Well, it's official: I'm an Okie again. And I like it. Jay likes it. The dogs ... are adjusting. After a few days of feeling out of her element, Xena is pretty thrilled to be able to be a Real Dog now. There are two ponds, acres and acres of runningsniffingrolling room, and chickens.
Xena likes the chickens. She doesn't chase them. She doesn't even stalk them. She just kind of ... follows them around with her mouth open.
Wilbur likes the freedom of living here. He likes to go down to the barn with me every morning and stay close to me while I feed horses and clean stalls. And he likes running in the pastures and checking the edge of the pond for frogs. He likes watching the guineas and he likes peeing on trees and truck tires. He doesn't like the fleas, though.
The poor sad dog has not slept in days because of the itching. And that means I have not slept in days, either, because of his itching. So today I loaded him up in the pickup and took him to the vet in Pryor. Dr Clint gave him a nice shot of cortisone, some horse pill–sized antibiotics, and some fancy spray to use in the meantime. He patted Wilbur on the head and told him he was a good dog. We liked Dr Clint.
Jay has friends. He seems to be getting along with everyone in his new herd. Sally and Clementine, as well as Jack the donkey, are the herd members he seems to hang out with the most. I've only ridden him a couple times this week, but will be increasing that as I get settled. He seems to have forgotten some basic horse skills, like steering and stopping. Those aren't vital when your main job is to stand around and eat grass, but I
would like to remind him that he's a riding horse and that he has to earn his carrots somehow.
I've been to Pryor a few times to visit my family. One night last week I went to my grandmother's house to watch the Rockies home opener with her. I bet your granny doesn't curse at baseball the way mine does.
I also have gone into Tulsa, which is about an hour away. My very first friend in the world, Sara Kate, lives here. We took her three babies to the park where Sara and I used to play when we were little. It was the same as it was back in the early 80s, only much smaller. :)
While I was there, I went to the Whole Foods. Did you know that the Whole Foods in Tulsa is foo-foo, but not as foo-foo as the one in Boulder?
Another thing you may not know about Oklahoma is that everyone is nice. Or a serial killer. There is no in between.
The toll-takers at the toll booths are nice. They want to know where you're moving from and what you think about Tim Tebow. They call you "honey."
You know who else calls you "honey" here? Everyone. Unless they call you "ma'am." And the receptionist at the vet clinic winks at you when the vet tells you to come back and see them again soon.
I'm never leaving.
Here are some photos from a couple days ago. So far mostly just portraity-type things, but I think in the next few days I'm going to try to shoot something they way I like to shoot things.
I also have a couple meetings with potential clients coming up, thanks to referrals from the talented
Tulsa wedding photographer Brett Birdsong, so things are looking good. Real good.
Now, if you'll excuse me, there is a flea on my knee, and after I take care of that, I'm headed out to feed horses again. Thanks for stopping by.
Haley
Junebug season is fading into roach season, the hollyhocks are in full bloom, and the horses have been moved to the summer pasture. There hasn't been rain in weeks, and I fear we're in for a long, hot, dry summer here in the northeast corner of Oklahoma. Green Country, as this area is known, is already looking parched and prickly heading into June. We got a head start on hay this year, though, and we're lucky to have grass up to the donkey's withers.
This will be my first Oklahoma summer since 1991, which was about 137 years ago. I've already surrendered my hair to the humidity. As a former slave to my straightening iron, I've conceded that curl and frizz is a permanent part of my life now. So are mule auctions and baling wire instead of twine. My most recent accomplishment is squishing ticks between my fingernails. Maybe we just need more guineas. (Hello. These are random thoughts that could easily be made into song lyrics. Go ahead. Sing them.)
Here is a glimpse of the past few weeks here on the farm. Don't be shy—join me on my Facebook photography page, which has been neglected for months; I'm going to make a better effort to post photos there once in a while so my blog posts don't end up with nine million photos, the way this one is.
If you're interested in buying any prints of images that you see here, you can leave a comment here with your email address and I'll get back to you, or you check out my Etsy shop.
As always, thanks for stopping by. :)
