Their red stone cottage was nestled within the Beggs town proper, not too far from a water tower that, from our angle, read: EGGS. I noticed ivy gracing the home’s outside walls as I stood on the porch and knocked, only waiting a moment before Jill answered the door. Continue reading EPOTM: Beggs, OK
“Bull? How’d you get that name?”
We were loading our equipment into the car while Bull and Bobby were sitting outside a convenience store in Mounds. Bobby needed a smoke.
“Aw…here we go…” Bull acted put out while at the same time positioning himself to tell the short version of a story he clearly treasured. Continue reading EPOTM: Mounds, OK
Rachel and I were standing outside in the August sun, waiting patiently on a woman to finish her cell phone conversation. She looked like an overdressed Flo, talked with a vernacular that could only be Alabaman, and made eye contact with us every thirty seconds holding up her index finger as if to say, “I’ll be right with you.” Continue reading EPOTM: Little, OK (The Bathroom Ghost)
Dimples slay me.
Regardless of race, age, creed, color or sexual orientation, dimples have always slayed me.
They were the first thing I noticed about Tori. The second was the fact that we were sitting at a picnic table talking to this sixteen year-old girl who had a hundred year-old soul. Continue reading EPTOM: Wewoka, OK (Or…How Tori is Getting Her Groove Back)
Everything about our visit with Willie Simpkins surprised me.
We felt we were too far into the Cromwell countryside to find someone, but there was a home that beckoned us. No one looked home when we pulled into Willie’s driveway, but he answered the door. And although his face looked like “no” was the inevitable answer to our key question, he said yes.
Continue reading EPOTM: Cromwell, OK (or Willie Simpkins and the Board of Education)
The bar stools in Pookie’s restaurant have sustained much more than the weight of those who have sat and eaten “burgers made with love” years on end.
They have held the weight of conversations about Boley exchanged by their occupants.
About the school closing three years ago. Continue reading EPOTM: Boley, OK
(click photo at left for full view) -CRINER, OK.
When we were driving into Criner the only thing my mom had been able to find out about the town from a quick LexisNexis search was that they had a Superfund site, and that there was a lady who got in an argument with her neighbors because her goats were…ahem, fornicating in her front yard and the neighbors didn’t much care to see this particular act of nature. So heading into town we were sort of hoping to talk to goat lady because we thought that story was hilarious, but as it happens we found someone else in town to tell us her story. Continue reading EPOTM: Criner, OK
Technology news is full of information about self-tracking apps helping to “quantify” yourself. Fitbits track your sleep and exercise. Apps like Mint help you track your spending habits. And…no, let’s just stop right there. Apps like Mint track your spending patterns and help you see how out of control your coffee drinking habits are.
Okay, let’s stop again. Mint tracked my “Coffee Shop” budget for six months and slapped me into reality. And now, I’m better. Here’s what happened…
A conversation sometime last year:
Me: I’m setting up our monthly budgets in Mint. How much do you spend for golf every month.
Mick: I don’t know, I don’t keep track.
Me: Well, my one “luxury” every month is going to the coffee shop, relaxing with a latte, and reading. I’m budgeting $120 per month for me. That’s my luxury item. How about you? What’s your average golf expenditures?
Mick’s golf budget is not part of this story. But, the idea that I was using social exchange theory is. In one sense, quite honestly, I was trying to justify my coffee spending habits by externalizing Mick’s golf activity spending habits. Fair for you; fair for me…
In another way, however, I was trying to find a “number” that fit with how much we were each going to allow ourselves on luxury items per month we had already been spending, but needed to acknowledge. This “budget line item” allowance we gave ourselves worked like a charm. For six months or so, we kept a silent tally in our heads of “approximately THAT number” for “our THING.”
But at some point, however, my number began to slip. I quit paying attention to my “Coffee Shop” line item. And, it gently creeped upward. Until April of 2014. April was big month. A full month. Cram packed with activities, late nights, extra projects, and…extra stops at Starbucks. I met colleagues at Starbucks to go over goals for research. It was legislative session, so I had planning sessions at Starbucks followed by phone meetings at Starbucks. All of the sudden, my $120 Starbucks habit had turned into…wait, WHAT? TWO-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS??? Continue reading How Billie Holiday, Hoboken Coffee and The Pioneer Woman Talked Me Down from my Starbucks Addiction
“You could probably just talk with anyone here. We’re all like family…that guy just had a horse kick the valve stem off the tire on his trailer, so I helped him fix his flat.”
Rachel and I had stepped outside the car to find out what the assembly of hundreds of trailers, horses, and people was all about. The man explaining the flat tire scenario had been looking at us with anticipation as soon as we told him about our project. Continue reading EPOTM: Meeker, OK
Mother’s Day Eve, 2014, was full of more emotion than I would have liked.
Rachel and I had just finished our conversation in Boley and were cruising north on Highway 48. We were running out of daylight, and had thought we might get to Bristow in enough time to find a good dinner. We needed to debrief; our heads were full of pieces of life that needing sorting. Continue reading EPOTM: IXL, OK
I could tell by his face that he wasn’t inclined to speak with Rachel and I.
Our first official “no” was discussed as we exited the driveway. Glancing back at the two-story white house, I knew the owner had a story to share. But there were hints of physical frailties, and wrinkles on his brow that, coupled with his own perspective, kept those stories from strangers. Continue reading EPOTM: Payne, OK
A grade school friend of mine who lived across our pasture used to tease our classmates then use “Dibble, OK” as the punch line.
“If you DO graduate high school, I’m sure you’ll have nice career at the Sonic in Dibble.”
“You’re getting on my nerves. I think it’s time for you to move to Dibble.”
And so on. Continue reading EPOTM: Dibble, OK
The reasons people choose to use our RDC Contact Form are vast. Recipes…questions about relationships…companies asking us to review a product, etc. Yesterday, however, we fielded a question about native Oklahoma fruit trees that led me to a phone conversation with my father. I thought it might be helpful to pass the information along to others looking for the same information.
If you want to grow trees that have a good chance of survival and are native to our great state, here is a fairly comprehensive list created from using the “Forest Trees of Oklahoma” book by Dr. Elbert L. Little Jr.
List of Fruit and Nut Trees Native to Oklahoma
You can also eat the berries from a Hackberry tree, but I’m not sure they are native to Oklahoma. They definitely grow here!
There are several fruit trees that have been introduced into our forests and Oklahoma landscape, but are not native to Oklahoma. An example of this would be a small, wild pear tree my Uncle found on his land in Clayton. It appeared as a small, slightly roundish fruit with the texture close to an Asian pear. It’s pretty cool to happen upon something like this, but isn’t “purist” if you want your trees to fit naturally with the original climate and environment.
There are quite a few grapes and a currant bush native to Oklahoma as well as several berries. I don’t have an exhaustive list, but I can point you to a wildcrafting website that is educational. The information on THIS PAGE isn’t delineated between native, and what simply grows naturally in our state because it was introduced. You can, however, learn quite a bit by just scrolling through the info and photos.
Please make sure that you are well informed if you decide to go wildcrafting for fruit in Oklahoma. There are many “look-alikes” across our landscapes and I want you to stay healthy!
Happy planting…and eating!
[kelly]
persimmon photo above by Rylee Roberts
As Rachel and I sat on a porch in Dibble, on another porch in Criner, and in the living room of a couple who had been married 65 years in Payne, we weren’t aware of something that had been happening. Our brains had been filling up with stories of the Oklahomans with whom we were interacting. They were filling up with the histories, and mysteries, of those we had just begun to know. Continue reading EPOTM: Preview of Dibble, Criner and Payne, OK
Okay, so we completed our pilot run. I mentioned we had a few hiccups.
That was probably an understatement.
Going into a project as a novice, I knew there would be corrections. In order to be completely open about our learning curve, here’s the list:
The learning curve was steep. Our final cut isn’t where I’d like it to be. But, our first documentation piece for Every Point on the Map has reached the “good enough” standard. Now, we’re ready to share it with you.
We’re grateful to Assistant Volunteer Fire Chief Robbie Clark, and self-described “rookie” Micheal “June Bug” McCorkle for their time and thoughts. And, we hope you enjoy this glimpse into the lives of two citizens of Carney, Oklahoma.
[kelly]
If you’d like to read more about Carney, check out THIS LINK written on Carney history from OSU. To read demographics about the town, and other general information, here is the Wikipedia link. And, here is a KOCO video of the tornado from last year.
Julie Kennedy was wearing an orange and white Chevron print apron her grandmother had made her when she took our order for breakfast. She welcomed us warmly, accommodated all our special requests, chatted about the restaurant and quickly went about her business. It was Saturday morning, and Ya-Ya’s Place in Carney, Oklahoma was filling up fast.
It wasn’t long before our order came, and I must say, the food rivaled any breakfast cafe around the area. The décor was managed with a sense of humor The kitchen was clean, as was the bathroom. And, we were checked on during our meal not too many times, and not too few.
Julie’s husband and child were in one of the booths enjoying their own breakfast. Her mother-in-law owns the business, and her sister-in-law was cooking that morning. I think it’s safe to say the entire family is invested in making Ya-Ya’s succeed. The locals appeared comfortable and were all cleaning their plates as the morning progressed. Continue reading Every Point OK Food: Ya-Ya’s in Carney, Oklahoma
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly were all part of our pilot run to Carney, Oklahoma this past Saturday.
Rachel has some beautiful photos, we have some very special video footage, and we’re working diligently to honor the essence of our first “point” on the Oklahoma map. While those pieces are being polished, however, we thought we’d share this little “behind the scenes” video about Pilot Day. Enjoy!
[kelly] & Rachel Apple
As a family scientists, I’ve written for – and received, over 1.5 million dollars in federal funding to run theoretical or applied research. Some scientists reach the hundreds of millions by the time they retire. There are also, however, new scientists who are just starting their careers and dreaming of their first grant award…and that’s where I come in.
Standing in front of classrooms full of graduate students, I have painstakingly answered questions on what it takes to write a successful grant proposal. And, during the budgeting information, I ALWAYS tell them this: “Please…please for the love of all that you cherish, build in some breathing room. No matter how detailed and accurately you think your budget has been prepared, you will run into surprises. And, sometimes those surprises are costly.”
I had flashbacks to those classroom sessions when I opened our camera case this morning. In the case was everything I had ordered and paid for. One camera; some wires to connect to a computer; one battery. Wait. ONE battery? Oh, this can’t be good…
A few minutes go by while I order a package of back-up batteries and a car charger. We’re going to be miles from people and plug-ins. We need a car charger. I completed my order and went back to the camera case.
A tripod. I need a tripod. I KNEW I needed a tripod, but for some reason when I made my list of inventory and sat down to research prices and place all the orders, tripods just didn’t come up. Cripes. Continue reading EPOTM: Doorbells Ringing; Mailboxes Bursting
The cyclothymic process of rolling out our “Every Point on the Map” project is wearing me down.
To begin, we followed the Kickstarter suggestions to the letter. They suggested we run our campaign for no longer than 30 days so as not to wear down those who might support the project.
Okay, well…we probably DID wear our friends down, but we got it done.
But then, there was the matter of the fine print. The fine print which eluded me. The fine print which was evidently on one of the several pages…of the several agreements…wherein I clicked the “Yes, I agree!” box.
Oh, the limits of what a person will click know NO bounds when they want something good to happen.
So, somewhere embedded in that fine print was this message: You don’t get your money until 16 business days after you’ve completed your Kickstarter campaign.
Meh. I have begun to identify with Varuca Salt in the 1970s Willy Wonka movie: “I want it NOW!”
I want to order our equipment. I want to roll out our pilot run. I want to see what it’s going to be like for the next ten years. I want to see how hard it is to approach a stranger and ask them to open up to someone they’ve never met. I want to see Rachel’s photographs. I want to hear the stories. And…
I want it NOW!
But, we’ll have to wait three more business days. And THEN, we’ll begin making progress.
Love, kisses, and cyclothymic tendencies…
[kelly] & Rachel J. Apple
P.S. We thought our pilot run would be this upcoming Saturday, March 1. Evidently, it won’t. It will most likely take place 1-2 weeks after that date that we wanted NOW. However, we DO know that Carney, OK is our first stop. We know that won’t change…right?
