Thursday 29th

The Kiwanis speaker this morning was the District Attorney and he was talking about his hobby, his passion, which is collecting sportsmen's autographs on baseballs and helmets etc.  One would think they would be free, but they are not, and he has paid hundreds of dollars for some.   I think I was the only person in the room who didn't know the sportsmen, but it was very interesting all the same.   He seems to have a nice house, which he had built, and he described the room overlooking a lake in which he houses his collection.   He has two large screen HD televisions on either side of the window and on Sundays, when there are two games on, he watches both of them.   I thought, WOW, being District Attorney obviously pays well.  

He didn't want to talk about his job, but did refer to it at the end, as there is a big cold case murder  at the moment he is prosecuting, and it was mentioned.   Two years ago a homeless man was murdered and his body was found under a bridge in Shawnee, he had been beaten to death.  The DA said he goes to every crime scene and when he saw this one he didn't think they would ever find the perpetrators, but one of them got drunk and talked, and one thing led to another.  There were three of them involved;  two of them were arrested last week, and the last one was arrested yesterday.  They have been charged with first degree murder, they're all young men, and we were told they will still be in prison when all of us in the room have died.  

On a lighter note.....when I was water walking this evening someone said something to me and when I answered, the person with her asked if I was from Massachusetts.  I didn't know if she was joking but smiled confidently and said yes I was, so she said she thought so, she was from Connecticut,  and was I from Boston (!!!)  Wondering when I had become such an accomplished liar, I told her I was.   She talked about one or two places in Boston, and I thought  "I can talk about the squirrels on Boston Common, and Paul Revere's church, but don't let's go too far down this road".

The sunset was different from the other night, not quite as spectacular, but I had my camera with me so took a couple of pictures.

 

I went outside and took this, then walked round a bit more.   Someone closed the patio door so I took these last two through the window.

 



  It is a shame about the reflections.    The skies and sunsets in Oklahoma are  really lovely, I always want to try and photograph them when I'm out and see them, but more often than not don't have the camera handy.

In the news.......

Workers in Macdonalds, Burger King, Whataburger, all the fast food places, are going on strike, and it is predicted they will last some time.    Methinks - "well that will cut down the obesity epidemic".  
The minimum wage here is $7.50 an hour (£4.83) and they are demanding $15 an hour.  They won't get it, it is said they will be replaced by new technology.   It is expected the strike will spread to retail stores, like Sears and Macys.

and ....it has been found that salmonella is present in spices.   They are alright when they are cooked into the food, but are a hazard when they are sprinkled over it, particularly spices from India because the people there can't afford to dry them in ovens, and they are left outside in the air to dry and that is when they become contaminated.