Weekend Reflections – Tulsa’s Cherry Street

Cherry Street is a cool part of Tulsa with independent businesses and old storefronts and generally just a fun place to hang out in this day of mass merchandisers.

I’m linking with Weekend Reflections

Skywatch Friday – Neighborhood Park

I snapped this a few weeks ago while walking our dogs in our neighborhood green space. I liked the big fluffy clouds.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

Ruby Tuesday Too – Blooming All Over

It is Spring here in Tulsa, lots of rain mixed with sun and warm temperatures and things are blooming all over like these roses at Lafortune Park.

And these begonias (I think, let me know if I am wrong of course) at the Mayo Hotel downtown.

And this lonely assemblage of flowers near the Williams Tower. In Williams fight with Energy Transfer on their proposed merger I guess the flower budget got shorted. Ever more money for lawyers is the rule these days. What do you think the world needs, more flowers or more lawyers? I vote for flowers!!

I’m linking with Ruby Tuesday Too

McMansions on Display at the Tulsa Parade of Homes

It was hot this past weekend and looking for some indoor activity Heather and I decided to go check out the Tulsa Parade of Homes put on by the Tulsa Home Builder’s Association. And we decided we go seek out the the big houses, the McMansions. Just to see what is popular with the 1%. Well guess what we found!

Their are some really, really big houses out there. This little jewel above is about $1.6 million but is already sold. I would say this thing sprawls. If we had it I would definitely have to have a riding lawn mower and some of the top garden strimmers.

As you can see the 99% were thronging to check these houses out. See them thronging out there. Thronging is generally not allowed in these gated communities with “courtesy patrols.” The courtesy patrollers were eyeballing my 6 year old Kia Soul.

Some of the houses were truly spectacular.

And big ole cozy bedrooms with sitting areas.

And you know something, the 1% love their bathrooms. They are huge and have huge tubs and showers like the three person model above.

And this odd looking thing with the fireplace. There were more than one with this see through fireplace between the bedroom and bathroom. Wouldn’t work in our house where I get up at 5:15 in the morning and Heather gets up, well she gets up when she is darned good and ready.

And speaking of Heather, here she is checking out a three person shower. Complete with a picture window. I mean why not? Of course, I’m thinking, “How are you ever going to keep that window clean?”

And of course the 1% love nice thrones.

And really nice outdoor areas and kitchens. Kind of reminds me of an old oilfield guy I used to work with in western Oklahoma. He said when he was a kid, you went outside to use the privy and cooked inside and now you go to the bathroom inside and cook outside. He wasn’t sure that that civilization had advanced very far. You can shop bidets at samodrahome.com as they have a great collection with the latest technology hat makes it all very comfortable.

The 1% love their televisions. They are everywhere. We have two, and only watch one.

And closets, huge closets, with lots of storage and storage technology.

And big three and four car garages with nice floors.

And big beautiful kitchens.

And big ginormous refrigerators. Look at this thing, freezer on one side, refrigerator on the other and a beer-ator that some dummy has stocked with wine.

And the poor old 1%. I hate stairs and the these McMansions have really tall ceilings which means they have big stairs. How does that work where you spend a million bucks and you have to climb stairs.

They are beautiful though.

We saw some really nice studys. With nice paneling and bookshelves.

A big feature this year is interesting flooring in the study.

And the 1% has big gamerooms, with bars and smaller beer-ators.

Theater Rooms are still popular. I don’t quite get it. I watch movies in the family room and I’m happy for everybody else to be there with me. It drives the kid crazy, “Logan, what are you doing!” I am known to yell, “Hanging out!” he yells back and I then tell him to come out hang out with us.. Am I a control freak?

These movie rooms come loaded with a closet full of electronics. Uh, how long is that stuff going to last is what I say? The 1% just have the guys come out and fix it.

One movie room had a viewing loft, good grief!! was my thought. Viewing lofts and teenagers are not a good combination is what I say.

And of course pools! The 1% is not going to go to the county rec center when they want to cool off. They want to do it at home. Although some of the tubs in the bathrooms are almost as big as tubs.

I could do a pool. My favorite pool is a friend’s pool who invites us over. That hasn’t happened in a while though.

And these houses are big. Who wants to clean those things. That is me way down there.

This house didn’t allow photographs. I figured out why once we got in. There was nothing to see really!! I wouldn’t want photographs either if I owned it. Your friends would be going “You spend a million bucks on this, really?” Sad, to be a 1% guy who gets taken by his builder.

Anyway, we had lots of fun. But I will take my house.

Happy Father’s Day

Dad likes nothing better than sitting in the shade talking.

Dad, Mom, and my aunt Lois somewhere in Ireland I’m guessing.

Here we are in Coyote, New Mexico. I had to label everything because when I said that I was the good looking kid people were still confused.

With son Logan at Dad’s church in Idaho.

Forest Service publicity still in 1957. I am still waiting for my royalty checks.

Dad at his beloved Flandreau, South Dakota with my cousin Bob on his right, and Dad’s brother Glenn on his left.

Dad with one of us kids. I am not sure which kid. Not a very good son am I.

Here we are, my sister Ellen and brother Bob in Payson, Arizona.

Happy Father’s Day to all you Fathers out there!!

A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

The purple tag is from the Tulsa library.

I read a lot, we are one of the few families in America who get a newspaper delivered every day plus I read the online New York Times, and I get several magazines. Most of the time I have two books going, one nonfiction and one fiction. Every once in a while though I start reading a book where I shut down all my other reading and other activities until I finish it and Anne Tyler‘s “A Spool of Blue Thread” is such a book. I quit all my other reading and a lot of other activities just to read this saga of the Whitshank family.

I think that this may be one of those books where everybody gets something different out of the book. What I got was a family where everybody is a little different but there is a common thread between them. It is also a book about people and how they can change but basically stay the same. It is a book about families and the myths they have about themselves and how they think those myths make them exceptional. I loved this book. It may be one of the best books I have ever read. So I recommend it highly!

I got this copy from the Tulsa Library, for free!! I work that free angle hard because I am kind of cheap I guess. Plus I like to support our libraries.

My Big Day!

We had a little legal matter to attend to Thursday at our courthouse, me, the wife, and the kid. Nobody is in trouble, not in the slightest, just one of those things we had to do. So we all showed up and met our attorney who briefed on what was going to happen. So when the time came we went into the courtroom and raised our hands for the oath, and talked with the judge about this that and the other. She asked questions and we answered them and then we signed some stuff and she signed some stuff and we left. We were feeling really good about the whole thing.

And then we followed our attorney down to the second floor to the clerks office and all the things we signed and the judge signed were copied and stamped and initialed and examined and talked about and discussed. And then we moved away from the counter to another counter and our attorney was explaining this and that and when this and that needed to happen and what we had to do for this form and for that form and we were like okay,

And while all this was going on one of the clerks working there came up and and whispered very quietly in my ear, “Sir, your pants are blown out in the back.” And then she walked off.

Uh okay, so I stood there and listed to the lawyer finish up her spiel, and then we all three walked back through the courthouse, down to the street, and two blocks back to the parking garage. I was feeling the breeze the whole time if you know what I mean.

Skywatch Friday – Going Old School in East Texas

I’m going way old school here. This is a double exposure of a road crossing in east Texas in 2014 using on of my analog Lomography Cameras with a square frame. I love analog cameras although I haven’t used one in a long time for various reasons. With film cameras is a high cost, high risk endeavor because it may take a few days to see if what you tried was usable or not. My batting average is not very high but I like this.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Wordless Wednesday – Turkey Mountain Vista

And now, the not wordless part

Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain is not that big, two miles north to south and a mile, maybe, east to west. You can generally hear traffic in most areas but there are lots of trails and if the weather is a little hot, or a little cold, or a little wet or whatever the number of people on the trails plunges, especially a quarter mile down the trail (I am not exagerating..) And if one gets to the little visited areas like the northwest segment it is easy not to see anybody.

I was on such a blissful trek last Wednesday when I happened on this vista that made it look like the mountain went on forever. I love the feeling of feeling lost and depth in the photo. Even though I know I had been up and down that trail many times before.

I love Turkey Mountain, I have been there dozens of times and still find something new every time I am there. I can get up there and just cruise along and don’t worry about a thing. Except snakes, lots of people have encountered lots of snakes, especially copperheads, and I worry about them a little but I don’t let them stop me.

So what about you? Where is your favorite place to get away from it all.

2016 Tulsa Tough and Cry Baby Hill

Sunday morning I ventured down to the Tulsa River Parks to watch the River Parks Criterium segment of Tulsa Tough. Tulsa Tough is a three day series of races of all kinds here in Tulsa. The River Parks Criterium is a short cycle race that loops from river level up a steep hill overlooking the river and then back down to the river via a 120 degree hard right turn at high speed at the base of the hill. And then they do it again, and again. It is brutal.

Copied from TulsaTough.com I hope they don’t sue my butt)

There are about fourteen races in all on this course lasting about a half hour each.

The course is not for the faint of heart. The leaders are working the whole way. Y

This is where they head up the hill, and they are just flying.

Not only are they going fast, they are going fast while being close together. If one guy or gal goes down then the risk is high that others are going down also. It looks nerve wracking to me.

They alternated the pace cars. This one was a Jaguar. They run a couple hundred yards ahead along with a motorcycle to alert everybody to get out of the way.

The races are very exciting.

The riders are concentrating hard.

At the of the hill is Cry Baby Hill. It is kind of wild. It is in a residential area with not many sidewalks so you have to stand in the street. The residents have parties in their front yard. It is quite the party. I left about noon so I think I missed the peak of the madness.