Albuquerque, New Mexico

My girlfriend Carolyn Mock, and her other half Bill, at the Rio Grande Valley Arts Festival held in Albuquerque, New Mexico in conjuction with the Balloon Festival this past weekend. Carolyn was there selling her paintings and prints. You can check out some of her things here on my blog. Carolyn specializes in wildlife, but works in some really nice horse pieces also. You can also find her work in Crow's Nest catalogs. I have the horse piece hanging above my bed that is just above them. I have many of her works and I love them all.

Don't Spit or it'll cost ya!

This Classical Revival courthouse in Pawhuska, Oklahoma was built in 1914. It has a very commanding position at the top of a high hill where you get a birdseye view of the town. The large grand staircase is its most unusual feature with 64 steps. Osage County is located in north central Oklahoma to the northwest of Tulsa. At 2,250 square miles, it is Oklahoma's largest county by geographical area. Almost 100% of the county, including this courthouse, is located within the Osage Indian Reservation, the only reservation that exists in the state. This is where we went to buy the house for my Mom from the previous owners estate. I saw this sign just as we were leaving the courtroom and headed down the stairs..........




I looked up and saw this and I could not believe my eyes! I guess we aren't civilized in the manner of all things sanitary....I started yelling at my husband, honey did you see this? I had to grab my camera phone to make sure I documented it! I have always romanticized Pawhuska to be part of the "Old West", but this was not what I dreamt about... :) I love going there still and we drive over to eat at Bad Brads , ranchers come in wearing their spurs, I just love the jingle jangle of spurs. I always tripped when I used to try to wear them, but I always was a Klutz! Hey, if you can walk and wear spurs I am impressed! Love them spurs! Osage County Oklahoma is where"Confessions of a Pioneer Woman" lives out on one of the big Drummond ranches west of Pawhuska and the Nature Conservancy Tallgrass Prairie. Check out her blog under my favorites. She is funny and has lots of great recipes, and she is also a great photographer. It gives you a romanticized view of life on a big ranch in Oklahoma

Pumpkins and Munchkins!

We have a traditional thing we do here at the Wildwood. We get our pumpkins and don't carve them so they don't rot...we just decorate with them. We keep them until Thanksgiving and then we have Pumpkin Bowling! Our house is on a hillside and we bowl them down the hill through the trees to see who can get theirs down the furthermost between the trees without breaking them open. Then the ones that don't break, we run down and carry them back up and start all over again. It is a riot and adults and kids both love it! This is when we had them gathered up and carting them to position! This was Zane's 1st time to do when this picture taken about 4 years ago. If you have alot of company coming for Thanksgiving you gotta buy lots of punkins! :)

Happy Birthday Linda and Sarah!

We have 2 birthdays this month and they are only a day apart! My sister-in-law Linda is going to be celebrating on the 2nd and Sarah's birthday is the 3rd. I remember the day Sarah was born and I had just went to work at Phillips the week before and could not go see the new baby in Houston. I remember being so distraught about that.....I will never forget it. I did not see her until she came with her parents for Thanksgiving. I don't remember when Linda was born because she is too damn old! :) I love you both!

October Birthday Girls!