Expedition Oklahoma

Shots out on the Range

There is some open range on a gravel road near our house...  yesterday these three guys ran in front of the car and then looked at us, like we were crazy or something.   

We had a donkey when I was a kid.  We adopted him from the Adopt a Horse program.  

My High School mascot was the Donkey...   yes.  Laugh now.   

I didn't take this picture, my Husband did, but aren't they precious.  

The view facing west, at night you can see Duncan and Comanche 

A short history of these mountains... from the town of Velma

After a long day, we are almost home.  

Fisheye Little Niagara

A few shots from the Chickasaw National Recreation Area.  I can't believe it has almost been two years since I began this page.  I started it to go see all the places that I haven't been to in Oklahoma, to help me teach Oklahoma History.  It has turned into an obsession and a very time consuming but rewarding hobby.   The Chickasaw National Recreation area in Sulphur was one of the first places I went to when creating this page. 

I love the cool angles you can get from this lens.   It is really my favorite toy.  

Little Niagara July 2011  It is good to see it so green this spring, after the misery of last year.  

Just a short posting about one of our favorite places! 

A Visit to the Chickasaw Cultural Center

My oldest Son wanted to spend his birthday "out" by going to a Museum.   Museum's are his new thing.  So we went to the Chickasaw Cultural Center in Sulphur.  Now, if you want to go to a town in Oklahoma that not only has a gorgeous museum and National Recreation area go to Sulphur.

  I appreciated the video that they play as you enter the museum and its emphasis on Tribal Sovereignty.  I think that most people need to understand that being a member of a tribe, is representative of a special relationship with the United States Government.  A political relationship formed by treaties which were in existence prior to Native Americans holding citizenship in this country. Some aspects of sovereignty are "inherent" they existed before any of the colonizers arrived, one of those is water rights (which is currently a hot topic).   So, remember the tribes relationship with the United States is not an issue of "race" - it is an issue of Sovereignty and Nation to Nation relations. So enjoy the gaming, enjoy the museums and appreciate all of the wonderful economic developments our other nations are doing for the state of Oklahoma's economy.  Because of the tribes we are not struggling like so many states are.   

The traditional Chickasaw Village is pretty cool.  Now, the Chickasaws and the Choctaws were once the same tribe. Two brothers split and went in different directions.  They have also been enemies.  Their language is very similar.  The Chickasaws came from northern Missisippi while the Choctaws were further south.  The Chickasaws formed Alliances with the English/Americans while the Choctaws sided with the French.  

 This beautiful 44 million dollar facility holds the archives of the Chickasaw Nation.  

Recreation of the mound building culture.  Moundbuilders were found all throughout the central United States, from Wisconsin- where we find effigy mounds to the giant Emerald Mound in Mississippi.   Some of them are more like pyramids than mounds.  

My "little baby" is all grown up looking now!  Time goes so fast.  He has been learning Choctaw with his Grandma and was speaking Choctaw to the Chickasaw guides.   I was impressed.  He is really interested in his Choctaw heritage.  

Look at how tall my baby is.  He's a half a foot taller than I am now and taller than his Dad!  

 

 

Cruisin' The Chisholm Trail 2012

We got up on this beautiful Saturday morning to head to the car show in downtown Duncan.   Titled "Crusin' The Chisholm Trail" it featured blocks of antique cars on display,  live music, booths of crafts and other goods to buy and some pretty Judges who like to catch fish, with their hands.   

I'm a sucker for a shiny red car... or shirt, or lipstick, or nail polish...  or flower.  

Come look at the cars and eat.  

I think the Judges are on that Mudcats show on the History Channel.  I don't watch it.  But, they had a big booth set up.  

Mudcats booth at Cruisin' The Chisholm Trail in Duncan

I can't catch a flathead... not with my hands and not with a hook, probably.  

So there were many beautiful cars there...  why compete?  When you know the judging is so arbitrary.  I don't understand competition totally.  Isn't the best person to compete against yourself?  

I believe the band's name is Classic Recall  

If you like concert photos, you should check out my photos from the Gary Allan concert last fall. 

Live music at the Chisholm Trail Car Show.   I'm not really a fan of car shows...  I'd rather go to a tractor show instead.   

This was a gorgeous car.  

What a pretty car.  

Bel Air car at the Chisholm Trail car show in Duncan Oklahoma. 

I appreciate the shiny chrome.  

So this van was pretty groovy. 

I thought this would be fun to have...

The boys liked looking at the old cars.  

April Afternoon

I went to Walmart and on the way home I noticed this hay field off in the distance.  The lighting was great - so I went home got my camera and drove back the few miles to the top of a hill near what was the community named Cruce (at one time- no buildings left just an abandoned cemetery in a pasture).   I snapped the shot above and remained out in the windy, cloudy Oklahoma day to take a few more photos before going home.  

I remember a very different landscape last July when I was photographing the grasshoppers on the fence, and the cattle and their misery.  It is so lush and green this April in comparison. Grasshopper Summer, check out the photos from last July and take note of the difference.  

I have now started swapping out three different lenses when I go out to shoot. I need to go out and shoot some more wildflowers with the fisheye.   

Do you ever look at a road and wonder where it will take you to?  I do. But this road won't take you very far, probably down to the gate to get into the pasture where the hay is. 

Agriculture lesson:  this photo contains the makings of your very basic hamburger.  Beef and wheat.  Hungry yet? 

Did you ever wonder how much grain it takes to make a loaf of bread?   

Here are some Wheat Facts for you to check out

I tried to capture the wind on the wheat, but I wasn't very successful.   The grains aren't amber yet, anyways.  

Last year a lot of cattle were sold off in Oklahoma and Texas because of the record drought and not enough hay to feed them.

We are fortunate in Stephens county to have avoided the severe weather this weekend. We may get some storms late this evening, but so far so good.  

 

Planting Okra

As tornadoes are touching down all over the state today... My Dad, Justin and I planted Okra this afternoon.   My Dad turns 75 tomorrow.  So happy birthday to my Daddy.  :-) 

He said the soil temperature was 70 degrees an inche down and 70 degrees four inches down.  Apparently that is warm.  He was an Ag teacher when he was younger and raised on a farm.  

Okra grows very well out here.   If we ever have to live off the land...I will grow to hate okra.  As much as I like it now.  

Making the furrows to plant the okra seed. 

My Daddy was born in 1937, in Arkansas.   He was born in the middle of the Great Depression and as a baby arrived in Oklahoma during the dustbowl.  His Parents were share-croppers and he was the youngest of five siblings.   He has told me he barely remembers World War II, and served in the military in the 1950s.  

Justin Edmond and his Namesake Papa Edmond, planting Okra.  This kid doesn't wear shoes outside. Its okay, he's a kid.  They're REALLY supposed to be like that.   If you have a problem with it, then you probably would hate the photos of him driving the tractor or shooting a gun.  

Three to four seeds, every six inches.  

Tornadoes hitting Norman an hour north of us, the severe storms seem to be missing us tonight.  Although I'm listening to the continuous weather coverage right now.  

Love these photos of Justin and Papa in the garden, those are memories he will always have.  

 

Happy Easter 2012

Coloring eggs yesterday :-) 

And the daughter helped...

The daughter busy dying eggs. 

I love the colors of the eggs.  

Finished with the eggs last night.... 

This afternoon the youngest child was waiting on the eggs to be hidden...

Piggy back with Dad

Bo and Baby are waiting on the eggs too!

 

Benji and Ozzie wanted eggs too!

The eggs are hidden. 

Can you see them? 

Ready to go! It is his first year as a solitary easter egg hunter, his teenage siblings turned down the opportunity. 

Do you see the egg?

We went down to the pond because he was busy looking out the window watching. 

Benji went swimming. 

Such a pretty spring.  My allergies hate it.  But, my camera loves it. 

I hope everyone had a good Easter today.   

April Moon

I left the little store after filling up my car to see a huge orange moon brightening the evening sky.  I didn't have my camera so I had to speed the ten miles home to get these shots.  

“Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.” ~quote 

It is amazing how the moon drives peoples emotions.  The ebb and flow of the sea.  It was once a part of the earth and now it rests within our sight everynight.  Fueling the desires for those who want to explore space.   The moon, a part of the earth but distant.  Intangible but real.  

April Afternoon

These photos were all taken within a few miles of my house. 

All men should strive
to learn before they die
what they are running from, and to, and why.
~James Thurber

We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognize and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us.  But there are other senses - secret senses, sixth senses, if you will - equally vital, but unrecognized, and unlauded.  ~Oliver Sacks

My spring photos are predictible.  

The contemplative life is often miserable.  One must act more, think less, and not watch oneself live.  ~Nicolas Chamfort


The simplest questions are the most profound.  Where were you born?  Where is your home?  Where are you going?  What are you doing?  Think about these once in a while and watch your answers change.  ~Richard Bach

Your distress about life might mean you have been living for the wrong reason, not that you have no reason for living.  ~Tom O'Connor


The body is a house of many windows: there we all sit, showing ourselves and crying on the passers-by to come and love us.  ~Robert Louis Stevenson

Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.  ~Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson, 1894


There are at least two kinds of cowards.  One kind always lives with himself, afraid to face the world.  The other kind lives with the world, afraid to face himself.  ~Roscoe Snowden

Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself.
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
~Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1892

If men could regard the events of their own lives with more open minds, they would frequently discover that they did not really desire the things they failed to obtain.  ~André Maurois

If you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found.  ~Author Unknown

There are chapters in every life which are seldom read and certainly not aloud.  ~Carol Shields

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.  ~Buddha

These photos were all taken yesterday, and on the way home from class the sun was setting over the tree I like to photograph so much...  

Bypasses are devices that allow some people to dash from point A to point B very fast while other people dash from point B to point A very fast.  People living at point C, being a point directly in between, are often given to wonder what's so great about point A that so many people from point B are so keen to get there and what's so great about point B that so many people from point A are so keen to get there.  They often wish that people would just once and for all work out where the hell they wanted to be.  ~Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Hide and Beef!

I was out driving towards the highway, and I stopped to photograph some Indian Paintbrushes in the ditch and noticed dinner hiding from me.  Perhaps.......... Camooflage would have been a better title for this posting?  

Aren't cows amazing, they live off of all of grass...  and greens of the earth and they are transformed into the incredible tasty steak, or a greasy burger.   Chocolate milk, butter, ice cream. No wonder other cultures worship them.   Cows are quite the grocery store on the hoof.   

If they were holding assault rifles they could be quite dangerous hidden in the brush.  Don't ask why that popped into my mind.  Ramcow?  Maybe?  Ha!