Volume 5 , Issue 17

Oakie's NW Corner

I am running quite late tonight... later than this Okie would like. As I write this, my Pug puppy is lying in her crate fast asleep. I have made a few changes to her name, though. You see ... when we are outside in the yard she loves to tackle the dandelion flowers and their puff balls. She doesn't eat them. She just picks them as she plows through our dandelion patch... leaving a slight furry residue on her lower puppy dog chin. So.... I changed her name to Duchess Dande-Lion Rose! Duchess is 10 weeks old this Friday weighing in at close to 2 or 3 lbs. A real sweetheart of a puppy.

I have been spending a lot of time up in God's Country in NW Oklahoma helping some friends with their horses and my horses the last few weeks. My mare (Cindy) still has not foaled yet, but someday soon; my 2-year old (Kassie) is in the process of being trained; and my yearling horse (a.k.a Li'l Doc) became a gelding this week.

Trick of the Trade & Flying Farmers of the 1940s... I happen to run onto this old news clipping of my dad, Gene McGill, that I believe was taken in the late 1940s (1946). It was entitled - Trick of the Trade. It read, "No one could ever forget a crop of whiskers like this and that is the very practical reason Gene McGill, Alva, wears them in weather like this. He starts to grow his crop about the time it comes wheat harvesting time for other farmers. As he goes northward with three combine outfits his beard grows more luxurious. He definitely did not bring them down to the Flying Farmers Cconvention to get his picture taken -- but he refused to cut them off despite the kidding. He uses an airplane to spot wheat fields which need cutting even far off the beaten roads followed by other outfits -- and the man with the whiskers gets the job."

As to the Flying Farmers... I was going through some of my Dad's treasures the other day and found this August 21-28, 1946 booklet (113 pages), "World Congress on Air Age Education," that was held at the International House in New York City. On page 21 there is an Article about Flying Farmers - Utility of Aircraft in Agriculture creates Community Airport Needs and a short article about Gene McGill, past president - National Association of Flying Farmers showing a photo of Joseph Geuting, Torsten Lund and Gene McGill.

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend. Besides the Oklahoma City Arts Festival starting the first of this week, we have been having some rain and thunderstorms across the state. The wheat is growing fast and is about knee high in some places. Green patches of wheat fields make up this wheat quilt that stretches across our northwest area of the state.

I am going to let you go for now. It is way past my bedtime. I will see you all next month and next weekend, and hopefully at a decent hour.

~~ Linda "oaKie" ~~

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