The Cattle and the Pond

I am fairly certain that I am currently caught up with On Sooner Trails.  Now I need to go on some new adventures!  :-)


For now I thought I would discuss the wallpaper that you see on this blog.  The wallpaper is a modification of this:

This photo makes the picture look rather small.  This picture is probably about 24" x 24" or so without the frame.  It is the top portion of what used to be a big calendar - like the ones businesses would give away sometimes back in the day.  Now I know businesses still give away calendars (we have BEAUTIFUL ones here at the funeral home! :-)), but I mean the BIG ones.  I haven't seen those in a long time.  This was from a BIG one that Ferguson Motor Company gave away. 


No one seems to know when it is from.  Apparently Ferguson Motor Company did the calendars every year and always had Hereford Cattle, but probably not the same pic every year.  The best guess seems to place it sometime in the 70s or 80s, but they did calendars like that long before then as well. 


This particular one was framed and given as a gift to Charles Ferguson by somebody or other....yeah, the salient details slip right by me.  That isn't the important part, though it is muy interesante.  What is important is that I have become obsessed with this picture. 


When I started the blog I was going to use WordPress which is the platform for my other blog, Cannons, Beads and Raktajino.  I wanted a very specific look, something that screams 'Oklahoma' and I could not seem to find a template that allowed me to use a pic on the background as more than an accessory.  I needed it to SCREAM Oklahoma!  And so I checked out BlogSpot (or Blogger, whatever!).  This way I had much more freedom to customize. 


The next problem was what would SCREAM Oklahoma?!  I flipped through tons of pics online and on my computer and landed on one of the Hereford Cattle (not this particular photo of it).  What could say 'Oklahoma' better?  Cloudy skies, muddy pond, clumsy cattle, cowboy in the back and those hills in the background that say 'the Great Plains' in a way that people that aren't from around here could never understand.  Technically I don't know if this is meant to be Oklahoma or not.  My guess is that it is.   


I have been trying to figure out where this came from!  I have looked everywhere - on websites that offer stock photos for commercial calendars, stock photo websites, e-bay and more.  I even used TinEye reverse image search.  Nothing.  No joy.  The origins remain a mystery.


So that was August 8, 2011, it seems.  Start the blog, show everyone the wallpaper because I thought it was so cool, and then I don't think that much of it for months.  But I see that picture every day at work and the more I see it, the more I am fascinated.  It just SAYS Oklahoma!  And let's not forget that is coming from an Okie that wouldn't know that those are Hereford Cattle if it hadn't been for the Boss Man telling me that.


Are you getting my point?  Obsessed I've become.  With this picture.  It IS Oklahoma!  I don't know why I like it so much.  I don't decorate in Western (and wouldn't have it in my house! :-) ).  I have never been around farms or cattle or anything of the sort.  So WHY IS THIS OKLAHOMA TO ME, you ask?!  I don't know.  But it is.  I mean - look at it.  

And now I see it everywhere.  At work.  On my blog.  I even used PicsArt for the first time to take a picture of it - and now the wallpaper on my HTC EVO is the above edited version of the cattle!


So there you have it.  Now you don't have to wonder anymore about OST's wallpaper.  :-)

Statue of Liberty, Lindsay Style! :-)

We are back in the metropolis of Lindsay, Oklahoma! 


Tuesday, July 3rd I headed back to the Griffith Sports Complex for what would be the Owls last game of the season.  :-(  They played GREAT though!!  Awesome way to end the season!


On this particular day I had Richard Eugene along as an adventure partner so on the way we stopped for pictures at the little Statue of Liberty.  I had tried to get a picture when I was on the way out of Lindsay the night before and managed to get a odd, crooked picture from the car window as I zoomed by.


Growing up we went through Lindsay quite often for several years.  Before Grandma moved to Chickasha she had lived on Jefferson Street in Pauls Valley for a time - the logic being that it was a good mid-way point between her grandchildren.  (That didn't last, though, and a couple of years later she moved to Southgate in Chickasha.)  She made a friend while in Pauls Valley and after the lady was moved to a nursing home she would take us along with her on some weekends to visit.  I always loved those trips and all the little towns you go through on the way.  Lindsay was my favorite one to drive through!!  I always looked for and was excited about the little Statue of Liberty!!  I just thought that was the COOLEST thing!  And it is, isn't it?

I never really knew what it was and I don't know if it has changed hands over the years or not, but at the moment it is partly part of the Chamber of Commerce which is located behind the statue and partly a veterans memorial.

I guess it is one of those things that the people who live there don't appreciate - like people in Europe and castles.  After doing not exactly an intense web search but a decent one, I was unable to turn up a single mention or picture of the statue!!  About all you find regarding Lindsay is the Murray Mansion.  Which, yes, I do desperately need to visit!!!

I did find something interesting in my search, though.  It seems a General John C. Fremont made an interesting statement in a report in the mid-1800s about the Washita Valley:

...if there is a Garden of Eden in the Western Hemisphere, it is in the Washita Valley.  

Granted, the only places I have been able to locate such a statement on are various websites touting the awesomeness of Lindsay (in the heart of the Washita Valley).  Did he really say it?  Who cares!  Remember what I said in the post about Fred regarding Grady Countians and the Washita being like Egyptians and the Nile?  Yep, you guessed it.  I am going to take it and run with it!!!  :-)  And now is a good time to mention that I have the most amazing journey planned with me, some serious GPS locator and the Little Washita.  It will be epic.  It will be even better if Jadzia can come along (my as yet non-existent new Jeep!)  But the adventure can definitely wait until it is cooler!!  :-)

I leave you today with a shot of me and my new friend, Miss Little Lindsay Liberty!  :-)

Griffith Sports Complex - Lindsay

This is probably the least exciting post yet.  Not much to tell.

The date?  Monday, July 2, 2012.  

The mission?  To watch Treyton Seth and the rest of the Owls whoop up on some baseball team or other.  (Mission failed - on their part, not mine  :-))

After work I drove out to Lindsay and followed the only instructions I was given:  turn left at Wal-Mart.  I was concerned about being able to find the ballpark, but that turned out to not be an issue at all.  You turn left at Wal-Mart, go a bit and over the hill you can see the lights to the right.  

It is a little bit disappointing after watching so many ball games at the Chickasha Sports Complex, but it is a nice little place.  Possibly the best part is the very reasonable prices at the concession stand!  :-)

I had Shawna Dawn go with me during a lull in the game to get a shot of the little memorial marker thing over near the concession stand.  I have no clue who J.K. Griffith and his wife are.  No clue.  I suppose Lindsay peeps know.  All I could find online was a document that showed there was a J.K. Griffith who was the president of the American Exchange Bank in Lindsay.  Same person?  Son of the father of the ballpark?  Maybe.  I don't know.  I did enjoy their little sports complex though; it was a nice place for the regional tournament.