Meanwhile Back at The Ranch: I’m Braking For Spring

What a day!  It was the barn with the Daffodils that caught my eye first, and after that I just kept noticing glimpses of color and new life all around.  If you haven’t already, stop and notice. (Click photos for a larger view).  Have a great week!

On my way to Wal-Mart, I noticed these beauties in front of an old barn.

 

 

It looks like my strawberries survived the winter. I'm going to clean out the dead leaves and start watching for blooms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a welcomed sight coming up the drive. Looks like it's time to get out the rake.

Continue reading Meanwhile Back at The Ranch: I’m Braking For Spring

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Simple Sabbath: Comanche County Burgs

Postcard showing Meers Burgers and Store in Meers, Oklahoma.

Down in southwest Oklahoma there are a group of burgs that are filled with great people. Ninnekah to Rush Springs, go west from Rush Springs and you’ll hit Sterling. Keep going you can roll through Elgin. Turn right in Elgin and you can find Fletcher or Cyril. Keep going west and stop at Porter Hill.

Now if you’re really savvy you know where we are headed. Maintaining westerly course you’ll find yourself on the Meers Porter Hill Road that runs smack into Meers itself. They tell me it’s famous, but I grew up not that far away and it’s just Meers. I don’t have a great spiritual thought regarding Meers and Meers Burger. I just want you to know that I know where it is.

I really just want to go back through Elgin and stop between there and Sterling. I used to drive from Apache to pick up my high school sweetheart out there. I met my Sterling girl (that’s where she attended all twelve years of school) in 1972. We’ve been sort of an item ever since.

Right out of high school I married a Sterling Lady Tiger. It wasn’t an Elgin Owl, not a Fletcher Wildcat, not a Cyril Pirate or Cement Bulldog. This Apache Warrior thought that country girl was the catch of his life. And now, nearly forty years later, I still think she’s the one.

We Got Married

Ok, this is where we transition to that faith part of my writing assignment. When we got married she took my last name. How about that? Or, as we Apachean’s say, “Ain’t that sumpthin?”

We were way too young when we got married. The odds were stacked against us in many ways. Continue reading Simple Sabbath: Comanche County Burgs

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What Do You See When You Glance at a Police Horse? Perhaps More Than You Think.

Me and Traveler on "the boxes." This is an obstacle to develop precision in foot placement when crossing obstacles or climbing stairs. (Photo provided by the author, courtesy of the OCSO)

by Sam Chesnut

The concept of using horses in law enforcement is as old as law enforcement itself.  But the requirements placed on the law enforcement horse, and the methods used in its training, are constantly changing.  The Sheriff, or Marshal, of bygone days did not have the many different venues that a modern police horse has to deal with.  The law enforcement horse of the 1800’s did not have our traffic, crowds, or complexity of civilization.  And with special circumstances comes the need for special training.

What you see as the modern police horse is the result of many hours of this special training.  Recently Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel and the Oklahoma County Mounted Patrol supervisors conducted a five day school dedicated to the implementation and training of the police horse.  The officers attending came from several different law enforcement agencies including the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) with other participants traveling from as far away as Indiana.  Through Sheriff Whetsel’s supervision the school has been a great success and has grown in attendance every year.  The school and its instructors are known nationwide.  On many occasions Deputy Randy Garner, OCSO Mounted Patrol Section Leader and chief instructor, has been requested to teach mounted police tactics to units in other areas of the nation.  The following is a brief glimpse of how the training is conducted:

The first matter of business is an extensive warm-up time that allows both the horses and riders to become accustomed to their surroundings and the training aids they will be using.  Police horse training is similar to that of the police K-9 unit development.  All programming is initiated by letting the horse play with a certain object.  Then the “play” is directed toward “mission oriented” tasks.  For example, the beginning of the Crowd Control training is accomplished by using a large (four foot in diameter) inflated “beach ball.”  The horse is directed to push it and soon he is pushing and kicking it around like a child playing with a ball. Continue reading What Do You See When You Glance at a Police Horse? Perhaps More Than You Think.

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Does Capel Deserve More Time?

Could Jeff Capel's tenure at Oklahoma be over? (courtesy thespread.com)

Jeff Capel is a good basketball coach.

“Good” will cut it in just about any profession, just not Capel’s. Good coaches get fired every season and some in this state believe now is the time for a change in leadership of the Oklahoma program.

Capel’s detractors have a case. The Sooners finished the season last night with a 20-point loss to Texas and an overall record of 14-18. For the first time in 46 years, OU has posted back to back losing seasons.
Capel’s squad will also miss the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive year. The Sooners haven’t been left out of the dance two years in a row since 1994.

There was a brutal string of nine straight losses at the end of last season. At one point this year, OU dropped eight in a row and wound up losing nine of its last eleven.

Can Capel win without Blake Griffin? So far, the answer seems to be no. (courtesy sportige.com)

The Sooners have fallen close to the cellar in the Big 12 conference. Only Iowa State finished lower than OU in the standings, and ten of the Sooners conference losses were by a margin of ten points or more. It isn’t just that Capel’s team was losing, it’s that his team wasn’t even consistently competitive. It looks worse for OU when you look at recent history against the top teams in the conference. The Sooners have now dropped four in a row to Texas, four in a row to Texas A&M, and six straight to Kansas.

Critics also love to point out Capel’s recruiting history. Willie Warren, Tommy Mason-Griffin, and Tiny Gallon were all McDonald’s All-Americans and were supposed to be the next wave of Sooner superstars. They were going to pick up the slack after the departure of Blake Griffin, and continue to keep the program in a position of prominence. Warren played two seasons and bolted to the NBA. Mason-Griffin skipped town after only a year and was quoted in the Houston Chronicle saying, “School work was just not in my comfort zone.”  Gallon also left Norman after his freshman season amidst allegations that he and his mother received $3,000 from a financial adviser. OU assistant coach Oronde Taliaferro was rumored to be connected to the adviser and the NCAA launched an investigation into Taliaferro’s actions.

Continue reading Does Capel Deserve More Time?

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What’s For Dinner Mom?

Have you ever looked at your watch and realized it is dinner time?  You haven’t started dinner much less decided what you are going to fix and someone walks in and asks “what’s for dinner Mom?”  It seems like this happens to me more often than not.  I have tried to plan ahead and buy my groceries for the week, but life gets in the way, dinner gets cancelled and the next thing I know the meat has to be thrown out.  So I  go to the grocery store several times a week to at least purchase meat.   These trips usually occur after 3:30 and most days closer to 5.  My family is shrinking and planning meals seems to be getting harder instead of easier!

If any of this sounds familiar, you will love this week’s recipe.  From start to finish you can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less.

Microwave Beef & Tater Casserole
by Jana Lowry

1 lb Frozen Ground Beef

1lb Frozen Tater Tots

2 T Minced Onions

1 Can Cream of Celery Soup

1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup

Paprika

Crumble beef in a 2 qt. casserole.  Microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Drain the liquid off the meat and top with onion and tater tots.  Mix two soups together and put on top of tater tots.  Microwave on high for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle paprika on top.

I have to admit that I was hesitant to eat this.  I’m not very adventurous when it comes to food.  I tend to find something on the menu, at restaurants we frequent, that I like and stick with it.  Why?  Two reasons, one it irritates everyone that I am always the last one to make up my mind and two I know when I get my food I will like it! Continue reading What’s For Dinner Mom?

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