Yee Haw - Living it up in Oklahoma and Texas!

Greetings from Austin, Texas! It's been a while since our last entry, so let's fill you in on what's happened since we departed Evergreen, Colorado. With that sit ending on March 6 and our Austin commitment beginning on March 15, we decided to spend a week in Oklahoma since neither of us had visited the Sooner State. Three nights in Tulsa afforded the opportunity to walk around Mohawk Park, dine on Cherry Street, and stroll the banks of the Arkansas River. Moving to Oklahoma City for four nights, we biked through Bricktown, checked out the various parks around Lake Hafner, and took a hike through Stichcomb Wildlife Refuge.

We also spent some somber time at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. The installation pays tribute to those who were killed (168) or injured (680) when Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols -- two anti-government extremists and white supremacists -- bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. Walking the grounds, we couldn't help but draw parallels between that event and the January 6th insurrection at the Capital in Washington D.C. Though 'only' five people died in that recent attack on a federal building, the event suggests that subversion and domestic terrorism are continuing threats to our country.

The chairs are arranged in 9 rows to represent the different floors where people were killed.
The smaller chairs represent the children who perished.

We also learned a bit about the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush. While the idea of making nearly two million acres available to settlers in a historic free-for-all was kinda cool, centuries of hindsight suggest that Native Americans got royally screwed (again); it was only after thousands of Chickasaws, Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks, Cheyennes, Comanches, and Apaches were kicked off their lands that the Land Rush was possible. Yeah, this is some heavy stuff for a pet blog, but they whole point is to learn something about the country as we move between sits. Regardless of the historical particulars, the Centennial Land Rush Monument in downtown OKC is totally worth a visit. It's an amazing sculpture.

OK, history lesson over. Let's bring on the pets! And this time there were 4 four of them: one dog, two cats, and -- drumroll, please -- our first lizard! Hamilton was a wooly, thirteen-year-old German Shepherd who didn't do much beyond shed and sleep. He was very sweet and affectionate despite his advanced age, and he routinely placed his huge head in our laps to signal that he was ready to have his ears rubbed.

Theordore, the older of the two cats, was super cute and very dignified. Overshadowed and harassed by Pumpkin Spice (below), he preferred elevated perches which isolated him from his rambunctious younger brother. Periodic bouts of play and wrestling suggested that he had a fun side, but he generally kept quiet and to himself.

Then there was Pumpkin. Seven pounds of feline fury, the five-month-old kitten was a handful! He climbed on everything, and he pawed at and played with anything that wasn't nailed down: pieces of paper, dangling strings, items on the kitchen counter, etc, etc, etc. He rarely sat still, and he seemed to split his days between running up and down the stairs and attacking Theo. At one point, Pumpkin came running down the stairs, sprinted through the dinning room, and took a flying leap through an open window without realizing that the screen was still in place. He rebounded like a basketball while the screen popped out and fell onto the ground below. Luckily, he was temporarily stunned, and I (Dorian) was able to grab him while simultaneously slamming the window shut. He was a handful, but he inevitably wore himself out. It was easy to overlook the mischievous behavior once the exhausted youngster sought our laps as evening refuge. 

Lenny was as mellow as Pumpkin was energetic. He spent all of his time on his favorite rock which was -- not coincidentally -- placed directly under an overhanging heat lamp, and he only ventured from that perch to eat the meal worms which were placed at the opposite end of the tank. He liked being held, presumably because our hands were warm, and usually-reptile-averse Sonia grew quite fond of him by the end of the sit. 

Yeah, we had four animals, but they didn't require a ton of supervision; feeding and petting were our most important duties. That minimal care was welcome because it allowed us to meet up with several friends in the Austin area. An evening on 6th Street reminded us that we aren't twenty-seven any more, and we were impressed with the food everywhere we went. Pro-tip: Andy's custard is where you want to be! 

While work restricted us to evening activities during the week, we did venture to Rodeo Austin on Saturday afternoon. It was a mix of rodeo, state fair, and carnival, and we had fun walking between the various ride, games, and booths. The highlight was the turkey and pig races. It was totally ridiculous as the videos will attest. Some might ask, 'how do ya get a hog to haul ass?' Oreo cookies, of course! The pigs love 'em, so they're more than willing to sprint the 30 yards to obtain the tasty treats. We're not usually for fun at animals' expense, but the races seemed fairly harmless in the grande scheme, especially against the alternative of being eaten! For the record, Sonia and I went vegetarian three years ago for health, ethical, and environmental reasons.

The Turkey Race! <gobble, gobble>

The Pig Race! <oink, oink>

Damn! There's too much cool stuff to put into this post, but I'll just add this to close. While driving between sits, we use the 'Roadside America' app to find funny/entertaining/odd stuff along our path. It's usually something silly like the World's Largest Wiffle Ball, but the app sometimes points us towards something really cool. Such was the case when we passed through Wichita (KS) en route to Oklahoma. This person has turned their entire yard into a museum of metal sculptures. Stuff like this adds interest to any long drive!

OK, we're off to The Woodlands north of Houston. More communication coming. Stay tuned!