Our CoronaVida World – On and On

This whole Covid-19 thing just keeps going on and on and getting worse and worse. For those of us in the USA. Many other places in the world have their act together and if you live in one of those countries I salute you and your leadership!! It’s a dumpster fire here.

I cope as best I can.

So does our collection of three dogs and two cats. Talk about lazy.

I’ve been reading this book by our President’s niece. It explains a lot of the dumpster fire situation we have going on now. The niece has an axe to grind and she grinds it a lot which detracts from the credibility, in my opinion anyway.

And I’m branching out. Tried to make avocado bagel with tomato. Worked out well if I do say so myself.

And trying out new brews. According to Untappd, the beer app, I’ve tried brews from seventy different breweries the past couple years.

And I’m exercising a lot as well. I am running, bicycling, doing resistance machines, and I do a couple of my wife’s aquatics classes a week. Retirement has turned me into a gym rat.

And I’m stopping to take random photos. I’ve driven past this vintage moving van for a couple years. I finally stopped and checked it out. I love it. The front looks like a face.

We are feeding birds which means we are feeding squirrels as well. I was going to feed them corn but I am too cheap to pay $12.99 for the feeder above. I think I can build one myself. It’ll look like crap but the squirrels won’t care.

Sunday I went to Owasso to go find some geocaching. I come across this sculpture in a city park.

I also come across this old, old grave marker in a cemetery. I can just barely read the dates. It looks like it had a plaque that is now gone.

I found this cache. A little tube tied to the tree with the smallest hardest to see string I have ever seen. I kind of knew the cache was down there but didn’t really want to stick my hand down there to confirm.

I found another cache by a pond kind of hidden. I find geocaching fun. Check the link if you want to know more. It’s a high tech hiding game where you use a GPS receiver or an app on your cell phone to find caches. There are two types of people in this world. Those who “get” geocaching right away and those who don’t see the point. Both groups are “very fine people” as our President would say!

So that’s it, I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Skywatch Friday – LaCoronaVida!!

Big surprise, its hot here in Tulsa. Wow, who’d of thought it would be hot in July?

And of course, we not only have a deadly virus making the rounds, we have a venomous snakes. We can ruin your whole day several different ways here in Oklahoma.

This is Lizzie, lots of people in my last post thought she looked adorable. Here is the look she gives me when she does not want to be messed with.

I love running outside, even though I am very slow these days. I love running the trails on Turkey Mountain. I especially love the little side trails like this. I went running there yesterday and there were just a few cars in the parking lot. I love having the place to myself.

We are planning on doing some freshening up at the house, including flooring. Flooring technology is just flat amazing. The above is vinyl. Yep, vinyl is making a comeback. Last time we got flooring it was laminate, now we get a look and a groan when we say laminate.

There’s a million different types of flooring. Here’s Heather taking a photo of tag of something we are interested in.

Went to my dermatologists office this week and got a bunch of growths zapped with liquid nitrogen. Not so many this time. I am singlehandly keeping the sunscreen manufacturers going. I use 100+ spf cuz I am sensitive.

With Covid-19 races are not a thing any more. Not for me anyway. I participated in a virtual race a few weeks ago where you sign up and and run the distance however, whenever, and wherever to cn and send in your time. So got a nice shirt and medal. There’s hundreds of virtuals all over the country. I am going to do ones that are put on by local people and that benefit local organizations.

Yep I know this a skywatch post. Here’s a sky!! We are still getting some rain almost every day after a very dry June.

Here’s the cure for hot, humid weather, Heather’s margaritas. They taste just as good as they look.

Everybody stay safe!! Come link at Skywatch Friday with me and bunch of other folks.

Pandemic Blues

We are in the fat part of summer now. It is very hot and humid outside so I’ve been spending more time than I am used to inside.

My trusty iphone crapped out on me. I took it to one of those phone doctor places and I think they did a good job trying to get it back to life. In the end they said it would require a new mother board and they suggested that I get another one. They removed all the new parts they put in it and just charged me not much for the labor involved, which is fair in my book. I just wanted to make sure that I needed one. So I bought an updated model just like it with 256Gb of memory. I have lots of apps, music, and photos. So I got the new phone and I am back in business.

I have been doing more running and walking since the pandemic started. I have been eating a lot more as well so I am kind of balanced out.

Here’s Lizzie the kitten showing me how to cope with all the stress.

I am linking with Our World Tuesday

Skywatch Friday – More Droning On

After basically a month of no clouds except blue sky we are finally getting some weather. So if the winds are down I launch my drone from my back yard to catch the clouds.

Evening is best when you get a little color in the sky.

This is looking east at the back side of a storm system that came through.

We had a quick rainstorm pass through Thursday morning. Here’s our back patio afterward. Nice to see all that water!!

I took my drone to my MIL’s house who lives not too far away and launched it during the middle of the day. I love big old fat clouds against a blue sky.

Hey somebody in a swimming pool. No, I am not spying somebody. That’s son Logan in MIL’s swimming pool. It’s a great place to hang out on a hot day.

https://flic.kr/p/2jhdP8T

Here he is when he was four years old. Is there anything sweeter or more rambunctious than a four year old?

I am linking with Skywatch Friday, come check it out!

Out and About

DSCF0158 — Since the pandemic lots and lots more walkers and dog walkers in the neighborhood.

I’m still learning this whole retirement thing. One thing is trying to figure out how to structure my day.

DSCF0164 — My trusty Subaru CrossTrek. With my cool, unused, noisy, costs me 1 mpg roof rack.

So after over 40 years of getting up early during the week and hurrying to get my exercise, breakfast, and newspaper reading in, I started going to bed a little bit later so I could watch Stephen Colbert and waking up later and doing my coffee drinking, breakfast eating, and newspaper reading.

DSCF0162 — Saint Francis Hospital across the street from Lafortune Park

And that was fine the problem was exercising. It’s summer in Oklahoma and as usual it is hot. So by the time I got done with the preliminaries it would be like 11 am. So I’d go do my thing, run at Turkey Mountain or on the river or whatever.

DSCF0163 — Swings at Lafortune. My 22 year old son used these when he was two. They removed the seats and chains during the first part of the pandemic, now they are back.

So today is like, okay Colbert is not the funny without an audience. I like to read more than watch television and I hate to say it but I may be a natural early riser. So today I got up and went to Lafortune Park and run/walked my three miles and then went to the gym and used their hot water and towels to clean up.

DSCF0169 — Our lush patio. Thank you to Mrs. Bates

So I am going to try this a little while. I think it might work out until the weather changes. It’s kind of like my friends that go on mission trips to Tanzania. One thing they love is that when you are over there, when it gets dark you go to bed, and you get out of bed when the sun comes up. They love the simplicity, among a bunch of other things.

DSCF0165 — The Tiki I had in my office for years is thriving in its new digs. We both retired.

And talk about simplicity. My antique Iphone crapped out on me. I tried everything I could do and ended up taking it to one of those store front phone doctor places. Wish me well. Just to have some thing I went to Target and bought a $20 burner and 30 minutes worth of time. Just talk and text, no internet, no nothing. Remember those days? Don’t you worry though I’ll be back in business in two days with either my antique or a brand new one.

DSCF0167 — Who says I am not any good at gardening?

On the pandemic side it kind of looks like due to a lack of interest in doing anything about it by our national and state leadership, it is skyrocketing. New cases per day in Oklahoma have gone up by a factor of eight since early June.

So I’ll be socially distancing and isolating for the foreseeable future. What about you? How are you doing?

Our World – Turkey Mountain (again)

So last Friday I ventured out for another run on Turkey Mountain. Sorry for being so repetitive but when the weather is hot I love heading to the shady dirt trails. This time I went on the east side, which some people call the back country. Not near as many people in the back country and easier to get lost.

It’s an Urban Wilderness so in addition to powerlines there are a couple of pipelines. This one is Enable Midstream Partner’s transmission line to PSO’s Tulsa Power Station. I used to work for Enable you see. I hope that I am not giving away any secrets. This is an old pipeline, not sure how old but pretty old. New pipelines have more modern technology where they would drill this little segment instead of putting it above ground.

Somebody used the pipe to mark the Pink Trail. Or maybe Enable is saying that gas can flow both ways.

Got up to a sign notifying that the trail ahead is closed because of renovations to the West Side YMCA. I had to go check it out.

Can’t go any further. They are really revamping the site. It’s going to be great. But anyway I head back.

And take the Snake Trail back to the parking lot.

I didn’t go very far but I went far enough.

And then, I am continuing to scan old photographs. Below is one my favorites.

It’s my late mother fishing for trout in Idaho’s Birch Creek way back in 1987. She had MS but she was tough. She would pick a nice spot and go fishing. If she caught any that’s great, if she didn’t, it didn’t bother her too much because that is why they call it fishing instead of catching.

I am linking with Our World Tuesday, come join in!!

Skywatch Friday – Turkey Mountain

Earlier this week I ventured out to Turkey Mountain for a little three mile run. Or rather I ran a mile and my knee started twinging I than I mainly walked. Basically I had the whole place to myself.

Turkey Mountain is an Urban Wilderness nestled right up to the City of Tulsa so yep, it’s got three sets of powerlines on it. Two in parallel going north and south and one set going east and west. So my photos have them included. It is what it is.

DSCF0112 — On the Yellow Trail (I think)

I love all the trees on Turkey Mountain. This one is spreading out.

I’ve been scanning old photos. This one is from a cruise Heather and I took back in 1992 I think. We went on a cruise form Miami and made various stops. I don’t remember where this stop was but I love the sky and the water. Let me know if you recognize it from some of your travels. Right now I am scanning photos still in the envelopes, not in an album.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Our World – Running on Empty

I’ve been scanning old photos. I’ve been running a long time and found a couple pics from the 1990’s.

PICT0075 — I walked the last mile but tried running when I saw the camera.

Here I am at the Madison Marathon in Wisconsin in 1997 I think. It was my second marathon. The first was the year before in Oklahoma City, the Jim Thorpe Marathon. Me and about 45 other people ran three times around Lake Overholser. No water stops, no traffic control, no nothing. I finished in five hours and two minutes, or so my faulty memory tells me. A year later in Madison I finished in Five hours and one minute. So I should have kept on going!! But I decided not to run any more marathons.

Some things haven’t changed over the years. A thermal blanket and a bottle of water. And I still run with perfect posture.

Here is a more recent photo. I’d kill to have a photograph of me running where it looks like I am running. I kind of look like a guy in a hurry to get to a donut shop. I love running but I have never been all that good at it.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday today.

Skywatch Friday – Summertime on the River

Summer is here and I am retired and I am spending a lot of time outside including lots of time running and riding my bicycle on the RiverParks Trails here in Tulsa.

The trails are on both the east and west bank and stretch for miles. I love them especially for biking because there are no street or road crossings. I hate riding my bike on the road.

Anyway, a perk of being retired, I can pretty much go to the river whenever I feel like it.

I’ve been scanning old photos. Here is a scene from a cruise that Heather and I took in the 90’s. I think the ship on the left was ours. It had a bar up on the smoke stack at the back of the vessel. We spent a lot of time up there.

And this is me in La Jolla, California during a vacation to the area back in the 90’s. We loved it there. Too many people though and I think that has gotten worse.

And this is Heather way back when. We were doing social distancing from the critters in the background.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday this week.

Our World – Hiking the Wasatch Mountains

I’ve been going through old film photos and scanning them. Remember those days. You go on a trip, you sparingly took photos because film and processing was expensive and you never knew if you what you took was any good. Oftentimes you didn’t have time to put them in an album so you stuck them in a drawer somewhere and forgot about them. That’s what happened to these photos.

Back in the 90’s, Heather and I went to Park City, Utah for our summer vacation. It was a few years before the Olympics and things were still kind of sleepy in town. We went hiking a few days in the Wasatch and nearby Uintah Mountains.