Oklahoma Giveaway Winner!

Recently, I've been winning the bloggery! That's the blogger equivalent of the blogosphere lottery!

Recently a package arrived at my door from Parsley of Seasons of My Mind who had a postcard giveaway and has been badly biten by the Orange Conehead Alien bug. I sent her a postcard (or two) from the states near me and won! She sent a big envelope stuffed with Oklahoma-themed items in it!

While I've only been in Oklahoma twice in a quick drive-through on the Interstate, I do have some ties to Oklahoma - My mother's father side of the family moved there from Kentucky during the Civil War because their farm was a part of one of the battlefields during the "Confederate Invasion of Kentucky" in 1862. My maternal great-grandfather was a traveling minister, often riding miles on horseback to to give sermons - a life-calling that he passed on to many of his off-spring.

As I said, they moved west to escape the horrors of the Civil War and at precisely twelve noon on September 16, 1893 a cannon's boom unleashed the largest land rush America ever saw. Carried by all kinds of transportation - horses, wagons, trains, bicycles or on foot - an estimated 100,000 raced to claim plots of land in an area of land in northern Oklahoma Territory known as the Cherokee Strip. There had been a number of previous land rushes in the Territory - but this was the big one.

Family legend has it, some of my relatives "jumped the gun" and were Sooners.

The only real link I have of that side of the family is this picture (here) plus some family legends and tales of my great-granny beheading chickens and plucking them for frying, making soap in a cast iron pot outside the rustic cabin she lived in, and a number of interesting stories of her calmly killing any number of rattlesnakes of totally unbelievable length.

I know a branch of the family moved into the Durant and Caddo areas of Oklahoma along the Native Americans Trail of Tears and the hardiest of this hardy lot went onwards north to the Vinita, Oklahoma area, perhaps a little too soon.

So it was with great interest I opened and looked at the items Parsley included in her marvelous giveaway...


An Oklahoma fun fact sheet,
a Deck of playing cards with an Indian Chief riding a war horse,
an Oklahoma state t-shirt (just the right size too!),
a Phascinating photobook about the Sooner State,
five Oklahoma Postcards!
a Genuine Oklahoma State Quarter,
a Key Ring with the state seal and explanation on the reverse,
a blue Dreamcatcher, ready to catch some Nyquil-induced nightmares,
a Pet Tornado (this is really cool!)
and finally, an Ada, Oklahoma shotglass explaining dreamcatchers
...all displayed on a way to cool for words, handstitched OCHA dishtowel along with a handmade OCHA greeting card!



A short video of the Pet Tornado, a 'snow globe'-like, tornado imitating device.

Thank you, Parsley!

:)

The Fourth of July Weekend

For the Fourth of July weekend, my mom and dad decided to get out of town and head down to the houseboat. My mom told my dad, "You are not to do anything! Anything at all!" After some, umm.. lets call it discussion, my dad grudgingly agreed and called me and asked if I would come and help them out with the boat.

Twist my arm will ya?! :)

And so they spent a couple days sitting in beach chairs, reading, and taking cooling dips in the swimming pool.

My dad was much better this weekend. He had about five doctor's appointments last week and his medication regime was completely revised (for the better it seems). Apparently he was taking a blood thinner/anticoagulant as well as a couple nasty pain killers - the pain killers caused intestinal bleeding and the anticoagulant meant, once started, the bleeding was very hard to stop. Once they got that straightened out - my dad bounced back pretty quickly and was hard to hold down/back.

So with the "no work" edict on him, I was chief cook and bottle washer - until they left the wharf aruond mid-day on Sunday since their doggy-sitter wasn't available later in the day. I then had the evening and Monday to myself.

My mom was really tired - its been a stressful few weeks (months actually) and was taking a nap when three baby swallows landed on a mooring line just outside her stateroom (boat-speak for bedroom) window. I was outside putting the canvas boat top up for some shade when I saw them swinging back and forth as their mom and dad flew around catching them little buggy morsels to snack on.

I gently woke my mother up and pull the shade up a little so she could peek at the birdies just outside the window.


She watched intently for a moment and then her face lit in a big smile and she turned to me and said, "You know, they remind me of the Three K's down at the seashore."

My two brothers and I, since our first names all begin with "K" were often called the Three K's, and often did played and swam on the beach together.


Baby Sparrows Learn the Ropes
The swallow on the far right nearly falls off near the end f the video and tells his brother to "quit that!"

About 50 yards off the stern (back end) of the houseboat, a pair of Osprey had built a nest on top of a wooden pole and were busy raising and feeding a couple of chicks. I was startled nearly to the point of falling overboard when one of them dove past my head and into the water next to the houseboat unexpectedly and snagged a ten inch fish!

I put my camera in my pocket and watched them out the corner of my eye for the remainder of the day, hoping to catch them catching a fish without luck. I almost felt as if I had gone back to the days of my unsuccessfully taking squirrel pictures.


Ospreys are big, majestic birds - I'm glad they are making a comeback after nearly being made extinct by poisonous bug-sprays like DDT.


On Sunday night, there was a nice firework display at the edge of the river - my point and shoot camera is no good for firework pictures - so I just sat alone and enjoyed the show from the upper deck of the houseboat.

There are some other pictures of these and other birds in the Flickr side bar.

Schwenksville, Then and Now

I forgot I had this entry nearly written a couple weeks ago - Someone asked to see the before and after pictures of Schwenksville, so I am happy to oblige them.


- William Bromer House - July 12, 1907


- William Bromer House - June 13, 2010


- J. Edwin Miller Garage - c. 1960s


- Miller Garage Building (current owner not known) - June 13, 2010


- Woodside Inn - c. 1930s


- Woodside Inn (Unoccupied and currently for sale) - June 13, 2010


- Farmer's then Bean's Hotel - c. 1900s


- Bean's Hotel (now apartments) - June 13, 2010

As you can see, with the exception of the ornate porch on Bean's Hotel, likely removed in 1930s, some bushes in the front of the Bromer Home, and some of the brickwork in the upper fascade of J. Edwin Miller's garage, nothing seems to have changed all that much.

Fridge Magnet Affirmations

On my refrigerator... Two train locomotives on a mini-railroad spike from Alice Kay and a magnet tag from Rebecca at This Mom's Many Hats.

"Friends are the bacon bits in the salad bowl of life." - Author Unknown

"The best mirror is an old friend." - George Herbert

"A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be." - Douglas Pagels

"The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had." - Author Unknown

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend." - John Leonard

"Since there is nothing so well worth having as friends, never lose a chance to make them." - Francesco Guicciardini

"I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let's face it, friends make life a lot more fun." - Charles R. Swindoll