Drones in a Flyover State

We really do try to keep up to date out here in the middle of America.  We even have a drone!   My husband found one on Amazon and the next thing I knew we were out in our pasture flying a drone that takes pictures and video. Our grandchildren love flying it..

Steps

Since I'm walking now because of my tyrannical (my perception only) Fitbit, I have more time to think and what I've noticed is that I am undoing years and years of training.  I used to gather everything I needed to make one trip to the next place I'm going so I don't have to backtrack.  For example, hanging out the clothes.  I need:  1. clothes basket; 2. wet clothes; 3. bag of clothespins; 4. my bottle of water (if it's summer.)  

Before Fitbit's tyranny (again, my perception only), I put the wet clothes, bag of clothespins, and my bottle of water (if it's summer), into the laundry basket, put the laundry basket in my little red wagon and made my way over to the clothesline which is a fair distance from our house.  I am, if nothing else, an organized human being.

Now, to get more steps, I put the wet clothes into the empty laundry basket, carry the basket to the little red wagon and make my way over to the clothesline.  Then I walk -- the long way -- back to the house to get the bag of clothespins and take them over to the clothesline, THEN I walk -- the long way -- back to the house to get my bottle of water (if it's summer) and walk back again to the clothesline to actually hang out the clothes.  I'm not sure what I will do in the wintertime --- much quicker steps, I'm sure.

We humans be crazy, yes??  At least this human.

The Tyranny of 10,000 Steps and Why I Walk for the Shock

I've been away from this blog for quite some time.  I'm glad I'm not trying to make a living from it!!  The last few years have been sad and stressful in ways that I never could have imagined.  The term "heavy with grief" was meant for me.  Grief has made me heavy.

So now to the tyranny of 10,000 steps. I'm trying to walk off some of that grief.   I'm wearing a FitBit now -- that little bracelet that has a tiny computer that monitors your steps and sleep patterns.  I really like the sleep pattern part because there are some nights I think I barely get any sleep, then when I log on to FitBit the next morning, I see that the night was not as bad as I thought.  FitBit lets you know how restless you are in the night and also how many times you are awake.  So now I know, I'm getting at least seven hours of sleep, sometimes more. My perception of time is different in the night . . . the minutes slow, I lie there in the dark, my cat walks across my face, the dog snuffles in his sleep, my husband rolls over peaceful in his sleeping.  Sometimes to me, it feels like hours are ticking by, when apparently it's just minutes!

The goal for the day with a FitBit bracelet is that its wearer walk 10,000 steps everyday.  That's fine if the weather is good and one can complete part of the goal in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.  Also, it's good if one has flexible time to do this in.  Well, it's August now and the temperatures are rising toward 100.  This morning my husband and I took our longest walk which puts about 6,000 steps on the FitBit.  Then I put a wash on the clothesline -- that put more steps on the FitBit.  And, I don't mind anymore when I forget something because I tell myself that walking back to get whatever I've forgotten will give me more steps.  Today my goal was 10,000 steps before 10:30 a.m. and the heat of the day really sets in.  Well, I'm at 9,640 steps.  I'm pretty close but I'm also tired. I hope that just the rest of the day will add those remaining 360 steps because there are other things I want to get done.

David Sedaris did a really funny piece in The New Yorker a few weeks back about his FitBit.  He's up to over 30,000 steps a day and cleaning up the English countryside while he's at it.

Oh, and why I walk for the shock?  When I reach 10,000 steps, there is a pleasant tingle that comes from the FitBit -- a really light vibration, not a shock -- but that's what we tell our grandchildren just for giggles.  When I feel that vibration on my right wrist, I know I've reached at least one goal for the day.

Water, water everywhere?

As we were driving home from Lawton this past Saturday, we passed a swimming pool installation van that had been pulled over by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.  As I've mentioned before, we live in a rural area, but a new development, Country Aire Estates, is being built just one half mile south of us.  The homes are beautiful and expensive.  Of course, if you live in a beautiful, expensive home, you want a beautiful, expensive lawn, and maybe an inground pool in the back yard. 

My question:  where is the water coming from to support all this?  Water is a common resource.  This is southwest Oklahoma.  It has a semi-arid climate.  We are currently in the middle of a drought.  For the past couple of months, many of those days have been "red flag fire alert" days.  Smoke is blowing up from Texas where wildfires are still raging. 

So, we get a little alarmed when people, i.e. real estate developers, don't pay close attention to where resources will come from to support all these people that are buying up the expensive beautiful homes.

A few years ago, I mentioned to my husband that we could drain our laundry water (gray water) out into a tub in back of the house and then pump that water out to the  garden or wherever it is needed.  This is a modification we are glad we made. 

Since our current drought, we have also been running laundry water out into our pasture in an attempt to green up the grass. We have also set up barrels in the pasture, filled them with laundry water, and have burlap bags standing by to beat out the fire.  Of course, this will only work if there are not extreme winds, but still it gives us some peace of mind even though we are aware that we are probably fooling ourselves.  I think the creator of "Dilbert," Scott Adams, calls it self-weaseling.

Our pasture

Drain pipe from washing machine into tub behind house.

Barrel to catch laundry water (gray water)

Close-up of barrel.  I put the ladder around it to keep the sheep from knocking it over. 
Sheep seem to like to congregate around things like this and have extended conversations.

Another barrel full of gray water with a burlap bag attached.

Oklahoma ranks #43 in peacefulness in the nation

In the April 17, 2011 edition of  The Oklahoman, there was an article about how our flyover state ranks #43 in the nation for peacefulness according to the United States Peace Index which was compiled by the Institute for Economics and Peace.  The Institute defines peace as the absence of violence.  To find the absence of violence,  it looks at each state and measures the number of homicides, violent crimes, jailed populations, number of police officers and availability of small arms.

If you watch any television at all in the Oklahoma City area, you will be struck by the number of weekend gun shows that go on in Oklahoma City.  The advertisements are always full of the sounds of gun shots and there is a desperate, urgent quality to the message:  load up, stock up, you never know when the "bad guys" will invade your home. 

So when I came downstairs this morning after my ride on the exercise bicycle, I was only half surprised when my husband said, "Look on page 5A of this morning's Oklahoman."  (18Apr2011)  My husband had once met the man who died in a shoot-out at a bar in Medicine Park.  My husband doesn't hang out at bars.  He was only acquainted with him because he had had dealings with Mr. Taylor at Fort Sill.

Around here if we hear gunshots, we don't notify any authorities, we just look out the window. Gunfire is that common around here.  To be fair, we do live in a rural area and there is a lot of hunting and target shooting.  Still.  One of our neighbors drives around with a gun beside him on the passenger seat and another neighbor walks around with a pistol strapped to his thigh.

Number 43 in the nation?  I'm just surprised we weren't #50.

The Sixth Season: FIRE

You know how meteorologists refer to storm season as the fifth season?  Well, I think there should be a sixth season declared:  FIRE SEASON.




This past Wednesday, while Humpty and his plant buddy . . .

Hanging Basket

were enjoying the warm spring afternoon this is what was going on just behind us:

Rain will be so welcomed when it finally comes.







I tend to get ideas . . .

I tend to get ideas and I present them enthusiastically to my husband.  More often than not, he goes along with me. I talk really fast and he goes, "Huh?"

So, last year, after the umpteenth time of grabbing a cat off our window screen because she wanted to come into the house, I said, "Hey, let's get a kitchen door that has a built-in pet door so the little lovelies can come and go as they please!"

Husband:  "Great idea!"  And since husband is retired, he now has the time to implement my looney ideas much more quickly.

So:



Ta-daah! Kitchen door with pet door.



We have had it a year now.

Pros:  Cats can come and go as they please.

Con:  Not always the cats we expect.

Con:  Emma the dog will not use it.  We forgot that she is a polite dog and must be invited inside or outside.  She is a sweetie.  We did try training her by tossing bacon through the pet door so she would go through it, but even that didn't work. She stared at us with her big brown eyes as if to say, "You have got to be kidding."

Con:  Over the past year we have chased lizards and birds around the house.  These are the creatures that were still alive when the cats brought them in via the pet door.  We've managed to capture the living creatures and free them to the outside world.

Con:  Dead birds and rodents.  This morning I came upon a dead English sparrow by my dining room table chair, feathers lying everywhere and two cats staring at it and growling at one another, which prompted this blog posting.  Last night there was a dead rat in the dining room just like the night before.  We have, for the most part, entered hunting season full on and the cats want to share their catches with us.  Now we are back to shutting the kitchen door in the evening so the kitties can't bring in their prizes.

Con:  Beloved grandchildren viewing the pet door as a possible escape hatch:




Logan and Laci, Thanksgiving 2010

So, I don't know.  Like some of my ideas, this one might have been better in theory rather than practice.