Category Archives: Our World Tuesday

Another Sunny Day, Another Walk Downtown

The sun came out Yeah!! And it warmed up!!! Double Yeah. So I took my brand new camera. I’m sure you have never heard of it. It is a SJCam SJ4000. Basically it is a GoPro clone. It kind of has a fisheye lens with infinite focus. I’m still experimenting with it. The above is our new Marriott Courtyard hotel in downtown. They took the old Atlas building and redid it. I like repurposing old buildings.

And then I tucked into the Bank of Oklahoma. I love the beautiful art deco interior. You can tell the new camera has a little work to do on the white balance.

And then a little further away. A clunky expensive Kiwanis financed memorial to themselves. Sorry Kiwanis guys and gals. I don’t like this. Sorry.

And then on down to the BOK Center. Garth Brooks did seven shows or so the last week. He sold 105,000 tickets in just a few hours. We got to see a show. We’ve seen lots of good concerts in the facilitty.

And then over to the old YMCA. The camera has a 170 deg of view. I belonged to the Y for about a week 23 years ago. Too weird. Take my word for it.

And this is where I work, the gas company. Don’t ask which window is my office cuz I don’t have a window. I have a beige box that I am grateful for. I am moving to a new beige box in a couple of weeks. It will have a magnetic wall. So much the better for hanging maps. In the gas pipeline industry we work with lots of maps. We call them “alignment sheets” just so you know. We use topographic maps a lot. We call them “quad sheets”. You gotta call things right the name if you don’t want to slink away in shame. I love the terminology in our industry and I love learning the terminology in other industries as well. For some reason I have become facebook followers for a bunch of US Navy Ships. The carrier USS Carl Vinson is my favorite. They are on station now in the middle east making life miserable for ISIS. Check them out. I love the “Sailor of the Day” feature. They let an ordinary seaman, most of whom look like they are 14, sit in the skippers chair. I’d like to sit in his chair one day. Except I wouldn’t do it. I’m not worthy. I don’t know how I got off on this tangent. Hey anybody out there want to sit in my chair?

Here is our new plaza. I love it. It gets back to 70 deg in a few months I’ll be eating lunch out there in the shade. And yes, they do keep the able tops very clean.

Now I’ve left downtown and picked up the kid from school. Heather had the flu so I go the privilege of picking Logan up. He goes to a Christian school and they have chapel day on Thursday. So its like “Can we just go home so I can change!” You bet kid. He loves his sweats. I don’t blame him. He works hard. We moved him from a special needs school to his new school and it has been a huge adjustment for him. His Mom and I are really proud of him.

And we are home!!

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Shadows and Reflections

It was colder than you know what today and the windy was up but I bundled up and went on a walk today. The sky was clear and I was enjoying the sun. My employer has a new plaza in front of the building and I love it. It replaced a lot of odd 1980’s planters and design features with and open concept area with shade and seating areas with interesting shadows. See the light areas above? They are supposed to look like natural gas flames like on a stove or a gas light. Yeah, I know you gotta use your imagination. Since I work for a gas company I think that it is a nice touch. Too bad they don’t have some gas fireplaces out there.

I went to the north end of downtown. I like the reflections of our all glass city hall on the back of the performing arts center. It gave the the all beige concrete exterior a little “liquidy” look. Liquidy is a word in Oklahoma, just so you know.

This is our brand new state of the art drunk driver proof fountain at Bartlett Square. You know the Bartlett Square with the Circle Drive (or roundabout, my British readers may say). It is all so confusing to me. It must be confusing to drunk drivers also because our two previous conventional fountains got totalled by the drunks ramming into them at night. This new one has a low profile so they can drive right over it plus it has flashing lights. We cater to our drunks here in Oklahoma.

You can see how cold it is. At high noon there is still a lot of ice around the fountain.

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Simon Property Group Formally Announces New Outlet Mall on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain

What many of us feared might happen has inched a little closer this week. Real estate giant Simon Property Group formally revealed plans to build a 400,000 square feet outlet mall on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain. They have a few more hurdles to jump over but it looks like it is going to happen.

I cannot imagine a worse place for an outlet mall. Turkey Mountain is an urban wilderness used by thousands of Tulsans for hiking, biking, running, and just a generally getting away from it all.

It is huge, huge enough that by the time you get a half mile away from the parking lot you are pretty much on your own. It is hard to find solitude like that in a city.

The basic problem is that only about a third of the mountain (very very roughly speaking), the eastern third closest to the Arkansas River is public land. The next third to the west is owned by the George Kaiser Family Foundation who have announced that they are not selling their land for development. The western third is private property. It is unfenced and unposted and all sorts of people, including me use it like we do the rest of the mountain. We really cannot expect private landowners to provide us free public parks. The city or some other public entity needs to step up and buy the various properties. Where is the money to come from? I don’t know.

On the other hand Simon Property Group is expecting the city to step up and provide free enhanced road access and other infrastructure. I am totally against that. Why is that we are totally against welfare to poor people but trip all over ourselves to give money to companies worth billions of dollars?

So I’ve already emailed by brand new city councilor telling her my feelings on the issue and asking what her position is. If you are a Tulsa citizen then contact your councilor and let them know how you feel about this mall. In fact email Simon Property Group and politely let them know also.

The dirty little secret about shopping malls is that they are declining. Tulsa has several shopping malls that are in severe decline. Maybe Simon could rebuild an out mall in such a location and leave a wilderness alone.

One thing for sure is that if we don’t do anything we’ll lose a big chunk of Turkey Mountain.

I don’t know about you.

But that is unacceptable to me. If it is built I’ll still have a place to live.

Not everybody is that fortunate.

Links

Proactive Outside

No Mall by Turkey Mountain Facebook site

Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition Web Site

Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition Facebook Site

Trail Zombie blog post about the mall

A Statement from the Developer

NewsOn6.com – Tulsa, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports – KOTV.com |

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Our World Tuesday – Philbrook’s Festival of the Trees

The family loaded up and went to Philbrook Museum of Art‘s annual Festival of the Trees. It’s a don’t miss event for me. It is a fund raiser where artists and organizations build Christmas trees and rich people buy them!!! The museum patrons get to see the them before the rich guys take them home.

One of my favorite trees was a Route 66 tree with a symbolic route 66 as a garland.

It had a all sorts of route 66 doodads on the tree. I liked this map segment. I used to work for Standard Oil Company. Which got bought by British Petroleum who spun my assets off to Tex/Con Oil and Gas which was bought by a part of Public Service Company of Oklahoma who then sold them to Shell Oil Company. Dang!! I’m off topic. I love those old maps though.

My other favorite tree was dedicated to the men and women who serve in our armed force and how much it means to them to be able to get home for Christmas.

That tugs on my heart strings because I have family members who have spent time away from their loved ones while serving our country. I’ll bet most of the people who read this post will also. Regardless of what country.

As far as I am concerned, the best way that the most people make it home for Christmas is by making sure we, as a country, don’t do anything stupid.

There was another tree with a similar but different theme. It was dedicated to the people in the armed services.

It had all the services on the tree but I liked the Navy stuff.

So is that a Barbie doll or what on top?

The event also has gingerbread houses. Many of them by Girl Scouts. I’m a big believer in scouting. I liked this camping theme.

Heather, the official by goodness Oklahoma State University certified Master Gardener liked this gardening theme and so did I.

I liked this thin mint walkway, along with more camping theme. Plus I like the thin mints. Did I mention that I like thin mints. So when do Girl Scout cookie sales start, March?? I don’t know if I can last that long.

I hope that you don’t mind. But of all the trees, gingerbread houses, and other works of art presented at the Festival of the Trees, this was my absolute favorite.

And here we are. My youthful wife, and my great son. I look more and more like the wizened old man all the time. At least when I stick my chin out to minimize my my chins. When I don’t I look more like Jabba the Hut!!

Anyway, so much for that. What have you done lately??

Our World Tuesday

Snow Run on Turkey Mountain

Saturday, with a forecast of snow on Sunday, Brian of Tulsa’s Runners World, and one of the leaders of Tulsa’s active running community, put out a call on Facebook for a Snow Run on Sunday on Turkey Mountain followed by a lunch somewhere. There was a huge response. So a bunch of people of all ages and abilities showed up. I had never run in the snow before on Turkey Mountain so I hey I put aside my concerns about bad streets and all that showed up myself. We had Trail Zombie, the mayor of Turkey Mountain as our guide. He did a great job. Check the link for his post on the run.

It was just a dusting of snow but it was beautiful.

The trails were beautiful. I actually ran in my hiking boots cuz I like my feet to stay warm and I didn’t know how wet it would be. The running in the boots went fine. They are well broken in.

It was beautiful. Oh, I already said that? Well it bears repeating.

Everybody kind of shuffled along the Snake trail for 3.5 miles. Nobody was in a big hurry. We waited at the trail forks for the stragglers to come in and off we went again.

Afterward some of went to Cracker Barrel to eat and enjoyed some great company and conversation.

Afterward I went home. LJ the cat was not interested in my Snow Run. A belly rub was more what he was looking for.

This was our route. 3.5 miles the scenic way.

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Our World – Sunday Afternoon on Turkey Mountain

Cold weather is coming but Sunday is warm. I put the Cowboys vs Jaguars game on DVR and we loaded up and drove to Turkey Mountain for a little outing on the Lollipop and Zoi trails.

The sun was out and the temperature was warm.

We saw a lot of stuff. We saw too washing machines out in the middle of nowhere. No driers though. Contact Baltimore appliance repairs to fix any kind of appliances.

We found this old bed frame in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a homeless guy was going to put in a flower bed? Logan didn’t see the humor in that.

We found these strange little berries. Heather thought they might be persimmons. I don’t know. What do you think?

Heather and Logan found an oil well and announced they were rich! I asked what about me? And they said “What about you?” What about you? Have you ever been left out of an oil deal? I know what you feel like.

The woods were beautiful Sunday. It was like a cathedral.

This is my favorite pic from Sunday. It looks like the woods are creeping up behind him and are going to swallow my only son. Of course his shirt doesn’t help.

Have you been on a good walk lately?

Our World Tuesday

Our World – Dia De Los Muertos

Saturday was a busy, busy day for the family. Heather went with her Mother to western Oklahoma to visit family. Logan has a lot of stuff going on and so he and I stayed home. So I took him to his horseback riding class, then to his Improv comedy workshop, and then to his rehearsal (Have I told you that he auditioned for and got a part in a Christmas play coming up.)

Anyways while he was at rehearsal I ventured to the Brady District north of downtown and took in the Day of the Dead celebration at Living Arts of Tulsa. I had always wanted to go and now I had my chance.

The first thing I saw were the murals. For something celebrating the dead they sure are alive. I love the big bright colors. The holiday is known as Dia De Los Muertos and originates in Mexico.

They are macabre in a friendly kind of way.

I really don’t get the symbolism.

This is my favorite.

There were two stages and lots of performances. I saw Ballet Folklorico Tonatiuh performing some amazing dances.

The video is only 12 seconds long. These young ladies are spectacular. It brought back some great memories of Ballet Folklorico de Mexico which I got to see during a two week stay in Mexico City when I was in high school.

As good as the murals and the performing arts were, the most fascinating thing at the show for me were the Altars or Ofrendas made to departed loved ones. The Day of the Dead is the day that the dead reunite with the living. The altars are set up in honor of the dead, not to worship them. Lots of good information here. The altar above is for Robin Williams.

This one is for the women who were convicted and executed for witchcraft at the Salem witch trials.

This one was set up in honor of dog. Note the treats and personal items and photographs. The candles are to help guide the spirit to the Altar.

Their were altars that were very personal. Note the fresh fruit and snacks which is common. The marigolds are common also.

Note the beverages which were favorites of the departed and the bread, Pan de Muerto. The dead do not eat or drink the beverages. Instead they absorb the aroma and extract the essence of the food or drink.

A suicide support group had put together an altar.

I loved the whole concept of once a year reuniting in spirit with the loved ones. I found the whole thing to be a celebration of life and an affirmation of a belief in the afterlife, rather than a macabre fascination with death. It got me thinking, I think I might have to specify what I want on my Ofrenda. Pictures of Heather, Logan, and I on the beach would be a must. And my GPS receiver and an ammo box for geocaching, one of my many participant ribbons for my running, a sunrise photograph and one of my cheap film cameras for photography. . Oh, yeah a Fat Tire Beer, and a Snicker’s Bar. And a Breaking Bad DVD, along with one of Chinatown (the best movie ever made. I’m not even going to discuss it!) And don’t forget a Metallica CD, or Five Finger Death Punch. I could go on and on.

What about you, what would your Offrenda have on it?

Our World Tuesday

Geocaching on a Sunday Afternoon

The weather was warm and sunny on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys are not playing until Monday night, Logan had a friend over, the lawn didn’t need mowing so I loaded up and ventured to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center to hike their North Loop trail and see if I could find a geocache or two.

I’ve hiked the trail several times over the years. I have never ever met anybody else. So I guess that it makes it my trail. Sunday was perfect, if a bit warm. What I loved was the that the wind was blowing quite hard but in the woods, on the ground, noting was stirring but the you could see and hear the tree tops going back and forth. I don’t know about you but that is about the sweetest music I could ever hear.

I was in heaven out in the woods. It is how I recharge my batteries.

The October light was awesome. The trees haven’t changed color but they are thinking about it. Everything is getting a little more pale.

I found only one cache but you know, looking for caches is all the fun. I love geocachers, “OkieBeans”, “Barrel O’Monkeys” only bloggers get more creative with their handles. I looked for three caches. I found two actually but could only log one. The other one I could see it but I certainly wasn’t going to try and get it when I’m out their by myself.

I rested a little bit, wondering why I didn’t bring any water on such a hot day. I didn’t figure that out but I did enjoy sitting on my personal bench on my personal trail. Oh, by the way, feel free to come out and hike my trails, nobody else seems to be.

You can see my various wanderings on my hike above. I parked my car and gathered up my stuff and headed down the trail and then realized that I didn’t spray myself with DEET. I thought all heck with it and then I remembered how miserable I am both with the chiggers and other creepy crawlers so then I went back. You can also see where I stop and try and find the geocaches and other times when I lose the trail and have to go figure out which way to go. Plus I stop for photography breaks and have been known just to stop and look around at what is going on around me.

Anyway, a great Sunday afternoon that the Cowboys didn’t get a chance to ruin.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

The Great Tulsa Campout at Turkey Mountain

If you know anything about me then you know that I love Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Wilderness Park. A sizeable plot of land in Tulsa right on the Arkansas River. It contains miles of trails for people who like to walk, hike, run, bicycle, unicycle, geocache, picnic, and other things. The one thing you can’t do legally on Turkey Mountain is camp. Saturday night though the Great Tulsa Campout was held. One night this year where one could go camping. So I bought a pass, signed up to volunteer and headed for the mountain.

I got there, checked in, got my volunteer tshirt, and set up my tent. I haven’t had it out since Logan graduated out of Cub Scouts years ago. It still works just fine! Goes up and down easily, small to carry, holds all my stuff.

Here’s a 360 degree panorama. As you can see there were tents everywhere.

I rotated among several jobs. For a short while I helped people with parking. I also helped for a little while at the bounce tent.

Mostly I spent the time helping at the Atlatl demonstration helping Jason. He was a very patient teacher especially with the little kids. I tried it a couple of times, I’m needing practice bad.

Jason was pretty good. He ought to be. Plus he had the best tee shirt at the event. I got my work out in. I ran up and down the range fetching the spears. I got in my 10,000 plus steps in on my fitbit at least.

I also provided a little moral support to the firebuilding effort.

The smores crowd early, followed by the late night beer drinking crowd later, really enjoyed the fire. You can’t go camping without a campfire right?

For dinner Louies Dawg House was there with hot dogs and hot links with any topping you could think of. I had two!

There was lots of great music at the camp. Green Corn Rebellion, Ali Harter, and Grazzhopper played to an appreciative crowd.

I also helped create a glow walk through the adjacent woods. About 1600 glow sticks along the trail handing in the trees and strewn on the ground provided a magical effect while walking on the trail.

The next morning the sunrise was spectacular and everybody kind of slept in, others attended the yoga class. The beauty of an urban campout is that for coffee I went to a Starbucks about a mile away and got breakfast. I know that is major slacking but hey, the coffee was good.

The event was well organized and I think that everybody had fun. The guys that ran the event, Ryan Howell, Matt Carver, and Tyler Hanes were here there and everywhere making sure that everybody had a safe good time. If they have it next year I’ll be there again.

Explore Tulsa put together a nice video of the event narrated by Ryan Howell. You can get a little more of the flavor of the event.

I’m going to close with a video by Grazzhopper. They are good!!

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Have you been camping lately?

Turkey Mountain – Still Saying No to the Mall

Oklahoma Sugar Art Show and Grand National Wedding Cake Competition

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to the the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show. Sugar art is basically cake decorating and at the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show it is cake decorating on steroids for here is the Grand National Wedding Cake Competition directed by the the Food Network’s Kerry Vincent.

The cakes are amazing. They are works of art that are supposed to be made entirely of FDA food grade contents including all decorations. What I don’t get is how come nobody seems to care how the cake is. It seems like at the end they ought to be serving the cake. Oh well, nobody besides me seems to even worry about it.

I found an Oklahoma themed cake. Praire’s are always good in Oklahoma.

I loved this entry with an Indian theme. I really liked the elephants.

I liked this one with eccentrically stacked cake segments and then a flower cascade on the other side.

I love this art deco cake but I am wondering just how the lights on it conform to the rules that everything on the cake must be edible. I mean do they make edible light bulbs now?

I don’t know who won or lost. I think the presenters are all winners. At the top level all the cakes are wonderful. I just like looking them.

And I have something else to confess. This is the second time I wrote this post. I wrote it up last night and scheduled it and it disappeared!! Imagine my surprise when I signed on this afternoon to check on it and it was nowhere to be found. So, which one of you out there stole my post?

Linking to Our World Tuesday

2013 Oklahoma Sugar Art Show

2012 Oklahoma Sugar Art Show

YogisDen.us

Welcome to my world

Category Archives: Our World Tuesday

Another Sunny Day, Another Walk Downtown

Shadows and Reflections

Simon Property Group Formally Announces New Outlet Mall on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain

Our World Tuesday – Philbrook’s Festival of the Trees

Our World Tuesday

Snow Run on Turkey Mountain

Our World – Sunday Afternoon on Turkey Mountain

Our World Tuesday

Our World – Dia De Los Muertos

Geocaching on a Sunday Afternoon

The Great Tulsa Campout at Turkey Mountain

Oklahoma Sugar Art Show and Grand National Wedding Cake Competition

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