Rest Well. . .

 

Earlier this year (during tornado season) I stayed at a hotel in Boise City, Oklahoma.  I was looking for the phone book and opened the nightstand drawer by the bed.  When I did, I found the phone book located right next to the Holy Bible.  It's cover boasted of an impressive tornado that had touched down on May 31, 2010 in Boise City. I'm not sure if it was just a convenient place for the cleaning staff to stash the two books in that drawer together or if it was a ploy to encourage guests to seek God!  If I was not an Oklahoman or was not familiar with tornados I think that this might have encouraged me to reach for that Good Book!  

Dead Peoples Stuff

 

Very intriguing and captivating store name in Oklahoma City. You know. . .it is the reality of antique stores.  You ARE shopping and looking at items from those who have gone on before you.  It just sort of puts it all in perspective when it's called out in this manner.  I took this picture in 2011. Not too long ago, I went back by this store and the top part of the sign was there but the bottom part was gone.  Very happy that I got this before it was removed or came down on it's own.   It's not everyday that you see this blatant type of advertising.  I kind of like it. 

Where the Buffalo Roam . . .

Another day at work in Oklahoma.  I love it!

 

Old Things

 

On the west side of Cherokee, in northwest Oklahoma, sits this old thing.  As I studied it's parts and pieces I was reminded of the words that Clay Harrison penned in his poem, Old Things.  "Old things are more beautiful than many things brand new because they bring fond memories of things we used to do. . . . . "

John Deere Green

Did you know that John Deere was raised by his mother, Sarah Deere who was a single mother in Vermont?  Her husband, William Deere, boarded a ship for England in 1808, hoping to claim an inheritance that would improve the lives of his family but was never heard from again.  It is assumed that he died at sea leaving Sarah a window.  John's mother made a meager income and his education was rudimentary.  He was limited to common schools but at the age of 17, he apprenticed himself and learned the trade of blacksmithing.  In 1836, he moved his family to Illinois and in 1837, he build his first plow using a broken saw blade.  The rest, as they say, is history.  This John Deere hay tractor was built by the Brown's, at the Brown Ranch Hay Maze, a couple of years ago near Ardmore. Very cool!     

The Wind That is All Things

The Wind That is All Things

In the wind that is all things
Everything you can taste
And touch
And hear
And smell,
The salt sweeps horizontally
Across the lunar landscape
Of western Oklahoma.

And there is beauty here,
Where selenite crystals jut from sand,
Exposed by the ceaseless wind
And the ceaseless search
For treasure that brought me
To you and us to this place.

–Shaun Perkins

In Alfalfa County, just north of Jet, is the Great Salt Plains Lake and the Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge.  If you have never visited here it is almost eerie.  Traditional northwestern Oklahoma pasture land stops and abruptly merges into a truly lunar feeling salt flat.  It is strange.  A drastic landscape transition.  It is quiet and white.  Just another reason why Oklahoma is my favorite place.  We have so many ecological regions and diversity.  The Great Salt Plains have gypsum concentrations high enough to grow selenite crystals.  These crystals have an hourglass-shaped sand inclusion that is not known to occur in selenite crystals found anywhere else in the world.  Because of this, many people travel here to dig for them. The wind does certainly blow here and as you stand out on the sand, for just a moment, it does become all things.          

Whatever Powers Your Saucer!

This is, by far, one of the strangest things I have seen while driving around Oklahoma!  This picture (which is not very good because I hated to get any closer) was taken in early summer.  At first, I was thinking that this was set up for some type of Halloween party or something.  But since it wasn't even close to October, and it was set up for a period of time, I think that maybe it's just their lawn decoration. . . . . . Whatever floats your boat or powers your saucer!