Category Archives: Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Vacation 2018 Update

We are towards the end of our vacation this year on the Alabama gulf coast. The highlight so far was Heather riding a paddleboard in the open water. She teaches a pool based paddleboard class but had never ridden a paddleboard before this trip. Logan and I went kayaking during this outing.

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I have been taking lots of photos. The water and surrounding area are always a rich source of images for me.

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Here is a shot of Heather just starting out on the paddleboard. I am in my kayak so I guess this is a “kayakcam.”

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We have been out on the beach a lot. Both sitting on it, in the water, and walking the beach.

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I have fair skin so stay covered up but my feet really got burned on this trip.

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We went on our first ever family bike ride. Logan has never learned to ride a bike so we rented him a three wheeled version. He did quite well. Heather and I tried it and agreed that it was a lot harder to ride than the two wheeled variety. Steering in particular was hard. The bike had a mind of its own.

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We passed this sign. Lots of alligator habitat in Gulf State Park where we were. It inhibited by geocaching quite a bit.

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We cooked a shrimp dinner one night. We have our shrimp place, so we boil them, and Heather prepares the sides.

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And the skies. The skies have been magnificent.

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I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – A Moon and some Oklahoma Country Skies

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Kind of a mishmash this week for Skywatch Friday. This is the last full moon that we have. I love all the names Full Corn Growing Moon for example, I like Milk Moon the best.

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Last Sunday I was in my first bicycle race ride. It was a grueling 24 miles over roads in hot weather and I loved every minute of it. I learned that hills are what makes rides interesting for me.  They are never as bad when you are climbing them as it looks when you get close.  I think that I am addicted. Help me to figure out how to sell the idea of a new bicycle to Heather.

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I went on a flat as a pancake run on an old railroad bed that cut through ranchlands and oil fields and we had a great sky.

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And a visit back to the magical Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch.

Hey everybody, what are you doing about the European General Data Protection Regulation? I am considering getting out of blogging because of it. You can see I have no ads. I don’t sell email addresses or any other information you guys/gals share with me. I just want to publish photos and look at your photos and exchange emails about my thoughts. I am a big believer in privacy but not a believer in regulations. Anyway let me know your thoughts.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – A Visit to the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch

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Sorry about the decapitated horse to the left.

Continuing from my previous post where brother Bob and I visited the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore, we drove about 20 miles or so north to the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch. The Rogers family name for the place was, the Dog Iron Ranch. We were told at the museum that the ranch was a beautiful place and I can confirm that indeed it is. It is at the end of a road and the property has waterfront on a lake. The place teems with birds and very green grass and nice big trees.

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We met the ranch foreman, Fred. Fred was very bossy and loved to have his photo taken and was just generally very fussy.

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We ventured briefly down a hiking trail and saw this longhorn cows. They checked us out when we first approached and then quickly became bored.

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We didn’t go very far, I hadn’t thought about needing bug spray and if we had gone any farther we would need some. I am not a big fan of chiggers and ticks.

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The house is beautiful. Apparently this kind of house was common in Territorial Oklahoma but is now rare. It was once known as the “The White House on the Verdigris.” The lower floor of the house is open.

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I loved the light from the tall windows.

A beautiful sitting room with a piano. I love those old walls and the fireplace. The house started out as a log cabin, actually two log cabins with a cover over the “dogtrot” between them. The house was expanded gradually and a second story added with two bedrooms. The old dog trot was enclosed and is now the foyer. Somewhere along the way, the white clapboard siding was added. I just love stuff like that.

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And the master bedroom. I love that big multicolored rug.

The ranch is a quiet place with just the horses, donkeys, Fred,  and the birds. Besides the house there is an authentic barn and wood fences. The hiking trail is a little rough but I’d of done it if I had my bug spray. The place has RV spots and and airstrip!! You have to make arrangement in advance to stay out there as there is no staff on site.

I recommend a visit highly. It is one of the nicest place I have been to in Oklahoma.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Sunset Across the River

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I went on a bike ride Thursday night. At the end the sun was kind of low and some clouds were showing up. Not quite sunset but I love the reflections in the Arkansas River.

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And then the 21st street bridge across the river and more reflections.

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This is where I am almost home. I stopped the car in the middle of the road and took this photo. Pretty nice, no filters or edits, I promise.

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Skywatch Friday – Mid May 2018 Edition

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Well May is well on its way and it has certainly warmed up around here and it is about time.

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I apologize but I am going to bombard you yet again with a barrage of action cam shots from my bicycle rides. I have ridden over 200 miles this Spring. I do it every chance I can. I love it and it is a lot easier on the knees than running was. It is not near as good for cardiovascularwise. It is hard to get your heart rate up.

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Heather has joined me a lot also. She teaches Zumba and other exercise classes so often times she rides after teaching two or three classes and she is still ready to ride a bunch of miles.

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On one of my rides, I got to the literal “End of the Trail.” Most trails end a little more gracefully than this. The end at a road or something. Oh well.

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Lets get out of the sun for a little bit and head to Tulsa’s beautiful Woodward Park. The azaleas were in bloom recently. The park’s shrubs got freeze damaged a few years ago so they are re-establishing the vegetation and doing a very good job of it in my opinion. It is not up to what it used to be but it is on its way.

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I know nothing about flowers, and blooms but I know what I like. It was opportunity for me to practice what I learned about depth of field and making have a “soft” background.

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More practice!

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The season doesn’t seem to last too long and the strong winds that we have been very hard on the blooms.

What have you been up to lately?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday!

Skywatch Friday – A U2 Sky

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Heather and I went to the U2 Concert last night here in Tulsa. In fact Tulsa is where U2 is starting their latest tour. They of course put on a great show. It had a sad tinge to it that I think is reflective of our country right now.

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And then earlier this week we had a full moon. Fish Moon, Pink Moon, Sprouting Grass Moon, I love all the different names we have for full moons. The problem is, that I took this photo the night after the full moon. Still it was 98% full. I can’t tell the difference. Aren’t you happy with me that I came out and was honest with you about this? Don’t always count on it!! I’m a scoundrel with the facts.

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The sculpture is “Monument to Forgiveness” in honor of Tahlequah, Oklahoma being the end point of many Native American on the Trail of Tears when they got evicted from the southeastern USA. Check out “www.monumenttoforgiveness.org“

On our trip to the JT Nickel Wildlife Preserve on Sunday, Logan and I stopped at Northeastern State University for a look see. They are starting a program for people with Special Needs to get a university experience. We are applying and have high hopes. They are taking only five this, their first year of the program.

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He’s doing well at school and is still working maintenance at Walmart. He’s a hard working kid.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday, better late than never.

Last Skywatch Post of April 2018 – Osage Prairie Trail

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Last week I took my bicycle up north of Tulsa to the “Osage Prairie Trail” a rails to trail project  that starts in north Tulsa and goes to Skiatook, way out in the country. I started in Sperry and went about five miles north to Sperry. The trail is deluxe, asphalt paved and well maintained.

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I got some geocaching in on the way. How do you like my stylish outfit? I found that garish yellow top at Walmart for about seven bucks. Don’t feel bad if you don’t like it cuz I like it just great! Along with my mismatched socks. Where’s the law that says your socks have to match? There isn’t one, I already checked!

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I love this bridge across Bird Creek.

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I got to Skiatook and everybody in town was taking an exercise class.  I felt like jumping in myself but they were just finishing up. I love community stuff like that. Except community sounds like communism. We don’t like communism here in Oklahoma, so I am glad I didn’t join this communistic exercise program. People need to be in there own homes watching Fox News and checking you know who’s twitter feed. Not out in the sun getting skin cancer and getting to know your possibly leftist, immigrant, non gun owning  neighbors.

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Enough about politcs. How about some cows? These are my wife’s cousin’s herd out in western Oklahoma. I love the calves especially. I always name one of them “Little Brisket.”

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I went riding along the Arkansas River after work earlier this week during a pretty day. I am loving riding my bike this Spring!!

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And it is Azalea season here in Tulsa. Here is a house in midtown that I just love. Look at the blooms, and the windows.

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And I have a volunteer gig with the city of Tulsa picking up “litter on a stick” signs. I’ve picked up 17 so far. Within days of getting trained, me and my fellow 61 volunteers picked up over 500 trash signs off city rights of way. I’m all official now. I have a city ID Badge with my photo on it and some “cop gloves” to help protect from sabotaged signs. (Not yet in Tulsa but apparently in other cities the people who have put out litter on a stick signs have superglued razor blades to the wire frames.” The gloves will come in handy for geocaching also. On my bike ride on the Osage Prairie Trail I went looking for a cache called something like “In the hole” and I found the hole in the tree and as I went to inspect it, a snake slithered out! So as we say in the energy biz, I plugged and abandoned that cache, figuratively. I am just glad that I didn’t stick my hand in there, even though the slithery critter did not appear to be poisonous.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday this week.

Springtime Skywatching

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After a long winter of short days and featureless skies we are having lots of skywatchable skies these days. The longer warmer days means that I am outside more and we are having a little weather and unfortunately the many grass fires in western Oklahoma adds a tinge to the air here in northeast Oklahoma.

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On the advice of my doctor I have quit running and am riding my bike a lot. So far over 200 miles this year. (I am not bragging, I know several bikers who more than that on a weekend.) Most of the time when I am riding I have my Go Pro clone camera working. I alternate rides between video and stills.

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It is very low fidelity with medioce specs but I don’t mind.

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Another bicycle selfie. I always try and save one from each ride.

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Anyway I am sure enjoying being outside in the fresh air. And some of the trails allow me see some rural Oklahoma scenes. I posted this photo in Instagram. Speaking of which, if you are an instagrammer consider following me. I’ll follow back. My handle is @yogiab. You can see a little of my feed in the right sidebar.

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I took this with my cell phone. I spent some time trying to make it look better but you sometimes you just have to go with the plain version. Not that it is a great or even good photograph, I just like the contrast during the golden hour between the building and darker sky.

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I even had a geocaching opportunity on one of my rides. I didn’t find it but I found this cool “Posted, Keep Out Signs. I don’t know why the sign is so high in the air. I have a feeling that if I could figure out how to get up to the sign, that is where the cache might be. I know the guy that hid it and he is evil. I didn’t spend too much time looking for it I needed to get back to my car before dark.

How about you, is the weather changing good or bad for your Skywatching?

I am linking with Skywatch Friday