Blizzard 2009

Well, it really was true. I listened to Gary, I listened to Mike and I listened to Rick. They all said we were going to have a White Christmas with massive amounts of snow. Being a true Okie, I didn't believe a word they said. I figured that they would be wrong as they most generally are. After all, it is a bit hard to believe a guy who is shouting "Val, Val, what you got Val?". BUT, for once in their lives, they were not only right, they were 100% right. 11 inches of snow in Northwest OKC, with 14 officially at the airport. The 13th official White Christmas since who knows when. Christmas Eve was the worst day. Everyone said to stay in, don't get on the roads, so what do Bob and I do? We get on the road, at dusk, to go pick up Stephanie and her dogs for Christmas. What is Christmas without family? I will be the first to admit that when Bob's tires were spinning in the driveway, I was ready to come back in the house, but Bob was sure that if he could get out of the drive, we would be fine. We ventured to the gas station to fill up the Suburban and while it was interesting, it was not too bad, so we ventured onward. The Hefner Parkway was closed, so we simply got on it (with several other dummies) and headed south. I was amazed at the number of cars just parked on the Parkway. Where did all the people go?? We exited at 63rd and headed to May Ave. The situation was much worse on May. Cars were stopped and/or stuck all over the place. People were walking from car to car. The lights were out at 50th. We got to Stephanies and loaded everything up and headed home. Bob decided to forgo the Parkway and go west on 50th to McArthur. Sounded like a plan. A couple of blocks east of the bridge going over the Parkway on 50th, traffic just stopped. People were stuck on the bridge. We inched forward and finally got to the bridge. Bob had to go into the oncoming lane of traffic and then weave across to pass the stalled cars. The true Oklahoma spirit was showing as people were out of cars helping to push, dig or pull people out of the street. Once we got past the bridge and past Portland, it was smooth sailing. Slow, but smooth. We arrived home approximately 2 1/2 hours later. The trip usually takes 30-45 minutes. Christmas morning, Bob and Stephanie ventured out again to get our Aunt and Uncle so they could spend Christmas with us. They left me home cooking. (No, I did not burn anything.) After lunch they had to repeat the whole thing to take them home. Bob got bogged down at Uncles home and Stephanie had to use the shovel to move some snow in order for him to get traction. That was the one and only time Bob had problems on the street. He must have lived in Alaska in a former life. We have been out today (12/26) and have had no trouble at all getting around.

Below is a picture of our reindeer in the front yard. Look closely and you can see the blue "water" lights peeking through the snow.


This is the bushes in front of our dining room door. The lights look so pretty.

This is another view of the bushes in the front.

Here is a view from a bit of a distance

This is a front porch view.

While I am glad to have had a White Christmas, I have had enough snow for a while. I am hoping for a warm New Years Eve. Stay safe and warm guys.

Mannheim Steamroller

We went to see Mannheim Steamroller. I am unsure what I was expecting, but it was totally different from what I thought. The music was great, but the show part was a bit weird. The main core of guys were in the middle of the stage with the other band members surrounding them on the sides. They had video screens on the back wall of the stage and had videos running that were to depict parts of the music. Maybe my ears are wired differently, but my mental visual of the songs did not match the videos they showed. It was like reading a book, over and over and then suddenly seeing the movie and finding out the main character is short, old and one legged instead of tall, dark and handsome. Very odd. After the show, the main core group sat at a table in the lobby and signed autographs. I thought that was pretty cool.

This is the table with the band signing autographs. It is hard to see, but the line is pretty long.

Eishens and Christmas Lights

Eishens and Christmas Lights. What a perfect evening.
We began at Eishen's for some wonderful Fried Chicken, Okra, Nacho's, onions and pickles and Margarita's in a bottle. Left there and headed down the road to Kingfisher to go thru their Christmas Light Park. We tuned the radio to their Christmas Music station and began our journey thru the Winter Wonderland of Colors, sights and sounds. Below is the picture of the lighted bridge. I know I am not a photographer and the photo does not do justice to any of these light displays. I am so sorry that you can not experience the wonder of these.
This is just a scene. I thought it was fairly representative of the light there.
This is the best display, in my opinion, in the whole park. This is a tree with angels flying towards heaven. There is one angel for each person killed in the Murrah Bombing. The tree is dark and then the angels light up, row by row, and fly upwards. Beautiful
We left Kingfisher and headed toward the Chesapeake Energy compound at N.W. 63rd and N. Western. They have completely redone the light display this year and are using all LCD lights. It really takes your breath away when you top the hill and see the rows upon rows of trees. The colors are brilliant. I thought this was pretty cool, as I got the reflection on the pond too.





This is along the street. I tried to capture the long view of trees. You really need to go by and have a look at these.


After leaving Chesapeake, we began wandering through Nichols Hills. I thought this was a pretty house.

We arrived back at home, came in, opened a bottle of Cranberry wine and enjoyed a glass with good friends. A wonderful night was had by all. I am ready to do the whole evening over.

Trace Adkins/Martina McBride Concert

Stephanie and I recently attended the Trace Adkins/Martina McBride concert at the Ford Center.

I bought the tickets to see Trace. I really didn't care who was with him, but I was pleased that it was Martina.

Trace is a good ole boy from the country. He sang a wide range of songs from Honky Tonk to Gospel. He made jokes and was just delightful.

Martina is a wonderful entertainer. She sat on a moon swing and flew right over our heads. It was great.

These two people compliment each other so well. Those of you who did not attend, really missed out. Next time they come to OKC, get tickets and go for a good time.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra Concert Review

Tonight was the TSO Concert at the Ford Center. Linda and I attended.


Trans-Siberian Orchestra Information:

Trans-Siberian Orchestra is a rock orchestra founded by Paul O'Neill, Robert Kinkel, and Jon Oliva in 1996. The band's musical style is often described in different terms, it incorporates progressive rock, symphonic metal, power metal and heavy metal, and influenced by the classical music. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is best known for its remakes of classical Christmas songs.

The above is a quick guide to who and what this band is. Bear in mind that some of the band members played with such groups as Queen, Metalica and Def Leppard. Real hard rockers.

It was awesome. The concert is basically a hard Rock Christmas concert. Our seats were on the floor and we experienced several firsts.
1) We got snowed on, inside during the concert. In fact, for a short period of time, we were the only ones being snowed on. OK, I know the snow was soap bubbles, but the song said Snow and it snowed.
2)We were so close to the "fire" on the floor, behind us that is was hot where we were sitting.
3)This is the first time that I have been at a concert and the fire alarm for the facility went off and the concert ended early. The finale was full of fireworks, pyrotechnics and fire. All of it overwhelmed the Ford Center and set off the fire alarms. The PA kept saying "please exit the building in an orderly fashion, do not use the elevators." I thought it was part of the show, but the usher told us that it was a real false alarm. There was no danger, but it was a real first.

Ate dinner at Deep Fork afterwards. Wonderful evening.