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One of the fun things about our "Neighborhood Pride" weekly awards is that you get a chance to drive around the community, and sometimes discover areas that you didn't realize existed.
The other day, my wife and I were driving home and she said, “turn here and let's see what is down this road."
The road was Langston, between Oak Ridge and Donkey Lane, off Hwy 10.
As you turn, the sign says "Dead End", so you figure it is going to go a ways and stop.
I was amazingly surprised to find a whole series of neighborhoods and numerous roads.
They are considered "dead end" in the fact that there is no other outlet, and you have to come out the same way you went in.
As we drove around the area, Kathy said, “there is a perfect selection for your "Neighborhood Pride" award”, and she was right.
The home selected is the corner home, off Langston, at 1424 Brannon Lane.
It is the home of Jackie Branscum.
Jackie told me that she cares for the yard and flowers herself and can take much pride in that fact.
Congratulations to Jackie for her efforts.
As we continued to drive around the area, there were other beautifully kept homes on Brannon Lane and Williams Street.
It is worth the drive to discover this great part of our community area.
I've got two homes to highlight this week, since "Chamber Notes" were missed last week.
The second home is that of Zach and Natalie Hobbs at 421 East Street, in the center of Fort Gibson.
Their home is around the corner of a previous winner, the London home on E. Pine, and is one of those jewels that just pops out at you.
It is easy to see how the Old Fort Women's Club picked it. Zach and Natalie both take responsibility for the joint-effort in maintaining the property, but the beautiful flowers showed a definite women's touch to me.
Congratulations to them, as well as Jackie Branscum, for doing their part in making our community beautiful.
We will continue our "Neighborhood Pride" program through Labor Day.
Luckily, the periodic rain has helped in keeping everything green and still growing.
As we get later in the summer, and the heat takes over, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep everything green.
Greg Corry, at Keith Hardware, told me that the Japanese Beetle has been showing up in our area, and is destroying a lot of foliage, especially on fruit trees.
I took him some leaves from my yard to see what was eating them, and they look to be the culprit.
He recommended some chemicals to combat the problem, so if any of you have similar problems, you might check with Greg.
It is good to have a resident expert at our disposal ... thanks Greg.
Our Weekly Chamber Luncheons have been going well, considering it is summertime and many are out of town or otherwise disposed.
We have been meeting at Mac's Drive Inn each Thursday at 11:30 for the month of July.
Those in attendance the past few weeks include Paula Foster, Justin Calvert, Charlie Leveille, Gene Wallace (County Commissioner), Mackie Moore (ICTC), Michael Lee (Senator Inhofe's office), Kirk Boatright, myself and a few others I know I've missed.
We appreciate the hospitality and good eats that Elaine Quinton and her crew have provided us.
We will finish out July at Mac's, then move to Boom-a-rang Diner for the month of August.
Come join us every Thursday at 11:30, and don't forget to bring a friend.
One last note ... don't forget to mark your calendar for the 14th Annual Historic Fort Gibson 5K Run and One Mile Fun Run, scheduled for August 28.
Last year we had over 300 runners, and look forward to the same success this year.
It is a great time to get the legs warmed up and participate in some great exercise, not to mention the awards and trophies for each age-group winners in both male and female categories.
We will talk about this event more in the coming weeks, but get it on your calendar now.
