Want weird weather? Come to Oklahoma!

By Steve Olafson  OKLAHOMA CITY | Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:24am EST

(Reuters) - After one of the strangest local weather days in memory, an Oklahoma woman with a sense of humor asked on Twitter earlier this week:

"Wanna experience the apocalypse before it happens? Visit Oklahoma!"

She posted that on Monday night shortly after a 4.7-magnitude aftershock earthquake shook the state. The temblor occurred not long after six tornadoes ripped through southwest Oklahoma, which was preceded by flash-flooding in an area that's been plagued by a historic drought.

"Seriously, WHAT'S GOING ON?" someone else tweeted that night.

The answers vary. Global warning? Coincidence? Bad luck? Bad timing? End of time?

There's agreement on only one thing: It's been weird all year.

"Even for Oklahoma, this is crazy," said Rick Smith, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Norman. "Since January, we've been setting records. People are just kind of amazed and shocked."

State records set this year have ranged from the lowest temperature (31 degrees below zero in Nowata in northeast Oklahoma) to snowfall in a 24-hour period (27 inches, also in Nowata) to the largest hail stone (a spiky, six-inch piece recovered in Gotebo, in southwest Oklahoma).

This year also produced the state's highest-ever-recorded surface wind speed (151 miles per hour near El Reno, outside of Oklahoma City) and biggest known earthquake (5.6 magnitude, breaking the 1956 record).

On Wednesday, Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 20 counties because of earthquakes, tornadoes and severe storms.

TOUGH YEAR

"It's been a tough year for Oklahoma when it comes to weather and natural disasters, but we're doing everything we can to help," Fallin said in a statement announcing the declaration.

The state's record-breaking earthquake got everyone's attention. In the past week, counting both foreshock and aftershock earthquakes that sandwiched the state record-breaking rumbler, 32 earthquakes have been recorded in central Oklahoma.

In Meeker, population 968, east of Oklahoma City, the town administrator was describing the damage and wondering aloud if his town, founded in 1903, could survive a California-style "big one."

"I'm beginning to think God's a little mad at us," Jim Howard said.

Howard was joking, but questions of the Almighty are coming into play in Oklahoma, where Christian beliefs underpin much of the culture.

An Oklahoma City TV station interviewed a preacher who proclaimed, "I think it's pointing up to the end of time."

That belief is not shared by all, even fervent believers.

Nancy Dailey, a school teacher in Oklahoma City whose father was a Baptist preacher, dismisses doomsday talk from the pulpit, saying it just scares people.

Still, she said she overheard two co-workers sharing end-of-the-world talk in the teacher's lounge.

"After all these natural disasters we've been having, at some point all you have left is humor to try and cope with it," said Gary McManus, associate climatologist for the state.

There is at least one benefit to the state's weather.

Norman, home to the National Weather Festival, has become a magnet for meteorology students from around the country. The University of Oklahoma there built a five-story, $69 million National Weather Center six years ago, and installed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) as its largest tenant.

This week, NOAA said it will send the university $75 million in federal funds for weather radar research to improve severe storm forecasts and increase understanding of extreme weather.

Smith, the National Weather Service meteorologist, calls OU a "top-of-the-list" institution for people serious about weather.

"For going to school in a natural laboratory, you can't beat it."

McManus agreed: "You don't want to go to L.A. and study endless sunny skies."

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Jerry Norton)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/11/us-apocalypse-oklahoma-odd-f-idUSTRE7AA3VQ20111111?feedType=nl&feedName=usoddlyenough

Happy Halloween

Thought for Today ::

When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam,
May luck be yours on Halloween.

Thought for Today ::

Every time you smile at someone,
it is an action of love,
a gift to that person,
a beautiful thing.

Mother Teresa, 1910-1997

Thought for Today ::

There's always a little truth behind every 'just kidding.'
A little knowledge behind every 'I don't know.'
A little emotion behind every 'I don't care.'
A little love behind every 'I hate you!'
A little uneasiness behind every 'I'm okay.'
A little pain behind every 'forget it.'
A little fear behind every 'leave me alone.'
A little hope behind every 'goodbye.'
And a little 'something' behind every 'nothing.'
Author Unknown ~ But Very Much Appreciated!

Thought for Today ::

The adventure of life is to learn.
The purpose of life is to grow.
The nature of life is to change.
The challenge of life is to overcome.
The essence of life is to care.
The opportunity of life is to serve.
The secret of life is to dare.
The spice of life is to befriend.
The beauty of life is to give.
The joy of life is to love.

William Arthur Ward, 1921-1994

Time...

...it's time you let go. Of course, you want to control so everything happens in just the way you want it. But at the end of the day, we control nothing, - it's all in God's hands, - has always been, and will always be. So, do what you can, then let go and let God handle the rest.

Pictures before and after the storm

Thought for Today ::

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything.
They just make the best of everything.
Author Unknown ~ But Very Much Appreciated

April Flowers

To get through the hardest journey, we need to take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping." - AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Thought for Today ::

We are more than what we do...
much more than what we accomplish...
far more than what we possess.
William Arthur Ward, 1921-1994

Oddz n endz

Thought for Today ::

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.

Dale Carnegie

The Lake

The Happiness Project

I L.O.V.E. this

Vision statement of The Happiness Project:

It is because the world is so full of suffering,
that your happiness is a gift.
It is because the world is so full of poverty,
that your wealth is a gift.
It is because the world is so unfriendly,
that your smile is a gift.
It is because the world is so full of war,
that your peace of mind is a gift.
It is because the world is in such despair,
that your hope and optimism is a gift.
It is because the world is so afraid,
that your love is a gift.

Where has the year gone?

It's so hard to believe it's already the end of November and the holidays are already creeping upon us! What happened to the entire year - it seems to have flown right by!

::Thoughts::

With Thanksgiving approaching - my thoughts are turning to all the things I am truly thankful for. My wonderful family, my faith, my home and friends and soooo much more.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

- St. Francis of Assisi

Hopefully this will prompt you to think this month about what is important to you.

:: Circus Time ::

We all went to the Carson & Barnes Circus last night and had a great time. It was the first time Travis had been to a circus and he was all but bouncing of the walls...LOL
Travis riding the ponies.


He kept bobbing his head and body up and down and saying yeah haw, ride em cowboys...LOL
(I think he's been watching to much TV)


Going up...
Coming down.
Riding the train...he's all into trains now.

Visiting the animal zoo.

Petting the Llamas.

A contortionist

The clowns..


the elephants...
...she is hanging by his feet..

Tried to get more pictures but the lights were shining right at us which made it hard to see so pics are few. All in all we had a great time.

Uses of Vinegar

Today’s tip is about the many uses of vinegar in the laundry room!

Prevent lint from clinging to clothes by adding 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the wash cycle.

To remove soap residue that makes black clothes look dull use white distilled vinegar in your final rinse.

Get stained white socks and dingy dishcloths white again. Add 1 cup white distilled vinegar to a large pot of water, bring it to a rolling boil and drop in the articles. Let soak overnight.

Some stains on clothing and linens can be soaked out using equal parts milk and white distilled vinegar.

Before washing a mustard stain, dab with white distilled vinegar.

Attack spaghetti, barbecue, or ketchup stains with a white distilled vinegar and water solution.

Remove perspiration odor and stains on clothing, as well as those left by deodorants, by spraying full-strength white distilled vinegar on underarm and collar areas before tossing them into the washing machine.

Forgot that you left wet laundry in the machine and it now smells moldy? Pour a few cups of white distilled vinegar in the machine and wash the clothes in hot water. Then run a normal cycle with detergent.

Remove smoky odors from clothes by filling the bathtub with very hot water and 1 cup white distilled vinegar. Hang the garments above the steaming water and shut the door so the steam can penetrate the fibers.

Keep the steam iron clean and in good working order by getting rid of mineral deposits in steam vents and spray nozzles. Fill the water chamber with a solution of equal parts white distilled vinegar and distilled water. Set it in an upright position and let it steam for about 5 minutes. When the iron is cool, rinse the tank with water, refill and shake water through the vents onto an old cloth. Test before using.

Remove scorch marks from an iron by rubbing it with a warmed-up solution of equal parts white distilled vinegar and salt. If that doesn’t work, use a cloth dampened with full-strength white distilled vinegar.

Remove musky smells from cotton clothes by sprinkling them lightly with white distilled vinegar and then pressing them.

Get water and salt stains off shoes and boots by wiping them down with a solution of equal parts white distilled vinegar and water.

Give patent leather shoes and bags a better shine by wiping them down with white distilled vinegar.

Get cleaner laundry! Add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse. The acid in white distilled vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics, yet strong enough to dissolve the alkalies in soaps and detergents. Besides removing soap, white distilled vinegar prevents yellowing, acts as a fabric softener and static cling reducer, and attacks mold and mildew.

Eliminate manufacturing chemicals from new clothes by adding 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the water.

Remove soap scum and clean the hoses of your washing machine with white distilled vinegar. Periodically run the machine with only a cup of white distilled vinegar in it—nothing else added to the wash cycle.

Bring out bright colors by adding 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the rinse cycle.

Fluff up wool or acrylic sweaters (hand- or machine-washed) and rid them of soap smell with 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar in the last rinse water.

Get rid of the tiny holes left along the hemline when you take out the hem of any garment by moistening a cloth with white distilled vinegar, placing it under the fabric and ironing.

Thank you to VinegarTips.com!