I never tire of hearing ‘Oklahoma is #1′ and it’s quite satisfying when compared to major coastal markets like Southern California, Seattle, and Florida. This time though, we’re not talking college football, but instead it’s a reference to the old classic tale of the tortoise and the hare.
Most times I love it when our beautiful city of Edmond makes the list, and I’m sometimes disappointed when we don’t. Today’s not one of those days. To my surprise, we didn’t make Forbes’ list of most expensive states to insure a home.
With the pre-conceived opinions many have, that our state suffers tornado damage every day of the year, I would imagine plenty of others out there will be just as surprised. Sometimes no news is good news.
I spent a few hours today with a delightful young woman charged with the logistics of relocating the Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City, and wasn’t at all surprised to hear the old ‘What’s in Oklahoma City?’ statement, in reference to the mindset of a few of the folks being moved here.
It’s a common question. Whether it’s old stereotypes or the image still being portrayed to the nation, many people outside our borders still picture horse-drawn carriages and dirt-covered prairies when they hear the word ‘Oklahoma.’
She, however, has a very optimistic outlook on the city, and has enjoyed her time here so far. She commented on the beauty of the area, the amazing affordability of housing, and the well-planned design of our highway system. With these things in mind, I thought I’d share a video here for anyone else wondering ‘What the heck is there to do in Oklahoma City?’
…That’s a promising quote from a new list published by CNNMoney.com, which lists the Top 100 best places to live. Of course, I’m just here to brag about Edmond being ranked #52. Norman residents will be touting that they’ve beat us on this one though, coming in at #6.
According to Salary.com, Oklahoma City ranks 9th in Salary value. This is no surprise to me, having lived in central OK all of my life, and being witness to several friends and family moving to ‘major cities to make the big bucks.’
Lower cost of living means more money left at the end of the week, right?
The thing I hear that’s most surprising to families who relocate to Edmond is how affordable everything is, in comparison to what they’re used to.
According to a new OKCBusiness.com article, Edmond’s annual cost of living is 11.4% percent lower than the national average. Just another of many factors that make Edmond a great place to raise your family.
It’s amazing how many people are searching for more information about the tornado that swept through Edmond Sunday night/Monday morning, and I’ve since discovered that I actually know several of the home owners who were affected by this storm, so it’s been a crazy couple of days. Our prayers are with you guys, and we’re so thankful that you’re all safe!
The city still has Danforth closed between Western and Santa Fe, while the crews work to get all the power lines back up in the air, and those folks who live in Valencia are still working to get things cleaned up and repaired. Here are a few photos I’ve taken, for those of you interested in the mystery of what a tornado can do:
About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about Oklahoma tornadoes, and at that time I guess I should’ve knocked on wood.
You see, when I wrote this post, I had only been caught up in a tornado twice in my life. At about 1:45 this morning, that changed. I found myself, my wife, and my kids crouched down in our laundry room, riding out a tornado that hit dangerously close to home.
It had been a normal night for the most part. I was up late working and had the TV on, just to keep an eye on the severe weather that had been buzzing around the state for quite a few hours. Once the high winds hit our area, I started paying a little more attention.
You see, night-time tornadoes, IMO, are the most dangerous. During the day, you can step outside, take a look around at the clouds and get a pretty good idea of what’s going on, but at night you have to rely completely on what the guys on TV are telling you. Thing is, they’re going almost completely by what the radar shows because, big surprise, they don’t have any better vision at night than you and I do.
So, they’re showing radar coverage of the ‘hook’ and how this slow-moving storm is just dumping tons of rain and hail all over the metro. Next thing you know, they’re fully geared up, talking about a ‘touchdown’ (do you know the two types of touchdowns that occur in Oklahoma?)around Danforth & Western. Yep, that’s exactly one mile West of us, and this storm’s moving East. Sounds like trouble right? Yeah, that was enough for us to go get the boys out of bed and make a mad rush for a safe room in the middle of the house.
Long story short, we faired well. This thing skated by about 1/8 mile South of our home, taking down power lines and snapping the poles in half. The boys had a great time & I guess they thought we were playing hide & seek or something. They enjoyed playing with the flashlights & stuff.
Later, we found out that several homes in the Valencia area (just west of our church, and 3 miles from home) got hit pretty hard, but praise God, there were no reported injuries. One house in particular had almost the entire roof ripped off, with Mom & her twin boys inside.
It was quite a site this morning, as I drove around checking on clients & friends and their homes. Several of the main intersections were closed to through traffic as the power company worked to get the lines back up. I couldn’t really get any pictures of the damage to homes, but you can see here one of those utility poles snapped in half.
By the way, I want to applaud those from my church who decided on their own to go over to Valencia this morning and help those residents any way they could, with cleanup and prayer. What a great bunch of people!
So, here we are, a month after my first post, and I now have to increase my number by 50%. Yes, it’s true, I’ve been in that crouching position 3 times in my 36 years.
Here are some of the local news articles on last night’s storm:
Those of us who’ve been around Edmond for a while are proudly aware of the Territorial School House, located at 124 E. Second St. I find myself in awe every time I drive by it. Those who don’t know about it soon will.
This school house was the first public school house for children in the Oklahoma Territory, built in August of 1889. It’s amazing to look at this small building and imagine trying to send our kids there today for an education, and it’s equally impressive to know that there are groups of people who work very hard to protect and preserve this building. The Edmond Historical Society, and the Edmond Historic Preservation Trust, are the parties responsible, and they’ve been trying to find a way to make the school house available to public viewings.
Well, it looks like things are finally coming together, according to this recent article in the Edmond Sun. Get ready to experience what school was like over a hundred years ago, as an open house has been set for 1:30-4 p.m. April 5.
The trust and the society are also working on a way to develop an educational program tied to the school house, for the Edmond Public School system. Celebrating our heritage, and keeping our kids aware of it are great goals, and it’s nice to see things being done right.
