Saturday evening Mary and I went to the Petroleum Club for the wedding reception of a friend of Mary's she knows through Kappa Delta. Normally, I'm not a big fan of people running off to some exotic location to get married and then inviting friends to a hometown reception later but, in this instance, it totally made sense. J. Anna and Michael met in Cancun, Mexico, eight years ago and that is where they recently got married. Additionally, he is from New York and she is from Tulsa, so either city would have been difficult for one group of friends or the other to attend.

The reception was beautiful with everything you'd expect at a wedding reception. Additionally, they had a photo booth where guests could get their photos taken. It was a great addition and a hit with young and old alike. After the jump, see a more natural set of poses of Mary and me.

We're clearing out my parents' house (mostly Aunt Donelda is clearing it out) and we came across these two items. (Ignore the USB drive, I just threw it in for a size comparison.) The first item appears to be some type of handle. Maybe something would be attached to the end, except for the fact that there is no indication of any wear anywhere on it. It looks like the end could be used to push something, while the middle portion could hook something.

The second item, has what clearly appears to be finger grips on one side and a full length rectangular opening, half way deep, on the other side. We have no clue what either of the items are. Also, there was no evidence they are in any way related or go together.

Anyone have any ideas?

Tonight we all went to see Sesame Street Live - When Elmo Grows Up. In the show, Big Bird helps Prairie Dawn to put on a pageant about growing up.

Bert wants to be a forest ranger when he grows up. Cookie Monster wants to be a brave firefighter. Telly wants to be a baseball player. Grover wants to be, Police Officer Grover.

The newest Sesame Street character, Abby Cadabby wants to be a Fairy Godmother. Baby Bear wants to be a train engineer. Rosita wants to be a Spanish language teacher. And, Elmo...well, Elmo wants to be everything!

Oscar advises Elmo to "Stick with something you love," which of course results in a round of "I Love Trash." Both Drew and Will had a great time! Drew didn't remember seeing the Sesame Street characters before, two years ago, when Super Grover lost his superness.

Finally, I can't help but mention the creators of Sesame Street--corrupted by political correctness--labeled the recent release of early Sesame Street episodes on DVD for "Adults Only." I won't even try to explain, as it makes no sense...read it for yourself.

Today we all attended the Tulsa Youth Orchestra's Play-A-Thon at Woodland Hills Mall. A good friend and former coworker has two children in the TYO which is celebrating its 45th season, a daughter who plays the violin in her fourth year and a son who plays the clarinet in his third year. Both, Drew and Will enjoyed watching and listening to the orchestra. Drew's favorite was when they played The Empire Strikes Back.

For twenty-ish years, nobody knows exactly how long, the Tulsa Kappa Delta Alumnae Association has had a Bunco Party and Silent Auction for its annual Shamrock project to benefit the local Parent Child Center of Tulsa and the national Prevent Child Abuse America. The event is well attended especially by the Tulsa area Red Hat Society and raised over $2000 for worthy charities this year.

Since Mary is active in the Alumnae Association, I have attended the annual event for the last 10+ years. Finally, I figured a way out of playing bunco...tonight, for the first time ever, I emceed the event.

Will enjoyed helping set up for the event and playing with the door prizes like these shamrock glasses.

Drew's coloring within the lines has really improved lately. Using his favorite color, Drew did a terrific job of first coloring the dark red portions within the lines, probably because he was pressing harder and concentrating on a smaller area. Then he colored the lighter red and continued doing a pretty good job on that too. And, Drew named his creation...Crayony.

One morning, sometime in November, Will was carrying around the television's remote control. Moments later he was empty handed. When we went to turn on the TV, we couldn't find the remote...a-n-y-w-h-e-r-e! We looked under everything, we looked in everything, we even crawled around on our knees pretending to be a one-year old just to see if we were missing something that only the view of a toddler would reveal. Still, no remote. It wasn't too great a disaster since I had previously procured an extra remote control from Cox for just such an occasion. But, the mystery was annoying.

When we'd ask Will, "Where's the remote?" He'd just giggle and make the hand gesture in the picture as if saying, "I don't know?"

We've been limiting Will's pacifier use during the daytime and, a week or so ago, we were in bed after a nap and asked Will, "Where's pacie?" Without hesitation he pointed to the space between the bed and the headboard. There was no pacie there but, way down deep, between the box spring and the headboard was the remote control. Yes, we'd already looked there and Mary had even changed the sheets, but it was so far down that it escaped notice. Nothing like little ones to keep life interesting.

Drew played a record amount of handheld, battery operated, Leapster during the power outage. Will found a surprising amount of enjoyment just watching big brother exploring and setting new records.

Tuesday night we got the fireplace roaring...real tough to do when it's a gas fireplace and you have starter logs, five-year old wood so dry it doesn't crackle and an electronic lighter...backwoodsmen we are not.

Notice the warm clothing as we sat in front of the warm fire. Prior to the picture, Will had been wearing a full head, under the chin buttoning, stocking cap.

Here are some photos we took of the ice storm while we were without power earlier this week.

Our mailbox covered in ice. There is no ice near the door of the mailbox because, despite the ice accumulation on trees and most everything else, the roads never got too bad and so mail delivery was uninterrupted.

One of our crape myrtles covered in ice and icicles dripping from the top of our pergola.

One of our Autumn Blaze maples covered and dripping with ice. You can easily imagine larger trees covered in hundreds, even thousands of pounds of ice.

From the PSO (Public Service Company of Oklahoma) website, some additional photos taken of the ice storm:

A not uncommon heavily tree-lined Tulsa street showing the extent of ice damage.

And, when ice covered trees interact with power lines, the result is both downed trees and downed power lines.

All emergency services worked overtime during the power outage. Thanks to everyone who left their own darkened homes to make repairs and to keep the city safe.

Just a quick post from the Danz Family underground bunker beneath the darkened city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. For those not aware, we are experiencing the worst ice storm/power outage in the history of Tulsa and possibly the state. Reported power outages in the Tulsa metro area peaked at 255,000 about 10:30 p.m. tonight and there are more than a half-million homes and businesses state wide without power. Phone lines are also down and cell phone service is spotty due to the power outages affecting the cell towers.

Tulsa International Airport was shutdown with power outages, three local hospitals were on backup generators and one of the city's two water treatment facilities is without power. Estimating a week to ten days to get everyone's power back on, although a majority of people should have power much sooner. A state of emergency has been declared for all of Oklahoma's 77 counties.

We lost power ourselves sometime shortly after midnight Sunday night/Monday morning and our phone went out later Monday morning. Not being ones to look to the government to take care of us, Mary was prepared with plenty of batteries, candles, non-perishable food and all other items we might need for an extended power outage. All the laundry was done and the kids were bathed in anticipation of the coming storm. Drew is keeping busy with battery operated handheld games. Additionally, he is keeping four glowsticks nearby at all times which we got last night in our drinks at my firm's annual Christmas dinner. Will is taking everything in stride and doesn't appear to be fazed in the least. The building I work in has power but no internet connection because the internet provider has no power.

Oh, and I’d just like to quickly thank those individuals with large trees who bitch and moan, and do everything in their power to thwart the power companies from trimming back their trees which have grown too close to power lines...thank you...from everyone in Tulsa and across the state...thank you for caring so much about your precious trees. We can all certainly agree that your precious aesthetic sensibilities are far more important than a reliable power grid.

Pictures will be posted when power is restored. That's all for now, we'll keep everyone advised.

[UPDATE - Tuesday, December 11, 2007:] Still no power and no land phone. More businesses are coming back on line but there are still over 200,000 homes/businesses without power in the Tulsa metro area. Today was the first day since Sunday that the total number affected has gone down. Had a nice roaring fire in the fireplace tonight. We do have hot water so we can shower and do dishes. The boys are bundled up as the temp hangs in the upper 50's in the house. Mary's parents, Ma and Pa, have power, so if it gets too bad, Mary and the boys can always go there. I'll stick around and house-sit though. What did people do a hundred years ago? We've grown so soft and lack both the skills and equipment to live without our modern conveniences.

[UPDATE - Wednesday, December 12, 2007:] Our power and phones were restored this morning making our outage about 55 hours...it seemed longer. Most of the people who lost power have not had theirs restored yet, so our thoughts and prayers are with them. The power company expects to make great strides tomorrow as crews from all over the region are in town and starting to make repairs. Uncle David came over this evening to watch some TV and enjoy some warmth. When he got home, he found his power was restored too.

Now we're restocking and preparing for the storm that's supposed to come this weekend.

This past Sunday, I spent 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at The Defensive Shooting Academy of Tulsa taking their Basic Handgun Marksmanship course.

The course was taught by Marshall Luton (left) with the assistance of Tammy, Mike and Eric (left to right). Marshall and his instructors are all incredibly skilled in the use of firearms and evidence a true love for sharing their knowledge and experience. Their courses are attended by police, highway patrol, SWAT teams, D.E.A., F.B.I. Secret Service, Navy Seals and other military special forces. Their students come from all over the country and overseas.

Marshall and his instructors offer just the right mix of technical instruction and hands on manipulation while always maintaining a good sense of humor. I really liked the fact that they didn't just tell how to do something but also explained the reasoning behind it.

At all times, safety was the first priority. Weapons were checked multiple times before handling and dry firing. Here, Marshall is demonstrating a finer element of trigger control (with my firearm). The morning class room instruction was instrumental in improving my grip. I was able to immediately notice increased control and confidence. Most importantly, with their instruction, my front sight finally settled down instead of randomly floating around.

The afternoon allowed for plenty of live fire exercises designed to slowly increase each shooters' confidence and skill level. Here you can see my much improved grip, although my left hand could be rotated forward a little bit more. By the end of the afternoon my shot groupings had gone from soccer ball, actually more like a vertical loaf of bread (prior to the course), to tight little tennis ball groupings.

More after the jump.

I'm old-school and my weapon of choice is a Smith & Wesson, .357 Magnum, 686 Plus revolver with a 4" barrel. The "Plus" means it is a seven shooter rather than the standard six. Made out of stainless steel, it has some heft which helps to reduce recoil as well as, to me, just making it feel "right." Also shown are two speed-loaders filled with training rounds of .38 Special ammunition.

After a day of shooting, it's time for a good cleaning.

Plenty of spent brass laying around at the end of the day. Time to head off to the range to turn new skills into old habits.

We're *sniffle* number one *sneeze*, we're number *rubs eyes* one...

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), Tulsa, Oklahoma, ranks as the number one worst place in America for allergies.

Tulsa topped the list with a score of 100, while Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, was second at 95.52 and Fort Myers, Florida, a distant third at 91.57. No one can hold a candle...or tissue...to Tulsa.

While Mary and Drew were Christmas shopping they came upon a Salvation Army bell-ringer. Mary gave Drew a dollar so that he could give it to the bell-ringer. Afterwards, Drew asked Mary for another dollar so that he would be ready next time they saw a bell ringer. Mary gave Drew the dollar and Drew put it in his coat pocket and zipped it shut. But, the next time they saw a bell ringer, they were all caught up in the Christmas rush and forgot about the dollar Drew had in his pocket.

We went to Chicago to spend Christmas with Ma Danz and Aunt Donelda. While there, the discussion turned to all things "Chicago" and Drew mentioned that his Cubs hat was too small and said he needed a new one. Remembering the dollar he still had, Drew volunteered that he would buy it with his "one money." Unfortunately, in all the hustle and bustle we weren't able to stop by a place which sold children's Cubs hats before leaving Chicago. Ever since, Drew has continued to mention how he wanted to buy a new Cubs hat with his one money.

At church today, all on his own, without even a mention, Drew said that he wanted to put his one money in the offering basket. Of course, he decided this after the basket was already coming down the row. To his defense, I don't think he sits high enough to see it coming any sooner. Mary held the basket while Drew worked to open his zippered coat pocket which had been safely holding his one money since December. The usher waited patiently, while Drew retrieved his one money and placed it in the offering basket. He then sat back with a smile and a look of accomplishment.

Momma and Daddy couldn't have been prouder.

NOTE: This post is about the January 2007 Tulsa Ice Storm. For posts about the December 2007 Tulsa Ice Storm see:
Tulsa Ice Storm and Power Outage
Tulsa Ice Storm - Pictures Update

An ice storm has hit the Midwest. It started yesterday here in Tulsa and is continuing today. The city is shut down with almost no one on the roads. Thousands are without power and it's all just supposed to get worse tomorrow. When I went out to get the mail, hats off the to Post Office for getting it delivered, there was no difference under my feet between the ice covered grass and the ice covered driveway/street. We're staying home all warm and well and hope you are too.

[Update:] All the schools in Tulsa were closed this week. A few main roads are pretty clear but most of the main roads in Tulsa are still packed with ice. And, the side streets all look like this:

This is in front of our house and is typical of neighborhood streets a week after the ice storm, still packed solid with ice from curb to curb. Actually, its all ice from door to door.

In church yesterday, one of Drew's shoelaces came undone. Mary was about to tie it but Drew insisted, "No, I'll do it." And so, for the first time ever, Drew tied his own shoe laces.

And, he did a great job too. It made it all the way home and wasn't about to