A motley collection of ducks, some of whom might be escaped or released household pets, at Hunter Park in Tulsa.
Some geese on a large pond at a cemetery here in Tulsa during a geocaching outing. Yep there are lots of geocaches in Tulsa. One advantage is that the residents are going to call the cops on you. This cemetery has Roy Clark, Oral Roberts and other celebrities at rest on the grounds.
And a native pollinator doing its thing with a wildflower.
A turtle and a frog forever frozen in place at Ray Harral Nature Center in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow.
And a pair of doves with a little girl at the Utica Square Shopping Center in Tulsa.
And some more birds including a scissortail flycatcher and a bunny at Utica Square during an art show there.
I found this scary dude while hiking the other day, or maybe it found me. I survived though by promising it that it would be on the blog.
The family went out to the Tusla Botanic Garden the other day. We found some scarecrows.
In late September I started another year of reading tutoring at this school. The little person I am helping this year is a hard worker. I am loving not having to bargain, beg, and threaten them to settle down.
I am mowing two yards now. This is my former mother-in-law’s house near where we live. Her neighbors are begging us to move in. It’s a nice house but a long ways from where we like to go. Nice pool. we got to use it a few times before it got too chilly. We have some legal hoops to jump through before we do anything with it.
I love stoplight sunset photos. After months of not much rain we had a lot at the end of September.
And a neighborhood sunrise looking east from my front yard.
And a middle of the day, cloudy, skywatch looking the same way.
My Mother-in-law, Jeanette, passed away peacefully in her home, with Heather and I there, in early September. This past weekend she was put to rest in her beloved western Oklahoma with her husband Charles who died eighteen years ago, and alongside her mother and father and her older brother who passed away at three years old a long time ago.
Heather spoke at the services and described Jeanette’s life as a play in three acts. Her growing up years, her life with Charles, her husband, as they grew their small pharmacy in southeast Oklahoma into a destination with a gift store, fudge counter, sweet shop, a catering business and other lines of business. And her last eighteen years alone living an active retirement and moving to the Tulsa area to be closer to us.
Jeanette’s pastor was the officiant, and said that Jeanette was the playwright, director, and lead actor of this play. Jeanette told me several times that if you wanted to get something done you had to get an old broad to do it.
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?
