Oklahoma Wildflowers

Its hard to believe all these exotic beauties can be found growing wild on these twenty acres in the boondocks. Equisite, exotic, and stunning are not ususally words used to describe Oklahoma, but I dareseay may be applied here. Scroll down and see if you agree. The inside of a lily pad bloom.
A lowly lily-pad blossom looking like a lotus blossom on our kitchen table.
Black-eyed susans.
Cosmos. Some fields around here are so full of it that they are brilliant yellow and your foot automatically lets up the gas peddle when you drive by so that you have more time to goggle.

Oh, this one smells amazing. Mimosa. Get within twenty meters and you might be mistaken you are so close to heaven you can smell it. (Actually, that's a thought- what does heaven smell like?)
More mimosa. Pity you can't smell it. Hmm, I like this picture because it shows every stage of the bloom (perhaps more correct to call it an explosion in a mimosa).
Blue sky through the top of the mimosa tree.
Weeds. Pretty ones.

Okay, so this isn't exactly a flower. In fact, this is an illustration of Oklahoma's ugly side. When we catch our resident Tarantula, I will put his mug up here. I doubt he will fit in that pickle jar so easily though.

Waving wheat. (Hey, it's a flower too.)
And my personal favorite. I found this treasure while riding Jazz this morning. Passion flowers are not as abundant as I wish they were, but their rarity adds my liking for them. Therefore, when you do find one, you absolutely cannot pass by it without admiring it. I guess I am glad they are a little hard to find.

Incredible huh? Something this cool should be in some national herbararium, not here in our field amdist the poision ivy. You can keep your roses.

Summer days where the waving wheat can sure smell sweet and the wind comes right behind the rain

Samantha was taking some pictures of a pretty storm as we were driving home tonight. I wish we could've caught some of the lightning, but it tends to be as fast as, well, lightning as therefore hard to photograph. Got some pretty pictures anyway. Oklahoma is really not, for the most part, not known for its breathtaking views. But Oklahoma is like the woman in that country song - prettiest when she has a temper. On the dam over Shawnee Lake #2
The view 90 degrees to the north from the above picture.

I threw this picture in too. This was the other night, two days after Mary had 6 teeth extracted from her poor little mouth. She was of course as swollen as a pumpkin for a while, but she was sitting on the front porch that night sharing a bowl of green grapes with Poon, who was holding them in his cheeks like a little squirrel. I thought they were both stashing the grapes away and I was making fun of the both of them. But then I realized that Mary wasn't holding them in her cheeks at all...she was just still swollen from her surgery and so she was matching John Paul. Then I felt all open-mouth-insert-foot-like.
Letting John Paul take a self-portrait.


Shawnee Lake. (I wish a had a canoe) Every day I drive across this bridge and turn to Sam and tell her we need to make friends with the neighbor with a canoe. There are always people on it now water-skiing and fishing and speedboating and kneeboarding and tubing. Its a sight to make anyone jealous.

Okay, now that storm has followed me home and i gotta shut this puppy down before lightning fries our computer as it has done 3x.

Caption Contest

Dad took this picture today out behind Mercy hospital where he works


Possible captions/headings (sort of choose your own adventure):
A) Contruction equipment need to learn to leave room for the Holy Spirit
B) Celebrity secrets: Crane falls for pickup
C) Pickup lines that work like a magnet
D) Crane reveals secret: has crush on Ford
E) Gravity always wins

Oklahoma Wildlife

Twenty minutes ago, Mary came streaming through the back door (" Look out - be more careful - WET PAINT MARY!!") ran through to the front door, with her gum boots still on and screamed, while giggling: "Rattlesnake!". All manner of chaos ensued, as all members of the family suddenly headed for the hills. You see, in my family, if someone yells "rattlesnake!" it is a mad scramble toward the said reptile.

I finished playing Ashokan farewell.

Then I got a camera and mosied (sp?) out behind the pond to see what I could see. What I saw: three kids being really dumb. Andrew has his BB gun, Mary armed with fly spray and her horse lunging whip, and Sam has fished out a spade (would be my weapon of choice) as well as dad's 4-10, which of course, no one knows how to use so therefore I forbid anyone to use it. I think a rattlesnake in a field is less dangerous than a kid with a gun who has no idea how to use it. Mom calls our very Oklahoman neighbor, Delbert. He's not home, Sweeny our other neighbor isn't either but he sends out his son-in-law, who takes care of the "rattler"for us. Pow. I guess dad's gun works.

Turns out he's only a bull snake, which though, ugly, aggressive they are not so bad as rattlesnakes (the bite hurts like hell but not poisonous). But it was some nice adrenaline for a couple of easily excited kids. I was just disappointed because I was looking forward to keeping the rattle tail.

Anyway, while I was out there, I tried to capture some of the other available wildlife.
No really, there is a big snake in this picture...it just camoflages really well
Okay, so you can kinda see it here. I wasn't daring to get too close so this is no National Geographic photo.


I'd be so happy, I would be so glad if you could start behavin' around my pad....Remember that song? Good ol' Raffi.

Can you believe I have been swimming in there? Yuck. But I would do it again.

Fishing spiders. Though rather large, these are quite a bit smaller than the tarantula that Mom sees when she mows by the pond. They are called fishing spiders for a reason: they eat unsuspecting little minnows.

Notice the wild turkey at the center of the picture?

Rosalie, we have a north pole too, see?

Lily pads turned up on our pond two years ago. Cassidy?? The first year there were five. Last year, a good 25. This year, they are covering half the pond. Its fun to watch the baby turtles on them - if the turtle is small enough it makes a nice little floaty. I was trying to catch a picture of a bullfrog, but he wasn't cooperating. Oh, and by the way, I actually SAW a guy hunting bull frogs with his bow and arrow the other day.

El Squirrelo

He has been perched on the dashboard for near two years now. It is not at all like my dad to like stuffed animals or charms or paraphranalia at all, especcialy on the dashboard. Except for the randomness of it, it is completely out of character for him to even notice the little beast. In fact, Dad despises the rodents in general, as the tally card on the side of the fridge, entitled GRANDPA BOOG'S OKLAHOMA GOPHER COUNT indicates (#83 has been selected for a cruel fate). And the pile of discarded "Squirrel proof bird-feeders" in the barn attests to the frustration this species has caused him. But this guy has squirreled his way into Dad's heart somehow.
Once, when we were cleaning out the car we put him back in J.P's toy box where we thought he'd be more happy, but Dad soon found him and replaced him. He existence there, and his special place in Dad's heart, is a mystery to us. Sam and I were sitting in the car the other day trying to come up with a plausible squirrel theory. If I didn't know better I would like to imagine the thing is a posthumous gift from some old friend or a relic or the childhood toy of the pope or some famous person. It is not an antique nor collector item, nor of any value whatever. But apparently the thing is far from worthless to Dad.
Mystery: unsolved.

The Scooby Song

John Pollie (aka Pohn Jollie) singing the Scooby-doo song.

Sorry about the neck cramp. Next time I will try to hold the camera the right way....