Rest in Peace Brother Bob

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When Bob wasn’t in uniform he was wearing a race shirt.

Last week my brother Bob was laid to rest, with full military honors, at Pikes National Cemetery in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He passed away in November from complications of Parkinson’s Disease after a six year illness caused by viral encephalitis.

Bob’s marker in the foreground and Pikes Peak in the background.

The military honors were very moving and emotional and I was teared up all the way through the ceremony. The Navy Honor Guard, the Rifle Team, and the Honor Bell crew performed their jobs perfectly and with great precision. I am sure Bob would be happy with how they did it. The Cemetery workers who were almost all volunteers were very soft spoken and gentle with the families and explained how everything would go. I didn’t take any photos of the ceremony. I wanted to be fully in the moment to honor Bob and show my appreciation for the service members and volunteers in the ceremony and there and taking photos requires stepping back (at least for me it does.)

I talked about a little bit about Bob and recounted a few stories of events in his life. My sister, Ellen, the verbal one in our family gave a heartfelt talk. The VFW Chaplain gave a wonderful message as well.

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Brother Bob, Sister Ellen, and me way back when.

And a more recent photo of the three of us. Ellen and her husband live in town so Bob will have family visit him from time to time.

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And here is Bob and I on Tulsa’s RiverParks Trails. You knew when he visited there was going to be running going on. We would take off and he’d leave in the dust, he’d run back from time to time to make sure I was okay and then take off out of sight again. He ran over 50 marathons and over a hundred half marathons.

Here is his spot. He’ll have a marker in a few weeks.

He is going to be under the big Colorado Sky and have a great view of Pikes Peak in the distance, and he’ll be in the company of thousands of veterans from all branches of the service. He loved the Navy. He served twenty years as an enlisted man and after he retired, he worked another ten years as civilian employee.

Pike’s Peak National Cemetery puts wreaths on every grave every December. The wreaths are donated and volunteers do the work. It’s one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen.

The US Olympic Marathon team trains in Colorado Springs not so far from the cemetery. I know in spirit he’ll be lacing up his shoes to go run with them and trying to talk his fellow vets to go with him. He was a great running ambassador.

Bob joined the Navy and his first assignment was to be on the first crew on the rebuilt USS Missouri Battleship back in the 1980’s. He sailed around the word with her and was with the Missouri the Middle East during the Gulf War. He maintained his running by circling the helicopter deck endless times.

So long Bob, you will always be remembered.

Skywatch Friday on the Drive Home

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We had quite the sunset Wednesday evening. I got to photograph it because son Logan now has a drivers license so I get to sit shotgun and kibbitz and take photos and all that because I’m leaving the driving to him. Only occasionally do I scream in fear for my life.

We are heading east so this is a not bad reverse sunset. The sun is behind us and ahead is the sunset reflecting off the sunset.

And then he turns south, still kind of a reverse sunset and getting a little more intense.

And we park at our house. I get out on our driveway and am looking just west. Great color, and no filters, honest!

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

Saturday’s Critters – Our Pets

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A post for our pets.

Our female terrier mix, Sadie, in a rare moment of hanging out with her older, but littler brown brother Kodi the Pomeranian. Kodi is kind of a pill to have around and our vet suggested a female terrier mix who was bigger than he was. That is why we got Sadie and it was worked out wonderfully. Sadie is a little sweetheart and not aggressive at all until Kodi lunges at her and then she flips on his back and puts a paw on his chest to hold him. That has done wonders for his attitude. After all these months he is starting to try and play with her. So progress is being made.

One even recently when my wife was at an event at night, Kodi was all morose, walking around with his tail hanging down. I took my favorite throw and just put it on the floor by my chair. He quit whining and went over, laid down on it and went to sleep. He likes me okay but after he bit me early last spring and I had to go to urgent care and get four stitches I am very leery of him. I got a new knee in February and got strict instructions that if I get a dog bite to get an antibiotic right away. They said the bacteria will go the metal in my new knee and there could be complications.

Little Sadie is having a tough time this winter. Kodi has a thick enough coat it doesn’t bother him. Sadie loves playing outside but she gets cold and heads for a throw to snuggle up in.

And Lizzy, the sweetest of the three. It is hard to get a sleep photo of her because she always wakes up. She was fast asleep on the couch and woke up when I got close.

Our animals are such a blessing to us.

Saturday’s Critters

A Season of Moody Introspection

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Late Autumn always puts me in a mood. Not a bad mood, just an introspective mood. P. These photos kind of match my mood. Not necessarily sad.

Bixby, Oklahoma’s Washington Irving Park. It’s a very old park with a lot of big trees.

Tulsa’s Mohawk Park, a sprawling 2800 acres. One of the largest municipal parks in the USA and very underdeveloped. Lots of land for roaming around. The day I shot this, I was attending a Geocaching Black Friday event. Lots of people, lots of geocaches to find and chat with friends.

The Tree of Life

Tulsa’s RiverParks Trails. I found this tree and an instagram friend suggested naming it “The Tree of Life.” Works for me. Tulsans love the RiverParks, miles and miles of trails, playgrounds, the Gathering Place, and Turkey Mountain. Plus it links to other trails both east and west going to other trails in other suburbs.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday.

Saturday’s Critters – At Home and in the Woods

A variety of critters for this week.

This is our sweet cat Lizzy.

This is our sweet terrier mix, Sadie in a rare moment of napping. She is always on the go. No photos of the Pomeranian Kodi this week.

We play fetch several times a day. She never gets tired of it. I quit before she ever does. She’s our cheerful dog. This is how we started out Thanksgiving morning. Over and over again. (only a ten second video)

My wife’s cousin sent me a couple of photos of the cows on their ranch in Western Oklahoma.

Another photo of the cows at the ranch.

This is my own photo of a cow, I went hiking on a rails to trails trail in Osage County. It cuts through ranchland on an old railroad bed. I know nothing about cows but they always act curious when people show up.

I went hiking on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Wilderness Area early Friday morning. My friend and I saw this deer checking us out.

I attended a geocaching event at Tulsa’s Mohawk Park and encountered these people horseback riding through the park.

That’s it for this week. I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Thanksgiving 2025 Skywatch

Things change fast this time of year. At the beginning of the month we had lots of fall color on the trees.

We had some rain and some wind.

And now all the fall color is on the ground. I enjoy the bare trees though.

I went geocaching on a two mile long trail in Osage County. I found ten geocaches. It was heavenly. Didn’t see anybody besides a few cows and a bunch of squirrels.

One of my wife’s family in western Oklahoma since this photo from out there. Eastern Oklahoma has lots of trees and western part of the state has big skies. I love both the east and the west.

Wedenesday evening I saw what I called an auspicious sky. The whole sky was pink and gave everything on the ground an rosy pink glow. I loved it.

It’s a small crew of three at our house for Thanksgiving this year. Just me, Heather and our son Logan.

Heather is cooking a delicious dinner. Still a lot of work but we appreciate it.

And there is sadness this year. Bob my brother passed away last week. He had a debilitating illness for six years.

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A Navy vet through and through. And a huge runner. Over 50 marathons and over a 100 half marathons and countless 5K’s. He had huge physical toughness.

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When he wasn’t deployed, and after he retired, he would come to Tulsa for Thanksgiving and we would run together, go hiking, check out museums and such. He loved being active. He loved Thanksgiving also. We haven’t been able to do that for a long time but after he got sick my sister and I got him to Tulsa and I oversaw his care in various residences. He loved the activities that they had and then he discovered virtual runs. I paced out how many laps of in his residence were a 5K and then he would register and “run” them in his wheelchair and loved getting the medals. He was always happy with what he could do when he couldn’t do what he used to do.

We miss him. Definitely a happy sad today.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

Shadow Shot Sunday – Park Shadows

Photographer blind shadows at Oxley Nature Center

Boardwalk Shadows also at Oxley Nature Center.

A tree with premature balding Manion Park in Tulsa. You can see the photographer’s selfie at the bottom. He had premature balding starting about 55 years ago! He tells everyone that he doesn’t waste his hormones growing hair.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Saturday’s Critters – White Tailed Deer of Oxley Nature Center

During a hike at Oxley Nature Center last Sunday I saw a few deer out and about. They were not in the open they were in brush and trees. So I got to practice simultaneously manual focusing, and aperture. Not that good at it but I got a few decent photos.

I love seeing deer out in the wild.

It is always so unexpected.

Saturday’s Critters