My wife and I went to Philbrook Museum on Valentine’s Day and found this valentine’s squirrel out and about.
I took my “good” camera to Ray Harral Nature Center. I saw all sorts of birds and squirrels but the brush was so thick I couldn’t get a decent photo of anything, but I got this body shot of a squirrel with no head.
And they had a nice bug hotel. Does that count?
Kodi the Pomeranian and I are getting along a little bit better.
He had the zoomies the other day in the back yard and was quite playful.
I fired up the trailcam again the other day (It had run out of juice and I forgot to set the clock and calendar) and there was a rabbit in it, for hundreds of photos.
That’s the bad thing about trailcams, weeding through all the photos. If you have video it is that much worse. So this rabbit has been having a party in this corner of the backyard.
Captured a squirrel image as well
Son and I went hiking on Turkey Mountain the other day. We found this great blue heron fishing in the Arkansas River. There was heavy brush along the banks so I didn’t get his head very good.
Nearby, this fat robin was looking right at me.
I heard a distinctive “snuffling” sound in the leaves close to the trail and sure enough, an armadillo.
I love armadillos. You can get really close to them.
This is our sweet Lizzie. She has a sad face she is really a good cat.
And this is our juvenile delinquent, Kodi the Pomeranian. Most of the time he is a sweet dog but he has issues that we are working on. My wife, who he really loves, has left town for some training so he and I are together this weekend and we have had some challenges but we are making it work. I jollied him into going on a walk which took the edge of his anxiety and later we played for a bit and he let me pet him for quite a while.
The weather broke for a little bit the other day so I went hiking on Turkey Mountain. Towards the end of my outing the sun almost broke through and the birds high in the trees all broke out in a cacophony of birdsong. I only had my phone with me so I got no photos and I made this video just for the sound. It was great. Since then, we are back to misty rain. We were supposed to have a work day on the mountain Sunday but put it off for a month due to the muddy conditions.
That’s about it for this week. I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out.
From the archives a few years ago, flamingos at the Tulsa Zoo. They, along with most of the birds there, have been off display the last few times I have been there because of virus’s circulating around.
Another backyard squirrel captured on my trailcam recently. I just now noticed the date was wrong. I changed out the batteries and neglected to fix the date. The temperatur is right though. I haven’t been out and about taking photos. This year I am a weather weenie plus I have had a lot going on in my life lately!
And the fence contractor. I know he is not a critter but he is a really nice guy. He is replacing my neighbors fences. I told neighbor I would pay half for common fence. I then got the contractor to give me an estimate on my remaining fences. He pulls out his phone, calls up and aerial view of the neighborhood, finds my yard, measures the fence using the tool on his app. Multiplies by his cost per foot. Asks if that estimate works, I tell him yep, so he opens up an accounting app, puts in the amount, and my contact information and it sends me an invoice. It is pretty amazing.
So to continue the chain, I contact my other neighbor ask him if he would like to pay for half of our common fence. (I am not a beat around the bush kind of guy and if he didn’t want to pay half, I would totally understand.) He said yep, how much. So we have own little spreading construction project going on. I love wheeling and dealing. I also love good neighbors and we have good neighbors right now.
I’m diverging, got totally away from critters but you know everything in the world is connected right?
I’ve got tons of photos of squirrels from my backyard trailcam. This is the only one I have where the squirrel seems to have spotted the camera. I’ve seen other critters, rabbits and raccoons look at the camera on night photos but never a squirrel. Anyway I like this guy bending his flexible neck to check the camera out.
Here in the USA we have an almost nationwide deep freeze going on. Stay warm and bring your pets inside folks.
As posted recently the family did a New Year’s Day Hike this year. I took along my telephoto lens and didn’t find much to point and shoot out at. Toward the end we came across a pond that had some ducks of some sort so I reached out with my camera and the results were not that good but hey this is the only thing I got that day. Highly cropped.
A few days later we were home and I got wondering what bird was singing so I went out in the backyard and there were three robins high up in a tree just singing their heart out.
I had to use the manual focus because of so many big and small branches in the way and again, these are highly cropped.
And so this is my humble contribution to Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out, Eileen has GOOD photographs posted by bloggers there.
Christmas and the end of the year buzzed by really quickly this year. Sorry I have been incommunicado all the sudden but hey, I’m back. So I’ll bring you up to speed.
A few days before Christmas we joined another couple for a Christmas music show at historic Cain’s Ballroom featuring several very talented local singers and musicians.
Isaac Hanson, of Hanson, showed up and played a couple of songs. Heather and I remember when he was just a little boy and played for free at local events with his brothers. He’s all growns up now and has a whole bunch of kids of his own.
Heather made her traditional gingerbread cookies. They are always a hit.
They go fast.
We made a visit to my brother Bob at his residence.
And gathered around the tree.
On Christmas Day we went to my MIL’s house and we opened gifts and had steak and baked potatoes for Christmas dinner. Bad blogger me, didn’t get any family photos.
A couple days later Heather, son Logan, Kodi, and I drove a roundabout route to Colorado Springs. My sister and BIL were hosting their family for Christmas. We hadn’t seen them for years so they graciously assented to our presence.
They are an active and fun loving bunch. If you are going to hang with them you better get up early and be prepared to stay late. They were very welcoming to us crashing the party.
Here is Logan with my sister and BIL’s dogs. The little dog is Maisey and is very sweet the big dog is Aspen. Aspen kept trying to play with our little dog, Kodi but Kodi was intimidated.
Sister and her husband treated us all to the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs. It was great. There are lots of things to look at and videos of past performances and artifacts like the costume above worn by Peggy Flemming who won the Gold Medal in figure skating at the 1968 Winter Olympics. I always thought she was classy and elegant.
Back at my sister’s house, Kodi went for a walk and got to meet Jasper the horse and get sniffed and inspected really good by the horse. I think our city dog thinks he doesn’t want become a ranch dog.
On the drive back to Tulsa Kodi found an earth cache. A specialized form of a geocache. So now I call him Kodi the Geodog.
I also got a shadow photo of Kodi so I guess he is a shadow dog as well.
I went on a hike the other day and encountered some deer. I love seeing deer. They are so beautiful and graceful. They are not hunted on Turkey Mountain and so are not skittish at all.
I went geocaching at a local park and saw some ducks paddling around on a pond.
Kodi and I were playing in the backyard and he decided to take a little rest break in the leaves.
This week I have a Tiger from the Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls, ID some years ago. I had a minor procedure done on my ear early this week and I had to take it easy a few days so I didn’t get out and about. So I’m bringing this photo from a trip to see my father way back when. Idaho Falls’ Zoo is small but mighty!! I love how it is so chilled out and relaxed.
Here’s Lizzie, our Christmas kitten. She has always loved Christmas. She likes to lay under the tree when the lights are on. When she is younger she used to climb up into the tree and so we had to perform a “Catectomy” pulling out of the tree.
And Kodi the Pomeranian. He loves to play.
He loves my wife. This is what he does when she leaves the house for any reason.
