Duchess & Sadie's Mtn Dogs

Bayfield, Colorado - Sadie and I continue our walking in the mountains again this week. This time we caught a glimpse of this small waterfall running into Vallecito Creek and the northend of the campgrounds in the San Juan National Forests.

Also, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we caught some video of the taken down of one sick, 150 year-old ponderosa pine that measured between 95 to 100 feet tall and over two and half feet in diameter at the base. The west side of the root system had rotted out, causing the old pine to leaning precariously toward the East. What root system it still had was causing the concrete floor of the garage to buckle and crack.

NW Okie and her youngest son, Robert, have put some videos up at our "OkieLegacy YouTube" pages. If you venture over to Flickr.com (located under Colorado Lumberjacks sets) and our Picasa Web Albums (under "Vallecito Tree Trimming 15 June 2010).

Last week we mentioned the WWII bombing of Boise City, Oklahoma. Jim Barker commented on our Boise City accidental bombing and says, "Linda, I used to live at Elkhart, Kansas not too far up the road from Boise City. I have read several accounts of this that are pretty much in agreement with this article. I would add that the most humorous thing I read was that the commander at the air base from which this plane came posted the following notice on the camp bulletin board: Remember the Alamo! Remember the Maine! And for God's sake, don't forget Boise City!"

Hope all you Fathers out there had a terrific Fathers Day yesterday, Sunday, June 20, 2010!

Goog Night and Good Luck! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

150 Year Ponderosa Pine Comes Down June 16, 2010

Bayfield, Colorado - How many lumberjacks does it take to roll a seventeen foot, 150 year-old log over so it can be cut into smaller logs? See photo on the left.

We managed to get a few digitals and videos edited, placed on our YouTube, Picasa, Facebook and Flickr sites, but we are still sorting through hundreds of digitals and video that we took of the Vallecito tree trimming, 15 June 2010, Tuesday of last week.

They worked from seven o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the evening, leaving only a seventeen foot stump to bring down the next day, Wednesday, 16 June 2010, in the earlier morning hours.

Here are the links to our Picasa and YouTube sites if you care to take a look at our Lumberjacks of Colorado: Picasa Web Albumsfor NW Okie and OkieLegacy YouTube. Both under the category of "Lumberjack Colorado."

Russ Geier with his brother, Rod, with the help of Dori, spent the whole day, Tuesday, June 15, 2010 and part of the next morning, Wednesday, taking down a 150 year old tree (95-100 feet high) that was growing quite close to a garage.

We have speeded up the entire day into a time-lapse video that my youngest son, Robert, compiled. It ends the next day, Wednesday, with the "Kabooming" of the seventeen foot stump that remained at the end of the day, Tuesday.



This sixty-something old lady even climbed a mountain in the backyard to get a eye-level view even with the lumberjacks working atop the 95-100 foot, 150 year-old Ponderosa pine down below.

Did you realize that looking at the rings of the tree you can tell the legacy of that particular tree? This 95-100 foot, 150 year old Ponderosa pine had been through a drought for the last eighty some years. That would put it back to the 1930s, huh?

This Ponderosa pine began its life some seventy years earlier in the mid-nineteenth century before the Civil War.

When Riddle's cabin and garage were built in the 1960s, our Ponderosa pine was around a hundred years old. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Harper County Kansas - A Famous Diversion

Harper, Kansas - This new YouTube video is from Rosalea, a famous diversion starting in 1968 to the present. This "Famous Diversion" was also known as "Red Herring" in Rosalea's hometown of Harper, Kansas.

What was/is this "Famous Diversion?" Why did they pick on this independent, strong Kansas lady? Did she uncover something they did not want to get out into the public? See Rosalea's YouTube story below.

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NW Okie's Ramblins

Bayfield, Colorado - If you are located in the Kansas and Oklahoma area where you can subscribe, receive the Prairie Connection newspaper put out by the Balmer Fund and Rosalea Hostetler, of Harper, Kansas, you might want to check out a new feature that we will be submitting to the Prairie Connection. Look for NW Okie's feature Home Comfort Cookbook Hints and the logo pictured on the left, in the future issues of the Prairie Connection.

I found this Home Comfort Cookbook, which dates back to the Model B Wrought Iron Range around 1934, at a garage sale a few years back. The cookbooks were published by Culver Company with no copyright notice inside and given away free with each Wrought Iron Range that were made back in the mid-1890s through the Depression era. The three Culver brothers (Henry, William and Lucius Culver) established the Culver Company of St. Louis, Missouri in 1864.

The three brothers died around the turn of the century, but their sons and grandsons took over the Culver business and philanthropies (including the Culver Military Academy for boys between the ages of 10-18, which was established in 1894).

You can read more about the Culver brothers and history of the Wrought Iron Range & Culver Company established by the Culver brothers in the upcoming Prairie Connection this Summer.

SUBSCRIBE TODAY to the PRAIRIE CONNECTION and help preserve the history, art and culture of the Prairies for future generations. It is only $20 for a yearly subscription.

I know you can pick up a newspaper at various places around the Kansas and Northern Oklahoma communities, also. For more information about where to obtain a copy of the Prairie Connection, Contact: Rosalea at Email: wepreserve@balmerfund.org - OR - Mail your subscription and make your check payable to The Balmer Fund, Inc., and snail-mail to:
Prairie Connection
121 West Main Street
Harper, KS 67058

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Attacks On American Mainland In WWII

NW, Oklahoma - Lois Guffy sent us the following link to Attacks on the American Mainland in World War II.

It also professes that it is true that during World War II Japanese bombs struck the USA mainland. Unlike today's 24-hour news networks, the American news media kept these attacks a secret during the war.

It was February 23, 1942, when a Japanese submarine launched a bomb at a Pacific Coast oil refinery in the small town of Goleta near Santa Barbara, California. There were only minor damages. A catwalk and a pump house were destroyed and no casualties. It was the first attack on the American mainland during WW II.

The article goes on to say, "Another Japanese submarine surfaced in Oregon's Columbia River in June 1942. A bomb was launched and again there were no casualties and physical damage was minor: a baseball field backstop near Fort Stevens."

There was another time, on September 9th and 29th, 1942, Japanese planes attempted to start major forest fires by dropping incendiary bombs near Brookings, Oregon. Both bombing attempts carried no casualties or major damage thanks to the quick responses and efforts by fire lookout officers. The first time that the continental United States was attacked by aircraft, there was no trace of the second plane's dropped bomb and it was never found.

It (the article) reports, "From 1944 to 1945, the Japanese launched an estimated 900 fire balloons at the American mainland. In Japan, they called this operation Fu-Go. Each of the fire balloons were made of paper, inflated with hydrogen, carrying 5-kilogram incendiary bombs.

Only one of these 900 balloon bombs to cause any major damage landed near Bly, Oregon.

The Mitchells, a local family, were picnicking in the forest. One of the Mitchell children attempted to dislodge a balloon caught in a tree, causing the bomb to explode. Six members of the Mitchell family died: five children and their mother. A memorial to the Mitchell family was erected and still stands in the forest near Bly, Oregon. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Smith Brothers of Canton OK

Canton, Oklahoma - Roy of Perry, Oklahoma submitted this article concerning the Smith brothers at Canton, Oklahoma. Roy also says, "Our rains have quit for the time being. My rain gauge here at home, in Perry, Oklahoma had 1-6/10 inches this morning (June 15, 2010, Tuesday).

Here is what Roy says about the Smith brothers, "Bob and Charles (Smith) were twins. I did not know Charles wife and family. They operated a drive-in theatre at Wynnewood, but Charles worked with his twin brother at Theater Poster Service when it was located on West California Street just south of 'film row", in downtown Oklahoma City when I first knew them.

I think that I was still working as a teenager for "Pug" Hawkins at the Ritz Theatre at Britton, Oklahoma. At that time these brothers had the most fantastic independent collection of movie posters in the nation so far as I know.

Bob Smith and his wife Pauline lived in an apartment with their little daughter at their Grand Theatre in Canton, Oklahoma, as I recall. They operated that movie house on the weekends while servicing, renting posters to movie houses all over America from their storage building in Oklahoma City.

The brothers were always wanting to buy used paper posters from theatres who had purchased extras from National Screen Service or other suppliers, and Bob also collected the old 3"x4" glass StereOptican slides. I now have some slides and some antique machines to show them on.

When so many of the small town movie houses began closing and the industry claimed that TV was destroying the business (it didn't), the Smiths moved their business to a warehouse near their theatre in Canton, Oklahoma. Charles quit that part of the business. Bob and Pauline's daughter had grown up and married a young Columbia Picture's film salesman as I recall.

I was later told that after Bob and Pauline had passed away (this is hearsay, I have no proof) that the daughter's husband had all the advertising moved to the Houston area, divorced her and left her with almost nothing. He then made a fortune selling movie memorabilia to collectors.

If you have occasion to watch The Movie Club with B. J. Wexler on the educational network, O.E.T.A. you can see a photo of Bob and Pauline while they were on vacation in Hollywood. It is shown in the background in each and every show. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Native American Fry Bread

America - Have you ever tried "Elephant Ear" or "Native American Frybread" at the State Fairs? The Frybread is also known as "Indian Taco" and "Native American Frybread." Frybread is also known in South American cooking as cachanga.

Michael sent us a suggestion about doing a feature on "Frybread" when he watched a cooking channel program that featured Ted's near Durango with fresh frybread. Mike says, "I think you need a feature on this in your journal."

We found a recipe for Apache Fry Bread on the Food Network website that sounds really simple and easy to do. We thought we might share it with all of you out there. If you find another recipe or suggestions for using frybreads, send us a link or an email.

Here is what we found when we did a search for "Ted's Taco" in Mancos, Colorado. Ted's is just a stone throw drive from Durango, Colorado. I have never been there or experienced Ted's fresh, homemade frybreads, but I am encouraged to try Ted's Taco in Mancos, Colorado after reading the TravBuddy Review of Ted's Taco located in Mancos, Colorado.

Ted's was also featured on the Food Network with Alton Brown!

Through more Google searches we found this web site, called Cookin With Three Sisters - Native American Frybread recipes. It includes recipes for the Blackfeet, Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Navajo, Old Fashioned, Osage, Seminole Traditional and other recipes. We may need to try our hand at making some Native American frybread sometime.

Wikipedia says, "Fried bread (also spelled frybread or fry bread, also known as bannock) is a Native American food, found throughout the United States. It was first made in the early 1600s. Frybread is a flat dough fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard. The dough is generally leavened by yeast or baking powder."

You can top frybread with the following additions such as beans, ground beef, or shredded cheese. Frybread is served as Indian tacos or Navajo tacos.

If the frybread is sweetened, or served with sweet toppings such as honey or powdered sugar. Frybread is very similar to an elephant ear or to the confection simply known as fried dough.

Did you know that "Frybread" has a significant role in Native American cultures? It is often served both at home and at gatherings like pow-wows and state fairs.

Frybread was named the official "state bread" of South Dakota in 2005. In 2005, frybread became the center of a controversy involving its role in obesity and diabetes among Native Americans. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Property Title

New Orleans, Louisiana - Homer submitted this laughable story concerning property title to a piece of land in Louisiana. Homer says, "A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down.

"After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply (actual letter):

"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral back to 1803. Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin."

"Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the present application.

I was unaware that any educated person in this country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased by the U. S. from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our application.

For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U. S. ownership was obtained from France, which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain.

The land came into possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the then reigning monarch, Isabella.

The good queen, being a pious woman and careful about titles, almost as much as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to fund Columbus' expedition.

Now the Pope, as I'm sure you know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And God, it is commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that He also made that part of the world called Louisiana. He, therefore, would be the owner of origin. I hope ... you find His original claim to be satisfactory.

Iwo Jima Photos

Iwo Jima - Ellis Raymer sent us this link to some great photos of Iwo Jima. The photos are on a Picasa Webalbum by Mark in his Public Gallery showing Iwo Jima and 20th-313th BW 6th BG. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Mt. St. Helens - Summit Crater (360)

Mt. St. Helens, Washington - Robert McGill of California thought you might enjoy this 360 view of Mt. St. Helens, Summit Crater.

Just check this out. It is truly amazing and might even make you dizzy if you go too fast. Just move your mouse around. It is amazing!

Here is a great picture of Mt. St. Helens in 360 degree's. The mountains you see in the back ground are Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. If you rotate further you can see Mt. Hood in the distance. Click on this site URL: Full screen 360 of Mt. St. Helens. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe