From a bike ride last month. I found this Great Blue Heron at Zink Lake on the Arkansas River in Tulsa.
On another day last month I was hiking on Turkey Mountain and came across this Red Shouldered Hawk. They are so intense!!
And then just a short distance down the trail.
This deer looking at me.
And a couple miles later
Found this deer in the shadows.
I am linking with Saturday’s Critters
The family just got back from a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Pagosa Springs, Colorado. We had a good time but it was one of those active trips where we were on the go every day as opposed to sitting on the beach a bunch. We had a great time, saw a lot of stuff, and ate lots of good New Mexican style Mexican Food. I’ll have photos from the trip in the coming weeks. Right now, I am still working my way through photos from June.
Here’s a drone photos from 50 meters over my back yard in Tulsa, Oklahoma looking north.
And a shot from my across the street neighbor’s driveway looking east.
I love infrastructure of all kinds. This is Public Service Company of Oklahoma’s Tulsa Power Station. It’s an ancient facility on the Arkansas River right in the middle of town. I used to work for the sister natural gas pipeline company, Transok Inc., that supplied the natural gas to the plant.
This is the Arkansas RiverParks trails right across the river from the power plant looking north. You can see that bicycles are to the right and pedestrians to the left.
And at the north end of the Trails, and across the river is where Route 66 crosses the Arkansas River. The city has installed a collection of replicas of vintage motel signs in a little park. Pretty interesting to me. This year is the 100 year anniversary of Route 66. I’ve lived a bunch of my life on Route 66. I love all the attractions on Route 66 but don’t care much for the road itself. Luckily in Oklahoma to the west coast most of the route is paralled (by the powers vested in me, I am declaring “paralled” to be word) by Interstate 40. I’m good with traveling on I40 and getting off to see the attractions as I feel led. Route 66 is too slow!!
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.
Hiking in Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain this time of year. Lots of shadows on the trail with all the trees.
A bicycle crossover over the trail. Hikers are not allowed on the crossovers. After one crosses over the slope is very steep. I like to ride my bicycle but I am strictly a pavement kind of guy. You have to be a very good rider to this structure. If you are by yourself and get injured I don’t know what you will do. This is in one of the most remote areas of the park. Weekends are not so bad but during the week I rarely see anyone here.
And a short ways later we have this bicycle jumpover across the trail. You better know what you are doing here. The crossover at least you can “roll over” the structure. Here there is no roll over.
I am linking with ShadowShot Sunday
Last week I posted photos of various animals at the Beavers Bend Safari Park that were on the walk through part of the facility. This week I am showing you some of the animals that we saw in the drive through part.
Whitetail Deer
Sable Antelope – Native of Southern Africa
Fallow Deer – From Europe
Banteng – Southeast Asia
Red Stag – – originated in Europe
Female Blackbuck – Indian and Nepal
Female Blackbuck and a Wildebeest (aka Gnu) – The Wildebeest is originally from Eastern and Southern Africa
More Blackbucks
And yet another Blackbuck
Pere David’s Deer – Originally from China. Now extinct in the wild.
Another Pere David’s Deer
A Llama chewing its cud on a hill.
An Elk resting in a grove of trees.
It took us quite a while to do the drive through part of the Safari Park. A good time was had by all. I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters
Here’s a sky over my house and my neighbor’s garage.
And another sky looking west over my neighbor’s trees.
And a sunset from out in front of the house looking west. I like how the golden light reflects in the trickle of water on the street.
And this is 40 meters over my back yard looking west toward a rainstorm late in the day.
And here is a selfie of the drone pilot, yours truly.
And away from home at a local shopping center that puts on free concerts on Thursday nights in the summer.
And a view of the decks of a restaurant on the Arkansas River here in Tulsa.
And that is about it!! I am linking with Skywatch Friday
Back in May the weather turned warm, the sun came out, and off Heather and I went to the nursery. We went to a gigantic place way out in the boonies.
There’s my bride Heather going full speed in the nursery. She is a certified Oklahoma State University Master Gardener and she is reinvigorated this spring to get some plants. I went along to pull the cart and take photos. I don’t necessarily take photos of what she is buying.
Pink Impatiens
Colea
French Marigolds
More French Marigolds
Plum Cockatoo Petunias
Even more French Marigolds
Dayglo Yellow Dahlia
Black Mamba Petunias – my favorite plant name for the day
Orange Marigolds
Callie Pink with Eye Syngenta Flowers
And a large Garden Ornament on the way out.
A good time was had by all. Heather got lots of plants, I got lots of photos.
I am linking with Through My Lens
I saw some shadows while hiking earlier this week on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area.
This deer was hanging out in the shadows.
In places where trails get muddy frequently, one sees pieces of flat rock that are fitted together like a jig saw puzzle. When it rains the water flows over the rocks without eroding the trail and making a big mess. It is called “rock armoring” a trail. It’s a bit much for volunteers to do. One needs to have some machinery to move the rocks around. (Finding the rocks to use in armoring is called “rock farming.”) It’s hard work.
And I saw some leaves forming shadows on the trail.
In the summer, I look for the shadowy trails to hike, especially at midday.
I am linking with Shadow Shot Sunday.
And Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.
As part of our trip to southeast Oklahoma’s Hochatown we visited the Beavers Bend Safari Park. They have quite a collection of animals. Many in enclosures and others out in the woods confined by fences but otherwise roaming around. I’ll post about the roaming animals next week.
Common Emu
A vervet monkey. Sorry about the camera focusing on the cage instead of the animal.
A Baboon
Another Baboon
Red Kangaroo
A Llama
A Sulcata Tortoise
That’s it for this week. I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters
A sunset drone shot looking a little south of northwest from Tulsa.
Another shot on another day from the same location looking more north of northwest.
A country road skywatch shot in southeastern Oklahoma.
A neighborhood shot looking west from our home in Tulsa.
A late afternoon shot from a drone 40 meters over our backyard looking towards the north. One can see rain falling up in the area.
That’s about it. I am linking with Skywatch Friday.
We love Tulsa Botanic Garden in Tulsa. We have a membership so we go when we can. We went there in early May this year and this is some of what we saw.
Bachelor Buttons
Louisiana Iris in a pond
A closeup of the Louisiana Iris bloom.
Pink Evening Primrose
Salvia
Mexican Honeysuckle
Blue Sea Holly
I am linking with Through My Lens