Category Archives: Uncategorized

Skywatch Friday – Summertime on the River

Summer is here and I am retired and I am spending a lot of time outside including lots of time running and riding my bicycle on the RiverParks Trails here in Tulsa.

The trails are on both the east and west bank and stretch for miles. I love them especially for biking because there are no street or road crossings. I hate riding my bike on the road.

Anyway, a perk of being retired, I can pretty much go to the river whenever I feel like it.

I’ve been scanning old photos. Here is a scene from a cruise that Heather and I took in the 90’s. I think the ship on the left was ours. It had a bar up on the smoke stack at the back of the vessel. We spent a lot of time up there.

And this is me in La Jolla, California during a vacation to the area back in the 90’s. We loved it there. Too many people though and I think that has gotten worse.

And this is Heather way back when. We were doing social distancing from the critters in the background.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday this week.

Hiking Keystone Ancient Forest

Last weekend Heather and I visited the Keystone Ancient Forest in nearby Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

It’s a 1360 acre preserve out in the middle of nowhere. It is one of the last remnants of the Cross Timbers and is very rugged and contains trees 300 to 400 years old.

It is administered by the City of Sand Springs and they strictly limit the times available for hiking. This summer they have both Saturday and Sunday times. Check the link for the schedule.

This was my fourth visit and Heather’s first. It has very good hiking trails including a short section that is suitable for use for powered wheelchairs. I love that feature and hopefully more preserves will have loops for people who cannot walk themselves.

We got started kind of late but most of the trail was shaded. It was too far into the day to see any deer or other critters.

It was a great getaway. Many of the trees are spectacular.

We’ll be back!!

And now back to the real world.

New cases in Oklahoma and Tulsa are spiking up rapidly. The Health Department said that you cannot point at any particular thing except for the general opening up of the economy. Many here in Tulsa are dreading a national politician’s rally coming next weekend.

We’re hoping the common sense prevails.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

I got the Pipeline Blues

So I spent a long time in the natural gas business and was around lots of pipelines, big ones, small ones, short ones, long ones, brand new ones, ones that were a lot older than I am. These were used for natural gas, propane, butane, gasoline, crude oil, fresh water, waste water, and what I called blood, guts, and feathers, where everything was mixed together and sent down the line.

Never until now have I seen one used to make music.

What do you think?

Our World – Oxley Nature Center Hike

Last Saturday I ventured out to Oxley Nature Center’s North Woods area. Oxley is pretty popular but most people stay close to the main unit which is a couple miles away from the North Woods. I have been hiking it for years and I love it because I hardly ever see anybody.

The trail was dry for the most part but I got to one section where it looked like I might be up to my knees. I backed out and went via a different route. I don’t mind getting my boots muddy but I hate walking in deep water where I cannot see the bottom.

Much of the trail is in a “tree tunnel” where one is shaded from the hot sun. I love looking up through the ceiling of the tunnel.

Much of the trail is raised and its a good thing.

I saw a ton of frogs. The bigger ones would squeak like a dog toy while they were jumping. That kept startling me for some reason. I was thinking that I had stepped on them. I loved this guy. He was up periscope and not jumpy. During my outing I saw one rat snake, a deer, and tons of birds and squirrels. I was really out a little late for the wildlife. And as usual, I didn’t see any other people.

So above is the route. Kind of short I know but just right on a hot day.

A good time was had by all. I used lots of deet but I did manage to bring four ticks home with me! I had to enlist my son to pull one off my back. Pro Tip: my MIL told me that Blue Dawn dishwashing detergent will cause the ticks to let loose. It has to be blue, not pink. Guess what, she was right!!

I am linking with Our World Tuesday

Our World – Tulsa’s Gathering Place Partially Opens

The Gathering Place is Tulsa’s relatively new riverside park. Like lots of other such facilities during this pandemic it has been shut down. They partially opened in late May and I went in one morning to check it out. The paths through the park and the bicycle and scooter pump tracks are open but all the buildings and play areas are still for closed for the present.

ONEOK Boathouse Reflections — Reflection of the ONEOK Boat House

There were hardly any people there. I saw a total of maybe seven or eight people in the brief time I was there, plus a few staff members.

I had somewhere to go or I might have spent some time in one of these rocking chairs. That’s what us old retired guys do, right?

The vegetation in and around the park is kind of all natural. There are some large grassy lawns but the rest is wildflowers and other ground cover designed for low maintenance and less watering. I have a friend who lived close to the park and her yard became overrun with rats and mice, and snakes who eat them. The park was saying don’t worry, it’s all good. My friend moved and I think the park is trying to be more neighborhood friendly. It doesn’t seem quite so “jungley” any longer.

I have lots of photos of the play structures so this time I spent some time photographing the wildflowers and plants. Didn’t see any rats or snakes I am glad to report. I Id’d the plants by taking photos of the screen with my inaturalist app. If I am wrong let me know!!

I’ve been following the Covid-19 status pretty closely here in Oklahoma. New cases plunged for a while but seem to be inching back up. Deaths and hospitalizations seem to be in a holding pattern for now. June 1 marks further opening in the state and I hope that new cases don’t spike up.

Everybody stay safe and be considerate of others.

I am linking with Our World Tuesday, come join us!!

Camino Winds by John Grisham

Just finished Camino Winds by John Grisham. Talk about a novel written by a writer than has all sorts of literary items already punched. It is a mystery/crime novel involving an author, an island literay bookstore, and mystery readers who help solve the crime. It has a hurricanes, murders, murders during a hurricane, the goofy local cops, the snooty fbi guys and gals, hit men and women, wild gymnastic sex (only referred to not described thank goodness.) And drinking, lots of of lots of alcohol. Don’t try and drink along with the characters, you will not finish the book! Speaking only for a friend of course.

I give this book five stars out of five. Check it out.

Our World Tuesday – Field of Heroes

This Memorial Day I went to Centennial Park in Tulsa right across the street from VFW Local 577. They were sponsoring a “Field of Heroes” in the Park consisting of 402 pairs of boots and ID tags for American Military Members who died while serving their country.

This is the second year they did this. Eventually they would like to reach 13,000 pairs of boots.

It’s a sobering sight, both the array of boots and looking at the individual tags and photos of the service members. They are all so young.

There are lots of remembrances for our military but it never seems like enough.

It’s good to remember all who fell to preserve our country.

I am linking with Our World Tuesday

Our World – Restlessness

DSCF0011 — Mr. Squirrel politely telling me that the bird feeder is empgy

Cardinal Edit — Mr. Cardinal, singing away, looking for love I guess. Don’t ask me why he is looking at me.

DSCF0014 — Astronaut Mural in Downtown Tulsa

DSCF0017 — This mural of music legend, Leon Russell, on the other side of the building may be my favorite mural not just in Tulsa but anywhere.

DSCF0021 — The Blue Door, lots of photographers use it as a backdrop.

DSCF0032 — Echinacea Flowers aka Purple Coneflowers at Woodward Park

DSCF0033 — More flowers at Woodward Park

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

LaCoronaVida #7 – (Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Still WFH (“Working From Home”) for now, since the middle of March!!

I am retiring, my last day “at work” is this Friday, then I am “on vacation” till the end of the month.

I got a surprise delivery today. A nice box full of snacks and a nice photo book.

I really appreciate it. And the box could double as an urn when the situation occurs. Well it could!!!! Might have to put the ashes in a sack so they don’t sift through the cracks in the box. – Hey I’m just being practical. Really, it did come as a total surprise. I have really been blessed in my career. Forty three years in the energy industry and never got laid off. That is unheard of these days. And especially during this downturn most energy people are getting cardboard boxes instead of nice gift boxes.

You sure do miss out on the company gossip while WFH. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Been spending a lot of time watching the wildlife in the back yard.

And I’ve been charting the Oklahoma Covid-19 Stats. I have a new graph from Apple showing their mobility index for Oklahoma with early January being equal to 100. It shows us Okies slowing way down after the lockdown and now we are faunching at the bit and are just as busy as we were before. I am dreading what that might mean.

What have you been up to?

LaCorona Vida #3

Another day or two in the brave new world we are in. What a mess! I read that White Supremacists are using this to recruit new members. Great…

Meanwhile life goes on. I am still working from home and also trying to coordinate the last details on finances and health care for when I retire at the end of the month.

We met with one of Logan’s doctors. We didn’t want to zoom it so we went live. I hate the precautions but hey they are necessary, so we do them. Lots of people are abandoning them.

We started to go on a hike at nearby Lake Bixhoma. We saw these donkeys but abandoned the hike when we saw lots of poison ivy. PI is the gift that keeps on giving!! So we only got 1.3 miles in, better than nothing.

Heather and I are mad about these Keens shoes. They are comfortable and cool. We are spending a lot of time outside in them and we each have three pairs.

At least Oklahoma still has great skies.

YogisDen.us

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