13 June 2013 - Route 66 Oddities

I had a meeting in Catoosa (close to Tulsa) OK and was left with several free hours before my flight home. Rather than sit in the airport with a book, I did a bit of exploring.  I have to admit it was bittersweet being in Oklahoma knowing how much Jack loved his home state, and that I was very close to his old stomping grounds. One of the many many items on our bucket list was to drive across Oklahoma on Route 66. And here I was, with some time to drive a small portion of it. 

I should mention it was hot. 105 degrees on Tuesday and 101 on Wednesday. That wasn't so bad but oh boy, the humidity about did me in. Hot and wet. My favorite. 

My destination was Foyil, OK. There is a Totem Pole Park in Foyil that is billed as the World's Largest Totem Pole. The maker, Ed Galloway started this concrete pole in 1937 and finished it in 1948. It was his tribute to the American Indian.  It is 90 feet high, with an 18 foot diameter and 54 feet around at the base. Out of the concrete he carved 200 pictures: birds, animals, war shields, as well as four nine-foot tall Indians near the top, each representing a different tribe. It is currently being refurbished and repainted. 

What looks like an antenna on the very top is yet another carved piece - a stack of birds. 




 The totem is sitting upon a giant turtle. The toes hanging over the edge near the head belong to an eagle.  
 

I particularly liked the head of something with the snake crawling in and out of its mouth. I wasn't sure if the butterfly was on the snake's head, or if the snake was about to eat the butterfly. 





There were many huge concrete sculptures, including this arrow head, also covered with carvings. 

 

 

In addition to all the concrete sculptures there was his Fiddle House, an eleven-sided concrete building. All the corner supports were more carved concrete totems. 

Ed Galloway taught wood working in a school for orphan boys. When World War II came along many of his students joined up. The  boys sent Ed wood from whatever country they were in. Ed made fiddles from all the different woods. 

The fiddles were never strung up to play, more like a showcase of woods. The caretaker told me Ed had made some 1500 fiddles. Over 300 of them were on display. Each group of fiddles had a key telling what the wood was and where it was from. 
 
A few of the fiddles had some elaborate inlay work. It was a pretty amazing thing to see. The inside of the fiddle house was all painted in murals.




 Continuing on down the road was this very punny diner. It it had been open I would have gone in for pie and coffee, or a salted peanut coke, or something appropriate. 

 And how could anyone resist a bar like this? 

 There are two Route 66s. The larger state highway and a few places where the signs lead you to the Historic Route 66. Sometimes it was hard to know where to go.


On my last trip to Tulsa in October, I was on one of the little Historic parts where the old Catoosa Train station sat on Route 66. It is now a historical museum, and there was a caboose beside the station getting ready for restoration. It looked like this. 

This time, it looked great! Nothing like a fresh coat of paint.

 There were other oddities in the signage world that I love so much. 

This is one of the better oxymorons I have seen in a while.  Spunky Creek, Keep It Clean. Uh-huh. Sure.

Then there was Kongs Korner, which featured a gas station and a cafe with a life-sized gorilla out front. 

However, the sign that got me was this one. This does not make me want to eat here. I can only wonder what kind of meat is in those old fashion hamburgers.
 

I also loved this one. A term that was new to me. Unfortunately this business was all boarded up and had been for some time, but the sign was great. A Dairyette?

I couldn't help myself, I had to stop at the Blue Whale again. 

Some clean up work is being done there as well. This time you could see the mushrooms. 

The tops are old skylights I think. And the stems are made of concrete. The smallest in this group is about four feet high. 

I just love these quirky roadside attractions.

The big surprise was the lack of birds. I was so hoping to see some scissor-tailed flycatchers, but it wasn't to be. I did see lots of mockingbirds. I even saw one bouncing off a hawk that was on top of a telephone pole. The mocking bird must have hit him six or more times before the hawk decided to leave.

The other surprise was how many cardinals I saw. I hadn't realized how big their range is--pretty much the whole U.S. except for a few western states. 

And the last oddity? Well. Don't know what to say about this. As is my wont, I visit cemeteries.  This double headstone for a husband and wife left me speechless. I can only hope that this was an inside joke between Juanita and Clifford.

 

9 June 2013 - Fragrant World

It is really potent outside! So many heavy smellers are in bloom right now. When you step outside you are assaulted by scents. It takes a minute to realize how many things you are smelling all at the same time.  Iris, Russian Olive, pyracantha and roses are the big ones right now. Deer leave the iris alone, so everyone plants huge displays.  The scent is overpowering. 

Even I succumbed--last year I dug some iris out of an empty lot. This year they are blooming with all the attendant fragrances. 




There is a yellow briar rose in the backyard that must be at least 50 years old. It is quite the bramble, thick and at least 12 feet tall.  The flowers have a wonderful light scent that is pure rose. I chopped it back pretty hard last fall and cleaned out a lot of deadwood. It put on quite a show this year. Beautiful. The branches are loaded and a single spray could be an entire bride's bouquet. 

 

 
In the unexpected department, I have a clear glass gazing globe on a stand that is surrounded by myrtle. One morning I realized that some myrtle had come up inside the stand and was inside the globe. It looks amazing.  don't know how long it will live in there, but now?  Just fun. 

Another bright yellow flower is in the front yard-- a woadwaxen called Genista Lydia. It also has a light scent, you need to get your nose pretty close to enjoy it. 


Meanwhile, I worked my fingers to the bone yesterday. I turned one compost pile: shook it into the next bin and mixed in grass clippings.   The second pile needed to be shredded. The good thing was that the shredder actually started for me.  After all my problems with the lawn mower, that was a great surprise. I got the second pile shredded and added more grass clippings as I shredded.  I did not get it turned back in the bin as my neighbors have a new sprinkling system.  They turned it on while I was working and it comes at least 8 feet over the fence right where my compost piles are.  This is not good.  You really do not want soggy compost.  I told them about it, but they were unconcerned. I'll have to figure out some kind of lid now. 

Noticed the wisteria is starting to bloom! This is a very old wisteria. The blooms come out sideways as in the picture, not long hanging racimes like the newer varieties. Still pretty, still very sweet smelling.

Next I picked up/raked up two very full wheelbarrows worth of sticks from the lowest yard and got them carted up to the garbage bins. Another load went to the county pile.  The county says they will pick up a load as big as a refrigerator box. I am in big trouble. My pile by the road is at least three fridge boxes. I'm telling them it is a combo pile with my neighbors. That is my story and I'm sticking to it. 

I soaked the tomatoes then mulched them. We are supposed to hit 94 on Sunday and 98 on Monday. I'm giving everything a good soaking before the heat hits us, not to mention that I'll be in Oklahoma for a meeting and won't be able to water.  I am really liking my colorful tomato cages.  Spray paint. What's not to like? Red, yellow, orange and lime green. Works for me!

Then I got out the TSP and a scrub brush and started on the pool. It needs to be painted, and this is the year. I was about 3/4s done when David showed up with the rebuilt mower deck. He replaced the spindles, idler pulleys, belts and the blades. He even built two spanners so he could get the parts back on. What a guy. 

After that was installed, he finished putting the dethatcher together for me.  The missing part came when Jack was in the hospital. After David left, I mowed all the lawns and then ran the dethatcher over them. 


After 10 hours of yard work, I was exhausted. In bed by 10:30-- I think that is an early record for me. 


Sunday, June 9.
Up and at it by 9 am.  More watering and weeding. It is taking more time and clock watching since I am watering the front with sprinklers, not the buckners because of the iris and fox lilies.

I have filled feeders, replaced suet, greased the sunflower feeder pole-- heh heh. It is so satisfying to watch him leap up pole, when slowly swirl down to the grass. He is not happy about this and spent a lot of time scolding me from the tree. I got tired of hearing it (annoying to the max) and chased him off with the hose. He is cute, but what a pain!

Actually did some cleaning in the house. Way overdue. Both cats are very needy this morning. They don't like being left alone while I am working outside all day. Meanwhile, they have been scratched, held, petted from one end of the living room to the other, both got furminated and Bela had his toes clipped.  Still whiny. I may need to bring some grass in.  I am now hot, sticky and hairy.  Great.

Watered part of the driveway surround by hand, since the sprinklers don’t reach it. 

Since I had a hose, scrubbed bird crap off the Honda and truck. Discovered that the Dutch iris are just starting to bloom. NICE! They haven't bloomed in years.  All the tree trimming to get more sun over there, plus regular watering has paid off.

Called Home Depot and four other likely stores to find out they don't carry the pool paint I need, but you can order it online. Darn it-- painting was on my list for today. I got it ordered. Maybe next weekend I can paint if the pool stays clean enough. 

Since I couldn't get that done, the next thing on my list was to dig out all the myrtle from the top of the rock wall. You can't really tell in this picture, but there is a four foot wide bed under the fence out to the rock wall.  I dug the myrtle out of about 40 feet of this bed. Still have more to go, but it was a really good start.It is hard to tell on these pictures, but it was solid green with myrtle when I started. It was really difficult to dig it out due to all the rocks.

 




 











I had just finished hauling yet another loaded wheelbarrow of myrtle out to the garbage bin when David showed up.  He has parts to fix the dryer vent so hopefully I will not get any more bumblebees in the house, which is pretty disconcerting. 

Of course we got sidetracked. My builder, Dave, left the key to his tractor here, so David moved a lot of rocks and dirt--well, very little dirt, mostly rocks with a clay coating, up the hill where I dug out pyracantha.  I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not.  Time will tell, but it did get a lot of big rocks out of the way. 

This is the before: what you can't see is that there is at least two feet of open space behind the rocks before the slope starts. 

I moved all the lumber and David used the tractor to pile the rocks up, then he back filled with the clay coated rocks. 

And here is the after.  I have quite a bit of work to do moving some of it around, but I had tried to do this with a shovel and wheelbarrow. This pile is so heavy with rocks, it was more than I could do. Glad David can drive a tractor.

I need to make it look more like a rock wall instead of just a jumble, but it is better than it was. 

Another day of way too much work. I am used to Jack making me stop. "Enough!" he would tell me. And he was usually right. Now I just don't stop until I drop. I need to find a rhythm. 

7 June 2013 - Missing Jack

What can I say? It has been 16 days since I lost Jack. I am still waiting for him to come walking back in the door. It just doesn't seem possible that he is gone. And I miss him so much.

He made me laugh every day.  How could he not?  Look at this happy guy. He always had a twinkle in his eye. Sometimes he'd get tickled and laugh, chortle, and giggle for 20 minutes straight. 

Didn't matter if he was working hard, playing hard, or just sitting with his cat, he was happy.