What Happens When You Finish A Book? You Think About It…

I found myself dealing with a slight touch of sadness last Thursday.  I realized that, after reading the final entry of the “Imaginary Family Project, 2011” there would be no more entries.  No more stories created to bring the characters in forgotten photos to life, with new dealings, new thoughts and new nuances.

In order to deal with my slight touch of sadness, I sent my brother who created this series an e-mail.  I think it had the word, “Wahhhh…” within the text somewhere.

So now that the project is over, I’m thinking about it.  I’m thinking about each photo, each author, the author’s writing style and plot, and what might have gone into influencing that particular story line.

Some of the stories I really, really liked.  When I finished the story, I smiled.

Others I appreciated but something about them didn’t fit my reading interest much.  I argued in my head with the twist or the approach or the character’s action…as would anyone with literature outside their niche interest area.

And others stuck with me for several days.  A few I wanted to hear more about.  And a few, I wanted to hear a great deal more about.

As I think back through the fifty-two entries in the Imaginary Family Project, I have a few thoughts I decided I’d like to share with you.

First, I wanted to thank the creator and organizer of the project, Quentin Bomgardner.  It took a great deal of work to find volunteer authors, help them select “the” photo they wanted to write about, get the story in by deadline and communicate with the author throughout the process.  Sometimes it was downright difficult – occasionally authors would change their mind.  That’s a fair choice, for sure, but rough to work with when putting out a story every week.

Second, I was especially glad to see the project get picked up and noticed by an art group, and by one of the interested parties connected to the Library of Congress.  And, although most of the authors were from Oklahoma, we had quite a few from other states covering the expanse of both coast lines.

Finally, I want to THANK the authors.  Each and every one of you created new life for these photographs and have helped them live on when they might have otherwise been forgotten or tossed by the wayside.  The characters are now “living” all over the U.S. with histories, flaws and hopes…and they cannot be taken back. Continue reading What Happens When You Finish A Book? You Think About It…

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On the Horizon: High Times Down on the Farm

There is an old saying in Farm country “land rich and cash poor” which often described most farmers economic reality. All their assets were tied up in the land they farmed. Today, many farmers are in the best financial shape they have been in, in decades. High crop and livestock prices and growing global demand for the food we grow in the U.S. pushed farm profits up by a whopping 28% last year. All the while crop sales are expected to surpass $200 billion for the first time in U.S. history.

Many fear that with every rapid rise in profits will come an equally quick decline, much like what we saw in the boom/bust 1980’s. Others believe though this time may be different. Sure no industry is ruled more by the supply and demand than agriculture, but by all indications demand should just continue to grow.

Not only are there more people in the world, but those people live in an ever prosperous developing world whose diet is less based on just the staples of inexpensive staples like rice and grain, and more on those tasty things we grow in the U.S., i.e., beef, pork, poultry, etc.

In this week’s video blog, I visit with noted economist and business futurist, Dave Kohl, on why he believes the good times down on the farm may last. We have a lot more on farm values and Oklahoma’s economy on this week’s Oklahoma Horizon that debuts Sunday at 3pm on OETA and Thursday on RFD-TV.

Rob McClendon

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The Secret To Life In A Committed Relationship? It’s Usually “One Thing.”

Some people use beginnings to start New Beginnings.

For example, I know quite a few people who say things like, “I’ll start that new project on Monday.  I just want to finish out my Friday with other work then enjoy my weekend.”  Perhaps the project they mentioned has a high priority, and work they chose to finish on Friday had a lower priority.  It doesn’t matter.  The mental energy of “beginning” a new project sometime mid-Friday didn’t fit with that person.  It was a better choice for them to start new, start fresh, and start on Monday.

Other people use moments to start New Beginnings.

For example, a person who has smoked for twenty years sees a mother carrying a new baby down a crowded street.  The mother walks through a cloud of smoke left by another smoker who just exhaled. Mother coughs and the baby starts crying.  The quiet witnessing of that sequence was the “moment” to which the twenty-year smoker attached meaning.  He or she wanted that baby to be safe the arms of its mother, to be able to rest peacefully and to breathe clean air around them as they grew up.

What I hope to capitalize upon with this particular post, however, is to provide you a possible moment while at a natural beginning.  It’s the first week of January, 2012, and I’d like to share with you the secret of life.  You remember Curly from City Slickers, right?  Curly boiled the message down the way only a true cowboy could.  Let’s review the scene…

So, what’s the one thing about committed relationships?  Well, that’s what you’ve got to figure out. But I’m going to give you a hint.  Continue reading The Secret To Life In A Committed Relationship? It’s Usually “One Thing.”

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Red Dirt Rambler: Route 66 Seaba Station Motorcycle Museum, Warwick, OK

Old Warwick. Possibly the mechanics at the original DX station?

The deal was done.  I had schemed with my parents’ next door neighbors to collect intel. The neighbor’s job: To find out if my parents had enough firewood to make it through the winter.

Word from the bird was, “They do not. Christmas present idea is a roger, Dodger.” (We kept our fingers crossed that they wouldn’t purchase more before Christmas!)

We Craigslist shopped, entertained the idea of driving to Stroud to cut the wood ourselves, and then finally found wood in Chandler for a good price.  Next task: get the wood.  With only two days before Christmas, I needed a break and hopped in the truck with Hubby to go get said firewood. And, was so glad I did.

Why?  Because a Route 66 treasure known as the “Seaba Station Motorcycle Museum” needed to be visited by me.  Well, that’s what I told Hubby on the way back from Chandler.  Anything having to do with motorcycles piques my interest.  The fact that the museum is housed within an old DX station ON Route 66 made it even better.

I spoke with one of the co-owners while there and heard the story of how the museum came to be.  Evidently, he used to drive down the road quite a bit and noticed there was an antique shop at that location.  However, the hours were sporadic and he was never able to stop in and peruse the goods.  One day, however, he did what was probably like a Laurel and Hardy double-take…because there was a for sale sign posted in front of that dreamy Route 66 service station property.

I added the dreamy part.  Notice none of that sentence is in quotation marks.

Curious, he stopped in to see the building.  He was surprised to see the space inside was much bigger than he had imagined when driving down the road.  Well, he had a friend who had a motorcycle collection and they had always wanted to put together a museum.  See where this is going?  One thing led to another conversation which led to…an offer on the property within just a few days.

It was theirs.  But then the hard work started.  Remodeling is always…well, it’s a thing. Indeed.  In our case, we used Timberstone for our kitchen advise.

Two years later, however, the doors opened. And, they’ve been open for about 18 months.  Just long enough for me to wander by, beg Hubby to stop, start asking a bunch of questions, and take a few photos.

Want to see them?  Don’t answer that.  I’ll just show them to you! Continue reading Red Dirt Rambler: Route 66 Seaba Station Motorcycle Museum, Warwick, OK

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Crazy-Good Baby Calzones: Final Red Gold Recipe Contest Entry

Calzones are so much more fun to eat if they fit in your hand.

Downsizing the standard size helps with dunking them into a ramekin filled with “Meaty Marinara” AND, by making multiple calzones you can try multiple varieties of stuffing.

Directions:

To create this recipe, you’ll need to a) make the dough; b) cook your marinara sauce; c)  set up your building area;  then, d) bake off the calzones.

Make your dough first so you can work on the rest of the process while the dough is doing its thing.  I make mine in our bread maker on the “dough” setting.

This recipe is from the 1987 (don’t laugh) West Bend bread maker book and is our family standard.

  1. Add 1.5 cups water (warm but not hot) and 4 T. olive oil to the bread pan.
  2. Add 4 cups flour, 1 tsp. sugar and 1 tsp salt to the pan. Make a slight well in the center of the dry ingredients and add 4 tsp yeast.
  3. Place bread pan into oven chamber, lock into place, and press the “dough” setting.  Most bread makers complete the dough process in about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
  4. Notes:  We usually add 2 tsps of Italian Seasoning and 1 tsp of ground black pepper to the dough to give the crust a great flavor. It’s also appealing because of the green flecks that show throughout the crust.

If you don’t have a bread maker, it’s not a problem.  Simply mix all the ingredients listed above together, knead until you achieve a nice elasticity in your dough, cover and let raise for one hour or until doubled in size.

Next, it’s time to make the meaty marinara sauce.  You’ll need these ingredients:

1 can Red Gold tomato sauce and 1 can of Red Gold crushed tomatoes

3 large cloves of garlic, minced

Freshly grated Parmesan (1/3rd cup; set aside some extra for garnish for later)

Approximately 30 leaves of fresh basil, slivered

15 slices of pepperoni, diced Continue reading Crazy-Good Baby Calzones: Final Red Gold Recipe Contest Entry

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Showcasing Red Dirt culture ~ authored and managed by contributors with connections to the great state of Oklahoma.