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I have to say that when I read the thread title I pictured a gardener that started growing bamboo along a property line and then the bamboo overtook the neighbor's property, and the neighbor finally got tired of trying to eradicate the bamboo so instead eradicated the gardener who planted it. Thus, a "bamboo shooting in Oklahoma".

Scott,

lol Actually, I sort of had the same idea in my brain, only I wasn't sure if they were going to shoot the bamboo or shoot the person who planted the bamboo.

Someone told me once (maybe it was on this forum) that "Friends don't let friends plant bamboo".

Dawn

NO KIDDING! I have had people ask for some root and (as a friend) I have refused as it is an unbelievable nuisance. DH and I come home every afternoon in spring and summer and do a shoot walk and kick them over. In one day they can grow about a foot and 2-3 inches in diameter! Sounds like I am exaggerating but not at all.

Think bermuda that is 30 feet tall and 2-4 inches in diameter.

Imp

Imp,

I have long wished to have a bamboo grove on our property so I could harvest bamboo to use as garden stakes, etc. However, I haven't planted it here and I never will.

We had neighbors in Fort Worth who had massive bamboo issues and I remember watching them fight it for years and years, and they were fighting just to contain it---they weren't even trying to get rid of it.

Anyway, I don't have room for it here. We only have 14 acres.....so clearly there wouldn't be room for us, our buildings and our lawn and gardens, and bamboo too.

Dawn

Funny my backyard isn't even an acre. For the last 10 years there have been 9 types of bamboo growing back there. I do not use any of the underground barriers available. I guess being an ACTIVE gardener is why I've been successful with it. It is truely gorgeous! It is easy to maintain if you are someone who likes to do regular, annual yardwork. By annual I mean like once in the spring and once again in the fall. I maintain it within its space with a shovel. One area has formed a wonderful wall with the coolest sitting space or "room" complete with hosta beds. Too bad all the negative press this plant receives and people that buy it without ever growing it themselves. Very, very cool plant for the active.

Perhaps you have clumping bamboo. You cannot have running bamboo or it would have taken over long ago.

For the active...??? Them are fightin words after 20 years of wrestling with this stuff.

imp

No clumping bamboos can live in Oklahoma. I have 8 varieties of Phyllostachys genus, all runners. If one doesn't use rhizome barrier, then all you need to do is have a trench around the intended growing area. Bamboo runs shallow, first six inches of soil. So you can see it shoot over the trench and cut it. If one does escape it is easy enough to deal with. Yes, if one doesn't mind maintaining a trench it is easy, trench only needs to be a couple of inches. Too many bamboo haters!

plantermanokc - hold on there! I love bamboo...but I've never grown any. Well, that's a lie - I have a pot in my house with 5 or 6 stalks that I bought at a craft show 7 years ago and have had to change the bowl twice because it gets rootbound. It's in rocks and water, but that's not the kind you're growing.

What does yours look like in Winter? We are on a corner and live rural. The road to the west of us is higher than most of our property and half an acre of that line is washing way. It's so steep now that DH is having trouble mowing. We've considered planting a stand of bamboo all along that space to a) stop the run-off and b) give us a bit of a privacy fence on that side. How much would you suggest to start with for a 60 or 70 ft row?

Paula

Paula - Plant one.

I've read all of the warnings here about bamboo and am still intrigued -- and very tempted. Sick, isn't it?

Oh, wait. We have two dozen acres and are bordered by neighbors on two sides we'd like to buy out (when we rob a bank and/or win the lottery). I could plant a couple on each border, far away from our house, and it would drive out the neighbors. Woo hoo!

It's good to have a plan for the future...

Diane

Paula, We have folks here who have clumping bamboo and they've had it the whole time we've lived here. They planted it (or maybe whoever had the house before them did) to 'hide' the gas meter in their front yard. It is a huge patch now, maybe 30' x 40' and takes up a lot of their front yard. The area it is in spreads out a little every year. They don't seem to be gardening types and I don't see them out doing anything to maintain it.

It reminds me of the bamboo our neighbors in Fort Worth had and fought for 10 or 15 years before they finally paid someone with a backhoe to tear up their whole backyard and remove it. When you live in the city with gas lines, sidewalks, water lines, etc. running through the yard, hiring a backhoe to take out bamboo is a costly choice but they had to do it...they had no yard any more.

Everyone I know who has planted bamboo has regretted it because it is hard to manage and once you have it, it is incredibly hard to get rid of. When we lived in Texas (my entire life until we moved here), the horticulturalists, garden writers and extension agents warned folks continually against planting bamboo. They repeatedly told people it would take a backhoe to take it out because it was so invasive there in zone 8. Not many folks have it here in southern OK, but the ones who don't wish that they didn't.

Diane, Before you plant some, talk to Robert (Spademillane) or ask Seedmama about Spademillane's bamboo. I don't know how to refer to his bamboo....as a forest.....as a bamboo grove? He gives it away to anyone who wants it (although he advises against planting it) because he's trying to get rid of it.

Dawn

The fervent bamboo warnings with accompanying photos from Robert are the only reason I've not given in to my urges. Yet... (I'm truly not right in the head, people.)

Diane

Diane,

If you feel compelled to plant it, get the rare black one that Robert has, but remember that he warned you! lol

Dawn

But wait a minute you guys!!! I'm talking a 60 by 40 swap that is a steep hill!!! (and the size is a guesstimate). It's HORRIBLE to mow. I worry that DH is going to flip the mower!! It's far, far from the house....and there's absolutely nothing else that could be done with it. We've thought of planting that grass that grows in clumps and lays over....but we can't figure out what type of grass it is or where to get it other than "lifting" starts from the side of the highways. I seriously think this might be a blessing for us....(but like Diane...I'm not right in the head so go figure!)

As much as I would like some privacy from the next-door-inlaws...I wouldn't even consider planting it there. But on this hill.....I'm thinking maybe....probably...you guys will just have to see for yourselves if you come to the swap and see if there's any other ideas we haven't had that you can offer. (and you thought I was just hosting to be nice...ha!)

Paula

Diane, Before you plant some, talk to Robert (Spademillane) or ask Seedmama about Spademillane's bamboo. I don't know how to refer to his bamboo....as a forest.....as a bamboo grove?

Forest? Grove? How about nightmare? Diane and Paula, I would meet you over there one day so you could see it for yourself. Robert sent pics last year before my first harvesting trip. Let me just say it's like trying to capture the Grand Canyon in a 4 x 6 photo. Just doesn't do it justice.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad Robert has so much bamboo. For as long as my hand can hold a trowel, there will be an unlimited supply of stakes. But it comes with ticks the way dalmations come with spots. And when it dies, from an ice storm or otherwise, it leaves hightly volatile kindling for the worst kind of wildfire.

Think about getting older. Clearing out the dead stuff or limiting the live stuff is physically demanding. So much so that Robert told me no one, even paid help, ever comes back the second day. Just me. So you can't count on paying to have that kind of yardwork done either as you get older. And when your children have to dispose of your estate, there will be a reduced sales price and lots of cursing under the breath.

Just some things to think about.

Paula -- a way tall alternative to bamboo might be ravennae grass (Perianthus ravennae).It grows 6-8' then sends up plumes that can reach 12'.It's on some invasive lists but when I was at the Hort School (OSU-OKC) it was on our list of desirable grasses. It doesn't run all over the place like bamboo-- it makes huge clumps -- so it takes a really big space like your big slope. If I remember, it was listed in "estate plants." And you live on an estate, right? I've not grown it myself so I'm sure other gardeners would be more familiar with it. At any rate, don't plant bamboo under any circumstance. It will eat your acreage, your house, small children etc etc!

Also, the grass you've seen along the highways might be lovegrass. It's only about a foot tall. We have a corner lot & needed something for the triangle that's formed where the two sidewalks intersect. After the water dept dug it up one year and the cable company the next, we decided we needed something really cheap to put there. So we dug some lovegrass from my dad's acreage and we just love it. We don't have to water it much & it just takes care of itself.

Hope these ideas help. We sure don't want your DH toppling over. Dorice

Paula, I will invite you over to see what I am talking about. (I am really serious about you seeing it before you make a decision. I only live a few miles from you).
DH and I cleared out an area about 5' X 6' about 15 years ago. We broke 3 axes and took two days to do it. The next year it was the thickest stand we had.

Then I cut it all down (in the same area-I wanted that area for my leaves) put down several layers of tarps and put concrete blocks on top of that to make a level area. The next year the concrete blocks (the large and heavy ones) were pushed over and the bamboo shot up through the cracks. They push up through my bags of bark mulch, my potting soil, through the brick sidewalks that have been here for over 40 years. They come up in my beds that have been raised 3-4 feet. I am talking a serious nightmare.

And by btw, it was here when we moved here 20 years ago. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time as the house overlooked a park and it does give some privacy. The cost is unbelievable. Every gardening decision I make I have to take the bamboo into consideration and try to stay ahead of it.

And anyone who wants stakes around here, I will supply them. They are around 30 feet tall.

imp

Seedmama, Thanks for your description of Spademillane's bamboo. I didn't want to be too graphic in my description because I didn't want to offend Robert, but the words in my brain were "Bamboo Hell". lol

Paula, As Dorice suggests, there are many other ornamental grasses you could use. However, I don't know that I'd use Love Grass. Love County (ironic, isn't it) has tons of Love Grass in pastures and (a) it is incredibly invasive...I spend hours pulling it out of my garden all spring and summer because the seeds blow in or wash in from everywhere else, and (b) it burns like mad in a wildfire, so much so, that when firefighters arrive on the scene and are giving a size-up of a grassfire to let other incoming departments know what the fire is like (size, rate of spread, etc.), they'll say "It's love grass!" which is the equivalent of saying "uh oh, we're in trouble". Love grass is beautiful, especially when the flowerheads are blooming, but it isn't something I'd choose to have (though I have it anyway) in our rural location because of its invasiveness and because of the way it burns. Maybe wildfires are not as common where you live as they are here, so that might not be an issue for you.

Imp,

You poor thing. I know you weren't looking for sympathy, but I'm gonna give you some anyway! Your experience is similar to our neighbors in Fort Worth, They lived on the other side of a city park from us, but their land backed up to some city land where the city kept piles of sand, dirt, rock, asphalt, etc. Their bamboo took over their yard, came up through the dirt floor of their chicken coop, moved into the yard of the neighbors on both sides, moved onto the city property, etc. After the backhoe guy cleaned it out, they had a contractor pour a concrete slab there, and they built a garage. They thought the bamboo was gone. Ha! It started coming up the following spring all around their yard, the garage, all the areas it had previously invaded, and it seemed more invasive than before. They solved their problem by selling their house and moving a few blocks away....but then the bamboo just became someone else's problem.

Another neighbor did seem to get rid of theirs, by burning down (NOT on purpose) their garage, yard and part of the house. Their ultimate solution was to rebuild the burned parts of the buildings and move away before the bamboo came back. The next landowner poured concrete, like a patio, where the bamboo had been and that mostly worked, but it came up all around the patio and fenceline. As far as I know, it is still there.

Paula, I had a thought--If I had a slope like you described and wanted something permanent that wouldn't require regular mowing, I think I'd order wildflower seed mix from someone like Wildseed Farms. If you already have native prairie grasses, it will mix with them, or you can order a prairie grass seed mix from the seed company and plant them together. You'd have the beauty of the wildflowers many months out of the year, and the taller prairie grasses the rest of the time. I'll link their site below. I get my wildflower seed from them and they're a great company. Another option is native buffalo grass. Buffalo grass is great for an unmowed hill if you can tolerate its tawny brown color because it does not necessary stay green all summer long. Its seeds never seem to spread into my garden the way love grass does. You could use the regular old common buffalo grass or there are some newer, improved varieties. You can't irrigate it if you have nearby bermuda though, because in irrigated, mown areas the bermuda can crowd it out. However, in unirrigated, unmown areas, the buffalo grass can hold its own.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Wildseed Farms Website

Paula, you might consider ditch lilies for your hill. Invasive too, but not on the lines of bamboo :) I'm sure all of us have, oh, 1,200 we could bring you as a hostess gift :)

Lisa

Although it's the plant with the cast off name "ditch lilly", I still think it is a pretty plant. Basicly it is a 'plant it and forget it' kind of plant. You may have to thin them out every 3 or 4 years, but that's about it. I think Moni told me you can eat the blooms. Is that right Moni? Moni is our resident long distance cyclist and knows everything that you can eat along the roadside....I said road side, not road kill.

Love all the horror stories. Bamboo is not for everyone for sure, only for the active. I been dealing with bamboo forever and all I know is that if you stay on top of it (active) from the start it never has to get out of control, period. An truely amazing plant, a blast to watch is go from ground zero to 25' or more in 60 days. Plus always exciting each spring to see the new diameter of the shoots as they get larger each year until the max for a particular species. Have my largest black bamboo shoots yet just this week!

Any of you guys/gals with bamboo problems live on the south side of Tulsa? I ran out of bamboo stakes yesterday and have 100 more plants to stake. Plus, I would like to see a bamboo jungle up close.

alright, alright....I'm convinced. Ticks? no, thank you. Volitale kindling? Got enough of that growing all around us. I was just about to cave-in to the urge until I read those few words.

We keep the grandkids away from the area under the pine trees that grow at the back of the property. Too many ticks there in all those pine needles.

Plantmanokc,

I'm certainly an active gardener. I think there is a certain dignity in using hand tools to garden "the old fashion way." It's certainly more work to use a spade than a tiller, or a reel mower rather than a gasoline powered one, but one is rewarded in a way that I don't usually experience when using more complex technology. Of course, I also just don't have the money to buy those things...:)

That being said, there is a difference in being active by using hand tools, and being active because you are trying to grow plants that are not suited to this environment. To me, that just sounds like an unnecessary headache. To say that it just requires an "active" gardener is a bit misleading. There is no such thing as an inactive gardener despite what the many "gardening shortcuts" books may want you to think. It will take a lot of work, over and above that required for plants more suited to this environment.

I mean you no disrespect and hope you don't take my post in such a light. If I had a backyard full of bamboo I would be trying to sell it too. But you need to let people know what they're in for.

-Matt

I agree with Matt.

I am a very active gardener with a huge landscape and garden and trees to maintain, but that doesn't mean I have time to devote to containing a rampant grower that does indeed become invasive.

The way you use the term 'active gardener', plantmanOKC, makes it sound like we all could grow bamboo too, if only we were 'active'. Most of us here are active and spend several to many hours a day outside working in our landscapes and gardens---we just choose to focus our activity on something else, not bamboo.

I would never suggest planting any invasive plant of any type to somebody until I was sure they understand its nature, its typical behavior and its tendency to be invasive.

I'm glad you like your bamboo and enjoy it, but doubt you'll convert many of us here to sharing your feelings. There's probably a lot of like-minded people on Gardenweb's Bamboo Forum though if you've never been to that forum.

Dawn

I'm waiting to plant my bamboo until after I get my eastern red cedar trees and my japanese honeysuckle planted.

Seriously, though, I still have an interest in bamboo even after all the horror stories. I would probably regret it, but it still interests me.

Scott - you're just onery to the bone!!!! LOL! I share your curiousity...even though the tick & kindling thing kinda scares me....I still might could be coaxed to try it. The space I'm thinking of for it and the benefits just might out-weigh the issues. Keep me posted, OK? You've already fed my love of blueberries!

If I could trade all of my cedars for bamboo, I betcha I'd do it! Man, I hate cedars...

Diane

I've heard a lot lately about pest cedars...what's the story on that? Forgive my ignorance, i'm still a fairly new okie. And by cedar do you mean cedar? In Texas, almost anything that isn't a live oak is called a cedar. (juniper, pine etc...)

-Matt

Cedars are "trash trees", in my opinion. My reasons for detesting them:

1. Rust that will give my apples problems.

2. Ever see one near a fire? Boom! We live in a forest and they can be a huge problem in fires.

3. They're forever breaking at the slightest ice, snow, and wind.

4. They multiply faster than rabbits and it's dang near impossible to get rid of them all.

5. Pollen.

I'm sure there are other reasons but those are my main ones. We do have a friend who makes his living handcrafting cedar furniture so at least we can give them to him to get some good out of the nasty things.

Diane

I recall a news story about a new industry in Oklahoma that will harvest cedar trees for you. (I think) There is profit to be made from cedar.....

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Cedar/OK House of Representatives PR

Although the eastern red cedar - actually a juniper, contrary to the name - is native to Oklahoma, it is not indigenous to many of the areas that it has overwhelmed. The tree grows quickly, stealing water from other vegetation while destroying sensitive ecosystems and habitats for other species such as the state's lesser prairie chicken. Shapiro said a tree can consume more than 30 gallons of water daily that could be used for farm development, native grass growth for grazing, or even drinking water.

Here is a link that might be useful: Recylers find profit

Matt,

When I'm referring to cedar trees I am referring to Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) which is horribly invasive...if you let it spread, it will reseed vigorously and won't stop until it has covered every inch of bare ground. It is a huge water guzzler and here in our part of the state, the pastures that are full of cedar trees never produce hay or forage nearly as well as pastures where the cedar is kept out by the vigilant work of the landowner.

There are many reasons to hate cedars. We had them all over our open land (most of our land is heavily wooded) when we purchased it, and we have spent that last 12 years removing it and trying to keep it from coming back on the 2 acres nearest the house.

Diane already listed her reasons, and ours are pretty much the same.

I don't even attempt to grow apples here because cedar apple rust is going to get them. It is inevitable when the acreage near you has anywhere from dozens to hundreds of cedars per acre.

I don't think Diane mentioned ticks either. There are these little tiny ticks that sit on/in the cedar trees and jump onto you or drop down onto you everytime you're near a tree. You cannot get rid of the ticks until you get rid of the cedars. Since we got rid of the cedars, we almost never have a single tick anywhere around the house.

Fire. For us, fire is a huge issue and cedar trees are immensely dangerous in fire situations. They burn like mad, and they literally explode sending their burning sap or resin or whatever you call it through the air. That burning sap or resin sticks to other trees, the ground, the walls and roofs of houses and barns, etc., and sets them on fire. If you're in an area prone to wildfires, cedars are a disaster waiting to happen. I've seen wind-driven cedar-fueled fires roll right over the top of a firefighting brushtruck with firefighters, including my DH, inside the truck. These fires can be almost unstoppable as long as there's more cedar and tall prairie grasses to fuel them. Generally, if there is any sort of wind over about 35-40 miles per hour, we cannot stop wind-driven cedar-fed fires except by starting carefully managed and strategically-placed backfires (not always possible in a high-wind situation) or by getting far enough ahead of the fire that you can plow/bulldoze a really wide firebreak.

Let's not even mention the pollen. Our cars, porch railings, patio furniture, etc. have been coated in pollen for weeks, although the cedar here are through pollinating now. I'm allergic to cedar pollen so moving here probably was a mistake in terms of allergies.

There's a famous ranch in Texas where the millionaire owner bought very dry, yucky, nonproductive land that everyone thought wasn't worth much. He then spent enormous amounts of time and money removing the cedar and other invasive non-natives. Guess what happened? Springs began oozing water, streams began running, ponds and lakes began to fill up with water. Without the junipers sucking up all the moisture, it became an entirely different place. People come from all over the country, and the world, to study what he did and how he did it.

On the back part of our property, we have an area of cedar trees that are in excess of 50' or 60' in height. It probably starts about 600 or 700' west of our house and runs to the fence line. (A fenceline we've never actually seen since the cedar just covers it up.) Between their tendency to guzzle water (easily 30 gallons per tree per day, and larger trees guzzle more) and the heavy shade they provide, nothing much grows underneath them except maybe some poison ivy and greenbrier. By contrast, in areas where we don't have cedar trees, there is a beautiful healthy ecosystem growing in the shade of the broadleaf deciduous trees and that ecosystem consists of dozens of types of plants and supports all sorts of wildlife. That area occupied by the very large cedar trees mainly supports copperheads and ticks. There is a deer/coyote/wild pig trail that runs through there. If a tornado ever hits our property, I hope it hits the backwoods cedar area.

The next time you drive up/down I-35 through the Davis/Turner Falls area, look at the hillsides. Many are covered in cedar. A few are not. Those few areas that are more cedar-free were burned in massive wildfires several years ago. The first was earlier in the 2000s....maybe 2003 or 04, and there were smaller ones in 2005, and maybe in 2006, 07 and 09 as well. Those fires burned for days and days despite the valiant efforts of firefighters from all over the state and country who fought them as hard as they possibly could.

Cedar trees are taking over many parts of Oklahoma precisely because we don't let the lightning-fueled wildfires clear them out every few years. (We can't let that happen because too many people live in the midst of great numbers of cedar trees, and the trees often surround entire towns.)

I found and linked an article from the Oklahoma that discusses the threat cedar poses to our state.

By the way, some friends of ours have leased a ranch for several years that is covered in cedar. With leased land, it isn't cost-effective to remove the cedar because the land isn't yours. A few months ago I noticed they were clearing out some of their cedar trees (yea!) and I instantly knew they'd purchased the place. Now that it belongs to them, I expect they'll spend the next few years removing cedar. It is hard to remove cedar because, under normal conditions, when clearing land, you pile up the trees, let them dry and burn them. With the cedars, burning them as a means of disposal is inherently risky, and a landowner can be held legally liable for damage done to other folks' property if a brushpile rages out of control and turns into a wildfire. People still do it here, but they work a lot harder from the start to keep their pile of burning cedar contained, including plowing a large firebreak around each pile, having a water truck standing by, having a bulldozer or tractor standing by, burning only in low wind conditions, etc. So, you see, even removing it is very dangerous.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Cedar Trees In Oklahoma

That is cool, Lisa. Thanks for the links! They need to hurry up and set it in motion because I'll be fighting to be first. LOL

Diane

Selah-Bamberger Ranch Preserve. You can google and read about what the landowner has done to restore the native plants there, and it all began with removing the invasive cedars.

Int his case, the juniper that is invasive in that part of the state is Ashe Juniper (because it can tolerate the limestone and seemingly grow right out of the rocks), but it is a lot like our Eastern Red Cedar. You'll find different junipers are invasive in different types of soil, but most locals refer to all of them as cedars even though they are not true cedars.

I first read about the Bamberger ranch in a magazine like either Texas Monthly or Texas Parks and Wildlife many years ago.

I found and linked a web article about the ranch and how it is being restored.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: The Bamberger Ranch

Dawn, that's about what we do when we burn the cedar that our friend can't use - but on a smaller scale. We clear a large area with the skidsteer, have loads and loads of water and and "slappers" set up, and burn only the tiniest amounts at a time with several eyes watching. It's incredibly time consuming. I wish we could just go through and cut them down & let them lay because it would be so much quicker. But, no, that's just not a safe way to handle the cedars. It's going to take forever to get rid of all that we have. *sigh*

Diane

As a child, I thought it was incredible to see the Turner Falls cedar trees that just seem to be growing in rock. There would only be a tiny crack in that rock and a sizable tree purchased on top of it. Maybe you can't see any like that now that there have been so many fires, and of course that was pre-Interstate 35. Wow, I'm old.

That was a very interesting article dawn thank you for the link to it.

Carol - were we separated at birth? I grew up in Ardmore the first 6 years of my life, but we often came to OKC to visit family. I remember those cedars in the Arbuckle Moutains! I'm still amazed at the view when I travel thru there!

And if you're old....I'm there with ya! Our car had no airconditioning. My Gramma would put a pan of ice in the floorboard on my side of the car and opened the side vent so the air could come in, up and over me on the road. Remember those vents in the cars? LOL! And "service stations" were far apart. A "potty break" was a coffee can and a roll of tissue...by the side of the road with the car door and Gramma shielding me from view!

Carol,

I believe you still see cedars coming out of the rocks along portions of I-35 but I haven't been up that stretch of road since last April's plant swap, so I don't remember for sure. In some areas, new cedars sprouted, but in many others they haven't. Burning is a great way to get rid of cedar, but it has to be a really hot and fairly slow-moving fire to kill all the cedars. If the fire is pushed through the area quickly by high winds, the cedars burn on the 'outside' but not the inside and it sets them back but doesn't kill them.

Like Diane, we burn our cedars very slowly and in small piles for safety reasons.

Diane, A neighbor of ours had all their cedars cut from a pasture that I'd guess is about 50 acres or so. Whoever cut them just left they lying where they fell. They've been lying there for two years. Heaven help us all in this neighborhood if that pasture catches fire.

Our local electric co-op cut our next-door neighbor's cedar trees that were just on the other side of the fence that divides our property from them. The trees were tall enough, and close enough to the electric lines that if they caught fire, the electric lines would catch fire. They used a Bobcat that has these big scissor-like blades on the front. It can cut through some huge trees. It isn't necessarily a real clean cut, but with cedar trees, no one cares. I was amazed at how quickly that Bobcat cut down those cedars, especially considering a Bobcat isn't that big. I was thinking to myself "I wish we had one of those...." lol

Klo, You're welcome. Haven't seen you on here in a while. Hope you are well.

Dawn

I don't travel that road very much anymore either, but I wish I had a buck for every trip I have made through there. LOL In the last few years, if I am only going to Ardmore I go thru McAlester to Atoka and cut across on the 2 lanes. It is few miles closer, but takes about the same amount of time. If I go the other way I have to be careful and not hit OKC or Tulsa during the rush hours or that really adds to the time. Going the back way, I miss both cities.

Paula, maybe you and Dawn and I were all separated. LOL I was born in Ft Worth, and lived there until I was two. At 2, my parents moved to an old farm house west of Wilson OK. Before I started to school we moved into the town of Wilson and lived there until the summer before I started high school. I went to high school in Lone Grove and still have lots of family in the area. I left there to go to Durant to college, and never lived there again until after my DH retired from the Air Force. We moved to Lone Grove and stayed 12 years, the longest time we had ever lived anywhere, then almost 9 years ago we moved to Grove.

I have dropped anchor here and it would be very hard to get me to move. I know my DH would love to live in the area where our youngest just bought a new farm, but I am planted and happy where I am. It has been constant work since we bought it and we still aren't finished, but that's OK too.

We still have 20 acres in Carter County, but I am not interested in going back and none of my children live anywhere near there.

Carol and Paula,

So the Fort Worth girls all end up in Oklahoma eventually? I loved Fort Worth and loved growing up there and love the city still, but hardly recognize it anymore. It has grown so, so much and the traffic now rivals that in Dallas. If you want to live in the country, you have to move pretty far out....that's how we ended up here!

I lived in Fort Worth until shortly before I turned 40, and then we moved here. I love it here and this is our 'forever house'. We're not going anywhere else until we get old and decrepit and our son 'forces' us into a nursing home. lol I'm not saying he would 'force' us, but you know, if we get to where we cannot take care of ourselves, it is always an option, and I wouldn't blame him. Since we're only in our early 50s, I assume the nursing home conversation is still many years away.

Dawn