Oklahoma Foreclosure Blues

I was wandering the back-roads of Major County in NW Oklahoma. The roads were muddy. I was lost, but wouldn't admit it as per my geographic training. But I was looking for one of them Oklahoma "rock roads" the "farm to market" roads raise up higher that the fields around it and covered with gravel or chat. Sometimes however they are mythical and I was having troubles.
I was in my Red Chevy truck but my city kids were following behind me in a low bottom sedan.
They were not happy with me and disconcerted cause the daughter-in-law (ridding in the car) was suppose to be a hundred miles away helping her best friend fix up a church for the friends wedding.

So imagine their unpleasantness when I stopped to take this picture of a lonely house bent over from the SW winds and abandoned. There used to be more of these around. One almost every quarter section when I was growing up in SW Oklahoma. For you citified readers a quarter section was 160 acres and was about all a farmer could handle out on the plains plowing with mules back when this land was opened for settlement. Probably 2/3rd of all those farms and homes were sold off or foreclosed on in the great depression. For many of them, the "Jodes" just walked away.

I was surprised when my son said , "Dad a big bird has landed on top of that house."

I'll be dang I said. (sure I did)

His wife was the daughter-in-law and none to glad hubby had pointed out another picture to me.

Turns out the big bird was a vulture and seems to have had a nest in the chimney of the old home. I took pictures of the parent feeding the chicks down inside the bricks, but mud and time wouldn't let me get in closer.

Somehow a vulture taking over an old abandoned (possibly even foreclosed) property seem just too apropos and poetical to let it go by.

Tomnibus Bill Rolls Over Oklahoma's Dr. No

It is about damn time.
Not only did the Senate stick it to Oklahoma's Senator Tom Coburn, but they did it 160 times and on Sunday at that.
It's about damn time.

NYT Blog: THE CAUCUS

January 11, 2009, 3:42 pm — Updated: 1:55 am -->
On a Sunday, the Senate Votes Yes on a Lands Bill
By Carl Hulse
The Senate conducted its first vote of the 111th Congress –- on a Sunday no less -– and overrode the objections of Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, to push forward a public lands bill.
On a vote of 66-12, the Senate agreed to take up a package of 160 different bills joined under an umbrella measure. The package has been dubbed a Tomnibus since the whole idea is to merge multiple proposals opposed by Mr. Coburn -– a physician known in the Senate as Dr. No. — and win passage all at once. Fifty-nine votes was the threshold.
The bill, which faces more debate and possible approval later this week, sets aside 200 million acres for public wilderness in nine states. It adds more than 1,000 miles to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and 2,800 miles of new trails to the federal system.
Mr. Coburn said he did not dispute that the bill did some good, but he objected to the opposition of Democrats to allowing Republicans to offer amendments to the measure. Given the problems facing the nation, he said, Congress should be focused on matters other than legislation that will eventually drive up federal spending.
“I have no doubt that there are key, significant things that need to get done that are in this bill,” he said. “But I will tell you, I am always going to be opposed to wasting money.”
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, was sending a message with his decision to schedule the vote on Sunday. Democrats have been frustrated by Mr. Coburn’s determination to hold up so many bills and the Sunday vote was intended to let Republicans know that Democrats are no longer going to go along easily. They hope Mr. Coburn’s colleagues put pressure on him to relent, though Mr. Coburn is not the sort of lawmaker to respond to that kind of pressure.
A dozen Republicans did vote for the measure, which irritated Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, one of Mr. Coburn’s chief allies.
“If my colleagues on my side continue to accept this, there’s going to be no such thing as a Republican Party,” he said.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/on-a-sunday-the-senate-votes-yes-on-a-lands-bill/

One of those 160 bills that the Oklahoma Republican, along with six other social conservatives, put a hold on in the Senate was Bush's bill for $50 million to fight Aids. Tommy boy locked it up in committee and would let it out unless a provision was added to direct most of the spending toward "treatment" for HIV/AIDS rather than "toward prevention and other priorities". Otherwise, Coburn said, “the vast majority of the money is going to get consumed by those wanting to help people with HIV, rather than [by] people with HIV.”

Gobbler Tommy, an M.D., may have been reflecting his own practices as a doctor. He basically only trust himself, so in his entire time in the Senate only 14 bills he has authored have made it out of committees. Can't get shit done, so he stops others from doing things. Now the Democrat Senate majority can isolate the fool.

Sadly that means Oklahoma will have to rely on the good graces of others in the Senate for anything we want. I mean, Inhofe isn't going to be so popular either. The Turkey Tom and Slowmind Jim, our Senators, will be out in the cold for a long time to come.
It's about damn time.

THE REAL THING U.P. LOCOMOTIVE 844 IN OKLAHOMA

An example of how high the wheels on the locomotive are.

The Story:
The Union Pacific Railroads Steam Engine #844 and VIP train rolled across Oklahoma to help the State celebrate its 100th birthday. We went out to see it on two different days. I have ridden many many steam locomotives over time, but the the UP 844 (formerly known as #8444) is my favorite. I simply love to stand by the track and let her go by. Here is an article written by a reporter Marie Watkins of the New Haven (Missouri) Leader. She wrote a column for her newspaper after experiencing Union Pacific 8444 (now UP 844) passing through her small town on a winter's day:



Outside El Reno, Oklahoma.


UP #8444 In 1974


"It snowed on Monday, March 12, the wind was biting and the day was dull, dull and gray. We remembered about old No. 8444 and shuffled up to the crossing to wait for the old steam engine...just out of respect for the past.
"The cold quickly stung our toes with pain, and the people who strung along the track wandered here and there and stomped their feet. A train or two passed, but there was no sign of the old steam engine with the cow catcher.
"We milled about, that half-hearted gathering of the cold and the curious. Over there was Mr. Williams...wait...
"A hoarse whistle moaned...Lord! MERCY! It was unbelievable! ""Old" 8444 exploded across the Front Street track like a page from Armageddon. It would be inappropriate to say the old geezer was smoking - she was breathing fury like a black demon. You'd a thought she was mad at somebody. And m-o-v-i-n-g? That iron monster never heard of chug-a-chug. She hit with such blithering force that it caused terror to rise up and go forth. Black thunder swept all breath away and the air roared with mocking anger.
"A hunnert miles and hour! A hunnert miles an hour!" the people would say later with disbelief, for the wind from 8444 blew one onlooker right off the railroad crossing."Before she even got here, No. 8444 was gone!It was awesome, just awesome."
- Marie Watkins



Under an overpass at Chickasha, Oklahoma.





At a crossing in Concho, Oklahoma.



And away she goes.

Roaring Past Concho, Oklahoma in 2007
Yes, It Is The Tingle!