On a bike ride a week or so ago I stopped and took a photo across the Arkansas River to this power plant. Yep, I used a filter.
From the same spot I turned about 30 degrees to my right and captured this scene of the new pedestrian bridge and low water dam going on. They are really busy, busy, busy with all the work going on. Who knows when it is going to be done.
A few days later I took my bike back to the river to do another dam inspection trip and the skies opened up. Fortunately, I hadn’t started my ride yet.
A few days later I was walking in a park and captured this scene.
I took a hike on Turkey Mountain and captured a scene at Pepsi Lake.
The trail I was on came out on a powerline right of way and hey, there is the office building I worked in for about half my career way on downtown. I waved, “Hey guys, get your butts back to work.”
That’s about it for this week. I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Come join in the fun!!
I spotted this Great Egret on the Arkansas River during a recent bicycle ride.
This is another one. He was standing still and got tired of waiting on me. I was lucky to catch him in flight.
Our hummingbird feeder is getting regular visits now. Problem is that wasps and hornets are also visiting and they don’t like hummingbirds. So I’m trying to figure out what to do about it. I hate to kill native pollinators.
Lizzie thinks we got this tray in the living room for her. She thinks everything in the house is for her!
And our little Pomeranian, Rascal. He is very sick with cancer in one lung, congestive heart failure, and other issues. Vet said that he doesn’t know he is sick so just love every moment we have together with him and we are pumping full of meds and supplements. The weather has cooled a bit so we are taking him on short walks. He sure does love his outings. They wipe him the rest of the day but he’s happy. We are doing our best for him to live his best life.
I went on on another bike ride the other day on Tulsa’s RiverParks trails along the Arkansas River. I took my Canon Superzoom Camera with me. I stopped again at The Gathering Place to check on the new pedestrian bridge and new dam being constructed. Not much progress so I focused on the construction equipment being used.
In the bed of the river they had this huge concrete pump putting concrete around boulders on the riverbed. So it looks like in addition to the bridge and dam maybe they are shaping the river for other purposes. I’ll have to check into that.
There were lots of tracked backhoes at work (I call them track hoes.) This one was actually on the west side of the river doing something not related to the bridge or dam.
Here are several more on the riverbed. The contractors have constructed a huge cofferdam to divert the river flow to the west side of its banks to make room for construction.
And another trackhoe
And yet another. Not too many of them were being operated the day of my ride. I have no idea why. The weather was great.
And this one had a jackhammer type attachment.
As you can tell, I love construction equipment and checking out construction and trying to figure out what they are doing and how they are going about it.
I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Come check it out.
I went to see my brother Bob here in town the other day. He is staying at a nice place. Lots of things for them to do. I got comped a meal with him. It was excellent.
Desert was bread pudding!! It was right out of the oven.
On July 4th, while I was in bed sleeping. Bob got up and did a mile in the halls of his place in his wheelchair. Six laps, he got this medal to celebrate. Not only was I asleep, I had covid so I couldn’t go cheer him on and take photos.
Last weekend, the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition had a work day on Turkey Mountain. Lots of people showed up to do some really hard work repairing erosion damage and rebuilding jumps and all that heavy work. Kudos to them.
What did I do that day? I watered the butterfly garden.
And took videos of the cottonwood trees shimmering in the breeze.
I also gathered up my loppers, a trash bag, and my 32 oz water container and ventured out onto a lesser used trail picking up litter and lopping limbs that intrude on the trail too much. So I didn’t do the big heavy lifting that others were doing but I was doing what I could.
So for a musical interlude, “American Kids” by Kenny Chesney. A fun summertime song. Enjoy
Last weekend I took some time and went to Lake Okmulgee south of Tulsa about an hour to do some geocaching and hiking. I like finding geocaches out in the woods instead of in parking lots and other places.
It was sunny, breezy, and cool. A perfect day. The vibe at the lake was chill. Not that many people there.
They had several geocaches located in the rocks. I always keep an eye out for snakes whent he weather starts warming up.
Nothing like a few hours out in nature to feel chilled out.
I think the WPA built the dam and a lot of the infrastructure. I find that sort of thing interesting.
There were a couple caches I found but couldn’t get to so they don’t officially count as finds. This one I could have got to if I had a long pole or something else.
This one is in a cedar tree. I felt that I could probably have climbed up there but I personally know two geocachers who got severely injured in this park geocaching. One fell of the side of a cliff and broke a leg in two places. The other was climbing up a cedar tree and a branch broke. She injured her back and was out of commission for months. Gravity is not my friend so I leave the climbing to others. Especially out in the middle of nowhere, all by myself.
I found a skull out there. iNaturalist tells me that it is a racoon’s skull.
We had a to say goodbye to our sweet dog Abby, here pictured with Logan. Abby was fifteen years old and was doing great, going on daily walks and living her best life. She loved eating, walking, barking at other dogs and barking at horses and cows on television. She was our happy go lucky clown who always had a sweet temper. She got lymphoma out of nowhere and it got bad very quickly. So we had put to sleep.
So I like to think she is cavorting around in dog heaven with her buddy Ginger who left us last year. Our critters just don’t live long enough is what I say.
I had a birthday recently. I turned 67. Somehow I still don’t feel old. I feel bad though, but too bad. When I got out of college and went to work in the oilfields I saw all these really old elderly guys and gals in the mid-30’s thinking boy they are burnt out. Now people that age seem like little puppies. All full of vim and vigor.
I guess I’ll have to end my “Being 66 on Route 66” schtick that I have been playing this past year. I don’t even know if there is Route 67. I like prime numbers and 67 is a dandy prime number.
Heather and Logan made the day great for me. I had banners.
And balloons.
And some cool sandals with a Jerry Garcia design on them. This my seventh pair of the same type sandals. Only one other has a Jerry Garcia design though. Just call me the Ferdinand Marcos of Oklahoma.
They took me to breakfast at a chic upscale place. The stuff on the plate is avocado toast. Most places that I have that I am still hungry. Not this place. We went to a movie afterward.
We also went to the Tulsa Botanic Garden and saw thousands of tulips.
Logan went to work and Heather took me to dinner.
Next day, not an official birthday event, I got a pedicure thanks to the generosity of Nana, the world’s greatest mother-in-law.
So hey, I had a great day. I recommend Happy Birthdays to everyone.
Sunday morning I got up and headed out to Turkey Mountain to meet up with a couple dozen other people for a Work Day sponsored by the RiverParks Authority and the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition. We were going to work on the recently completed new trails to kind of finish them off a little bit.
So I grabbed my loppers, trash bag, and a bottle of water and went with one crew down a new trail. We were using the loppers to cut out staubs that stuck up out the trail causing people to trip and possible tire problems with the mountain bikers. Cutting them things out is difficult! At least to me at was.
Others in the group were planting grass seed on the backside of the switchback berms and using axes to tackle the bigger stubs or staubs. I think the hardest job might have been pushing the wheelbarrow containing the equipment and seed.
It was hard work but scenic. We worked on about 2 miles of trail before going back to the parking lot for refreshments and a break. A bunch of people were going out again to finish the job but I was spent so I said goodbye. These trail maintenance volunteers are a hardy lot.
I went home a collapsed!! I guess that I’m not worthy but it was a morning well spent. I’m always in awe of these folks who show up with their own tools and spend their time helping out the community.
Check out the TUWC website for more information. Get involved.
And one of our big fat squirrels checking the bath action out.
And LJ and LIzzie sharing a spot of sun in the house.
And to Oxley Nature Center. I think these are Pelicans. They were way up high and I had my long lens as long as it would get.
And some geese cruising down Coal Creek. I was looking for otters. The staff tells me I need to get there at 6 am to have a chance. I don’t see that happening.
About it critterwise for this week. I’m linking with Eileen’sSaturday Critters. Lots of great posts there. Check it out.
Here’s is the almost Snow Moon from my back yard. I usually take it in the front yard but our neighbors across the street had some sort of ruckus going on that sounded like I needed to avoid. I think it is pretty much the same as the front yard offered at a lot lower sound level.
I went on a walk in a city park here. I love the trees against the blue sky.
More blue sky! We are supposed to have storms tomorrow (Thursday) and cold weather so be thinking about us.
Not my Photo!!
And I finished another online jigsaw puzzle. I’m loving this relaxation induced anxiety. All this stuff in Canada, and the Ukraine, and life in general, just rolls away while working jigsaw puzzles. Actually, the concerns don’t go away, I just escape having to worry about them for a while.
I hope everybody is having a good week. I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Please join in!!
