GRASS FIRES, BIRTHDAYS ETC.

There was another massive grass fire in Oklahoma City yesterday. It did not get as close as the last one though. Hubby and I sat out on the patio last night and we could see the smoke and smell it also. It is still just so hot and dry here. It is still reaching to 106 every day. I can't remember the last time we had any rain. But, we are suppose to get some relief from the heat this weekend. One day it will only be in the eighties. That will seem so cool. If we have a day where the high is only 98 it seems cool.

We have one daughter and granddaughter that will be arriving tomorrow and the rest of the family will be arriving on Friday. It is nice to have two houses for everyone now. Some will be staying with Tracy. Not sure which ones right now. Tracy has a pond, one house down from her house and that is a worry with little kids, since her backyard is not totally fenced.

We will be celebrating birthdays. Kim's is the 2nd and mine is the 5th. I am even going to tell ages, hope Kim doesn't mind. Kim will be turning 32 and I will be turning 60. We also plan to take the grand kids to have a portrait made. We are not too sure if Abby and Karlie are going to cooperate, but we will just see.

Some will be going to the OSU game on Saturday, not exactly sure which two right now. We will try a birthday dinner at a restaurant, but not sure how that will turn out with Abby and Karlie also. But, I am just so excited to have everyone together.

IS THIS NOT THE CUTEST?

Sorry, I can't make the picture larger. But, this is a picture of the community pool in Maumelle, Arkansas. This is where we lived before moving back to Oklahoma. At the end of Summer every year, they have a pool party for neighborhood dogs. It is to raise money for the animal shelter in Maumelle.

MISS ABBY SWIMS

Isn't she cute in her little hat. Her mommy says that Abby doesn't think she can get in the pool without her hat on.

FUNNY!!!!!!!!!

If you don't think this cartoon is funny, then wait until you are over fifty and you will.

CARTER'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

So far, Carter loves school. I told his Mom yesterday, that I sure hope that never changes. He got up early the first day, so he could ride the bus both to and from school.

KITCHEN

I don't really have much to blog about, so I thought I would just post some pictures of my kitchen. I have it pretty much like I want it, maybe a few things that I want to change. The next room that I am going to start on is my guest bedroom that I call(Mother's room). I am really excited about it. It will have my Mother's antique bed in it and hubby's grandmother's antique dresser. This dresser was made in the 1890's, so it is really an antique. I will post pictures of the before and after. But, the after will not be any time soon. I will definitely not start on it before the kids and grand kids all come for Labor Day.

OH THE JOY OF LIVING IN OKLAHOMA!!!!!

I have been in a flood, they had to push a boat in our front door and take us to safety. I have ran from a tornado and sat and watch one hit a city close by. I have now been in a grass fire. The grass fire so far, has been the scariest.

We knew by noon yesterday that the fire was close to our house. We could see the smoke and smell it also. We were watching TV and paying close attention to what was happening. They would say it was close, then say they had it under control. I kept telling hubby that I was sure if it got really close, that they would evacuate us.

At about six we decided to grill some hamburgers. Hubby started the grill and I made out the patties. He went back out and then came back in and said he would just turn off the grill. He said maybe we should start preparing to leave our house. I ask him why and he said for me to go and look at the back door. When I looked out I saw flames over the top of the houses beside us.

I said yes, it is definitely time to leave and we hurriedly put on our shoes and grabbed Lulu and put her in the car. We live in a gated neighborhood with only one way in and one way out. There are around sixty-five families that live in the neighborhood and they had all decided it was time to leave also.

We were able to get out of our neighborhood and onto the street in front of our house, but the cars were bumper to bumper and at a standstill because of everyone trying to leave our neighborhood. There were flames on both sides of our car. The flames were as close to the street as they could get. We were probably at a standstill for only about ten or fifteen minutes but it seemed a lot longer. People were beginning to panic and leave the street and drive in the road ditches. I ask hubby to also and but he remained calm and we waited. I did not remain calm. I called Tracy and told her we had left the house and was trying to get to her house, but I was sure we were going to burn to death first.

They still had not evacuated our neighborhood. We did not see a policeman or firetruck anywhere. Even with the air conditioner going full blast, we could feel the heat. It felt like when you have a fire in the fireplace and back up to it.

We found out later they evacuated our neighborhood five minutes after we left. We made it to Tracy's house about an hour later. She only lives three miles from us but they had closed the interstate and all roads were blocked. We could only go North and East and we needed to go West and South to get to her house.

I was sure that our house would be burned down when we finally were able to get back in the neighborhood. I just could not see anyway that it would still be standing. Finally, at eleven-thirty the Red Cross notified us that we could return to our house. Our neighborhood is about the only thing around that didn't burn. The fire trucks must have arrived in our neighborhood right after we left and began spraying with water.

I don't in any way want to make you think that the fire department didn't do their job. It was too much for them to handle. Even though seven extra fire departments were called in.

We got up early this morning and drove around to see all the damage. A lot of the trees around us have been destroyed. Oklahoma doesn't have a lot of trees and that is one reason we bought in this part of the city was for the trees.

But, our house is fine. It just smells like smoke and probably will for a long time.

What we had been seeing all day.

What I saw when I looked at the back door and we decided it was time to leave.
As we turned onto the street leaving our neighborhood. After we sat at a standstill for about ten minutes, the fire had already reached the street.

This is what we saw this morning when we went riding around. Our beautiful trees.

CARTER TURNS SIX

Both Carter and his dad had a birthday yesterday. Carter turned six and will have his big birthday celebration this weekend. It will have a Nascar theme.