Holiday Bowl!

Headline: Cowboy Eats Duck, Chokes On Tail End.

We managed to score some great seats at last night's Holiday Bowl near the fifty yard line on the Cowboys side of the field. First off let's just say there were way too many duck fans at that game. Even on our side of the field we were elbow to elbow in Green Muck. But we managed to create an orange and black bubble of raucous fun with the help of a goodly portion of Holiday Cheer (Bourbon & Rum) and grilled meats. Brandon instructed us on the appropriate angle of declination for the Waving Wheat. He subscribes to the more conservative practice of Waving only after a touchdown instead of after every score. Needless to say there weren't near enough chances to Wave last night but there's nothing quite like college football live and we all had a great time despite the disappointing outcome of the game. We staggered back up the hill after the game hoping the other Oklahoma bowl bound team comes with gun's a blazin'
Thinking of all you Cowboy and Sooner fans and wishing you a
Happy New Year!

Time to Burn

Weather permitting, we'll have the ol' tree burn at the WildOrbanRanch on Saturday 1-3-09.
Bring a snack and a chair and a tree if you've got one.

Will's 1st Christmas!

He slept through most of it, but looked handsome in his red suit!

Grandma Beej

Happy Day After Christmas...

Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas Time. Love to you all from the Willd Orban Ranch. Alaina, Kale, Ivy and Steve and Cathy.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays from San Diego.

The first 365 days.

WOW. A year already. Here is a quick 2 minute and 43 second look at some of the high points.

Happy Birthday Cara

Hope you have a fantastic day.
Love Mom,Dad and Amy

Winter Comes

Winter came today with single digits in OK. Warm water from the bathtub and lots of hay to keep the horses happy.
Everybody keep your longjohns handy.

Have a Laugh!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Birthday Girls Hit Double Digits

Ivy and Alaina spent their last day as 9-year olds at home for a snow day and will spend their 10th birthday the same way. They are excited to be getting older and have been telling people that they are already 10 for months.

Ten Years ago things were just about to get very crazy, thank goodness we got our own set of twins.

1952 was a very good year

Happy Birthday to my favorite husband. xxxxoooo c

Lil's 45th

We miss you.

Welcome, Will

Cara's brand spankin' new baby boy!

Eye to the Sky

Looks like we should get a great view of this, at least tonight, with a clear dark sky.
Link to story in Sky and Telescope by clicking title.

Winterized

This is a pic of our back porch. With a small space heater, grow light and insulation rolled out on the floor, plants should flourish. Afternoon sun makes it warmer than the living room at times.

wow

Thanksgiving Day - 2008

Delicious! Turkey, ham, 5 kinds of cranberries, fluff, broccoli/rice and green bean casseroles, cauliflower in cheese sauce, home baked rolls/pies/cakes, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cheeseball/crackers, and more! What a fabulous feast. And we had Joe and Becca for a visit from way out west and Brandon taking a break from his adventures and kids running wild and warm sunshine.... and seconds… What a lovely day.

Feast in the Making

The girls got involved in the mighty preparations.

Fun With Campfire Photos

I realize I've been negligent lately, so looked through the files for something seasonal. Came across some campfire pix and just had to embellish what was already there.Sweet dreams!

November Winds

Walked out back to feed the horses this morning and saw the moon setting in the oncoming clouds and leafless trees. November winds begin to blow, get ready for winter.

Hubba Bubba

Howdy! So I sat down to catch up on some old World Turnin' and thought I'd let ya know that I'm coming home for a month or so starting sometime before Turkey Day. Sweet Christ all mighty I cant wait for some bird and pie! Really looking forward to relaxing and getting a chance to see everyone. So thats about it....but check this out.

I was recently in San Louis Obispo (home to Cal Poly) and sauntered into bubble gum alley. There is a tradition of sticking your gum to a brick wall inside this alley that has been going on for decades. Supposedly every few years the business owners get fed up with it and try to power wash it, but judging by the festering mantle of Trident and core of Bazooka Joe, I'd guess its here to stay. My friend says that the sweet and slightly rancid smell is a real treat on hot days, but it was relativly tame while I was there.

Like the Song Says

About once a year or so I feel compelled to upgrade the old PC. This usually entails ripping the guts out and adding more memory, bigger hard drive, maybe a new video card and sometimes a new operating system. Sometimes it's pretty straight-forward and others it's 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Anyhow, that's what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks and I kinda feel like I've been in the engine of an old jalopy and finally got it fired up; not fine tuned yet but ready to hit the road.

U S A

All the problems in the world won't be solved because of this election. But because of this election, a new sense of hope is in the air. That is more than half the battle.

When new hope surfaces.
hearts and minds are lifted.

creativity is borne out of new hope.
problems become projects.

impossible is eliminated from the vocabulary.

It's finally here!

Hopefully, by the end of the day, you will all be wearing the top sticker (and not the bottom one). Got my voting done early today, after waiting for 45 minutes in line at my polling place on Cherry Street - not bad at all. Hang in there, swing state voters!

Also, if you are in proximity of a Starbucks or Ben & Jerry's, you can take advantage of freebie coffee or ice cream for voting today. So go ahead, indulge your inner corporate you-know-what. It's your patriotic right.

Karate Kid

Jaden on GiGi's front porch in his Halloween outfit. Thanks cousin Em.

Scared of the Dark?

Happy Halloween!

Don't Look Now!

The little ghouls are getting excited
about trick or treat and all the sugar they'll be goblin.

Just a Thought

Wouldn't a family cookbook be cool? Think about a recipe you like or a dish you like to make.I'll get back to you later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENDA !!

Have a
beautiful,
sunny,
fun,
happy day!
Love Pete

Brandon's Trail Journal

Lil' Wrangler's last entry is available by clicking title to link to his journal.

Cool Chicks

As you have probably surmised, chickens ain't the brightest critters on earth. One of our hens had a secret clutch of eggs in the back of our barn and managed to hatch six chicks the day before the cold rain came. After letting her care for them for about 12 hours I decided they might have a better chance in the comfy confines of a heated pen. I'm sure as they fatten up the local coyotes will thank me!

Over the Top

Ringling Bros. B&B circus ain't what it used to be but still a pretty darn good show. We had a blast, especially the 10 year olds! This video shows 5 cycles in the cage, they later had 7.

Unbelievable

By this time last year we had not captured or tagged a single Monarch butterfly, but as of today the wildorbanranchcrew has captured and tagged 50 Monarchs and we have an order in for 50 more tags. Today we tagged 8 butterflies at Jim Orban's preserve, while examining various species of fauna and flora. By the way, happy 84 to "The Old Man"!

Candidate

jacob running for mayor at school

Distractions

Well, I can't keep my nose to the grindstone all the time. Got to play with photos etc. to try to find that "something". This is a combo of 'shopped' Ivy with downloaded grunge background.

Remembering Mother

It was a day much like today, the last time I saw her smiling face. Warm and sunny with a slight breeze. I had gone up to Nowata with Brenda and little Cara in early October. It was a typical visit.Small talk about the weather .Catching up on family stuff.
But the center of attention was her grand daughter. All smiles around her grandchild. Talking smiling and laughing with little Cara. That made her happy.
A loving hug and a kiss goodbye.
We left with a beep of the car horn and a wave, a glance back at her smiling face and on with life.

She Would Be 78

And the World Keeps on Turning

Fair

Let the girls skip school for some fun at the fair. I must say they're a lot braver than I am when it comes to the rides.

Monarch Watch

Thanks to PrairyErth we've become monarch tagging enthusiasts. The monarchs have been migrating for several weeks now. I've just started tagging with some success. The butterflies roost in trees overnight and while they are warming themselves, pre-flight in the morning, they are pretty easy to catch.
Clicking the above title should take you to a youtube about the monarchs' migration.

Fun in the Sun

Great time at MO&John's Saturday. Croquet, burgers and beer...what more could you want? How about a smiley-face kid just learning to stand.

Amanda Rae is a quarter of a century old today!

Little Frog, Big Sound

Whether you enjoy or are annoyed by their chorus, here's the little critter making the noise! A-h-h-h...

"Hi, everybody!"

I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle must have when he awoke from 20 years of sleep. Maybe I've been dreaming or maybe the allergy meds have just curtailed my brain's activity. Whatever the case, I feel like maybe I'm waking up and beginning to smell the coffee. Hope to have some interesting posts in the near future. Hope everyone has been keeping up with Brandon's trail journal (he's nearing the end) and hope all is well in all the family camps!

Good morning

It does feel like fall. I love the full moon on the mornings i'm walking/jogging. it lets you see the skunks waddling across the road. Wish i would have planted a fall garden - but the weeds would have gotten in the way a bit :) I need to get some manure from your stack! anyone have a fall garden? we did have pumpkins growing in the compost...but i got over zealous and mowed over enough to make them wither. just wanted to say hi to everyone. ot at work is over (for now) so i feel a bit like i'm back in the human race. We will be grilling some burgers and playing some outside games on saturday sept 27, and you all are welcome to come. just to relax in the gazeebo if you wish. Around 1 in the afternoon. love you all. MO

Harvest Moon

Not just a great Neil Young song... it is the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox. So I think it is the moon that heralds in crisp days, hot chili bowls, football games, shuffling walks through fallen leaves, fuzzy sweaters, open windows, and of course, the final harvests of the season.

More Manure

Yep, looks like we're sittin' on a goldmine!
Click title to link to story.