Wiley Post made headlines. He crushed the record for circumnavigating the globe and then broke his own record a year later with the first solo trip around the world. He reached unheard of heights in his plane, the Winnie Mae, verifying the existence of the jet stream. His final flight ended in headlines reporting his death and that of his traveling companion, Will Rogers. A short but spectacular public life that began with its own head line "Bandit Caught, Lodged in Jail."

It took years to get the ball rolling but the Texas County landscape would soon have a good sized body of water provided by the Corps of Engineers. It was to provide all the usual things a lake would, especially high-paying government jobs and money flowing through local businesses. As the construction wore on, conditions kept getting dryer and dryer. Just as dollars were not flowing into the local economy, water wasn't flowing into the Lake...

A milestone - a marker on a real or figurative trail that allows you to know how far you've come and how far you've got to go. Here on our 150th episode, I take a moment to consider this particular milestone. Episodes featured : From Kansas to the Keiper Belt Granddad's Prayer Aid For The Tenth Leper The Music of Clearviews: Clearviews - Band Camp page

A milestone - a marker on a real or figurative trail that allows you to know how far you've come and how far you've got to go. Here on our 150th episode, I take a moment to consider this particular milestone. Episodes featured : From Kansas to the Keiper Belt Granddad's Prayer Aid For The Tenth Leper The Music of Clearviews: Clearviews - Band Camp page

For this episode, we will depart from the usual back road or mountain trail, far from where the Great Plains, the Ozark Mountains and the Indian Territory collide for the cobble stone street of London, 1854. This story has all the elements of a good Within The Realm tale: A significant event in an overlooked place, this time just with an English accent! Our story involves a doctor on the cutting edge, a neighborhood facing an overwhelming problem and a pump handle.

The Piggy Bank, that most useful tool in teaching thrift and saving for a rainy day. The idea has been around for centuries, but the concept of a little slotted-back pig in every child's room is pretty recent and from the unlikely starting point of White Cloud, Kansas. The bank was inspired by Pete the Pig, sold by Wilbur Chapman to lend aid to the world's lepers. Pete eventually inspired over a million dollars donated toward that cause.

The Piggy Bank, that most useful tool in teaching thrift and saving for a rainy day. The idea has been around for centuries, but the concept of a little slotted-back pig in every child's room is pretty recent and from the unlikely starting point of White Cloud, Kansas. The bank was inspired by Pete the Pig, sold by Wilbur Chapman to lend aid to the world's lepers. Pete eventually inspired over a million dollars donated toward that cause.

An old fan used by my Grandfather to provide a little respite from the Oklahoma summer heat had a history. It had been purchased three decades before I became fascinated with it, listening to it's ancient blades whir during his afternoon naps. I later learned it figured prominently in a sad chapter in the family story and represented progress during a tumultuous time in American history.

Stories that connect us and it's all within the realm

Katie DeWitt had come to the Oklahoma Territory to get herself a piece of the disappearing American Frontier. She taught school there in what would become Dewey County, perfected her claim to a farmstead,married and had a child, all by the age of 29. On July 6, 1905, She made the trip into Taloga, the County Seat, to file for divorce from her husband Luther James.

Traditions have to start somewhere. I was present at the birth of a new tradition for a bunch of fellow Okies living in Kansas involving a favorite food from our home state. A few things had to fall into place before the tradition was born - like the invention of the Frito and for the daytime high temperature not to exceed a certain limit!

The American Elm was the “go to” tree as the thing planted for shade in the mostly treeless Great Plains. As those Plains gave way to villages and towns and then to cities, the American…

The American Elm was the "go to" tree as the thing planted for shade in the mostly treeless Great Plains. As those Plains gave way to villages and towns and then to cities, the American Elm was the favored "street tree" that lined the streets in idyllic neighborhoods. There is an American Elm that has stood in Oklahoma City since before statehood, overlooked an ignored, that is, until April 19, 1995, when it's sturdiness became a prominent part of a story that shook and restored the faith of a nation.

It was the middle of the night on March 27, 1964. Earlier that evening, the second-biggest earthquake ever measured at the time had hit Anchorage, Alaska. 115 people died. Some houses had been turned…

All the kids had been raised and the youngest grandkid was starting school, it was time for a new chapter for Emma Belle. The next big step required a high school diploma and a driver's license, two things she didn't have. What she did have was a lot of grit and determination...throw in a used Nash Rambler and the rest was history!

Sometimes it takes decades for a story to come around. Years ago I made a deal to acquire a particular guitar, the 12 string pictured here, and though many a day has passed since the agreement was made, the instrument has made it into my home. It's a story of youth, hopes, dreams and loss...but mostly about the friends you find through music.