[Synopsis]

Why thank you jessaka, and everyone else for the nice comments. I'll make sure and go up in the Spring when everything will be in full bloom. This time of the year pretty much sucks for taking pictures; everything is brown or dormant. Summer is good, Fall is good, Spring is great, but winter is just ugly - unless there is snow on the ground. But again, I'm ready for Spring, my hands and feet are cold!

[bjb123]

Thanks for showing us the Gerty area. Yes, it's brown but I see one thing that looks really nice that we don't have up here in the Buckeye State - blue skies! Our sunny days in the winter are few & far between.
Your reminiscing about growing up in Gerty made me think about my small town in S.E. Ohio. When I was a kid those were the days when we would be outside all day long & our Mother would literally have to ring a bell to get us to come in to eat dinner! We could walk the railroad tracks to the next town & our parents didn't have to be terrified wondering if we were O.K. We were constantly building "forts" & road our bikes everywhere. It's a shame, I think kids now days are really missing out on something.

[Synopsis]

Hey bj,
You're welcome. Yes, Oklahoma does have a lot of crisp, clear winter days. Even though things are brown, the blue, cloudless skies are beautiful. Your comments on your activities as a kid are right along the lines of my experience as a kid.

And you're right, kids these days are missing out on that experience, which *is* a real shame.

[Mattie Jo]

speaking of blue skies bj, when we were driving out here from CA, we first went through the open skies of NM I think, and the sky just opened up. I never knew it was so big and now i know what they mean by Big Skies in Montana. But what was more, they are so blue out here, even in OK. I was used to only seeing haze of air pollution or a marine layer.

I used to do a lot of dangerous things when I was a kid growing up in the small town of Paso Robles. It is a wonder I am alive. But I had fun roaming the downtown by myself, going to the river with my dog, or going for a hike in the mountains. I remember in high school three of us went to the river together, and one of my friends jumped across a body of water and ended up with mud up to the top of her thighs. I yelled, "Quicksand," and that it was. To think I roamed there alone all my life without getting into it but only hearing about it. I used to walk for miles on that river bed. Or running through those large pipes that go under the freeway and seeing that it was full of black widow spiders, which didn't stop me because it was easy access to the river. Most of the time I took a safer route.

[Synopsis]

jessaka I'd love to see pictures of your property over near Talequah. I'm sure others would as well. Do you have any to share?

[Mattie Jo]

I do, but I do not know how to post it. Please give me some advice. Thanks I click on Image and they want a website, but my photos are only on my computer.

[Synopsis]

You'll need to sign up for a hosting service, like www.flickr.com (broken link). It's free and a great resource. I also HIGHLY recommend that before you do this you download and install the web browser "firefox," which is far superior to Internet Explorer. I can't tell you how to do this in Internet Explorer because although I have it on my computer, it doesn't allow you to copy link locations (at least as far as I can tell), which is necessary in this process.

1) Download and install the web browser firefox from mozilla.org. You can import all of your bookmarks from Internet Explorer and you do not need to de-install Internet Explorer; they can both coexist on the same computer with no problems.

2) Sign up for a flickr account (www.flickr.com) (broken link), or one from photobucket. They're free.

3) Upload your pictures to the website that will host your pictures.

4) Once your pictures have been uploaded, and you are still signed in to your flickr account, enlarge the image to full size by clicking on the image and then the + symbol inside the magnifying glass.

5) Right-click on the photo and select "copy image location." The photo location (on the web) is copied to your computer's clipboard and is in memory.

6) Respond to a thread or start a new thread of your own entitled "Tahlequah photo blog" or whatever you would like in this forum.

7) Above the text box where you type your content, there are several icons. Click on the icon that says "Insert Image."

8) Inside the box that asks for the URL of your image, press CTRL-V (past). The image location you copied from your picture gallery is now pasted into the thread. Click OK. Your image should show up when you post your reply.

It sounds complex, but it's really not at all. Once you get used to it you can post as many photos as you'd like; the same photos we'd all like to see!

Let me know if you need any help. Feel free to PM me if you'd like.

[Honeybee]

Nice Pics and did I see Pine trees :O) in OK. I love your pics can't wait for spring pics :O)

[Honeybee]

Wow Jess :O) what a exciting life I think I would be alittle scared to do those things .It sounds like your loving your new home in OK. I am coming soon Jess from Ca. also our home was just placed on the market .Were going to buy in Broken Arrow or somewhere around Tulsa .:O)

[Synopsis]

Good luck to you Honeybee! I'm thinking you'll like it when you get to Oklahoma.

You know, even after all the comments on the blue skies (mine too!) I really didn't realize just how blue they were in those pictures until I looked again at them today.

As bad as my photography is, the skies were/are a spectacular color of blue. And I had my camera colors set on "neutral" so there wasn't the slightest bit of enhancement. At night it's almost just as nice; with no light pollution you can see billions of stars as bright as they can possibly be.

Here in Fort Worth, we hardly see even the brightest of stars on a completely clear night because of all the lights.

That's another thing that makes me love my home so much; the deep blue skies and fresh air just make you feel good all over.

And Honeybee, yes there are plenty of pine trees in Eastern Oklahoma; not like Georgia, but I like the variety of deciduous trees intermixed with pines. It really makes for a beautiful fall season, especially if we get the right amount of sunlight, crisp nights, and rainfall.