While I am an Okie, I am not a country girl. I am a suburban girl, through and through. I was born in Mercy Hospital, when Mercy was Downtown (then they followed "white flight" and moved out to what was then in the middle of nowhere, remote NW Oklahoma county). Spent most of my life in Del City, less a suburb of OKC than a suburb of Tinker AFB.

But ten years ago, I married a guy from Guthrie. His parents had an actual acreage. They had actual cows (which the hubby's dad got sick of and sold off, then he bought miniature horses). I'd like to say I adapted to rural life, but that's not really true. I am the observer.

Yesterday, was Coyle, Oklahoma's 4H & FFA Pork Chop Supper and Auction. Coyle is a dying, little town east of Langston on State Highway 33. SH 33 is being rerouted around Langston and Coyle. The portion around Langston is done, the new bridge across the Cimarron, from Logan County into Payne County toward Stillwater, looks pretty much done, but there's a lot of roadwork to be done.

Coyle has a gas station/convience store, a bank, a post office, and a restaurant I've never seen, but have seen the sign, oh and a smoke shop. I has lots of old, decrepit buildings, that look like their held up with spit. Coyle schools are all together in one picturesque building built in 1939 by the WPA. The pictures of every Senior class - from the '30s - line the walls, each one in a plaque, hung from the top of the wall, but tilted down for easier viewing. So, for Coyle, the Pork Chop Supper is a BIG DEAL (almost the only deal). People come from all around the area, Coyle, Langston, Guthrie, Perkins, even Crescent. Local businesses (meaning Guthrie and Perkins, I've gone into the businesses in Coyle) donate money and/or stuff for the auction and get tickets to the meal. The bank the M-in-L works at gave her tickets. There were a lot of people there the Hubby and the M-in-L knew - I knew nobody. So, I just watched. Looked at the sale items. A good portion of the homemade quilts seemed to be by one prolific woman. There was one OU throw in a sea of OSU items, throws, t-shirts, etc. Most of the stuff seemed to be plain D crap - garage sale stuff. Some businesses donated stuff, some gave gift certificates for service. We didn't stay for the auction, we did our service for Coyle 4H and FFA, got 3 dinners togo and left.

It was a damn good pork chop, smoked, tender, about 3/4 of an inch thick. My baked potato, however, seemed a little unevenly cooked. But who am I to complain? I got a free dinner, and lunch for today. And as a huge people watcher, I was in heaven.