Prairies and Painting

Loving the prairies and history around Wichita.  We are trying to soak up the beautiful places to go, as well as the beautiful family we have in this part of the country!

Beaumont, KS has some really cool history

this wooden water tower is the only one of its kind in the USA - used for the trains that used to come thru

railroad of days past

Greg, Linda Sue, and me heading to the railroad ponds

pretty walk thru prairie and pasture

the ponds were used to fill the tower to take care of the trains

the land beyond the ponds is used for a wind farm (turbines) now

wind turbines in the distance

facility?

this bird built its nest low to the ground surrounded by serious thorns

get the point?

Greg and Linda Sue

one of David's artistic angles

small aircraft land at this un-controlled grass landing strip even today

very short power pole -- possibly telegraph

David getting a shot of it

when planes land on this strip, they taxi up the road and park at the hotel

historic Beaumont hotel is still in business -- a resort of sorts for serious hunters

on the nat'l registry

didn't see a story with this plane, so we'll say it was Sky King's

a reminder that plane parking is available

cool old phone booth in the hotel

once we got inside the hotel I could see Linda Sue's shiner from her procedure

notice the sign where we parked

Greg and Linda Sue took us to lunch at Stearman Field in Benton, KS

great aero atmosphere in the restaurant 

we could watch the planes land and take off while eating

11-15-13:  Today we took a little daytrip with Greg and Linda Sue to the national historic site of Beaumont, KS.  This is a spot we see from the highway coming into KS from Branson.  So I've been interested in seeing it up close for a couple of years now.  Greg and Linda Sue are always up for an adventure.  Or re-adventure in this case.  They'd been there before and knew much of the history.  Really cool place to read about and explore.

There used to be a decent population there and a lot of air traffic.  Today, much of it looks like a ghost town, but the historic Beaumont Hotel is still in action.  It is a quaint hotel with a lot of memories on the walls and remains in very similar condition from back in the day.  They serve lunch most days (and it was smelling good!) and cater to their hotel guests which many times are folks from all over the USA who have come to KS for some great hunting.

We headed down the walking trails to the Railroad Ponds.  I'd never heard of such, but evidently they were built to keep the old wooden tower filled.  The tower was for the trains that came through Beaumont. The tower is well-kept by an organization and is the only known wooden tower of its kind left in the country. 

After exploring the trail to the ponds, we headed over to the grass landing strip.  There is no control tower -- just a sign with a few do's and don'ts. Such as reminding pilots to look out in the sky around them. Once they land, they are welcome to drive their plane on up the street and park at the hotel. I thought Bandera, TX was unique with horses parked along main street.  But I'd love to see a plane or 2 driving down the road here.

In keeping with our airplane theme today, we drove on over to Benton, KS.  Greg and Linda Sue took us to lunch at Stearman Field there.  The food was great!  In fact, I got the deal of the day.  I ordered a small pizza and they mistakenly made me a large.  Plenty for supper!  As we ate, we enjoyed watching small single and twin engine planes coming in and out of the airport.  Most of the homes nearby had their own hangers and could just taxi on over to the runway.  Stearman reminded me of the days when my parents would take us for lunch at Texarkana Airport.  I never liked the food as a kid, but loved watching the planes!  

Beautiful day and wonderful info! Thanks Greg and Linda Sue for educating us once again!

Justin's and Doug's new hooters:  Asher named Justin's "BB"

this is when we learned that hedge apples float

Doug and Heather showing Andrew and Asher the shells they have on their dock

during a quiet moment on the dock, 6 yr old Andrew reaching in his jacket and pulled out his harmonica and began playing a lonely tune 

Justin and Asher

Asher is politely acting interested in the leaf collection book we brought them

When Asher said there was a bat in the tree, nearly everyone looked up.  Except Heather, Dodger, and me.  I caught quite a bit of ribbing about this on FB.  But what fb friends don't know, is that the following pic was actually taken first!  Justin figured out it was just an AR tumbleweed (plastic bag)

See?  Heather, Dodger, and I are just quicker than everyone else!

on the 2nd trip to the dock, Uncle Doug found some big sticks for the boys to "paddle" with

didn't make good time rowing that dock, but they were focused on getting to St. Louis after dropping dad off in Douglass

cool old Cottonwood behind Doug an Sheila's cabin

Asher and Andrew trying a little Bolo Toss

And we're done

11-16-13:  Doug and Sheila invited us out to the cabin for lunch today.  What a perfect day to be out there!  Justin and the boys met us there and they were in nature heaven!  The temp was great and the wind was fairly calm and soothing.  The guys spent a lot of time at the dock and playing with hedge apples.  The girls (Sheila, her mom, Heather, and I) enjoyed vegging out under the trees. Great day! Thanks Doug and Sheila and Heather Louise! Ya'll are such sweet hosts!

Sistas! Brooke, Kayla, and Amanda

 daughter-in-law, Brooke

Brooke and her posse

nobody is having fun here!

The teacher giving Brooke, Amanda, Kayla, me, and Alicia a little one on one

My unique painting

our group

We painted Wichita!

Tonite I got to go with Brooke and her peeps to Let's Paint Wichita!  One of her friends had to cancel so she invited me to take her place.  So sorry her friend was sick, but I sure enjoyed the night!  It's like Texarkana's Painting with a Twist.  These places are popping up all over the country.  Each time slot has a different picture.  The attendees follow the instructions of the artist and end up with the same finished product. Hopefully.  Great experience and great company!  Thanks for treating me to this, Brooke!

David has played the video "What Does the Fox Say?" for me a time or 2.  Brooke played the song as "spiritual moment" after Let's Paint Wichita.  Funny!  Cute song and video and there are talks of it becoming a children's book.

11-17-13:  My college friend, Ruth Ellen Hopper, posted some fascinating history on facebook today.  I'd never heard of it -- and evidently most folks haven't.  They are called the "forgotten" giant arrows.  Google this.  They are actually large, 70 ft. concrete arrows that go across the USA and were created in the 1920's for air mail planes that flew at night.  They were painted bright yellow.  As radios, gps, etc came along, the arrows went away.  Many are still there and can be seen from the air.  But others are grown over or have been taken out by other construction.  Now I'm on a trek to find one or 2!  Interesting!  Thx, Ruth Ellen!

 this vest  will help his neighbors see Mac in the snow

Visited with Mac this afternoon.  Love this man!  He is so full of, er, stories. Interesting stories about family from the past.  And a few stories about family from the present.  Last winter he fell in the snow while shoveling out a path for the postlady.  Very sweet of him, right? But once a guy falls in the snow, there is nothing to grab onto for leverage.  Finally, some neighbors saw his plight and helped him up.  So, for Father's Day we got him a bright vest to wear when shoveling snow! :)

Pawnie Prairie

Osage Orange Tree - aka, Hedge Apple Tree or Bois D'Arc

looks like poke-a-dots in the air

David capturing the moment

pretty close to the Mid-Continent Internat'l Airport in Wichita - talks of changing the name to Dwight D Eisenhower

most of the trails followed Cowskin Creek

first mile or so is a paved nature trail

then several miles are unpaved horse trails

plenty of cool trees

Hedge Apples or Monkey Balls or Green Brains

most leaves are gone now, but some trees still have fruit remains

I believe these are the final black walnuts on a young tree

cool bark

big ole.............Cottonwood

treehugger

big ole.................hedge apple

one of the creek crossings

deer habitat

a chain tree

pretty creek in most spots -- sadly, trashed out in others

I'll bet the black walnut trees provide a pretty canopy in the spring

plump Downy Woodpecker

some cool prairie grass 

when this grasshopper flew, it looked black with green specks

another crossing

these berries were more than abundant throughout the entire hike - service berries?

My fella crossing the creek 

cool monkey vine

David next to a big Cottonwood

after seeing much "sign",  finally saw a couple of horses

11-18-13:  David took me to a spot I'd never been - Pawnie Prairie Park.  We hiked the horse trails out there.  It was a wonderful day and plenty of nature to learn about on the trails. A couple of times I thought we might be lost and was glad we started out in the morning. But my man had no trouble navigating us through the trails and loops. We walked 4.5 miles in just under 3 hours.  Thanks, Honey, for a glorious day outdoors!

As always, we have so much to be thankful for each and every day.  God has blessed us more than we deserve.  Looking forward to the remainder of November with the McClintock's and Leighton's!

Love to all,

Ylvis, Georgia O'Keefe, and the dog that goes "Woof"