Category Archives: Deer

Camera Critters – Deer in the Park

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During our recent vacation to Seattle we rented a car one day to go check out Mount Rainier National Park. The Park is a lot more than a big hill I’ll tell you. We went hiking down a nature trail near the Paradise Area to look at a glacier. On our way back we heard some noises like a hard breathing sound and something big moving through the woods.

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We saw a deer who had stopped an was looking around with their big ole ears.

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It looked downhill.

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And to the left,

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and right,

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And then right at us. We didn’t move and neither did the deer. We finally moved on a few dozen yards and happened on what looked like a smaller version of the first one. I’m certainly no expert on deer but I think it is a black tail deer. By all means if I’m wrong let me know.

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It didn’t seem too afraid of us either. The first deer started acting a little agitated, trotting back and forth. We could hear it but couldn’t see it, so we moved on.

Camera Critters

Meet my New Friends

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(No, that’s not my new friend, that’s me before Sweetie kissed me the first time. She’s told me more than once she sure didn’t know what she was getting herself into. Look at Sweeties fingernails!!)

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My regular readers know that I like to go geocaching. I like to to go a lot.

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My favorites are out away from people. It’s kind of a solitary hobby. I mean not many people like to while away the hours out in the woods or in cemeteries pondering life, and looking for tupperware.

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But, Monday I spent a few hours in Wichita, Kansas’ Pawnee Prairie Park. I am in Wichita on business infrequently and when I have some free time I check out the Park. Monday, I had all sorts of help geocaching.

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They kept their distance, but they were not too afraid of me.

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Occasionally they would run off but most of the time they just kept an eye on me.

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Talk about ears, they could hear the camera lens opening and extending a long ways away.

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Often there was a mom with her fawns.

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This last little guy was by himself. I don’t think he knew what to do. He never did try to hide or run or anything so I gave him lots of  room. I don’t think he was more than three feet tall.

Yep, I made lots of friends at  Pawnee Prairie Creek Park.

Have you made a good friend lately.?

Turkey Mountain Trail Run

Last Tuesday I went on a run on Turkey Mountain. I was going to run with a group, the TATUR running group, but I was a little late. I actually saw them take off while I was still in my car but it took me a few minutes to make sure that I had all my stuff together and they left. I wasn’t too worried about it though. If I caught up with him them, great, if I didn’t, I’d still have a great time. I run Turkey Mountain in the summertime to beat the heat of the concrete trails and to get my head on straight.

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I like to stop and take pictures. Turkey Mountain has a bunch of pretty good sized ponds.

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Sometimes you can spot things. Like somebody using a battery to illegally shock fish. Turns the sport of fishing into catching.

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When I lived in Texas close to a lake I knew several people who unashamedly would use such devices. Game laws to them were just a means to make sure that the suckers among us left plenty of fish and game for them.

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The mountain bikers flew past me. The TATUR’s passed me on their way in. I could have turned around and gone with them but I wasn’t ready to quit. I was rewarded a little later with this sight.

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I’ve seen lots of deer on Turkey Mountain. This one is the only one with the manners to wait while I got my camera out and ready. I have seen three fox on the Arkansas River trail, they seem to know when I don’t take my camera with me. Mannerly wildlife are always appreciated.

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I passed through an area that burned last year. I don’t think it took many trees but it sure cleared out the brush and opened things up.

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I got up to the top of the hill and had a good look at downtown to the north. To the south though, where I parked I had a ways to go. See the notch on the left side of the road? About where the car is on the road? That is where I parked.

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Here is a closer look.

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That is a long ways away. I made it though. I considered going down the highway or the adjoining power line right of way but I didn’t. I went down via a trail. Everybody was packed about and about to go. When you are a slow runner like me and take lots of pics, that happens a lot.

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One last pic though and time to head home.

I had my handy dandy Garmin running watch with me and heart rate monitor so this is the fully documented route.

That’s My World Tuesday

The Back Alleys, Pizza Joints, and Wildlife Heritage Center of Antlers, Oklahoma

Last week Sweetie and I dropped SuperPizzaBoy off at his friend Nick’s house and  drove down to  the city of Antlers in southeast Oklahoma to help MIL Nana with some personal business. We helped her remove personal items from a building she is leasing to somebody else. She and her late husband Charles operated a pharmacy in the building for years and years. Somebody else bought out the pharmacy and leased the building.

This is the back entrance.

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Being a small town I think just as many people used the back entrance as the front. It always kind of tickled me. The new owners of the pharmacy aren’t quite as inviting. So its kind of like “Welcome, now go around to the front entrance.”

I’m a real fan of alleys. I think they are cool. The street front is what the building owner wants you to see, the alley is how they really are. Plus the back alley is how stuff is brought in to sell out the front. The back alley has the utility connections. I love utility connections, they show how we are all connected to each other technologically.

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It looks like originally there were three windows and a cargo door with very nice arches over them.Now everything is all bricked up. Except oddly one window that was boarded up. Security over style. And look at that tangled web of wiring, both electricity and phone, what a mess. You know, if you have phone, you can connect yourself to the occupants of the building from almost anywhere on the globe. I think that’s cool.

For lunch we ate with some friends at the nearby pizza joint. High Street Pizza, on High Street!

Here is Sweetie humoring her blogger husband.

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I love this photo, even if it is a bit blurry. I’m not really into flashes unless absolutely necessary. So things get a little fuzzy now and then.

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During a lull, Sweetie and I checked out the Wildlife Heritage Center that her Dad was instrumental in creating. There is a stone bench there in his honor.

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It took years for Charles to get the facility built. He had lots of help but he was the driving force. The feature that he liked best was the live deer. He and Nana fed them almost every day. We view the deer as a living memorial to Charles.

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So if you are ever in Antlers Oklahoma check out the Wildlife Heritage Center.

As a bonus SuperPizzaBoy and I have a geocache at the Center. You’ll have to ask for it. It is called “Deer Capital“.