At Sprouts, we found this strange vegetable. Apparently everybody but us has heard about Romanesco. I like the logarithmic spirals but it looks very unappetizing. I’d try it though.
It’s calving time at the ranch owned by Heather’s relatives in western Oklahoma.
My sore back is getting better via yoga, strength training, ibuprofen and a heating pad. If I leave the heating pad on, Abby claims it. This is she during the Super Bowl. How about the Buccaneers and Tom Brady?
MIL had a leak in her house and she called a plumber who does sewer line repair Carroll county as well. A couple young guys came out. One of the manhandled an augur up on her roof during a strong cold wind. I get so tired when I hear certain people talk about “….kids today don’t want to work.” I know that’s wrong. I see hard working young people almost every day. Make sure you have a peek at this web-site where you find all the plumbing services required.
One of the curious things you find in old parks. This is a tribute to Shakespeare at Tulsa’s Woodward Park. Designed by notable art deco architect Adah Robinson and erected in the 1930’s I believe. I love random stuff like this.
Sometimes when looking at animals I do short little videos. A still photograph is okay with critters who are stationary but sometimes I like to provide a glimpse of the movement of the subjects. Don’t worry, none of these videos are longer than fourteen seconds.
These are the flamingos at the Tulsa Zoo. I love flamingos for the Florida vibe plus even when they are not doing much that are moving around. I find it very comical. These birds were locked up because it was too cold for them outside. It kind of reminds me of recess in grade school when it was too cold to go outside so we were in a cramped room and repeatedly told to not make so much noise.
Giraffe’s are the most ungainly animals but they are fun to watch if they are in an energetic mood. The energy here is the youngster, all full of piss and vinegar.
Sea Lions are very graceful and beautiful. We were just getting glimpses from them in the murky water the other day.
These geese I saw on a golf course were hilarious. They were definitely headed somewhere. I glitched the video a little bit.
Back in the real world here in Oklahoma new Covid-19 cases per day have been in a sustained decline since the first part of January. But…
Deaths per day have increased tremendously. Hopefully they will start trending down as well.
So stay safe folks. Wear your mask, maintain distance, and stay home whenever you can. Our son just got over his infection early this week. My wife and I were tested and found negative and we isolated as well to be extra sure that we didn’t infect anybody. I got my first vaccine shot yesterday and will get the booster in three weeks. I am so happy that the new administration is taking steps to streamline vaccinations and ordering enough medicine to have everybody vaccinated by the end of the upcoming summer.
I like trying different kinds of beer. I’ve been doing most of that at home.
And the nerdy
My regulars know that my computer crapped out. I had a one terrabyte solid state hard drive that was okay. So I pulled it out of the computer and bought a gizmo for about $12 that turned it into an external hard drive. You know it works perfectly!! I don’t archive photos on my own hard drive, I do that in the cloud but I had thousands of songs I had ripped into itunes off of cds. I didn’t want to do all that again. So I installed itunes on the new computer, told it where to go find the music and it works!!!
To I don’t know, maybe this is sublime..
From the archives. The gardens at Tulsa’s Philbrook Museum of Art are sublime. I am not sure my photo is. The museum is closed until the middle of February. They are taking a little breather. Covid has been hard on all of us.
I found this kind of cool
This is some people standing in front of the reflection of the Tempietto in the Gardens at Philbrook. I love the word Tempietto although I admit I spell it a half dozen different ways. I’m getting older and crankier so just think of me as a phonetic speller.
My wife and I got our brother moved into assisted living from long term care. The staff at the long term care are proud of them, that kind of move is extremely rare so they see him as a success story. He is adjusting well to his new digs. Lots of more freedom and more activities to choose from as well as more people to talk with. Brother is very social.
This is from the archives. I’ve been so busy getting my brother into an assisted living place that I forgot to take a sky photo this week. So this is from where I used to work in downtown Tulsa looking out to the northwest along the Arkansas River winding its way back to Colorado. Thank goodness for archives is what I say.
I’m getting my first covid-19 vaccination shot today at the Tulsa Fairgrounds. Wish me luck!!
Stay healthy my friends. Come join the fun over at Skywatch Friday
A low sun Saturday morning makes a bird feeder shadow. Notice that it is empty? The squirrels can empty it in a few days after we fill it.
Miss LIzzie in our converted front room checking out the neighborhood action while sitting in the sun.
On the other side of the room, LJ the tuxedo cat finds a bit of sun.
The last of the Christmas decorations. They are not quite as much fun to take up and store as they were to bring down and set out. Why is that?
My mil’s pool. She has two little dogs and one of them decided to take a dip one cold winter night is why there is an enclosure. (Incident was years ago, the dog was rescued and is fine.) Looking forward to jumping back in the pool this summer.
These photos are from a family member of my wife who has a ranch in western Oklahoma on land owned by my MIL and her sister. I’m always after the family member to send me more cow pictures. Problem is that her husband retired and now does all the chores so she rarely gets out there but she did and sent me a few.
I’ve never ranched but I have been around it a little bit, enough to know that I don’t want any part of it. It doesn’t matter how cold or hot it is, how thick the mud is or how deep the snow you have to make sure that your cattle are fed, watered, and taken care of and if you got some mama cows about to give birth, well they are not going to wait on you either.
But most of those who do it, seem to love it. The whole things, they love animals, the land, the work involved, and being outside in all kinds of weather. The few times I go out with them my help is limited to opening and closing the gates and trying to stay out of the way and not step in cow patty. Plus I take photos when I go. So, I am pretty much useless. I’ll admit it.
But I love the photos other people take as well.
On another front. My brother who has been battling off the aftereffects of viral encephalitis is about to move out of long term care and into an assisted living facility next week. He has battled back from a number of setbacks and is ready to get a little independence and get a lock on his door and a refrigerator with some beer in it. This former marathon runner has worked hard and is an inspiration to me. He says he is going to race again and I bet he will. He has basically been hospitalized for about 14 months.
So this week Heather and I are shopping for beds, mattresses, sheets, blankets and other items to get him set up. We wanted to Buy a mattress online but ended up going out since, Heather is going to living within walking distance of our house and has a ground floor unit next to the sidewalk. So despite the Covid precautions I can go and knock on his window. I just hope he doesn’t call security. Of course, I hope I pick out the right window to knock on.
Anyway that’s about it for now. I got a new computer. It’s pretty nice except I am trying Microsoft’s Edge browser instead of chrome so not all my passwords are going through. I had to set up the Skywatch Friday page on my ipad. The other thing is that Lightroom and Photoshop won’t install so that is kind of a pain in the butt. I could live without the laptop apps but I use the iphone apps all the time. So, I’ll figure all this out. Why do computers have to be so expensive, fragile, and pains in the posterior??
I don’t know about you but this political situation we have where a President who was defeated in a free and fair election is refusing to stand down and is getting lots of help from some of our elected leaders has really got me down. Throw in this pandemic which is raging again and the slow stuttering pace of vaccinations and it is enough to drive me to the edge.
So what does all this have to about donkeys? Nothing really except I was going to have a post about the dirty dozen and one senators who are contesting the election and I was going to post photos of 13 donkeys. Problem is that donkeys are a democratic party symbol. Elephants are a GOP symbol but you know I think elephants are a symbol of wisdom to me, and besides I don’t have 13 photos of elephants but 95 of donkeys.
And besides donkeys are useful. Most of the ones here are guard donkeys that ranchers use to protect their livestock against coyotes and other predators. The dirty dozen plus one are not protecting anybody against anything. They are just scared of our sitting president.
And before you get too upset about this I need to let you know that I have been a Republican for 47 years.
Out looking for a geocache the other day in the woods and come across this long abandoned tractor out in the middle of nowhere. How does this happen? Does it matter? I love coming across stuff like this.
My computer decided to crater on me so I am posting via my IPad which is a wonderful matchine but not quite what I am used to so my posts are going to be a little brief until I get up and going with a new machine. I love what computers can do but hate the machines themselves. Don’t listen to me, I’m just being grumpy.
We are closing out 2020. I am not going to miss it. What an ordeal the world has been through.
There is still plenty to be thankful for. We have our health, my brother is slowly recovering from his illness.
Christmas will always be special to me. A time of hope and healing and remembering.
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Heather’s gingerbread men.
We miss our sweet doxie, Ginger.
I was born in northern New Mexico. Christmas has always been more of a quiet contemplative occasion than a raucous party. Oklahoma artist and journalist Terry Clark captures a New Mexican Christmas perfectly in his series of post cards he does every year. We treasure the ones he sends us. Check the link to his blog.
Merry Christmas to you and your family from our crew!!
