This blog is being REMODELED. Look for a much improved version soon!

Thank you and have a great day!!!

Civic Center Trashed

   Our Muskogee Civic Center has received a beautiful new look inside and out. It was a long time in coming but it's finally here. The outside has been beautifully landscaped with statues, plants, flowers, pictured pillars, and comfortable park benches. It is a wonderful place to sit and rest for a spell, while enjoying all of its new beauty. The covered parking area provides great protection from the elements for outdoor events. The enormous new side parking lot gives much needed parking to event goers. It is a very positive, beneficial upgrade for Muskogee. 
   So why aren't we taking care of it? Why are we trashing it instead of expressing pride in our new look? I read in the paper and hear at meetings that we are now trying to bring in many more events to our beautiful new Civic Center (new look). Many events have already been held there over the last few Saturdays. I was absolutely disgusted to see what remained each time. This past Saturday it held our weekly Farmer's Market followed by Congressman Dan Boren's BBQ Bash. The garbage that remained from that BBQ was an eyesore! The trash can on the corner of 5th and Okmulgee was completely full. A huge box of garbage, stuffed full to overflowing was stacked on the top of the public waste can, next to a park bench. More over-flowing boxes of trash sat in the middle of the parking lot. Stray pieces of trash were scattered across the grass. Construction-type tent signs lay sprawled out in the parking lot. It was an unbelievable mess, to say the least. Come Sunday morning, all remained unchanged. What a sight to greet the many down town church goers! I hope none of them hosted out-of-town guests. Just the thought brings painful embarassment. Then a high-winded, severe storm passed through. By the time all the surrounding churches let out, all that trash had been blown helter skelter across the parking lot and landscaping, coming to rest in soggy heaps.
   With gas prices so high many people now take leisurely Sunday afternoon walks instead of Sunday afternoon drives. As more and more apartments go back into downtown Muskogee, so rises the number of downtown residents taking their afternoon stroll through downtown. That smelly garbage was not an appealing site. By Sunday night, it still all remained unchanged.
   Monday afternoon everything still remained untouched. The garbage from the Dan Boren BBQ grew to an overwhelming stench. Numerous "Dan Boren" signs lay in crumpled heaps and scattered across the sidewalks, lawns and roadway. When our State Congressman shows this kind of disrespect for our town one must truly wonder if he is sincerely, honestly, and actively keeping our best interests in mind; if he truly cares about our state. (Dan Boren, D-Muskogee)
   Sometime Monday afternoon (almost 48 hours later - a full two days!) the garbage was finally removed so the grass could be mowed. But the piles of soggy Dan Boren campaign signs still remain. The ones that were lying in the grass appeared to have just been tossed into the pile. As of Tuesday evening, a full three days later, the nasty, crumpled, soggy pile of Dan Boren signs still remains on the front grounds of our Muskogee Civic Center.

   Two weeks prior our Civic Center held yet another very large event along with the weekly Farmer's Market. At the close of the day that Saturday piles of trash remained. Numerous large boxes of trash sat close to the curb in the Civic Center's new parking lot. Someone associated with the event had untied and stolen one of the cinder blocks forming the border around my parking lot, leaving my lot wide open to the public. That evening it was found in the Civic Center's new parking lot, tossed aside with the trash. As I sat in my candle store that day I watched a woman in a group of walkers, associated with the event, empty the contents of her drink bottle into some of my flower pots. Two flowers were dead by the next day.  With this kind of disrespect area business owners will hesitate to support any downtown events.
   After the event, boxes of trash stood piled up against the park bench, again on the corner of 5th and Okmulgee, not only a high traffic corner but a highway as well. That trash sat there for a full week, untouched. Many people passed by it on their daily walk; a real "thorn" in the beauty of the new park-like look. One couple that had been walking decided to sit down for a rest. I cringed as they had to sit on a pretty bench crowded by a week-old pile of trash and folded construction signs. I would like to know whose idea it was to pile mountains of nasty trash up against a park bench intended for people to sit, relax and "enjoy the flowers." Can you imagine what people 'passing through' as they drive down the highway must think as they look over and see people relaxing on a park bench surrounded by garbage!? Is this the image we want to portray? Is this how we want to greet our town's guests? I think not!!
   The trash was finally removed by the next Saturday morning, a full week later. That was far, far too long of a time frame. We definitely need to project a better image of our town than this. The improvements to our Civic Center will not be of any benefit if the grounds are left to sit in rotting garbage. Disrespected area business owners will not give any support to event holders. New businesses will not want to set up in our town. Let's take care of this problem before it gets out of hand. Let's make our town a place that we are proud to invite visitors to. Let's keep it clean.

You can find photos to go with this story here.   Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. This blog cannot be reproduced in any way without my express written permission.

911........WHERE DID IT GO?

More than a decade ago Muskogee put into effect a full 911 system. All the rural areas had to swith from Rural Route addresses to actual street names/numbers and house numbers. That took some adjusting for many, but was well worth it. When I bought my house eleven years ago the address had just changed over, causing a little confusion in the closing but not too bad. Everyone was excited and happy that we finally had a 911 system. The system seemed to run pretty smoothly.

But where did it go?! It seems to have disappeared. I am sure that Muskogee's tax payers would be interested to know that the system is gone. The system is out-dated and probably can no longer run as-is. Are our taxes still paying for it? I have to wonder.....

Over the last couple of years I, myself, have had to call 911 a few times. Here is what happened on a couple of occasions:     I had just left my house late morning to drive to town to work. About half-way there I saw someone's escaped German shepherd frantically trying to get through a fence that was holding in one of our school teacher's new herd of goats. As a fellow goat owner I knew what the probable outcome would be if the situation wasn't tended to. Now granted people's dogs get loose, it happens now and then. And I figured both owners were probably already at work and hadn't a clue as to what was about to happen. And what happnes is where a wild animal, such as a wolf, only kills what it needs to eat, a domestic dog will usually go in, kill all that it can in a hurry, then run off leaving its dead prey scattered all over the field. So I knew I had to do something. I pulled over, stopped and called 911. Now mind you they had no idea what the emergency was. My call was answered, "Muskogee County Sheriff's Department, please hold." then I was switched over to hold before I could utter a word! It was nearly a minute before my call was finally answered with an apology 'for the wait' (OMG!!). I stated the problem as I watched the determined dog, praying hard that he didn't get through the fence because I sure didn't want to try to get ahold of him myself. The dispatcher thanked me for calling, took down the location, and said he would send someone out immediately. So I went on to work as thoughts of disbelief and anger ran through my mind. I had called 911 and got put on HOLD!!!!!

A couple of months ago my van was broken into and my purse (more of a traveling office) was stolen. At the time I was co-teaching a line dance class, everyone in the class had left and we were packing everything up for the night. We heard a noise outside and went to see what it was. Two teenage boys ran off into the distance and the long, side window on my van was barely hanging. I immediately called 911 as I watched the boys disappear behind a building about 3 parking lots away. My call was answered by a recording, "You have reached the Muskogee Police Department. If this is an emergency and you need an officer, press '1', if you need...." and the message continued on through 'options.' DANG IT ALL!!...if it wasn't an emergency I wouldn't have dialed 911!!!!!! But that is what you can now expect any time you dial 911 in the Muskogee area. If your call registers that you are calling from within the city limits, you will receive the Muskogee Police Department, the same recording you get if you call them directly. If it registers that you are calling from outside the city limits your call goes directly to the sheriff's department. Good grief!! This time delay in the system could easily cost people their lives, or at least life-long damage. Seconds absolutely count in an emergency.

Now the secret is out and I ask all you citizens of Muskogee, "What are we going to do to remedy this?"

Thank you for reading my blog.

The Bag Lady

About a year and a half ago I opened up my little "smelly stuff" shop in an old, refurbished, mini mall in our little town of Muskogee. As I came and went I usually entered from the back side of the mall (Okmulgee St.). Often I would see an oddly dressed not-too-clean woman just outside the mall sitting on the stoop resting. As I approached the door, she would always look away, sometimes shifting further down her perch a little to create more distance between us. I was intrigued by this woman. She never seemed to bother anyone, just sat there "resting," sometimes snoozing. She wore an odd mix of loose fitting clothes......pants, a few shirts, a dress, scarf, and a shaggy old coat. She usually had one or more bags of belongings with her, also. One dark night, after having worked really late, I obviously caught her by surprise as I was leaving. As I walked out the door, there she was, rummaging through the dumpster. My unexpected exit from the mini mall obviously startled her and she disappeared as slickly and smoothly as an alley cat. I knew right then that she must be one of our homeless that I so often heard about. You know they are there, but the average citizen rarely sees them: thus never really knowing the magnitude of the problem.

My curiosity peeked so when I went in to work the next day I began asking the other business owners about her. The majority said, "Oh, that is the Bag Lady. She is crazy but never really bothers anyone. If you leave her alone, she will leave you alone."  How sad!!!! People were ignoring her like the small piece of trash on the ground that they were too lazy to bend over and pick up. My heart went out to this woman. On one hand she seemed terrified of people, that was obvious. Yet, she often hovered around the back entrance of a small mall which told me she was longing for human contact and a sense of 'belonging' to this world. I have always firmly felt that every person was put here on this Earth for a reason. God created every baby with a specific purpose in mind. We may not always choose to live right and fulfill that purpose by our choosing, but God created each and every one of us for a reason, regardless of their physical or mental conditions or handicaps. And when people are treated like no-longer wanted garbage, they begin to feel like it themselves, stop living, simply 'exist' each day, begin to die inside, and their value to the world becomes lost.

Just down the road and around the corner from Shadow Wood Mall is a strip of antique and second hand stores. They are FULL of that garbage  that people felt no longer had any value and needed to be tossed out. But many times someone will go into one of those shops, look at someone's discarded item, see a beauty in it that no one else does, then take it home and 'work with it' until everyone else can see the beauty that they also saw. Well, that is how I was seeing that woman. I saw her as a lost and scared woman that longed for some human contact. At some point in time she had to have been someone's daughter, someone that I am sure must have loved her and been very proud of her in their day. So I decided right then that I was not going to ignore her. The next day when I arrived at work she was there in her usual spot. The weather was beginning to get cooler now.  She was there every day when I arrived, sitting on the concrete stoop, up against the glass entrance in the bright sunshine, soaking up its warmth as it heated up the concrete and glass. When I got to the door (she was only a few feet away) I looked over at her half-fetal heap, smiled and said, "Good morning."  She instantly lowered her already down cast head even more, turning her head and entire body away from me as she moved further down the ledge. But she didn't leave.   I decided I better not push the issue and went on in to work.  The next day, she was again there "sunning." As I got to the door I again smiled and said, "Good morning" as sweetly as I could. The reaction I got from her was the same as the day before. I went on inside and began my day of work.  Again the next morning I vowed I would try again. I would not give up on her.  This time I stood a bit closer to her as I smiled down and cheefully said, "Good morning." She again began to scoot down her perch but this time she glanced up as she moved. I continued to look down at her as I smiled. She looked down and away.....then back up with a very curious and confused look in here eye which seemed to ask, "Is this business woman talking to me?" She cautiously continued to look up at me with amazement and obvious confusion. I asked, "How are you today?" Her body began to relax and straighten a little as she said, "Fine. The sun is nice." I continued with our conversation, talking about how wonderful the weather was that day. She relaxed and sat straight up, smiling broadly. "This woman is talking to me, ME!" the look on her face seemed to say. All the dimness left her face, replaced with excited brightness as she happily engaged in conversation with me. She was so excited that someone was actually talking to her. Seeing how happy she was, the total change in her air, truly brightened my day as well.

I saw and talked to her a few more times after that. It did my heart good to walk up each day and instead of seeing her hunched, turned away, frightened body I saw a bright face with a happy smile. After that the weather became very cold and I didn't see her any more. I asked around about her and was told that she found a place in a shelter. I was glad. Since then I have moved my little shop down the road and haven't seen her any more, though I always keep my eyes open for her. I truly hope she is in a very nice place.  The homeless are homeless for a multitude of reasons some by choice, some by chance. Regardless of the reason, they are not trash, they are human beings. Some, I will admit, are in a position where they must hit a bottom before they are willing to try to climb back up, but none of them should ever be treated like discarded trash. That kills their feeling of self-worth and crushes any desires they might have to try to pull themselves back up. So please, the next time you walk past a homeless person SMILE REAL BIG and cheerfully say, "Hello!" It may well be just the 'leg up' they needed to get 'back on their track.'

Thank you for reading my blog.

Milk, Eggs & Wild Green Onions

 One evening, earlier this spring, I decided I wanted "breakfast" for dinner.  The wild green onions were coming up thick in my mom's backyard and here at my little farm the chickens were coming to life from their winter's rest and beginning to lay good. So I decided on scrambled eggs with wild green onions and home made biscuits. It was a wonderful meal that I am sure only ended up costing pennies. Some say that it is 'poor man's food' and won't touch it. I sat there enjoying my feast and thinking, "If so, the poor sure do have it good at times." Mmmmmmmm

 Now, I thoroughly enjoy raising and eating my own eggs, milk, vegetables and even meat (when I have the time and patience). Besides the good feeling I get from successfully raising anything, I also take great comfort in knowing that these foods aren't full of hormones and chemicals, nor cruely kept in very cramped living quarters. And I can't say enough good things about goat's milk. This poor old bod functions much, much better on it than store bought milk. As I was enjoying my dinner that night, more thoughts came to mind. I sat remembering how many people constantly throw exclamations at me of "Ooooo, GROSS!"....."I'd never eat those brown eggs."...."You're going to get something besides onions by mistake."....."Just the thought of milk coming out of a goat makes me wanna puke."....."Do you know what those chickens have been eating?" when another thought struck me........store bought milk.........Just where on that carton does it say that it is COWS MILK? It has been processed, yes, so much so that the most valuable components in it have probably been killed. But where on that milk carton does it say that it came from a cow? It just says homogenized, pasteruized, MILK. It could come from anything, so long as it says it is milk.....a cow, goat, camel, elephant, bear, human.....need I go on? At least I know where my milk specifically comes from. Are you still reading or are you in there looking at your milk carton?

 Then I looked down at my country fresh eggs and thought.......Where does it say on that egg carton that those are CHICKEN eggs? I bet you are running to look at your carton right now, lol. It says that they are Grade "A" or "AA" or such, and their size, but no where on that carton does it specify that they come from a chicken! Ducks lay white eggs. And ducks keep laying through the cooler weather when chickens stop laying. Geese lay white eggs, too. Could that be what is in that carton of "Jumbo" eggs? Is that really a chicken egg you are eating? I know mine is. Looks to me like I am the one that should be saying to you....."Gross! Where did that come from?"                          Thank You For Reading My Blog!