This is the 46th week of my personal 50-week States of the Union Challenge. Each week I research one of the 50 United States (in the order they attained statehood). I share tidbits of information about the state here on my blog and I create a card that is inspired by something about that state.
This week's state (the 46th one to attain statehood) is...
Oklahoma
Date of Statehood: November 16, 1907
Oklahoma's official state meal, as set forth in 1988 by House Concurrent Resolution 1083, is black-eyed peas, chicken-fried steak, okra, squash, corn on the cob, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, strawberries and pecan pie.
The nation’s first Tornado Warning was issued in Oklahoma on March 25, 1948. Thanks, in part, to the warning, no injuries resulted from the tornado that touched down at Tinker Air Force base that evening.
Oklahoma has 11,611 miles of shoreline, more than the combined non-tidal coasts of the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
Twenty-four percent of Oklahoma is covered by forest.
Oklahoma has 33.7 million acres of farmland. More water is used in the state for irrigation than for anything else.
There is an operating oil well on state capitol grounds called Capitol Site No. 1.
Oklahoma City is also one of only two state capital cities whose name includes the name of the state. Can you think of the other?
Some Oklahoma cities with silly names: Loco, Cookietown, Bushyhead, Corn, Moon, Forty-One, and IXL.
Oklahoma serves as headquarters for thirty-nine American Indian tribes.
Spiro Mounds, Oklahoma's only archaeological park, is a 140-acre site encompassing 12 southern mounds that contain evidence of an Indian culture that occupied the site from 850 A.D. to 1450 A.D. The Mounds are considered one of the four most important prehistoric Indian sites east of the Rocky Mountains.
Mount Cavanal west of Poteau is claimed to be the highest hill in the world, 1,999 feet.
Each April, the town of Beaver, Oklahoma, is host to the World Championship Cow Chip Throw. You can enter one of four divisions: Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Teams (4 people) and VIP. The tradition began in the 1970s as a way to pay homage to Oklahoma's early settlers, who would trade wagonloads of cow chips (which were used as cooking fuel) for for food and supplies.
During a tornado in Ponca City, a man and his wife were carried aloft in their house by a tornado. The walls and roof were blown away. But the floor remained intact and eventually glided downward, setting the couple safely back on the ground.
In 1998, a life size statue of a cattle drive, titled "On the Chisholm Trail," was set in place in Duncan as a monument to the American Cowboy.
Born in 1879 on a large ranch in the Cherokee Nation near what later would become Oologah, Oklahoma, Will Rogers was first an Indian, a cowboy then a national figure. Will Rogers was a star of Broadway and 71 movies of the 1920s and 1930s, a popular broadcaster and wrote more than 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns.
Oklahoma City's tallest building is the downtown Devon Energy Center at 844 feet. It is the 49th tallest building in the United States.
The world's first installed parking meter was in Oklahoma City, on July 16, 1935. Carl C. Magee, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is generally credited with originating the parking meter. He filed for a patent for a "coin controlled parking meter" on May 13, 1935.
The shopping cart was invented in Oklahoma. Sylvan Goldman, owner of the Piggly Wiggly supermarket chain in Oklahoma City, conceived of the "folding basket carrier" in 1937 after brainstorming ways for customers to carry their groceries.
Clinton Riggs designed the YIELD sign. It was first used on a trial basis in Tulsa.
Bob Dunn, a musician from Beggs Oklahoma invented the first electric guitar in 1935.
Voicemail was patented by a man from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gordon Matthews created the technology in the 1970s and patented VMX (Voice Mailbox Express) in the 1980s.
Oklahoma is one of three states that produces helium and the only state that produces iodine.
Whaling is illegal in the state of Oklahoma.
Dogs must have a permit signed by the mayor in order to congregate in groups of three or more on private property.
People who make “ugly faces” at dogs may be fined and/or jailed.
Oklahoma will not tolerate anyone taking a bite out of another’s hamburger.
No one may spit on a sidewalk in Oklahoma.
Cars must be tethered outside of public buildings.
It is against the law to read a comic book while operating a motor vehicle.
It is also against the law to wear your boots to bed in Oklahoma.
You can see a wee peek of the inside of my card:
Papers: Recollections Black, 110# Red, and 110# White CS and DP from the Recollections Say Freeze Paper Pad and the Recollections Valentine's Day Paper Pack
Embellishments: My Mind's Eye Christmas Brads
3 comments:
Another fun set of facts. It's hard to believe it's been 46 weeks. Where has this year gone. Oh my, cute card!
What a fun fact! Mistletoe, indeed!!
Ooooooklahoma! My daughter did a skit from this production oh this just made me smile! cute reindeer !!
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