Duchess & Sadie's Mtn Domain

Bayfield, Colorado - While me and my dog friends were in the SW Colorado Rockies, NW Okie was in Northwest Oklahoma for a few days taking care of some business. They are back in SW Colorado now.

Did any Oklahomans feel a tremor, shaking of the Oklahoma soil Wednesday, October 13, 2010, at 9:06 a.m.? That is when the 4.5 (upgraded to 5.1) magnitude earthquake shook central Oklahoma and was felt as far away as Wichita, Kansas to Dallas, Texas.

NW Okie was somewhere in Alva, Oklahoma on the morning of October 13, 2010, at 9:06 a.m., but NW Okie did not report feeling any tremors of the 5.1 earthquake in that northwest part of the State. They say the earthquake 's epic center was near Norman around Lake Thunderbird.

We would love to hear your stories and hear, see what you felt on that "hump" day last week, October 13, 2010, at 9:06 a.m.

Good Night & Good Luck from The Pugs, Duchess & Sadie View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Cookbook - Puff Pastry

America - This week from our 1934 Wrought Iron Range, Home Comfort Cookbook we bring you some tidbits for Puff Pastry found in the Pastry section, page 111.

Puff Pastry

Puff pastry should be attempted only when materials may be kept under cold conditions, since its success depends very greatly upon an even, low temperature in handling. A little patience and practice will be required to master the art of making perfect puff pastes, but the time and patience required will be well rewarded.

Ingredients: 1 cup butter, 2 cups pastry flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and Cold water.

Place butter in cold water and work until it is smooth and pliable; if necessary, change water frequently to keep it as cold as possible; cool the hands in cold water before beginning. When sufficiently pliable, roll or press the butter into a square sheet about a quarter inch in thickness; wrap in a cold damp cloth and set aside until needed. It is important that, throughout the process, the butter be kept at a temperature to be pliable, yet firm.

From the flour, salt and sufficient cold water form a paste and knead to an elastic dough as in plain pastry -- no shortening is used in the paste -- and set aside for a few minutes in a cold place to bring it to the temperature of the butter.

Place dough on a floured board, and roll out into a rectangular sheet slightly more than twice in width and three times in length the size of the square of butter, and slightly less than half-inch in thickness.

Place the square of butter on one corner of the sheet of dough, leaving a slight margin of dough at the two corners, or outside edges; now fold the dough lengthwise into a double thickness, enclosing the butter in one end of the strip; press the long edges together with the rolling-pin, and, likewise, close the open edges at the butter end; now fold the third of the strip containing the butter back over the dough evenly, then fold the opposite end of the strip up over the butter section; this brings the dough to a square form, and of 6 layers, with the sheet of butter in the center.

Turn the dough-board so the pressed-together edge of the dough is nearest to you, and roll out the folded dough into another sheet of the same size and thickness as the first one on which the butter was placed -- being careful to keep the edges of the folded dough even, and the butter in place.

Now, fold the sheet of dough in exactly the same manner as at first, forming six layers as before, keeping the edges even; turn as before, and roll again into a rectangular sheet. Repeat this folding, turning, rolling process at least six times, setting the dough in a cool place for about ten-minute periods between each rolling-out to restore the elasticity of the dough and the firmness of the butter. On last rolling out, bring to desired thickness and shape, ready for cutting out forms.

Here is a recipe for Home Comfort Special using this Paste Pie Shell:

Home Comfort Special
1 Paste Pie Shell, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup buttermilk, 1 cup chopped raisins, 1 Tablespoon flour, 1 Tablespoon vinegar, 1 Teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon allspice, 2 egg yolks and us 2 egg whites for Meringue.

Soak seeded raisins a few minutes in hot water, drain, chop finely and measure; beat egg yolks to smoothness, add sugar, buttermilk, vinegar and spices; beat flour to smoothness in a little milk and add to mixture, beating until all ingredients are thoroughly blended; lastly, stir in the chopped raisins. Pour in Paste shell and bake; cover with meringue made with the two egg whites and two tablespoons sugar, and brown in oven. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Ramblings & Rumblings With NW Okie

Bayfield, Colorado - Where are the rumblings come from in Oklahoma? How come in the past couple of years earthquakes have become the norm in Oklahoma? October 13, 2010, 9:06 a.m., in central Oklahoma another earthquake reached the updated 5.1 magnitude. Did anyone out there from Wichita, Kansas to to Dallas, Texas feel this 5.1 earthquake? What are your earthquake stories?

According to the Preliminary Earthquake Report put out by the Leonard Geophysical Observatory in Leonard, Oklahoma, concerning the Oklahoma earthquake at 9:06 AM CDT (14:06:30 UTC), located 5 miles ENE of Noble, OK and 8 miles SE of Norman, OK (around Lake Thunderbird) at latitude 35.164 N and longitude 97.316 W., measuring at 4.5 and updated to 5.1, states, "There have been pictures floating around in various emails with large ground fissures reportedly from this earthquake. We have received NO reports of ground fissures. If we are provided with locations of ground fissures within the area of the earthquake we will gladly examine these ground fissures. Ground deformation on the scale of these pictures would be completely unprecedented for an earthquake of this magnitude."

They reported that the best estimate of the earthquakes depth was 13 km (8 miles). Felt reports have ranged from Dallas, Texas to Wichita, Kansas and as far east as Arkansas. There had been two small aftershocks as of the morning of October 14. Aftershocks were likely to continue and some may have been felt by local residents. They were also reporting that this earthquake did not occur on a known fault, but they report that there are more faults in the rocks in the subsurface of Oklahoma than they could possibly count.

This is a report of the earthquakes that rattled parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas as seen on 4029tv:



We leave with this quote we found by our first U.S. President, George Washington, "As Mankind becomes more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protections of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations of justice and liberality."

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Oklahoma's Lighted Airways - 1930s

Waynoka, Oklahoma - The latest Chronicles of Oklahoma, Vol. 88, No. 2, Summer 2010, had an interesting feature written by Thomas A. Wikle, entitled Transcontinental Crossroads: Oklahoma's Lighted Airways in the 1930s.

Wikle stated that during the early 1930s a network of high intensity navigation lights were constructed in Oklahoma to support nighttime airmail and passenger flights. Aircraft were able to follow a chain of bright beacons, smaller flashing lights by day and night to reduce the mail and passenger delivery times, enabling east-west transcontinental trips, completed in hours rather than days.

Oklahoma's central location became one of the most important crossroads for coast-to-coast lighted airway segments. It linked Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities.

Navigation lights, night airways were supported by small airports and emergency landing fields staffed by employees of the Post Office Department and later by the Department of Commerce Lighthouse Service.

In Oklahoma aviation had an affect on both transportation and communications patterns. It established a foundation for modern passenger and air cargo routes, also providing connections to rural areas removed from major highways, railroads.

Many small airports, such as Waynoka's TAT, in Northwest Oklahoma owed their initial development to the need of auxiliary landing fields during the establishment of these early airways.

All this talk of lighted airways came from a desire to reduce mail delivery times at the end of World War I. Aircrafts were viewed as slow and incapable of carrying payloads that could generate a profit. Officials of the Post Office Department in Washington, DC saw possibilities for mail delivery by air.

It was following a series of trials in 1918, when an airmail service was established between New York and Washington, DC. Flying open cockpit biplanes with few instruments and no radios, pilots navigated by observing roads and town locations on highway or railroad maps. Weather and mechanical problems were common, with frequent delays.

September 8, 1920, a daytime transcontinental airmail service was initiated between New York and San Francisco. The coast-to-coast journey required 72 hours (a savings of 36 hours over the most direct rail route).

The post officials realized that flights would need to be made at night as well as during the day to be competitive with delivery by train. A heavily publicized, successful around the clock relay flight was carried out between San Francisco and New York with help from the residents of mid-western towns who built fires in upended oil drums to assist pilots to navigate in the darkness. That began the construction of facilities for coast-to-coast day/night operations.

It was during the early 1920s the US Army Air Corps began its experiments to determine if pilots could navigate in darkness using beacons similar to those installed in coastal lighthouses. They discovered a rotating beacon could more easily be distinguished by pilots flying over populated areas.

Aeronautical beacons were designed to aim slightly upward rather than towards the horizon, enabling them to be seen from the air.

Some landing fields were equipped with 36-inch arc searchlights, while additional airway beacons with 18-inch rotating lights were placed on the top of fifty foot steel towers at intervals of 25 miles. Smaller, acetylene gas powered lights blinking one hundred times per minute were positioned at 3 mile intervals as supplements to the more powerful searchlight beacons. The auxiliary beacons could operate for up to 6 months before their gas cylinders needed to be refilled.

Postal officials wrote newspaper and magazine articles about the benefits of day/night airmail service to generate public interest for expanding the lighted airway concept to other areas in the United States. It was June 1924 that a commissioned 23-foot map of the lighted airway was displayed in New York City's Times Square. The map featured model planes that moved along the airway route on belts, passing through colored zones showing segments flown during day in contrast to those indicating night portions of the transcontinental route.

They identified the most available straight line route between major cities. Aircrafts surveyed 25 mile wide strips of land with access to roads, railways, and power lines. Aerial surveys also supplemented the more comprehensive ground surveys.

In Oklahoma, Lieutenant Auby C. Strickland was given responsibility for investigating a route extending from Kansas City to San Antonio. Strickland's authority included negotiating the lease or purchase of suitable lands with property owners.

The Post Office Department specified for airway facilities that beacon towers to be fifty-one feet in height. It depended on local circumstances, though. Then twenty-five foot, sixty-two foot, seventy-five foot or eighty-seven foot towers were also used.

Towers were paint in alternating bands of yellow and black, topping each tower was a six foot square platform supporting a two million candlepower rotating light built by Sperry Gyroscope Company and Westinghouse Electric. Also, to mark the route, course lights flashed a morse code number identifying the beacon's position number along its airway segment. The last digit of the code included a letter that represented the beacon on its segment.

To determine their location on lighted segment pilots memorized the phrase "When Undertaking Very Hard Routes, Keep Direction By Good Methods." The letter of the first word signified the first beacon, the letter of the second word denoted the second beacon and so on.

The colors of the course beacons were also significant. Amber was used to indicate the availability of an intermediate or emergency landing field. Green signified the presence of an airport. Red denoted a location without a landing area.

On most airways high intensity beacons were located every ten miles apart. More closely spaced acetylene gas lights mounted on poles close to ground level were used in hilly areas. A pilot that did not deviate by more than five degrees would always pass within the visible range of the next beacon in most visual flight conditions. Tall objects on airway routes were topped with red obstruction lights.

Each beacon tower was constructed directly over a fifty-four foot concrete arrow pointing down the airway towards the next higher numbered beacon. Intermediate landing fields were located at intervals of fifty miles. They had to provide access to medical or mechanical assistance. Land selected for an intermediate field had to be a well drained, level. The standard field configuration was two landing strips measuring twenty-six hundred to three thousand feet in length and crossing in a pattern resembling a T, L or plus sign.

Oklahoma airway keepers such as W. A. Rambo, who maintained the beacon and intermediate field in Dill, served as airport operators, weather observers, mechanics, and sometimes host to stranded pilots. The typical monthly pay received by keepers was $25 to $35. In addition to their salary a house was sometimes provided to the keeper and his family at remote locations.

Oklahoma's first lighted airway segment was constructed on a north-south route between Wichita, Kansas and Fort Worth, Texas. After passing through Ponca City, the airway extended south following a series of small flashing lights to Beacon 26 located west of Red Rock on US highway 77.

From there the airway turned south to the intermediate field at Perry. Perry's original airfield was located one and one-half miles north of town, about three and one-half miles south of its present location. The grass filed was designed without specific runways so that a plane could land into the wind from any direction. From Perry the route extended to Beacon 22 just south of Mulhall before reaching an intermediate field near Guthrie.

Located about two miles south of town, Guthrie's sod runways came together to form an L shape, the longest extending 1,930 feet in length. Sitting on its original concrete arrow, Beacon 21 continues to be used as a navigation marker at the present day Guthrie-Edmond Regional Airport. South of Guthrie, the airway extended past Beacon 20, located on the western side of Edmond, to Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma's best known beacon on the Wichita to Fort Worth airway was located on top of Oklahoma City's 33-story First National Bank building. In September, 1931, bank officials celebrated completion of this beacon on the top of the newly completed, Art-Deco style skyscraper with a lighting ceremony witnessed by William O. Harris, international president of Kiwanis. This same building later hosted the exclusive Beacon Club, the first private membership club.

As they continued south of Oklahoma City the Wichita-Fort Worth airway passed several auxiliary fields before reaching Ardmore, Oklahoma. In early July, 1931, a giant beacon was established on a timbered hill eighteen miles north of Ardmore. Located near Turner Falls and sitting atop a 75 foot tower. The four million candle-powered beacon was said to be visible as far south as Fort Worth and as far north as Oklahoma City. The airway's last Oklahoma section passed over Lake Murray before crossing into Texas north of Marietta, Texas.

Most airplanes operated from sod strips or muddy fields. Hangers, storage buildings at Oklahoma airfields were often adapted from existing structures such as roadside gas stations or even packing crates.

Back then there was little abatable in the Post Office Department budget for airfield construction. To advance airway expansion plans, postal officials encouraged cities to finance airfield improvements, sometimes with a promise of future reimbursement for development costs. Oklahoma civic leaders promoted airfield construction in the name of local economic development.

By 1928, Oklahoma's collection of airports ranged in size from less than 20 acres to the 405 acre field in Tulsa. That same year the state ranked fourth nationwide in the number of airfields, exceeded only by California, New york and Pennsylvania.

Railroad owners complained about declining profits as the airmail system expanded. A provision of the 1925 Kelly Act airmail operations shifted from the Post Office Department to private mail carriers.

There was a section of the lighted airway connecting Chicago and Los Angeles that crossed northwestern Oklahoma between Wichita and Amarillo. On the route westbound aircraft departing Wichita Municipal Airport (now McConnell Air Force Base) traveled southwest, passing Beacon 28 near Baynesville, Kansas, and then Anthony Municipal Airport before crossing into Oklahoma northwest of Amorita. From there the route extended southwest on an emergency field located north of Alva, west of the Salt Fork River.

Continuing southwest the airway passed Beacon 18 and a Department of Commerce intermediate field north of Waynoka. Waynoka was already an important location for transcontinental air travel. Since 1929 the airfield had been a stop for a passenger service operated by Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) that linked New York and Los Angeles.

TAT was a precursor to Trans World Airlines. It was also known as the "Lindbergh Line" or simply the "Lindy Line" because Charles Lindbergh was a part owner as well as the principal architect of the airline's routes.

Transcontinental passengers began their 48 hour journey by boarding a night train on the Pennsylvania Railroad from New York City to Port Columbus, Ohio, where they transferred to an 8:15 a.m. flight by Ford Tri-motor airplane to Waynoka, Oklahoma.

Waynoka's airfield had been outfitted with repair shops, passenger facilities, weather station and the third larges aircraft hangar in the USA. Following dinner at Waynoka's Harvey House, travelers would board a night train to Clovis, New Mexico, where they continued on a day flight westward to Los Angeles.

In 1928, responsibility for operating, expanding the lighted airway was transferred from the Post Office Department to the new Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Fort Supply History

Fort Supply, Oklahoma - This is what I found at the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS), concerning the History of Fort Supply.

This historic Fort Supply was established, November 18, 1868, as "Camp of Supply" for the winter campaign against the Southern Plains Indians in what is now western Oklahoma.

Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer led the 7th US Cavalry south to the Washita River and destroyed the village of Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle. This article stated, "Camp Supply was the temporary seat of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Agency in 1869 and early 1870. Soldiers patrolled the region in an effort to contain the tribesmen and keep out trespassers. Buffalo hunters, timber and horse thieves, whiskey traders, and "Boomers" were a continual threat to stability in Indian Territory during the period."

It goes on to state, "The post served as a supply point for the Red River War of 1874-1875, the final struggle in the control by conquest of the tribes of the Southern Plains. In 1878, an unsuccessful attempt to stop the flight of Northern Cheyenne from the reservation precipitated the last battle between Indians and the U.S. soldiers in Indian Territory."

Cavalry escorted may cattle drives along the Western or Texas Trail on their journey from Texas to Dodge City, Kansas. There were many grazing leases held by cattlemen on Indian lands and the Cherokee Outlet.

Fort Supply was the transportation and communication hub that included southwest Kansas, Texas Panhandle and western Indian Territory. Roads and telegraph lines were built by tropes and linked the forts, reservations and region's settlements. Stage coaches, freight haulers and travelers were protected as they moved along the trails.

In 1893, the lands of the Cherokee Outlet were opened to non-Indian settlement. Troops at Fort Supply were used to police the operation as their last major task for the soldiers. The Fort Supply post was abandoned and turned over to the Department of the Interior.

In 1908, the old post became the State of Oklahoma's first state-operated mental institution with the arrival of the first patients. It was in 1969, the Oklahoma Historical Society assumed responsibility for the five remaining army period buildings for restoration. Since 1998, the William S. Key Correctional Center, a minimum security prison facility, occupies most of the old post and hospital grounds. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

5.1 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Oklahoma

Oklahoma - October 13, 2010 a magnitude 4.5 earthquake shook central Oklahoma at 9:06 am. The NewsOK Related Articles reportedly upgraded the Oklahoma earthquake to magnitude 5.1.

On October 13, 2010, an earthquake struck central Oklahoma and was recorded as the second-strongest in the state's history. The first recorded earthquake known to have been centered in the state occurred on December 2, 1897, in Grant County. In September 1918, a series of shocks in El Reno produced only minor effects. On December 27, 1929, another quake was felt in portions of central and western Oklahoma.



A magnitude 5.5 earthquake on April 9, 1952, was centered near El Reno and affected most of Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas.

In 2010, an earthquake occurred in Oklahoma on Wednesday, 13 October at 09:06:29 a.m. at epicenter (at 14:06:29 UTC). This earthquake comes with highest density ever recorded in Oklahoma. It occurred in 5 miles ENE of Noble, Oklahoma and 8 miles SE of Norman, OK at latitude 35.164 N and longitude 97.316 W. The quake taken place in eight miles southeast of Norman, south of Lake Thunderbird, near E Post Oak Road and 84th Avenue SE, Oklahoma Geological Survey research seismologist. At least two people were injured from this quake.

Blakeman was quoted as saying, "The quake was felt up to 170 miles away in parts of Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas."

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry stated, "Teams have been dispatched to assess the earthquake's impact on state infrastructure." He says that significant problems had not been reported. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

This Day In History - 18 October

Alaska - U.S. Takes Possession of Alaska, October 18, 1867 -- The U.S. formally took possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million (less than two cents an acre).

The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas. It was championed by William Henry Seward, enthusiastically expansionist Secretary of State under President Andrew Johnson.

It seems Russia was looking to sell its Alaska territory because it was sparsely populated and difficult to defend. So . . . Russia sold it to the U.S. rather than risk loosing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain.

Negotiations between Seward and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoecki, began in March 1867. At that time most American's believed the land to be barren and worthless and dubbed the purchase as Seward's Folly and Andrew Johnson's Polar Bear Garden.

Public opinion of the purchase turned more favorable when gold was discovered in a tributary of Alaska's Klondike River in 1896. It sparked the famous Gold Rush that we learned about in our history classes. Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

The name Alaska is derived from the Aleut word alyeska, which means "great land." Alaska has two official state holidays to commemorate its origins: Seward's Day, observed the last Monday in March, celebrates the March 30, 1867, signing of the land treaty between the U.S. and Russia. The other holiday is Alaska Day, observed every October 18, marks the anniversary of the formal land transfer.

Some infamous Alaskans have stated that they can see Russia from their doorstep. How true that is, I do NOT know! I take that last tidbit with a grain of salt and tend to disregard! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Oklahoma Wild Sand Plums

Oklahoma - How many have driven out in the country in search of wild sand plums? We found this Oklahoma Wild Sand Plums video that takes you through the search fro wild sand plums through the process of making sand plum jams/jellies. You can view it over at okieprepper's YouTube.com site.

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Pioneer Living No Yeast Donuts

America - Do you need a unique Pioneer recipe to try out at your next cookout? I think this next recipe could be just the ticket. This Pioneer Living No Yeast Donuts was found on PioneerLivingnet YouTube.com site.

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Battle of Camp Supply (11 June 1870)

Fort Supply, Oklahoma - The Oklahoma Historical Society states about the Battle of Camp Supply, 11 June 1870, about 3:30 p.m., a force of approximately 200 warriors emerged from the timber and brush along the Beaver River and charged down the ridge slope near Wolf Creek. The ploy was to draw the troops out of the post for a fight.

The article goes on to state, "During the ten days of the Kiowa Medicine Lodge ceremonies, delegations of Comanche, Cheyenne, and Kiowa met in council to discuss war. Most Cheyenne decided not to follow the warpath with the Kiowa and Comanche. Cheyenne chief, Little Robe, secretly warned Camp Supply commander, Lieutenant Colonel Anderson Nelson, to expect trouble. It came within days."

"Barely eighteen months had passed since the establishment of Camp Supply in the valley created by the confluence of Beaver River and Wolf Creek. The supply depot for General Philip Sheridan's winter campaign of 1868-1869 had grown to a garrison of five companies of the Tenth U.S. Cavalry and three of the Third Infantry. In the late spring of 1870, there were two camps about six hundred yards distance separating the commands of the two regiments.

"The older of the two camps was as a rambling arrangement of log buildings and tents that had sprung up around the fortified stockade built in November 1868. To the southwest was the more orderly compound of log buildings. Black troopers of the Tenth had built picket style log structures around a cavalry-sized quadrangle parade ground. On the west side were the stables for the cavalry horses.

"The garrison consisted of white officers and black troopers of five troops of the Tenth, A, F, H, I, and K. Three companies of the Third, B, E, and F, were carried on the Monthly Returns of the post. Company E was actually on detached duty at the new Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency at Darlington." To read more follow this LINK.

The native bands of Southern Plains tribes (Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache) had supposedly settled on their reservations to the south in western Indian Territory. It was the winter of 1870, the hostile factions among the warriors were determined to discredit any peace factions within the tribes. They drove the army out of the region. June 11, 1870, was the climax of their efforts to bring war to the region.

It was as early as January when 300 warriors of the openly hostile Kiowa and Comanche held up a Texas cattle herd bound for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency at Camp Supply. The Kiowa Peace Chief Kickingbird saved the drovers, but the cattle were stampeded and several hundred killed. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe