Springtime Skywatching

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After a long winter of short days and featureless skies we are having lots of skywatchable skies these days. The longer warmer days means that I am outside more and we are having a little weather and unfortunately the many grass fires in western Oklahoma adds a tinge to the air here in northeast Oklahoma.

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On the advice of my doctor I have quit running and am riding my bike a lot. So far over 200 miles this year. (I am not bragging, I know several bikers who more than that on a weekend.) Most of the time when I am riding I have my Go Pro clone camera working. I alternate rides between video and stills.

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It is very low fidelity with medioce specs but I don’t mind.

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Another bicycle selfie. I always try and save one from each ride.

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Anyway I am sure enjoying being outside in the fresh air. And some of the trails allow me see some rural Oklahoma scenes. I posted this photo in Instagram. Speaking of which, if you are an instagrammer consider following me. I’ll follow back. My handle is @yogiab. You can see a little of my feed in the right sidebar.

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I took this with my cell phone. I spent some time trying to make it look better but you sometimes you just have to go with the plain version. Not that it is a great or even good photograph, I just like the contrast during the golden hour between the building and darker sky.

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I even had a geocaching opportunity on one of my rides. I didn’t find it but I found this cool “Posted, Keep Out Signs. I don’t know why the sign is so high in the air. I have a feeling that if I could figure out how to get up to the sign, that is where the cache might be. I know the guy that hid it and he is evil. I didn’t spend too much time looking for it I needed to get back to my car before dark.

How about you, is the weather changing good or bad for your Skywatching?

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

19 thoughts on “Springtime Skywatching

  1. Driller's Place

    The mornings are still a little crisp, like fall, but the temperatures warm up nicely before noon. I think winter is finally over here in NW Arkansas, but tornado season is here and has already claimed its first small community. Love the edited image of the building and that “Posted Keep Out” sign is classic. Have a blessed week-end.

  2. Peter B

    Yes, those are some gorgeous skies and great photos! This is a nice time of year for skywatching. Oh, and I like your bike selfie!

  3. A ShutterBug Explores

    Wonderful sunset photo for Sky Watch ~ also excellent photography too! Glad you are riding your bike ~ sounds smart and fun besides!

    Happy Weekend to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

  4. Kay L. Davies

    “Evil geocaching”…what fun! And I love the bicycle-selfie idea. I must mention it to my brother, who seems to be riding hundreds of miles for charity every weekend. And I agree with you about the contrast between the building and the sky…good choice! However, you had me with your first two photos, they’re super.
    Kay
    An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

  5. Alana

    With my back issues, I think I would need a recumbant bicycle. I haven’t ridden a bicycle in, oh, 40 years, and salute you. I love that lighting (I have taken pictures of buildings in the golden hour) but my favorite of the pictures, actually, was that keep out sign. Never seen anything like it.

  6. Sallie (FullTime-Life)

    Happy Spring (at last). I hope the fires don’t last long. Sorta’ hate that the smoke makes pretty skies, but I couldn’t resist taking smoke-caused beautiful skies and sunsets last summer in Eugene. (Allso hope I don’t have those opportunities this year.)

    You can get really far on your bike — that’s advantage over running I expect. Good for you. Thanks for hosting SWF!!

  7. Linja

    That’s a fancy keep out sign! It has occurred to me that riding a bike would be an advantage when you want to take a picture on a country road. So often I see a nice landscape but there is no room to pull off my car.

  8. Stan

    Blue sky and sunshine at last here in Rochester, NY. I like those sidebar shots for Instagram, though something I am not into. Knee(s) go bad? At least biking relieves you of the pounding… Sorry to hear/see those wild fires raging in Oklahoma.

  9. Angie

    Nothing beats a good sky photo, and you have some really stellar ones. Yes, our weather (and our move into our new house) has brought much better sky photo opportunities, as you saw on my latest post. (Thank you for visiting!) And thanks for hosting!

  10. Angie

    I’m back! I meant to respond to your question about inflatable kayaks. The pros: Folds and fits in just about any mid-size car; very stable and hard to tip; inflates by hand easily, and you are ready to launch in 10 minutes. The cons: not as fast as a hard-side kayak, and does not steer ‘nimbly’ like a hard side.

  11. Colette B

    Wonderful collection of photos, enjoyed all the variations along route, especially the winding paths. Here in England the month started out grey for what seemed like endless days at the time, but improved along the way, last weekend was a mini-heatwave, this week returning to cooler air and changeable weather, but the skies are at least more interesting than they were – hoping I’ve not spoken too soon there as Fridays skies have a way of being drab too often. Here’s also hoping the risk of fires in your area diminish, although they seem a frequent occurrence in many parts of the States.

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