Four for Four Fridays

Four Fridays in a row we have had snow and my fellow Lubbockians are all on their knees a tremblin and a fearin that the end of the Earth is upon us.

So in a fine tradition of eat, drink and be merry, I present to you the eating part [the rest you’ll have to work out on your own]:

Oatmeal Chocolate Caramel bars

2 Cups Flour
2 Cups Oats
½ tsp. Salt
1 ½ Cups Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda

Mix all together

Melt 2 ½ sticks of butter

Add to mixture
(should be about the consistency of graham cracker crust used for cheesecake)

Place ¾ crust in 9x13 greased pan (press/spread out evenly across the bottom)
Bake at 325° for 17 minutes
Sprinkle 1 bag of chocolate chips
Drizzle one jar of Caramel sauce on top (enough to cover the top)
Crumble remaining crust over the top
Bake another 17 minutes
Allow to cool for two hours
Enjoy....cause the end is near

My Life. My Card.

My name... Lyle….funny how I’ve never seen anyone misspell Kyle, but I’ve seen plenty of people misspell Lyle.

Childhood ambition... to be rich

Fondest memory... ask me again tomorrow

Soundtrack... The Man from Snowy River

Retreat... Lofty Lake in the Uintahs

Wildest dream... fighting Darth Vader and then escaping from further danger by using the Alpine Slide (which I’ve never been on)....a dream from my younger days.

Proudest moment... Becoming a Father

Biggest challenge... Becoming a Father

Alarm clock... on its last leg

Perfect day... would have to involve the high Uintahs in the summer

First job... slave to The Daily Herald, delivering newspapers and going door-to-door to collect monthly payments from their subscribers.

Indulgence... Oatmeal chocolate caramel bars

Last purchase... gas

Favorite movie... LOR trilogy..it really is just one movie [that fits on 6 DVD's]

Inspiration...my family

My life... needs a tour guide

My card... gets me to where I need to be

Global Warming Was to Blame

Many have seen the claymation "Rudolf The Red-nosed Reindeer". The story begins with the narrator telling about the big blizzard that almost canceled Christmas....well let me tell you about the "blizzard" that hit Lubbock.

At least as early as last Wednesday, local meteorologists were predicting "the big one" that would cover Lubbock and make us like Denver, CO or Buffalo, NY on Friday night/Saturday morning. It was a doomsday prophecy for sure. We could expect up to 18" of that strange white wet powdery stuff. Oh Wal-Mart was enjoying a second "Christmas eve" like shopping spree with locals snatching up all sorts of things you'd expect to purchase in case of emergencies...bread, eggs, water, diapers, matches, candles, beer, Pillsbury Rolls, etc. Probably the biggest difference for this preparation with the folks in Florida preparing for a hurricane was the long line of cars parked on the freeways trying to get out of town.

By Thursday, snowfall predications were down to 12-15" inches of snow.

By Friday morning, predictions were down to 8-10" inches of snow.

By Friday night, predictions were down to 6-8" inches of snow....6" is still a lot for these parts of the world.



As you can see from the picture, we ended up with about 2" of snow and the kids had some fun. Because of the snowstorm, public schools were canceled on Friday and the Pinewood Derby was canceled on Saturday morning.





This meant that I got to spend time with my eight year old N- making a birdhouse, which was another [possible] requirement for his Wolf badge. So I present to you, the morning's labors...ta da! he helped cut it, nail it and paint it. It was one of them bonding moments.

And the dad of the week award went to.....






The meteorologists clamed that Lubbock was just a couple of degrees too warm for too long for the rain/sleet to turn into the snow that would have dumped more than a foot on us. See, Al Gore was right after all.

Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave When First We Practice to Deceive

Good evening all y’all.

This afternoon in this room, from this chair, I am coming clean before the blogging world in regards to some of my past posts. I was put to the question and must lay the truth before the world.

I answered their questions truthfully, including questions about my private life, questions no American citizen would ever want to answer.

Still, I must take complete responsibility for all my actions, both public and private. And that is why I am speaking to you tonight.

As you know, in a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship with Bobby Knight. While my answers were legally inaccurate, I did not volunteer information.

Indeed, I have never met with Bobby Knight. In fact, it was all a lie. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible. [sobb sobb. snif sniff. weep weep]

But I told my family and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone else to lie [although I do recall helping pappy convince his daughter that I was really on the court with BK], to hide or to take any other unlawful action.

I know that my public comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I misled people, including my hair stylist. I deeply regret that. [sobb sobb. snif sniff. weep weep]

-go to commercial

____________________________________________

[Welcome back]

While I am coming clean with that, I should also confess that I have never had a family bar-b-que with Sonny Pope. I have never even been to his house. I just let everyone believe it, in the hopes of getting others to believe that I was moving up on the Pope’s adoption list so they would back down and leave me as the sole contender.

dim lights-

camera 1 pans to a waving U.S. flag,

camera 2 pans to a picture of a church

camera 3 pans to a picture of a boy with his mother

-go to commercial

The first confession, if you didn’t already recognize it, was heavily borrowed from. http://www.zpub.com/un/un-bc-sp1.html

Off to a Good Start: One for the History Books

It's always good to start off the new year on the right foot. Today, my friends, was a day to remember. Thanks to the generosity of Tech, I found myself with some free tickets to a certain game that just happened to correspond with the magical number of 880. For those who may still be in the dark at this moment, let me illuminate your minds further by saying, we were there to see and cheer for uncle Bobby's 880th career win, making him the most winningest coach in NCAA history. The game against New Mexico went down to the wire with Tech 70, NM 68. It was the first basketball game my kids had ever been to and I picked this one to take them to. The fates must have been smiling upon me, cause I almost got tickets to the game on the 28th in which ...they lost. This game had to be as good as Tech making that comeback against the Gophers in the Insight Bowl, when BYU stomped over Oregon, Boise State beat Oklahoma in overtime, or when the USA hockey team sent USSR to the woodshed [a couple decades ago].

I wish you could all share in the moment, but alas, that is what you have me for, to live that vicarious dream for you. I will wish Bobby all the best wishes from all y'all at tonight's shin-dig...I had to insist that we hold it here; I mean, after all, he has enough occupying his time today with all the interviews and what not. It's the least I could do for him.

The full story

Scat Packer-outers

This post is dedicated to my Dad. This picture says it all.

Disclaimer: While I am not equating scat [family friendly blog term] packer outers with varmit lovers, I will use the terms interchangeably beacuse to some, they are all a part of the same family. I am not putting down anyone that enjoys the outdoors. However, famers and ranchers typically have mutual feelings about the prairie dog...hence the above picture is good for a goad or gentle poke in the ribs.]

So the story behind the picture [this is not my car]. We were all a gettin excited for a goin to the library to see the Batman and Superman animated movie by WB. It was free and something to do in podunk. as we unloaded the brood from the rockin mini-van, my eyes were directed to the back end of this vehicle [for those who are unawares, Lubbock is a home to a protected pararie dog community...some feel they'ze ona road to extinctshun jus like them dinosawers] So I had to take a picture cause I knew it would elicit a string of colorful metaphors that will probably be heard from miles away. Go ahead dad, I'm listening. Tee hee. It ought to be better than the humming from the mountains near "Longwinded" Arizona [a subtle movie plug...any takers?]

So I will be sure to direct all these prairie dog lovers to Western Colorado, where hopefully, someone can help them understand that the priarie dog is not a dying breed. I'm sure my folks will leave the light on for you.

btw: At the aformentioned movie [Batman and Superman], I walked away as the proud owner of a 16" soft-n-cuddly- Batman doll...without removable clothes [thankgoodness]. I answered the Batman trivia question correctly. I was a hero in the eyes of my kids that day. It was a good day.

What is Wrong with this Picture?

It is like a plague. nekid Barbies everywhere. They just seem to sprout wherever you don't want them. They are like a weed. I doubt you could find a room in our house without a nekid Barbie. It is because of events such as these that turns perfectly good PG movies into trashy PG-13 movies, No? Why the kids prefer to play with them a-natural, I will never know [Get your minds out of the gutter]. I was looking through some other pictures we've taken this year and there is more than just this one that inconspicuously has a nekid Barbie in it.

For Any Calvin and Hobbes fans, there is a classic that has Calvin's dad trying to take pictures of Calvin and with every shot, Calvin is making some sort of face or refusing to hold still. In another caption, the two parents are discussing how they can possibly send any pictures to other members of their family. Calvin's mom makes the statement to the effect, "Well that is Calvin" [meaning, anything else would be a false portrayal].

So my question is, are we doomed to forever be the family of the nekid Barbies? Can we ever truthfully show humanity anything else that accurately reflects who we really are?