Wednesday here in Oklahoma started cold, about 29F but it was clear and it warmed up nicely and the skies were clear in the afternoon into the 40’s so I bundled up and drove to north Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center to get some trail time and sunlight.
I took the trail called the North Woods Loop. I have been on this trail dozens of times over the years and hardly ever see anybody. Today there was nobody at all.
The air was crisp and the skies were blue. It was late afternoon and the lowering sun illuminated everything perfectly.
There were lots of dead leaves on the trail which made it hard to walk stealthily.
The sun was brilliant shining through the remaining leaves leaving an impression almost like stained glass.
Here is Lizzie doing what she does best, napping. She was impatient with us as we put a Christmas quilt on the bed. We were delaying her nap. You can tell she is kind of grumpy about it.
I vacuumed the house yesterday. When I found cat toys underneath furniture I’d vacuum off the dust bunny’s and put them in this tray. She always like to see her toys again. But then she loses them. She’s napping here using a coaster for a pillow. Our vet told us she needed to go on a diet. Only two scoops of kibble per day. She thinks I need to use a bigger scoop.
Here’s LJ chilling. He’s happy, the vet said he could have all the food he wants. He’s kind of old and has kidney problems and he’s loving his new food. He has a lot more energy now.
Here’s LJ with a Hipstamatic Filter. I filters of all types. I unashamedly and unembarrassingly use a lot of them.
I have a couple of geocaches on Turkey Mountain. Periodically they need replaced or checked on when they turn up missing. It’s part of the hobby, taking care of geocaches that you have created. (If you don’t know what geocaching is, please check this link.) It’s basically a hide and seek game where people hide containers in the physical world and post the gps coordinates on geocaching.com for other people to go find them
Rock City is a cache that me, my wife, and son hid in 2011 on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain in a rugged area called Rock City and of course I made a blog post about it.
So I went to Harbor Freight and bought a 30 caliber plastic ammo box. Only cost $4 cuz of being Black Friday. Traditionally one puts trade goods in a cache that other cachers can trade for. So I bought some stuff at Harbor Freight and then went next door to the dollar store and bought a small notebook, a pen, and some kid toys. Lots of people take their kids and it is fun for them to trade for stuff as well.
You need the notebook because you don’t get credit for finding the cache unless you sign a physical log in the cache in addition to recording your find on the geocaching web site.
I put all that stuff in the ammo box and then drove out to Turkey Mountain and headed off down the trail to the site.
Here’s a map. I started out at the parking lot to the south and headed roughly north. You can tell I wibble wobbled the route a little bit. I’m notorious for that. Who just wants to go straight to their destination? Not me! If I see a trail I hadn’t been down in a while, I’ll go check it out. See the red blob at the north (top) end of the map. That’s me looking for the old cache, and figuring out that it was gone then looking for a better place for the replacement cache. And then I wibble wobbled my way back.
So the cache is somewhere in this area. Or an area that looks similar.
On the way back I passed by this washing machine. It is holy relic on Turkey Mountain. Don’t mess with it! Now the odd thing is that I have studied on this and determined that it is actually a dryer, not a washing machine. People know that but they persist in misnaming it. That’s a common thing on Turkey Mountain. Ponds are called lakes for instance. Why? I have no idea. Same thing with Turkey Mountain. It’s not really a mountain, it’s more like a hill, but I don’t want to start any fights.
So lots of fall colors still on the mountain.
Two and half miles made for a great hike on a halfway warm, autumn day on the mountain.
I don’t know about you but I ate too much yesterday for Thanksgiving. Fortunately I had my stretchy pants on. Did you? Carrie Underwood did! Sing along.
My wife uses this song in the exercise classes she teaches this time of year. I think it is hilarious.
RiverParks painted the storage container at Turkey Mountain. I love it.
It’s Thanksgiving today. This day always brings back floods of memories going back decades.
Crooked Trees on Turkey Mountain
When I was a kid we would travel frequently to southeastern Idaho. I think my mother was related to half the people there. We would gather at a family member’s ranch near Dubois, Idaho. All sorts of aunts, uncles, cousins and such would be there. Lots of fun for the kids, lots of rest for the men and a huge amount of work for the women.
A twisty turny tree on the mountain.
I’m glad that I have those memories. My parents and everybody in that generation is now gone on my mother’s side of the family.
Sasquatch has moved again.
Over the years since, the Thanksgiving’s have grown and shrunk and changed considerably. Not as much food, not as much work the guys are expected to help out with the cleanup. It’s all good.
Thanksgiving is a time to remember people who are no long with us.
Our crew from 2016. Sorry for the glare from the window. One of the many reasons I call myself a “picture taker” and not a photographer.
I’ve been married for a long time now and many of my in-laws traditions are now ours. For example I smoke the turkeys and other meats instead of roasting them in the oven.
Also, the moderate weather in Oklahoma compared to Idaho means that there have been some Thanksgiving dinners have been eaten outside.
And LJ, Lizzies elderly brother. We are temporarily without dogs but we are getting one mid December. Son Logan said that we need to “restore the natural order of things.” He thinks the cats are getting way to comfortable without a dog to keep them in line.
Living Arts hosts normally hosts at Dia de los Muertos Arts Festival during or close to the holiday of November 1 and 2. Of course, nothing since 2020 has been normal. This year I wasn’t able to attend the festival which includes art and performances and food because of the weather but I did make it to the gallery to see the Ofrendas or altars to the dead.
I love the ofrendas. They are made to honor the dead. They have a lot of symbolism in terms of the colors and decorations used. Here is a great article about the symbolism. Many of the altars adhere to the pattern others do not so much.
I look at them as stories of a person’s life as told by the loved ones. Religious faith, professions, hobbies, loved ones, favorite foods, sports teams, and other facets of a person’s life is displayed. Obviously almost all of these people were much loved when they were alive.
So I try to never miss these. They are wonderful works of art with meaning.
This ofrenda was finished off by sand on the floor below with a beach scene. That could be mine, or a small trail in the woods.
Some ofrendas were communal such as this one offered up students at a local school or who made painted rocks in memory of a loved one of theirs that they had lost.
Dallas Cowboys merchandise was displayed on three of the altars. If somebody makes me an altar, they could add that.
Outside, there are murals in honor of deceased people.
RIP Frida Kahlo, what an amazing artist.
Have you thought about an altar for somebody. I have. I think it would be interesting and emotional coming up with a design and gathering the various elements and then putting it together. I think it is good to remember people. I am not one who wants to get rid of reminders of people. Yes, sure that can be sad, but what about all the happy memories?
