Mary arranged a hot air balloon ride for Steve's birthday. Seth and Jeremy got to climb in the basket for a photo before following us in the chase car.

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, Seth and Jeremy climbing the rocks

Seth, at Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, SW OK

The first dome was built as a lake cabin and had an entrance in the 'front.' We tore out some of the partitions on the inside and eventually closed off the doorway.

With the old doorway closed off, Mary watched as Steve and his Dad started putting metal flashing around the bottom edge of the dome before starting to put on shingles.

1981, Jeremy and Seth in front of dome that was still being shingled

Seth and Jeremy playing on the framing of the kitchen we added to the shell of the first dome, with their grandad looking on. I think Mary and I stood up those walls by ourselves.

Grandad (Joe) and Dad (Steve), installing windows and finishing the shingling on the small dome

Mary and Seth discussing the progress on the old front porch, which was closed off later to make a laundry room, in one of the house's many add-on projects.

Part of the design was to have a back porch added to the east side of the kitchen. Steve and his Dad made preparations for that addition.

Grandad Joe made what he called 'jacks' that allowed working at higher levels without moving a ladder around. Usually 2 were used, with a plank between them, to walk on, but sometimes one was used as a makeshift ladder.

Mary Claire and Mary Lou really got into staining the woodwork.

Seth, playing inside the dome during construction. We ate a lot of burgers from a nearby Braum's (and took restroom breaks) while we worked on the house.

Seth, helping with the clean-up in the dome

Steve, Mary, Seth and Jeremy, in front of the back porch, after it was completed. Still have the old thermometer, but it's in the garage now--and the back porch is gone--to make way for our sunroom.

All dressed up for church, standing on the old front porch: Jeremy, Seth, Mary and Steve

It was clear early on that we needed more space than the little dome and kitchen provided, but it took a few years before we got the courage to start a big addition. Mary wisely talked Steve into buying a kit with metal connectors and 2"x6" struts--like a big tinker toy set--for the second, bigger dome. But first we had to have a stem wall and floor poured for what would eventually become the garage. We found a fellow named Herb Presley doing concrete work down the street. He assured us he could lay out the 15-sided base, and we took a leap of faith and hired him to do it. Unfortunately, at this point, we got lazy about taking photos, or we lost some, because we don't have much to else to show till the big dome was completed.

Jeremy driving his grandfather Davis' lawnmower and pulling Seth on a lawnmower frame, in Mustang, OK

Grandad spraying Seth and Jeremy with the water hose in Mustang backyard

Grandad, Seth, Dad and Jeremy, having watermelon in the backyard in Mustang, November 1979

Sometime before 1996, back porch in Mustang: cousins Lisa and Daniel Sanders, Seth, Papa (Euritt James) Davis and Jeremy, with Grandad (Joseph Earl) Davis and Dad (Steven Perry Davis) standing behind

Same day with aunt Kathy Sanders, great-aunt Glenda Coffman, and Grandmother Mary Lou Davis

Cousins Daniel and Lisa Sanders, and Leslie Davis (front row), Jeremy Davis (middle), and Heather Davis and Seth Davis (in back)

Cousins Jeremy, Daniel, Lisa, Heather, and Leslie and Seth in back

1979 or 1980, TG or Christmas, in Mustang: Seth, Dad, Jeremy

Cousins Heather and Seth (in front) and Jeremy and Leslie, with their great-grandfather, Euritt James Davis

Steve Davis, with his project at the 1963 National Science Fair in St Louis, MO

Steve, with his Oklahoma Science Fair award, in 10th grade, which allowed me to go to the national science fair with Sam Houston III; my project involved torturing harvester ants, his used cockroaches. I got to keep the certificate, but not the trophy. Years later, I learned Sam had become a well-respected and much-loved science teacher in the OKC schools.

Dressed up for Halloween on the Paseo in OKC: Seth, Mary, Jeremy and Dad

Steve and brother Gerald in from of their maternal grandparents house (Minyard Alexander Harris and Rudel Daisy Harper Harris), 3105 S. May, OKC, probably 1961 or 62

Gerald, Kathy and Steve on front porch of their house at 2713 SW 31st, OKC, where they all grew up. Probably 1956

Gerald, Kathy, Steve

Steve and brother Gerald 'playing guns' in the front yard on SW 31st

Steve - Kindergarten photo

Steve - 2nd grade photo

Papa Davis with Gerald and Steve sitting on a Brahma bull. People would come around with a bull or other critter, sit on a corner somewhere, and offer to let people have their photos taken--for a small fee.

Steve and Gerald, sitting on the running board of an old car

Steve and Gerald, in an inflatable pool in the back yard at SW 31st St

Fifth grade class, Steve is front row left end

Max and Pierce's great-great-grandparents on the Davis-Harris side: Minyard Alexander Harris, Rudel Daisy Harper Harris, Helon (yes, with an 'o' and NMI) McCorstin Davis, and Euritt James Davis, in front of Papa Harris' big blue-green 1960 Oldsmobile; it was about 8' wide and 20' long. Mom and Dad had a white one just like it that I drove after I passed my test. Gas was cheap, I had little money, and once put $0.50 in the tank to go visit friends.

Grandmother and Papa Harris

Grandmother and Papa Davis

Steve (L), Gerald (on porch in back), Bob Kirby, scoutmaster (kneeling), and 3 other Explorer Scouts whose names I do not recall. Explorer Scouts were older than Boy Scouts. Haven't found any Boy Scout photos yet.

Joe Davis, with some of his paintings. At some point, to our dismay, he burned a lot of them. He studied art at OCU on the GI Bill for a while when he came back from the Navy, but I don't think he liked being a student. I think he quit school after a year or so. Then, with the help of his father-in-law, who owned a cabinet shop and was a member of the carpenters union, he and Mom's brother, Uncle Bill, became carpenters and worked in the construction business as a carpenter, then as a construction supervisor, for his entire career. But he always kept up his art--especially in the winters, when construction work might get shut down because of weather--and he always did artistic things in his free time. He painted pin stripes and spider webs on his International pickup, he carved a dog's head into the stock of his 410 shotgun, painted murals on the walls in the house, carved a boot out of a bar of soap, and made a frying pan neckerchief slide with an egg and bacon in it when I was making a clumsy attempt to carve an alligator-head neckerchief slide for a scout project.

Gerald, Dad and Steve on the front porch on 31st St. Yes, we had red siding with pink trim. Dad was always getting leftover stuff from jobs, or a good deal on supplies because of job connections, and I guess red was cheap. I also think the siding was made with asbestos.

Steve, all grown up.

After getting out of the Army in August 1974, we moved to AL for me to go to Social Work school in Tuscaloosa. While home on break the next year, I found this 1965 356C Porsche at Leveridge Motors. I didn't know till much later that it was such a good deal because it had a 1957 engine in it, not to mention a few other flaws, like leaky heat exchangers that brought engine exhaust into the cabin. I managed to drive it to AL while only killing a few brain cells, but when we got ready to move back to OKC, we loaded it into the back of a U-Haul truck, with all our other earthly belongings, to bring it home. My uncle Wayne, a truck driver then, arranged for us to back the truck up to one of Roadway Trucking Company's loading docks to unload the Porsche. Later, Papa Davis helped me remove the engine and replace the valve guides, in the garage of our house on Village Drive. I drove it till I quit work at the VA to go back to school, at which time I sold it and bought a VW bug.