It has been raining here in Oklahoma for 2 months. It rains almost every day. I'm getting really irritated with all of this. Mildew is everywhere and moss is growing all over everything. I feel like I live in the tropics. Well, the plus side is that it's pretty cool. The minus to that is that the humidity is about 90%. I think we're all going to have to strip off like the Indians in South America because it's about 75 to 80 degrees, and everyone is sweating like champions. Usually it's about 100 degrees at this time of the year, but it is dry. We still sweat but we're not all nearly dead from allergies to mold and mildew.

The weather this year has been really crappy. First we had the ice storm which destroyed many of our trees. I lost my last apple tree this year. Then we had a weeklong freeze that destroyed all the budding trees. I lost another, very expensive, weeping mulberry tree to that. Then it started raining and my red-tip photinias are dying of a fungus. It never clears up long enough to spray them with the anti-fungal stuff. I figure that the weather this year is going to cost me about $5,000 to repair all the damage. And I'm really grouchy. Constant cloudiness makes me grouchy. I went to Colorado for two glorious weeks of sunshine in May. Otherwise, I'd probably be suicidal. At least it hasn't flooded here like it has on the plains. Texas has those terrible floods just about every year. But Oklahoma has flooded too. Since I live on the side of a hill, I don't have problems with flooding except in the garage.

The garage is where I have stashed the 6 or 7 puppies that a neighborhood dog had. We seem to have varying numbers of them. No one was feeding her and she was so terribly thin that I fed her. Well, she moved all the puppies to my house and has moved in herself. She's a lovely German Shepherd mix, but those puppies, while incredibly cute, are awful. Everytime I open the garage door they run into the house and hunt for places to poop or pee. They hang on their poor mother's boobs and the little devils have teeth. She has serious knockers what with feeding all those greedy little devils, and they are cut from the puppy teeth. Also they are covered with ticks since it has rained so much that no one can mow their yards. This is the worst tick season ever in my 16 years living here. I pick off about a dozen ticks from the mother dog every night and the little ones also have ticks, but I can't put tick killer on them because they are too young. So I pick ticks off of them too. I am a great lover of the garbage disposal because I can just grind up the ticks and they don't return from the dead. Next week I get to take 6 or possibly 7 puppies for shots and worming. Clearly I'll be broke after that and then I have to get shots for two older dogs and the mother. She'll have to have heartworm tests. Lord, charity can get expensive. Mother, who is now 87, thinks I'm crazy, but I just can't let a perfectly good mother dog die of starvation even if she does have obnoxious kids.

But she's a problem too. Yesterday, we had company from Illinois so I had a big spread to feed them. I had a buffet set up on the bar in the kitchen. Angua, the mother dog, ate the potato salad in its bowl on the bar. She's tall and can reach the food. So I had to toss the potato salad. But that's not nearly as bad as the time my old dog, Jasper, ate two filet mignons off the counter. It takes a lot of potato salad to equal the cost of those filets.

Well, I'm feeling better. I hope the folks in Texas and in the flooded areas of Oklahoma are doing okay. Maybe someday the sun will come out and we'll really get to sweat.

BOH I live in Talala, Oklahoma on week-ends and Kansas City during the week. I drive back and forth thru Coffeyville. This week-end was the first in 3 weeks that we haven't been detoured around Coffeyville. It was awful. The water hasn't reached our house in Talala but my DD and her 6 kids live in Bartlesville (which has flooded off and on for the past 2 weeks) and they have been stranded several times. Thank the Lord they live on high ground and the water hasn't reached them. I am very sympathetic however and also stir crazy from rain. Additionally we have 5 dogs. Also not on purpose. My sinuses are on constant drip. My eyes itch, burn, and water continuously. There are muddy paw prints everywhere and my hair is permanently frizzed. The grass is up to my waist and we have 1 1/4 acres. We live in the area of Okla they call Green Country and the weather said yesterday it has rained here every day for the past 36 days. Arghhh. I love Okla but I never wanted to live in the tropics. Katt

Male cats won't spray if you neuter them while they are still young. Six months is a good age to rob them of their nuts.

As David Letterman would say, "heeeere kitty, kitty, kitty......."

Katt: I grew up in Oklahoma and I thought I knew every little town. Where's Talala? It does sound familiar, but I can't place it. I've been gone for about 30 years, and I guess I've forgotten.

My dad ran for office a couple of times and we toured all the towns putting out signs, fliers and meeting and greeting. No, he never won until he was elected to the "Silver Haired Legislature."

I knew ya'll were having lots of rain but I didn't know it was that much worse than here in north central Texas. It can be humid enough in the summer in Oklahoma without 36 days straight of rain! We've been lucky down here, for the most part. We've been drying up year after year to the point of many of the lakes not being navigable. They even had to shut some of them down to boaters. Recently they had to shut some of them down because the Water was too high! But our little lake is a private one with a spillway and although the water has become murky, it's been great for our lake and the golf course which usually burns up every summer.

The rains have really slowed down here and I hope they are for you too.

BOH I live in Talala, Oklahoma on week-ends and Kansas City during the week. I drive back and forth thru Coffeyville. This week-end was the first in 3 weeks that we haven't been detoured around Coffeyville. It was awful. The Water hasn't reached our house in Talala but my DD and her 6 kids live in Bartlesville (which has flooded off and on for the past 2 weeks) and they have been stranded several times. Thank the Lord they live on high ground and the water hasn't reached them. I am very sympathetic however and also stir crazy from rain. Additionally we have 5 dogs. Also not on purpose. My sinuses are on constant drip. My eyes itch, burn, and water continuously. There are muddy paw prints everywhere and my hair is permanently frizzed. The grass is up to my waist and we have 1 1/4 acres. We live in the area of Okla they call Green Country and the weather said yesterday it has rained here every day for the past 36 days. Arghhh. I love Okla but I never wanted to live in the tropics. Katt

I live in Tahlequah. It has finally stopped raining and I gave away all 8 dogs. There is a God.

As I noted in my reply, it has finally quit raining and I gave away all 8 dogs. So I'm left with my 4 dogs and the neighbor dog, Stevie. She has gotten in two fights with my dogs, but I discovered that hitting them in the face with a flyswatter stops the fights. I had my carpets cleaned yesterday and all is well. They were pretty gross what with 7 puppies pooping on them. Some of the puppies worked out that they should go on the puppy pads, but many did not. Apparently there is a dearth of German Shepherds here because I ran an ad in the newspaper and about 50 people called. I gave the last puppy away to a nice teacher and his wife. That dog will be spoiled. Meanwhile, we have peace and I love it. Thanks for the good words.

BJean, Talala is north of Tulsa about 35 miles. Katt

Katt: 35 miles north of Tulsa... isn't that where Bartlesville is? Is it a 'burb of Bartlesville? What about Pawhuska? Further west? Gosh I miss Oklahoma sometimes! Especially the people!

It's great reading yours and Bitter's posts.

Bjean and Green--What would I do without those Canadians? I gave away all 8 dogs and am left with my 4 male dogs and Stevie, the female neighbor dog. She seems to have moved in forever, but I'm glad to have a female dog in the house. At least they put some flea medicine on her, she's had her rabies shot for this year, and she's been spayed. Of course, I put the expensive flea and tick medicine on her, but two doses of flea medicine doesn't seem to have affected her though she definitely doesn't have fleas. However, she has what we call beggar lice which are small cockleburrs. They are a pain. I combed about 3 pounds of excess hair off her and she's much more comfortable in the heat. It's hot and humid here but it finally quit raining. Of course, the rain cost me a fortune, but I'll recoup over the next few years. I plan to retire in 4 years if I can. So I bought the new/used RAV 4 which I plan to pay off in my final four years and then I'll coast unless Mother lives the whole time. I've been taking care of Mother for 6 years and I was tired the first year. I'm beyond tired now, but I'm really good on problems of the elderly. I may make that my profession when I retire. Actually I'd like to cook for the local nursing home but I'll have to take a course in chef's school before I can do that. Practically anything would be better than what they serve now.

Bitter: That would be a real humanitarian thing to do: cooking for the elderly. It is almost as unique as cooking for babies.

When I read one of your posts, I always start thinking about Northeastern and Tahlequah. I remember when I was a Freshman and bought room and board together (cafeteria and dormitory). On Wednesdays, we all went someplace else for dinner. They always served the same thing: a slice of some kind of pork, like a pork chop, that was steamed or something. We never knew just exactly what the hell they did to it to make it grey and smelling like puke. But we wanted no part of it.

My in-laws just spent a month in an assisted living facility - one of the nicest ones in the area and they "had" to move home. They said the only acceptible meal was Breakfast and that was because they cooked eggs to order instead of serving up those powdered scrambled faux eggs they serve in the hospital. They hired a woman from a service to comw in every morning to fix breakfast and lunch for them as well as doing some light cleaning. After the first day, she didn't come back. Dealing with older people is definitely a challenge! But then, I don't have to tell you that!

BJean -- I think NSU has improved though we now serve lots of junk food. We have a "food court" which serves fattening, greasy junk food. The kids like Chikfila or whatever it's called. They cook french fries in chicken fat. It's really disgusting. They bring it to class and it smells up the room. The kids just can't understand why they gain weight. But I used to eat in the faculty dining room and it wasn't horrible though not good. The vegetable soup was edible. Now, with the band, I can't eat until about 3 p.m. so university food is not a problem anymore. I can't believe anyone could screw up pork chops. I love pork chops. That cook should have been shot.

Chick Fil A uses chicken fat to cook their fries in??? Egad! The Chick Fil A's around here are the most popular fast food drive thrus. It got that way when the Adkins diet became the rage again. You can get just chicken and it isn't as breaded as most places. Other fast food joints that serve chicken breasts that aren't fried are just awful. I can't eat those odd tasting things. And if you get the fried ones at other fast food places, they have lots of breading and half the weight of the breast is grease.

I was told that Chick Fil A uses peanut oil for cooking their chicken. To me, that is much better than a lot of other things they use in fast food places, but if you don't like peanut oil, forget it. You can definitely tell that it is peanut oil.

I cannot eat Chick Fil A anymore. I've tried 4 different times, with lots of time inbetween tries. It's a sure-fire way to a significant PB no matter how small the bite or how thorough the chewing! :help:

No, Talala is up closer to Coffeyville, KS where I get my fills. Katt -- Isn't Talala a speed trap?

BJean -- I haven't eaten any Chik Fil A chicken and won't. I don't do well with fried chicken these days, but I love good baked chicken. I get those little rotisserie chickens at the local grocery store, nuke them for 5-10 minutes to kill the germs and they go down pretty well. But I think I'm going to try beating the hell out of some chicken breasts, put some Stove Top in them and give that a try. Of course, I have to jazz up the Stove Top a lot, but it's pretty good when I get through adding stuff. I ate some rice today at a wedding reception. It went down very well. It is on our proscribed list, but I'd sure like to make some Shrimp Creole. I have Brennan's recipe and that the best Shrimp Creole in the world. Good hearing from you. I love to hear from Okies who aren't nuts.

Bitter: Oh I'm still nuts all right... I've just lived out of Oklahoma for so long I've learned how to hide it like people from other states do.

I used to have a very good Shrimp Creole dish that I served at luncheons because it was very mild. But to have Brennan's recipe!!! That is truly special.

One of my memorable moments - my first ever PB - was after going to PF Chang's. I quickly learned that rice is not my friend. I can't eat sushi anymore and I really miss it. I'm afraid of ingesting any kind of raw food that is normally cooked because of a possible microbe infestation of my band. That would not be pretty! I'm with you on heating up those pre-cooked chickens. You never know where they've been.:sick

I did manage to eat a little chicken and even a dumpling the other night. Think I need a fill?

If you ever want to share that Shrimp Creole recipe, I'm all eyes! :eyebrows: