Americana Redux

I took a short road trip (work related) to the northeast corner of Oklahoma, via central Kansas.  I started a blog post about it a week ago, but the words never came in an orderly fashion.  There is stuff to say about the trip, but each item I wanted to touch on seem to grow into an unmanageable  diatribe.

I’ll just make some bullet points and post some photos.

  • The drive on I-70, between Denver and Salina, is excruciatingly boring.  Aside from some wind farms, the scenery is the same for eight hours.
  • The Interstate was constructed on a very long sloping ridge, so that the horizon drops off quickly and you can only see the landscape few miles in any direction before it became sky.
  • Northeast Oklahoma is a lot like Missouri, which is right next door.  A lot of trees and humidity.
  • A lot of people have pictures of Jesus on the corner of their farms.
  • A lot of people have anti-abortion signs on the corner of their farms.
  • A lot of people were spraying chemicals on their crops in the evening.
  • Fireflies continued to glow after they splattered against my windshield.

 

Grand Lake of the Cherokee Dam

Grand Lake O the Cherokees Dam, Oklahoma

 

Flood gates releasing water

Flood gates releasing water

 

Pinball machine in shed, NE Oklahoma.  It's ruined inside and out.

Pinball machine in shed, NE Oklahoma. It’s ruined inside and out.

 

 

 

 

Fox Crop

The foxes have set up home across the road from me for the first time in a couple of years.  The fox pups are beyond cute.

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There are four pups: two dark, two light.

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I only caught photos of two.

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Not very good backgrounds… an old run down cabin/house still inhabited in the summers by an old Texas man named Jim.  He’s not there yet.

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Mom fox moved the pups there one at a time a couple of weeks ago.  They were born elsewhere.  I watched as she led each one up the road to their new home.

Here she is watching over things, including me.

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The sun had already set when I took these photos.  It’s when the pups are most active.  I will probably get opportunities to take more photos before they leave.

Tick Season

Right after I had posted the previous post, I was scratching the back of my neck and found something that shouldn’t have been there.

 

Spotted Tick

Spotted Tick

 

I haven’t had a tick in probably 5 years.  Fortunately, I caught her before she bit.