03 July 2009
Roger that, Houston...The stork has landed.
Sister Dinah had her babe this morn in OKC. Landed a good'n from the looks of it, tipping the scales at 7 lbs. 8 oz. I think she's a keeper, Mammy! She's now my second niece in the lineup. Woot woot! Mom and baby are doing well (I think I'm pretty much obligated to write this phrase. But thankfully it's true). Welcome to the wide world, Genevieve Simone L'Heureux.
First words of wisdom: be nice to your younger siblings...when you have some. Deal? Awesome.
23 June 2009
I have a niece
My dearly beloved, it has been too long. For this I offer my ashes and sackcloth. *single tear* I now realize the plight that is perhaps every blogger's to bear in his own way. That which pits the compelling "real world" against one's virtual existence. Such a nasty conflict it is.
In the past it's been said by a good friend of mine that my blog served as a kind of surrogate girlfriend (thank you, D. Shook) and that the volume of posts was directly proportional to my relationship status. If such erroneous statements are true, then I have obviously been the inattentive bf to my blogosphere these last months. Alas my job now plays the tantalizing mistress. *ghasts* And she's a demanding bird at that.
In any case, I'm on a vacation of sorts these two weeks with the usual summer army banding. Hence I have the time to bring you these riveting updates that you no doubt pine for fortnightly. It's been good to see trees again and walk among hoards of people in one place. So far we've hit several Texas towns on our tour and are lighting up San Antonio currently. Holla.
And it's been great to see my Mid-West based familia. Been a few months. Got some hugs all around, patted the pooches and met the newest family member!
And thus, my new niece, Julianne (below). This little bundle o' J is almost four months old now and can eat bear claws two at a time! She said something about the Boston Marathon next year...
She's a cute'n. I told her to stay away from boys and to consult my brother with all her relationship questions. She said there's this one boy she's texting a lot who she met in the hospital birthing rooms. Riskay...
Papa Stu and his first grand daughter. A lot of pride here.
I got to hold her some as well. Score! She's a breeze. She mostly contemplates how to execute a future hostile takeover of her older brothers' (see below) empire.
Great to see the monkies too. Many bananas are going toward growing these fellers into men in their urban Tulsa jungle.
Brother's fam in its entirety. Yeaaahhh Jonathan!
And a final picture of Chubby Dinah and nephew Joshy. I can finally call my sister chubby and have it mean something! She's heavy with child and due with her first bambino on July 2. She is pretty pumped (as we all are) for the munchkin's arrival. Stay tuned for updates.
Good night, San Antonio!
23 May 2009
Wyo's Finest
Sunset on Laramie Peak (elev. 10,000) near Douglas. Oh Sun, how I've missed thee these past months. Welcome back to the northern hemisphere.
04 May 2009
Communal living
Unearthed these oldies recently to much personal enjoyment. Lo, my old dorm room in Gomer Jones House. Obviously the cool RAs have hammocks in their abodes. That increased pedestrian/vagrant traffic in my room by an impressive margin. 
And this was the most vile room I ever chanced upon in my dorm tenure. Since I lived in a building mostly composed of athletes, I'll let you guess what sport this room's slacker of a tenant played.
You guessed it: Wrestling. *shudders*
Backwards scenery and the neighbor's Jane Doe
Out on county roads somewheres. This is about as green as things get around here, so I'm told. Gettin' warmer, Mammy!
And I caught this damsel red handed the other night as I idled up to my parking spot. A midnight snack, munching on the neighbor's bushes.
Sorry, Jane. I'm on to you. And don't even try to give me the bambi eyes. Your powers are useless on me...
22 April 2009
Ode to Spring (and Wolves)
If you've spent most of your life in a temperate climate, the shock of a more extreme clime can remain one that doesn't quickly fade.
Thus has been this Okie's winter experience on the high, 4,800 ft. elevation plains of Wyoming these past months.
I apologize if these posts grab you as patently dud, but the weather is ALWAYS a topic of conversation in smalltown America, even for the saltiest of Wyo natives.
In other tidings, this week's headlines featured a big news story (broken by the venerable Douglas Budget, of course) about the first incidence of livestock being killed by wolves in the county since the earlier 1900s. The wolves were killed out in the '30s in Wyo but were reintroduced to the state some 400 miles from here in Yellowstone in the mid-90s. The Wolf honchos say there are about 300 wolves in the state now, with about 200 of the howlers living OUTSIDE the Park.
This is a very controversial issue as wolves are generally thought of as bad juju for the livestock livelihood and were killed off for a reason by the ranchers back in Tiggety-Two.
At any rate, I find it personally interesting that most of my adolescent life growing up in Oklahoma was spent in a moderate to strong fear, however irrational, of bears and big-toothed attack creatures. Obviously the Sooner State has none of these beasts, adding to the irrationality of my phobia all the more.
But the coincidence is not lost that now I've purposefully moved to a place where both BEARS and WOLVES reside, albeit in mostly minimal numbers.
I've got whole new volumes of content to bring up in my counseling sessions now, let me tell you. Where to start...
So, my two bits about wolves.
Also, I lied about it never snowing again, or rather the pundits did. We got another six inches last week.
Death and taxes, friends. Still life's only constants, especially in the month of April. Only the fool, I'm learning, builds his house upon the forecasting sands of the Wyoming springtime.
Here's to more snow, Mammy.
Last Friday morning on Fifth Street, headed to work.
My parking spot.
16 April 2009
Country Roads
Jerry Seinfeld once quipped a phrase that I've related to many times since being in Wyoming.
"Where does a park ranger go to 'get away from it all'," he joked.
When you live in the country already, a quick half-mile drive will get you even more definitively out of town. This winter, when the cabin fever demons have struck and the roads have been passable, I did some local sightseeing.
These were taken a few miles outside of Douglas on county roads. Pretty choice scenery, Mammy. Thankfully the ultra-sparse traffic makes in-motion shots even less hazardous.
Thus, Converse County on a crisp April day.
12 April 2009
New hoofs for a new season
Behold the stud, who thinks he's God's gift to female-horse kind.
Cud-chewing peanut gallery.
Stick a fork in her, Betty! Wide load! Any day now till she pops out a bambino.
The moo-moo stink-eye. "You wanna start something, humanoid?"
Equine Narcissus.
Shadow munch.
Behold, the new hooves! Lil' baby colt, just a few days old. Amazing these guys can run around like champs only 20 minutes out-tha' womb. They don't even ask for college money neither.
"Mom, who's that weirdo human with the camera?..."
"Just stay calm, son. Humans are dumb animals. He can't see us if we don't move..."
Trotting lessons.