Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Gold Standard

We've struck Gold! Here's the latest progress on the Meadow Gold sign. I stopped for a quick picture on my way home from Afton Station._______________________

I'm writing this at Afton Station while trying not to be overcome by gasoline fumes. Don't worry, we're well-ventilated, but David is here attempting to tune the engine on the Citroen 2CV. He's out back, but I can't help getting whiffs of the burning petrol, and it ain't pretty. But hey, this is, after all, a gas station -- and today it truly reeks like one.

I've only had one visitor so far, a young man from Maryland on his way to a bicycle trip in the Black Hills. Brrrr!

The town is dead today. Actually, in Afton "dead" is strictly a matter of degrees. Today it's more dead than usual.

Forbes Magazine has published it's ranking of the 379 large cities in the U.S. according to quality of life, or "livability". (No, Afton isn't on the list.... ha ha). However, I'm pleased to announce that Tulsa is #6 on the list!!! I'm not surprised because, of all the places I've lived, Tulsa is the most wonderful by a country mile. The cost of living, recreation and leisure activities, emphasis on music and art, and unemployment rate were all taken into consideration. We fell down a bit in the area of crime, but still came in at #6. The town in Connecticut where I lived for 30 years before moving to Oklahoma came in at #5, but I wouldn't trade it for Tulsa at any price.

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It's 2 p.m. and still no further guests. I've spent the last 3 hours in the back with David, helping a little bit with installing the interior upholstery but mostly just watching him work. His dog, Blackjack, watched too. A disappointing day, visitor-wise, but actually kind of fun.

5 comments:

Beth said...

Sounds like you're exactly where you need to be! I love visiting various cities, and love going back to some over and over, but when it comes to where I want to live, I'm very happy with the Midwest.

I LOVE the smell of gasoline, but realize it's a bad idea to get too much of it. :)

Hugs, Beth

Anonymous said...

Awwww ... Blackjack is cute.

Trevor Hilton said...

After college a place in Little Rock hired me. That's a nice place, with a historic feel to it. But, the entire time I was there the songs "Tulsa Time", by Don Williams, and "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma", by Lefty Frezel and Dottie West were haunting me.
So I came back to God's country.

Laurel said...

Beth,

Actually, I love the smell of fresh gasoline, too. But this was the stale smell of burning gas. Ugh!

-er said...

I love the Meadow Gold sign. Actually, since I'm generally big on things that aren't here anymore... I'm fascinated by watching the sign's restoration