Gypsy Life is Southern Oklahoma

As temporary residents in Southern Oklahoma, we are finding out lots of new things about this area and culture.

- A lot more people wave down here when you are driving, not as much on highways, but always on the gravel roads.
- The locals all wear nice wranglers, cowboy boots with spurs (so rattlers here them), cowboy hats (usually straw or light colored), and most of them wear light weight long sleeves if they are working outside. So we stick out wearing old jeans, cut-off shirts, baseball caps or no hats, and work boots.
- Oh and our accent is a slight give away that, "ya'll aren't from 'round here are ya?" nope. and when we say Minnesota people must think there is snow there year round or something, they always ask how cold it is back home.
- People seem more polite and respectful here though too, I like that.
- There are 2 small grocery stores in Waurika, but 1 closes at 8 and the other at 9 I found that out the hard way.
- There are more cops by this small town than we've seen in the rest of Oklahoma, we've had no problems though, the Sheriff is a relative of the lady that works in the office at the elevator, she said they won't bother us cause she likes our crew, she said that our guys (Andy, Ben, & Bob are usually hauling the wheat) are some of the nicest, most polite harvesters she's dealt with! I was very happy and impressed to hear that. It says a lot about these guys and puts in a good word for our name as well.
- the car wash is only 75 cents for 3 minutes here, Morristown is what $2.25 for 3 minutes?!? :)
- We are good for the local economy here, Sonic (pronounced SAW-nick here) is the only fast food place in town. It is like A&W kind of (I think A&W is better though) and when I am gone on a parts run they guys get food there or I do if we need food quickly. When I placed our 1st big order there they gave me a free ice cream cone! it made my day :) then they gave us a bunch of coupons for free cherry limeades!!
- There are Cedar, Mesquite, and Pecan trees. Trumpet vines (like Marg has on the windmill) grow wild in the ditches. and there are beautiful wild flowers here that we buy to plant at home.
- speed limits on 2 lane highways (like hwy 60 back home) are 65mph, it is sweet!
- Lots of beef cattle and horses grazing.
- The Critters have been something to learn about too. There are deer, wild boars, coyotes, possums, raccoons, armadillos, rabbits, pocket gophers, skunks, quail(bob whites - Dan wants to take some of those home), snapper turtles, water moccosins(snakes), rattlesnakes, dung beetles, huge caterpillers, spiders, and fire ants to name a few. We have seen most of these, but not all. It is fun to hear the farmers talk about hunting rattlers, coyotes, and boars. We learned that the dung beetles are good for the fields, and boars ruin wheat fields. Look where you stand and kneel, I had a fire ant crawl up my pants, but luckily I didn't get stung.