School's Out for Summer!

            I’ve worked very hard this semester not only on my classes but also at my job. Our company has raised production this year in both their PETN explosives division and in their Dynamite division. Both of these divisions affect the amount of production my area will be required to meet. In the month of April alone I worked seventy eight hours overtime. Fortunately for me I love my job and my wife loves the large checks. I do miss my family though but we are saving up for our vacation.

            I’ve also been working on my foster parent studies and jumping through hoops trying to meet the requirements of the state to adopt our three foster girls. I just hope that everything goes smoothly. It has been a long process. We’ve had the girls for over a year now and it would be heart breaking to see them leave our home to live with another family.  I would love for their parents to make a complete turnaround a give these wonderful kids what they need, because this would truly be the best thing for them. I have to be realistic though and this scenario just isn’t going to happen.

I know that I’ve mention it more than once but Kelly and I have been working out butts off in the gym and with the diet. I really love going to the gym which is the first time I’ve ever felt that way. Even when I was a young man I hated working out. I wish I would have worked out as hard then as I do now. I had about six percent body fat while I was in the Navy. If I worked out back then like I do now I would have had a killer body.

The vacation will be here before we know it. It is less than a month away. Disneyland, Huntington Beach, and Vegas here we come. My wife is so excited about the beach, but I would be happy to just lounge around the pool at the hotel. I guess that comes from growing up where there isn’t a beach. The beach is a part of her live since she was a kid so I can understand her excitement. I wonder how the kids will deal with the hot sand and crashing waves, not to mention the sea life and crowds of other people.

I loved my classes this semester and especially my English 102 class. I really enjoyed writing the blogs every week. When I first heard how much writings was going to be required I panicked a little. My mind just didn’t want to wrap around the fact that it was capable of doing it. I felt overwhelmed I guess because of work, the kids, plus all of the writing. It really wasn’t as bad as I first expected though. I am going to take the summer off this summer so I can enjoy my vacation unlike last year. I hope all of my fellow classmates and professors have a wonderful summer see you again in the fall. Take care.

Aliens in Our Country

            Kelly and I were eating dinner at the kitchen table when my brother in-law’s girlfriend Betty, who was sitting at the computer deck reading an article about the racial profiling regulation in Arizona, exclaimed that it was unconstitutional for a police officer to deport an illegal alien that he had just pulled over. I looked up from my food and noticed how upset she was about this. Kelly told her that it was not unconstitutional for this to happen, and that the person was in our country illegally so he didn’t have any constitutional rights, just human rights. The conversation got a little heated before I took Kelly’s side and Betty just let it drop even though we didn’t convince her of anything.

            Betty claimed that illegal aliens had as much right to live in this country as we do. I think that logic is absurd. According to that logic my neighbor has as much right to cut a hole in my chain link fence and take a dip in my swimming pool, just because he is my neighbor. I don’t see this happening for a couple reasons: one he is nearly seventy-five years old and two it is against the law. If he wants to swim in my pool all he needs to do is ask and set up a time with me, because those are the proper steps. Like him if a Mexican wants to work in the U.S. he needs to go through the proper steps. It is as simple as that.

            I realize there are a lot of unfortunate people in other countries that find ways into the U.S. looking for a quality life. There are also many criminal types doing the same thing. They come over here to sell their drugs and steal from us. Those are just the more mild crimes that are committed the criminal element illegal aliens. If they are arrested speeding or just pulled over to be checked and they are found to be illegal they have already broken the law, and if one law doesn’t matter to them neither will another.

            Building bigger walls and patrolling our borders with hundreds more INS agents isn’t going to stop the problem unless drastic actions are taken. Since I don’t want to live in east Berlin were they would shoot someone jumping the wall. I suggest that the government pass some laws that hit companies were it hurts most (in their wallet). How does two thousand dollars a pop for each illegal working at their business and two thousand dollars a day for each day the alien worked their prior to getting caught. I know this seems extreme but it beats shooting someone and building the great wall of Texas. If the companies are two afraid to hire them then they might go home when the jobs run out for them. Well this is just my idea I could be wrong.

How to Build a Campfire

Camping season is nearly upon us. So I would like to take the time to explain how to make the perfect campfire. The reason I find this necessary is because a couple years ago I came to the realization that not everyone knows how to build a campfire. I discovered this one evening when I received a phone call from Kelly while I was at work. It was a gloomy evening and she had headed up to our favorite camp site in Knoll earlier that day. I got called in to work at the last minute so I was going to meet her there the next morning. It had drizzled off and on for the last two days but the weekend was supposed to warm and dry.

She called to tell me that she was freezing and that she couldn’t get a fire lit. I asked her what she was doing and she said she had put the logs into the pit and was putting lighter fluid on them. They would burn for a bit then go out once the fluid was gone. I told her that she was going to have to get some kindling to burn before the big stuff will catch. She said she didn’t know what kindling was or where to find it. I told her that dry kindling would be a little hard to find since it had been so wet the last few days, but she might get lucky looking under the large pine trees in the area. I told her to get as many pine needles, pine cones, dry leaves, and twigs no bigger than the thickness of her thumb. I told her to use a grocery sack if she needed to collect her kindling.

After about fifteen minutes she called me back and she said she found a sack full of stuff. I asked her if she had any small logs about the thickness of her wrist. She explained to me that she had a few split logs that were about that size. I was feeling better knowing that she had all the materials needed to build a fire for her so that she could stay warm during the evening. I know there are a few different methods to building a good campfire such as the log cabin and teepee technique. Which type is better I’ll let you decide. I prefer the teepee method so that is the one I’m going to describe. Here we go.

Teepee campfire method

1.      Make a pile of kindling starting with your quick burning stuff like dry leaves, grass, and pine needles. Stack your pine cones, pieces of bark, and twigs on top of that leaving room for air to get to the inner stuff. (you will probably need more than you think so be generous with your kindling).

2.      Take your smaller logs (ones about the thickness of your wrist) and lean them against each other in the shape of a teepee surrounding your kindling. Keep in mind to leave enough gaps so that air can get to the inner fire or it will smother from lack of oxygen. (three things a fire needs to burn is heat, oxygen, and fuel [wood])

3.      Once the teepee of smaller logs start to burn begin adding medium sized logs to the fire. Be careful not to get burned in the process. The heat shouldn’t be to great at this time.

4.      After these larger pieces stay lit for awhile you can add your big logs two at a time, one on either side of your structure so that it won’t cave in or collapse. Remember to not go crazy, only make a fire that you can control. Don’t make it too big.

5.      One of the most important steps is don’t leave your fire unattended. If you’re leaving you should douse your embers with water or cover them with lots of dirt. If the coals are too hot to touch they are not safe to leave.

I hope this helps anyone who didn’t already know how to do it.

I Love You Mom

            Well Mother’s Day is coming up so I guess there is no better time to blog about my mom. Patricia Raines is my mother and I am very proud to call her so. She raised me and my four sisters in Guymon Oklahoma nearly all of my life. She was my pillar growing up. If ever I needed help, comfort, or advice I turned to her. She was up in that tree helping me climb down after I froze from fear, once I had climbed to the top. The day I climbed down into the unfinished basement of the house they were building behind ours, my mom was there to reach down and give me a hand. There is no telling what would have happened to me if I had stay stuck in that cement hole all day in the heat. If it wasn’t for her and my little sister constantly spying on me I would have really gotten myself if a fix.

            She had to take me to the emergency room on several occasions. I remember when I got hit with a line drive foul ball in the side of the head while my T-ball coaches were fast pitching to each other. They told her I was fine but she knew better and rushed me to the hospital. It was a good thing to because I was running a 105 degree temp. One time I was goofing off instead of going to bed and I jumped off the back porch barefoot and landed on a two by four board with a nail sticking out of it. When I came into the kitchen with the board stuck to my foot and the nail sticking out of the top of my foot she didn’t panic she just loaded me up into the van and took me to the emergency room. I know what you all must be thinking. Well what else would a mother do? Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve seen woman have panic attacks when they see their children get hurt or in trouble. The child doesn’t receive any help from their mom and the mom becomes another problem that someone needs to address. There are also some mothers out there so wrapped up in their own wants and needs like partying and dating that their children aren’t their priority. This was not the case with my mom.

            I should correct my previous statement because she wasn’t always there when I needed her but when she wasn’t it was because of a good reason. After my mom and dad separated and were going through the divorce, she worked as the head cook at the senior citizens center, a cashier at Otasco’s department store, and she also worked as a cashier at the truck stop on the weekends just to make ends meet. I was pretty bitter during that time. I was going through the early stages of puberty and my mom was gone a lot. I was also the only boy and my mom wasn’t sure how to deal with my changes in mood. I look back at how difficult it must have been for her. She never came home and complained about how much she had to work or even snap at me when I complained about her not spending enough time with me. She just held me when I would let her and apologize about how much she had to be gone.

            She had the patience of a saint when it came to me. I was a handful to say the least. Even when I was at my worst she only cared about my safety. She and I had a couple bad fights but nothing we couldn’t get past, and we are closer now than ever. My mom is a wonderful mother and grandmother and if Kelly and I turn out to be that good of parents our kids will be lucky. I’m sure that most people feel that way about their mom, which is good. I love my mom more each year. She still does so much for me and my kids. She is the best grandma ever. I don’t want to take anything away from Kelly’s mom, she is pretty good to. Our kids are lucky to have such loving Grandmothers.