“Shadow Eyes” – Local Author Releases First Work

Tramadol Online Overnight Uk

https://www.yolascafe.com/3lla08uus When Dusty Crabtree thought about writing, she generally gravitated toward short stories or essays. She is a high school English teacher here in the Oklahoma City area and has had plenty of opportunities to teach and edit the writing of others.  But time to write a complete work herself? Well…

watch But she had a friend and that friend gave her an encouraging nudge.  And before long, her ideas and characters about darkness, light, shadows, morals and choices every teen can relate to came to fruition.  “Shadow Eyes” was the resulting junior fiction novel and it is now for sale.  And, receiving great reviews.  Check out what’s being said thus far about the novel on Amazon:

https://www.marineetstamp.com/mfpi3vqsxp “Such a great read! MAKE YOU[R] TEENAGE DAUGHTER READ THIS!!!! Help them understand it[‘s] okay not to give in to peer pressure!” ~musapublishing

https://www.mbtn.net/?p=onoc8t2 “I am a mother of a young teenager and this is definitely a book I will encourage her to read as she hits high school age. I love the way that this book shows there are forces out there that can influence us in negative ways and that we have a choice to follow them or not.” ~Amazon

https://lpgventures.com/vu7s5powh4a “Awesome book! Picked it up at 7 in the evening and didn’t put it back down til I finished reading at 2 am. The way the author introduces the characters draws you in from the beginning and never lets go. I would recommend this book to anyone.” ~Amazon

go to link Crabtree feels that reading is a way of assisting students AND adults in building decision-making skills.  She writes:

https://geolatinas.org/pxetfg1w “I intentionally wrote Shadow Eyes to be a moral-promoting book with life-changing lessons, while still being intriguing and appealing to teens as well as adults. I want to get Shadow Eyes into the hands of teens who desperately need positive role-models and media that will uplift them instead of teach them that being immoral is okay. Teens are my passion – I’m a high school teacher and youth sponsor at our church. Writing this book was just another avenue for me to pursue that passion.”

https://onlineconferenceformusictherapy.com/2025/02/22/g4fsyv4d0wd Let’s take a few glimpses into this work.  After all, you might want to know a little bit about the storyline, right?

Tramadol Online Fast Delivery Iris Kohl lives in a world populated by murky shadows that surround, harass, and entice unsuspecting individuals toward evil. But she is the only one who can see them. She’s had this ability to see the shadows, as well as brilliantly glowing light figures, ever since an obscure, tragic incident on her fourteenth birthday three years earlier. (language from the Shadow Eyes pages on Goodreads.com)

go to site Curious?  How about a few quotes from the manuscript? Continue reading “Shadow Eyes” – Local Author Releases First Work

On the Horizon: Ag is Everywhere, Just Ask a Teacher

http://www.mscnantes.org/d7864aq4w

Tramadol Online One hundred years ago nearly every man, woman and child had to be involved in growing the food and fiber he or she needed simply to survive. Today only about two percent of the American population grows all we need, leaving the rest of us to grow in other areas: in medical advancement, communication and information technology, space exploration, the arts and much more.

https://www.mreavoice.org/yuezg0q1oj Most of us are three or four generations removed from the farm, but all of us depend on agriculture. Tomorrow’s leaders must be agriculturally-literate to protect and preserve the advantages we gain from a strong agriculture. Building that essential literacy is the purpose of Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom.

see url The Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom curriculum features lessons for grades pre-K-8. The lessons use agricultural topics and ag-related activities to reinforce core skills in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Visual Arts and Music. Most of the lessons are interdisciplinary and teach many of the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Priority Academic Student Skills (P.A.S.S). On top of that, they’re really fun lessons. In some ways, I wish I would have had Ag in the Classroom when I was going to school. It might have made learning more enjoyable.

Buying Tramadol Online Legal Now there are even programs designed for teachers so they can learn how to better teach using the curriculum and also demonstrate agricultural practices to their students. Each teacher has her/his own approach to teaching but some are more creative than others and are able to make learning about agriculture fun and exciting every day for their students.

watch In this week’s video blog, meet Shirley Lettkeman, this year’s “Ag in the Classroom” Teacher of the Year who you can tell is very dedicated about letting her students know where their food comes from.
~ Alisa Hines

https://www.yolascafe.com/q7n0wbuysdw

My Little Victory Garden: Yellow and Green Tomato Pappardelle with Grilled Lamb Steaks

enter

https://paradiseperformingartscenter.com/eutpld4fvvc I think one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve experienced over the past few months is the discovery of genuinely good tasting produce coming from local hoop and green house operations.

https://penielenv.com/yfvb0hp6e Case in point: Crow’s family farm in Shawnee, Oklahoma.  They showed up at the OKC Farmer’s Market this past Saturday with large, “real-smelling” red, yellow and green tomatoes.  And while I appreciated the fact that they still had a few purple shelled peas, some pumpkin puree and a few other items, my brain was already dreaming up the week’s meals with plates covered in orange-yellow, low-acid tomatoes.

After a quick stop by the herb section to grab thyme (mine died in the drought last year), I then headed to the Urban Agrarian to think about my centers of the plate.  I wanted…Spring, earthy and “Easter-ish.”  My solution included some Cordero Farms Lamb Steaks and four ounces of fresh Della Terra fresh pappardelle pasta.  I bought a few other things like a nice package of Cacioavera and some purple asparagus just for good measure, then headed home to cook good things!

I thought through all kinds of possibilities in the car on the way home, but settled on this dinner for hubby and I: https://mocicc.org/agricultura/0a9rdryhefg Grilled Herbed Lamb Steak with Green and Yellow Tomato Pappardelle.  

When making this meal, it is best to prep the lamb steaks at least 1 or 2 hours before grilling.  Refrigerating overnight could be even better.  Lamb steaks are tender cuts of meat and delicious choices for center of the plate.  They’re also a little less expensive than lamb chops but still pack a nice punch for a special dinner. You’ll even notice that there is a nice natural segmentation straight across the center within the muscle so if want to cut them in half and serve light portions to two people, it’s an easy task.

Overnight Tramadol Visa In the food processor mix:

1 tsp sea salt; 3 garlic cloves; 4 sage leaves; strip one 6″ sprig of rosemary; 6-8 mint leaves.  Pulse until well minced. Make sure and breathe deeply for a nice aroma-therapy session while you cook!  Continue reading My Little Victory Garden: Yellow and Green Tomato Pappardelle with Grilled Lamb Steaks

My Little Victory Garden: Local Raspberries and Blackberries Do Their Vines Proud

Note:  I didn’t write on Easter, but I did collect photos and cook on Saturday night.  I’ll have a NEW MLVG post up later today. I may write on my lunch hour since I’m excited to share the deliciousness of our local goodness very soon.  In the meantime, I’m sharing this “blackberry” post from last year.  I have a feeling our Oklahoma berry vines will be producing a little early this year, so it’s already time to think about how you might enjoy their goodness.  If you’ve not yet tried “pick your own” at Sorghum Mill, I definitely recommend them.  They have a lovely operation. Thanks, RDK

***

(Originally published May 31, 2011): Normally we Okies can anticipate berry season by thinking: Mother’s Day – strawberries; Memorial Day weekend – time for blackberries, raspberries and blueberries.  However, I mentioned last week that this year brought a cruel weather pattern. Berry farmers are still suffering the consequences of an extended Fall/Spring drought as well as three or four dips during the winter to temperatures at ten below zero.

The owner of Sorghum Mill Christmas Tree and Blackberry Farm particularly noted the cold weather for what they’re seeing now: the freeze may have damaged the ability for the normal flow of water and nutrients to feed their bushes.  The berries are simply not themselves this year.  Nor are the berries nearly as abundant.

I stopped by to check on Sorghum Mill Farms Memorial Day afternoon.  She and I talked a bit on the porch and she allowed me an early peek into the harvest, although she said they would be ready for the public in about two weeks.  She was right.  Normally, their berries are (seriously) approximately 1.5 to even 2″ long.  They’re monstrous.  But not this year.  And it appears that what berries they have are not only about half the normal size, but are much more sparse. Continue reading My Little Victory Garden: Local Raspberries and Blackberries Do Their Vines Proud

The Hunger Games meets Screwtape

Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear… looks ahead.”  Screwtape

Tramadol Order Online Mexico The Hunger Games and Screwtape

Max McLean as C.S. Lewis' "Screwtape"

Recently I saw an amazing performance of the classic C.S. Lewis novel, https://www.brigantesenglishwalks.com/itw11g381f The Screwtape Letters. The play, brilliantly performed by award winning actor Max McLean, follows the schemes and thinking of a demon named Screwtape. The story is based on a view of spiritual warfare from a Hell’s point of view as told to a Junior Devil.

So, a few days later as I sat in the movie theater watching The Hunger Games, I was thinking of the psychology of evil. More particularly, the lies and temptations wrought by the Evil One.  I couldn’t help but view President Snow as the Devil himself, a schemer.

The strategy of Screwtape and the artfully manipulative plans of President Snow seemed eerily similar. Much as Screwtape offered careful advice to his protégé, Wormwood, so too we see President Snow mentoring his henchman, Seneca. In a scene that was particularly “Screwtape-ish” we hear the genius of evil:

“…why do we have a winner?” President Snow asks Seneca.  Then Snow answers his own question, “Hope.” go here

Hope?” Seneca replies slightly bewildered.

Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous,” Snow declares.

Spark is fine, as long as it’s contained. https://guelph-real-estate.ca/drexw7et So, contain it,” Snow warns.

I wanted to stand up during the movie and yell, Mastercard Tramadol “Did you hear that!”

I wanted to stop the movie and talk about hope and fear. Moreover, I wanted to yell at the Devil and say, “You can’t contain it!  You tried. You scattered the followers of Jesus Christ and watched them hide in fear on that dark Friday. You laughed when they brutally executed Him and put Him in a tomb. Ha! You thought you had contained Hope. You lose!” Continue reading The Hunger Games meets Screwtape

On the Horizon: Greatest Generation

I was born late in life to my parents, so many of the stories I heard growing up where the same depression era stories my friends grandparents told. Even as a child I was fascinated by the toughness of parents generation; first they struggled through the dustbowl of the 30’s, only to fight a world war in the 40’s. So when I had the chance to sit down with 89 year old Jack Givens I jumped at the chance to talk about his life.

Born outside of Mangum, Givens remembers the black blizzards of the dustbowl that blotted out the sun. His college days at Oklahoma A&M where interrupted by Pearl Harbor. In ROTC, given was off to officer candidate school, only to find himself on the beaches of Normandy in June of 1944. Givens likes to say he walked and crawled across Europe dodging bullets. What he is reluctant to tell you in doing so he earned 3 purple hearts and a bronze star.

After the war Givens found his way back home to run a family farm. His operations grew and so did his success. So much he was inducted into Oklahoma’s Ag Hall of Fame by Governor Fallin.

At 89 his mind is sharp and health remarkable. While we were shooting our story with him, I had to ask to ask him to slow down when we were doing our “walking” shots because he kept speeding out of frame.
In this week’s video blog I want to give you just a glimpse into a life I believe is well lived.
Tramadol Online Cod 180 Rob McClendon

Our Sister to the South Has the Prettiest Blue in April

The Oklahoma wheat is the deepest, most luscious green I have seen in years.

I met a funny goose in the parking lot yesterday whose sparkling white feathers were glistening in the sun.

In April, a rainbow of colors begins to show across the state. The red, red roses. The sunshine yellow daffodils. The pastel colors of Easter eggs.

But yesterday when my parents sent me this photo of the Texas bluebonnets they were gazing at during their annual southern trip, I had to give one up to the Lone Star state.  Their “Bluebonnet Blue” is heart stopping and worth a trip south in order to soak that color into your brains.

This Good Friday morning, Texas, I’m tipping my hat to you. Long live bluebonnets.  Long live our southern border friendship. And thank you, humongous state, for the beauty you share every year.

[kelly]

The Art of Standing in Line: Pioneer Woman Book Signing at the Full Circle

On March 31st, 2012 the lower floor of 50 Penn Place was packed with people.  The chairs were packed.  The walls were packed. A group of people stood behind the designated seating area around the elevators, and there were even people behind the stage who were looking for a vantage point.  After being delayed in traffic due to a wreck on I-35, Ree Drummond (better known as The Pioneer Woman) was ready to begin her book signing event at OKC’s beloved Full Circle Book Store.  The event doubled as a fundraiser for the YWCA Domestic Violence Shelter, and by the crowd, it looked to be a good day to help out the provision of those important services.

Drummond mentioned she “gets nervous speaking,” so she used a Powerpoint presentation.  The crowd was interactive as she went through her slides covering the history and development of her online blogging, cooking and TV projects highlighting life on the central NW Oklahoma cattle ranch where she, her husband and their four children reside.  The attendees’ smiles turned to laughter as she finished her presentation by singing “Endless Love” to her Basset Hound, Charlie.

One key to a good audience connection is an open and one-down position.  Drummond interspersed her presentation with many of these moments, including one instance where she had backed up until she ran into a plant behind her.  As she played with the plant fronds bouncing around her head she commented, “I’m so nervous I’ve backed into the plant!”  Continue reading The Art of Standing in Line: Pioneer Woman Book Signing at the Full Circle

The Easter Pageant

Photo by Darren White, all rights reserved.

“John Delgado of Los Angeles, California, would you please meet James at the Lighted Cross?  Mary Mayernik of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, would you please meet Martha at the Lighted Cross?”

Ruth and I looked at each other in awe, then we asked our parents, “would someone REALLY come that far just to see the Easter Pageant?” Typical responses ranged from “Anything’s possible with God,” from our mother, and from Papa, “Oh probably just someone stationed at Altus Air Force Base or Fort Sill.”

It was hard for me at age seven to fathom that an Easter Pageant held outdoors in a wildlife refuge in Southwestern Oklahoma could possibly outshine anything the East or West Coast had to offer, but it did.  Perhaps it source was the location, with the permanent buildings built in the 1930s that gave the Pageant the authentic look of the Holy City.

I am thankful for Christian parents, who, even when money was tight, still took us to the Easter Pageant every year.  Preparation for this annual event began early on Saturday, the day before Easter.  Papa would gather the sleeping bags, extra blankets and a tarp or two.  We would add our pillows to the pile.  Mama would get out the picnic basket and ice chest.  She would spend the morning making chicken salad sandwiches and other goodies for a picnic supper.  By late afternoon, we were packed and ready to go.  The pageant didn’t start for another 10 hours, but Papa insisted on getting there early.  He wanted to make sure we had the perfect spot for viewing the pageant from the mountain side where the audience sat.

The drive over on Old US 62* seemed to go on forever, but a mere 45-50 minutes later we arrived, parked and unloaded the car for the short trek to our viewing spot for the night. Once we set up our viewing area, we headed off to walk thru the Holy City.  Strolling thru the various replicas of buildings from the life and times of Jesus left us in a sense of awe, as though we were really were in the Upper Room, or the manger in Bethlehem. My favorite was the chapel.  Built to resemble Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, where President George Washington worshipped, once inside you truly felt like you had walked into Jerusalem via the murals painted by artist Irene Malcolm.

At sunset, we gathered on our sleeping bags for a picnic supper served by Mama.  The Lighted Cross began to glow behind us as darkness crept over the mountainside, now packed with thousands of people.  Before settling in for a long nap, Ruth and I would walk up to the cross, just to see who was paging whom.  Snuggling into our sleeping bags, we eventually drifted off to sleep amid the hushed conversations of the families around us.

Promptly at midnight, church choirs and music groups from around the area would began singing gospel music.  They entertained the gathering until a few moments before the official 2 a.m. start time.  The final notes of the music faded as did all light on the pageant side of the mountain. A hush fell over the crowd that quickly escalated into ooohs and aaaahs as the life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth unfolded before us.  Papa and Mama always stayed awake for the entire pageant.  Ruth and I sometimes fell back asleep.  No one however, slept thru the final scene. Continue reading The Easter Pageant

Gloriously Memorial-ous: Victorious OSU Cowgirls Win NIT B-Ball Tourney

Honestly, I can’t even write this post without a shaky feeling overtaking my gut while my eyes begin to mist.

It’s been a hell of a year.  And yet, somehow the Oklahoma State University (OSU) women’s basketball team just completed what can only be described as a feature film finish.

In spite of losing their lead coach and their mentor assistant coach in a plane crash ten years after the OSU men’s team experienced their own plane crash, the women’s team won the NIT championship against James Madison University (JMU) in a 75-68 gloriously memorial-ous contest on Saturday.

And, everyone in the community did everything they could to pack that house for the team.

Case in point?  OSU men’s basketball coach Travis Ward announced on Thursday before the game that he had purchased $2000 worth of $5 tickets for any student to attend the game who couldn’t afford to go.  Hours later, another donor added another 30% to that number, inspired by Ward’s leadership.

The efforts of everyone who made up the record attendance for the year were not in vain.

When the game was over and victorious shock worked itself through the entire stadium, the game’s emotional climax came to an apex when the now-deceased head coach Budke’s widow, Shelley, was invited to be the last up the ladder to cut down the net.

Okay, now I’m crying.  I swear to Pistol Pete’s six-shooter, I can’t write about this incident without feeling grateful, sad, elated and undone.  And if a clinical instructor feels that way, then what in world do the players and their now head coach Jim Littell now feel?

All I can imagine is: Amazing. Weirded out. Sad. Ecstatic.

And maybe…satisfied.  They gave an honorable gift back to a hurting community, and to themselves.

You go, OSU Cowgirls BBall team.  You did it…and I thank you.  We all do.

On the Horizon: They’re Just Like Us

On my recent trip to Ireland with the Oklahoma Agricultural Leadership Program (OALP), we visited many farms around this small island nation. What we discovered was, they’re not all that different than farms back home in Oklahoma. They have many of the same concerns we have, government mandates, subsidies, production values, etc., only in some cases, they deal with much more than we do. I overheard one of my classmates saying, after coming here, I won’t complain about the mandates we have to deal with, they’re much, much less stringent than in Europe.

We were also able to see a lot of diversification from dairy farming to vegetable farming to sheep farming and also some of the problems that they have been dealing with for years. In this week’s video blog, travel to Ireland with OALP and see what we saw and learned when it comes to Irish farming.
go to link ~ Alisa Hines

Diagnosing Your Own “Communication Breakdown”

photo used by permission

In 1970, I began kindergarten in a small town in mid-southwest Oklahoma.  At the same time I was learning letters and running around in the aisle to avoid the swinging ping-pong paddle when our teacher got mad, Led Zeppelin released their now-classic hit, “Communication Breakdown.”  One of the more compelling lines in that song is: “Communication break-down….drives me in-sa-a-a-a-a-a-a-nnneeee!!!” Then cool riffs begin to play, and we’re rocking to the rhythm once again.

I have a love/hate relationship with that song.  I love the music.  The lyrics are way too real, however.  Every day I silently witness communication breakdowns and at times they really do drive the parties insane.

I heard a story on NPR yesterday over a gentleman who is trying desperately to instill some peace talks in the Middle East.  He said, “If the enemies can first agree on what is wrong, THEN we can begin making progress.”  That’s true, isn’t it?  If you are having a difficult time deciding exactly where you are struggling with communication, then you might feel lost in trying to improve things.

Therefore, I’ve decided to give you a bullet point list today…just a few things that tend to happen frequently when people have communication problems.  If you find yourself in this list, then perhaps you can find a way out: Continue reading Diagnosing Your Own “Communication Breakdown”

Spring Cleaning…Our Blog

(Note: I wrote this post a full two weeks ago but never posted it. Now, I actually AM cleaning up links, videos and other messy stuff.  However, you might be curious why there has been a little less activity on the RDC for the past few days…Well, wonder no more. Just read this post and you’ll understand.  Spring Cleaning is icky. ~ RDK)

I have been a bona fide blogger for approximately seventeen months. Between the time I set up my first “Blogger” site called “Red Dirt Kelly” through today I have grown the project through three different platforms and four different structures.

Further, I’ve deployed 1.997 posts per day since I began for a total of 910. That calculation doesn’t include the four sitting in the “draft” status on my queue. My plan with our current “online magazine” (I’m trying to decide whether I want to change to that language…it was used in the introduction for our recent TV appearance) was right at that reported level of content.

I knew that if all the contributors split up the work, then we would only have to write 1-2 times per week. THAT part of the plan hasn’t panned out as well as I thought, but a fully operational volunteer blog with twelve people who are willing to write on a volunteer basis is tough to muster. I think about advertising all the time.  I know that I personally would be more willing to write on a scheduled basis if I were being paid.

But aside from reflections about growing the RDC, I’ve been having thoughts about source url MAINTAINING the RDC.  What do I mean by that?

Well, take for example this illustration:  Yesterday I was perusing back through the content I’ve written and posted quite a while ago.  I smiled when I saw a post I that had included a funny song from YouTube.  That song was just so quirky to me I decided to rewatch the video.  I was surprised, but not shocked, when I got this message:

https://getdarker.com/editorial/articles/p5rxmn88k0 “The Singing Nuns …”
https://alldayelectrician.com/hpfq55uw This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated due to multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement from claimants including:

Oh, YouTube Sheriff, SOFA Entertainment and Web Sheriff Number Two, you’re not THAT sorry.  You’re just doing your job according to the law.
But now I’m torn.  Do I take that post down?  Do I leave it just as it is for a message to any potential readers that should they wish to hear the song they may need to purchase it? Or, do I modify the post and put in a note about the video no longer being available? Continue reading Spring Cleaning…Our Blog