It is our first full weekend here in our new town. The first weekend we went back home, last weekend we went to the beach to visit with friends and this weekend while we are doing some things in various greater Houston areas, we are sticking to local.

This morning we got up at our normal work-week time and went over to the Kleb Woods Nature Center. Chris purchased a book 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Houston and it was listed in there as one of the places to go, plus it is relatively close to our house. We weren’t sure what we would see or if it would be worth our while but we really enjoyed it.

I did take my camera and was initially going to do photos for a Nature in the City post but my sleepy brain took a long time to wake up and instead I enjoyed the crisper Fall-like air (it was like 78* instead of 90*) and the woods were bustling with a bit of activity.

The Nature Center itself is lined with many hummingbird feeders and they were zipping around from feeder to feeder, tree to tree and zooming through the air. It was a sight to see! The outside windows have feeders attached to them and at one point one sat to drink for a few seconds at only about four feet away! It was pretty spectacular! Chris is planning on going back tomorrow morning to try to get photos. I hope he succeeds!

The area is mostly pine and yaupon with a few open areas such as along a fence line. The property used to be a farm and I’m sure the website details it more, but the owner didn’t pay taxes for years and years so they worked out a deal that the city of Houston would pay the back taxes and seize the property but allow the owner to live there until he died. He died in the late 90s. The homestead is still up and is normally open to view, but we were there a bit too early. A rusted windmill is being overtaken by yaupon and vines, but you can take a side trail back to check it out. They’ve even let his old ‘trash’ and farm equipment, now covered in pine needles and being swallowed by the yaupon.

In front of his house is something very cool, the old garden. It is mostly weeded over but vegetables still come up. We decided, whether true or not, that perhaps they just left whatever was growing come back year after year, and a watermelon was taking up a huge portion of the garden. This garden was quite large, reminiscent of my grandparent’s garden. Chris said he wanted double that size. I told him he was going to have to be a farmer to take care of it all! Tomatoes, okra, squash and some other vegetables were still poking through the weeds.

We did a few errands after that and then went by our garden plot to check on it. The seeds Chris has planted are doing spectacular. The golden zucchini is looking like it might start flowering soon! I’m excited about that! Maybe this week I’ll get some new photos up of the plot. Last night we picked some peppers that were in the community plots and Chris threw them in the stew he made. We’re in a stew/soup making mode and now have enough to get us through a week or two of lunches. I also picked some fresh mint and boiled it to make tea. It is very good! There’s a sprawling rosemary bush waiting for me to come up with a good use for it and Chris is thinking of harvesting a bunch of basil and making pesto for the winter.

We certainly have food on our mind! I just remember being on the AT and dreaming up all sorts of recipes and foods that I wanted to eat. And now, I can do it! Jennifer Pharr Davis wrote a post on grattitude and how much the trail shows her each summer to be thankful for all of the conveniences we have in modern life. Food is definitely one of them to be thankful for!

The rest of our weekend is going to be spent with friends and doing some more hiking on Monday. Hopefully I can wade through some more photos and get a few blogs up for this week!

Happy long weekend if you have one!

When we moved in Chris and I decided we’d start planning our weekly meals out in an effort to safe money and not to waste food. So far we have done well and I’ve enjoyed doing what we’ve planned. Our one night out to eat is on Wednesdays and we look forward to that. I’m sure we will be a little more hectic once Chris finds a job and we both have to come home tired from work, but right now I have house-husband so I normally have a meal ready or nearly ready to eat when I get home from work. Yes, it is nice! He did tell me that I had to cook something this week so I’ve got to come up with a something good to eat on Friday.

At the library I checked out a bunch of vegetarian cookbooks and Chris picked out some canning and preserving books. He found this pizza recipe in one of those books. Honestly I was a bit skeptical when he told me what was on it but when I saw it out of the oven and then tasted it—oh it was good! The crust is very thin and tastes wonderful, the sauce is pesto, mozzarella and goat cheese on top with some green olives too. He meant to put some garlic on top but forgot until after the pizza was cooked. Next time! You could add meat to it if you wanted, but I think it tastes fine without.

Yesterday we made Drunken Beans, a meatless Mexican recipe I found in another cookbook. It’s ‘drunken’ because it requires a bottle of Dos Equis, but Chris substituted Corona. Can’t taste any beer in the beans, but they did come out with a sort of Ranch Style Beans taste to them. We’re using leftovers to make taco salad tonight. One ingredient it called for was a Mexican style brown sugar called piloncillo. We weren’t too sure we’d find it and while rummaging through the produce section we came across it piled up with the chili peppers. Score!

Despite not having curb side recycling we bought a second trash can that is solely dedicated to recycling. We’ve been reducing our trash a considerable amount because of that. The recycling center is right next to the community garden so it will make it easy to take things when we are going that direction. We’re also starting to collect food scraps in a cut out milk jug under the kitchen sink for taking to the compost pile at the garden. I’ve always wanted to do that but in the past haven’t had a compost pile to take it to. I’m hoping we develop some rich dirt to grow our fall crops in!

Still without internet at the house so I’m doing my blogging and scheduling from Mickey D’s. Will try to get some other posts up for next week—hopefully this situation will be resolved soon so that I can do some research for the project I’m working on!

Cute photos of the niece and nephew tomorrow!

Leo and Samson came home with us last weekend. They’d been at my parents’ house for a year and a half, far longer than I’d initially imagined. Since then they’d eased into life with my folks, and had been a good fill in for when Red, my parents’ cat, lost his sister Yoda last year. I think it helped ease the loneliness.

And Leo, the most rascally of the two cats, came to not whack my parents unless especially spooked or ready to rough house. He also learned to give them head butts, something we are mostly able to do on command with him by making kissing noises at him. He’s a goofy cat! Anyway, he’s fitting in well at the new place, Samson too. Though the first morning they were there Leo woke up an extra two hours before we did and made a noisy, whiny racket.

Between work and getting things settled in we made it to the library. Or, I should say I made it to the library. Chris had already been there, just about every day since we moved in. We are having a doozy of a time finding someone to service internet to our house so he is using the library to search for jobs. Finally on Monday I was able to go because they are open late that night and we got library cards. I was in my realm then. I checked out the book above, which is really good so far, and picked out a few vegetarian cook books and one book on plant bulbs. I spied a zillion other books I want to read, including Between a Rock and Hard Place, aka: the 127 Hours movie. We recently rented the movie at RedBox and so now I want to read the book. Normally I do it the other way around—I’m currently seeking The Help, but the library has a wait list of 200+ and the used book store didn’t even have it. Anyone out there have a copy they’ve read and want to send it to me media mail? I’ll return it if you want, or I’ll put it back in circulation at the used book store.

The best part about settling in was getting our king bed. Since we have been married we’ve slept on a full sized hand-me-down bed. Because we’d rented for so long we’ve put off buying grown up furniture for years. When we moved we got rid of most of our furniture, including our bed, and so that forced us to break down and get a good bed. Oh, why did we wait 9 years?! This bed is the best!

We haven’t had much of a chance to explore the area yet, but hopefully soon. We’ve got a few creeks and parks we want to check out, though. I’ve got a project up my sleeve—something I’m not willing to debut yet because, well, it’s going to be a very long and intensive project. No, NOT a baby—but it could be likened to that. It is something I have not really taken seriously until now and I’m finding it more difficult than I’d even imagined. Hopefully I can make some decent head way with it and get to a point that I’ll write about it.

I traveled to the Texas Panhandle late last week for work, so I’ll have a post up about that later on this week!

Last weekend we moved to our new house in far-far-far Northwest Houston. So far out we’re not even in Harris county, but we’re close enough to all of the far suburbs that it is easier to call it Houston. Except we’re in the ‘country’. There are more country-ish places out there, but this is pretty much the most country place we’ve ever lived except the hotel we stayed at in San Augustine, Tx last fall for work. *That* was country.

We were out in the nearest big town to us, Tomball, checking on various things like furniture and getting the various sundry items to fill up the house so it is livable. We’d stopped in at an antique store looking for desk chairs and bookshelves when we poked in one of the vendors stands and saw fresh eggs from the owner’s own chickens. They were $2.50 for 18 eggs, which I thought was a bargain for locally grown (who knows if it was organic…) eggs. We had other errands to run so we swung back by on the way home to pick up eggs.

The eggs are still on the small side; he said the chickens were in their first rounds of eggs so they were expecting to lay bigger ones in the coming weeks. I thought that 18 eggs would last us at least two weeks, but we only have four left! We’ve made two loaves of bread and eaten several eggs a few mornings last week, using them on English muffins or making our own breakfast burritos.

The town we’re in also has a farmers market twice a month. We were excited about this, hoping to score some local produce. We were disappointed to see that not much on the produce side was there, however we did see other local vendors. Texas has a Go Texan emblem and site that promotes buying Texas made items. All of these items are from Texas! Well, I’m not sure how much of all the ingredients in the bbq sauce is, but it was assembled here. And the goat cheese was from Texas goats (haven’t tried it yet, we’d just bought some at the grocery store the night before so we ate that first) and the olive oil was from olive trees on the Olivero Farms property. The olive guy had olive oil soaps and lotion, so when we run out of what we have from the store I think I would love to try their items out.

+King of the Pit BBQ
+Blue Heron Farms
+Olivero Farms

The other nice thing about the country is that deer come into our yard in the mornings and evenings. It is nice to see some wildlife! We’ve also had a few rabbits and I saw a hawk fly over one morning. I’m sure we’ll see more wildlife in the coming months!

February 12, 2010 was my last day of work in Florida. The following day we finished packing up the house and putting our collection of stuff into the POD, locked the door to the house and drove away from south Florida.

Then, in my head, I thought we’d be going for our AT hike, and maybe a month or two after returning we’d be settled with jobs somewhere in Texas.

Not quite.

But, I’m glad it turned out how it has because we’ve been able to hike another long trail, spend time with friends and family and do some interesting field work.

In fact, I’m completely glad we did everything we did. If we hadn’t perhaps dreams and goals might have been theoretical words on paper. Years ago when I wrote down that I wanted to hike the AT, PCT, and CDT in a corner of my journal among other goals and dreams, I didn’t really think it would happen. But then I realized that those dreams can happen if one is willing to make the changes necessary to do them. It might take time and goals aren’t always achieved in mere days, but they can be accomplished. We saved and planned for a year to do what we did.

I write that “it ends” because our nomadic existence is coming to a close, at least this time around. If anything this whole thing has made me have itchy feet, which is strange because I am a homebody at heart. I connect to places deeply even I don’t or can’t communicate that. This post is being published on my first day back to an 8-5 job. (Why do people say 9-5? I’ve never known of a job to be 9-5.)

While we have loved hiking and doing field work we feel it is time to settle down. My parents have been gracious enough to watch our cats for far longer than I thought they’d need to and it’s time to get them back to a home with us. Perhaps if we didn’t have our animal responsibilities we might be able to live nomadically for longer, but there’s also a little thing called a biological clock. For years, in my 20s, I said we’d look at the ‘baby thing’ when I was 30. Well, I’m 31 and not getting younger. Unfortunately we weren’t financially able to be vagabonds until I was 29 and Chris was 30 or else we might have reversed this whole thing and enjoyed our 20s doing these things. Such is life! You do what you can!

But, this is just one chapter closing and another one beginning. We’ll be adventurous in other ways besides walking thousands of miles in a few months. We will be able to get our photography business up and going, we can plant a long term garden somewhere instead of our hodgepodge of containers like we did in Florida, we’re closer to our family in Texas and the friends we have here (though we wave across a few states to our Florida friends!…and many others throughout the U.S. and world that we’ve met through hiking), and there is a completely new area to explore!

There’s a lot to do and I know I will have a lot to share, so keep reading as I write about the other adventures we take. I have a post on Living Adventurously that I want to write, covering different aspects of what being adventurous is, but I’m still mulling it over in my head. I’ve come to realize that writing is more consuming than I thought.

And some day I want to scratch off the PCT and CDT from my list, but the problem is I keep finding other trails I want to do, too. Somehow I don’t think two weeks of vacation is going to cover all of that!

To new life trails…

+Chris has been ordering a lot of seeds lately, mostly for later on. Today he planted these two crops at his mom’s house in lieu of the tomatillo plants that had bit the Texas dust.

+We’re moving at the end of the week for the NW Houston area where we will be setting up house again. We’re taking two large potting containers with us—maybe we’ll plant some of these seeds there.

+I’m dreaming of a real garden—some day. This time around we’re renting, again, with hopes of finding something of our own once Chris gets a job. Hopefully in time for spring crops!

+Been reading lately. A lot of non-fiction, actually. It has taken me awhile to get into non-fiction but now I am absorbing it all. There’s a lot of hiking/outdoorsy writing I want to read but I’m trying to read the books I have, first.

+Right now I am reading the book I won a few months ago, An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century. So far it is really good and makes me miss some aspects of south Florida. It depresses me too in knowing that the big fight over Everglades restoration will continue and we probably won’t see a restored Everglades pre-levee’s and channelization. Even when Marjory came to south Florida the landscape had already been vastly changed. I’m about 1/4 through the book, maybe a little less. It jumps back and forth from a biography of Marjory’s life to a biography of Florida’s ecosystem.

+I recently finished Pathfinder by Ron Strickland. After the AT hike all the fellow hikers found each other online and then there would be a few other well known hiker folks friend us. Some of them we didn’t know, some we’d heard of and some we did know. I didn’t know Ron but accepted his friend request anyway after seeing the hiking profile photo—I figured I must’ve met him somehow! Well, I don’t think I ever met him but I found out he’d written a book about the Pacific Northwest Trail (can find that info via the link to the book, too) since he was one of the primary founders of the trail. Anyway, it was a very interesting read and focused somewhat on trail building but also how trail building shaped his life, the characters he met and other facets of being a hiker bum. It inspired me to want to create/wish there was a long distance Texas trail—I know I have a big dream there. Sure there’s the Lone Star Trail but it’s a mere 100 miles! Texas is vastly bigger and deserves something much more grand! I mean, there has been a Texas perimeter hike!.

+Since we’re moving we’ll be getting our own kitchen again. This makes me very happy because I am itching to try out some vegetarian recipes. And drink green smoothies again. I’ve been loving the Roost Blog, full of good recipes to try.

+I guess that’s about it. Lots of posts scheduled for this week and a few for next. Trying to get a few things written in case we are without internet for a few days.

+Also, my nephew might make his appearance to this world this week, so I’m excited about that. If he does come, expect lots of sweet baby goodness here soon!

Did you miss an interview from the Summer Interview Series? Take a peak through and see who you might have missed. I had fun interviewing a few folks I knew in my ‘real’ life and others I only know via the internet. There was a vast array of subjects to cover, someone might have interested you!

+Chel @ Ginger Blue
+Elizabeth @ Miss Wisabus
+Kathy @ Analog Soul Photography
+Mandy Stewart @ Messy Canvas
+Prem @ Florida Native Orchids
+Susy @ Chiot’s Run
+Randy @ Recipes Randy Cooks
+Renee @ Wolfie and the Sneak

Enjoy! Maybe I’ll do another round next summer!

After Chris discovered Little Slough and our subsequent count and documentation of 607 ghost orchids within about an acre in the swamps of south Florida (doubling the then known population in Florida), Prem got in touch with me about his interest in ghost orchids and how he hadn’t been able to see one. He was already an avidly interested in the native orchids of Florida and had documented many others throughout Florida. Now there is a small contingent of photographers and adventurers who seek the ghost orchid out, either documenting their own pockets of ghost orchids or seeking other lost orchids and rare plants in the wilds of Florida. Prem is just one of these folks and his botanical experiences are worth sharing.

First off, give us an idea of who you are, why you blog and your geographic location.

Hi, I’m Prem Subrahmanyam, a software engineer by vocation and a naturalist, botanist, and photographer by avocation. I grew up in a rural area near Tallahassee, Florida and have become a recent transplant to the Orlando area with my wife and 15 children (yes, you read that correctly – fifteen). My oldest two are in college and my youngest is just learning to crawl. Joy and I have been happily married for 20 years. I am most interested in Florida’s native orchids, for which I’ve created a website, Florida Native Orchids blog. I also travel to various orchid and garden societies to lecture on our native orchids. My next big lecture will be at the Coalition for Orchid Species Symposium at Fairchild Tropical Gardens on July 24th. I also have a small collection of cultivated orchid species, which I photograph and publish to my site Orchid Stock Photos.

How did you begin your interest in the botanical world?

Growing up where I did, I was always surrounded by nature – a state forest abutting our property and a national forest across the street. I would often take walks or bike rides in the woods to explore the area. Through 4-H, I joined the horticulture ID and forest ecology judging teams, where I became familiar with a number of plants. Thirsting for more botanical knowledge, I would consult plant and wildflower guides to further identify the things I would encounter.

I became interested in orchids, specifically, through a National Geographic article that I read (our family had an extensive collection of these). What really intrigued me about this group of plants was not necessarily their aesthetics, although they are beautiful. Instead, it was their structural complexity and design, with so many flowers using unique tricks and mechanisms to achieve pollination. You had flowers such as the bee/wasp orchids of the Mediterranean which imitate the females of species of bees and wasps (down to the placement of hairs and the use of pseudopheromones), and the bucket
orchid of Central/South America which traps its pollinators in a sticky fluid trap (with the only means of escape being beneath the pollen structures), and even our own Calopogon which uses a bristle of pseudostamens to attract its ‘prey’ and then flips the hapless bee on its back on the column waiting below. It is simply breathtaking the myriad of fascinating shapes and sizes in this one family of plants. It was as if the Creator approached this group of plants with reckless abandon, bringing both His sense of whimsy and His genius to bear in designing these remarkable flowers. They answer the question “Is God an engineer or an artist” with a resounding “Yes!”.

I became interested specifically with the native orchids by the few species shown in the book Florida Wild Flowers and Roadside Plants by C. Ritchie Bell and Bryan J. Taylor and later through Carl Luer’s The Native Orchids of Florida. My first copy of Luer has been worn down to near-nothing by the many times I have thumbed through it.

What is your favorite native Florida orchid?

This is hard to answer to the point that I would have to say it’s a dead tie between the Ghost Orchid (Dendrophylax lindenii) of south Florida and the Rosebud Orchid (Cleistes bifaria) of the more northern regions of our state. The Rosebud was one of the first native orchids I had seen, growing with relative frequency in the Apalachicola State Forest across the street from our home, as well as in further-flung locations within the same forest…too bad you didn’t have your hike
through the ANF correspond with the blooming time of all the lovely native orchids there. The Ghost Orchid has always held my intrigue ever since reading about it in Luer, and I had often dreamed of seeing these in the wild during my teenage years and early adulthood. This dream was finally fulfilled in 2007 seeing the ‘Super Ghost’ at Corkscrew Swamp and the next year on hikes hosted by Larry Roberts, you and Chris. Strike one item off the bucket list!

Is there a plant that you think deserves more love than it actually gets, a red-headed step-child sort of plant?

I think the Jingle Bell/Needleroot Orchid (Dendrophylax porrectus AKA Harrisella porrecta) is both overlooked and underappreciated. Being so small, it can be really hard to find (I had spent more than half my life trying to find this in the wild), being just a mass of untidy, thin roots. The night-fragrant flowers are also very small and
unassuming, being a clear yellow-green and around 5mm across. I firmly believe this is the most populous epiphyte in the state of Florida, having the same range as Encyclia tampensis, but being able to grow in far greater numbers on the tiniest twigs of cypress, pop-ash, pond apple, and eastern red cedar, as well as abandoned citrus groves. I think the most intriguing thing about this species is that it is one of the only Western Hemisphere representatives of the vast Vanda alliance, which primarily grow within the confines of the Eastern Hemisphere.

If you could travel anywhere for a botanic expedition, where would you choose and is there a particular plant you are interested in finding?

Probably Australia – there is a vast array of orchids growing in various regions of that country/continent. I would specially like to see the various Sun Orchids, which are some of the only orchids that are a true blue, rather than the ‘botanical’ blue (which is really more of a purple) seen in most coerulean type orchids. I would also like to see Rhizanthella, which spend their entire lives underground except when they barely break the soil surface with their floral bracts, exposing the subterranean flowers to the atmosphere for pollination and subsequent seed dispersal.

Do you have any tips or resources for beginning naturalists?

Get out in the woods a lot, take lots of pictures, and spend the time trying to identify what you find, using either those antiquated things called books or the internet.

Are there any particular Florida parks or forests novice botanists and naturalists should scope out for interesting plants or unique habitats?

The Goethe State Forest northwest of Ocala has a pretty good array of orchids and other plants. The Apalachicola National Forest in the panhandle has a similar variety. For an introduction to the southern flora, the Corkscrew Swamp is a great way to immerse yourself in our semi-tropical best without getting wet and muddy…save that for another time in the Fakahatchee Strand. Please remember, don’t collect the orchids or even pick their flowers…most are protected by
state law, many are endangered, and all should be left for others to enjoy after you.

Do you think there are any chances for certain ‘lost’ species of orchids in Florida, such as the Bulbophyllum pachyrachis, have a chance of being found again? What about the discovery of a completely undocumented orchid species?

I certainly hope that we will rediscover some of the ‘lost orchids’. We already have a number of species that have been rediscovered in the past two decades, having been lost for a number of years. It is certainly possible to discover new species as well. One new species, described in the late 90s, had been growing under all of our noses for many years, Spiranthes sylvatica. In fact, I had seen this species in the mid-80s in a woodland near the county extension office where I went often for 4-H activities. I thought that it seemed different than Spiranthes praecox, which it resembled, aside from the habitat and blooming seasons being quite different than S. praecox. I had brought it to the attention of a botanist at FSU, but never really pressed the issue. I regret this to this day.

While there may or may not be new species to discover, there are also new varieties and forms of existing species to discover. My son Josh and I discovered a variegated form of Malaxis spicata a few years ago, and I know of someone at the Jacksonville Orchid Society who swears she’s seen a coerulean form of Calopogon tuberosus before. For the record, a coerulean form of C. barbatus has been discovered in the past few years, so this is quite possible.

And finally, tell us the five people you’d love to have over for dinner and why!

I am assuming family members are a given and don’t count toward my selection of five.

Carl Luer – to discuss native orchids.
John Lasseter – I have always loved computer animation and would love to discuss all things Pixar with him.
Clyde Butcher – his photographs of the Everglades are so stunning…I’m sure there is a lot I could learn from him.
Mike Owen – he is such a character and can definitely tell a good tale of his travels in the Fakahatchee Strand.
Bob Hartman – founder, lead guitarist and chief songwriter for my all-time favorite band, Petra. His songs have really impacted me spiritually over the years.

Prem’s website is Florida Native Orchids and he writes at the Florida Native Orchids blog. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

I wanted to interview Elizabeth because well, as was seen in my post on Saturday she’s my second cousin that I only found out about two years ago. I’d love to sit down with her over coffee again some day and pick her brain on books!

First off, give us an idea of who you are, why you blog and your geographic location.

I’m 26, a writer, a reader, wife to Kevin (we’ve been married 2 years), a “dabbler” at gardening, and am currently employed in the public school system. My position is one that I really can’t disclose any details about other than my day-to-day activities (making sure teachers take their attendance, meeting with kids who choose not to go to class, and building truancy cases for the DA), but I can say that the work is never boring.

I am also your second cousin

I started putting my writing online in 1997. I’d never heard of the word “blogging” back then, but I felt pretty misunderstood as a 13-year-old kid and decided sharing my thoughts anonymously with the masses was the best way to cope. It all just blossomed from there. I was hosted at a few personal sites, went on to buy a couple domains of my own, and have been blogging at MissWisabus.com since 2005. Writing about my life and putting it out there is second nature to me now. My blog is a hodge podge of things going on in my life, things I care about, and random silliness. As of late it’s been a little weird writing because a lot of the people in my hometown and some extended family have started reading it. I mean, they’re stopping my mom in the grocery store and talking to her about it. That’s so ODD to me. But sharing with others is what it’s about, right? I’m trying to get my bearings about the topics I’ll continue to post about in the future.

For the past 8 years I have lived in Norman, home to the University of Oklahoma. I moved here for college and never left. It’s a nice town with just about everything a person could need, but I long to return to the country. My husband and I are currently working on a savings plan that will hopefully make that a reality in 5 years or so.

Oklahoma, like Texas, is a highly misunderstood state. What are some things that you would like to clear up about Oklahoma?
The assumption that people around here are backwoods hicks is pretty prevalent in media and sometimes in the opinions of people that I meet from out-of-state, particular the northeast part of our country. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are some backwoods hicks here. Everyone has them. For the most part, people I know in Oklahoma are educated, hospitable, and varied in their interests and political views. I don’t think that Oklahoma can be painted with the broad strokes so often used to describe its citizens. One thing the assumptions do get right is that people care about their football around here. I didn’t care much for college football until I attended OU, but I’ve got to admit that it sparked something.

Say someone was to visit the area you live in for the day, what places should we see and eat to take in a true Oklahoma experience?
We get the chance to do this a lot when Kevin’s parents or Jolene come to visit us. I tend to look outside of the metro area for things to do, since that’s what I really know and love.

Smokin’ Joe’s Rib Ranch in Davis is a place any barbecue lover has to try. They’ve got some of the best brisket I’ve ever tasted and the interior of the restaurant, while somewhat cramped, is such a homey place where you end up sitting next to people that you don’t know that I can’t help but love it. Even if you don’t know the people when you sit down, you will once you stand to leave.

While a person is in the area they should definitely drive a few minutes down the road and get a fried pie from the Original Fried Pies location just off of I-35. You can’t miss the sign. My favorites are the chocolate, cherry, and peach. And now I want one just thinking about them.

The Chickasaw National Recreation Area is located in that part of the state as well and there are some lovely springs there. We spent a lot of summers in the cold water–swimming until my brother’s lips turned purple and picnicking with our cousins. There are lots of trails to check out in the area.

Further west, one of my favorite places to visit is the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge. There is quite a bit to see out there and I enjoy getting to view many of Oklahoma’s endangered species in their natural habitat.

As for the metro area, I think everyone should visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial at least once. It’s a place that means a lot to many Oklahomans and the memorial is a touching tribute to those who were killed on April 19, 1995.

If you are in the mood for a steak there are some great options in OKC, including Cattlemen’s (a LEGEND) and RED Prime Steak. RED Prime is one of our favorites and it’s certainly one of the more upscale restaurants in the area. Their plating and offerings are very inventive. Once again, probably not what someone would expect in Oklahoma, but OKC is really evolving and offering so much more in the way of fine dining.

You are a voracious reader—we’d of been competitors in reading growing up—what books started you off in your reading habits?

I was lucky to always see my mom reading at home and I think just being exposed to that helped me form an interest. That and I thought I was being rebellious when I was sent to my room and found a book to keep me entertained. Ha. (Misti’s note: Me too! Until my mom went further and grounded me from my books..dagnabit!) Third grade was the year that I really started reading more than most kids. My teacher read the entire Henry Huggins/Ramona Quimby series to us and I was enthralled. It wasn’t until 5th grade when I picked up my mom’s copy of Anne of Green Gables that I put everything aside except for reading. It was the only thing I wanted to do at that point.

Is there an author or book that you think everyone here is missing out on?

John Burnham Schwartz is one of my favorites. His novel Claire Marvel is breathtaking. Another favorite of mine that I don’t think many people read is Anna Gavalda. Her collection of short stories is one of my all-time favorites.

How about a guilty pleasure read?

Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter series. It’s what the TV show is based on. I devour them. I also love to hate the Twilight series. It’s so bad. No, really.

Meeting a blogging superstar is not very common, so when you posted you met the Pioneer Woman, on her ranch nonetheless, I wondered how you came to know Ree enough to get such an awesome invite? How were you able to connect through all the comments that appear on her page?

I started reading her blog in the early days when she first started. I think I found it through flickr when I was looking through photos taken in Oklahoma and found one of hers featuring a calf testicle. I was disgusted, but could not look away. Then I invited her to Twitter and we tweeted back and forth from time to time. I may have also started a rumor that I am the product of her and a pool boy. Maybe. And that’s it really

You have dug well into your past, through the genealogy lines, and found some interesting stories. Tell us about a relative that you wish you could have learned more about or have known more of their stories.

Honestly, my Nannie (dad’s mom’s mom). I lived next door to her for years and had more access to her than most of the great-grandchildren, but back then I didn’t know the questions to ask.

On my mom’s side I would have loved to have learned more about the first person who came over around 1630. There’s been very little information that I have been able to find on this individual.

Do you have any tips for those who wish to research their family lines?

Don’t give up. Check every connection. Find their graves. There have been times when I’ve hit brick walls and thought I was going nowhere. Take a break and research a completely different individual.

There are so many resources available online now, take advantage of them! Many people have already done the footwork and the information you are looking for could already be out there.

Your description of yourself on your blog states that you are an aspiring domestic goddess. What kinds of domestic goddessness can we learn from you? Good recipes, cleaning or organization tips, or diy?

I’m not really very good at any of them, but I certainly try! I occasionally post low-carb recipes (due to a metabolic disorder, I am on a prescribed way of eating) and have come up with a number of my own that are very tasty.

One of my favorite things is natural cleaning. I have found a few recipes online that work really well and save quite a bit of money in the long run. I’d recommend looking them up and trying them out for yourself. As of right now, I haven’t ventured into homemade laundry detergent, but I’m thinking of doing it soon.

And finally, tell us the five people you’d love to have over for dinner and why!

Oooh, tough.
Willa Cather – She’s one of my favorite writers. Her descriptions of the plains and life back then are beautiful. I’d just like to pick her brain about writing.
Lucy Maud Montgomery – Anne of Green Gables…need I say more?
David Lynch – I’ve recently gotten into Twin Peaks and this guy is a genius AND a hoot. I think he’d be a great dinner guest. He’s got the kind of stories I could listen to all day.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – I cannot deny it, I love these two. Looks like they are set to bring a new face to the monarchy. Both of them seem like such intelligent, interesting people. I would like to be friends with them.

Elizabeth blogs at MissWisabus, is a founder of Godly Gals and can be found tweeting @MissWisabus.

Last week I spent some time down near Houston doing a working interview. On my way back on Friday I kept an eye out for the Aggie barn located on Regan on Texas highway 6. It’s closer to Waco than College Station but on my relatively few trips down 6 to College Station I’ve always looked for it. I’d actually forgotten it was there until I passed it on my way down and then on the way back I kept expecting to see it sooner and didn’t realize it was further up than it was. I almost didn’t stop but decided to pull a uey and head back for the barn.

Here it is in all its glory! WHOOP!

Back in DFW Chris has returned from his swamp trip to Florida and has been doing a lot of yard work. I’ll have a brief garden plot update later this week, but I did get a photo of his carrot bounty. They didn’t do so hot this year. We’re trying to figure out Texas gardening, which is similar to Florida gardening—nothing does good in the summer. The problem with tomatoes is that on the fall and spring ends things are just messed up because of the frost dates, whereas in Florida the best time of year for tomatoes is starting them in September and eating them through late March and early April. Not really feasible in north Texas. We’ll have to work the tomato thing out in the future, figuring out when to start for Fall harvest and starting seedlings indoors in late winter.

The carrots! MMM! The tomatoes holding on in the back yard, I think they’ll regenerate a bit when it cools off. 100*+ days for weeks on end are not kind to them.

A few miscellaneous items:
+Working on a how-to post for later this week regarding the blankets I made for a friend. I recently made one for my future nephew and have another to make for a friend. Well, really I’ve got three to make for pregnant friends. Seriously there’s a baby boom going on!
+Jennifer Pharr Davis is set to break the supported thru-hike speed record on the AT. She should be done by this weekend. For a comparison, Steadee & Deal started in early June and have just now hit Massachusetts. It is certainly a different kind of hike!
+Check out Chris’ panther photos from trip to Fakahatchee Strand. Panther #7—-there’s a reason his trail name is Panther!
+Chris Heald has some amazing AT time lapse videos that make me want to try them out myself. Which reminds me—Chris don’t you have some ghost orchid ones to work on?
+If we’re going with videos, this one by Tiger in a Jar is fantastic. I love artsy videos!
+A view of Katahdin from this girl’s raft.
+My brother is blogging again!
+How industrial farming destroyed the tasty tomato via NPR.

I guess that’s about it. Trying to stay cool in 100*+ days, doing a few runs and finding creative things to do. Dreaming of cooler weather for some weekend backpacking but until then we’re doing short day hikes early in the day.