We’ve had a warm spell lately and life is glorious now. I can fly my drone without it going all “Danger Will Robinson” on me.
We have had a contractor replacing our backyard fence in something besides a rainy/snowy/icy windstorm.
I was able to go hiking without risking hypothermia.
And I went on a long bike ride Monday along the Arkansas River. It was crowded, every old retired guy in town had the same idea and were out cruising the river in their cargo shorts.
It has been a week! We have had some wicked cold weather and a little bit of snow.
Last Friday, my brother got sick and we spent hours in the emergency room. Turns out he had covid. So they bundled him up and sent back to his residence where he is being isolated for a while. I went home and tested negative but have been self isolating for five days. So stay at home, no gym nor anything else where people are. Low single digits inhibited me from doing anything outside so I’ve been a couch potato.
I had this bright idea of taking the drone out to various places around town and launching it. First though the batteries were all low and it took hours to charge them up. I went on a little test run in the back yard and I got just a little ways up in the air and the drone went crazy and one of the motors started barking. The screen on the controller said “Too Cold” so I nixed that but I got a few photos showing the snow in the neighborhood.
Normally with as sunny as it is our one inch would be gone but it is sticking around because it is so cold.
It took me about 20 minutes to push the snow off the driveway and walkways. If I didn’t it would turn to ice. Now that is really fun to deal with, especially when you are 68 years old!
So tomorrow I’ll self test and I’ll be free again!! (If I test negative) Plus it will be warmer outside. Probably going to be too muddy to go hiking ethically but I’ll find something else to do. Don’t you worry!! And my brother is doing okay as well. He is apartment is kind of small and he is going stir crazy. They will be testing him and if negative, he’ll be free as well! Being free is good in my book.
The other thing that happened last week is that I got notified by the internet company that hosts my blog that I had way too much traffic on it and it wasn’t coming from my friendly global blogging friends. It was coming under attack by evildoers! Traffic was up by a factor of 47,000!! They said fix it or we are going to shut you off. They were nice about it though. They sent a bunch of data on what was happening and gave me seven tasks I could do that would probably work.
Hey, couldn’t go anywhere, so the next day I went through the seven things with a sense of dread. Computerspeak is like a foreign language but with the links they provided I was able to tighten up security and upgrade things and it only took a few hours so I asked them to evaluate again and they said I fixed it and complemented me on how quickly I got-er done. Whew, big sigh of relief. My motto on the blog is if it is not broke don’t fix it. Turns out that is not too smart.
We are in the middle of a cold front here in northeast Oklahoma. We got some sleet and snow with it and some cold temperatures. Not a fan of cold weather, snow, or any of that other low temperature foolishness.
The low temps are here to stay for a few days so we are not going to get much melting. Our fellow bloggers in Colorado, New England, northern Europe, and Canada are probably getting a big chuckle about whining like this. I don’t blame them at all.
This to shall pass.
Good thing Heather kept her snow men out.
Here is a scene from just a few days ago when we had shirtsleeve weather.
Son Logan wearing a tshirt while walking Rascal.
It was so warm that I was asked to water the butterfly waystation on Turkey Mountain. I made Heather come with me. She is a certified master gardener so I thought she could show me how to do it right.
Coming Through the Rye by Frederic Remington at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum
Coming Through the Rye shows four horseman in high spirits galloping into town to have a great time. It might be indicative of this week.
First off, this year’s switch to Daylight Savings Time is throwing me off. How can that be? I am retired, I don’t generally have to be anywhere, why is it bothering me. Well it is.
Second, I got my bicycle back. Some guy ran head on to me with his bicycle back in September and it took a while for everything to get healed up and so I took my bike in to get it fixed. Picked it up after a week and went on a test run on the RiverParks and fell down during a botched dismount. No problems, just embarrassment.
And the weather! I went to fetch the kid Wednesday and the skies look a little threatening. Beautiful but threatening. Fortunately all that happened was the wind blew and the rain fell. Welcome to Spring in Oklahoma. It was the aftermath of the storm that dumped so much snow on Colorado.
And then Saint Patrick’s Day. We do our celebrating at home. Saint Paddy’s day used to be huge!! Now its just another day. At least you don’t see as much crappy green beer as one used to find.
And then the kid!! He’s a great guy and he’s about to drive me crazy. Zoom meetings in his pj’s, massive software downloads to upgrade his various gaming devices. Ahhhh!! Glad to have him around though. Really. He’s going back Sunday.
This is kind of an “add on” to my last post about hiking on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain last Sunday morning. Don’t tell me that I am the only blogger that milks all the posts he or she can out of an experience.
What are called ponds everywhere else are called lakes on Turkey Mountain. Don’t ask me why, its just the way it is. Whatever you call them, they are full which is unheard of this late in the summer. Want to know something else? (I am going to tell you anyway, so say yes, okay) I didn’t activate our lawn sprinkler system until this past weekend. It has rained so much we have not watered our yard once.
The ponds are overflowing and the vegetation is lush. I was soaking in DEET so I didn’t get any tick or chigger hitchhikers thank goodness but I was kind of dumb and didn’t take any water which was a mistake even in just a three mile hike.
It always lifts my spirits being out in nature. I didn’t really see anybody else. I love getting back home after my outings and checking instagram for Turkey Mountain. There were at least 25 other people claiming they were all by themselves. It is a testament on how big the area is that we can all be there and not get in each others way.
Do you have a place you can go to get away from it all? I hope so.
A blue sky with fluffy clouds over the children’s garden. I think that is the scariest feature I’ve even seen in a children’s garden. It looks like it eats children!!
We are having some typical Oklahoma Spring Weather this year. Freezing one minute, roasting the next, bone dry, and then soaking. After a few nice days it has turned cold. I did get a chance to get to the Tulsa Botanic Garden during some sunny yet windy weather. It was so windy it was making the tulips bob one way and me and my camera the other way.
From the sky to the ground. There were thousands of tulips blooming. It almost made for retina burn there were so many.
And so many colors. With the bright sun it made the petals translucent. I love that look.
How about you,? Do you have anything blooming where you live?
The weather finally broke and the sun came out and the sky was almost springlike. After our extended cold spell I never realized how warm 36 degrees could feel so warm.
Before hand we had day after day of this, and this is at the end of the day!! Ever hear of Lake Effect Snow? One morning we had “Refinery Effect Snow” the condensation from the cooling towers caused snow on the west side of downtown.
We are finally getting some clouds, the days are getting longer. We are a long ways from Spring but I am getting hopeful.
It has been cold lately and we got a brief respite on Wednesday. It got up to 60F. Thursday morning though started out nice and then the front came through.
You can see from the temperature and windspeed graph above exactly when the front hit.
Unedited photo taken in late March 2016 to the east.
It is that time of year again in Oklahoma. The storms are spinning up in west Texas in the early afternoon and then head northwest gathering energy as they go and generally hitting Tulsa well after dark. Wednesday was one of those days. My sister’s employer decided to send her to Tulsa that day right in the path. Great timing guys!!
I bet you didn’t know that Tulsa had nice sandy beaches did you? Well, we may not have beaches like this one in Orange Beach, Alabama but it is going to get close to 60F today so a lot of people are going to feel like it is a beach day.
Thank Goodness for Australia is all I say. The Australian bloggers showing the nice warm weather they have down there this time of year is about the only thing that keeps me going.
I know why snowbirds are the way they are.
So, when you think beaches does the word Tulsa pop into your mind?
