October 25, 2013

  • Mass of Mind

    What music, what drum beat
    does this man walk to
    What music, what drum beat
    is in his head when he wins
    What strum of the strings
    inspires him to try
    to take the chance
    to win or lose
    to stand up to an other’s tune
    What’s inside his head
    what ringing in the ears
    drives this man
    whose voice, whose tin notes
    inspires him to not pause
    but to win the fight.
    What is inside this man
    not muscle or bone or blood
    but what is it he hears
    in his head
    this man’s mass of mind.
    What music, what drum beat
    does this man walk to?

    DSS

October 19, 2013

  • Two Turtles Found Dead in Oklahoma

    We have already had snow here in central Kansas yesterday. Most is gone now and I hope this isn’t an indication of what we are in for the rest of the year. As many of you know, I am not an enthusiast of winter and what accompanies it.

    I have had no spontaneous urges to pullover and smell the roses this week. I have seen three skunks, two armadillos, one cat and two box turtles on the roadway. Sadly, all in various stages of flatness and truly non-photoworthy. I will skip the details, but I caused none of their demise.  So no pullover tales today.

    Spent another few nights in Stillwater, OK. Most of the fellows I work with were too far from home to justify the plane ticket for the weekend, they had to change motels, not only motels but cities. The OSU homecoming is this weekend and all motel rooms in town were booked in advance for this. So my Canadian friends moved out to Tulsa, hopefully they got rooms there. They asked me what “Homecoming” was. I explained it to the best of my ability and knowledge but one nerd to another, I’m afraid I may have failed miserably. ( How would you explain it? ) They have no such occasions in connection with hockey or Lacrosse  in Alberta or Saskatchewan. Homecoming is definitely an American football tradition.

    I think my Congressman has stopped accepting my E-mails. My name is spam to his congressional mailbox evidently. I am very proud of this. I hope I haven’t been put on a airline watch list but I do see many lost luggage claims in the future. All of my correspondence have been respectful but I may have gone too far in my last letter calling his party affiliation ”your ignorant Tea Party”.

    Such is the life of John

October 12, 2013

  • Locally Grown

    Well, I know that to be called official, a spontaneous “pullover” can not be planned. But I have been waiting to see just one roadside “Fruit Stand” since I decided to pullover more on my travels. Fruit stands are an essential of life anywhere in the world. We have to have them, not only for the availability of fresh produce, but what would James Bond, Smokey and The Bandit or Hawaii Five-0 chase scenes be without them. So I’ve been waiting for just one to open someplace that I travel this fall. I assumed the Pumpkin season would spark a few rural entrepreneurs to the roadside or busier intersection. Finally at a crossroads in the Fox and Sac Nation of Oklahoma, just where I expected, a family team settled in as locally grown and open for business. The man, wife and young 6 or 7 year old, (the parents said 6, the boy said about 7, so he is 7), were extremely camera shy and vacated the shot of the cellphone camera each scene. Never the less, I did get a few shots of their various pumpkin produce.

    LocallyGrown

    Notice the empty chairs. They modestly asked not to be photographed.  (Oh, in the back ground you may see another vendor. A knife dealer, he had very large knives for sale which I was uninterested but understandably very respectful).

    Many of the pumpkins were of an interesting French variety.

    LocallyGrown22 I was attracted to the flat, greenish orange ones, unsuitable for my taste in jack-o-lantern but I think great for a fall or Thanksgiving center piece.

    LocallyGrown3

    I liked these little fellows also.

    LocallyGrown4

    Stackable flat ones and some white minis. Very reasonable prices I think. LocallyGrown2

    You may be wondering my sudden burst of spontaneous pullovers. But you must first understand just what kind of motivation it takes for me to take even just a few minutes from travel time between work site, motel or home to stop, look, take a picture and talk. 15 minutes means 15 minutes late, 15 more pounds of cargo to find space for in the front seat and most importantly 15 miles less close to home.  My overwhelming case of  ”get-home-itis" is very hard to overcome. I am trying to learn to just slow down a bit and appreciate so many things that in the past I have passed up and traded for what I liked to think or judged to be important business. I think that at this time in my life the important business is perhaps just in the traveling there and what you do on the way.

    LocallyGrownHome

    My produce safely home.

    Such is the life of John.

October 8, 2013

  • The Bird, Fowl Pullover

    Well, I'm still on the road and looking for pullovers. It has been very bland traveling. I have my eye out for a "fruit stand" that I passed up a few weeks ago that I hope will open at least one more time this year. Pumpkin and squash season should be this week through Halloween. So on my daily route to my work site, nothin! I've had nothin' ! Until today, but today I was the subject not the observer of a spontaneous pullover.  By this fellow: 

     TheBirdIII

     I do believe this is a white homing pigeon. I also believe that he is on his way home and he saw my construction site and decided to take a break and to do a spontaneous pullover himself.

    TheBird

     Look real close at his legs and you can see his bands above his feet.

    TheBirdII

    Each time I went outdoors this afternoon, he was there, as if waiting for me. He would then follow me while I was outside.  When I went back indoors, he seemed to wait out there, pecking at what ever it is that birds peck at, seeds maybe bugs. Here he followed me down the hill to a small puddle of water. When I left for the evening he was still there. I said goodby and wished him a good trip.

    I may have a new animal totem. I had an excellent time being Homer's pullover subject.

    Such is the life of John.

     

September 26, 2013

  • Wild Horses of Oklahoma

    Taking time out for Pullover Worthy pictures this month. As promised, this is the second in the Great Oklahoma Accidental Pullovers series.

    While I was listening to my Rolling Stones music, which has been this weeks traveling sound track, I came across these "Wild Horses". Not exactly out in the open prairie but on the front lawn of Durant Landmark Bank. They seemed happy enough, at least they weren't fenced in and appeared to be free to wander the neighborhood.  

    wildHorses

     WildColt

     

    WildThreeHorses

     

    WildHorseThis is the best use of scrap metal that I've seen in a long time!

     Rolling Stones "Wild Horses"

    "Childhood living is easy to do

    The things you wanted I bought them for you

    Graceless lady you know who I am

    You know I can't let you slide through my hands

    Wild horses, couldn't drag me away

    Wild wild horses couldn't drag me away"

                                                      Rolling Stones "Wild Horses"

    <     http://youtu.be/q1NehBrqmAY

    DSS

     

     

September 24, 2013

  • Oklahoma Pull Over

    Very early in the morning,  somewhere on I-44. Yes, sunrise on the road. Had to pull over for this one. You have to be fast, the sun doesn't just rise here, it explodes.

    Morning Sun

    Risk of Blindness

    "As we gaze out into the morning's early start, it is predawn twilight. The Sun will surface very soon, but for now its only evidence is a lighter sky and crimson horizon. The Orange Orb will peek above the earth's rim, through the lightly layered clouds, at first slowly. But with a squint and blink of the eye, it will appear to pop to the surface as an air filled buoy rising from the Atlantic's depths. It will be a perfect Orange Circle with sharp defined edges. For just a moment, we get a glimpse of the Sun with the naked eye. For just a moment, as it rests in the distance, we can see its round completeness. We are allowed only that brief moment before it turns into a bright burning point of light that for the rest of the day we are forbidden to stare at for risk of blindness. This is how our days begin." DSS 

     

    This is the first in my series of  "Pullover Worthy" pictures.

    DSS

     

September 19, 2013

  • Hotel Nights

         As I lie here, uncomfortably reclined and propped up by four entirely too firm half sized pillows, I check the time and see that I am wide awake an hour and a half before my alarm. I count the hours that I have been lying here. Let's see, I finished my carryout KFC (original recipe, of course) while watching Chris Mathews, retreated to stretch out on the bed during his closing commentary close to 7 pm. It was about 2 am when I awoke from my dreamless sleep. Let's see, 7 from 12 equals 5 hours, plus 2 equals 7, that's 7 hours sleep, plenty enough for a man my age. Spent the last  2 hours reading the news, watching YouTube and organizing my suitcase. I have watched a time lapsed video of the arched bridge being built downstream from the Hoover Dam, a girl's twerking fail that set her yoga pants on fire (Jimmy Kimmel hoax), the National Weather Service radar for every city I have ever lived in and in the darkness, after turning off the tv and the bed stand lamp, mentally recalled every name of every teacher I had in elementary school. Can I really say that I have had a sleepless night after having a full 7 hours sleep? If I now spend a few minutes writing a short post about this, it will be about time to get up and take a shower. Welcome to Hotel nights. 

    This week I am staying just a few blocks from the OSU campus in Stillwater, OK. A lovely town really. I will probably have a few more weeks here, off and on, between now and the end of the year. I am running out of places to eat. I'm involved in a project that has been going on for the last few months. Where to eat is always the big question of the day no matter how interesting a city is that I am staying. I have a little more time now, a few pull-overs and picture taking  may be in store for the future.

    Such is the life of John.

     

September 13, 2013

September 9, 2013

  • Travelin'

    Following those cement ribbons
    the big green signs
    Almost hostile here

    Out of my way trucker!
    you're too slow
    Out of my way Taurus
    your blinker's on.

    Pass me will ya ?!
    you maniac!
    move... move!

    No one smiles as we pass
    But I love those bare feet on the dashboard!

    M&M's and coffee,
    turning up the radio, wishing I was home.

    Smile somebody!
    Smile!

    DSS

September 5, 2013