This afternoon at 4:30pm I left my
employment at the courthouse and entered the world of the retiree. Yesterday, Wednesday June 24th
my
co-workers and friends threw a retirement party for me in the Annex Building
next door to the courthouse. There was a real good turnout and everyone
enjoyed the fellowship and fun during those 2 hours. I appreciate everyone that
came by with well-wishes. It feels good knowing I don't have to punch that clock
anymore. I have some photos to share from the retirement party but have not had
time to work them up and place on my website. I will have those photos in next
week's newsletter. Below is a link to a couple pictures Carter County
Commissioner's Executive Secretary, Lori Prewitt, took yesterday afternoon.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/BridgesAndMcReynolds2015.jpg
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/ButchAndCake062415.jpg
There was a really nice write-up in The
Daily Ardmoreite this week about my retirement.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/ButchBridges062315.jpg
A sink hole developed the other day on
the north side of the First Bank & Trust of Ardmore (north parking lot). Workers
found in the sink hole red bricks of what looked like a wall, and some steps of
some kind. The hole keeps filling up with water. I know back in the 1950s and
before there was an artesian well in the basement of the bank (old Hotel
Ardmore) and I wonder if the water is coming from that stream that fed the well
in the basement.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/FirstBankSinkHole062215.jpg
Southern Oklahoma has lost a number of
county bridges the past month with all the heavy rains and flooding. Someone
asked about the old Tishomingo Bridge at the south edge of town. It was replaced
in 1981 after a heavy flood with a new concrete bridge. I dug out this photo of
the swinging bridge that I had fun on back in the 70s.
http://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/SwingingBridgeTish.jpg
I had a request from a friend who is
searching for a buckeye tree she saw years ago, pretty sure south of Lone Grove.
If you know of such a tree, let me know.
A couple of pavers I sandblasted this
week.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/SteveTerryPaver.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/MattiePaver.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/MattiePaverInstalled.jpg
I'm still trying to break below that 177 pound plateau I reached over a month
ago. Still happy with the overall effects of TruVision. If anyone wants to try it,
give me a holler. "I'll meet you at the
Walmart mailbox!" Join us and check
it all out at the link below.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/truvision.html
http://butch.truvisionhealth.com/
My Okie Power Saver does more than
just save on the electric bill.
Did I mention the Okie Power Saver serves as a surge protector? Yep, that too.
Not only does it recycle energy to save you money, but also doubles as a surge
protector to shield your motors & appliances against power surges and brownouts.
The Power Saver is installed either at your electrical panel or directly to a
large motor such as an air conditioner. Because its very design causes the
electricity to be recycled back into your system, you require less energy from
your electric company.
When it comes to protecting the big ticket motors/appliances in your home or
business, do you rely on these inexpensive power strips? Or, do you go for
something that specifically was designed to protect your Central A/C, heat pump,
pool pump, refrigerator, etc. Just 1 power surge is all it takes to lose
thousands of dollars, so the protection is worth the investment.
When it?s thousands of dollars on the line, our Power Saver can protect your
expensive equipment AND make it run more efficiently.
http://www.OKiePowerSaver.com
Q. What percentage of Oklahoma
is made up of forests?
A.
Approximately 28 percent of the land is forested.
Q. True or False: Oklahoma
has more manmade lakes than any other state.
A. (answer in next week's T&T)
From This and That
newsletter archives of June 23, 2001:
A piece of history came down in Lone Grove
this week. Around statehood, 1907, there was a school north of Lone Grove by the
name of Deese school. Many years ago it was moved, or part of it was moved to
the south side of the highway just east of Brock Road and Highway 70 in Lone
Grove. The present owners built a new log home just on the west side of this 100
year old piece of history and this week bulldozed the old school building down.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/DeeseSchoolDemolition2001.jpg
The strange thing is prior tenants in this
building turned-into-a-house claimed to hear strange noises in the night, along
with other strange phenomenon. The people who lived just to the east of the
house, said years ago they saw the then owner dig a big hole behind the house.
Nothing strange about that, except they owner did the digging during the
nighttime, then turned right around and covered it up. Something strange there.
Oh well, its all history now.
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In November 1913 the swinging bridge was
dedicated in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. I remember going over it in the 1970s and by
pushing on and off the brakes, I will able to rock the bridge. Boy, the dumb
things when we're young, risking our very lives. The swinging bridge became only
a memory on October 13, 1981 when water from torrential rains washed it away.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/SwingingBridgeTish.jpg
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The day I decided to go to the
Maxwell-Wood cemetery at Dornick Hills when I had a couple of strange things
happen. I was beginning to think someone or something didn't want me to go.
First, just before I travelled out there, I was eating some saltine crackers. I
got to looking and every one of those saltine crackers had 13 holes in the
surface. hahaha
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/cracker13.jpg
Then after arriving at the Country Club, and
enroute to the cemetery in the golf cart, we came upon an obstruction in our
path. Almost like a sign from the other side... STOP. Just a few hundred yards
from the cemetery entrance was a big tree limb across the path, so we had to
walk to rest of the way in.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/MaxwellCemeteryTree.jpg
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A friend who lives in the adjoining county
just south of Ardmore in Love County told me this week they have been invaded by
giant grasshoppers, millions of them. She said it only took those hungry
grasshoppers two days to completely strip their garden. I guess the grasshoppers
will be in the Ardmore area in a few days.
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"It was not called the Mill Tax. It was the beginning of the sales tax in
Oklahoma. Prices were very low during the depression, and the sales tax rate was
also very low, so mills were provided so you wouldn't be drastically overcharged
by having to pay a penny on the purchase of a five-cent candy bar, or
alternatively so the state wouldn't lose all the tax on small purchases."
"As the tax rate rose, and prices rose, the
need for one-mill and five-mill pieces (a tenth of a cent and half a cent)
became kind of silly and most people and merchants stopped fooling with them;
they more or less died a natural death, although I don't know when or if they
ever officially were removed from the law."
"The sales tax did not have anything to do
with Social Security, which was a federal program. The sales tax (originally
only the state could levy the sales tax) was earmarked for "Old Age Pensions,"
and other welfare-type functions. It was common to speak of paying the mills
"for the old folks.""
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"Western Iron Works closed it's foundry operations on it's 75th anniversary,
Sept. 1998. The product line was sold to East Jordan Iron Works, Inc. of
Michigan."
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/WesternIronWorks.jpg
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"I remember those electric blade razors.
Haven't heard of one in a long time. I notice however that about Christmas time
every year Panasonic runs adds on TV about their Electric blade razor, watch for
it or e-mail them. Now, do you want to know the secret to a really close shave
and not have to have a nervous gadget vibrating around on your face and
especially with a hang-over. I may not have the spelling right but that you can
find out. Wally World in the Women's department has the Neutrogena Soap (check
spelling). Next pick up the latest Schick Chromium double blades. Now search
around until you find Old Spice Shaving lather in the instant can type thing.
Wash your face as normal but with the soap described earlier but DO NOT RINSE
OFF. Put on the Old Spice shave cream and get a shave that is good for 12 hours
or more and will leave your face as smooth as a fresh picked watermelon. You
follow how I told you too and you will not find a better shave, guaranteed."
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Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
"Hi Butch, Thought you and your readers might be interested to know that an
article about the floods made the "Nation & World" section of the 19 June issue
of the Northwest Florida Daily News. There's a large picture of a flooded Turner
Falls....an awesome sight. You have truly arrived if you're mentioned on one of
the few pages of our local "Mullet Wrapper".
-Barry Flanary, Wilson Alum
Hi Butch, Here's wishing you a wonderful and happy retirement. Of course you
have to know that there is a down side. Just think, you will never have a day
off. Mondays are just like weekends and forget holidays off from work, there
aren't any. Someone asked me on my last day at work what I was going to do and I
answered, "Nothing and I do not plan to start that until noon". Another good
answer, "Just go home and not come back". Seriously, the last one is not true,
you will want to visit the people that you worked with once in a while and I bet
you will be so busy that the, not until noon, will not fit you either. I am glad
that we will still get your T&T. Thanks for all of the memories that you have
given us over the years. Happy Trails." -Roy Miller
"Butch, Congratulations on your retirement! I worked all my life
and now I am retired for the rest of it. I like retirement best! I loved my job,
but don't miss being in harm's way. Have a happy retirement." -Rome Ingle,
Broken Arrow, OK.
"Wish I could drop in to the retirement
shindig next week. I'll be tied up in court over here in Bryan county that day.
However, I want to wish you the very best in retirement! I've been a T&T
follower from almost the very beginning and look forward to many more years of
T&T! Hoping you will have time for more adventures around Oklahoma, history,
burgers, bells, true crime stories... you know, this and that.
Good luck and congratulations." -David Cathey
Hi Butch, we have something in common, first a
pre-congratulations on retirement. You're gonna do just fine & be so busy after
a few weeks wonder how you ever found time before to work for a living. I
retired in 1980 & been an observer on the retiree scene since. Some people don't
do well, those who put their feet up & watch sports on TV, most of them expire
within 5 years. Another observation is we spend our working lives within some
kind of structured environment depending on what we did --- a boss we reported
to, our business routine, Naval Regulations, planting & harvest, etc. & when we
quit it & retire it's all gone. Those of us who had a busy life outside their
work-life, such as a major hobby, a sideline business, engaging social
activities, do well by continuing & expanding that or similar theme. Others seem
to feel abandoned & either join the TV watchers or try to find an activity to
fill the void in their lives.Case
histories -- Two members of my graduating class, scholars, US Navy, Annapolis,
retired as Captains. One expanded on his naval technical knowledge & founded a
business & a new different life. The other went the other way, failing at every
attempt & passing 20 years ago. ME? No scholar, highschool grad, started
cleaning airplane parts, kept myself busy in all directions, retired from same
company at VP level after 37 years & now at 91 still doing as much of my thing
as old age permits.
I'm prompted to say good luck, but mostly we make
out own luck. Just keep doing what you like to & more of it." -Bob McCrory
July 4th Fireworks celebration at Lake Murray.
http://chickasawcountry.com/events/view/lake-murray-fireworks-display
"Butch, I noticed the reference in last week's T&T newsletter to
Joe Richie. I am not the one who sent the inquiry in 2001 but I knew Joe very
well. We were both in the 45th Inf Div OK NG together during the 1960s and
shared many experiences. He lived and or taught school in Kingston, Tishomingo,
Madill, etc at various times in his life and is presently buried in the Fort
Sill National Cemetery.Joe was born in Poland and was a
victim of WWII, losing both parents to the Nazi death camps. He literally
escaped through a vent in a railroad boxcar leaving his parents behind to meet
their horrific fate. He used to tell me how his life was the model for the Dondi
cartoon strip since he was picked up as an orphan in Poland by an American army
unit and more or less adopted. At the war?s end he was smuggled aboard a
military transport bound for New York City in a duffle bag and was not
discovered until the ship was well out to sea and could not turn back. Upon
reaching NYC he was temporarily turned over to a Catholic orphanage until he was
formally adopted by one of the soldiers in the unit who happened to be from
Kingston.
He was a veteran of the Korean War and in addition, was later
authorized to wear the shoulder patch of the unit that adopted him during WWII
even though he was but a child. He was a kind and considerate man and I think of
him often." -Towana
Butch you made the Tulsa news!
http://m.newson6.com/story.aspx?story=29362082&catId=112042
The Daily Ardmoreite -
February 7, 1971
submitted by Melinda TaylorIndian Cook Book
Visiting around the Chickasaw Library at Broadlawn the other day I found a rare
cookbook, an "Oklahoma Indian Cook Book, The Best Indian Recipes from the Best
Indian State." They told me it belongs to Mrs. J. G. Alexander of Sulphur, and
it was brought to the library - only for showing, not giving - by Mrs. Vera C.
Jack, also of Sulphur.
With my interest in cooking an in Indian dishes, I scanned the book immediately.
It was prepared by "Mae Wadley Abbott, Choctaw Roll Number 7559," and was
published at Tulsa. It was illustrated by the famous Indian artist, the late
Acee Blue Eagle. Mrs. Abbott wrote in a Foreword when the book was published in
1957, "As an American Indian Woman, I have realized that Indian foods, like the
mystic, ceremonial and religious phases of the Red Man, are fast disappearing
into the past. Since food did constitute a very important part in the background
of the Indian history of this American continent, I became desirous to record
some of the best Indian recipes."
She did, 57 of them in this book, and many of them are the oldest I have seen.
All are concerned with native Indian foods such as corn, meat, pumpkin, sweet
potatoes, wild greens, wild fruits and nuts, acorns, etc. Included are recipes
for Indian corn bread, bean bread, parched corn, chestnut bread, pashofa,
ta-fulla, acorn mush, dried fish, water litly seeds, shuck bread, fry bread,
squaw bread, steamed squash, wild potatoes, and some with Indian names such as
pokek-koyl-yokee, bofpo, bota cupposa, stomp-she, tanfula and tonshla-bona.
Thanks Mrs. Alexander and Mrs. Jack for affording us a look at this cookbook.
Wilson Historical Museum Hours: Tues., Thurs., Fri., Sat.,
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. or visit us online. We have thousands of obituaries!!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15a/IndianCookBookAbbott1957.jpg
The trouble with retirement is that
you never get a day off.
See everyone next
week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
