All posts by Guests and Former Contributors

Man Cave

What makes a REAL dad?

10 Comments

by Michael Mitchell

I’ve written a lot on one of my other blogs on the many qualities I think of when I think about what makes a man a REAL man. Qualities like generosity, courage, simplicity, contentment, strength, and many others. And in many ways, those same general qualities also apply to being a dad.

Even so, as I’ve become more comfortable in my role as a new father, I’ve begun to ponder what it really takes to be a good father. Thankfully, I had a pretty good example in my own old man and so that’s been helpful, but (much like everything in life) I want to come up with my own set of standards for the kind of dad I want to be. With that in mind, I’ve started a list (for some reason, I’m really into lists these days) of what I think it means to be a REAL dad. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

1. A real dad gets on the floor and plays with his children.
2. A real dad looks for ways to add joy to his children’s lives.
3. A real dad is intentional about setting loving, but firm boundaries for his children.
4. A real dad doesn’t blow up at his kids.
5. A real dad is there.
6. A real dad is willing to drop whatever he’s doing from time to time just to be in the presence of his child.
7. A real dad protects, stands up, and fights for his kids.
8. A real dad gives his children increasingly more freedom to explore and test themselves the older they get.
9. A real dad imparts wisdom to his children.
10. A real dad is interested in the lives of his children.
11. A real dad seeks to know his children by asking lots of open ended questions without making them feel like they are being interrogated. Continue reading What makes a REAL dad? →

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On The Horizon: FIRE!

If you’ve ever needed a fireman to put out a fire, you’ve probably never stopped to think about is he well trained? Does he know what he’s doing? Can he save my house? I know I hadn’t until I went to shoot a story over fire service training. I probably should have since my fire department is made up of volunteers. They have to be trained to keep everyone including themselves safe. But it’s something you just take for granted.

What I found out is, unless you’ve thought about a certain scenario, chances are, you’re unprepared for them. In this week’s video blog, meet a fireman who thinks about things like that to make sure his students are prepared for just about anything.

Buy Klonopin Online Overnight ~Alisa Hines

 

On the Horizon: FIRE! from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

Barbershop Theology, Faith

Barber Shop Theology – Directions

How many words are in the Bible? “In the beginning God . . .” Look, four words at the start.

“Yes, I am coming soon.”  Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

See that? There are twenty more words at the end of the last book of the Bible.

I read somewhere that there are maybe a million words in the Bible. I spent my whole childhood hoping to find a genie in a bottle or get a wish; my goal was to ask for a million dollars. I figured a million of anything would be plenty.

Growing up in my dad’s barber shop taught me many life lessons. One lesson was how to give good directions. Quite often a stranger would step into the shop to ask for directions to a farm, or place like Boone, Broxton, Richard’s Spur or Porter Hill. Sometimes they would name a place three doors around the corner. A barber shop on Main Street was an easy find. Our directions went something like this: “Go up to the light (the only red light in town) and turn north, go `bout a half mile and turn back west. Head on out past the Sale Barn and go a `lil over five miles and turn right out there where the road bends. It’s just right there across a `lil-lo bridge.”  Continue reading Barber Shop Theology – Directions →

Man Cave

Tiger Woods Needs a Hug

by Rob Loeber

He’s not the most sympathetic figure.  He’s not easy to root for anymore and he’s made a colossal mess of his personal life.  But Tiger Woods could use a hug.

The man was once on top of the world.  Woods was at the pinnacle of the game of golf and on a collision course with history.  He was one of the most dominant, mentally tough athletes of all time.  He was married to a Swedish blonde so gorgeous that countries would go to war for her.  With that wife and two beautiful kids, the Woods’ looked like the family that comes in the picture with the frame you’d buy at Hobby Lobby.  In other words, Woods had it all.

Now he seems pathetic.

Everyone knows about his fall from grace off the course, his public humiliation, and his divorce.

But he’s just as pathetic on the golf course.  Thursday’s 77 in the first round of the PGA Championship was Woods’ worst first round at a major in his career.  He hit into 13 bunkers and played the last 13 holes at ten over par.  After the round, Woods called it a “calamity.” Continue reading Tiger Woods Needs a Hug →

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: U Pick’em

I remember back when I was a kid, my mother would bundle all of us kids up in long sleeve shirts and then spray us all over with bug spray. It was an annual ritual each year right at blackberry picking time. There was a spot near a lake by our house that had wild blackberries and every year we would go pick that dark fruit so mom could make jelly.

Now this wasn’t a ritual I really wanted to do as a kid. It was hot, especially with the long sleeves we had to wear to protect our arms. Bugs would swarm around our heads and it seemed like even though we had bug spray on, they still were biting us (I think the bug spray has gotten stronger since then). But while I may have been miserable and don’t even like blackberries, it was still something I did with my family and we always had a good time.

So this week’s video blog really brings back memories of my childhood picking blackberries with my family.

https://citizen-femme.com/about-us/ ~Alisa Hines

 

On the Horizon: U Pick’em from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

Man Cave

You might be new to the game of fatherhood if…

2 Comments

by Michael Mitchell

I’ve noticed A LOT of groups on Facebook popping up lately around the idea of sharing common experiences about the town you grew up in with other people who also grew up there. My favorite is the “You know you’re from Gotebo if…” I don’t know if I’m more impressed that a town of 247 people has a Facebook group with 48 members in it or that a town that is only .77 square miles actually has a population of 247 people.

Anyhow… I digress. Seeing all of these groups and the things people are saying got me thinking about another shared experience that is fresh and new and really close to home for me right now: fatherhood.

You see, there comes a time in every dad’s life when he realizes he’s the not the guy he used to be. He has left behind the trappings of his youthful days and traded them in for an entirely new set of responsibilities… and with them, joy. A trunk that used to hold a set of golf clubs or his favorite rod and reel is now home to a massive collapsible stroller and other random baby accessories that consume every last square inch of his available cargo capacity.

Continue reading You might be new to the game of fatherhood if… →

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: Exotic Finds a Home in Oklahoma

Located just about an hour from both Tulsa and Joplin the Windsong Ranch outside of Adair has become a favorite stopping point for many travelers. That is because of some of the livestock that roam the range.

In this week’s video blog, meet the animals native to Pakistan and India on a ranch that is just as unique as its owner, Rowdy Malchow.

Buy Clonazepam Online Overnight ~Courtenay Dehoff

On the Horizon: Exotic finds a home in Oklahoma from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

Faith

Simple Sabbath – I Want to See

 I Want to See

HELP!!!

Have you heard the story of Blind Bartimaeus? It’s found in the Gospel of Mark. You can read it in your bible (and I’ll attach the passage at the bottom of this Ambien Buy Without Prescription Simple Sabbath post.)

Here is a story where Jesus leads us to understand real meaning. The symbolic and spiritual Truth of our existence is in this story. Okay, let’s state the obvious—the blind man here is a symbol of the inability to take in spiritual vision. There is an incapacity to Continue reading Simple Sabbath – I Want to See →

Man Cave

When Did Pro Athletes Get So Thin-Skinned?

3 Comments

by Rob Lober

Maybe it’s because I’m 29 going on 75, but I just don’t get it.  I don’t understand Twitter.

Lately, I’ve been left scratching my head when it comes to the use of this social media tool by professional athletes.  I know, you’re famous so obviously everyone wants to follow you and read what you have to say about even the most mundane details of your life.  Thanks, I’ll pass.

More and more, athletes are using Twitter not only to let us know what they had for lunch, but to defend themselves against what they see as attacks from the media.

Last week, newly crowned US Open champion Rory McIlroy was playing in the second round of the Irish Open.  McIlroy was struggling and in the mind of BBC commentator Jay Townsend, he was also making some poor decisions.

On the air, Townsend said, “McIlroy’s course management was shocking.  It was some of the worst course management I have ever seen beyond under-10’s boys’ golf competition.”

McIlroy quickly responded via twitter, “shut up – You’re a commentator and a failed golfer, your opinion means nothing!”

Back in May, rumors were running wild about the Lakers interest in NBA All-Star Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.  Writers for the Orlando Sentinel covered the story and published a series of articles on Howard’s future with the Magic.  The big man took offense, also voicing his displeasure via twitter. Continue reading When Did Pro Athletes Get So Thin-Skinned? →

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: Going Green

I’ve always wanted to build my own home…it’s just never been a possibility but if I did, I think I would build it using as much green technology as I could and here’s why:

When I did a shoot in Alva, OK, a while back, I was doing a story about a house that was being built using several green technologies and when the builder started talking about the cost savings, it just made sense. Not only is building green good for the environment, it’s great for the pocketbook. I currently live in a house where the normal electric bill is around $250 a month during the summer and not much cheaper during the winter. I wonder what it would be if I had insulated windows, solar panels, geothermal heat/air, and was built using Styrofoam? According to the builder, it would be a whole lot cheaper to live in it even with this excessive heat wave.

In this week’s video blog, see how one home owner in Northwest Oklahoma is going to save big even when the earth is at baking temperature.
https://epicbrew.net/superflight-review/ ~Alisa Hines

On the Horizon: Going Green from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

Woman2Woman

To Fix, or Not to Fix: That is the Question

2 Comments

In the spirit of full disclosure, you should know this post isn’t a philosophical look at change theories. I do not ponder whether humans can correct the character flaws of other humans.

Nope, this post is about my hair. Specifically, this post is about my ongoing negotiations about whether or not to actually fix my troublesome hair in the morning or to embrace my go-to ponytail persona. Ahhhh, finally a topic into which I can sink my journalistic teeth!

I do not consider myself a shallow person, but this post serves as a confession that my hair has guided a good portion of my decisions since about the fifth grade when I started caring about how I look. Since that time, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with my dark locks. On the love side, I was blessed with a thick head of hair that is conducive to many different styles. On the hate side, I have a thick head of hair that is neither straight nor curly and any bit of humidity leaves me looking like a Chia pet who stuck her hand (paw?) in a light socket.

I remember accompanying my mother to her hair appointment and the stylist commenting with pity about the fact that I have enough hair for 2 people. She followed her comment with, “But at least you don’t have enough hair for 3 people like your mom does!” From that point on, I started to compare my poufy hair to the unfair prevalence of sleek and straight hair that existed all around me. While mine wasn’t made for the long, stick-straight style I desperately wanted, I occasionally fooled my hair into thinking this was possible (through a good hour of blow-drying and the application of dozens of products). The result was me spending the evening walking with a stiff neck so as not to mess up a single strand. Regardless of the fact I probably looked like a whiplash victim in need of a neck brace, I was pretty proud of my system. However, I’d inevitably come home to find that, even though I left the house looking like this… Continue reading To Fix, or Not to Fix: That is the Question →

Man Cave

How Five Simple Rules Morphed Into a New Blog

here FULL DISCLOSURE: What follows is, in many ways, a bit of shameless self-promotion for a new project I’m working on. You’ve been warned.

A few weeks ago, I posted a list of five rules for dads raising daughters. When I wrote that post, I was simply trying to clarify some of my own thoughts on parenting, fatherhood, and raising little girls – thoughts that had been largely influenced by a number of books (Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker, Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson, The Heart of a Father: How You Can Become a Dad of Destiny by Ken Canfield, and many others) I’d read in the months leading up to and following the birth of my daughter last September.

I had a lot of fun coming up with those five rules (I guess they were more like suggestions than hard fast rules) and when I eventually hit the post button on the blog, I felt like I had a pretty good foundation for my own philosophy of fatherhood.

As someone who uses the written word to cull out meaning from his experiences, seeing my ideas finally crystallized in written form felt really good.

At least at first, I felt what I think was a sense of closure. “Okay,” I thought, “I’ve finally got all of this stuff out of my head and now I can get back to putting my creative energy into blogging about the masculine experience.”  That was all good and well, except for one thing… that’s not really how my mind works.

No sooner had the post been published than I started thinking of other ideas I should have included in my original list of suggestions. In an effort to simply try to clear my mind, the next morning I opened a blank text file on my laptop and started to type. That’s when the ideas started flowing. My fingers couldn’t move fast enough to keep up. Continue reading How Five Simple Rules Morphed Into a New Blog →

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: Wheat Guy

1 Comment

U.S. Wheat Associates is the marketing arm of wheat growers around the nation. They help wheat producers understand the quality, value and reliability of U.S. wheat. The groups chairman this past year, was Don Schieber from Kay County, Oklahoma. In this week’s video blog, we spent some time with him over the last twelve months to get some insight into a local farmer’s life whose passion is international in scope.

Ambien 10 Mg Price ~ Rob McClendon

 

On the Horizon: Wheat Guy from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

Homestead and Garden

Meanwhile, Back at The Ranch: Happy Birthday to M.E.

2 Comments

Today is my birthday.  My husband tells me that I start celebrating it on the first of the month even though it’s actually on the last day of July.  This year I tried to narrow the celebration down to a three-day weekend.  No matter how long the party is, it is always going to involve friends, gifts, and flowers.

Friday was my last work-free day, so I invited a few teacher friends over to swim. Right after they arrived it started to rain.  No worries.  I had indoor activities planned: making homemade salsa from the vegetables in my garden and hulling purple hull peas.  At one point in the day, a friend told me she was going to start referring to me as “Mother Earth” or M.E. I’m not sure if this was before or after I cooked the purple hull peas we just hulled (flavored with a jalapeno pepper from my garden) for a little snack.

Garden Jewel
A gift for my garden: Beauty AND function.

My birthday celebration continued with a couple of gifts. Continue reading Meanwhile, Back at The Ranch: Happy Birthday to M.E. →

Barbershop Theology

Barbershop Theology – a lesson from a hot check

2 Comments

Ambien Without Prescription Barbershop Theology

I have attended college. I have attended four of them. I learned a lot at college. I have degrees that suggest, “Hey, this guy learned.” But I can never replace the lessons I learned as the shoe-shine boy in my dad’s barbershop.

Hundreds of people came through Caldwell’s Barber Shop over the years.  Between public school and the barber shop I received an education in Apache, Oklahoma. Here’s another story that has helped me understand a little more about the world, myself, and the truth to live by.

Salesmen and “Simpletons”

A unique sub-set of folks that came through Apache viewed us locals as rubes or hayseeds. I was always entertained when some of the locals would oblige the stereotype. They did it purposefully. Most of the people that visited our fair small town were gracious, winsome, and very kind. A few of them were condescending (a few salesmen) they “shore was high themselves.”

As a boy, I was maybe ten or eleven years old, I could be easily impressed by a smooth presentation and a new gizmo with an interesting name. The old timers who loitered in Dad’s barbershop weren’t so easily moved. My job was to observe from the sideline as the pitchman worked the crowd and then watch as one of the locals morphed into Gomer Pyle. Continue reading Barbershop Theology – a lesson from a hot check →

Man Cave

Picturing America Without The NFL Is Terrifying

4 Comments

NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, left, and NFL football Commissioner Roger Goodell announce the end of the NFL lockout (courtesy cbsnews.com, AP Photo by Carolyn Kaster)

by Rob Loeber

Did you hear that?  That was the sound of a nation letting out a collective sigh of relief.

The NFL will have a season, and all is once again right with the universe.  The lockout is officially over and now you can move forward with important decisions like when to schedule your fantasy draft.

I guess I always believed deep down the owners and players would eventually come to some kind of resolution, but I was starting to have more doubts and I actually began to envision a world with no professional football.  It wasn’t a pretty picture.

Sure, you’d still have college football but that would only account for half of a weekend.  It wouldn’t have been enough.  What would you have done with all that free time on Sunday afternoons and Monday nights?  The hours normally reserved for eating wings, drinking beer, and finding that optimal couch position would have been spent shopping with wives and girlfriends, getting yard work done, or finally fixing that leaking faucet.  It would have been a world with empty sports bars, crowded golf courses, and a lot of men walking around Target in a semi-conscious haze mumbling about missing the second half of a game that wouldn’t even exist.

Instead of rushing home from church to put on your team’s jersey, you’d be talked into brunch or a trip to the in-laws for the afternoon. Continue reading Picturing America Without The NFL Is Terrifying →

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: Feeding and Inspiring the Hungry

2 Comments

Listening to Dr. Gebisa Ejeta answer my questions was like listening to water slip over smooth rocks. His deep, earnest voice and his true brilliance came out in every answer that he gave. I sat there staring back at him fascinated. I was sitting with a man who had potentially saved millions of people’s lives.

A true humanitarian, Gebisa Ejeta was recognized as the 2009 World Food Prize Laureate for his development of Sorghum hybrids that are resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed. His developments have increased production and availability of Sorghum and enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in Africa.

Growing up in a one-room thatched hut in Ethiopia, Ejeta knew how it felt to go hungry. Thanks to his mother, Ejeta pursued an education that would eventually land him at Alemaya College established by Oklahoma State University in eastern Ethiopia. From there he would then go on to attend Purdue University where his research would culminate into a crop that would prove to be life changing for many Africans.

Not only was he a hero in agriculture, he was a national hero on the hardwood. Wearing jerseys from Oklahoma A&M University, Ejeta played on the Ethiopian National Team.

Ejeta has personally trained and inspired a new generation of African farmers and scientists that are continuing to carry on his work. After just a few short minutes with him I know his efforts will affect the people he has helped for centuries to come. (NOTE – there is a long pause at the beginning of this video, then a gap around the 7 minute mark for 30-45 seconds. You may Hold your mouse down and pull the ticker forward to skip the black space. Thanks.)
~ Courtenay Dehoff

 

On the Horizon: Feeding and Inspiring the Hungry from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.

Man Cave, Music Scene

Am I Fooling Myself?

20110724-075733.jpg

I attended a self described “Old Man Concert” recently under a hot Oklahoma night sky. Styx and Yes were playing at the Zoo Amphitheater. Music from the 70’s and 80’s, you say? Definitely old guy stuff in the modern era.

After the show was over and the lights came up, I had a “paradigm improvement” on what it may mean to be “an older man”.

A few years back, admittedly when I was younger, I would frequently talk with some colleagues about my job as a “younger man’s game”. I thought it wise thinking, and it sounded good when I said it, but I think I was fooling myself. Allow me to attempt an contextual explanation:

I was first introduced to “Styx” at around the age of 9. My dad was was a High School Principal at a small school district in East Texas, and he had the task of approving the theme song for the senior banquet. They picked “Come Sail Away.” It was 1975, and current band leader Tommy Shaw had just joined the band at the ripe old age of 22. My dad put the 33 LP on his Realistic/Radio Shack component stereo turntable, and the soft ballad began. We sat in the living room listening, and my dad (an easy listening music fan) was surprised and pleased by the tune. Two verses later, the real rock started. Continue reading Am I Fooling Myself? →

Man Cave

From a man in transition to a transitioned man

While on vacation last week, the realization finally hit me that over the course of the last year or so I have taken up residence in an entirely new stage of adulthood.

I’m not sure exactly when this realization first dawned on me. Perhaps it was when we were packing the night before we left. As I looked around my living room at all the stuff we were taking with us this year that we didn’t even own this time last year it made my head spin a bit.

  • Diaper bag.
  • Pack ‘N’ Play.
  • Package of diapers.
  • Several jars of baby food.
  • Tons of toys.
  • Three tiny swimsuits.
  • Car seat.
  • Stroller (which ended up being too big to fit in our rented minivan with all of our other stuff).
  • An entire suitcase filled with miniature clothing that did not belong to either my wife or myself.

Perhaps it hit me the next morning while sweating like a nun in a brothel as I tried to get all of that stuff, plus mine and my wife’s belongings, into the back of the minivan. Continue reading From a man in transition to a transitioned man →

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: “Lesson” of the Day – Eating Healthy Can Be Fun

Human health has been an issue for as long as I can remember. We see more and more people losing an uphill battle to weight gain and fast food chains are profiting from it. It seems like every channel has a new weight loss reality show starting that promises to change our lives. My question is why do we wait and let it get so bad?

In this week’s video blog, we show you how an Oklahoma woman is teaching kids to cook and eat healthy. The recipes are simple and quite tasty. Just a glimpse of a fun and proactive way to help battle the obesity beast before it gets out of control.

~ Andy Barth

 

On the Horizon: Eating Healthy Can Be Fun from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.