Dinner at Marilyn's

Today I put together a list of needed corrections to the manuscript of the book I am indexing. There were 20 of them. Then I e-mailed it to the author and the production editor at the press.

That afternoon, I went to the TCC Fitness Center and walked. I came home, took a shower and watched the NBC Nightly News.

Marilyn had invited us over to her house in Tulsa for dinner. We had chicken salad on a tomato. Following the meal, we started talking about poetry. Marilyn had a couple of volumes of poetry by Billy Collins, a former poet laureate of the U.S. He is one of my favorite poets. Marilyn asked me to read a poem I have read before -- once to the HAT group and once to the congregation at Restoration. The title of the poem is "Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes" (available online).

When I got home, I checked my e-mail and had a few responses to an e-mail link (sent to me by a friend) which I had forwarded. The link is to a YouTube video. The title of the video is "Why Don't Bees Go To Heaven?" Check it out; you might like it.

Close to finishing the index

I'm down to the point where I keep making small changes in my index. I will probably send in it tomorrow.

This morning I took the '08 Saturn to the dealership for an oil change. So far, we have not had any problems with the car. We now have about 15,000 miles on it. After the oil change was done I went to the nearby Big Lots store to see if they had any recorders (musical instruments). They did not, so next I went to Wal-Mart. I did not find any there either. Then I went to Dollar Tree. I found several there. I bought five recorders. These are the cheap type -- all plastic. I am going to give each member of Secular Singers a recorder and see if we can form a consort. Each recorder is a different color; therefore, I might call our recorder consort "The Colorful Consort." We might pick up some new members -- folks who are uncomfortable with singing in front of others.

Then we went to the TCC Fitness Center for our usual walking exercise. We came home, and I cooked hamburgers out on the grill.

At 7:00 pm, we went to Zarrow Library for the Liberal Action Network. I was pleased that we had an attendance of six. I wrote a letter to my representative in the state house. I will mail it tomorrow.

Ponca City trip being planned

Saturday night was Movie Night at the Bradleys. There were six of us there, at the beginning. When Bob learned that the movie to be shown was one he had recently seen, he opted out, leaving just five of us. Today, I got up in time to go to church. The usual crowd was there. After talking with Edna, I think Gail and I might be doing the special music in a couple of weeks.

Marilyn called tonight and invited us over for dinner in a couple of days.

I changed the venue for Secular Singers to my house. Gail has an obligation on the 11th and will not be able to attend.

I am concerned about the situation in Ponca City. The organizer for the Atheists Meetup there felt forced to resign after a 16-year old girl wrote a letter to the paper saying that "Satan was trying to take over the city" (I'm paraphrasing here) because of the Ponca City Atheist Meetup meeting at a certain local restaurant. The restaurant owner is, or was, the organizer for the Meetup. He resigned a few days ago. We talked about this situation at Movie Night and decided to travel to Ponca City and eat at this restaurant. It's the least we can do to support the owner in these tough economic times.

The worker at the fireworks display who was injured had non-life threatening injuries. The next night there was a mishap at the Tulsa fireworks display, which disappointed thousands. In North Carolina, five people were killed in a fireworks accident there. And then somewhere else, a bridge collapsed holding people watching fireworks go off. It was not a good year for fireworks.

Accident Mars Fireworks Display

Tonight we went to the annual fireworks display held at River City Park. The show was preceded by a concert of local talent. There was a southern gospel quartet singing songs both patriotic and religious. After the musical presentation, the fireworks started. The rockets would go "Whoosh," ascend up a hundred feet or so, and then go "Boom," showering the sky with colored lights. The show had gone on for 10 minutes or so, when one of the rockets did not go "Whoosh," but it did go "Boom." There had been a ground level premature explosion of one of the rockets. For the next ten minutes there was silence.

Suddenly a voice comes over the PA system saying there had been an accident, urging the crowd not to block the roadway leading in to the park. Soon a fire truck and an ambulance appear and head toward the area where the fireworks had been set off. The voice returns on the PA saying there would be a delay of about seven or eight minutes and then the fireworks would resume. We waited for at least a half hour with nothing happening, except the ambulance left. We walked back to where we had parked the car, got in, and drove to Nick's house. We gave Ayla back to her parents. Nick and Jen had been with us at the park, but they left a little while before we did.

I guess I will learn tomorrow the fate of the worker setting off the fireworks.

Grocery shopping

This morning we went grocery shopping. The tally came to $235.53. That should do us for a couple of weeks (add to that, of course, eating out a few times).

I finally got the index down to the right length. I will go over it again to check for errors. I found one error yesterday in a subentry for "Indians (by tribe)." There is a tribe known as "Blackfeet." There is also a particular Indian by the name of "Blackfoot." I spotted the two together in the list of subentries. "Blackfoot" is not a tribe, so I removed it from the subentries.

This index has a lot of Indian names in it...names such as Potawatomie and Tecumseh.

July Activites

July 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., July 4, 7:00 PM
Movie Night at the Bradleys, 6705 E. 54th

Tues., July 7, 7:00 PM
Liberal Action Network, Zarrow Library, 2224 W. 51st St.

Sat., July 11, 2:00 PM
Secular Singers, Venue TBA

Sun., July 12, 1:00 PM
Humanist Study Group, Bradley House, 6705 E. 54th St.

Wed., July 15, 12:45 PM
ALGAE Luncheon, White River Fish Mkt., 1708 N. Sheridan

Sat., July 18 9:00 AM
Riverside Loop Walk, Pedestrian Bridge, 31st and Riverside Dr.

Sat., July 18, 7:00 PM
TAM Mid-Month Social, La Hacienda, 4518 S. Peoria

Sun., July 19, 1:15 PM
Humanist July Meeting, Hardesty Library, 8316 E. 93rd

Sat., July 25, 11:30 AM
Food & Fellowship, Rib Crib, 5025 S. Sheridan

Sun., July 26, 1:00 PM
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center

To print out this schedule on a calendar page, click here:
http://humanism.meetup.com/201/calendar/

--------------------------------
Questions? Contact Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

At the Fitness Center

At 9 o'clock I listened to Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac on NPR. Shortly afterward, I went to TCC and walked three miles and did 60 reps on the abs machine set at 110 lbs. J went to Jennifer's and got Luke and brought him back here.

While walking I listened to a CD of Scarlatti Sonatas on my MP3 player. When I got back home, I recorded the three miles I walked in my exercise record book. For the year, I am up to 210 miles walked.

Indexing progress

Yesterday, I reached the last page of the book I'm indexing. Then I started on the final editing. The maximum size for the index is eight pages; my index is ten pages long. I will need the whittle it down.

I went back through the book and got the index down to just under nine pages. I will go back through it again today and reduce it more.

Walking and Subway

We went walking this morning at TCC. We did three miles and then I used the abs machine. On the way back home, we stopped by Subway and got a $5 footlong and brought it home and ate it.

We will go soon to Keystone and change the stamp for the last half of the year.

Mayor reads to children

I got up this morning and did some more mark up on the index I'm working on.

Yesterday, we went to Pratt Library where we heard the Mayor of Sand Springs read a few books to some children of this comunity. The event was not well-attended. There were only five or six kids there. Ayla was helpful in providing interaction with the speaker. You can't keep Ayla quiet.

Today, I need to go to Keystone State Park (about 10 miles to the west) and change the rubber stamp. At the middle of the year, the "+" is removed from the stamp, and then the walk can be walked again a second time.

Turnpike accident near Miami

I read the article in today's Tulsa World about the accident near Miami. That is a stretch of roadway we travel over many times during the year. We have to feel lucky that we were not there yesterday afternoon. The death toll was nine. Traffic was backed up for 14 miles. I have seen some heavy traffic on that interstate at times. Maybe it is time to consider expanding the road from four to six lanes.

Volkswalking at Promenade Mall

Not much to write about today. I got up early this morning and resumed work on my index. I took a break around noon and fixed myself a barbecue sandwich and some potato salad. After I had consumed that, I went back to work indexing. Around 1:30 pm, J and I went to Promenade Mall and did the volkswalk there. It is three laps on the upper level and three laps on the lower level.

It was a hot day today – a good day for an inside walk in an air conditioned building. I think this was walk number 227 for me.

I recently finished compiling a database of my sheet music. I made two print outs; one by composer, the other by song title. As of now, I have the sheet music for 1,928 songs.

Good advice

I found the following while surfing the net:

Life is short,
Break the rules,
Forgive quickly,
Kiss slowly,
Love truly,
Laugh uncontrollably,
And never regret anything that made you smile.

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we’re here we should dance.

Indexing work

Today Gail and I had our weekly piano duet practice. We played “Castle House Rag” several times thinking it would probably be the next special music selection we would play at Restoration Church. I told Gail that last Sunday the special music was played from a CD. She cringed. She said that we needed to volunteer to play again, and that since the 4th of July is coming up, we might consider playing “You’re a Grand Old Flag” by Cohen. We practiced the piece a few times. We will have next Monday to refine it some more.

After piano practice, J and I took Ayla to Braum’s were she got an ice cream cone. It was actually a soft frozen yogurt cone, but she enjoyed it tremendously. I ordered a No. 5 – a grilled chicken sandwich and a Dr. Pepper. Ayla said she would eat after the library program, which was about origami.

We were in Springfield last Thursday and Friday. While there I received a phone call from Elise at UNM Press. She needed an indexer to index a book. I told her I would do it. I later got an email from her saying the book would be delayed by about three weeks. This morning I got a phone call from a former employee of UNM Press, now working at another publisher. She asked me if I would be available to do some indexing for her. I said yes. Then I got another e-mail from Elise saying she had a book ready to go as soon as she had an index for it. I told her I would do it. The page proofs were shipped today or will be tomorrow. So soon I’m liable to be covered up with work. So much for retirement, huh?

But I love doing indexing work. I find it is a lot like solving a puzzle. Once you get the index completed, though, there is nowhere to check your “answers.” Perhaps, that is why you never really know when the index is done. You could make refinements on it forever. It is probably somewhat like a sculptor making a statue. Take a little bit off the left elbow; take some more off the right knee, etc. You’re never sure when to stop with the final editing process.

I was going to brush up on my Russian language skills (I checked a bunch of books out of the Tulsa Library for that purpose), but with the opportunity to do indexing, Russian will have to wait.

The latest from SS

Here it is Sunday in Sand Springs. I went to church this morning. Before I left, my friend Patrick sent me an e-mail saying he needed a ride to church. I drove over to Tulsa and picked him up. From there we drove to Greenwood and Oklahoma Streets where the church is located. Again there were very few people -- maybe twelve. But we are a tight-knit group. Barbara F. was there. This was her last service for the summer. She always goes to Michigan in the summers. Since there was no HAT meeting this afternoon, after dropping off Patrick at his house, I came on back home.

After leaving the air conditioner off for a couple hours (Saturday), when we turned it back on it seemed to be working okay. I think it was just frozen up.

Air conditioner troubles

We came back from Springfield yesterday from a short two-day trip. We had turned off the AC while we were away. We turned it back on, but the house never cooled off. The problem seems to be in the blower. I can hear it blowing, but no air is coming up through the registers. I checked the outside unit and found ice had formed on the condenser unit. It is thawing now, but I suspect the problem goes beyond a frozen condenser unit.

New restaurant in town

We have a new restaurant in town. It is located in what used to be Lee's Diner. We haven't been there yet. The setting is most plain, but I hear the food is really good. I'll check it out and report back later.

No HAT meeting Sunday, June 21

I learned today around 2 pm that Randy has canceled the HAT meeting scheduled for June 21. The reason for the change is that Randy has a Summer Solstice celebration planned at his house for June 20, a Saturday. We are all invited to come to the Summer Solstice celebration.

Two dinner meetings

The morning got started with a trip to the TCC Fitness Center where I walked three miles. I did a few reps on the abs machine, also. I came home and mowed the front yard, took a shower, and then it was on to the White River Fish Market. On the way we stopped at Barbara's apartment and gave her a ride to White River.

The traffic on North Sheridan was down to one lane in places due to road construction. We went back another way. There were four of us there: Barbara, Larry, J and myself. The placed was packed. You would have thought they were giving away fish dinners. I had a bowl of red beans and rice. J had the same, except she had a cup inside of a bowl. The man in front of me in line ordered over a hundred dollars in food. He had included lobster tails in his order.

Afterwards, we came home, and I took a nap. At 7 pm we arrived at The Brook in Brookside for the June Mid-Month Social of Tulsa Atheists Meetup. The Brook used to be a movie theater. There were 15 people there for this social gathering. There are always new people to be met at these gatherings. Tonight the guy sitting on my left was a former Christian who had worked at Christian radio station KXOJ. I asked him what caused the change in his life. He said he kept asking questions which others could not satisfactorily answer. The coup de grace was reading the Bible -- not just the cherry-picked verses you hear over and over, but all of it, even the gory parts of the Old Testament. That led to his de-conversion.

Bill talked about his recent experience at the annual convention of the American Humanist Association. He met some interesting people at the convention, one of whom said he would be willing to pay the costs for having a billboard erected in Tulsa with a FFRF message on it.

Grocery shopping

We arose early this morning and went to the TCC Fitness Center where I walked three miles. A couple of days ago I changed the music on my MP3. Today I listened to the Labeque sisters (a piano duo) play several pieces. We were back home shortly after nine o’clock. As we were driving home, my cell phone rang. It was Gail, who said she might be few minutes late for our weekly duet practice. She was on an animal rescue mission. We got back home and ate a bowl of cereal. Gail arrived around 10:15, and we played mostly ragtime duets until 11:45, at which time we had to leave to pick up Ayla at her house.

Once we had Ayla, she opted for McDonald’s as her place of choice for lunch. She played in the children’s play area, just as Luke had earlier. Then it was time to go to the library for the story hour. The library was packed today for the performance by a magician. Every parking space was filled. I had to park in a space that was not marked for parking. Yet I did not block any other cars.

We came home following the magic performance. I printed on a piece of paper the words “I would like to see Single Payer National Health Insurance”. The words “Single Payer” are in 72 pt. type. All other words are in 16 pt. type. There is a place for the sender to write his/her name and address. I took the paper to a local copy shop and had 30 copies made. (There are two forms on each sheet.) I was going to have them printed on card stock, but the copy shop said the card stock costs a quarter a sheet. I used regular paper instead.

We did our weekly grocery shopping tonight. It came to $274.30. We were several days overdue on the grocery shopping. We have plenty of food now.

Today's events

I awoke this morning to the sound of thunder. While I was taking a shower, J was taking Ayla back to her parents. Joy called and said she was reluctant to get out in the stormy weather. Joy was to sing the special music at the service this morning. I offered to give Joy a ride. I called Barbara and told her I could provide a ride for her to church, also. When J got back, she ate a bowl of oatmeal and we headed for University Towers, where Barbara lives. From there we went to Joy’s house near All Souls Church.

We arrived at Church of the Restoration a little after 11:00 am. Considering the weather, I was surprised to see 15 people were there. We proceeded through the order of service. When we came to the sermon, I took the pulpit and read a 20-minute sermon by Michael Schuler. After the service was over, Barbara and Joy went with me to Randy’s house for the Humanist Discussion Group. We are beginning the study of a book written by Michael S. Gazzanica titled Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique. Glenn V. gave the opening remarks about the book.

Following the discussion, Joy and I sat down at the piano for some impromptu boogie woogie (I played secondo; Joy played primo). Soon J arrived (she had driven back to Sand Springs to spend time with our grandchildren). We took first Joy back to her house and then Barbara to her apartment.

Volkswalking in Sand Springs

We began this morning with a volkswalk in Sand Springs. While on the walk we found two geocaches. In the afternoon, I went to Gail's house for Secular Singers. You should be able to find a photo taken there elsewhere on this blog.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to read a sermon to the congregation at Church of the Restoration.

Secular Singers today

Above is a photo of myself (left), Gail S. (center), and Marilyn C. (right). We spent two hours today singing songs we like and having a good time. I accompanied on the piano. Gail's husband, Glenn, took the picture. Gail is also my piano duet partner. (Click on picture to enlarge.)

All talk and no action

I was talking to my Dad yesterday, and he mentioned that ever since I posted the spirograph on my blog (May 23, I think it was) he has had trouble bringing up my blog on his computer. As soon as he would bring up my blog, his computer would boot him off AOL. I deleted the spirograph and then everything was OK. So I am left wondering if others experienced trouble due to the spirograph. How about some feedback from my regular readers – Marti in Tecumseh, John in Tupelo, and the mystery reader in Cordova, Tennessee?

Since J has your e-mail address blocked, Marti, I will not be able to receive anything from you. But how about you other two? Did the spirograph cause you any difficulties?

Today we took Luke to the kids’ program at Pratt Library. There were some 25 to 30 kids in the room along with at least one parent for each kid. The room was pretty well filled up. Luke is four years old now. He managed to sit through 30 minutes of the program and then became restless. He wanted to leave, so I took him to another part of the library where I read him a book. I checked out a couple of books that caught my eye: 1000 Keyboard Tips published by Mel Bay and Draw Manga by Bruce Lewis. The Keyboard Tips book looks useful. Unfortunately, a previous patron was such a heavy smoker that the book reeks of stale tobacco. The book sells for just under twenty dollars. Perhaps I can buy a copy. The other book is an instructional book on how to draw in the manga style – a style that originated in Japan.

After the program was over, we all went to McDonald’s near the Keystone Expressway. There were a lot of people there today. We got our usual fare, and Luke played in the maze of slides and passageways. We let Luke play for about a half hour, but he is never ready to leave the place. We finally pulled him away from the place and then took him back home.

When we got back home, we worked on the shutters and finished getting them in place. Today’s job was easier than yesterday’s, due to screwing into wood instead of brick.

Next we went to TCC and walked 3.5 miles. I also did 100 reps on the abs machine set at 65 lbs.

When we got home, we watched the NBC Nightly News. Following that, I left for the Zarrow Library where we were to have a working meeting, writing letters to our political representative on behalf of liberal causes. Only one other person showed up, Keith. He did not write a letter. I was the only letter writer. I wrote a letter to our two senators in Washington advocating a single-payer health care system. There is great opposition to single-payer from vested interests in the insurance industry. Wouldn’t it be nice to just bypass the vested interest of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and do what is right for the American people?

What should I make of the low attendance tonight? The most we have ever had come to a meeting of the Liberal Action Network is four. Are we liberals all talk and no action? That is probably so.

Drumming suspended

I just back from Joe Price's house where we had drumming this evening. They have decided to suspend drumming until August. Again, I was the only participant, except for Joe and Lou.

Earlier this day, I went to see my neurosurgeon for my yearly checkup. Everything seemed to be OK.

This morning we did some work on the house. A hailstorm damaged the faux shutters on our house a few years ago. We took down the shutters on the front bedroon, since they had holes in them from being hit by hail stones. We are just now getting around to replacing those shutters. We are also replacing the shutters to the living room. The porch covering protected them from the hail, but we are replacing them anyway.

Calendar for June

I realized I had forgotten to post the activities planned for freethinkers for June. So here it is:

June 2009
Activities of Interest to Freethinkers

Sat., June 6, 7:00 PM
Movie Night at Marilyn’s, 4817 S. Maplewood

Thurs., June 11, 7:00 PM
Liberal Action Network, Zarrow Library, 2224 W. 51st St.

Sat., June 13, 2 PM
Secular Singers, Storey House, 4630 S. Victor

Sun., June 14, 1:00 PM
Humanist Study Group, Bradley House, 6705 E. 54th St.

Wed., June 17, 12:30 PM
ALGAE Luncheon, White River Fish Mkt., 1708 N. Sheridan

Wed., June 17, 7:00 PM
TAM Mid-Month Social, The Brook, 3401 S. Peoria

Sat., June 20, 4:00 PM
Humanist Solstice Party, Bradley House, 6705 E. 54th

Sun., June 21, 1:15 PM
Humanist June Meeting, Hardesty Library, 8316 E. 93rd

Sat., June 27, 11:30 AM
Food & Fellowship, Lanna Thai, 7227 S. Memorial

Sun., June 28, 1:00 PM
Tulsa Atheists Meetup, Agora Coffee House, Fontana Center
--------------------------------

The same information can be seen in a monthly calendar format at
http://humanism.meetup.com/201/calendar/

Questions? Contact Randy at 622-6975 or Dan at 798-3629.

"Jefferson Davis" spoke tonight

Tonight we went to the fifth and final Chautauqua performance. The speaker was "Jefferson Davis." Now that I am retired, I have time to take in a lot more activities. This year we managed to attend all five of the performances.

Next year's Chautauqua is supposed to also be from the same time period -- the Civil War era. I did not hear who would be the subject of the characterizations. There was no musical performance before the speaker took the podium tonight. We took Ayla, my granddaughter, with us tonight. I don't think she got a lot out of the performance.

Earlier this day we did some yard work in the back yard. I mowed the grass in both the front and back yards. Today, for the first time, I used the bag attachment to our new lawn mower. I am surprised how fast the bag filled up. The worst aspect of the bag is the fact that clippings tend to blow up toward your face. Some of the clippings are very fine and have a tendency to get into your eyes. I finally took the bag off and cut the final few strips in the coventional way -- side discharge.

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day

Tonight I attended the second session of Chautauqua. The performer, Dr. Michael Hughes, gave a speech as John Ross, a Cherokee Indian Patriot. Prior to the speaker, a band performed.

I need to make a correction to something I wrote previously. I wrote that one of the figures being impersonated was Abraham Lincoln. Actually Lincoln was not on the program, titled “Lincoln’s Legacy of Equality: Voices on the Fringe.” There are five figures on this year’s program: Harriet Tubman, John Ross, Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglas, and Jefferson Davis. Tomorrow night “Walt Whitman” will speak.

Today, we went to Braum’s for breakfast. From there we went to WalMart and bought some stain with which to stain a replacement cabinet door in a bathroom. Next we went to the fitness center, paid the fee for the summer session, and then did our walk. In the afternoon, I took a nap and then watched the news on NBC. Then we left for downtown Tulsa and attended the Chautauqua performance. After returning home, I searched the internet for a sermon by a UU minister. My church has asked me to read a sermon sometime this summer.

Chautuaqua in Tulsa

It is now Tuesday morning. Soon we will leave for an undisclosed location for a few hours. Once we get back maybe I can say a few words about the experience.

Yesterday, Gail came over and we played piano duets for about two hours. We don't have a gig scheduled at this time. However, talking with Rosemary at church, she said they are looking for more people to participate in the Sunday morning service, now that Gerald is off for the summer. One thing I could do is read a sermon by another Unitarian minister. Sermons are found online at the UUA website. So I might do that.

Today is the beginning of Chautauqua in Tulsa. At Chautauqua, a scholar takes on the role of someone from history and perfroms as if he were that person. We have been to several in the past. It runs for five days, Tuesday thru Saturday. The figures being portrayed this year come from the period around the Civil War. There is Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Harriet Tubman, and two others I don't recall just now. Performances are held on the campus of OSU Tulsa, not far from the Church of the Restoration.

Our day in Bartlesville

We spent yesterday in Bartlesville. We left the house around 10:30 am and drove straight to B’ville. We saw the Washington Park Mall on the right as we drove in. The GNC store (registration point for B‘ville volkswalks) is located in the mall. I asked the man at the counter for the walking materials, which he handed to me. I then went to a bench just outside the store and filled out the necessary forms, stamping my books while I was there. (Saves having to return afterwards.) In addition to the Event Book, I stamped my books for American Authors and Literary Landmarks, Riverwalk America, and Railroad Heritage.

Next we went around the corner (inside the mall) to a Subway restaurant and split a $5 footlong Black Forest Ham sandwich. Having registered for the downtown Bartlesville City Walk, we got back into the car and drove to a parking area near the downtown. We started out on the walk, seeing many historic buildings along the way, including the skyscraper designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, known as Price Tower. We had toured the building before, so we just passed it by today. Across the street was the Civic Center which can hold 1,800 people. This building is the main venue for OkMozart, an annual festival held June which runs for 10 days. I would like to go back to B’ville and take in some concerts. In addition to the ticketed concerts, there are several that are free.

Walking along the streets of B’ville, we came upon the city museum. It is located on the fifth floor of one of the buildings in downtown B’ville. For a city museum, it was quite good. After finishing the walk, we returned to the car, which was parked near the art museum.

We now turned our attention to geocaching. I had pre-loaded the coordinates for five caches in my GPS receiver while in Sand Springs. When I turned on the GPS unit, it said the nearest cache was only a couple hundred feet away. I found it hidden in a wall behind a loose brick. The next cache took us downtown again. It was in a small magnetic container attached to a wrought iron fence. Once again, I signed the log (Orbi Toe is my geocaching name) and placed it back where I found it.

The next cache took us to Memorial Bridge, so named because it lists the names of the area citizens who died in WWI. My GPS indicated that the cache was off north of the bridge, which meant it was down below. Fortunately, there was a path leading down to the riverside (Caney River). We walked down to the path running along the bank of the river to where my GPS indicated the cache was hidden.

We had looked around for about 15 minutes, when I spotted it. It was a micro cache – a green aluminum tube about an inch and a half long, about the thickness of a pencil, perhaps a bit larger. It was clipped to a fence. I unscrewed the tube. Inside was a log which was rolled up. We unrolled the log and signed it. Getting it rolled back to fit inside the tube was another story. Believe me, there was no room to spare. I was starting to think I was going to have to remove one the pages of the log to get it to fit back inside the tube.

Somehow, we got it back inside the tube. Just then I felt something land on my right shoulder. I thought it might be a grasshopper and reached up to brush it off. I asked J if she saw a bug on me. She said a bird had made a deposit on my shoulder. Sure enough, when I looked at my hand I saw remnants of undigested berries. I had been crapped on. Score one for the birds.

It was a good thing I had another shirt with me. I changed when we got back to the car, parked maybe a hundred feet away. We went to Dink’s Bar-Be-Cue not far from the cache. I went to the washroom and scrubbed my hands, returned to the table and ordered a pork barbecue sandwich with okra and potato salad.

We decided to skip the cache out at the airport (west side of town) and went instead to a cache titled “In the shadow of a sphere.” This cache is located at the golf course. There is an observation tower there build out of, what looks like, scrap metal. At the top sits a large metal sphere made of, maybe, rebar. It is, perhaps, a hundred feet high and enclosed in a cage, of sorts.

We looked and looked, but never found the cache. Could it be lost (geocachers use the term “muggled” for caches that are discovered by non-cachers and then plundered)? Perhaps it was there but we did not see it. The coords led me to a single tree just north of the tower. The ground around the tree was newly mown. The tree itself was fairly simple. When I got back home, I activated a feature on the cache page which will send to me any logs added to the cache. So if others fail to find the cache, I should know soon.

Cache results for the day: 3 finds and 1 did not find, which brings my total number of finds to 199. Volkswalking total: 225.

We headed home and made it back in time to watch NOW with David Brancaccio and then Bill Moyers Journal.

Recent events

On Sunday, Gail and I played a piano duet at Church of the Restoration. We played “Rialto Ripples” by George Gershwin. Following the service, I went to the Agora Coffee House for the May meeting of the Tulsa Atheists Meetup. There were about 15 at that meeting. At church, there were about a dozen. Of course, TAM is run by volunteers, but COR has a paid staff of (1) the minister, (2) the pianist, and (3) an office assistant.

The TAM meeting was interesting in that we have a couple of “irons in the fire” at this time. We are seeking to have an “In Reason We Trust” license plate approved. Also, we are working with FFRF to erect a billboard with the words “Imagine No Religion” printed on it.

Today, Gail came over for two hours of piano duet playing. I think every piece we worked on was a ragtime piece. I really enjoy ragtime piano music. I often will listen to ragtime on “You Tube” by just typing the word “ragtime” in the search box. There is plenty of it there.

This afternoon, I went to Randy’s for a HAT board meeting. Results of that meeting will be posted on the Humanist Association of Tulsa blog tomorrow. Following the board meeting, we went over to Marilyn’s house and helped her move a few items of furniture (including two large bookcases). I am going to turn over to Marilyn the freethought library soon. We have four boxes of books (which belong to HAT and TAM) that right now are still in boxes due to my being overrun by books in my house. Some are double shelved.

Later this evening, we went over to Nick’s house while Nick and Jen went out. Putting the kids to bed was no easy task, but eventually Luke (my charge) fell asleep (after I read to him five books). Once he was asleep, I read several articles from the current issue of Church & State magazine.

Single-payer healthcare coverage

I just finished watching my favorite television program, Bill Moyers Journal. Tonight the subject was health insurance. The system I would prefer is called single-payer. What is blocking single-payer? It is the health insurance industry, which is an albtross around the neck of our health care professionals. If we could just bypass the entrenched interests of this industry, an unnecessary middleman, health care could be delivered for much less money than it is at this time.

I will be writing to my representatives in the Congress urging them to consider the single-payer system of health care delivery.

TIA Panel Discussion

We returned home this afternoon in time to catch the evening news. We had three days of mail in mailbox. We usually have the post office hold our mail when we are away, but this time we just left without going by the post office.

Among the items in the mail was a post card from the Tulsa Interfaith Alliance. It announced a meeting at All Souls Unitarian Church for that Thursday evening. The title of the program was "Sacred Ceremonies/Secular Ceremonies." The panelists were lawyer Greg Bledsoe, Tulsa mayor's assistant Dierdre Dexter, Tulsa school board member Matthew Livingood, All Souls minister Marlin Lavanhar, and lawyer Michael King. The panel was moderated by former Channel 6 news anchor and All Souls member Clayton Vaughn. The event lasted an hour and a half. I saw some of my friends at the event. The discussion was informative. It dealt largely with a ceremony held to dedicate the new BOk building in downtown Tulsa a few months ago.

Gail is supposed to be here in the morning for another practice session. We will be playing the special music at Church of the Restoration on Sunday.

Going home

We might be going home today. We had planned on leaving yesterday, but we found out Mother has an appointment with another doctor today. We took her to one doctor on Tuesday; we took my Dad to a doctor on Wednesday; we take my Mother to another doctor today. We will be going home this afternoon as things stand now.

Once I get home, I will update this blog further.

Volkswalking and geocaching (May 2009)

Both hands of the clock on the wall are now to the right of the 12 at the top. It is now early Sunday morning. J and Ayla are both sleeping in the front bedroom.

I will try to recount events from the past few days. We left Springfield on Thursday morning around 10 am driving west. When we got to Joplin we took the northbound exit on to Rangeline. As soon as we left Joplin we were in Webb City. We drove to the Kum & Go store at the intersection of Madison and a major east-west thoroughfare, whose name I can’t recall at this time. At the Kum & Go store we registered for the 5K walk. We had to then drive to the start point which was about a mile away.

We parked at the Chamber of Commerce building. Our closest geocache, a virtual cache, was right where we were. A virtual cache has no hidden aspects; rather you gather information and send it by e-mail to the cache owner. There were six questions, the answers to which could be found by looking around.

The next nearest cache, according to my GPS receiver, was just a little over a tenth of a mile away. We walked to it using my receiver, which told me the distance to the cache and the direction to walk toward. The receiver has a digital arrow which points toward the cache. This cache is located at the foot of a statue of praying hands. When you get within a tenth of a mile to the cache, the receiver goes from miles to feet. It jumps from .10 miles to 500 and something feet. The closer you get to the cache, the smaller the number of feet remaining to get to the cache. If you are walking away from the cache, you will know because the reading of the distance to the cache will start increasing.

This cache was at the base of the statue inside a gap in the foundation. There were many gaps such as the one I searched in, but since I was so close to zero on my reading, I started searching at that point. It was in the second spot I searched. I carefully climbed down from the statue. I had to traverse a bit of terrain where there were no sidewalks, just bare ground on a slope.

The third cache was at some distance away. Since we were close to the start point of the volkswalk, we began the walk. The walk took us thru the city of Webb City, past some stately old home, and around a rock quarry filled with water. The distance walked was 3.1 miles (or 5K).

I did not realize it at the time, but I got a sunburn while on the walk. The burn is mostly on my neck and the back of my legs. (I was wearing shorts at the time.) When we finished the walk, we headed to the area where the third and final cache for the day was hidden. It was located not far from the Joplin Regional Airport.

The clue for this cache was “I never promised you a rose garden.” When I got to the area where my GPS receiver led me, I noticed some rose bushes. These bushes had some mean-looking thorns on them. I did not want to bloody my hand trying to find a cache, so I peered carefully into the bushes at ground zero. Seeing nothing, I looked around at nearby objects. Eventually, I saw something reflect in some tall grass next to the rose bush. I reached my hand in the grass and came up with a tin canister. I had found the cache! It was my 194th find.

Although there are plenty of caches in the Tulsa area, I like to seek caches when I am away from home. Later on this summer, we are going to visit the Lovelaces (my sister-in-law) near Troy, Missouri. I hope to be able to go to Springfield, Illinois and hunt for caches there. My main reason for wanting to go to Springfield, IL is to see the presidential museum and library recently built for Abraham Lincoln.

Today, we went on another YRE volkswalk. This walk starts at the YMCA near LaFortune Park. As we were finishing up the walk, we spotted Nick, Jen, Ayla, and Luke. They had just registered for the walk. This walk goes thru a residential neighborhood in the area. This walk was number 224 for me. I need only one more walk, and I will have completed the book.

I have viewed lectures 1 and 2 in a series of lectures by Jeanette Norden published by The Teaching Company. The series is titled “Understanding the Brain.” It is fascinating stuff. I checked out the DVDs from the Tulsa Library.

Dad is doing much better

It's now Tuesday, May 12. Last Sunday, Gail and I played two duets in the church service at Church of the Restoration. We did pretty well, but at one point we got separated, bumbled along, and then got back together.

Our Monday practice has been postponed to Friday since we were on the road a good deal of Monday.

We took Dad to his new doctor this morning. His new doctor seems more optimistic than his former doctor. Dad just might pull out of this illness. Dad is up walking around, talking to everyone, etc. He has lost several pounds, and is down to somewhere around 170 now. I need to lose some pounds myself.

This afternoon, I took Mother to the bank. Then we went to the car wash and drove Dad's Park Avenue through the wash. After that we went to a nearby KFC and got some chicken and took it home for lunch.

This afternoon, we are going to go to a grocery store and stock up on groceries for my parents.

Ayla has a recital

Today was the second Saturday of the month. Usually we have secular singers on this day of the month; however, I canceled secular singers because my granddaughter had a piano recital scheduled this afternoon at 1 pm. Ayla was the youngest of the group.

Following the recital we went to TCC to walk, but we discovered that TCC was closed. Instead we went to the Sand Springs Community Center. When we arrived we soon realized that the walking track was closed for painting. We walked anyway – not on the track, but around the building. We walked for 40 minutes.

Luke and Ayla spent the afternoon at our house. Nick and Jen went out somewhere for dinner.

This evening we watched a movie on DVD. It was “Seven Pounds” starring Will Smith. The character played by Smith makes the ultimate sacrifice. The ending was bittersweet.

A visit to the Jenks' Aquarium

Last evening we went to the Aquarium in Jenks. The purpose for the visit was a dinner that J attends. The dinner was held in the aquarium after it closed. There were a few speeches and a few awards were given. The dinner consisted of chicken, pork roast, green beans, new potatoes, rolls, and dessert of chocolate cake. Tea was served as the beverage.

Following the meal we had the aquarium to ourselves. My favorite displays were the sharks and the beavers. We had Ayla with us. She was well-behaved for the occasion. Luke did not go. We often refer to Luke as Lukie. His mother calls him Lukie-Pooh.

Today Gail came over and we practiced our duets for an hour and a half. We play at Restoration this coming Sunday.

Afterwards, I went to the TCC Fitness Center and walked two miles. It was cool inside on the walking oval. You could feel the humidity once you got outside.