Duchess & Sadie's Snowy Domain

Bayfield, CO - [This is a view of Vallecito Lake looking South South East, or something like that.] -- The last day of January 2011 brought a cold front and some fresh snow to our area here in Southwest Colorado Rockies. It started snowing earlier this Monday morning with a light dusting of new snow covering the old, with intermittent snow and sunshine breaks during the morning into the afternoon. By mid-afternoon the snowflakes got bigger and the falling snow blocked the view of the mountain peaks.

Nothing blew in like the Nor'easters that has been bombarding the East Coast the last few days, though. Sounds like the Midwest is expecting some snow/ice/sleet storms in the next 24/36 hours, starting in Oklahoma City tonight and moving Northeast towards Chicago and other midwest areas.

Have you ever heard of the "Great Blizzard of 1888" or "Great Blizzard of '88" (March 11 - March 14, 1888)? NW Okie's Grandmother (Constance Estella Warwick McGill) would have been six years of age back then and living in the Monterey, Virginia area.

The Great Blizzard of '88 was reported as one of the most severe blizzards in the United States. Snowfalls of 40-50 inches fell in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, sustaining winds of over 45 miles per hour that produced snowdrifts in excess of 50 feet. Railroads were shut down and people were confined to their houses for up to a week.

The weather that year preceding the blizzard was unseasonably mild with heavy rains that turned to snow as temperatures dropped rapidly. The storm began shortly after midnight on March 12, and continued unabated for a full day and a half. Most of northern Vermont received from 20 to 30 inches in this storm, while the Nor'easter dumped 50 inches in Connecticut and Massachusetts; while dumping 40 inches in New Jersey and New York.

Drifts were reported to average 30-40 feet, over the tops of houses from New York to New England. There were reports of drifts covering 3-story houses. The highest drift of 52 feet was recorded in Gravesend, New York. The storm also produced severe winds; 80 miles per hour wind gusts were reported. The storm was referred to as the Great White Hurricane, that paralyzed the East Coast from the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, as well as the Atlantic provinces of Canada.

It was shortly afterwards that New York began placing it telegraph and telephone infrastructure underground to prevent their destruction. Back to the future, though! Hope you keep warm this Winter and help those homeless found shelter and warmth during the Winter!

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

Home Comfort Range (1934) - Making Coffee

America - See if this following article in the 1934 Home Comfort Range Cookbook sounds familiar to how your grandparents or parents made coffee back in the 1930's. Did they have some special traditions for boiling or filtering their coffee back? We would love to hear of them.

Coffee -- In general use, there were two methods of making good coffee: direct boiling and filtering or percolating. With either method, the use of pure and strictly fresh water was absolutely necessary for best results, and no water should have been used that had once been boiled and cooled.

Boiled Coffee -- (4 cups) Beat half an egg white with 3 tablespoons cold water, add 3/4 cup ground coffee, and stir until coffee is well moistened; put into scalded coffee-pot and add 1 quart fresh water that has just been brought to a boil; boil vigorously for five minutes, add 1/4 cup cold water, and set aside for three minutes to settle; serve.

Many noted cooks boiled the coffee in an open pan or kettle, and passed it through a strainer into the serving pot, enabling them to omit the egg, and yet serve good, clear coffee.

Filtered Coffee -- In this method, very finely ground or pulverized coffee is suspended in a strainer in the top of the coffee-pot, and the boiling water filtered through it. This method is the principle on which the large coffee urns used in restaurants and large kitchens are made, and is the one recommended by the National Association of Coffee Roasters as the blest, even for the household.

Prepare the filter by placing over an open china tea-pot or ordinary coffee-pot, a clean, wet, old linen napkin, or a new square of medium weight unbleached muslin, letting it sag at the center, forming a bag -- the cloth may be sewed to a strong wire ring made to fit the top of the pot.

(4 cups) Have fresh water boiling vigorously; put 4 heaping tablespoons finely pulverized coffee into the wet bag adjusted to pot; pour the boiling water over the coffee slowly enough to allow it to go through until slightly more than 4 cups are used; remove bag; serve.

never permit the bag to get dry; wash it out immediately and keep it in a jar of cold water, which should be changed every day; every effort should be made to keep the bag sweet and clean, as the least souring ruins the coffee -- this is most important.

This method is far superior to direct boiling,e specially for the cheaper grades of coffee.

Coffeepots made on this principle could have been had on the market back in the 1930's. Another pot made back then made on the same principle, but which requires less manipulation, but a longer time in which to make the coffee, is a patented article called a "Percolator."

A combination of the two methods is employed by placing finely pulverized coffee in a cloth bag with a string attached, and suspending it in water boiling in the coffee-pot; remove bag; serve. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

NW Okie's R & R - The Good Old Days of 1920's

Bayfield, CO - This week we decided to show the younger McGill Bros. (Gene (on the right) and Bob McGill (on the left)) standing on the running board of the elder McGill Bros' (James & Wm "Bill" J. McGill) furniture truck that they used for hauling furniture around the Northwest Oklahoma countryside. I assume it is parked in front of Bill McGill's residence (or someone's residence), in Alva, Woods county, Oklahoma. Both Bob and Gene are dressed in what looks like their best clothes, short pants, long stockings and jacket-type shirt with some sort of scarf-tie.

In the past archives we mentioned that McGill Bros. Furniture and Swimming Pool was located in the middle of the 600 block, southside of Barnes Avenue, just off the Southwest corner of Alva, Oklahoma's downtown square.

Last week we heard from Lois Guffy concerning memories of Peggy Stover Cook who worked wife Lois' mother (Banna Clover Caywood) at the Dog Ranch near Cherokee, Oklahoma. You can read more of that in this week's OkieLegacy Ezine.

We will attempt to jog some memories of the 1950's with a vintage photo of a Longfellow Elementary school photo taken around 1951-52, in Alva, Oklahoma. Also, we hope to jog some "old" Rock & Rollers and Rockabilly enthusiasts and hope to hear some of your memories from that era.

We would like to hear what it was like for those living through the McCarthyism era of the early 1950's (particularly around March 1954).

Did you ever notice that most all of us sometimes look to the past for resemblances between the past and present? Why? View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Peggy Stover Cook's Dog Ranch Memories

Cherokee, Oklahoma - Lois Caywood Guffy of Byron (email: lguffy@sctelcom.net) says, "I am almost sure Ken Brown is speaking of Peggy Stover Cook. My mother Banna Clover Caywood worked with her mother at the Dog Ranch two different times, Once when she was aged 16 in 1821 and again after she married in the mid 1920's. Peggy has written a great story of the Dog Ranch days and included what I remember of my mother working there. Peggy lives in Cherokee and does home care for my cousin, Bea Caywood Harper who lives near Vining. I am sure if someone contacted Peggy, she would share her great story with them." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Black Sand & Placer Deposit

Wichita Mountains, Oklahoma - Last week we spoke of the Black Sand of Southwest Oklahoma in the Wichita mountains that everyone was trying to get a piece of. This week we found some information that sort of told us what Black Sand was and how it was used in the panning for Gold in the Wichita mountains.

Black Sand -- Black sand is sand that is black in color. One type of black sand is a heavy, glossy, partly magnetic mixture of usually fine sands, found as part of a placer deposit.

Placer environments typically contain black sand, a conspicuous shiny black mixture of iron oxides, mostly magnetite with variable amounts of ilmenite and hematite. Valuable mineral components often occurring with black sands are monazite, rutile, zircon, chromite, wolframite, and cassiterite.

Placer Deposit

In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish word placer, meaning "alluvial sand". Placer mining is an important source of gold, and was the main technique used in the early years of many gold rushes, including the California Gold Rush. Types of placer deposits include alluvium, eluvium, beach placers, and paleoplacers. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

1944 Monarch Malleable Super Heater

Bayfield, CO - Have you seen one of these 1944 Super Heaters lately?

The image on the left is an AD for the 1944 Monarch Superheater we found online. The photo on the right is the actually one located here in a friends cabin at Vallecito Lake, North of Bayfield, Colorado. And ... It works and burns wood and was used to burn all grades of coal back in the old days.

As the Ad states, it was an answer to the nation's 1944 wartime plea to save fuel. Monarch invented this new, radiant Super Heater. It employed a new downdraft principle and gases were completely burned. When it was new the Monarch heater turned into fuel-saving heat and stopped losses which other heaters could not avoid. It efficiently burned all grades of coal (and wood). It also stated that there was "No smoke while refueling."

Anyone ever seen one of these 1944 Monarch Super Heaters? View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Rock-N-Roll & Rockabilly - 1950's

America - Let us take some of you oldies out there back to the "Good Old Days" of Rock-n-Roll! Any Rock-n-Rollers out there from the 1950's?

Rock and Roll (often written as rock & roll or rock-n-roll) is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of the blues, country music, jazz and gospel music.


[Jerry Lee Lewis & Carl Perkins - Mean Woman Blues/Blue Suede Shoes]

Though elements of rock and roll can be heard in country records of the 1930s, and in blues records from the 1920s, rock and roll did not acquire its name until the 1950's.

An early form of rock and roll was rockabilly SEE The Official Rockabilly Hall of Fame), which combined country and jazz with influences from traditional Appalachian folk music and gospel. SEe Also Rockabilly Central for more information.

The term "rock and roll" now has at least two different meanings, both in common usage. The American Heritage Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary both define rock and roll as synonymous with rock music. Some say that it refers specifically to the music of the 1950s.

In the earliest rock and roll styles of the late 1940s and early 1950s, either the piano or saxophone was often the lead instrument, but these were generally replaced or supplemented by guitar in the middle to late 1950s.

The beat is essentially a boogie woogie blues rhythm with an accentuated backbeat, the latter almost always provided by a snare drum. Classic rock and roll is usually played with one or two electric guitars (one lead, one rhythm), a string bass or (after the mid-1950s) an electric bass guitar, and a drum kit. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Edward R. Murrow - See It Now (March 9, 1954)

America - Some of you might remember the 1950's during the McCarthyism era when one person (Joe McCarthy) misused his powers to spread fear throughout America. There was one journalist who stood up to the fear mongers of the McCarthyism. That man was Edward R. Murrow, who did his research of the truth, bringing down the fear mongering of a Senator from Wisconsin, Joe McCarthy.

First of all lets refresh ourselves from the following link which states, "Edward (Egburt) Roscoe Murrow was born into a Quaker family of farmers in Polecat Creek, North Carolina. He was raised in Washington State, but would leave his parents life behind him when he enrolled in Washington State University. At the University he majored in speech and upon graduation worked for several organizations for whom he developed student conferences."

Edward R. Murrow, because of his positions, he traveled to Europe several times which allowed him to make contacts. Eventually, he was hired by CBS and at age 27 sent overseas as CBS's "Director of Talks" to provide speakers and acts for the newly burgeoning radio medium.

Murrow had a sense of idealism and believed in the underdog; possibly character he formed from his Quaker upbringing. He was tall, lean, but had a darker look to his appearance. He was very bright and as drama was unfolding in the European stage, Murrow saw an opportunity for radio to bring events right into America's homes.

Murrow communicated his ideas to his boss, Paul White, but much of them fell on deaf ears. Eventually, CBS came to realize that they had a good thing by having personal reports from their own reporters, who could offer as much an eyewitness view on the events unfolding as the others who appeared on the air. Murrow's reports and analysis along with those from the reporters he hired set the trend for broadcast journalism for many years to follow.

Some of Murrow's Radio Shows:

* From London, 3 days before invasion of Poland - 8/28/39
* London rooftop during the blitz - 9/20/40
* From Trafalgar Square during an air raid
* Orchestrated Hell - December 3, 1943
* Visting Buchenwald - 4/15/45
* Murrow on the McCarthy Hearings



Edward R. Murrow's complete speech from Good night and Good Luck!



The two excerpts of Ed Murrow's brilliant 1958 speech that are included in Good Night, and Good Luck. Performed by David Strathairn.

Did you ever notice that most of us sometimes look to the past for resemblances between to the present? Could it just be mere coincidence? Can we learn from our past mistakes?

I hope so! Let us bring back civility, truthfully facts and journalism to the present and the future! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

This Day In History (January 31)

America - On 31 January 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery. (Go to article.)

On Jan. 31 , 1919, Jackie Robinson, who made history in 1947 by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues, was born. Following his death on Oct. 24 , 1972, his obituary appeared in The Times. (Go to obit.)

1606 - Guy Fawkes, convicted for his part in the Gunpowder Plot against the English Parliament and King James I, was executed.

1797 - Composer Franz Schubert was born in Vienna, Austria.

1865 Robert E. Lee was named general-in-chief of the Confederate armies.

1917 - Germany announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1919 - Baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, who broke the sport's color barrier in 1947, was born in Cairo, Ga.

1944 - U.S. forces invaded the Japanese-held Marshall Islands during World War II.

1945 - Private Eddie Slovik became the only U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.

1949 - The first TV daytime soap opera, "These Are My Children," was broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.

1950 - President Harry S. Truman announced that he had ordered development of the hydrogen bomb.

1958 - The United States entered the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satellite into orbit, Explorer I.

1971 - Astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr., Edgar D. Mitchell and Stuart A. Roosa blasted off aboard Apollo 14 on the third successful manned mission to the moon. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Longfellow 4th graders - 1951-52 (Alva, OK)

Alva, Oklahoma - Ellis Raymer sent me a link to his [Facebook site] with photo albums showing the 4th grade class of 1951/52 at Longfellow Elementary school, in Alva, Oklahoma. There is also a photo of his 50th Class reunion at Alva High.

As far as I could figure out, I have listed those in the photo from 1st row to 3rd row, from left to right. They are as follows:

Ellis Raymer says, "The teacher is Mrs. Easterly. I thank the year was 1951/52. Backrow from left to right standing: unknown girl, Mrs Easterly, Linda Brunstetter, Kay Cook, Dean Herron, unknown girl, Phillip Murray, Mary Moore, Candice Matthews, Louis Nicholson, Glen Hager, George Kimmery, Stanley Ashton, Rodney Wilson, Jim Cox.

"2nd row from bottom left to right: Donna Rush, unknown girl, unknown boy, Sue Houston, Florence Graham, Dennis Wilson, Dennis Webb, Walter Combs, Bob Williams, Elisha Cushenberry.

"Frontrow Sitting left to right: Unknown girl, Carol Baker, Lila Newman, Joan Simon, Ellis Raymer, Don Braswell."

This is the group photo of Ellis Raymer's Alva High 50th Class reunion. View/Write Comments (count 3)   |   Receive updates (1 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe