Tag Archives: Oklahoma Culture

Oklahoma culture, Red Dirt Rambler, Travel

Red Dirt Ramblers Stop #4 ~ Vintage Inn B&B, Alva, OK

Vintage Inn Formal Den ~ Photo by Bed & Breakfast Finder, Vintage Inn Link.

Kelly’s perspective ~

So, there we were, see…extremely full from dinner, exhausted from driving all over the state and still had one little eleven mile trip to go.  Julie’s friends were so incredibly nice to us; they really were like ambassadors to the Alva area.  They actually let us follow them down the road from Bulington to Alva and on to the Vintage Inn Bed & Breakfast. They then showed us where to park, helped us find our way inside, and then gave us a personal tour! Brenda was evidently a Realtor and had shown the house several times in the past.  She and Mike led us through the grand entry, showed us the dining room and kitchen, and then up the beautiful staircase we went to the second floor level of rooms…and then on up to the third floor level!  I’ve included two photos from their link above, but there are more if you’d like to check out their site; their bedrooms are each unique, cozy and now are furnished with large flat-screen television sets.  They also have wireless internet access, which helped us that evening because I had a post to edit!

Vintage Inn Foyer, Bed & Breakfast Finder Site - Vintage Inn Link. Ask either Lori or Sherri to tell you about how they refinished the plaster sculpting pattern on the beautiful Victorian ceiling.

What I appreciated about our personal tour provided by Brenda and Mike was the chance to hear voices of the community speak with pride about the Inn.  Every time we turned a corner, another story emerged.  Thank you, Brenda, for setting such a lovely context within which Julie and I could venture forth!

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Oklahoma culture, Photography, Travel

Silent Sunday: 1/16/11 ~ Bridges Over Oklahoma County Creeks and Rivers

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Mark “The Howard” Hinderliter is one of our RDC contributors who also drives around the state.  A lot.  He’s a geotechnical engineer and does soil and sub-surface testing for various projects that invariably lead him across the creeks and rivers of Oklahoma.  And, underneath the bridges to take photos.  A few weeks back, some of our readers were having a conversation about the funky creek names in Oklahoma.  Here are a few of their comments:

Dog Thrasher Creek. I don’t remember exactly where it was but around Pawhuska to Drumright-Pawnee area of Oklahoma..

‎@Mike – somewhere (I think close to Woodward?) I drove by Skunk Creek.

One of my friends, (name omitted), told me that on road trips with her grand-kids they played a “game” of sorts where they would try to decide why a creek got its name. I’ll try to send you a pic of Hog Shooter Creek soon. We have some great names in NE Okla.

There’s “Suck Creek” but that’s down around Chattanooga.

Anyway, you get the picture…then Mark chimed in and said he had photos of several creeks in Oklahoma…and, well, there’s our Silent Sunday “trip” for you today. He wrote about these photos he loaded for you, “The great old bridges of Oklahoma display a lot of different designs but they are being replaced. Enjoy these pictures, but be grateful you won’t have to drive across them anymore.”

Unnamed Creek ~ Haskell County

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Homestead and Garden, Oklahoma culture

Trespassing, Tree Climbing and How Cathy’s Bra Saved Our Lives

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When you grow up in the country, you’re socialized to do things a little differently than in the city.  First of all, locked doors are not the number one concern on your mind. Second, if you want to commence an activity on someone’s property such as fishing or picking up “those Bodark apples for a craft you’re doing with the Girl Scouts,” you just go knock on their door and ask.  They can say no, but usually don’t.  And, if you need to quickly cross or gain access to someone’s property then get right off again…well, it’s usually going to be fine unless there is a NO TRESPASSING sign hanging on their fence.  You’ve seen them, right? Old tires, painted with white letters, some of them dripping so much the message is slightly illegible by the time they dry.  Sometimes they read, “NO HUNTING.”  That’s a different message.  It means – “I might be okay with you walking across, but don’t shoot anything.”

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Oklahoma culture

Stories from Our Readers: Patience with a “Traveler”

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Sam and Traveler at the Sooner Cowboy Church, dedicating their flag pole.

Editor’s Note: What we’ve found as our readership has expanded is that the RDC Community is full of humans with interesting lives.  As our dear Earth turns on her axis, these folks are managing skyscrapers, scraping animal droppings, and dropping mail in everyone’s mailbox on their route.  One of our readers, who gave me permission to share a few photos on a past Silent Sunday post, is a sheriff.  He rides in the mounted patrol and his horse has an interesting story.  While recovering from recent shoulder surgery, he sent “Traveler’s Story” along for my perusal and I asked his permission to share it with you.  Have a story YOU feel needs to be shared?  We’ll read it and work with you if  it fits with our mission. ~ [kelly]

Traveler’s Story, by Sam Chestnut

edited by Kelly Roberts

The date was March of 2005. I was still recovering from a Prostatectomy due to Prostate Cancer.  I heard from a friend that a man not far from us had a good looking Tennessee Walker gelding for sale.  So Jean, our daughter Darla, and I went to check it out.

When we walked into the barn I saw a horse standing against the back wall of a stall with all four feet spread out, his nostrils flared,  with his eyes fearful and widely open.  I thought to myself, “Boy, something has just gone on here.”  It was clear the horse was terrified and near panic.  All of his hair had been shaved off with hair clippers and it was still early March; the weather still very cold.  He was in an unheated barn with no blanket or method of keeping himself warm.  He was somewhat skinny and not well kept.  There were no physical scars other than his shaved mane, but it was clear the horse had been ‘through it.’

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Oklahoma culture, Red Dirt Rambler

Red Dirt Ramblers – Stop #2: Meet Up With Jim Fields at Dan McGuinness in Moore OR Edmond

Dan McGuinness - Opening Night, Edmond, OK. Photo from their FB site, taken about 3 months ago.

(Julie’s view) If there’s one thing I’ve learned about being a part of the Red Dirt Chronicles for this short time, it’s that there is no topic or interviewee off limits.  So when Kelly mentioned wanting to investigate some of the local music talent, I knew I had the perfect person to interview: Jim Fields.  Jim is part owner of the Dan McGuinness Pub franchise in the Moore and Edmond areas and my ex-husband.  Don’t freak out.

Jim is originally from Bethany but connected with Lee Adams, owner of Adams Restaurants, while he was living in Memphis, TN.  Jim worked for T.J. Mulligan’s at an entry-level position and gradually worked his way into management. All the while he was missing his home state of Oklahoma.  It took some convincing, but Jim talked Lee into bypassing Arkansas all together, and they opened the Moore location in November 2006 and the Edmond location in September 2010.

We met up with Jim at the at the Edmond store.  He was in a meeting so we took a seat at one of the tall pub tables near the bar.  The sweetest waitress took good care of us while I tried to give Kelly a little bit of background information on the restaurants.  Jim joined us and he and Kelly talked for a while about some of the local music talent.

But here’s the best part:  Jim told me he had something that used to belong to me and he wanted to know if I recognized it.  We walked to another section of the restaurant and I spotted what he was talking about immediately.

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