Sorry that I did not directly address the question of what areas of town are growing. For years Tulsa has mainly developed south and east. Currently the Southern developement has pretty much reached Bixby, and the Southeast development now borders with Broken Arrow. A trend in the northeast portion of town which leads toward Owasso consists of fairly constant industrial tract development. Even Owasso does not seem to want to grow toward that area. Instead, Owasso seems to be experiencing rapid northward growth, along with slight northeast and northwest growth of that town. Lots of new additions are quickly filling the open and treed fields in both southeast and northwest Broken Arrow. that growth also includes the northeast part of Tulsa which borders along that part of Broken Arrow. The Towns of Bixby and Jenks have managed to hold onto their small town feel for a long time. the development and spread there is only about half or even less the rate of Tulsa. In the extreme section of Jenks around 121-151 streets South and just west of the river. There are still many vacant fields. A planned bridge is projected to be built over the river from 121st South in Tulsa, and ending at 131st street South in Jenks. This new bridge effort is promoting quite a few new additions to prop up in anticipation of the easy access the bridge would provide to that area. With out the bridge residents of that area either must drive all the way down to 151st, drive west through Bixby and back north up memorial drive to cross the river into Tulsa, or they have to to drive northward and through the often times congested small downtown area of Jenks to access the other bridge around 91st street to access the central part of south, midtown and downton Tulsa. For that reason many people have avoided populating those fertile fields. There currently is strong opposition pressure coming from a South Tulsa residence group and a few others to prevent the proposed new bridge from being built. Even if it does get built the currently proposed toll to be charged for crossing the bridge could prove fairly daunting for those who might depend on using it at least twice daily. You do not mention a concern for the need of access to a good school system. You also do not mention if you desire to purchase property which will be an investment to go up in value as time goes along. Most likely letting either of those issues prevail in your choice will set you inline with ending up in the more or soon to be congested parts of town with all their busy streets. Of course if money is not limited, even in the most congested parts of town there are tucked away neighborhoods that are on large lots, walled in and gated, which go a long way toward buffering against the undesired congestion activity. One other point is the fact that ground has been broken for Tulsa's next major shopping area. It is located along State Highway 75 and Tulsa's west 71st street. That area is actually west of the river in Tulsa. It is a given that major housing and retail development will fill this currently underdeveloped part of Tulsa and prove to be the next big wave of growth. If the newly proposed bridge does not get built the property in southern Jenks should stay rather rural feeling for at least a couple more decades. The little hidden valley mentioned in my first responding post most likely should stay hidden, not because developers do not know about that location, but more because they do not think the money they invest to build huge houses there will ever generate the great profits for them as much as the more trendy more expansive areas they can currently see and rush their focus upon.

Hi Karrjr, welcome to Northeastern Oklahoma. The City of Tulsa Waste drop off and Wood chip pickup is located at 10401 E 56 Street N., Tulsa Phone 591-4325 Last weekend this year's Earth Day activities and free dumps were published in the local papers and on the local TV web sites. I found the address listed above on one of those websites. Since the desciption of the title of that place includes the words "wood chip pick-up," that leads me to wonder if the stuff people pick up there is not fully composted. If I ever brought home some of what they offered, most likly I'd use it in the process of making a lasagnia garden bed in the fall, or would use the stuff in the springtime to add to my composting of last fall's and winter's oak leaf drop. Someone's post, a while back, described how he handles and what he experiences when getting the city wood chips. Evidently he puts the coarser stuff, which he sometimes gets from there, on the pathways in his garden. The finer stuff he gets was described as being used for mulching his beds. He did describe once countering lots of naturally occuring Red Bud trees sprouting from that mulch. If that is the case than most likely the stuff must not have been fully composted; at least not by the hot composting method. I do agree with Matt about Gem Dirt Company. The garden soils they sell are wonderful. I have purchased dirt from them several times, and never thought to ask if they sell compost. If they do, I feel confident enough about them to accept that what they are selling is most likely fully hot composted.

Joellen, Looks great. I 2nd what Dawn said. Like I've stated I usually use both hay and straw. More hay as I have lots of loose alfalfa every year. I have a coworker who takes care of lots of yards. He brings me several big trailer loads of leaves every fall and I put a tarp over them. I put down a layer of unshredded leaves over the garlic and shallots in the winter. Then put straw and hay over them. I bought a Troybilt chipper/shredder at an auction this spring. I'm using it now to shred leaves and putting a few inches around the tomato plants. Then again straw hay over them. There is a few reasons I put straw/hay over them. The main is after I shred them if I don't the wind carries most away. The alfalfa hay especially if I don't shred it will lay in the wind as good as anything I've found. After working all my mulch cover in last fall I have a lot of mulching to do. But I have lots of hay along with some straw. So should have plenty. I don't plan on using as many of the grass clippings this year. And the reason is the Rec Dept has changed Director's and they don't notify me when they spray like they used to. I don't want to take a chance on it causing damage to my plants. I should have enough without it anyway. Around here I always seem to be able to find something. Jay

Man,that was close,I had my thumb on the flint. Where is Don when we need him?? he is a guy that comes over here every so often that lives in S America,anyway inside floor finish 101, controled inviroment, install the T&G material sand it flat and smooth, some of the sawdust will get in the small space between the flooring the old Carpenters wanted this but latley they have vack systems hooked up,anyway the idea is to have a seamless look, clean up all the dust put on a few coats of urethane inbetween light sanding,allow plenty of time for each coat to dry in a dust free area.Outside finish 101,non controled inviroment, temp change sun,rain,hail,snow things like that. It dosent matter if the project has a roof over it its still outside exposed to weather changes,rain,cold,hot, sun this works on the finish up and down and will shatter a urethane finish,like breaking glass only on your deck the chards will be glued to your deck and will be all but impossible to get off.The finish has to move with the weather. So how do they do it in S America??? thats why I was hopeing Don was around,anyway I am thinking they do it with a hand rubbed finish,that is they are building coats with a product that sticks to the wood and to itself over time they build a finish that will hold up,actually bonding it to the wood like burnished leather,burning it in with a lot of labor. And of course its not a one time thing,them Boys are working it every now and then so you Folks will come back and have a drink with them again. Then there is the drainage thing,water is going to get thru that floor,it dosent matter how little that might be,it has no place to go so it finds a home in the ipe, the ipe being its own freindly self,swells up to make room for more and KaBongo your floor is buckled. Its not the ipe guys fault he was just being freindly,its your fault for not providing drainage and cloging what drain there was with sawdust and urethane. So how would you do it?? John you ol smarty pants! crawler thu glass know it all!!!We might want to start another topic for this,its time for my pain meds. J