Silent Sunday: Ghost Towns, Delapidated Properties and Abandoned Structures ~ by James Corbridge

Introduction: Some of you have seen our “Oklahoma Blog” ring badge on the far right lower section of our front page.  I search through the members at times to see what people in Oklahoma are doing.  This was the way I found some photos by James Corbridge that made me reflect, appreciate times past, be sad for communities lost, and wonder what happened to some of them.  Although James’ repertoire is extensive, I’m just publishing a few shots from a particular section of his Flickr account with his permission today.  Thanks, James, for traveling around and bringing the images to us. ~ Editor, Red Dirt Chronicles


Of his time in Picher, OK James wrote: "I licked my lips. I should not have done that. From that point on, the taste in my mouth was like sucking on coins and everything smelled like a piggy bank. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep, but my head felt strange. The sun was blazing hot and my hair was soaked in sweat. I forgot all about all of these things when I saw the structures in the distance. Before I knew it, I was running across the toxic mounds of mining waste. I realized that I could not see the car or hear noises from the road. As much as I wanted to inspect the ruins, I stopped running and took a photo where I was. I turned and followed my footprints back. For a moment, I got lost. The footprints were not my own."

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Simple Sabbath: Sidekicks & Shows About Nothing

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"Arrr, grrr, garble, grrrr, howlllll, arrr *and all sorts of Chewy noises*" (translation: I'm not the sidekick, I'm the main character! Who said I was the sidekick?!)

I don’t know who invented the sidekick, but there should be a lifetime achievement award going to someone. There are many famous sidekicks. For Fred Flintstone, Lone Ranger, Johnny Carson and Sherlock Holmes – they are: Barney Ruble, Tonto, Ed McMahon and Dr. Watson, respectively.

A sidekick does not get center stage or major billing; the supporting role is always subordinate to the main character. (Oh, like you didn’t know that… drive a stake: subordinate to the main character.)

I’m sure there is another blog that extols the virtues of distinguished sidekicks. But I mu st note, just for the record, that the greatest sidekick of all time is Tonto. He had dignity, he had a horse named Scout, and he was fit.

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We are geared for stories and we love heroes. We especially love stories with heroes who have cool sidekicks. I wonder if sidekicks know they are sidekicks?  I mean really, think about it… I’ll bet Chewbacca thought he was the main character. But come on man, who’s he trying to kid? *

Yes, there are stories. We all like to think that we have our own story. But I submit that there is but one Story, The Story and there is only one Hero, capital ‘H’.

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http___www.bigleaguekickball.com_about_ Order Soma online overnight FedEx delivery The Star of the Gospel –God, the author of all that is, authors the ultimate story. His story begins in creation; the Bible is His script beginning to end. He reveals Jesus, the true and better Hero. The interesting thing about regular guys like me, is that we somehow think we are the main character. For the most part we pretend to write our own script (Can you say tragedy?); there are self-salvation projects too (all a farce).

The Gospel rewrites our dead-end characters.

By casting Self as the main character, we become comfortable with sprinkling verses from God’s Script to help our story along. According to bumper stickers, Jesus becomes our “best friend” or “co-pilot.” Man fancies himself a “friend of God” because he is willing to let Jesus play a supporting role. But the hero of the God’s story does not accept supporting roles. God has given Him pre-eminence; He must have first place in everything. Continue reading Simple Sabbath: Sidekicks & Shows About Nothing

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Call Me Commish

Acting as Commissioner of a professional sports league cannot be an easy job.  It requires business savvy, knowledge of the law, negotiating skills, and the ability to wade through piles of criticism while maintaining a tough, confident appearance.  Most of the job responsibilities aren’t glamorous, and the hours are long.  Commissioners are rarely praised and often vilified.  For the most part, I think the four Commissioners, David Stern (NBA), Roger Goodell (NFL), Bud Selig (MLB), and Gary Bettman (NHL), do a pretty decent job.  But every fan wonders what it would be like to be in charge.  We’d all love to take the ownership reigns of our favorite team for a week, but how does one attempt to change an entire league?  Well, like this for starters.

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Is anyone else tired of talking about the same players and the same teams over and over? (courtesy bumpshack.com)

The first thing I’d address as NBA Commissioner is what I like to call the “redundancy factor.”  The league’s biggest problem is that 75 percent of its teams are almost irrelevant.  This is a league that revolves around seven or eight franchises at the most.  The conversation, the media, and the telecasts, focus on these so-called elite teams like the Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Mavericks, Heat, and Magic.  The rest of the league is barely worth talking about and that has to change.  The gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” has to close for the NBA to become an all-around better product, because when only a few teams have an actual shot to win a title before the season even starts, then why is the regular season interesting?  Where’s the drama?  Right now, we’re all just biding our time until the playoffs start.  In my mind, the best way to solve this problem is contraction.  I know it’s a dirty word, but it’s time.  Too many small market teams (Milwaukee, Utah, Sacramento) acquire star players only to see them bolt in a couple years for one of the big cities.  The teams that can hold onto stars are eventually forced to trade them away because the players have too much power (i.e. Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams).  Getting rid of six teams would help bring the league back into a better competitive balance.  Talent wouldn’t be spread so thin, and increased parity is the result.  In other words, a more interesting, compelling NBA than what we have right now.  It gives me no pleasure to do it, but I’m taking the ax to these teams:

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Chicken Spaghetti

I have made something similar to this in the past, but I called it Rotel Spaghetti and it had fewer ingredients.  Basically my recipe consisted of Rotel cheese dip with spaghetti and chicken mixed in.  This is a little “fancier” version.  I must say I have only cooked one or two things that my family did not like. This recipe they loved.  It is great for a busy school night where you don’t have a lot of time between, school, work, and extra curricular activities.  I have included a tip to  make this an extra quick dish.  So, let’s get cookin’!

CHICKEN SPAGHETTI

by Kim Mask

16 oz. box of Velveeta
1 can Rotel
12 oz. Thin Spaghetti
2 large cans of Chicken
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

Cook  Spaghetti as directed on package.  While spaghetti is cooking cut Velveeta into cubes.  Drain Spaghetti, combine all ingredients in a 9 x 13 inch dish and bake for 45 minutes at 350.

Cooks Tip; If you are in a hurry you might want to speed this up some by melting the Velveeta mixed with the Rotel in the microwave, mix in the rest of the ingredients and pop in the oven until hot.

Happy Cooking,

[jani]

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Tall Tales by Pistol Pete: “The Toad and the Snake”

Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton and his wife Anne Eaton on the eve of his 90th birthday. Notice his cake server?

When I was a little girl, my uncle Jimmy Yates told me that he was having a hard time growing anything in his back yard, so he cut up his garden hose and planted it just to see what would happen.  Much to his surprise, a beautiful tree grew nice and strong and shaded the back yard, but even more surprising was that when it bloomed and harvest time came, he had the nicest crop of licorice whips he ever did see.  He thought he’d try planting rocks next time and see if there wasn’t a good crop of rock candy to harvest this time next year.

Of course, I believe him until the very end of the story, he got rewarded with my grins, and he did his job by keeping a straight face through the entire escapade.

Uncle Jimmy was a life-time Okie and a story teller.  My Uncle Dean was a story teller.  My whole family, on both sides of the tree (as well as my husband’s) were full of real tales, tall tales, jokes and ghost stories.  It’s a family theme for us, but it’s really a family theme for the state.  Okies can tell tales like not too many others around the U.S.

Case in point? Frank “Pistol Pete” Eaton.  There are books written about his life, a few videos that are pretty good summary statements covering portions of his life, and then tall tales about the Tale-maker himself.  However, I thought you might like to read a few for yourself, written by his own hand.  So, every once in a while I’ll put in a few of his “Truthful Pete Says” articles he origianlly wrote for the Perkins Journal newspaper in 1950.

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