With More News and Les Nesman

This one's for Lynn Paden

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Early Results

BB's class voted today, and went 64% for Obama. The other classrooms I saw had similar results posted. Hope is alive at Eisenhower International School!

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Burnt Out

Last night there was a fire in one of the buildings in our complex. Looks to me like it started in the chimney. There were 8 fire trucks in the area. This happened far enough away from our duplex not to be a threat, but still... That's the second fire in The Highlands (formerly The Falls) since we moved in just over a year ago. This worries me a bit.

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Hot Roddin'

Grandma Jo took this shot of the boys at the mall.

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Apple Time

The Topeka grandparents are visiting. They brought two boxes of apples from their trees, and they're teaching LB the fine art of preparing them for freezing.

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Dancin' Queen

TS wants to boogie with the big kids!

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Getting Political, Just This Once

Those of you seeing this on Facebook will be surprised at that title, since I've made my opinions pretty clear over there. However, on my blog proper, I pretty much keep to cute kid pictures. However, I think this is pretty important, so I'm taking a moment to talk about my candidate, Barack Obama.



First I want to speak to my readers who have decided to vote for John McCain. If you have made a reasoned decision, based on facts and issues, I applaud you. McCain is a man I respect and admire in many ways. However, there is a lot of bad information floating around out there. I would ask each of you to spend some time looking at two websites:

http://www.factcheck.org/ is a non-partisan site that examines claims made by both candidates and compares them to the truth, based on established facts.

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php is Obama's official website. Before you believe someone else's characterization of what he stands for, look at what he says for himself.



If you've not made a decision, please look at those websites as well. This is a very important election, and it's absolutely necessary to be informed.



Finally, if you are an Obama supporter like me, and you have been watching the news and the polls, you may believe that this is in the bag. Please, don't relax! There's half a month left before that all-important Tuesday, and the only poll that really matters happens then. A few thoughts:

Anything can happen. The phrase "October Surprise" means just that. We could see some new smear by the right that they've been holding in reserve. There could be a foreign policy crisis that the McCain camp could use to raise the false specter of inexperience. We must maintain support and keep building right up until the big day.

Dirty tricks are a political reality. We're already hearing reports of touch-screen voting machines in West Virginia changing votes (http://blog.wired.com/…chine.html) The Republicans are doing everything they can to suppress voter turnout in swing states. We need every advantage of numbers we can get to protect against this.

We need to win big. High turnouts for Obama mean better chances for Democratic candidates for Congress as well. If we believe in what Obama wants to accomplish, we need to make sure that he has the backing to make it happen, and that the numbers are firmly behind him. Remember all of Bush's talk in 2004 about "political capital" and "mandates"? Barack Obama needs to be able to make the same case.



So, if you are already for Obama, speak up. Do as I've done and tell your friends and family how you feel. Give them the tools to make informed decisions, and let them know how important this is to you and to the country.



Thank you very much for listening.

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She Can Haz Cheezburger?

I r kitteh. Srsly.

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Goth Prom

Local authors PC and Kristin Cast held a book launch party for the fourth in their House Of Night series tonight at my library. The first hour was a Q&A and signing with the authors, but after that we had a two-hour dance. More than 60 teens came and rocked out. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday!

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Does this dress make me look fat?

I'm acting as Assisting Minister this month, something I really enjoy. It's a great opportunity to feel more connected both to God and to the congregation.

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Lazy Day

Kim and BB are on the Mom & Me cub scout campout this weekend. I'm hanging with the small ones. Today we do nothing. It's good.

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Reading himself to sleep

Kim took this shot of LB napping. Her caption? "Like father like son.". :-)

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Heart of Tonkawa

I have a fascination with labyrinths going back to the one mown into the grass at St. Kate's where I went to library school. When today's class was over I wanted to tour Tonkawa a bit before heading home, and this is what I found.



The "Heart in the Park" is a cobbled labyrinth in the shape of a heart, built in 2007 to celebrate Tonkawa's place in history as "The Wheatheart of Oklahoma", a distinction of which I was ignorant before visiting this place.



Tonkawa is also home to Northern Oklahoma College. With their "Maverick" mascot, perhaps they'll grant an honorary degree to John McCain someday.

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Rural Decay

Today I drove about 100 miles from Tulsa to Tonkawa to teach a class. Along the way I stopped and took this shot of an abandoned farmhouse and outbuildings north of Ceres, Oklahoma. It reminds me of Kim's and my first house, a place we rented outside of Polo, Missouri in a similar location, but much better repair. This must have been rich farming country, for the town to be named after the Roman harvest goddess.

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Against The Darkness

Tonight after supper we turned the lights off and played with flashlights. It's the simple games that offer that sense of wonder, isn't it?

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A Renaissance Man

Due to poor planning, I didn't manage a period costume for this year's RenFaire. Since our theme is "Once Upon A Time", I decided to be a folklorist studying the stories.

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A Scaly Discovery

I've noticed a lot of garter snakes around the complex. We mostly find their remains after ants have already disposed of most of them. I think the feral cats that roam the area kill them. This one we were lucky enough to spot still alive and slithering. At least, he would have been if he weren't coiled up so tightly.



This post is especially significant. It's the first time one of the kids has shot a blog photo. BB, future photojournalist?

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There's only so many ways you can say Taking A W

Kim took TS to the store tonight, and the boys and I went walking for a bit. LB usually hates having his hand held, but he didn't let go this time!

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