Week of November 2nd

This one was almost too easy. Of course we had to rent the musical and fully enjoy one of the great classics from Rodgers & Hammerstein.

Our son goes to Mizzou and last year one of the football games we went to see was Mizzou against Oklahoma State. We sat in front of an avid Mizzou fan who shouted “Cowboy Cheaters” the entire game for penalties he thought they had committed. From that point on we will always associate the chant “Cowboy Cheaters” with Oklahoma. Since that’s not really fair I decided to do a little research.

Oklahoma is the “Sooner State” but does anyone really know what a Sooner is? Well, let me share my new found knowledge. A Sooner is a person who settled homestead land in the western US before it was officially made available. Cowboy Cheaters!

Oklahoma is the home of some very famous cowboys… Will Rogers, Garth Brooks, Chuck Norris and Gene Autry. It’s also the birth place of Woody Guthrie, Anita Bryant, and Dr. Phil, so go figure.

To make it more of a celebration, we decided we had to dress the part for our Sunday evening viewing of “Oklahoma”. Since gingham hasn’t been a part of my wardrobe since…………, well I can’t remember it ever being a part of my wardrobe, I decided to opt for jeans and cowboy boots.

Since the “corn is as high as an elephant’s eye” in Oklahoma, popcorn will be on hand for the viewing.

So Sunday came and our friends arrived (with DVD in hand) looking like Rodgers & Hammerstein meets Brokeback Mountain in white cowboy hats. My husband’s outfit looked remarkably like Curly’s in the opening number, although we did notice that there wasn’t a single pair of jeans in the movie. Lots of pictures were taken but I put a stop to it before this gang played “my gun is bigger than yours”.

We settled in to a movie that some of us remembered as a childhood favorite although it was actually released the year we were born. Sometimes I can’t remember what I ate for dinner last night but all the words to “I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No” are intact in this author’s memory. One thing we didn’t remember was how many sluts were characters in the movie. My word, didn’t they have anything else to think about back then.

A good time was had by all, even though several days later we all have this overwhelming urge to break out in song, OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOk-lahoma,
where the ……. But the point is to move on and on we will, to our little pear bag that holds the key to our next adventure. (I know, you’re thinking, she calls these adventures.)

Color in the state on the map that looks like a frying pan and travel directly north from the “Sooner State” to the “Peace Garden State”, not to be confused with the “Garden State”, but the “Peace Garden State”, North Dakota. Four down - 48 to go.