Stephens County Chit-Chat

Oklahoma Mineral Rights Stephens County, OK
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I've seen several in chairs at many of the events. It is always inspiring to see them compete.

I looked at a few Android tablets. I wasn't really ready to add another operating system to the mix. I'm very happy with my iPhone so I was leaning hard toward a iPad. I honestly just didn't see anything in an android tablet that I liked better than the iPad other than it being multi-user aware and a lower price. I think the multi-user situation on the iPads is horrible. It really prevents sharing it. Understandable with a iPhone, but not with a tablet or iPad.

I kept going back and looking at the Surface Pro 2 and I decided I'd like that better than the full size iPad. The Surface Pro 2 has been GREAT!! I can run it with and without the keyboard. I now have accessories to allow me to connect it to my flat panel in my living room through a HDMI cable. The keyboard and mouse connect wireless to it by bluetooth from the coffee table. This one came with the newer Windows 8.1 Preston is talking about. I do understand it is much better than 8. There are also a few things that you can change to have more of a Windows 7 look and feel. I never was a Vista fan, Win 7 is great. XP is great, but there are so many limitations.

The iPad mini 2 came in today so I'll have to get it configured.


Linda Rigtracker said:

Rick...I just talk to my son that lives in Tulsa and he, his wife, his brother in law and my 17 yr. old grandson ran in that marathon also. They ran the relay and each ran a little over 5 miles. I believe he said that his brother in law and our grandson did their's in about 48 minutes and he and his wife took about an hour. Thing about it is our son has not even been running any before that! His wife and her brother go running about 3 times a week and our grandson runs some but not too much. He walks in golf all the time so he stays in good shape but he and our son have not been known for their speed. That's why I said golf was always such a good sport for them. Our son from birth had tight ankle cords and never has been too speedy. Anyway, he said while he was running and when he stopped for a drink a man in a wheel chair passed him and that man did the whole thing by himself! Randy said there were some pretty good hills to climb. Son told someone "that man there is a WHOLE LOT tougher than I am". Wow, what a deal!

Once when our younger son was a senior in high school he got a terrible hurting in his chest and we were afraid he was having a heart attack (had been told earlier that he had a heart mummer). Come to find out it was Pleurisy (which they said is an inflammation around any organ in your body) around his lungs. The doctor said it was probably caused by his playing golf in the cold air the day before and sucking in that cold air. He said if he got to hurting as bad as the doc. thought he would to bring him back to the emergency room and they would give him a knock out shot. And he did. So just be aware that could happen. Take Care!

Back to the computer stuff. My tablet has an Android operating system and my husband has always said he doesn't like them. He was also saying just now that they have come out or are coming out with a free update to the Windows 8 that makes it more user friendly. Said you get your start button among other things back. Me, I'm sticking with my Windows XP on my laptop until they force me to change and it won't be long I'm sure. The laptop had Vista on it and I had him change it to the XP because I hated it. I think it was an earlier disaster.

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And so she can teach you!! I know how that works.

Michael Hutchison said:

Good story Linda, I feel your pain!

I intentionally gave myself a new Windows 7 desktop last year for Christmas so I wouldn't have to deal with Win 8. I'm getting my daughter a Win 8 laptop this Christmas, that way I can ease into it without it being my primary computer.

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Thanks, but not Iron Man status by any means! :) Those guys that compete in the Iron Man events take it to a whole different level.

M Barnes said:

Rick, you are an IRON MAN. Way to go!

It's 40 and raining in Houston and I am freezing just sitting in my house with the heat on just looking at it.

You are inspiring.

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Exactly right Rick except when something goes wrong then it's Dadddddd help!

We are finally moving up to smart phones, the girls are getting the Iphone 5c and I'm thinking about the Galaxy S4. That way I get to try both o.s. out. A couple of things I think I'll like about the android is the sd card and replaceable battery. I know it is rare for a phone battery to go bad these days but I wouldn't want to pay Apple to replace it. Steve Jobs wanted absolutely no tampering with his products. They are good about the warranty though, the home button on Natalie's Ipod stuck and they gave us a new Ipod no charge, no problem.

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I was worried about the battery as well. That was with the 3gs iPhone I had. It was around 2 years old when I replaced it with the 4s I'm using now. I gave it to my mother-in-law and she is still using it. 3rd party repairs for iPhones are pretty economical. Parts seem to be plentiful for them in the grey market. I've had to have one replaced due to a broken screen but I had apple care so it cost me $50. I like that the Surface 2 has a sd card. I stuck a 32gb card in it, but have not used it yet! :)

They are really making the $$ on the memory on the Apple products. Each jump in size is $100.

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Lloyd is SO much better at this than I am!! CONGRATULATIONS Rick .. I think you have just 'raised the bar' . . I wouldn't have made it 'out the door' .. I'm with Martha and the heater :)

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Sorry if this is too long for some .. but having had some good size Thorns the past couple of years (as have some of you as well) I always bring this one out for Thanksgiving as my personal reminder that it truly is He who is in control and for whom we surely give Thanks. Cheers and a Happy Thanksgiving to All :)

"Thankful For The Thorns"

Sandra felt as low as the heels of her crocks when she pulled open the florist shop door, against a November gust of wind. Her life had been as sweet as a spring breeze and then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a "minor" automobile accident stole her joy. This was Thanksgiving week and the time she should have delivered their infant son. She grieved over their loss. Troubles had multiplied. Her husband's company "threatened" to transfer his job to a new location.

Her sister had called to say that she could not come for her long awaited holiday visit. What's worse, Sandra's friend suggested that Sandra's grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer. "She has no idea what I'm feeling," thought Sandra with a shudder. "Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?" she wondered. "For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life, but took her child's?"

"Good afternoon, can I help you?" Sandra was startled by the approach of the shop clerk.

"I... I need an arrangement," stammered Sandra.

"For Thanksgiving? Do you want the beautiful, but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the 'Thanksgiving Special'? I'm convinced that flowers tell stories," she continued. "Are you looking for something that conveys 'gratitude' this Thanksgiving?"

"Not exactly!" Sandra blurted out. "In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong." Sandra regretted her outburst, and was surprised when the clerk said, "I have the perfect arrangement for you."

Then the bell on the door rang, and the clerk greeted the new customer, "Hi, Barbara... let me get your order." She excused herself and walked back to a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and what appeared to be long-stemmed, thorny roses - except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped. There were no flowers.

"Do you want these in a box?" asked the clerk. Sandra watched for the customer's response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers! She waited for laughter, but neither woman laughed. "Yes, please," Barbara replied with an appreciative smile. "You'd think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again.", she said, as she gently tapped her chest.

Sandra stammered, "Uh, that lady just left with, uh... she left with no flowers!"

"That's right," said the clerk. "I cut off the flowers. That's the 'Special'. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet."

"Oh, come on! You can't tell me someone is willing to pay for that!" exclaimed Sandra.

"Barbara came into the shop three years ago, feeling much as you do, today," explained the clerk. "She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had just lost her father to cancer; the family business was failing; her son had gotten into drugs; and she was facing major surgery."

"That same year, I had lost my husband," continued the clerk. "For the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too much debt to allow any travel."

"So what did you do?" asked Sandra. "I learned to be thankful for thorns," answered the clerk quietly. "I've always thanked God for the good things in my life and I NEVER questioned Him why those GOOD things happened to me. But when the bad stuff hit, I cried out, "WHY? WHY Me?" It took time for me to learn that the dark times are important to our faith! I have always enjoyed the 'flowers' of my life, but it took the thorns to show me the beauty of God's comfort! You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we're afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others."


Sandra sucked in her breath, as she thought about the thought that her friend had tried to tell her. "I guess the truth is, I don't want comfort. I've lost a baby and I'm angry with God."

Just then someone else walked in the shop. "Hey, Phil!" the clerk greeted the balding, rotund man. "My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement... twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!" laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.

"Those are for your wife?" asked Sandra incredulously. "Do you mind telling me why she wants a bouquet that looks like that?"


"No... I'm glad you asked," Phil replied. "Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord's grace and guidance, we trudged through problem after problem. The Lord rescued our marriage. Jenny, here (the clerk) told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she had learned from "thorny" times. That was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific "problem" and give thanks for what that problem taught us." As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, "I highly recommend the Special!"

"I don't know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life." Sandra said to the clerk. "It's all too... fresh."

"Well," the clerk replied carefully, "my experience has shown me that the thorns make the roses more precious. We treasure God's providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember that it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don't resent the thorns."

Tears rolled down Sandra's cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on her resentment. "I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please," she managed to choke out.

"I hoped you would," said the clerk gently. "I'll have them ready in a minute."

"Thank you. What do I owe you?"

"Nothing. Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year's arrangement is always on me." The clerk smiled and handed a card to Sandra. "I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you would like to read it first."

It read:
My God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to You along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of Your rainbow look much more brilliant."

Praise Him for the roses; Thank Him for the thorns.

Author Unknown

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OH WOW. Thank you for the story and the One who gave His all….

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AMEN and AMEN....What a hard lesson to learn, to be thankful for the thorns! Our pains could never be as bad as those that Christ bore for us! Lloyd and Lea I couldn't get through reading that post to Preston without tears. We've always praised God for our good times and from now on we will always try to praise him for the thorns.

There's A lady that used to be married to my cousin until my cousin died at 24 with lung cancer and she was left with an infant son. Then after some time she married a teacher & coach (a wonderful man) and they had three more children. They plan to have the school shop class build them a new house and the night they had the plans drawn up he passed away with a heart attack. She raised the four kids as a single mom and twenty some years ago we introduced her to a friend of Preston's that had also lost his wife some years before and within a few months they were married. They have been happily married all these years with their blended families. Today we got the call. She came in from working at our Church office at noon and found him lying on the den floor. He had passed away from an apparent heart attack! Alone again and needing everyone's prayers. She may find it hard to find something to be thankful for. She does have lots of wonderful kids and grand kids around her, a nice home and lots of friends including her church family. Maybe someday she will be thankful for the thorns as we should all be! Thanks for the reminder!

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The biggest difference I saw (with the vast knowledge that I don't have) between the Ipad and the tablet that I got was the Ipad sells this side or the other of $400. and my Nextbook was $59. (which I'm still wondering if it's going to be worth THAT). lol

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Suppose to have ice cover our area starting in the morning with a "crippling" ice storm in the southeastern corner of the state and ice and snow here. The weather man just said this will be the longest of the cold ice weather storm he's seen in years with temps staying below freezing for at least a week! He added "And I've been doing this a long time!" Actual temps will get down to -2 on next Tues. night! OUCH!!! With the OK. winds that we can have that's really dangerous! This Sat. night is when the OU/OSU Bedlam Football game is scheduled to take place. Wish they would cancel it. Some students wanted to camp outside the stadium like usual but news said they were denied that tradition and the usual bonfire was canceled (Praise The Lord). Sometimes you have to protect people from their own stupidity! lol

The manager at Crest Food Store in Edmond said "Every time, the weather man is our friend" I'm sure of that because I bought groceries at the Walmart in Duncan today and I've never see it so busy! Stuff was flying off the shelves and check out counters were backed up about 15 to 30 people in each line with nearly all if not all counters opened. I heard one lady say while she was back in the store, "I should have known not to come here today during my lunch hour." I thought "just wait until you see that check out line!" I started to go before my appt. and thank goodness I waited until afterwards so I didn't have to be in a hurry. I came home and put on two roast and veggies (one for roast dinner and one for stew). Got plenty of snacks and we have a generator and all the other essentials for an ice storm. I'm so thankful for our warm home and pray for those without tonight. Kind of makes me ashamed to ever complain about anything when we all have so much, not fancy but blessed!!!

After church tonight there was a pulling unit parked along side the road across the highway from us and Preston said to a friend "Dan, you see that rig? I used to work Derricks on one of those. In the morning I'm going to bump that guy and go work on it. lol" Dan said "I know better than that. You might have bumped him this morning but you won't tomorrow morning! Preston said "You're Right!" lol

Now, they are talking like people might get some of this as far down as Austin! Hutch, you guys better run out and buy you some LongJohns (for you youngens that's insulated underwear~and I don't mean briefs! lol )

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GO OU AND OSU!!!!! Good thing they are playing inside as the next few days look COOOLD!!!!! BRRRR~~~

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Joseph...LOVED the article about Mullets and Crabs and especially the defense tactics during the war! I decided to move our discussion to this Chit Chat forum because there was one or two on the regular Stephen Co. forum that were complaining about our getting off the topic a month or so ago and Rick was good to create it for me and others that wanted to broaden our horizons! lol

My husband loves those crab legs but the only crab that I have found that I like is the FRIED crab cakes (patties) that Red Lobster Restaurant used to have on the menu. They were my favorite thing but they took them off of the menu and now only offer the baked ones as an appetiser (that looks spelled wrong but without spell check on the forum you may see lots of that from me) lol Oh well........too bad! Anyway, I hated the baked crab patties and so we don't eat there as much as we used to but still do at times for hubby to get his crab leg or shrimp fix! :) When our son was down on the coast he tasted his first crawfish and loved those too!

Everyone around here are giddy over OU's win of the Sugar Bowl last night. Gotta get me one of those T-Shirts! Our son coaches women's golf at the University of Tulsa and he and his wife were both big OU fans but told us we needed to get rid of all our OU stuff and get TU's. lol But I gotta have me one of those Championship shirts!

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I was trying to work on end of quarter/year things and some other business while watching the game. It was hard to get the work done but I was not willing to turn it off!!!

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Linda, sorry to hear about the back. My husband has the same thing. Stenosis. If PT doesn't work, then get a good second opinion. His was so bad, he was in a wheelchair with a herniated disk as well. He was walking the day of the surgery. They just root-rooted out some room and he was good to go. Great surgeon.

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To Virginia and Kathyln..Thanks for all the advice. Yes, I plan to try several different avenues before surgery. I'm going to consult a doctor that my son went to at the Okla. Spine Institute, and another doctor that McBrides recommended and the Lasor Spine Institute that a friend swears by who had about the same problem. The first doesn't take Medicare and Suppliment and the last takes it but Medicare pays for the Doctor but not the facility (that said it would be about $18,000 but friend says it's well worth it (much less evasive too) and I don't know anything about the doc. that McBrides recommends except he's an orthopedic specialist. The only one I have talked to so far is McBrides Arthritis Doc. and she recommended him. They think it's arthritis in my back that is causing the spine to compress. I went swimming/deep water walking at Pauls Valley for ten years three times a week at the Bosa Center until after I had my knees replaced and the only time I went back after surgery the water was like ice so I haven't been back. (come to find out the pump or heater or something was out and the kids that were working that day didn't bother to tell me until after I tried to get in) lol Sounds like I need to start back. The excercise machine sounds like a winner too. Can you tell me more about it? I haven't heard about that kind. What do you do to use it? Thanks

To post to this Chit Chat just click on the topic started by Rick which is at the top of the Stephens Co. page or if it hasn't been posted to in a while you need to click on the "view all" at the bottom of all the topics up there and then you can pick this one. After you type in the blank box you just click the "Add Reply" under the box and it puts your post at the end of all the others instead of at the first like our regular forum so you will need to go to the last page to read yours instead of the first. You then have I believe it's 15 min. to correct anything before that "edit" button goes away. Thanks again to both of you for your help!

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Linda, is the facility a hospital? Seems like Medicare part A would pay for that. I go in Monday for my first knee replacement. I guess this is all us old people talk about is are health problems!

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Hutch...That's what I thought too but that's from the mouth of the man at the Lasor Facility that called me back. I'm going to check that out further too.

Yes, that's funny about the age thing (well, not Ha Ha funny but....) when our female cousins get together (we call ourselves the cousinettes) we laugh because one cousin said "you know when we used to get together we talked about our husbands and kids and now all we talk about is our grandkids and our surgeries! lol

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Does anyone know of anything going as far as drilling in Glasscock Co., Texas which from what I can tell is about 15 miles from Garden City, Tx.???

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http://www.texas-drilling.com/glasscock-county

Check out the picture. Quite busy!!