Category Archives: Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Life on the River

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From the end of my bike ride earlier this week. I love a little color in the sky.

The Arkansas River runs through the middle of Tulsa from North to South. We are lucky because a huge part of the River is a public park of one sort or another for miles and miles. So we have lots of bike trails, many on both sides of the river. I have either run or rode my bike or walked every inch of them. I have  never got tired of them.

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The 21st street bridge from far away.

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And up close. 

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The ONEOK Boathouse in the background with Peggy’s Pond. 

Tulsa’s brand new park A Gathering Place for Tulsa is right on the river. Check the link. The home page is basically a flyover of everything and you can see how intimately the park is integrated with the River.

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I love the ripples in the pond. See the tall grass across the way. Most of the park is planted in native prairie grasses so no mowing, a lot less water, and fertilizer, so less money spent on maintenance, less chemicals on the land and the river, better habitat for bugs and birds. Win-win-win. Sustainability to most Okies is how to maintain high flows from  older fracked wells. 

It has been open about 10 days and I have been there five days. That’s ratio that I would like to keep up. Looking at the video I mentioned above I saw about four or five things that I hadn’t seen yet.

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One of these days, maybe when it gets cold, and it isn’t so crowded I am going to come over here and climb the towers and do some exploring. I may forego the slide though. I think my outside diameter is greater than its inside diameter. That would be a problem.

It’s a great place to take photographs. There are all sorts of things, and angles, and reflections, and interesting structures to make photographs. So I hope you don’t get tired of it. You see I’m still pretty excited about the Gathering Place.

I am linking to Skywatch Friday this week.

Skywatch Friday – A Hike to Taggert Lake

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Still another outing with my sister, Ellen, a seasonal Park Ranger at Yellowstone National Park. This time we went to Grand Tetons National Park south of Yellowstone Park. This is the same day that we hiked Trout Lake, a hike at Colter Bay and went to Mormon Row that I have posted about previously. 

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Taggert Lake is in the foothills of the Tetons and is a very scenic trek and not that long, about 3.5 miles round trip, and not that steep.

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We passed Taggert Creek, the outlet of the Lake.

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There were several people at the lake when we arrived including some teenagers who were swimming in the ice cold water. More power to them. What would the world be like without teenagers to remind everybody else how old we are. The air was still hazy from the forest fires way to the west but the mountains are still majestic.

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Nothing nicer than an aspen grove in my book. I would like to come back when the leaves turn. Which should be relatively soon.

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I love these kind of log fences they have in the mountain west. I don’t know what they call them but they are great. Also, to the right, that is my sister. She is a fast hiker and I had to hustle to keep up with her. 

I still have a few more posts of my time with Ellen. I only spent three days with her but we saw lot!!

I am linking with Skywatch Friday.

Skywatch Friday – Hike to Trout Lake at Yellowstone Park

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During my trip to Yellowstone Park earlier in August to see my sister, we took a hike up to Trout Lake. It was a hike that kicked my butt but was only 200 feet in elevation change. But it was worth the climb. The lake is absolutely gorgeous as are the the views from the lake.

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There were a couple guys fishing from  floats for cutthroat trout. One of them told us that he had caught (and released) eleven and they were gorgeous with deep rich colors. He was a little older guy and mentioned that the hard part was hauling all the gear up the trail from  the road. I had a feeling that he lived not far from the Park. I am wondering if he stashes his gear nearby.

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My fellow bloggers over the years have taught me the beauty of imperfection and change in plants. So I took lots of pics of plants in the midst of transition. Nature is beautiful in all its cycles.

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Here is my sister Ellen, the Park Ranger. I felt guilty as we were out from 8 am to about 9 pm every day. She loves showing off Yellowstone Park. Check out her blog. She saw wolves today on a hike.

Here is my Garmin connect view of our outing. It doesn’t lie, like I might. It says 200 feet of elevation change, I’d of sworn 2000 feet. And 1. 4 miles long. Why, it was easily six miles, if not longer.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday today. Come join us! You don’t have a blog? You can link an Instagram photo!

I’m a little late with my post. I was going to write it Wednesday night along with setting up the Skywatch Friday meme and my brand spanking new Dell laptop with super duper quad core processor and solid state hard drive decided to not work, at all!!! As I thought about it though I remembered that Staples, where I bought it from, had given me a thumb drive which they said to keep track of because it was a recovery drive. So a few hours ago, I stuck it into my Dell and fired it up and it came up normally and asked if I wanted to restore my settings to factory, and I said yes and everything now works fine. What’s up? Can anybody tell me?

Skywatch Friday – The Teton Mountains from Mormon Row

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week I spent a few days with my sister, Ellen who is a Park Ranger at Yellowstone Park. One day we ventured from Yellowstone down to the Grand Teton National Park and looked at a few of the sights. One of my favorite places is an area called Mormon Row in the valley below the Tetons.

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Long before the area became a National Park the area was settled by Mormon settlers in the 1890’s at the direction of their church. Rather than being spread out from each other they put their homesteads close to each other for community and shared labor.  They built their farms and an extensive irrigation system to water their farms.

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They stayed on their homesteads until the 1950’s when they were bought out when the land for the national park was being acquired.  Many of their buildings are preserved, especially the barns and photographers (and picture takers like me) flock from all over the world come to capture images of the buildings with the mountains in the background.

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I love the color of this stucco. 

This trip though,, the smokey hazy skies along with the shadowy afternoon light defeated me. Still, I love the area. I had an aunt and uncle who had a mountain ranch tucked deep into a valley in southeastern Idaho and their buildings were similar in design and construction to those in Mormon Row. 

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A Loo with a View 
(Sorry I couldn’t resist”

I sense that although a settler’s life is hard that it must have been a pleasant place to live in the summer with the cool breezes and the astounding view of the mountains. The Tetons are the most awe inspiring mountains that I have ever seen and I couldn’t get enough of looking at them. I am just sorry that I couldn’t capture that.

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I really love our national parks, I love that they are a precious resource and are defended by all against exploitation. We need more areas like this, not less. 

How about you, have you ever been to Mormon Row?

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – New Views!!

Here is my big news this week.

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I had a great cubicle that faced the west for years at work and I loved it. Then years ago, I got an “upgrade” a nice office in the interior of the building but no window, just gas company beige. Don’t get me wrong. I was glad to have it but I missed by window. Since then I have moved around but always with a beige view and last week I finally got an outside view again. To the south, not the west but I will take it. I can see a slice of the Arkansas River and Turkey Mountain. So I am happy. I’d have been happy without the view, but you know what I mean.

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Having an outside view certainly makes a difference to me. How about you?

I am linking to Skywatch Friday 

Skywatch Friday – Visiting an Old Indian Trader’s Grave

The other day I had a meeting in a field office of my employer’s in Western Oklahoma. I had  a little time afterward so I went on a little drive.

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I drove past a herd of cattle.

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Then a newly drilled well being prepared for fracking. Notice the green pipe in the foreground being built to take gas from the well for processing and delivery to market.

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And then I turned down a muddy farm road to get to this marker.

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And walked a short ways down a grassy path to this humble grave.

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This is where Jesse Chisholm is buried. He  blazed the Chisholm Trail from South Texas to Abilene, Kansas where tens of thousands head of cattle herded north to supply beef for the northeast. He didn’t drive cattle, he was a trader with several stores and developed the trails to restock his stores. He also had good relations with many of the Native American tribes and negotiated to recovery of several women and children who had been kidnapped by the tribes.  He also helped facilitate several peace treaties. He died of food poisoning near where he is buried.

I think it is amazing that somebody who had such a huge part of the history and legends of the West has such a humble grave.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – From All Over Town

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The sky was clear and the moon was bright so I took a photo of it. Don’t forget this Friday we have a full blood moon coming up. This was about 86% gibbous phase. I don’t always get them but I love it when I can see the craters on the “bottom” of the moon.

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And here we are in the ‘hood. I loved the clouds one day when I was on the front porch. I guess sometimes I am a lazy skywatcher. While we are in a sharing mood, I took the photo of the moon from my front yard as well. Do you have any true confessions you want to share?

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And this is my favorite building in Tulsa. The Boston Avenue United Methodist Church. An art deco masterpiece built in the late 1920’s and designed by Bruce Goff and Adah Robinson. The interior is beautiful also. It was our family church when we first moved to Tulsa.

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And this is from Oxley Nature Center. I love how the island appears to be suspended in air. (Okay maybe I’m stretching it a little bit.)

Okay, that’s it for this week. Don’t forget the full moon on Friday. Take some photos for me. I’m going to be at a baseball game so I am depending on you.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – July Time

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A scene from a bike ride. I don’t really remember where. I go all sorts of places these days and I have my cheap trusy gopro clone clicking photos every 20 seconds. I only keep literally about 5 to 10% of them. A two ride is 360 photos. Typically 5 to 10 are keepers. The lens is terrible but I love the sky.

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Another photo from my gopro clone. This one is along the creek turnpike trail. Nice views, and hills, followed by hills, and then more hills.

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This photo is from the archives. I took it last year and I don’t know where. Nice sky though.And a dominating planter. It looks like a parking lot and I don’t know where.

Sorry, I am kind of boring. I have the back from vacation, back to work, its hot and humid blues. I ride my bike a lot though.

How about you? How is your summer going? How is your winter going to the many great bloggers who live in New Zealand and Australia?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Fitter and Fatter in 2018 Edition

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This is part of the Liberty trail, paralleling the Creek Turnpike for miles and miles.

It has been hot and humid here lately. Since I quit running I’ve been trying to replace the calories I spent in running with other things like bicycling. I love biking but it burns a fraction of the calories that running does for a given amount of time. I’ve been also taking stand up paddleboard classes and weight lifting classes. So far it is not working too well. Oh I am getting stronger alright and more fit but fatter as well by a slow an inexorable amount. I am thinking that I might have to start the most  effective exercise of all.

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We are getting rain and lots of sun, so everything is still lush.

Pushaways, you know where you push away from the table and eat less. Eating less is the most effective weight loss tool there is. Running only burns about 150 calories per mile or the calories in one slice of cheese or one beer. I’m trying to prove the first doctor I went to see wrong. She said, you know, for you, weight loss is an option. I’ve seen a million of you guys. You get injured, you quit running, and then get really fat, and can’t do anything. Believe or not, I loved it. I didn’t love it so much that I went back for more abuse (that I paid her for). I  got another doctor. He told me my “tread was think.” So I just quit running. I walk, bike, elliptical machines, weight lifting classes, and walk a lot.

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I rode by this freshly mowed pasture, where often I see horses and I got a bad allergy attack. Everything was hurting especially my eyes. So I turned around and went back home. Everything turned out okay. Strange.

Biking has turned into my first love though. I love exploring and going different places and taking pictures.

How about you? What is going on with you?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – 4th of July 2018

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I started my fourth of July with a walk around Tulsa’s Lafortune Park. It is a little over 3 miles in length and is just the right size for a walk or run. The trail goes around two golf courses including a par three circuit that is under renovation. Despite it being a holiday, the construction crews were busy working under the already hot sun despite being early in the day.

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Later on, I passed Saint Francis Hospital. Their landscaping crews were also out working. So what is up? I am the only guy not working on the fourth?

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I finished my walk and Heather and I dropped Logan off at his job at the Neighborhood Walmart and then went to Nana’s house. She and friends had been out shopping so all the women had matching July 4th tshirts. I didn’t have a tshirt, but I had a camera so I was assigned the task of documenting the occasion.

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And then we moved to the pool. That felt good on such a hot day.

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And my lovely wife, and me in the reflection of here glasses.

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And a shot from underwater to me above the water.

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And then more people showed up and I was assigned grill duty. I love grilling with a full grill. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, and ears of corn, plus a lot of other food.

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And then fireworks. I had VIP  tickets to the big Tulsa fireworks show but we were all chilled out in at the house and didn’t feel the need to jump in the car and drive like mad.

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Some of the neighbors put on their own show. Not the big show close to downtown but nice enough.

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Boom!

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday