A short visit to Oklahoma /murals

Most of us don't need a psychiatric therapist as much as a friend to be silly with. Robert Brault

While visiting my sister in law (hence the  quote) we visited Chickasha I started searching for murals.  Not hard to find.
She said she visited here a lot and never really "saw" them.
Click on picture for larger

Large painting of cattle drive on the side of building

On the side of a bank building

BUFFALO IN FRONT OF BANK WITH BUFFALO MURAL ON THE SIDE OF BUILDING

I WAS RIDING ((WHICH MAKES IT SO MUCH EASIER TO "SEE") WITH MY SISTER IN LAW AND SPOTTED A "PIECE"  OF THIS MURAL OVER A BLOCK AWAY.  SHE MANAGED TO LOCATE IT. THERE WAS NO ONE AROUND TO ASK THE STORY BEHIND THIS.

SPECIAL MURAL AS MY  GRANDSON IS NAMED RYAN

MUST VISIT THIS USED BOOK STORE EVERY TIME I VISIT. IT IS IN AN OLD DEPARTMENT STORE.  QUITE LARGE AND  PACKED WITH BOOKS!

ROUND PORCH SEARCH REPORT

There is a tv show titled Salvage Dawgs. They have a lead in that starts "Every day in America.... "  and that is what I think of when looking at beautiful homes that are to be torn down or left to fall down, or become rental property and not really cared for properly.

I had driven past this tiny house numerous times when tree was full of leaves.  It was difficult to tell if there were 2 doors and was the roof behind all the foliage was round as well. After leaves had all fallen, it is clear this house only one outside door and a full porch with 2 round corners.

Ah Ha! Same neighbor house! Reminds me of the Children's books I Spy.

I actually drove past once or twice before I realized what I was seeing.  Helps to have a "driver" when meandering and searching for porches.

I made sure I was looking at the same house. It was a nice surprise to find someone had cleaned up the yard  has been working on it.

The Moon, January 2018

I came across these pictures and cannot decide which to leave out.  I can remember so well, the cold night and worrying that the batteries in the camera would die because of the cold.

click on picture 
to see larger.

Cave Cricket

Nature never hurries. Atom by atom, little by little, she achieves her work. Ralph Waldo Emerso

I was on my knees trying to focus my iphone on the water meter numbers.

And Needless to say, when I flipped the cover these
legs appeared.  Oops?  What the heck?
So, one hand on the cover and the other with my
iphone managed a shot.
The long portion of leg was about 2 inches?

I then flipped the cover over and this huge insect crawled
out of the hole.
Another one handed shot (not easy) and managed to get
a pretty clear picture.

 The color is pretty much what I saw.  It didn't hop off, just
wandered off into the grass.
I went on line and described this critter and the best answer is a Cave Cricket.  It has several other names in other parts of the country.
As long as I have been gardening and working in the yard, I have never seen anything like this.
Much to my distress, these can become house pests???

Wild Onions

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.A.A. Milne

This beautiful flower comes up in the Spring.  The little black buttons are seeds.

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.
Gerard De Nerval

These beauties come up in the oddest places.  This year it was on the side of the ditch in front of our house.

I almost didn't notice as there was already a wealth of weeds growing.

                                              Don't forget to click on picture for larger

No matter how chaotic it is, wildflowers will still spring up in the middle of nowhere.

Sheryl Crow

August moon 2019

"The moon is at her full, and riding high, 
Floods the calm fields with light. The airs that hover in the summer sky 
Are all asleep to-night."
-  William C. Bryant

I walked outside at dusk and saw this glorious moon.  It took my breath away.
Run to the house, grab the camera that was fortunately on a tripod.
Then try to capture the magic.
Oops!  Standing in a fire ant bed !!!  Not easy to get a good shot with little devils biting my ankles!!
Moved to the center of the street and managed to capture one more moon.

"Once upon a Lammas Night
When corn rigs are bonny,
Beneath the Moon's unclouded light, 
I held awhile to Annie...
The time went by with careless heed
Between the late and early,
With small persuasion she agreed
To see me through the barley...
Corn rigs and barley rigs,
Corn rigs are bonny!
I'll not forget that happy night
Among the rigs with Annie!"
-  Robert Burns 

Stressed Cardinal

There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.  ~Robert Lynd, The Blue Lion and Other Essays

I have been watching the female Cardinals change color.
Took these of several looking quite stressed.

We keep fresh water and the feeders filled as much as possible.  Some mornings I look out and the squirrels and doves have emptied them.

To me this bird looks so tired

 God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.  ~J.G. Holland

Don't forget to click on picture for larger view.

I have seen animals that hold their mouths open or tongue hanging out. Never thought birds did it as well.

An explanation for the ragged looking feathers.
Birds have to molt in order to survive, because feathers wear out from physical abrasion and bleaching from the sun. Once a year (in the late summer for temperate species) birds grow an entirely new set of feathers through a complete molt. As birds grow new flight feathers, they are particularly vulnerable.Jul 15, 2013