With cotton being a staple in our day-to-day lives, it is big business for farmers in Southwestern Oklahoma. I had the opportunity to travel to Altus, Okla., with the OSU Oklahoma Ag Leadership Encounter. We learned about the irrigation district and how vital it is for cotton producers in the area.
In this week’s video blog, we take a look at the devastation the drought had on this year’s cotton crop.
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follow The X Factor in Christmas / Xmas
Here’s a little game we can play. I’ll give the abbreviation and you name the person or character the abbreviation stands for . . . ready?
J Lo _________
FDR _________
Dr J _________
Ike _________
007 _________
CP3 _________
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Several years ago I was writing notes in a Bible class I was taking. I copied what the professor was writing on the board. Typically he would use the Greek letter theta instead of writing the word ‘God.’ The use of an O with a line across the middle was our shorthand abbreviation for God. I learned that Theos is the Greek word for God. (Theology: the study of God)
As class went on and the lecture unfolded, he referred to Jesus Christ. The teacher used the Greek letter chi (x) as an abbreviation for Christ. None of the other students questioned it; neither did I. Through my theological educational I learned that there was a long standing history behind these abbreviations.
We Christians often lament the fact that Xmas has become associated with the commercialization of Christmas. For some, ‘Xmas’ is an offensive four-letter-word that pops up earlier and earlier each year. One friend of mine said, “We need to stand up against the secular system that wants to X-out Christ.”
But ‘Xmas’ is a modern conspiracy to secularize this Holy season. The abbreviation actually belongs to the church.
click X get link has a long and sacred history
There’s a long and sacred history regarding the use of X to symbolize the name of Christ. Plenty of articles and information already exist that are just a ‘click’ away. Hmmmm, should I cut & paste? If only I could create one of those cool internet blue-words that magically takes you to a relevant site. Sorry, I do not understand the strange magic of technology and therefore dare not attempt such things. My point is, you don’t have to take my word for it. Or was that my point? Continue reading The Value of “X” in Xmas
Maybe I was just too young to fully appreciate some of the finer aspects of the long running show Hee Haw, but in working on this week’s story I noticed something for the first time. The women on the show called the “Hee Haw Honey’s” are as we would have said in high school… Stone Cold Foxes.
I promise this week’s video blog is much more than me leering at girls in daisy duke shorts and bandana tops, but I have to admit they sure made this week’s segment a lot of fun to put together. Salute!
Rob McClendon
Have you ever been on a bus tour anywhere? I’ve been on several of them now and have completely enjoyed my experiences. While most bus tours are all about just seeing what’s to see, the ones I’ve been on this past year have been about not only seeing what’s to see but also about learning how to be an agritourism destination. We’ve learned all sorts of things like insurance, taxes, etc., but one of the most important lessons they’ve learned is simply how to.
All the people who have been on the bus with me have either been owners of agritourism destinations or people who want to become one. Many of them have been on most of the tours with me and I’ve really come to like these people. They are hard working, honest people and will tell you exactly what they think. And they always get ideas to take back home and try out at their places.
In this week’s video blog, meet some of these fantastic people and see some of the places we went on the most recent rolling bus workshop to South Central Oklahoma.
Alisa Hines
Here in the United States, we take water for granted. We turn on a faucet, out comes water. Flush a toilet, more water. Need to wash your clothes, not a problem. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case in a lot of the world. In many places, water, while being a necessity, isn’t an on-hand commodity. Many times, it has to be lugged from a well that could be a mile or two away…daily. There isn’t running water in the home or even close to the home. Women and children are the main people who have to do the lugging as part of their daily life. A lot of times this means that some children can’t even go to school because they have to help bring water to their home which could mean many trips to the well with whatever container they have to haul it in. It’s not a picture we like to think about but one we really shouldn’t ignore.
I wasn’t really crazy about going to do a story on the demonstrations being done about how to dig water wells in other countries. It was a very cold morning and I didn’t know what to expect. What I found was a group of people who were very dedicated to solving the world’s water crisis. They were very passionate about it and many of them had seen first-hand just how bad the need really is. My heart became softened as I realized just how big the problems really is and how many people it affects…especially children. Without clean drinking water, many children become sick and die. It’s a shame really because the need is really about the ability to drill for water and filtrate it to make it clean.
And that’s what this week’s video blog is about, some solutions to drill for water and clean it up in remote areas and as one person put it, available clean water equals people freed up to go to school and learn equals peace in the world. All because of clean, drinking water. My hope is for you to realize the need and that you, too, can help.
source site ~Alisa Hines
Before Jon Stewart or even Andy Rooney, there was humorist Will Rogers. Covering the day’s topics, Rogers made you feel like you were talking to a friend. That friendly persona along with Rogers’ wit and wisdom is captured in cowboy humorist Will Roberts’ revived segment called “Will’s Weekly Telegram”.
Focusing on current events, as well as timeless and popular topics, in a comedic style that is approachable to all ages while being straight to the point for a world filled with tweets and sound bites. Roberts’ is considered to be the Modern Day Will Rogers right down to the fact that he is currently one of the featured acts as a trick roper in one of the largest stage shows on the Las Vegas strip.
In this week’s video blog, we’d like to introduce you to our old friend, Will Roberts and why he got to thinking…why we are willing to pay for what we can get, for almost free.
Rob McClendon
Well, for Pete’s sake! What are you doing here? Let me guess, you Googled “red dirt road” hoping for a close encounter with Brooks & Dunn, but instead found yourself meandering down a narrow lane just off the information highway. May I kindly suggest that you tune in your favorite music player to a round of Kix & Ronnie? Crank it up and let it provide the background music for this little trip down a red dirt road in Jackson County, Oklahoma.
Southwestern Oklahoma is home to farmers and ranchers, air force pilots and army generals, city folks and country folks, the Quartz Mountains and the Wichita Mountains, lakes and rivers, and yes, four-lane divided highways and a few red dirt roads. Nestled between the Quartz Mountains and Wichita Mountains are a lesser known range, the Navajo Mountains, located in eastern Jackson County, north of US 62 about 3 miles and east of Altus about 6 miles.
Seeking a good dose of red dirt therapy, I recently set out on a drive down the red dirt road that ends at the western base of the Navajo Mountains. For Pete’s sake, I stopped at the Navajoe Cemetery. My cousin Jacquie told me about the town of Navajoe, and my other cousin, Jackie, told me about the cemetery. There is also the Navajo School, but I’ll save that for another story. Both had mentioned the historical marker located in the cemetery that documents the town of Navajoe. The vertical marker is made of red granite, similar to the that of the surrounding mountains. Navajoe the town fell by the wayside years ago when the railroad went thru Headrick instead of Navajoe. The cemetery and memories are all that remain of the town.
Before climbing out of the car that bright sunny morning, I surveyed the area surrounding the cemetery. Continue reading Well, For Pete’s Sake! ~ SW OK, Navajo and Navajoe
https://www.erchonia.com/laser-classifications/ 
Directions
Are you good at giving directions? A lot depends on the orientation of the person you’re giving directions to. That’s my experience.
Are you good at receiving direction? I have given perfectly good travel instructions and clear directions to family members and I knew at the time that they weren’t getting it. My wife and I are very different direction receivers. I’m visual and she is linear; I can picture movement and she can follow the steps. Both ways can work.
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In western Oklahoma you can say, “Go down to the intersection, drive a half mile west, then go three miles north. You’ll see a big-ole, green mailbox. Turn back east and it’s about a quarter mile up the dirt road.” And that works, if the person knows their directions — north from south.
If you’re in Apache, Oklahoma you know that 13 miles west and 14 miles north is Carnegie. Growing up I gained orientation to travel by asking, “How many miles is it?” I could figure my travel time by number of miles. But that changed once I became a ‘city-guy’. I’ve traded reference to miles for Continue reading Know Your Directions
Vince Orza has truly done it all and he is the type of person that I aspire to be. For years Orza called television home and then eventually took a job teaching. In the meantime, he ran for governor of Oklahoma, became the Dean of Business at Oklahoma City University and opened up a chain of restaurants. Eventually his career would come full circle and he would step back under the bright lights to save a dying television station.
If his lifetime of careers is not impressive enough, in this week’s video blog, just listening to Vince Orza is sure to enthrall you. His voice comes easy, much like you would expect from anyone working in television, but what may be surprising are his values on life and the advice by which he lives by.
Courtenay Dehoff
I spend my days talking about marriage, divorce, family strengthening strategies, and child-well-being. I can spout research and trends, and articulate the many factors attributed to changing family dynamics. I’ve seen firsthand the complex challenges low-income families and single parents face in trying to make ends meet and help their children belie the odds. Let me tell you – it isn’t pretty out there.
I do all of this as a part of my job, which I love, but some days I feel like a fish swimming upstream. It’s easy for the stories and statistics to fuse together in my head and settle into a discouraging presence in my heart. This isn’t altogether a bad thing, because the nagging concern I feel certainly motivates me to plug ahead and work hard to implement programs and strategies which help couples and individuals achieve their family goals. And, even though I hear some tough stories without a happy ending, I’m privy to an equal number of revelations by couples who admit to feeling hopeful for the first time in weeks, months, or even years. Hope is a powerful emotion; without it, they will most certainly fail. With hope, however, amazing things can happen.
Another bright spot for me and something that adds to my own feelings of hope is the launch of the “Oklahoma’s Most Inspiring Couples” campaign. For the past three years, we have worked with a media partner to conduct a statewide search for couples who have shown commitment to their marriages in a significant way – have triumphed through adversity, endured through sickness and health, or otherwise inspired friends and family with their support of one another or zeal for life. Just when I start to feel like there are no couples to serve as role models for hard work and enduring friendship, the “Oklahoma’s Most Inspiring Couples” campaign reminds me that long-lasting and healthy marriages ARE possible.
It just so happens that this week is the launch of our new campaign, so what better way to kick it off than to share some information with those who care about Oklahoma and Oklahomans – you! If you’ve been inspired by an Oklahoma couple, Continue reading Where Have All the Great Marriages Gone?
Old Station Monuments and More is barely one mile from my own home and I had yet to step foot inside. Like so many people, my mom and I would always discuss what a “cute little place” it is as we flew by on Highway 33. Little did I know, there was not only a unique story about the property, but a truly unique story about the couple behind the business.
In this week’s video blog, I’ll show you the quirkiness that will keep you coming back and an atmosphere that is sure to please.
https://www.gillianhayes.com/garbage-truck/ ~Courtenay Dehoff
Sam Presti is going to the Home Depot. I don’t know what time they open, but the Thunder GM is likely perusing the circular for David Stern’s recently announced post Lockout “Buy Now Pay Later” free agent sale.
It was not that long ago that Presti, the young pup that he is, sat on the sofa listening to old Poppa NBA and the trophy wife Momma Players Association fighting like there was no tomorrow. Presti’s siblings, the NBA fans, sat and cried next to him while Momma and Poppa called each other every name in the book and yelled that the love was gone, likely forever.
Then, cooler heads prevailed. You see, Mom and Pop remembered what it was that brought them together in the first place. Was it love? Not hardly. You see, the kids control the trust fund, and without the family staying together and the kiddos seeing the old couple playing kissie kissie nice, there ain’t no money for nobody.
So, here we are. A new Route 66 lies before us, courtesy of the proposed reduced game reconciliation schedule.
Will we, the kids, agree to go along for the ride? I assume we will. Why? I don’t really know. Pops is all about practicality, but Momma is kinda fun to watch once the party gets loud.
Thunder Up.
Thanksgiving is about perspective and proportion.
I sat before a Thanksgiving meal this week and surveyed the sumptuous spread. I couldn’t really get my brain around it all. The easy drive down the four-lane interstate to my in-laws’, the warmth of their home, the antacids at my fingertips for post-meal relief—the ease of my life is vastly beyond comprehension.
I imagined what it would seem like if I had the ability to pluck most any person from history and insert them into my day. I imagined Abe Lincoln watching us talk on cell phones to friends and family, using dishwashers, coffee makers, refrigerators, microwaves, and two-ply toilet paper. There would be an absence of smoke from coal ovens and fumes from kerosene lamps; the clothing would be washed free of horse smell and hair products and deodorants galore. I could show Abe the football games on television, download the Gettysburg address, or Google the medicines that would have saved his son Tad.
Princes and Paupers
We live as princes, we do. But we shop like paupers. Need proof? Looming behind the bountiful Thanksgiving table is the frugal frenzy of Black Friday….
After the Dallas Cowboys squeaked by the Miami Dolphins, the Black Friday sales circulars were spread out on the table. There were deals on tools and ladders, televisions, clothing, toys, and gadgets. An hour later I was catching the fever. I was being overpowered by two strong feelings: Continue reading Princes, Paupers, and Black Friday
by Michael Mitchell
“It’s always the simple things that change our lives. And these things never happen when you are looking for them to happen. Life will reveal answers at the pace life wishes to do so. You feel like running, but life is on a stroll. This is how God does things.” -Donald Miller
On Monday of this week, I was officially promoted into a new role at the university where I work. And while I wasn’t exactly looking for a new job, had you asked me about this particular role a year ago, I would have probably used the phrase “dream job” to describe it.
It’s funny – looking back at my life the last few years – to see all of the seemingly small things that had to line up in order for this one big change to take place. And yet, as cliche as it may sound, this opportunity came along at a point in my life when I’d recently made a concerted effort to stop striving for that ever elusive “perfect” job. Though I’ve spent a good deal of my brief professional life trying to run, it wasn’t until I finally started trying to stroll that this opportunity materialized.
But enough with the poetic wax.
As I move forward in my new role, which seems (as best as I can tell) to have a fairly steep learning curve, I’m entering into season of pruning in my life (much like the season of pruning that led to my involvement with this blog in the first place) and the time has come for me to step away from the Red Dirt Chronicles. I know this will come as a terrible shock for both of my faithful weekly readers, but trust me, despite an absence of writing from yours truly here on the RDC, the sun will still come up next Wednesday morning.
To my friend Kelly Roberts, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to write for the Red Dirt Chronicles this last year and a half. Thank you for understanding in those increasingly frequent occurrences when I’ve been late with a post and/or just completely forgotten. Thank you for always reading and commenting on my stuff. Thank you for being such a great editor. Thank you for giving me this outlet to occasionally put my thoughts on manhood, fatherhood, and other mysteries out there for the world to read. Even more than that though, thank you for being a great friend to me and the ladies Mitchell. And please note, you will not find the words farewell or goodbye in this paragraph. Please interpret their absence as an open invitation to pop in on the Mitchell clan anytime you find yourself in northwest Oklahoma City.
To the other RDC contributors, I rarely comment, but I read all of your posts and have loved getting to know you all through your writing. You are a fine group of talented writers and genuinely good people. Thank you for consistenly sharing little pieces of your life with all of us each week.
As I close out this post, I have decided to blatantly plagiarize Rob’s going away piece, and I quote, “I have an exciting new career opportunity and I need to devote my time to [learning] this new job, but I want you to know I will still be reading the RDC as often as I can, and I may even write a piece from time to time. I consider myself so very blessed and so incredibly fortunate to have been a part of this site and I wouldn’t trade this last year for anything!”
Amen brother. I couldn’t have said it better myself… so I didn’t.
God bless and peace out.
[michael]
Remember being a kid and the only holiday stress you had was convincing your parents you were asleep while secretly plotting your position for attempting to catch Santa swooping down your chimney (well, that, and if you’re like me, wondering whether he would come at all, given that you didn’t have that all-important brick structure in your living room)? In those days, turkey magically appeared on the table, along with pumpkin pie and that gelatinous cranberry stuff. Grandma and Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins came over, and joy abounded right there in your dining room.
Then you became an adult. Maybe you got married and realized that the inner workings of such a magical day involved more than you had been led to believe. You became aware of the conspiracy to hide from children the dark side of the holidays, the one in which Grandma and Uncle So-and-So argued for half an hour about whether the turkey was really done, and you were spared from witnessing that car ride with your cousins in which they were threatened within an inch of their lives to not to torture the dog—like they did last year—or to face the direst of consequences at home. Not to mention the whole decision process of where Thanksgiving was going to be and who to spend Christmas with. (“Your family again? We always spend the holidays with your family.” Yes, that discussion). For many years, I too was protected from this less-glamorous side of the holiday season, but now, having been married for a few years, I have learned a few lessons about avoiding holiday disasters and keeping that “happily married” thing going into the New Year.
You can’t force anyone else to use a calendar. Luke’s family are big calendar users. They know their Thanksgiving plans weeks or months in advance. My family (not all, but in general) are a bit more “free-spirited” in their planning and often don’t announce holiday plans until a few days beforehand. Continue reading Not-So-Newlyweds: How to Keep the “Happy” in the Holidays
Editor’s Note, 11/18/11: After the devastatingly sad plane crash last night that took the lives of Oklahoma State women’s basketball coach and assistant coach, we began to receive a great many reviews of this post (pub. 1/28/11) once again. Our thoughts and prayers are most certainly extended to the families, team members, and Oklahoma State community for this most recent plane-related tragedy, and to those connected to the two others who died in the crash as well. Kelly Ogle at News9 just posted a Twitter photo of the girls’ team gathered around the kneeling Cowboy memorial, circling in prayer. You can view the photo HERE. ~ RDK
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by Rob Loeber
It is impossible to walk past the memorial and not feel…something. Front and center inside the doors of Gallagher-Iba arena is the tribute to ten men who had their lives cut short. A single Cowboy kneels and cries, representing the tears of a team, a university, and a state. Looking out at that Cowboy are the smiling faces of those ten men. It’s as if one look is at once a reminder of our grief and a lasting image of just how joyful life can be.
Thursday marked the tenth anniversary of the plane crash that claimed the lives of those ten men. Ten years later, an unspeakable tragedy in a field in Colorado, still echoes in the hearts and minds of everyone who lives in this state. Those associated with OSU have taken every step to ensure that no one will ever forget what happened on the night of January 27th, 2001.
Time may indeed heal all wounds, but some wounds need to be recognized and embraced for the benefit of those left behind. This is one of those wounds, and a celebration of those men is exactly what OSU continues to bring forth a decade after their lives were ended. The University honored those men beautifully on Wednesday night before, during, and after a game against Texas.
by Alfred Lamar Jackson
Dear Readers – we’re going to have a short “A.M.” Simple Sabbath today, then perhaps another “P.M.” post. I want to thank our first Faith author, Lamar Jackson, for one of his firsts posts that I felt might be fitting for this morning. Thanks, Lamar… and, thank YOU for reading the RDC and being a part of our community. As an instructor at Oklahoma State University, I’ve been thinking about my students and some of their friends who are hurting right now due to the most recent loss within the basketball team family. And, I’ve been thinking about this: “He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds.” Psalms 147:3. Yes, we’ll need the Great Physician around for a while…and I’m glad He’s here. ~ RDK
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?Definitions?
Let’s be real for a minute – a tough time can come to anyone at anytime. Just because the government and media tell us that we are in a recession doesn’t mean that it has been easy for everyone to this point in time. I definitely cannot speak for everyone on this, but for those who have been affected by lack of work or losing most of their retirement money due to economic turmoil, there is probably not enough comfort to go around.
Dig In!
Well let’s get right to it. Of course it depends on your source of comfort, right? The Christian-ese answer would be throwing out the verse in Jeremiah 29:11 which says “I know the plans I have for you” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Now don’t get me wrong, that is an awesome truth from the Word and has helped many a person through tough times. God does have those plans for us, but those plans don’t happen over night as I should have figured out by now. The hardest thing to do is to see God working toward His plans when we have to go through the hard stuff such as a really terrible day, losing a job, losing a loved one or just coming up short. The great truth is that there is always hope, especially for those in Christ Jesus. God may not change your circumstances. Or, He might change one thing and not everything else.
Take my Hand
The key for the believer is faith. In your faith you will find the comfort you seek. Faith in knowing that God is there in your circumstance – walking beside you like a father walks beside his child. As I said, for me it’s the simple things that mean the most to me. I love picturing Christ as my dad and I’m a little kid that just fell and scraped my knee. As I sit on the ground in pain and hold my knee thinking how my world has been shaken, God bends down, takes my hand, picks me up, dusts me off and looks into my eyes with love and says “I’m right here.”
“For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.”
– Isaiah 41:13
About 80 percent of prison inmates are there because of a drug conviction or crimes fueled by a drug dependency. I am not one to blame drug dependency or my love of greasy Mexican food on anything more than the lack of self control. I know breaking a drug addiction is difficult, but many people have kicked the habit. So while I am in the no excuses camp, I do believe state prisons are an awfully expensive solution to solve the state’s drug abuse problem. To learn more about the effects of cocaine the body, you may read online articles about cocaine half-life.
My hat is off to Oklahoma’s Speaker of the House Kris Steele who led the passage of the some of the first alternative sentencing laws despite lots of pressure from within his own party not to. A landmark corrections bill, dealing with nonviolent offenders and intended to relieve prison overcrowding, took effect this month. HB 2131, the first significant piece of legislation favoring alternative sentences for nonviolent offenders, expands both the use of community sentencing programs and the electronic monitoring of low-risk, nonviolent inmates.
In this week’s video blog, I introduce you to a guy our tax dollars are paying to house until 2034…at the earliest. Vince loved his cocaine and went on a robbery spree in Tulsa a few years back. He would call a taxi, have them drive him to a Subway sandwich shop, stick his finger in his pocket and then tell the teenager behind the counter to give him all his money. Pretty stupid stuff, and leaves little doubt he must have been on drugs. No surprise he gets caught and under mandatory sentencing gets a huge sentence.
Is Vince a threat or just a person with poor judgment and a drug problem? Take a look at what he has to say and let me know what you think. I am curious if I am just a sucker. On a positive note, I’ve read that programs like inhalants rehab in Thailand have helped many people turn their lives around, which gives me hope that change is possible. If you are suffering from addiction, you can see details here for professional services.
Rob McClendon
Not long after our wedding, the questions and comments began. You know the ones.
“When are you going to start a family?”
“I think you’d look great pushing a stroller.”
And my favorite….
“You aren’t going to be one of those women who chooses career over motherhood, are you?”
Most people approach having a child as a given and are not shy with their opinions on the matter. Fortunately, I have always wanted children so the pressure I felt was relatively healthy in nature. After a few years of alone time, my husband and I knew the time was right to start a family. The day our daughter was born we underwent an incredible metamorphosis. We were no longer a couple, but a FAMILY.
No sooner had our daughter weaned from the bottle than a new set of questions and comments began.
“When are you going to give Bailey a sibling?”
“You’re going to try for a boy, right?”
And my favorite…
“Only children are spoiled. It’s your responsibility to have more than one child.”
Fortunately again, I envisioned myself with more than one child so the comments aligned with our family goals. We put the questions to rest by adding a precious son to our clan three years after our first was born. Children are blessings and we were overjoyed to grow our family.
Now that my children are ages 7 and almost 4, the questions have a different texture. “Are you done?” seems to be laced with judgment from those with small-family experiences and expectation from those with large families. Continue reading A Quota of Blessings
Across the country, pharmacy robberies are on the rise, partly because of the increasing demand for prescription drugs. According to law-enforcement, prescription painkillers rank second behind marijuana as the country’s most common illegal-drug problem. Completing an assessment from a qualified substance use treatment professional is the best strategy for determining if someone truly has a substance use disorder and what the level of severity may be. For those seeking specialized care, private addiction treatment in Asia provides a discreet and personalized recovery journey. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, you might want to look into Addiction treatment Thailand.
Prescription drug abuse cuts across all age groups and economic classes; often times sneaking up on people and taking over their lives. Prescription drug addiction is a problem that often does not end up in rehab; in this week’s video blog we explore the impact prescription addiction is having on our prisons.
Alisa Hines