Coming out of the gym the other day I saw this bike rack with a snaky looking shadow. (In Oklahoma, “snaky” is a word. Like, those woods look kind of snaky to me.”
Serpentine Shadow
5 Replies
Saturday’s Critters – Domestic Edition
Our new dog Sadie and me enjoying the backyard.
A squirrel cavorting around
And a couple of bunnies.
The squirrels and bunnies are way too used to Kodi, the Pomeranian, who is more interested in barking at other critters than chasing them. Sadie is really interested in chasing them and is a lot faster than Kodi so the resident critters need to be more careful.
Speaking of Kodi here he is. Tail up high so we know he is in a good mood.
An action shot of me with the electric mower.
And Sadie again
And a male northern cardinal out wandering around the backyard for some reason.
Sadie wants to be friends with Lizzie the Cat and Lizzie is okay with that but wants boundaries set. So they will lay cheek to cheek like this but Sadie wants to clean LIzzies ears and when that happens there is a lot of hissing, spitting, yowling and Sadie getting his head whacked on the head by Lizzie’s paws.
An elegant mourning dove at the camera feeder.
A 24 second video of some of the birds at the feeder. You can see more mourning doves, a northern cardinal, a common grackle, and a house finch.
That’s about it for this week. I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters
Skywatch Friday – Full Flower Moon
A couple days we had a the Full Flower Moon appear on an evening with clear skies. This is what it looked like when it first become visible on our street.
Zooming in it looked a little like a Giant Peony about to bloom out.
Later on it looked like the full moon we all know and love.
My Corner of the World – Tulsa’s Mayfest Festival
So last Saturday afternoon my bride, Heather, and I loaded up and went downtown to check out Tulsa’s spring arts festival, Mayfest. Mayfest has been going on forever and we used to go to it years ago when it was in the core part of downtown. Heather would come down for lunch and we would walk around looking at the arts and crafts for sale, get something to eat, and listen to music. In the 90’s Hanson would play on one of the side stages. A talented group of youngsters who became famous and are now all growns up with their own children and they still live in the Tulsa area. We’ve seen them from time to time.
The University of Tulsa took over Mayfest some time ago and somewhere along the way they moved out of the core downtown area to the Arts District which is where all the cool kids go for restaurants and bars.
So we walked along checking out the arts and stuff for sale. I didn’t take photos of any of that as I have learned that artists and craftspeople don’t necessarily appreciate their work being photographed and I respect that.
This was the first time since before Covid that we attended the event and we were amazed at the quality of everything we saw.
After a while we got hungry and thirsty so we stepped into Cabin Boys Brewery for some refreshment.
Craft Beer and Nachos were just the thing.
Afterwards we drifted over to Guthrie Green to listen to the music which was also great. I amused myself by taking photos of people taking photos. Hey we are all in this public space and I didn’t take any photos that anybody could find embarrassing.
I’m ending with a flashback to 2016 when I was invited to submit a couple of my instagram photos to an art gallery at Mayfest. Mine were the top two on the top right hand corner. That was my peak artistic experience. I’ve gone downhill every since. (Not really.) I’ll tell you what though the world sure has gone through some topsy turvy things since then.
I’m linking with My Corner of the World
Saturday’s Critters – Mother’s Day 2025 Edition
We finally took our new dog, Sadie, the terrier mix, to a dog park. It had been rainy and cold and we wanted to get our vet to clear Sadie so off we went on one sunny afternoon. Above is my wife Heather with Sadie and Kodi, our pomeranian, in tow.
Sadie loved it. She’s a social butterfly with both dogs and people. She was running here and there making friends with everyone. She was right at home. We kept asking her if she was looking for a new home.
Kodi has always like the park but is much more reserved. This time, our poor little dog, got run over by another dog and that was it for him. We were told when we got him that he is a little dog with BIG FEELINGS, and that is true.
Sadie is making friends with Lizzie the cat. Lizzie insists on boundaries though so even though they may be together eventually we hear a hiss and a paw whacking Sadie on the head when she forgets the boundaries.
Kodi being cute one evening. He looks like a little bear cub.
At Brookwood Pond in Tulsa, here is a Mother’s Day shot. Geese and goslings.
Also at Brookwood Pond, I’m sneaking up on Great Blue Heron. All I had for a camera was my phone.
And at Hunter Park in Tulsa, another phone shot of a Great Blue Heron.
In our backyard an Eastern Bluebird visited our camera feeder.
I attended an event at Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area and afterward went on a short hike. I was going along and I could hear all these birds up in the trees, but could I see them? No!! I then I got to thinking maybe they are not up in the trees, maybe they are down below so that is where I started looking and I started seeing all sorts of little birds close to the ground. I didn’t really have a good lens for taking photos so these are highly cropped and thus a little grainy. Above is a Carolina Wren.
And this is a Tufted Titmouse I think.
I guess that I am not as smart as I thought I was. I have walked miles in the woods over the years listening to the birds up in the trees and that is not where they were. Anyway, I finally learned something.
And Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers.. None of us would be here if were not for our Mothers. This Heather with our son Logan and Kodi back when he was little.
And here is my favorite photo of my mother. She loved fishing and she was good at it. She had mobility issues so she didn’t move around very much but she could catch the fish. This was her favorite spot on Birch Creek in southeast Idaho.
I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters
Skywatch Friday – Sunny Days are Here
It’s May and we have rainy cloudy days and we have sunny days. I like the sunny days best because I like to be outside. Right now the sunny days are also cool days and those are the best of all.
We won’t have our California weather forever. Soon it will be hot and muggy.
I’m not going to worry about that now!
I try and get outside at least a little bit every single day.
Big News for Turkey Mountain
The RiverParks Authority had some big news for Turkey Mountain on Monday. They invited everybody to show for an announcement. Turns out that the Bank of Oklahoma is donating two million dollars to a visitor center on Turkey Mountain. RiverParks only has about six million bucks left to raise.
It’s going to be a visitor center and office for Turkey Mountain all in one. Right now they office in high rise building just out of downtown Tulsa.
They also had free tshirts as a giveaway and snowcones. Better not stand in my way for either one of those. Four members of the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition board was there, including me.
The city fathers gave speeches patting themselves on the back about turning back a planned outlet mall on Turkey Mountain more than ten years ago. They ignored TUWC’s crucial early work (before I joined the board) but that ‘s okay, what matters is the results and we are off working on other things.
I chatted with a few people I know. It was almost old home week for people who love Turkey Mountain. When I first started coming here all they had was a dirt parking lot. The trails were deer trails or dry streams on the hillsides. There were not really any maps, you just had to learn the trails by getting on them and seeing where they went. Not very sustainable. Now we have all sorts of new designed, sustainable trails. Two big parking lots and a third under construction, and of course soon we’ll have an $8 million dollar visitor center.
And some really nice hiking bridges!!
As popular as Turkey Mountain has become, you get a half mile down the trails you don’t see very many people.
I’m linking with My Corner of the World
Shadow Shot Sunday – Patio and Basketball Court
Late afternoon shadows on our backyard patio late in the afternoon. The strips of light is from the sun peaking through the gaps in our picket fence.
Went on a walk at a local park. No basketball games today. I played ball on these type courts growing up. Sometimes when it snowed we would shovel off the snow the best we could and play on the wet court.
I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday
Saturdays Critters – Stay at Home Edition
We had a Northern Flicker visit for a little bit. A very striking bird.
Our new little terrier, Sadie, continues to win our hearts and make herself right at home.
And Lizzy the cat doesn’t want us to forget her. We are not!!
Linking with Saturday’s Critters!
Skywatch Friday – On the Trail Again!
I was feeling all energetic and everything so I thought that I would go for a little hike on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness. I probably should have gone to the gym, but I’m gymed out, Physical Therapy is all gym, and not the fun kind.
So off I went, the trails were all wet, not very muddy though but rain was in the forecast and the park warned that they might close the park to everybody if it got bad enough.
The upside of rain is that all the ponds were full. Nice to see.
I used a mixture of the new trails and the old trails. The Stay Gold and Tree Hugger respectively.
This pond was dry the last time I came by.
I was going down the trail with my Merlin app trying to figure out the birds that were singing and a mountain biker came by and said to be sure to watch out for the copperhead snake on the trail up ahead. Yes sir! Time to put the eyes on the trail and not the device.
Do you know how many sticks look like snakes!! A bunch. The thing about copperheads is that they are the slugs of the poisonous snake families. They are not vicious and once they find a spot they like, they don’t like to move, and they are hard to see. So watch where you step!
The only snake I saw was this chain snake.
This is a Skywatch Friday post so I need to have one view of the sky. Here’s the overlook on Turkey Mountain on the very southeast side of the park. That’s the Arkansas River down below. To the left are the funky old office towers that used to be the televangelist Oral Roberts hospital. (Don’t ask me why a faith healer needs a hospital.)
And then back to the parking lot. Never did see that copperhead. I am not complaining about it, just saying.
I am linking with Skywatch Friday and Our Corner of the World.