Shadowy Geocaching

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Those who have been following me know that I am a geocacher. Geocaching is a hobby where people go hide containers out in the world, recording the GPS coordinates and then get on geocaching.com and post the coordinates and other people try and find the containers using the coordinates. Geocachers both hide and find containers. Here is a help page at geocaching.com that explains it a lot better than I can on what the hobby is about and how to participate. There are two kinds of people in the world I have found. Those who once they find out what it is about find it fun and fascinating and those who find it pointless and illegal. I have been doing it for almost twenty years and I love it. I appreciate the generosity of the American taxpayers who have spent billions of dollars launching GPS satellites into orbit so i can find tupperware containers in the woods.

So this is an account of me finding a geocache last week. I haven’t done much finding this summer mainly because I have found almost all of them in my area and it’s been hot

So I started looking for the geocache near this playpark. This cache was a mystery cache that required me to solve an online jigsaw puzzle. I had been working a table at an environmental festival earlier that day so I wanted to get home, hydrate, and solve the puzzle in the comfort of my home A/C and cold drink in hand.

The tree and shadow behind the playpark.

So the next day I showed up with the coordinates and proceeded to head to what is called “ground zero” (aka GZ) the immediate area of the cache. GPS coordinates for civilian use are only accurate to +/- 15 ft or so geocaching is not just going to GZ and picking up the cache. You can end up looking for hours for it. One problem is that there is an art to getting accurate coordinates. It is not uncommon for objects to be 40 or 50 feet away from GZ. Anyway, I digress. This park had a food forest and a community garden. That was cool.

A shadowy tree

Entering the woods.

And a video of my search. I lucked out, the search only took me less than a minute and I didn’t encounter any snakes, spiders, wasps or other fun crawly things. In the container is a log book that you sign and date. Later, you get back online and log the find there as well. I have been to urgent care for several things in my geocaching career. Wasp stings lead the list, in Texas I got into a bunch of fire ants, I have had numerous thorn cuts. I have tripped and fallen, all sorts of fun stuff. Plus I have had several conversations with the police, sheriff’s deputies, and security guards about what I was doing and have encountered several unhoused people. In general, park authorities support geocaching because it gets people into remote areas of the parks. If I see signs of unhoused people living nearby then I just forget about the cache. The homeless have to live somewhere and I don’t want to upset them. Most of them just want to be left alone.

Walking back to the car, I came across this tree with a swirly shadow. If you look to the right sidebar of this page you will see a running count of my finds. This was my 2394th find. Sounds like a lot but I know people who have found more than ten times as many as that. I will kick up my activity later in the fall when the snakes go into their brumation.

So that’s an introduction to the world of geocaching. In geocacher circles, people who don’t know about geocaching are called muggles. From the Harry Potter book series where people who were not magicians were called muggles.

Sorry this took so long. I am linking with Shadow Shot Sunday.

Satururday’s Critters – Tulsa 26 September 2026 Edition

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First up, a Mississippi Kite sitting on a powerline in our neighborhood greenbelt. I love their distinctive call and style of flying. Despite their fierce appearance what I read is that they don’t look for little mammals on the ground, they like to catch flying insects to eat.

I turned my Merlin App on for a few minutes a while back in the backyard. It has better ears than I have. It is amazing what it can do.

And a collection of sparrows on a fence that I photographed.

To finish this post off, “Hippo” by John Kearney in the Philbrook Museum Gardens here in Tulsa. It’s made of welded chrome bumpers. I love it.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters

Summertime 2026 Skywatch

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I am still way behind on posting my sky photos. These are from the last half of July

This is a neighborhood photo showing a front blowing through.

A sunset photo looking west from our neighborhood greenbelt.

A drone photo about 40 meters over our house looking west from Tulsa.

I was on a bike ride on a trail I hadn’t used in a long time. It’s closed, for repairs. It looks okay to me!

A view from a bridge across the Arkansas River looking north. To the right is a complex of buildings that used to be the Oral Roberts Hospital and Medical School. They are now regular office buildings. The high rise to the left is the Muskogee Creek Nation River Spirit Casino.

Here’s a closeup of the Casino from the bike trail around the riverside of the complex.

And from the same trail only a couple miles north is a view across the Arkansas River to Turkey Mountain.

And July’s Full Buck Moon. I love moon photos. I have hundreds of them.

And this is a drone shot that I modified by having a program called Dynamic Auto Painter using a modernist acrylic techniques. It’s not AI. DAP has been around a long time before AI ever showed up. I kind of like how it turned out.

I am linking to Skywatch Friday.

September 17 Over the Years

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A video of various photos I have taken over the years on September 17

Philbrook Museum: Matching Up the Abstract and the Real

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2026 is the 100th Anniversary of the founding of Route 66 and there have been a bunch of commemorations, celebrations, and parades and Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art has jumped in with an offerring of their own showing how Route 66 and Modernist Painting have grown up together. My brain locks up trying to think about it but I think it works. If you are not getting brain lock every now and then then your brain dies and that is not good.

We start out with a vintage Ford Model T. There we go, I am relaxing already. I’ve seen a bunch of these before.

The early days. The Depression. My parents were children of the Depression and it marked them and their generation for life and they passed some of the trauma on to their kids. I’m generally a happy person but I also believe that things can get worse and often do.

Here we have Figural Abstraction by Eugenie Baizerman – 1945+/-. We’re out of the depression but it is close. Here is an abstract piece that I get. The figures in it seem to move to me.

The 1950’s came around (and so did I). The economy is getting better people have money, they are buying stuff and they are traveling to see the sights. To me this is the peak of Route 66.

Gracie Hartigan - East River Drive - 1957

And we have Gracie Hartigan’s – East River Drive – 1957. Another work that I love. It’s kind of a mess and I love the colors but I think I get the vibe of it.

Here’s the 1960’s. Note that the art shown is The-New-Designs by Grace Hartigan in 1951

Here is the perfect painting for the 1960’s: the Grand Tetons by Kay Walkingstick – 1969. I really like this one a lot. Don’t make me tell you why.

Untitled (VSF243) from Expansionist Series by Vivian Springford 1972

The 1970’s come. The freeways paralleling Route 66 get built. People jump on them to go where they want to faster. Otherwise the 70’s are mess; disco music, Howard Cosell, gas shortages, inflation, ugh. The art is: Untitled (VSF243) from Expansionist Series by Vivian Springford 1972. I actually like it although I don’t really understand it.

So hey if you have time and are in Tulsa go check out Philbrook. They always have something going on.

I’m linking with Through My Lens

Shadow Shot Sunday – The Sun is What Makes Shadows

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Last week I had to use photos from my archives for my Shadow Shot Sunday post. Why is that? It was because I wasn’t getting outside very much in this heat. Usually when I am outside, walking, hiking, in the backyard, etc I take pictures of almost everything and almost everything outside, during the day, casts a shadow. If nothing else, I cast my own shadow. Now as I write this, it occurs to me that this is the lamest Eureka moment ever. I’m almost embarrassed for myself. But that is alright. I embarrass everyone I know my mere presence, its okay if I embarrass myself every once in a while.

So with my newfound comprehension I went in the backyard and took a photo of this spinner casting a shadow on our fence. I kind of like the light on the spinner also.

A few days later I was at Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum looking at an exhibition and afterwards decided to go on a spin around their gardens even since it was a little early and the heat had not showed up. First thing out the door is this shadow of a decorative feature on the cast iron rails.

And then I turned left and went down this long “tree tunnel” with its shade along the whole length.

And out into the gardens and first thing is this shadow cast by a planting.

Shadowy Garden Chairs at Philbrook Gardens

And some restful chairs in the shade of the a large tree. I think it would be cool to take a book and read there once it gets a little cooler.

Philbrook recently opened their Tandy Pavillion out in the garden. It is mainly an event space but I love how much shade is on three sides of the building. Plus the air conditioning is heavenly and they have restrooms. When you are in your 70’s it’s nice to have handy restrooms instead of trudging back up the hill to the main building. They also have a small exhibit of bird photographs on display.

Shadowy Art at Philbrook Gardens, Talisman by Oded Halahmy

They have all sorts of art on display in the gardens. I’ve always loved this. It is called Talisman by Oded Halahmy

I’ve always loved this structure in the gardens. It has a fountain to the left and it is always shady and restful.

And headed back into the main building I found this shadow on a bit of a patio. I love the contrasting pattern of the shadow and the pavers.

So anyway I have resolved to spend more time out of doors during the day even though my dermatologist tells me that the sun is trying to kill me. Sunscreen and wide brimmed hats are my friends!

And to be clear, many of my fellow photobloggers make great shadow photos indoors. I’ve done a bunch myself.

I am linking with Shadow Shot Sunday

Saturday’s Critters – Two is Company, Three’s Crowd Edition

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We got out of the habit of taking the dogs on a morning walk this summer because it has been very hot, very early in the day. We got a temporary break in the weather a couple weeks ago so I took Sadie out for a morning jaunt. She was kind of unsure about it and kept her tail down and looking back over her shoulder.

Two red tailed hawks on a tall power pole in our neighborhood greenway.

I put my trail cam up on the fence and pointed it at the feeder cam. Some birds, like the mourning doves, don’t look good on the feeder cams because the wide angle lens make them look like short, fat, and squatty. A second look from a few feet away make them look awesome. Here it looks like dove is fighting off a sparrow.

Here we have two doves on the feeder with a third coming in hot. I don’t see room for him. Two’s company’s, three’s a crowd is the saying.

Squirrels are the bane of my existence on a feeder camera. Oh well, they have to eat also I guess.

And closing with the Welcome Bear at my former MIL’s back yard.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters

Skywatch Friday – Rainy Days and Cloudy Times Edition

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Hey Look, a concert about to get going on the beautiful Jenks Riverwalk. We’re all there and minutes after I took this photo everyone was dashing for our cars. You can kind of see in the right margin that something was coming.

https://flic.kr/p/2spoCng

This is just a few minutes after we left, the storm had passed, the sun was shining, and a rainbow appeared. I love rainbows.

And another pic, from a bike ride. The Tulsa Skyline under some clouds.

At home, you can see the front passing through from left to right.

And a neighborhood shot of clouds.

Reverse sunset in the neighborhood looking south.

Reverse sunset looking east.

And a sunset looking west. I get asked if I used a filter on this shot. The answer is yes, I brought to bear every filter I had on this. Just so you know, I am not a purist.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Shadow Shot Sunday – 13 September 2026 Edition

One morning during a dog walk

Eleven years ago when I was still working in downtown Tulsa. Many of the older art deco buildings were empty. They were not abandoned just empty. Many of them, including this building were remodeled extensively for apartments and condos. Downtown Tulsa used to be abandoned after 6 pm and on weekends. It is a hopping place now.

Son Logan on a hike with me on Turkey Mountain eleven years ago. He finally got old enough to “just say no” to hiking with me. I miss those days. I used to give him a steady dose of dad jokes which I loved and he didn’t appreciate.

Some old water infrastructure on Tulsa’s Reservoir Hill. I hid a geocache close to that building. The building is still there but now there is a razor wire topped security fence around the whole area. So that is a no go now.

I am linking with Shadow Shot Sunday

Saturday’s Critters – Home and Around

This is sweet Sadie, our rescue terrier.

And this is Kodi, our Pomeranian, hiding in a corner until my wife comes home. Sometimes he howls when Heather is gone.

A Mississippi Kite on a powerline behind in the greenspace behind our house. They look fierce but what I read is that they eat mainly insects that they catch in the air.

And composite of videos from out camera feeder, featuring a starling, mourning dove, sparrow and a squirrel.

That is it for this week. I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters

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