This and That Newsletter

Christmas is over and the new year is almost here. I hope everyone had a good Christmas, we sure did. As the song says, Christmas "is the most wonderful time of the year". Jill and I enjoyed the best Christmas anyone could wish for, thanks to so many of you and for friends everywhere. Even if we had not received one gift, just being man and wife, Jill and I experienced something money and gifts can not bring. Speaking of gifts, we received a nice copper bird feeder from Jill's twin sister, June, in California. I hung it on the front eve of the house the day after Christmas, but not one bird can be found in our neighborhood since that day. I wonder why that is? Have the birds all gone south? Or do they know a big winter storm is coming?

Jill said she really didn't want to put up a large Christmas tree this year. So we just placed a small tree on the dining room table all decorated nice. But the most unusual thing about this tree is the red and white tree skirt Jill placed under the tree. A few weeks ago she found a 20 year old red robe that belonged to my mother before she died. Jill washed it, then wondered what she could do with it. So, she carefully cut it into strips and braided them and made the tree skirt that was under our Christmas tree this year.

In last week's T&T was a photo of a hawk sent in to me by Ann Randolph. When I looked at her email, it was so close to Ernest Martin's email address, I thought he was Ernest who sent the pic. Just wanted to make that correction and let everyone know I was not tasting too much of the Christmas spirits. lol

In last week's issue we talked about the free version of Grisoft's antivirus coming to an end in February. Several of you wrote back to say Grisoft will continue their free version, in fact their new version 7.5 is available for download right now and its free for personal use. http://free.grisoft.com

About a month ago I started receiving weekly notices that my 7.0 free version was going to expire in February, and I needed to upgrade to the not free version, so, I uninstalled my 7.0 AVG. From reading their Forum this week, I guess I was not the only one that was misled.

We received some good feedback from several of you who installed the completely free Spyware Terminator program we mentioned last week. The following email is from Kenneth Updike in Wilson, Oklahoma:

Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s the Ardmore post office was looking for a new location to build a new post office. According to a picture I have from The Daily Ardmoreite the first runner up was a home at the SW corner of 1st and C Street SW which belonged to the Randols (across the street west from Craddock Funeral Home property). This is the same Randols who owned the famous Randol Hotel on Main Street and for which there is a historical marker placed next door to Ray's Office Supply. Anyway, my great aunt, Eva Carmon, married Robert Randol and it was the site of his home at 1st and C Street the post office was looking at to build on. But as we know, the location was finally decided to be at 1st and B SW. Here is a picture of the Randol home place and the newspaper clipping.

The only thing left of the Randol property at C and 1st SW is the concrete border that ran along the south side of the Randol place.

Doug Williams sent in some photos this week of what is left of the old Coolbranch School house north of Ratliff City, Oklahoma in far NW Carter county. The only thing visible now is the school's concrete storm cellar.

Ardmore's OSU Extension agent Leland McDaniel passed the Big 50 on last week and the OSU Extension office staff didn't let him forget it either. They set up the Conference room with black ribbons and balloons and the whole nine yards. But even with all the hoopla, they did prepare Leland a wonderful breakfast which he enjoyed with a smile. I snapped a couple of pictures since its not everyday a guy turns 50. lol

Speaking of the OSU Extension staff, a couple of weeks ago OSU secretary Denise Menke let me see a crocheted centerpiece she was working on. I could tell it was going to be a work of art, but when Denise sent me a photo of the finished piece, it is absolutely beautiful. I think when someone like Denise that can take spools of yarn and cloth and thread and turn it into this, they are true artists.

Lewis and Clark: They went west to explore, and millions followed in their wake.

"Butch, when I was a kid, it was my job to watch for hawks when we let the mother hen and her chicks out to run. Beauty in flight didn't put food on the table and a hawk could put you out of the chicken business pretty quick. That is why we (my dad) shot them in the good old days. Merry Christmas to your family." -Dan

"I was a junior member of the Ardmore Ham Radio Club in the late 40s. Meetings were held in Charles Dibrell's radio shop that was on C NW just north of 8th Ave. His parents lived in the house at the NW corner of 8th and B. It was quite a variety of guys. In addition to Charlie there were Harve Pretty of OG&E and his brother William Pretty, DDS, Maynard Reavis the druggist, Jack Gant who was in oil, and a younger fellow who had been a radio operator in the service who loved to copy code. That was amusing was the guy copying the code usually typed it while some of the older guys would just listen and chuckle when they heard something funny. At one of these meetings I saw my first live TV, on a set that Charlie had built from scratch, including winding some high frequency transformers. The only major problem he had was he installed the deflection yoke on the neck of the picture tube wrong, so the picture was upside-down. This turned out to be easily fixed by repositioning the yoke. I've probably bored you enough. I ran across Charlie's memorial page on your website and it brought back some old, old memories. Keep up the good work." -Charles McCollum [email protected]

"Hello, and Merry Christmas to my friends in Oklahoma. Melbourne, Australia has been in the grip of a drought for a long time now, and for the past couple of weeks much of Victoria state has been ravaged by bush fires. So Santa's present to our firefighters this morning will be very gratefully received. Okay, so it's not SNOW (here in Berwick), but what can you expect in the middle of Summer? :-) (It is supposed to snow in the hills.) Merry Christmas, and a safe and happy New Year to all of you and your families. Best regards." -Ron [email protected] http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/AustraliaShow6a.jpg http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/AustraliaShow6b.jpg

"Butch, if you will look closely at the AVG website, you will see that there will still be a free version available even after February. I think they are trying to keep the free version link "hard to find" but I finally found it and downloaded it. As usual, it lacks some of the features of the paid version, but it has been such a good program for me and I intend to keep it as long as it is available."

"Hi Butch, I just read through your newsletter for the first time. I wanted to acknowledge my appreciation to Ryan Jennings who said in a piece there that he met me while I was doing a book signing at Hastings in Ardmore last spring. He suggested that people visit my website to take a look at my book, Just Folks: Earthy Tales of the Prairie Heartland (since then I also have another book, A Heartland Voice: Just Folks Two}. I had a wonderful time touring Oklahoma, and meeting people like Ryan. Although I am a Kansan, I know people in this part of the country share much in common heritage. I always felt that Gene Autry and Will Rogers belonged to us too. Although my writing isn't like what Rogers did, he was an influence. I loved meeting many members of the native American nations at my signings, and discussing their culture and heritage. There was also a fellow just this side of the Panhandle who told me I owed my life to my respect for private property that I didn't go traipsing into some pastures around there to see the flora close-up. He explained that he owned a "buzz worm" farm, rattle snakes, about one per square foot. Anyway, I sure invite any of your readers to E-mail me at [email protected] if they want to visit with me, and I hope to meet Ryan again some day. I did five states for Hastings this year, and I'm sure I'll be back to seeing you again, even if it's to drink coffee with some of you before putting heavy boots on to take a walk. A special thanks to everyone who thought I had to be an Oklahoman," -Jerry W. Engler http://www.jerryengler.com/

"Butch, here is a picture of Carter county Superintendent of schools, Mary Niblack." -Doug Williams

http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/MaryNiblackPhoto.jpg

"Butch, another one of my neighbors (at the farm near Springer, Ok.) just obtained a vintage biplane. You may recall that about a month back Casey Smith purchased a vintage 1943 Boeing Steerman biplane and I sent you photos of that beautiful aircraft. Well today Glenn Smith Jr., also of the Springer Area, flew in with a 1939 Waco (pronounced Wauko, not like the Texas City of Waco) cabin biplane, model YKS-7. I've attached several photos of this magnificent plane including a shot of the cabin interior and a close up of the 275 HP Jacobs radial engine. Like the Steerman it is in pristine condition as you can see from the photos. Note the counter-weights on the adjustable pitch prop. Looks like Springer, Oklahoma is trying to make it's mark as the vintage biplane capitol and there are lots of other vintage planes in the area as well." -C. Dwane Stevens [email protected]

http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/1939WacoPlane6a.jpg http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/1939WacoPlane6b.jpg http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/1939WacoPlane6c.jpg http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/1939WacoPlane6d.jpg http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/1939WacoPlane6e.jpg

http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/1939WacoPlane6f.jpg http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/1939WacoPlane6g.jpg http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/ttphotos6a/1939WacoPlane6h.jpg

"Hi Butch, I am not sure if you can help me but I am desperate and you may have some answers for me. I found your name on the Carter County, Oklahoma GenWeb site. My Great Grandfather was William E (Edward or Edwin) Ritter. In 1920, he and his Nephew, Newt Ritter, son of James and Lula Ritter who are buried in Marlow, were murdered by Watson Ned. One of my newly discovered cousins sent me the following information taken from the area newspaper. I am on a search to find out where my Great Grandfather was buried. I recently mailed my $10 to the state looking for a death certificate and got nowhere. It is obvious he died and was buried in Oklahoma and you would think the fact that he was murdered would leave records but I have not been able to find anything other than the court transcript from the trial. My hope is that you will have an idea about where I should search next. My Mom is going to have her 80th birthday in April and one of the things that has always been a mystery to her is the burial place of her Grandfather. I would love to find that information for her. I sure hope you can help me or send me to someone who can...... thanks." -Linda Jackson in Locust Grove, Oklahoma

[email protected]

"Tom, I remember the attack on Pearl Harbor well. Betty Jo Love and I were on our way home from the movie. Stopped by my sister's house to view my new nephew. When we heard the unbelievable news." -Jessica Barnett McClanahan [email protected]

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow,
The year is going, let him go,
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

2006 is quickly coming to a close. I have enjoyed all the good times we've had here each week and looking forward to 2007. It always saddens me to close out another year of T&Ts with the loss of some friends who started the year with us. Since we are not guaranteed any certain length of time on this earth, I am thankful for the time we do have together. The names on my screen are much more than just an email address, but friendships brought together here each week like one big family. So from Jill and I, Happy New Year everyone!