Category Archives: Oklahoma culture

Homestead and Garden, Oklahoma culture

How Billie Holiday, Hoboken Coffee and The Pioneer Woman Talked Me Down from my Starbucks Addiction

2 Comments

Technology news is full of information about self-tracking apps helping to “quantify” yourself.  Fitbits track your sleep and exercise.  Apps like Mint help you track your spending habits. And…no, let’s just stop right there.  Apps like Mint track your spending patterns and help you see how out of control your coffee drinking habits are.

Okay, let’s stop again.  Mint tracked my “Coffee Shop” budget for six months and slapped me into reality.  And now, I’m better.  Here’s what happened…

A conversation sometime last year:

Me: I’m setting up our monthly budgets in Mint.  How much do you spend for golf every month.

Mick:  I don’t know, I don’t keep track.

Me:  Well, my one “luxury” every month is going to the coffee shop, relaxing with a latte, and reading.  I’m budgeting $120 per month for me.  That’s my luxury item.  How about you?  What’s your average golf expenditures?

Mick’s golf budget is not part of this story.  But, the idea that I was using social exchange theory is.  In one sense, quite honestly, I was trying to justify my coffee spending habits by externalizing Mick’s golf activity spending habits.  Fair for you; fair for me…

In another way, however, I was trying to find a “number” that fit with how much we were each going to allow ourselves on luxury items per month we had already been spending, but needed to acknowledge.  This “budget line item” allowance we gave ourselves worked like a charm.  For six months or so, we kept a silent tally in our heads of “approximately THAT number” for “our THING.”

But at some point, however, my number began to slip.  I quit paying attention to my “Coffee Shop” line item. And, it gently creeped upward. Until April of 2014.  April was big month.  A full month.  Cram packed with activities, late nights, extra projects, and…extra stops at Starbucks.  I met colleagues at Starbucks to go over goals for research.  It was legislative session, so I had planning sessions at Starbucks followed by phone meetings at Starbucks.  All of the sudden, my $120 Starbucks habit had turned into…wait, WHAT? TWO-HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SEVEN DOLLARS??? Continue reading How Billie Holiday, Hoboken Coffee and The Pioneer Woman Talked Me Down from my Starbucks Addiction →

Family, Man Cave, Oklahoma culture

BOOK REVIEW – Life Lessons for Dad: Tea Parties, Tutus, and All Things Pink

1 Comment

photoReviewing a book about father-daughter relationships, in my own mind, introduces the potential for irony.

In a world where societal views about male and female roles are more than a little diverse, clarity and direction in this subject area is fuzzy at best.  Add a generational component into the mix, focus specifically on the relationship between fathers and daughters in the 21st century, and some might even feel downright muddled.

In fact, when thinking about this topic right now I can almost hear the thoughts of fatherhood echoing across the stratosphere:

How far do I push her in life, sports or school?

How do I be there emotionally for her in a way that honors my position as dad…and her position as a developing female?

When do I set rules? When do I break them?  And, how do I feel good about the parenting decisions I make day in and day out as her father?

There are far more questions, I’m sure, if we were to put our ear to that stratosphere that connects to the hearts and minds of fathers today.  But thank goodness, there are answers as well.  One resource with a great number of these type of answers is the book, “Life Lessons for Dad: Tea Parties, Tutus, and All Things Pink” by Michael Mitchell.

The birth of his first child influenced Mitchell to reconcile his own questions and answers, and then begin to share them through his “Life to Her Years” blog.  And, as most good things do, his project grew an audience (regular readers number in the tens of thousands, and some links have two-million+ shares) and then grew a book.  Now, that book is ready to read and share with whomever you think could benefit from the well-written and illustrated content.

I spoke with Mitchell today over an early breakfast.  His heart is full to the brim of passion for fathers of daughters, and I have no doubt we’ll be hearing more from him in the months to come.  “Life Lessons for Dad…” is a solid, well-balanced read and a book-gift worth giving.

I’m glad Oklahoma grows dads like Mitchell, and I’m greatly looking forward to hearing about how you and others respond to his first published work.  Order yours here: Via Amazon

[kelly]

Oklahoma culture

Fruit and Nut Trees Native to Oklahoma

Leave a comment

The reasons people choose to use our RDC Contact Form are vast.  Recipes…questions about relationships…companies asking us to review a product, etc.  Yesterday, however, we fielded a question about native Oklahoma fruit trees that led me to a phone conversation with my father.  I thought it might be helpful to pass the information along to others looking for the same information.

If you want to grow trees that have a good chance of survival and are native to our great state, here is a fairly comprehensive list created from using the “Forest Trees of Oklahoma” book by Dr. Elbert L. Little Jr.

List of Fruit and Nut Trees Native to Oklahoma

  • Persimmon   60 ft.
  • Paw Paw   10 – 30 ft.
  • Red Mulberry   50 ft.
  • Prairie Crab Apple   20 ft.
  • Plums (American, Hortulan, Mexican, wildgoose) all 20 ft.
  • Black Cherry   50 – 70 ft.
  • Choke Cherry   15 ft.
  • Pecan   70 ft.
  • Hickory (several varieties)   60 ft.
  • Black Walnut   50 ft.

You can also eat the berries from a Hackberry tree, but I’m not sure they are native to Oklahoma.  They definitely grow here!

There are several fruit trees that have been introduced into our forests and Oklahoma landscape, but are not native to Oklahoma.  An example of this would be a small, wild pear tree my Uncle found on his land in Clayton.  It appeared as a small, slightly roundish fruit with the texture close to an Asian pear.  It’s pretty cool to happen upon something like this, but isn’t “purist” if you want your trees to fit naturally with the original climate and environment.

There are quite a few grapes and a currant bush native to Oklahoma as well as several berries.  I don’t have an exhaustive list, but I can point you to a wildcrafting website that is educational.  The information on THIS PAGE isn’t delineated between native, and what simply grows naturally in our state because it was introduced.  You can, however, learn quite a bit by just scrolling through the info and photos.

Please make sure that you are well informed if you decide to go wildcrafting for fruit in Oklahoma.  There are many “look-alikes” across our landscapes and I want you to stay healthy!

Happy planting…and eating!

[kelly]

persimmon photo above by Rylee Roberts