We (Okies) now banned from outdoor BBQing. No rain since 10/1/05

[karlrschneider]

The statewide 'burn ban' has been in effect for over a month but today our governor extended it to outdoor grills. Most of the state is going through the driest -ever- recorded period, even counting the 'dust bowl' days in the 30s. (The exception to the drought is the far-west 'panhandle' which is NORMALLY extremely dry.)

Except for a couple nights last month, we have barely had any temperatures at or below freezing. I wore shorts yesterday outside and comfortably.

I don't claim this necessarily extrapolates to 'global', but there sure as hell is some local 'warming.'

[TahitiNut]

1. Uhhmmm ... so how many will BBQ indoors, now?

I hope its only childless FReepers that don't know carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless. :shrug:


(/coulter)

[karlrschneider]

5. Just now the KOTV weather guy said "It's not clear if gas grilling" outsid

is okay or not. But I get your point...fer sure.
;-)

[wiley]

2. Happened a lot in Jersey and New York about a decade ago

It's about rain fall levels there. I thought the MidWest had a big drought for several years. Be careful. Don't burn leaves or brush either!

Love you guys!

[Sequoia]

3. That's just awful. But who would know if you did it if

you live out in the sticks?

[karlrschneider]

7. If it makes smoke, someone will notice and probably call the sheriff.

Our local volunteer fire dep't has been working their butts off the last few weeks. We normally burn trash but it's just too risky right now.

[Sequoia]

10. Burning trash was a thing of the past I thought.

Sure can't do that in Cali-Forn-I-A. I was praying our flooding rains would go your way.

[karlrschneider]

16. We sure could use any spare rain you can send! Thanks for that.

but we're pretty far out in the boonies...when the grass & forest isn't dried out like it is now, it's safe and acceptable to burn trash and brush.

[Coyote_Bandit]

4. In Tulsa

there is no city code to mandate leaf removal. Or so the Mayor's action line advises. My neighbors to the north haven't removed the leaves from their several trees in over 2 years. My neighbor to the south has leaves that are knee deep all along the foundation of her home. Me? I'm watering alot. It is a tender box here.

I have small ferns planted in the corner of my yard that still have not died down from last summer. Today I noticed that I have some phlox blooming. And my spring daffodils and tulips are already up and about 2 inches tall.

And I too am comfortably wearing shorts.

[karlrschneider]

6. My old home (mom still lives there) is wallowing in oak leaves.

Near 41st & Lewis. It's a nightmare, the city apparently doesn't vac them up like they used to and they can't burn them...so I guess it's either wait for rains or an 'accidental' fire. :grr:

[TahitiNut]

9. My stepbrother lives just 40 blocks south of there.

83rd and Delaware, south of ORU.

[karlrschneider]

14. When I became a Tulsan, we used to go out to that area to buy milk

at the "Golden Guernsey Farm"...it was WAY out of town. :D

[Coyote_Bandit]

11. I'm Told

that even OKC has city code provisions requiring leaf removal. But I guess that is beneath us here in Tulsa.

I live in one of the older Tulsa neighborhoods that has a lot of large well established trees - much like the 41st and Lewis neighboorhood. I removed 3 diseased trees last spring and now have only 1 full size tree in my yard - and it is only about 20 foot tall. I also have 3 very young, very small trees (less than 6 foot tall). I've put out about 30 bags of leaves with my trash this year. My neighbors probably still have that many leaves in their yards - except for the old man who lives in back of me. He is over 90 years old and keeps his yard, trees and garden in meticulous order - and does all the work himself. There were even some idiots in this neighborhood who set off fireworks at New Years.

I guess some "accidents" are more accidental than others.

[karlrschneider]

13. My mom still has a dozen or so white oaks that are now well over 100 years

old. They were at least 50 when I was a kid growing up there. Maybe trees are the real deal of 'intelligent design'...? ;-)

(The subdivision which was on the very fringe of town when we moved there in 1949 is called Oak Knoll) 36th St. basically ended at Lewis then.

I used to walk with friends to 'downtown' to go to movies at the Ritz and the Orpheum. ;-)

[TahitiNut]

8. Is it possible that God will smite Oral Roberts U.??

Grass, grass everywhere. It could be a coup de grass. :evilgrin:

[Coyote_Bandit]

12. He might do better

to get the fundie mega church across the street.

It is home of the largest private Christian school in the state. The pastor (the same guy who was punched at the altar a few weeks back) has been quite vocal regarding political matters - and is apparently working to have the Tulsa zoo revisit the creation exhibit issue. And they are currently involved in another building program that will add a $20+ million auditorium to their exisiting structure.

Oral is a democrat and at one point prohibited students from wearing black armbands on campus to protest the anniversary of Roe v Wade. Oral is a greedy crazy kook but he has largely stayed out of political matters.

[karlrschneider]

15. Billy Joe Daugherty. I don't know him personally but I knew Oral's son

Ronnie very well. We were classmates at Edison HS in 1968/1969. He was a friend of mine...he committed suicide a couple years after we graduated.
I grew up 2 blocks from his family before they became disgustingly rich and was in their home from time to time. Ronnie was a decent kid and I will never deviate from my opinion that he was driven to suicide by the criminal actions of his family. It is one of my great regrets that I didn't do more to assuage his guilt.

[Coyote_Bandit]

18. So sorry

Has to be hard for anyone growing up in that kind of environment to maintain their own identity and independence. I've always heard that Ronnie was quite intelligent, had a gift for languages and was really a genuinely honest and sincere soul. In passing, I've crossed paths with a couple of the Roberts family members. They were pretty standoffish - but I guess that is understandable. I think two of the four kids are deceased with only Richard and his sister the personal injury lawyer left. If memory serves me correctly, I think the daughter had to commute to OKC for a year or more to complete her law degree after Oral "gave" the law school to Pat Robertson and it relocated from Tulsa to Virginia Beach.

No doubt the university has more than its share of kooks but I know there is a young democrats group on campus and at least a few of the profs hold some fairly liberal views. There used to be a guy who taught German and another who taught philosophy there who were holocaust survivors. Don't know if they are still there or not. I know somebody who was a student there at the time the black armbands protesting the Roe v Wade anniversary were prohibited. Same person can tell stories of Oral speaking in chapel and then Richard delivering the same exact sermon with the same exact stories just a few short weeks later.

I personally am more familiar with the kooks at the fundie mega church across the street - though I have not personally met the pastor. I have known a number of different folks who either rendered professional services to the church or who actually worked for the church. Most of them have some interesting tales to tell. I actually heard one of the female assistant pastors who supposedly does pastoral counseling say that single women don't have good judgment because they don't have husbands. Same pastor suggested that I give her a laptop because, well, she needed a laptop to take on her ministry travels and she had prayed that God would have somebody just give her one - and preferably one with about a thousand dollars worth of Bible software included. I took a grant writing class a while back and somebody from the church was there to learn how to obtain federal funds for their religious work. Mayor Lafortune is a member of the church as are a number of prominent business folks here. They have been quite active politically and have hosted a number of speakers whose agenda is as much political as spiritual. They web cast their services and I will check in on them from time to time just to see what new kinds of nonsense they are up to. It hasn't been long since I heard the pastor vow to revisit the idea of putting a creationism exhibit at the zoo. I personally bought the DVD of their patriotic service in July 2004 for the sole purpose of reminding myself of all the reasons why I never again intend to darken a church door. I'm told they have contacts in over a hundred countries and Bible schools in about thirty countries. They may be kooks but they are dangerous - and far more focused on proselytizing and spreading their views than those at the university.

[LSK]

17. same here in Chicago - happens every year

BECAUSE ITS TOO FUCKING COLD IN WINTER

:grr:

[EFerrari]

19. We live out by the San Francisco beach. When I was growing up

in the same neighborhood, we NEVER went to the beach because it was always freezing.

We can go there pretty comfortably most of the year now. The water is cold but the air and the wind don't make you wish you were anywhere else.

[progressivebydesign]

20. And we are being soaked with record rain in the Pac. northwest.

The weather patterns have become so unbelievably bad. I'm in the Seattle area, and we have had a record of 18 days of measurable rain in a row. We don't usually get lots of rain at once... it's crazy.

Global warming? Can you belive people still swear it doesn't exist??????

[newspeak]

21. are you saying your smited by God?

say it isn't so.....You could ask California and Oregon for some rain. I just talked to a friend in California and they got plenty of water they'd like to throw your way!!!!