, I don’t know what I would do without sports.
