Category Archives: Oklahoma

My World – Nature Conservancy Tallgrass Prairie Preserve

Last week I took my father and brother out to the Nature Conservancy’s Tallgrass Prairie Preserve near Pawhuska, Oklahoma. We saw lots of bison and big sky.

This has got to be the closest place to bison heaven on earth. Lots of grass, water, and room to roam.

There were bison close and far, lots of them. I think the herd is about 2000 head or so.

The place is for the bison. There is a ranch headquarters but it is mainly a bunkhouse, offices, and a visitor center with irregular hours. Notice my dad checking to see if anybody was home.

Lots of grass to eat. The preserve staff uses controlled burns extensively to keep the grass healthy.

The bison coexist with oil and gas production operations with apparently no ill effects on the animals.

There are no gates or toll boxes on the Preserve. The allowed roads are all county roads and its all open range, no hours, no fees, no nothing. Just use your common sense is all they ask. Bison can be dangerous so keep your distance, stay on the roads, and don’t pester the critters. Oh, bring your camera.

Check out My World for other views of the world we share.

Skywatch Friday – Happy Thanksgiving

My brother Bob and dad, Gramps, are visiting so I took them to the Nature Conservancy’s Tallgrass Praire Preserve which is only about 75 miles or so from Tulsa. We saw lots of big sky and bison that day.

I wish everybody a great Thanksgiving today.

My World – Oklahoma’s Indian Ballerinas

The Yogi’s spent some time Saturday afternoon at the Tulsa History Center. Among other things we found was a series of sculptures entitled “The Five Moons.” It consists of five sculptures by Gary Henson and Monte England depicting the Five Oklahoma Indian ballerinas who achieved international acclaim in the 1940’s to the 1960’s for their dancing. After their dancing careers, they continued in various teaching and director roles in the dance fields for decades.

First row, from left to right: Yvonne Chouteau (Shawnee Tribe), Rosella Hightower (Choctaw Tribe), Moscelyne Larkin (Peoria-Shawnee tribe)

Second row, left, Marjorie Tallchief, (Osage Nation), and then her sister Maria Tallchief.

The achievements and contributions to the world that these women made are many. For example, Maria Tallchief originated the role of the Sugar Plum fairy in the Balanchine version of The Nutcracker. Click on the links to find out more about them.

In 1997 these women were honored by the State of Oklahoma as State Treasures. We Okies are very proud of them.

Check out That’s My World for more images of our shared world.

Here is a link to a YouTube video featuring Rudolf Nureyev dancing with Maria Tallchief.

Skywatch Friday – Split Sky

We were in the big sky country of western Oklahoma last weekend and took I this photograph from my wife’s cousin Joe and Cheri’s front yard.

Skywatch Friday

My World – Road Trip

Friday was my day off, I was really off, Sweetie had some stuff that she needed to do, SuperPizzaBoy was in school so I had a day to myself. So off I took SPB to school, said bye-bye, pushed him out the door, and headed off to Osage County northwest of Tulsa to do some geocaching and sightseeing.

I found 20 geocaches during some very lonely geocaching. Which is the best kind. I did make some new friends though. First up was this guy:

He was lollygagging across the road so I helped him on across.

Then this guy:

He wasn’t too talkative. He wouldn’t say a word or even show his face and he wouldn’t get off the road either. This country folks are plum ornery sometimes. So I had to move him off myself. (I guess that it is a him.)

On my 19th cache attempt I met this fellow cacher:

I never know what the proper geocaching etiquette is. Most geocachers I know want to find the cache on their own and don’t want somebody showing up and saying “here it is.” But how long do you wait for them? I mean, come on dude, crap or get off the pot! I have no idea what kind of snake this is but it is beautifully colored and blended in well with his surroundings. I bet somebody out there in My World land knows exactly what it is. I finally plugged and abandoned the cache, as us oilfield trash say, and moved on to the next one.

Well I found 19 caches out of a 38 cache “power trail.” (Plus I found one other cache later) I had time to do them all but I had other stuff I wanted to do. I drove up to the Nature Conservancy’s Tallgrass Praire Preserve near Pawhuska.

They bought a huge ranch several years ago and started managing the land using controlled praire fires. They also reintroduced Bison. The project has been a success. I found 5 groups of bison in my brief time there.

They are beautiful animals.

There were also birds and wildflowers

And of course, my favorite on a beautiful Spring Oklahoma day, huge skies.

They have a visitor center and lots to see but I want Sweetie and SPB along when I do that so we can discover it together. I just went for a taste you see.

So, next stop is Woolaroc. Woolaroc was Frank Phillip’s ranch, the founder of Phillip’s Petroleum. Woolaroc has a museum and a wildlife preserve. I went there because I wanted to see more critters.

I saw some white tail deer, some with their fawns:

Time, to head home. Tired but satisfied.

For other views of world from all around the globe, check out “That’s My World.”

Oklahoma Skywatch

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain

And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet

When the wind comes right behind the rain.

Oklahoma, Ev’ry night my honey lamb and I

Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk

Makin’ lazy circles in the sky.

We know we belong to the land

And the land we belong to is grand!

And when we say

Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!

We’re only sayin’

You’re doin’ fine, Oklahoma!

Oklahoma O.K

Sorry, I wasn’t born in Oklahoma but I love it here. I know that where you live is great also!

Check out Skywatch Friday for other views of the sky, and if you are lucky some lyrics, from all over the world.

Where Were You on April 19, 1995?

I was at work in the Oxy Building in downtown Tulsa when I heard the news about the bombing. I went downstairs to the cafeteria and watched the video. I remember it was all very confusing and nobody knew what happened or why. People didn’t know if it was natural gas explosion or just what. There was a lot of speculation that it was middle eastern terrorists striking in the heartland.

We had a couple of customers come in from Oklahoma City for a meeting. They worked several miles north of downtown Oklahoma City. They said that they could feel the boom in their office but they didn’t know what it was.

What a shock when we learned that it was fellow citizens that murdered so many people. The chief of coward’s advice to survivors of the murdered victims before he was executed years later was “get over it.”

A few days later I talked to another customer who worked just a few blocks from the Murrah Building. He talked how it blew out the windows of the downtown YMCA and injured children who were in the day care. He helped get the children out of the Y.

Sweetie and I went down a few weeks later to the site. What got me was the damage to the surrounding buildings.

It drove home to me the mayhem, violence, and chaos that can result from the power of morons.

I feel the same dread now, that I felt then. The political atmosphere is very similar. I know several people who think very strongly that the country is not on the right track and not a one of them I know would harm anybody and I will defend forever their right to express their opinions. But with freedom comes responsibility and when I see facebook comments such as, “where is Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him” I get very concerned. There is always a fringe group of morons out there who will act on things and they can cause great destruction.

So my prayer is not that people will suddenly make themselves happy with the present political situation. I pray that they will express themselves responsibly and keep faith in our democratic values and institutions and remember the weak minded out there such as the Murrah building murderers who had trouble distinguishing right from wrong. Words do have power.

It has been a long time since I’ve been to the Bombing Memorial. It was done exactly right.

I’m participating in a meme this week sponsored by the “Real Housewives of Oklahoma.” The theme of the meme this week is “Where Were You on April 19, 1995.” Go check out the Housewives. They are definitely real.

Norah Jones at the Brady Theater and Go SOONERS, POOH BEAR!!

Friday Night Sweetie and I had a date. Dinner and a Show!

First we went to McNellies downtown for burgers and beer. Nothing but the best for us. McNellies has dozens of beer on tap we got Chimay’s from Belgium.

Not only are they tasty, they are beautiful to look at.

Now, that’s what I call a perfect pairing. Sorry Sweetie, I couldn’t resist.

Then we went to the Brady Theater to see Norah Jones put on a show.

I wasn’t a fan of Ms. Jones going into the show but I am now. I thought her songs lacked “oomph” they were airy and weightless and not much substance. Hey, I’m a fan now. She can really sing plus it seems that she has a nice personality and handled the drunken “I love you Norah” calls from the audience with grace and humor. She put on a wonderful show. Apparently Tulsa is the start of her nationwide tour.

The funniest thing was when she asked if there were some sort of rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma and the audience responded with the drunken “BOOMER” only it sounded like “BOOMAUGHHAH”. She just laughed and said “All I can hear is Pooh Bear. What’s that about?” I laughed and laughed. You have to live in Oklahoma to hear the drunks go “BOOMAUGHHAH.” So for the rest of my life I’ll be yelling Pooh Bear!

Sorry OU Fans, that’s the way I roll. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t go to OU or OSU either one, and I love both schools (I expect SuperPizzaBoy may be attending one or the other eventually), but the Sooner Fans get a little overbearing. Hey I don’t blame them, lots to be proud of for that school. They have really worked hard building a University that the Football team can be proud of.

Go Sooners!!

POOH BEAR!!!!

My World – Route 66 Road Trip

Last week I ventured down to Oklahoma City for an industry meeting at the Oklahoma History Center. If you find yourself with some time in Oklahoma City, check it out. Its right near the State Capitol Building. I love this sculpture by Allan Houser at the entrance.

I decided to take a section of Route 66 back to Tulsa and see if I could find some geocaches on the way.

I passed Pop’s Restaurant on the way. It is gas station, diner, and soda pop stand on the the highway. It hasn’t been around that long but is an attraction in its own right.

The giant soda bottle has a microcache on it somewhere. This is the second time I have looked for it but darned if I can find it. Pop’s claim to fame is that huge variety of soda pop they carry. Last time I was there I say flavors I hadn’t seen when I was a kid. I was not in a mood for cold sugary refreshment this time so just gassed up my car and got on my way.

One of the interesting things about Route 66 is that it is not just one route. The road was constantly rerouted, improved on, and bypassed. Many of these old sections are now county roads and private driveways such as the above section. It is now a private drive to a farm. They owners put a geocache near the section and invite people to drive down the road to find it. Notice how narrow the road is. I felt the ghosts of a lot of cars driving by. Hardly anybody goes by now, just nerds with the GPS receivers looking for tupperware. Notice my cachemobile. I love my license plates on it. Some think I’m condemned to the furthest reaches of hell for them.

Here is another old section of route 66. I just couldn’t not go down that road. I’m not very linear on my planning. I mean I have a general plan but that is just something that gets you going in a particular direction.

You see why they call this “Red Dirty Country?” There was a cache down at the end of the road. So I had to go, yep, had to. Really.

On the trail at Chandler Lake looking for caches. Got my dress shoes and slacks muddy. It was worth it. I found a couple of caches that hadn’t been found since late last summer. I love that kind of thing

Nice place for an ammo box geocache, or a snake, or both. Happens, but not too much in February. No ticks either. Winter geocaching has a lot going for it.

Lake Chandler was beautiful and I appeared to be the only one there.

So the tally for the day was 11 geocaches found, lots of trees, rocks, roads and trails explored, got the car, my shoes, and slacks coated with red clay and I had lots of fun. Got home in time for dinner.

For photographs from all over the world check out That’s My World.

Angelina Jolie Breastfeeding? – So What?

One of the oddest pieces of news I’ve read lately is that Oklahoma City is getting a statue of a nude Angelina Jolie breastfeeding two babies. Its kind of hard to figure out what it is all about because information is hard to come by. Many of the headlines talk about the statue being on the “Streets of Oklahoma City.” Apparently the statue is inspired by a picture of Ms. Jolie breastfeeding a couple of babies that appeared on the cover of W last year. The picture was shot by her husband Brad Pitt.

I didn’t look for the cover shot but I did look for the statue. You can check it out for yourself here. I don’t know anything about art, but this work doesn’t appear to be anything for the ages.

Despite what the headlines say the statue is going to be displayed in an art museum in Norman, Oklahoma. So we can drive around town without worrying about being flashed. Later on it is moving to London.

The piece was sculpted by a Daniel Edwards. He made the statue in order to encourage women to breast feed. So all you Okie pregnant women reading this, run on down to Norman to look at the statue in order to get your encouragement. Give me a shout back to let us know if it worked or not.

Daniel Edwards has done some other pieces according to the article in the link including a sculpture of Britney Spears giving birth. I haven’t seen it, don’t want to see it, but it is supposed to be anatomically correct. You will have to Google that one yourself.

So, I’m sorry, I don’t get the whole deal. I have seen all sorts of public breastfeeding. It doesn’t offend me or anybody else, and it is almost always done discreetly with some sort of drape and everybody averts their eyes and its cool. It has been going on for years in Oklahoma without any help from Hollywood actresses, their husbands, and flaky sculptors.

So I don’t think the statue is a big deal at all. What do you think?

YogisDen.us

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