country kansas

we're safely back in okc again.

but being mostly a city girl, i feel very blessed to get to experience the small town atmosphere through my family. for those of you who don't know, both of my parents are from the small town of tipton, ks. population of ~250 people. the town has a bank, grocery, and hardware store, with a post office and one restaurant. there are no stop lights. there is one catholic church, and the private school it supports. every year, to raise money for this private school, the church holds a chruch picnic (i think it's been going on for something like 60 years). i'll explain more when i post pictures later, but for now, here's some of the country scene that you just don't get to see in the city.

i only recently learned that tipton has a golf course (i've been spending my holidays and vacations in tipton for 25 years now.. it amazed me a town so small could hide a golf course from me!). it is a 9-hole course with sand greens (picture explanation to follow). my grandpa becker does the upkeep, so he took us on a personal tour of the course!

the gorgeous trees and quiet country made it very peaceful

here is a sand green. because the upkeep of a putting green is too much for this small course, they use sand around the holes instead of grass.

when you land on the 'green', you take the tool that is stored by each hole and create a flat surface for your putt, then when done with the hole, you rake the sand for the next person, as demonstrated by my grandpa :c)
here we are crusin' the course, it was a beautiful day!

the view of tipton from the course (like a said, its a small kansas town)

i don't know why, but i thought this ball cleaner was super cool

ray was amazed by the low cost ($5) and the locked 'honesty' box used to collect the feeshere's what my grandpa uses to keep this course up!
did i state this was a peaceful place? well it was, until we heard the sound of gun shots. by the end of our tour, a local tiptonite was on the course, armed and ready to save us from an attack of ground squirrels (the most tiny, harmless animal i've seen, i had to turn my head when he was shooting). only in the country will you catch a man, in a golf cart, on a public course, shooting a pistol. good news for the squirrel, he stated to have bad aim. bad news for us and any other person on the course, he stated to have bad aim...

this squirrel made it to his hole safely, but i'm sad to report that on our way out of town, i created my first road kill.. a ground squirrel. then later my ipod selected for me to listen to alanis morissette's song, ironic.

later that night, a summer storm hit, creating a ton of lighting. i have always been intrigued by lighting, and have said that i would love to capture a lighting flash on camera. with the free time and the open, dark skies, (and a husband who encourages me to jump at any new camera experience), ray and i made an attempt at 'weather photography'. and i am proud to announce i have captured lighting! here's my fist bolt

i thought this was super cool with the 2 bolts. there's minor photoshopping done here (exposure and cropping), but if you look closely, you can see all the 'mini-bolts' coming from that large one. scary!
and the last shot of the night, i thought it was fun :c)
gotta love the country!