Mistaken Identity

We have three bird feeders in our yard. One has safflower seeds, one has sunflower seeds and one is a hummingbird feeder. I love to watch the birds in the morning and evening fighting for their place at the feeder. Some of them are smarter than others and gather all the seeds from the ground. Mostly it is finches, cardinals and sparrows. I do have one large bird that looks like a pigeon but Dan thinks it is a dove that hangs out on the ground by the safflower seeds.

Yesterday though we had the strangest siting ever. The hummingbird feeder is right by the living room window. We had a hummingbird that caught my eye and then just a couple of minutes later, another bird went to it. But it wasn't a hummingbird...it was an ORIOLE. I didn't even think we had those kind of birds in Oklahoma. I kept looking at it going why is there an oriole here? It was orange in all the right places. We even got the bird book out and found its picture. And it was at the HUMMINGBIRD feeder! Drinking from it. For five minutes. I couldn't believe it. Obviously this bird did not know what he was supposed to be doing.

Would You Like a Side Order of Heart Attack With That?

State fair season is upon the country and so brings a new round of "What Can I Fry". Last year the Texas State Fair introduced us to fried butter (basically a donut with a wad of butter inside) and fried Coca-Cola. This year, the San Diego County Fair has fried Koolaid. That doesn't sound appetizing to me. It is dough with powder koolaid mixed in. There also is fried spaghetti/meatballs at the Minnesota State Fair. Texas has fried beer, peanut butter and lattes.

I hope that these places have automatic defibulators standing on the ready for the cardiac arrests that amount of friedom must have.

This Week in Review (And yes I know it is Thursday)

I figured I would get my reality tv review in early eventhough the So You Think You Can Dance results show is tonight.

The Voice

Well we all know who is going to win this one. It was pretty obvious from day 1 that Javier had it in the bag. And yes he is that good. For the semi-finals, I think Cee-Lo had the strongest team. Either of his members would be good in the finals. I personally find Beverly's WOOOOO in every song annoying. The judges all wimped out except for Adam awarding equal points to each of their singers and leaving it up to America. Hey, isn't that what next week is for. Thank you Adam for making a statement and actually doing your job.

They are holding auditions for season 2. I will not be auditioning since I cannot sing. A blind audition would not help me at all.

So You Think You Can Dance

Week two brings us all 20 dancers again in the same partnerships as last week. And another guest judge, Debbie Reynolds. I understand she was a dancer a long time ago, but please bring back rotating GOOD judges who can actually comment on the dancers constructively. I really didn't need a Woody Woodpecker impression or telling the dancers that I want to take you home with me. Really, I can do a better job than that. There were not any real standout dances last night. And finally we showed the first cracking of a dancer in a different genre. Four dancers go home tonight. Last week I was so wrong about the bottom 3. I didn't like Sasha/Alexander. I think Clarice/Jess didn't do well. Wadi was terrible at the cha-cha although his partner did very well at it. Of course, I don't really like his partner so she could go home. I thought Tadd did an awesome job at the Viennese Waltz (I'm sure he has taken classes other than his freestyle B-Boy stuff). Also Miranda/Robert did a really good hip hop number. They were in the bottom last week, maybe because of his Wooing. He didn't do that this week so hopefully that will keep them out of the bottom. Iveta/Nick weren't that great but I find it hard to believe that the judges would send the only ballroom/tap dancers home. So if they are in the bottom, sorry for the other couples, you are gone.

So we can see how my predictions do tonight.

Laptop for College

For Whitney's graduation, we said we would buy her a laptop. Rather than pick one out, we were going to let her choose up to an amount that I knew we could buy a really good one. Well she decided she wanted a Macbook. Since that was more than we wanted to spend, she had to use some of her graduation money to pay the difference. After much discussion, she decided on a Macbook Pro. They were clearancing an older model at my university, so she got a good deal on it. Yesterday it came and she immediately was giddy with excitement. We figured out how to turn it on (I have to say that we are a total PC family so Macs are foreign to us). We also figured out how to connect to our wireless network. I still need to install software and figure out how to move all her music/photos/documents from her old computer.

Her quote last night was "I don't know how to use this thing." I figure she has two months to figure it all out. I will be of no use to her on that one.

OCU - I LOVE This School

Last Monday, Whitney and I went to OCU to get her registered for classes and have Stars 101, their version of orientation. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with this school. They take their motto of you are a name not a number seriously. The best advice was during parenting 101. We were told that the school's job was to get the kids off our payroll. That got a good laugh. But then they said that within the first six weeks, the student needs to bond with someone/something at their new school to be successful. So don't keep having your kid come home during that time. Let them stay there so they can bond. They have so many activities during that time, that there has to be something for the student to connect to. We were also told that we are only going to hear how miserable things are from our student and never the good stuff. But remember that they will be having lots of good stuff. Having been away from home to go to college, I can relate to that. I think all I ever told my parents was the bad stuff.

They had an activities far going on so the kids could see different kinds of things offered. I was impressed with the church activities. OCU is affiliated with the Methodist religion but is open to all. They have a Christian women's sorority that looks good. Whitney is going to go through rush, the school only has three sororities and it doesn't seem as cut-throat as some university rushes. We talked to the Study Abroad person and they have several choices.

The only problem seems to be Whitney's schedule. We are waiting on AP test scores to come in so she knows if she gets college credit for anything. The important one is the Calculus score. If she can score high enough, she can skip College Algebra (which I know is two steps back in her math education) and start taking business courses. If she doesn't score high enough, we are considering taking the CLEP test for algebra. I would think that after having Calculus in high school, algebra would be easy. And certainly after taking the ACT/SAT as many times as she did. Her English score would affect the Comp 2 class, so we can wait on that. And Spanish would just add hours. She doesn't have to take a foreign language because she had five years in high school (8th grade counts here if it is a full year). She would consider a minor if she could place out of the first two classes. She also is enrolled in the World Religion course that all students take plus Public Speaking, another requirement. I like that all students have to take public speaking; I think it will help all of them in the future.

We toured the dorms and they look different with no one living in them. The newest one of course looks the best. But it is extremely hard for freshman to get into it.She'll know mid-July which dorm she will be in and who her roommate will be. Then she can buy her bedding since the rooms have different size beds.

I feel very comfortable sending her to OCU. I'm so glad that she worked hard and got scholarships so we can afford to send her there.

Le Tour De Vin Review

A week ago I spent the evening with 200+ wines. Well I really didn't spend my evening with that many, but we did have that many choices. I'm used to wine tastings with 6-8 different wines. I felt overwhelmed. I had prepared myself looking at the list before hand so I could come up with a game plan. Since I had spent $100 for a ticket, I wanted to make sure and get my money's worth and taste the more expensive wines first. I concentrated on whites. It is much easier for me to find a white that I like. Reds are much trickier. Here are the wines that impressed me. I can't tell you more than the names because I didn't make any other notes. I don't even know how much anything costs.

Kendall Jackson Avant Chardonnay - I do remember that this is an unoaked chardonnay

Santa Christina Pinot Grigio

Masi Mesianco

David Arthur Meritaggio - ok the one red that I tried. The wine maker was there which made it interesting to talk to him about his wines.

Benessere Pinot Grigio

Amici Sauvignon Blanc

Joseph Phelps Eisrebe - this is a dessert wine but not too sweet

Eroica Riesling

Elk Cove Pinot Gris

Tattinger La Francaise - some bubbly to end the evening

I'm glad I went but I doubt I would go again. There was too many wines (yes there is such a thing) and the food was not enough for drinking. They ran out and being hungry isn't a good idea.

Five Question Friday

Oooh, it is a double post day for me. Aren't you the lucky ones?!



1. What is your favorite summer time activity?

Staying cool in the air conditioning. Heat and Tracy do not mix. Sun and Tracy do not mix. So therefore the air conditioning is the only thing I want in the summer.

2. Do you have one laundry soap you stick to, or do you buy whatever's on sale?

I have been using Purex Free since Walmart stopped selling Cheer Free. I don't want my laundry smelling like anything. I also use Bounce Free dryer sheets.
3. What is your favorite dinner to make in the summer?

Pesto is the absolutely best to make in the summer. We grow basil so it is really fresh. Put it on pasta, yummy. Put it on pizza, yummy. In fact Whitney's friends love to come over in the summer to have our pesto pizza.

4. Do you have any talents?

I have a talent for numbers and spreadsheets. I like to sit in my office and work on them all day.
5. If you could instantly be an expert in something, what would it be? Why?

What an interesting question. I would like to be an expert in dancing. I've always enjoyed watching it. I want to enjoy doing it.