Duchess & Sadie's Snowy Domain

Bayfield, CO - Happy New Year 2011!

We hear that Oklahoma has been getting some much needed rain this past week. Here in the San Juan mountains of Southwest Colorado we have finally had sunshine for the last 5 or 6 days with the daytime temperatures in the mid-40s and the nighttime temperatures dropping down to the teens. They say our next winter snow storm coming through here Wednesday morning and lasting until Friday, dumping snow at elevations of 5000 feet. Brrrrrrrr! Love It!

I don't know why NW Okie gets after me for walking on thin ice after the leftovers scraps from the squirrels and birds. You would think that she thinks I will fall into the icy weaselskin creek. She worries too much, but ... she does worship me and Sadie and gives us lots of head scratching and belly rubs. So ... I guess I will try harder to not walk on thin ice next year (2011)!

See you next year in 2011! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Home Comfort Range (1934) - Details

America - Details of Construction - The range body was constructed of high grade enameling steel, properly formed and sized in presses exerting approximately one million pounds pressure which insures a perfect fit to each part. Those individual parts were joined together by modern electrical welding machines -- bolts or rivets being used only where welding was impractical. Verluc vitrified enamel covered the range body steel both inside and out, providing protection against rust or corrosion.

Asbestos is used in the flue passages as a protection against intense heat and also to serve as an insulator to minimize heat loss through side walls of the range.

Pressure Water Heater -- The Wrought Iron range pressure water heater was designed for a continuous system of water supply, and was easily installed in the Home Comfort range, by substituting it in place of the left-hand contact reservoir heater.

The pressure boiler should have be set as near the range as practical. It was fitted inside with a one-half inch galvanized cold water supply pipe extending within 6 to 12 inches of the bottoms of the tank. You would have had trouble heating water without this extension pipe inside of the pressure boiler. Or, trouble if you reversed the connections. A pressure tank always stood alongside of, or was elevated above the range. SEE PDF LINK for more information.

Next week we shall bring you directions for properly setting up and operating the Home Comfort Ranges. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

NW Okie's R & R In San Juan Mtns

Bayfield, CO - We have put up some younger year photos of Dorthy & Connie McGill at the ranch, a few miles north of Waynoka, OK and at 703 7th Street, in Alva, Oklahoma. The photo on the left is a picture of the Ernest Claude & Mary Barbara (Hurt) Paris siblings. You can see a slideshow of the whole collection of Dorthy and Connie's earlier years in the slideshow below.



We would love to find someone who can identify some of the little friends of Dorthy and Connie in these earlier photos. If you go to our Picasa website albm and leave a comment of possible indenties, it would help a lot.

Here's counting down to January 1st, 2011, Saturday -- Wishing you all a Happy New Year 2011!

Good Day & Good Luck! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

George Rollins Inquiry

Wanda (Rollins) Hooper Curbow, who was searching for information on her grandfather, George Rollins, in Vol. 7, Iss. 2, has notified us of a new email (curboww@yahoo.com - wanda curbow).

Inquiry - George Rollins reads as follows: "I am searching for any info on my Grandfather George Rollins. Wonder if there is any info on the George Rollins in the article here. Love the sight, wish there were more like it. Thanks." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Oregon Fruit Products - Cherry Pie

Colorado - For the Christmas holidays I represented my Grandma Mary Barbara Paris' homemade pie crust recipe with a Cherry Pie using one of my favorite Cherry Pie recipes that comes off the label of the Oregon Fruit Products Company can of Red Tart Pie Cherries (in water). We also made our Grandma's apple pie recipe at the link above.

Cherry Pie Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup sugar (more or less to taste)
3 tablespoons cornstarch*
2 cans OregoN Red Tart Pie Cherries, drained, reserve juice from one can
1/4 tsp red food coloring (optional)
1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
Pastry for two-crust 9-inch pie
Instructions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from only one can. In a saucepan, stir the cherry juice into the combined mixture of the cornstarch and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Gently stir in cherries and optional ingredients. Remove from heat. Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan. Dot with butter or margarine. Adjust crust, seal and vent. Bake 45 minutes or until crust browns and filling begins to bubble. If necessary, cover edges with aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning.

Cool pie several hours to allow filling to thicken before slicing. Makes 8 servings.

*Three tablespoons quick cooking tapioca may be substituted. Discard juice, combine sugar, tapioca, cherries, food coloring and almond extract; mix well and let stand 20 mi View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Historical Crystal Park Colorado

Crystal Park, Colorado - Back in July 1909, my grandmother Constance Estella Warwick (before she married my grandpa Wm. J. McGill, march 24, 1910) traveled to Colorado Springs and toured Crystal Park and other sites around that area in Colorado.

Because of the scrapbook Grandma kept and that I scanned and put up on my Oakiepics Webshots, I have heard the following from the Historical committee for the Crystal Park, in Colorado.

Mike Doughty commented, "I am on the Historical Committee in Crystal Park Colorado. I found your photos of your ancestor on a burro ride to Crystal Park very interesting. We would love to get scans of these photos for our archives. Let me know if that is at all possible, please. Thank you."

Mike Doughty ran across our OkieLegacy, Vol. 5, Iss. 12 concerning Grandma's July, 1909 Vacation in Colorado -- Constance Warwick & Friends - On the Road to Helen Hunt's Grave - 27 July 1909Did I forget to mention last week about the 1909 Vacation Photo Album that I have included on Oakie's Webshots? These were photos that my Grandmother Constance (Warwick) McGill put together of her trip to areas around Colorado Springs, Crystal Park, Helen Hunt's Grave and Seven Falls in Colorado back in 1909.

From looking through the photos, things were rugged back then without paved roads -- mules, horse and buggy were used as their mode of travel. I love viewing the fashion of that time. They were still wearing the long, floor-length dresses, skirts. 27 July 1909 - Constance Warwick at Helen Hunt's grave. Helen Hunt was buried on the summit of Mount Jackson, Colorado (a Cheyenne peak named for her, about four miles from Colorado Springs. oakiepics webshots - 1909 - Old Family Vacation Photos - 1909 - Old Family Vacation Photos

Here is another link to our Picasa Album concerning Grandma's 1909 trip to Colorado:

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This Day In History

America - (Dec. 27) -- It was 96 years ago, 27 December 1914, William Jacob and Constance Estella (Warwick) McGill greeted, brought their oldest son, Gene M. McGill into their lives, in Alva Woods county, Oklahoma. Gene McGill made his mark in the Democrat political arena in the 1950's through the 1960's when you could show your differences between political parties and still have respect for each other. It was nothing like it is today. Gene M. McGill died on Father's Day, June, 1986, at the age of 71. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

(Dec. 28) --
* 1694 Queen Mary II of England died after five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.

* 1832 John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Andrew Jackson.

* 1856 Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States, was born in Staunton, Va.

* 1846 Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.

* 1897 "Cyrano de Bergerac," a play by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris.

* 1905 The forerunner of the NCAA, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, was founded in New York City.

* 1945 Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.

* 1958 The Baltimore Colts won the NFL championship, defeating the New York Giants 23-17 in overtime at Yankee Stadium, in what has been dubbed the greatest football game ever played.

* 1973 Alexander Solzhenitsyn published "Gulag Archipelago," an expose of the Soviet prison system.

* 1982 A black man was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade, setting off three days of race-related disturbances that left another man dead.

* 2005 Former top Enron Corp. accountant Richard Causey pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to help pursue convictions against Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

* 2008 The Detroit Lions completed an 0-16 season, the NFL's worst ever, with a 31-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Pine Valley Sawmill

Pine Valley, Oklahoma - Vol. 6, Iss. 37 2004/09/11 -- Andy Thompson left a comment concerning the Pine Valley Sawmill feature in our OkieLegacy, vol. 6, Iss. 37, dated 2004/09/11.

Andy says, "The book is Sawmill: the story of cutting the last great virgin forest east of the Rockies by Kenneth L. Smith. It was published by the University of Arkansas Press in 1986, but has been reprinted since. Mostly on Arkansas, but some Oklahoma. Also John Morris's Ghost Towns of Oklahoma has little information, too. I believe either the University of Oklahoma Press or the Oklahoma Historical Society published it." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Capt. David Gwin - Revolutionary War

Virginia - An OkieLegacy Ezine reader left the following comment under the feature concerning Capt. David T. Gwin, in Vol. 11, Iss. 11 -- "I don't think he had a middle initial T. The transcription shows T occurring under the phrase His Mark. T is the mark he made indicating he was the Testator (which also indicates he was either illiterate or too ill to write his name.) Don't feel bad others have made this mistake too!" View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Helpful Hints For Winter

Helpful Hints For Winter Ellis sent us the following hints for Winter:

Keep your headlights clear with car wax! Just wipe ordinary car wax on your headlights. It contains special water repellents that will prevent that messy mixture from accumulating on your lights - lasts 6 weeks.

Squeak-proof your wipers with rubbing alcohol! Wipe the wipers with a cloth saturated with rubbing alcohol or ammonia. This one trick can make badly streaking & squeaking wipers change to near perfect silence & clarity.

Ice-proof your windows with vinegar! Frost on it's way? Just fill a spray bottle with three parts vinegar to one part water & spritz it on all your windows at night. In the morning, they'll be clear of icy mess. Vinegar contains acetic acid, which raises the melting point of water---preventing water from freezing!

Prevent car doors from freezing shut with cooking spray! Spritz cooking oil on the rubber seals around car doors & rub it in with a paper towel The cooking spray prevents water from melting into the rubber.

Fog-proof your windshield with shaving cream! Spray some shaving cream on the inside of your windshield & wipe if off with paper towels. Shaving cream has many of the same ingredients found in commercial defoggers.

De-ice your lock in seconds with hand sanitizer! Just put some hand sanitizer gel on the key & the lock & the problems solved! View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe