In late September the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition, of which I am a member and a Board Member, had a trail workday at the Herman and Kate Kaiser YMCA on Turkey Mountain.
It was starting to sprinkle but it was too late to postpone the date as we had already done that once already for this event.
We got our canopy and tables set up and got waivers from everyone so we were ready to go. It was kind of a light turnout that day. But that’s okay.
Here is an action shot of me, that I have stolen from the TUWC. We were clearing the trails that day so I have my loppers. There was lots of poison ivy so I didn’t wear my usual tshirt and shorts for long sleeve shirt, pants, and gloves.
Here’s a shot of a cleared trail. We lopped the brush and poison ivy back. The YMCA has their own trails on Turkey Mountain that are extensively interconnected with the more well-known Tulsa RiverParks trail system.
I went hiking near the end of September at Oxley Nature Center and took lots of photos. My posts this week have been centerd around that hike, so here is one more for Saturday’s Critters.
A doe and her fawns slip into the forest before I even get to the Nature Center.
I heard lots of birds and even saw some of them but got very few photographs of them. For my style of photography I need them to sit still while I fuss with the camera. This robin sat all he could then he left.
A fuzzy photo of a deer.
I found a big wildflower patch.
A cardinal playing peekaboo with me.
I love Eileen’s Blog and the other people who post on her Saturday’s Critters meme. I’ve learned so much. One of the latest things I’ve learned is to keep the Merlin App open during my entire hike so I can capture everything. It works. It goes against the grain. My whole life growing up I heard every day, “Turn out the lights! Turn off the television! Close the refrigerator door! You know what I am talking about. So now I do luxuriant power expenditures on Merlin and it works great!
Another deer. Sorry, another boomer trait, don’t waste photos.
A blob of a crow perched on a branch.
And here is a review of my hike from Relive. It will show some of the photo you have seen today.
I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Check it out. Lots of dedicated animal lovers there!
The trees at the edge of the prairie welcoming the morning sun.
A little further on I came upon Bird Creek.
Later on in my hike I came across Coal Creek. This is the lowest I have ever seen it. I’m told by the staff that if one gets here early in the morning one can see a family of otters swimming around. I have yet to catch them. I’ve seen muskrats which I think some people confuse with otters.
A few weeks ago, I found myself at the north side of the Tulsa International Airport and I noticed that the Tulsa Air and Space Museum had several new aircraft on their parking display so I checked it out.
First up is the iconic A-10 Thunderbolt, or “Warthog.” A legendary warplane built for ground support. It has a high speed cannon that runs almost the entire length of the plane and is designed as a tank killer. It has been around for decades.
Second up is Gruman Gulfstream II-B/ G-1159B Halo II. A modified civilian aircraft designed for research the US Missile Defense Agency. You know, secret spy type stuff.
And third is a 1965 North American Rockwell NA-265-40 Sabreliner. A pilot named Bob Hoover flew this. He is famous in aviation circles for being the best pilot in aviation history. Here is his Wikipedia Listing. Talk about great stories in his wikipedia. My favorite is that he was taken prisoner by the Germans in World War II. He escaped and found his way to a German airfield and then took off on one of the planes and flew to Holland and landed inside allied lands. They should make a movie about that but nobody would believe him.
Enough with the museum. I drove closer to the airport to check out the new control tower being built. Above is the existing 1959 vintage control tower. Looks kind of cute doesn’t it?
So just turned about 45 degrees to my left and took a photo, with the same magnification, of the new tower. Wow is wow is what I said.
Here it is magnified a little bit. It is huge. Looks like about seven stories tall at the top of the tower. What, are they selling condos? It is ginormous. Ginormous is a word in Oklahoma. We are easily impressed. What can I say?
I was in the Gardens of Philbrook in the middle of September, here is some of what I saw.
A colorful orange zinnia
A monarch butterfly
More Zinnias
Oklahoma Autumn by Eric Baker
Philbrook has a ton of trees
Some beautiful blue Adirondak Chairs. That is the new Tandy Pavilion on the rise behind the chairs.
Villa Philbrook from the Reflecting Pool
A watermelon and other plants near the new Tandy Pavillion
And speaking of pavilions. They new Tandy Pavilion makes for a great event space, plus some shady deck space. The A/C is ice cold and the restrooms are handy out in the far reaches of the gardens.
Nothing like Purple Phlox on a bright day.
A bas-relief. That may be Dionysus leading a couple ladies astray
Our little Pomeranian Kodi loves to go swimming but his enthusiasm and joy are greater than his skill so when we take him swimming Heather has to hold on to him. Our rescue Terrier, Sadie, is not into swimming at all.
On another bike ride on the Arkansas RiverParks Trails here in Tulsa I captured these two great blue herons flying low over the water below Zink Dam.
A great egret fishing
And a bunch of great egrets and great blue herons trying to catch their breakfast.
I stopped at a bench on the trail to rest up adjacent to this sculpture of geese.
A couple weeks ago I worked “Monarchs on the Mountain” representing the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition. TUWC was deeply embedded in the event. We are a co-sponsor. A couple of our board members were on the organizing committee, and another was the MC of the event. Another board member takes care of the online part of the event using our website. Monarchs on the mountain is festival celebrating Monarch Butterflies and all other pollinators and the monarch migration which is happening now.
My role (that’s not me in the photo) was to man the booth and tell people who TUWC is and what we do.
This is a diorama that another board member made a couple years ago where we illustrate Leave No Trace principles for kids. We have a little story about Hans and Hilda going on a hike with their dogs. So we talk about leashing animals, staying on the trails, don’t throw your apple cores and banana peels out into the woods in the mistaken belief that you are helping feed the animals. Those little brown round things at the bottom of the photo are dog poops, not cinnamon rolls, so we throw them out and ask, “What do you do when your dog poops in the woods?” Answer is of course that you bag it and dispose of properly.
Working the booth is a lot of fun. I’ll tell you one thing, we get lots of Girl Scouts come by and they have the life cycle of monarch butterflies and Leave No Trace principles down. I’m very impressed with them and their adult leadership.
In late July this year I went on a bike ride on the Arkansas River Trails here in Tulsa. I took a “good camera” along. I only take a good camera if there is no chance of rain.
Here is the Public Service Company Oklahoma’s Tulsa Power Station. They have two sources of natural gas to run the plant. I worked for one of the source pipelines for eight years and then I went to work for the other source pipeline.
And here is my bicycle with the Williams Crossing Bridge in the background. It is a beautiful pedestrian bridge that is only about two or three years old. It was named “Bridge of the Year 2026” by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the National Steel Bridge Alliance. Read all about it here. I checked on the bridge construction almost weekly while it was being built. It was fascinating to watch.
Above is a photo from September 2025 showing the bridge at night. It has one of those funky lighting systems that can do all sorts of colors.
There were rowers on the river that day. Used to be Tulsa had quite a rowing community at one time, then Covid came, and then came the reconstruction of the Zink Dam and the Williams Crossing Bridge so it is nice to see rowing on the river again.
21 plus miles. Not a bad ride for an old fat guy is what I think.
Switching gears to the home neighborhood.
A neighborhood sunset in late July. If I don’t feel like launching the drone then I walk across the street to our neighbor’s driveway to get the right angle. The street is straight east and west and the sunset in July is a little north of west so I have to get a little south to see it.
This is a reverse sunset looking east on another day catching the glow of storm front off in the distance.
