Tag Archives: Chickasha Oklahoma

Small Town: BIG Fun

Crickets.  Do you hear them?  That’s because I’m not at The Ranch.  I headed back to my hometown of Chickasha, Oklahoma for a 30 year class reunion.  A lot of times people head back to their childhood homes and think everything seems small.  That was not the case for me this week.

Now this is some summer fun!

You remember playing in the sprinker, don’t you?  The 100 degree temperatures were trying to dry out the grass on the sod farm.  I guess it just wasn’t going to happen today.  I had to drive out to the motor and get a closer look at this.  I think the neighborhood kids could be quite happy after lunch once this got turned on.

wind turbine
Wind turbines have moved into Minco.

Wind mills were never a rare sight in Oklahoma, but since I’ve been away, several wind turbines have moved into my home state along Highway 81.  The famous Oklahoma wind is going to be harnessed by these incredibly large “windmills” and turned into usable energy.  These turbines are growing in popularity and come in a variety of sizes.  The blades alone are about 116 feet long and are placed on top of a 212 foot tower.  The three blades cover about an acre of air space as they turn.  These two wind turbines in the photo to the left make the trees in the same photo look like shrubs.

pancake
I ate fifty cents worth of a $2.00 pancake.

Also in Minco located at the southwest corner of the stop light sits the Coffee Cup cafe.  That location has been some kind of restaurant since I can remember.  I stopped in to have a cup of coffee and a little breakfast one morning after checking out the wind farm.  I ordered just one pancake and some bacon.  When I spun around on the stool to face my plate, I was amazed! Continue reading Small Town: BIG Fun

Meanwhile, Back on the Ranch: An Oklahoma Girl From Head to Toe

by Julie Allgyer

Tammy and Julie
Tammy stopped by to visit on her way to Oklahoma

There is something special about girls from Oklahoma.  We are…different.

I realized this after browsing through a real estate magazine at a local restaurant and noticing a photo of a girl who went to my high school back in the late 70’s.  She was currently a local real estate agent living about thirty miles from me.  We had not been good friends in high school and didn’t have a junior high slumber party memory to share, but somehow I knew that when I called her, she would remember me.  She did.

Shortly after contacting her, my husband and I were invited to her home for a Sunday lunch.  We had a fabulous time and I have since seen her on several other occasions.  I even stayed overnight at her house (not exactly a slumber party, but it will do) when a two-day workshop took me to her city.  We had dinner and talked about growing up in Chickasha, Oklahoma.

There are many other Oklahoma women who continue to touch my world: an OSU sorority sister bumped into me in the middle of Reading Station in Philadelphia, a classmate stopped by to have a quick dinner while traveling I-40 to a new chapter in her life, a lady at the convenience store wearing an Eskimo Joe’s T-shirt held my place in line, and my former principal, who is hoping to find her way back to Oklahoma, molded me into the writing teacher I am today.  My former principal is also expecting her fifth grandchild, a girl named Preslee, who no doubt will reap the benefits of being raised as an “Okie.”

So here’s to Preslee, who has no idea how lucky she is about to get, and all the other women who qualify.  You know who you are.

An Oklahoma Girl From Head to Toe

Sun-bleached or shiny black locks like a horse’s mane

Lake-blue eyes, or as dark as night on a rural road

When it comes to character, Oklahoma girls reign

With inner and outer strength, they will always carry their load

Lips that whisper a song just when you think you’ve forgotten the tune

Shoulders that can bear the weight of her worries and yours

Beads of sweat on her back from the Oklahoma heat in June

A loving heart beating strong and fast like an eagle soars

Legs that can carry her to her destiny, however long

Feet barefoot or not, walking toward a horizon of blue

Are you looking in the mirror? Do you see someone beautiful and strong?

By birth or at heart, you may be an Oklahoma Girl too