Tag Archives: Our World

Our World – Beaching Good Times

Heather and I are on vacation this week. We are down in Orange Beach on the Alabama Gulf Coast. It’s our happy place.

Here’s my bride during our bicycling adventure at Gulf State Park. We rode 16 miles and it was great. Hardly any other people and some great trails.

It has three really nice lakes with marshes and it is incredibly gorgeous.

It’s also a great alligator habitat. We saw this momma and two babies chilling out by the trail. There are also “several” types of venomous snakes according to Park. Two years ago I went geocaching at the park while wife and son went parasailing. I had a great time but my head was on a swivel looking around.

We are right next to a beach bar. No bull, they had a rodeo last weekend. The condo was full of cowboys. They are the most polite people you will ever meet. They also like to party hard.

Saturday the beach was hopping between the cowboys with their hats on in the water and a bunch of happy, good natured people celebrating their football teams, LSU and Alabama seemed to be the most popular and playing incredibly loud tunes on their speakers that they actually rolled out across the beach on wheels. They also were celebrating their favorite presidential candidate.

Sunday, we basically had the place to ourselves. The cowboys went on to their next rodeo and the partiers went back to work and school.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday. Join in the fun.

Our World – Springing in the Rain

It was a wet soggy day here in eastern Oklahoma on Sunday. I felt the need to go take some photos so I loaded up my camera and drone and in search of photos to take. I found these trees blooming at the Tulsa’s Woodward Park. I love the blooms, don’t tell me what they are because I was too lazy to wander over and look at the labels under each tree.

Next I got a few minutes of non-rain at the RiverParks. It was wet and soggy and the Arkansas River was up quite a bit.

Got this glimpse of a guy doing what I should have been doing, running on trails. Maybe next time.

Instead, here is me standing on the trail, in the rain. If I’d of waited a couple of hours, the sun would have been out. Kind of reminds of an old joke but I’ll spare you.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday today. Come join in!!

And a musical interlude, with Gene Kelly, Singing the Rain. I couldn’t find “Drone Piloting in the Rain.”

Our World – Geocaching at Lake Keystone

Saturday afternoon my wife went to visit her friends and I drove out to Lake Keystone, northwest of Tulsa to find five geocaches that I had noticed earlier

The place I was going to was an almost island on the lake called Appalachia Bay. Little did I know that it was a designated area for dirt bikes and All Terrain Vehicles.

The guy at the gate good naturedly said you better be careful these guys will run you over. So I said okay then. Cost me $5 to get access.

It was like a Mad Max movie. The vehicles going this way and that way and making a heck of a racket. I just stayed out of their way. You have to look real close at the photo above. There is some deer hidden in there. Just steps away from one of the trails. I don’t know how they stand it. I saw two other groups of deer during my outing. I guess they get used to the racket.

After I got used to the racket, I had a pretty good time. The woods were clear so I was able to bushwhack without too much difficulty. Many of the trails were deeply rutted and so I avoided those in case someone came over a hill or around a corner too fast. People were pretty good natured and courteous toward me.

There were five caches. The smileys are ones I found, the frownie is one I didn’t find, the green one I saw but it was up in a tree and I was not in a climbing mood.

Above is a video of one my finds.

And above in another one of my finds.

And my relive app video showing the route from the first cache to the others and then back to the parking lot.

I had a good time. I didn’t know that dirt bikes and ATVs had designated areas. My attitude was that I was in their territory so I watched out for myself. Not a place I would recommend for a peaceful hike. I’m told that it is actually quite nice during the week. If you like geocaches that you can hike to I strongly recommend this but don’t go on the weekend.

I am linking to Our World Tuesday.

Our World – Blue Duck – Outlaw

If you have followed me for any length of time, you know that I am an active geocacher. (Check what geocaching is here and here.) It is a scavenger hunt using a GPS device (or the gps function of your smart phone) to find objects hidden in the world by other people. To me it is an interesting combination of the physical world with the online realm with a significant social component. I have hidden over twenty caches and have found close to 1800 in the years I have been doing it.

Often geocachers use the game to bring attention to significant spaces such as works of art, special outdoor areas, and historical items. I noticed that somebody had placed a cache close to Tulsa with a reference to Blue Duck’s grave site. That immediately got my attention. The Blue Duck I was thinking about was the character in Larry McMurtry’s “Lonesome Dove” series of books. So I went to find the cache and see the grave site.

I didn’t find the cache but I found the grave of Bluford Duck. Born in 1858 into the Cherokee tribe he was already an outlaw in the 1870’s in Oklahoma Territory, cattle rustling, bank robbing, and horse stealing was his trade. In 1884 he and two of his compadres killed a farmer named Samuel Wyrich for no reason. Duck was apprehended and sentenced to die by hanging by the Hanging Judge, Isaac Parker, of Forth Smith, Arkansas. His sentence was later commuted to Life in prison. He got tuberculosis in prison and was released and died soon thereafter in 1895 and buried in this humble cemetery in the Tulsa suburb of Catoosa.

Besides being a “notorious outlaw” (are not all old west outlaws, “notorious”), Duck’s claim to fame was being romantically involved with Belle Starr, another “notorious outlaw.”

And here are the love birds. (Note the manacles on Duck’s wrists.) You can tell he is an outlaw because he is wearing a black hat. He is an attractive looking guy though. Starr though looks a little rough in my opinion. (I’d of never told her that to her face you understand. Notorious outlaws are a little twitchy about stuff like that.)

Larry McMurty’s character, Blue Duck, has no relation to the Cherokee Blue Duck besides being “notorious outlaws.” McMurty’s Blue Duck is combined Mexican and Comanche descent and killed a lot more than one person. From what I read, there is no evidence that McMurtry even knew about the Oklahoma Blue Duck. But hey, he might have. Blue Duck is a great name for an outlaw especially the notorious kind.

I love finding stuff like this that helps make history more real. My favorite is from a German POW’s grave at Fort Reno, Oklahoma that I just randomly googled and found out he, Johannes Kunze, was murdered by his fellow POWs for being a snitch. The Germans were prosecuted for the crime during the war by Leon Jaworski, who later led the impeachment of Richard Nixon. Read the post here.

Have you ever found the grave of somebody who is “almost famous.”

I am linking with Our World Tuesday. Come check it out!

Our World – Over the Hills and Through the Woods to Nana’s House I Go

Last Saturday it was hot!! We decided we would go swimming at my MIL’s Nana’s houe. I decided that I needed to walk there. She lives about six miles away and this was my third trip on foot over the years. The previous times I ran, this time I walked because it was hot, not that there is much difference in speed between my walking and running. I can say that, you can’t.

I passed out neighborhood information board. We have lived here sixteen years and I have never seen any information posted there. I have always wanted to hide a geocache up under the roof of the thing but I would have to get permission from our neighborhood council and I hate dealing with those people. Why, well we had one smart ass attorney resident say that we shouldn’t allow people to store chemicals in their garages. Oh, okay, what about the oil and gasoline in your car dummy? Another guy, a retired Army Corps of Engineers guy complaining about an often damaged fence across a creek said that we could fix it once and for all for $50,000. Oh okay, you giving us the money dude? Somebody else wanted to ban residents from renting their homes. Oh okay… Anyway trying to get permission would be impossible.

We have a nice little duck/swan pond in our neighborhood. I like it a lot.

Out on 81st street and going by Meadowbrook Country Club. Nice place.

On past our local Starbucks. I am addicted to their new Cold Brew iced coffee. Not today, too hot and too far to go.

On past Tulsa Community College. This is where son Logan will be going to college in a couple weeks. I said a prayer for the guy.

The Sheriff’s Department put up this spedometer right near the college. I have never registered on it. I have tried waiting for a car going by at a high rate of speed so I could claim that same speed. Hasn’t happened yet.

The trail gets really intricate and interesting. That is why I don’t mind walking or running to see Nana, the trail is almost four miles out of the six. Lots nicer than walking the streets.

A brand new medical building with a big welcome sign. I had to do some checking on it. It is a new building for an outfit that does colonoscopies. Probably dozens per day. I had one a few years ago but I couldn’t bring myself to write a blog post about it. Much too personal. But there were nice things also. I read the night before the procedure that beer was allowed so I had a couple of Fat Tires. The doctor laughed the next day. He said that was allowed but hardly anybody had ever admitted to it. Plus the heavy heated quilt the day of the procedure was very nice. And then the weird way your memory goes backward when you come to in the recovery room. All in all something I dreaded for no reason.

And then this lady running wierding my out. She passed my a couple times. Hmm. Should I have been concerned?

And then by the highway hill where runners have worn trails in the side to do hill repeats. Did I do a hill repeat?

Well, I went up once, but didn’t go up twice. So that is half of hill repeat right. Meanwhile the lady runner passed me again, not on the hill though.

And then under the Creek Turnpike.

Yep, I do PokemonGo and I captured a couple. I looked, and didn’t find a geocache also. Don’t get all Luddite on me on me for Pokemon Go.

And here is Nana’s house, about 6 and a quarter miles and over two hours later. I love the Angel that she keeps on her front porch, and the beer that she lets me keep in her beerator in her garage, and she has a great pool. Plus it is a treat to visit with her.

I’m linking this post with Our World Tuesday

Weekend Update

We had a lot going on this weekend.

Logan had his first riding lesson in a long time. He sprained his ankle back really badly back in May and had been in a boot and then on restriction since then. He was glad to get back in the saddle on a hot Saturday.

After the riding lesson we loaded up in the car and headed off to Livesay Orchards out in the boonies about 45 minutes southeast of Tulsa. We hadn’t been there since Logan was a baby and man is it popular. We ended up in a group of nine cars headed out there and when we got there we found out there was a line to get in. The line moved fast though. I mean they are selling mainly peaches so it doesn’t take long for people to pick out what they want and move on.

And man where their peaches, bushels, pecks, half pecks anything you wanted as long as it was peach related.

After that we headed cross country to the ‘burb of Bixby to Dotson’s Produce and picked out some Amish Tomatoes. I never did figure out if that was a type of tomato or the religion of the farmer that grew them.

Dotson’s had all sorts of other produce. We tend to go crazy in a place like that.

We decided to counterbalance all healthful vibe of the produce with some Hawaiian Ice which is Okie for ice cream cone at a place nearby. Part of the fun is waiting in the heat. Is it against the law for those places to provide shade for their customers?

Sunday was church, seeing the movie “Ant-Man” with one of Logan’s friends and then an historic occasion. Logan left with his friend, with his friend driving. First time that happened!

Then Heather and I had dinner and drinks with some friends and then out to pick up Logan out in the country.

So we ended the weekend with a nice crescent moon.

So our weekend was great, how was yours?

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Our World – Tulsa Tough and Crybaby Hill

I finally made it to a Tulsa Tough Bike Race and Crybaby Hill today (Sunday). I’ve missed out in past years but this was my year.

Tulsa Tough is a series of bike races held in Tulsa every June. It has grown and grown. It includes everything from a “Townie Ride” open to everybody to amateur and professional level criterium events. A criterium race, I’m told from Wikipedia, is a race on a short course consisting of closed off city streets. The race is a set number of laps. In other words they go around and around.

The formal name for the Crybaby Hill event is the “River Parks Criterium.” It is brutal. The riders start on Riverside drive and go for a short while and then climb up a steep hill and then make a right turn and then back down to Riverside drive down a very steep hill and then a greater than 90 degree turn. And then they repeat the lap, over and over. It looks brutal. Check this Tulsa World link for the story behind the Tulsa Tough races and Crybaby Hill.

They have classes all the way from youth to old guys and gals and professional levels. All sorts of very skinny yet muscular people speaking foreign languages this week in Tulsa.

Crybaby Hill is also a party. Check here for the origin of the name (if you didn’t before). Basically people get to the top of the hill and cheer the riders on.

I left today before it really got crazy. Next year I’m staying for the whole thing.

People wear strange outfits to the event.

In between laps the contractor handing the portapotties was racing to finish the installation. Everybody was yelling “clear the way for the *******. The orange lines are where the spectators are supposed to stay behind. They had to put those in because in years past, from what I’m told, the gap the riders could ride through got narrower and narrower as the day went on.

My favorite sign. Take that Westboro Baptist so called Church. The guys in the striped shirts are the supposed to keep everybody behind the orange lines. They enjoy their jobs.

The theme was “Under the Sea” so I guess that makes this guy King Neptune or something.

I’m not sure what she was supposed to be.

And some more characters. Notice the baby’s for sale. This is Crybaby Hill after all.

This is a brief video of the scene at the top of the hill where the riders are just about tuckered out and the crowd is cheering them on with cowbells, whistles, sirens and beer.

And this is a video at the bottom of the hill where they have to make a greater than 90 degree right turn on a steep downhill. You’d better have a precise line and good brakes to get through this unscathed.

Anyway a good time was had by all. And bikes were raced.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Another Sunny Day, Another Walk Downtown

The sun came out Yeah!! And it warmed up!!! Double Yeah. So I took my brand new camera. I’m sure you have never heard of it. It is a SJCam SJ4000. Basically it is a GoPro clone. It kind of has a fisheye lens with infinite focus. I’m still experimenting with it. The above is our new Marriott Courtyard hotel in downtown. They took the old Atlas building and redid it. I like repurposing old buildings.

And then I tucked into the Bank of Oklahoma. I love the beautiful art deco interior. You can tell the new camera has a little work to do on the white balance.

And then a little further away. A clunky expensive Kiwanis financed memorial to themselves. Sorry Kiwanis guys and gals. I don’t like this. Sorry.

And then on down to the BOK Center. Garth Brooks did seven shows or so the last week. He sold 105,000 tickets in just a few hours. We got to see a show. We’ve seen lots of good concerts in the facilitty.

And then over to the old YMCA. The camera has a 170 deg of view. I belonged to the Y for about a week 23 years ago. Too weird. Take my word for it.

And this is where I work, the gas company. Don’t ask which window is my office cuz I don’t have a window. I have a beige box that I am grateful for. I am moving to a new beige box in a couple of weeks. It will have a magnetic wall. So much the better for hanging maps. In the gas pipeline industry we work with lots of maps. We call them “alignment sheets” just so you know. We use topographic maps a lot. We call them “quad sheets”. You gotta call things right the name if you don’t want to slink away in shame. I love the terminology in our industry and I love learning the terminology in other industries as well. For some reason I have become facebook followers for a bunch of US Navy Ships. The carrier USS Carl Vinson is my favorite. They are on station now in the middle east making life miserable for ISIS. Check them out. I love the “Sailor of the Day” feature. They let an ordinary seaman, most of whom look like they are 14, sit in the skippers chair. I’d like to sit in his chair one day. Except I wouldn’t do it. I’m not worthy. I don’t know how I got off on this tangent. Hey anybody out there want to sit in my chair?

Here is our new plaza. I love it. It gets back to 70 deg in a few months I’ll be eating lunch out there in the shade. And yes, they do keep the able tops very clean.

Now I’ve left downtown and picked up the kid from school. Heather had the flu so I go the privilege of picking Logan up. He goes to a Christian school and they have chapel day on Thursday. So its like “Can we just go home so I can change!” You bet kid. He loves his sweats. I don’t blame him. He works hard. We moved him from a special needs school to his new school and it has been a huge adjustment for him. His Mom and I are really proud of him.

And we are home!!

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Our World – Kayaking the Bon Secour River

A highlight of this year’s vacation to the “Redneck Riviera” of Orange Beach/Gulf Shores, Alabama was a kayak ride down the Bon Secour River which feeds into Mobile Bay.

We rented the kayaks from BeachNRiver Kayak Rentals near the town of Foley. BeachNRiver is located on a creek just a few hundred yards from the Bon Secour so it is very handy an d “Ranger Rick” and “Beaching Betty” the hosts were very nice and informative and made sure that we were ready for our outing. We used BeachNRiver three years ago on our first trip to the area and loved the experience so much we came back. (I can’t find my post fromthat trip!!! or I would link to it) They do a great job.

The river flows very slowly and is free of obstacles so the kayaking is pretty easy going both downstream and upstream.

The river is pretty narrow at first but soon opens up. There are lots of houses backing up to the river with boat docks facing the river. They ranged from just shacks to some pretty luxurious homes and everything in between.

We passed a few motorboat and sailboats made from SpaceAge Panels, on our trip. Every one of them idled down to not make a wake as they passed us and the people on board always had a comment or two as we we went by. The river is a happy place and the people using it are very respectful of each other.

A highlight of the trip was a dolphin we say making its way slowly upriver. All I had for cameras were waterproof recyclables so I don’t have a good pic of the dolphin, or any pic for that matter but still it was great to see. The dolphin was surfacing frequently and I could hear it “breathing” which is something I had never heard before.

The great thing about a kayak is that you are almost at one with the water. You can glide over sandbars and just kind of cruise along and feel like you are part of the river. They are easy to maneuver and propel. It is a little tricking getting in and out of them if you are not used to it.

In addition to the dolphin we saw lots of ducks, herons, and pelicans.

Our outing took a little less than four hours and we were a good tired when we were done. We all agreed that the expedition was the highlight of our vacation. We loved the beach but it was nice to get away from all the hustle, bustle, and people for a few hours.

Our World Tuesday

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Tag Archives: Our World

Our World – Beaching Good Times

Our World – Springing in the Rain

Our World – Geocaching at Lake Keystone

Our World – Blue Duck – Outlaw

Our World – Over the Hills and Through the Woods to Nana’s House I Go

I’m linking this post with Our World Tuesday

Weekend Update

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Our World – Tulsa Tough and Crybaby Hill

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Another Sunny Day, Another Walk Downtown

Our World – Kayaking the Bon Secour River

I’m linking this post with Our World Tuesday

Linking with Our World Tuesday

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