Tag Archives: Tulsa

Our World – Over the Hills and Through the Woods to Nana’s House I Go

Last Saturday it was hot!! We decided we would go swimming at my MIL’s Nana’s houe. I decided that I needed to walk there. She lives about six miles away and this was my third trip on foot over the years. The previous times I ran, this time I walked because it was hot, not that there is much difference in speed between my walking and running. I can say that, you can’t.

I passed out neighborhood information board. We have lived here sixteen years and I have never seen any information posted there. I have always wanted to hide a geocache up under the roof of the thing but I would have to get permission from our neighborhood council and I hate dealing with those people. Why, well we had one smart ass attorney resident say that we shouldn’t allow people to store chemicals in their garages. Oh, okay, what about the oil and gasoline in your car dummy? Another guy, a retired Army Corps of Engineers guy complaining about an often damaged fence across a creek said that we could fix it once and for all for $50,000. Oh okay, you giving us the money dude? Somebody else wanted to ban residents from renting their homes. Oh okay… Anyway trying to get permission would be impossible.

We have a nice little duck/swan pond in our neighborhood. I like it a lot.

Out on 81st street and going by Meadowbrook Country Club. Nice place.

On past our local Starbucks. I am addicted to their new Cold Brew iced coffee. Not today, too hot and too far to go.

On past Tulsa Community College. This is where son Logan will be going to college in a couple weeks. I said a prayer for the guy.

The Sheriff’s Department put up this spedometer right near the college. I have never registered on it. I have tried waiting for a car going by at a high rate of speed so I could claim that same speed. Hasn’t happened yet.

The trail gets really intricate and interesting. That is why I don’t mind walking or running to see Nana, the trail is almost four miles out of the six. Lots nicer than walking the streets.

A brand new medical building with a big welcome sign. I had to do some checking on it. It is a new building for an outfit that does colonoscopies. Probably dozens per day. I had one a few years ago but I couldn’t bring myself to write a blog post about it. Much too personal. But there were nice things also. I read the night before the procedure that beer was allowed so I had a couple of Fat Tires. The doctor laughed the next day. He said that was allowed but hardly anybody had ever admitted to it. Plus the heavy heated quilt the day of the procedure was very nice. And then the weird way your memory goes backward when you come to in the recovery room. All in all something I dreaded for no reason.

And then this lady running wierding my out. She passed my a couple times. Hmm. Should I have been concerned?

And then by the highway hill where runners have worn trails in the side to do hill repeats. Did I do a hill repeat?

Well, I went up once, but didn’t go up twice. So that is half of hill repeat right. Meanwhile the lady runner passed me again, not on the hill though.

And then under the Creek Turnpike.

Yep, I do PokemonGo and I captured a couple. I looked, and didn’t find a geocache also. Don’t get all Luddite on me on me for Pokemon Go.

And here is Nana’s house, about 6 and a quarter miles and over two hours later. I love the Angel that she keeps on her front porch, and the beer that she lets me keep in her beerator in her garage, and she has a great pool. Plus it is a treat to visit with her.

I’m linking this post with Our World Tuesday

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

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.

Everybody is there to cheer on the riders and spray water and beer on them.

There are marshalls in zebra shirts with whistles and flags to keep the crowd behind the line. I guess this guy lost his shirt or something.

Lots of cowbells and a band cheer the riders on.

And toy baby dolls if you didn’t bring one.

It is quite the spectacle.

As I left people were still piling in.

And the races were still going on.

Last Year’s Tulsa Tough Post

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Addendum #1 Not my video – a collection of crashes from Tulsa Tough.

2016 Tulsa Leake Car Auction

Friday is my day off, Heather had to teach an exercise class, and Logan is out of school so I dragged him to the Fairgrounds to the Leake Car Auction.

Lots and lots of cars there. I’m partial to red cars, lIke this Mustang above.

Or the Porsche being cleaned up. It is hard to be a Porsche for styling.

I also love the big American cars of the 1950’s like this 1954 Crestline Victoria. I love all the chrome, that beautiful blue color, and the swoopy curves.

I don’t mean I ever want to own one I just like looking at them.

I like the more homely but distinctive cars also such Trifun quarter ton truck. The three wheels are a gas.

And the tilting bed. They said only 300 miles since new but the seats and everything else in the cab was very worn. It was a very hard 300 miles.

And who doesn’t love a land cruiser. These are classic vehicles.

How about an air boat for hunting alligators?

I love the camo but don’t you know that thing is loud.

By far my favorite of the show was this heavily modified1967 Land Rover

It had the best and most puzzling hood ornament.

It looks like it could be chasing down lions and elephants in Africa.

I like the “scouting seats” up above. Scouting seats my butt, I bet rich Texans sat up there and shot at critters. If somebody wants to buy it for me I would sit up there and shoot critters also, with my camera.

Wednesday Waters – Lafortune Park

We are deep into Spring here in northeast Oklahoma and we have lots of rain so one can see why this area is called “Green Country” by some. Pretty soon will come the high temps and humidity but after all these years that doesn’t bother me that much. You learn how to adapt.

I’m linking with Wednesday Waters

Solar Impulse 2 in Tulsa – The Future is Now

The big news in Tulsa this week is that the Solar Electric Airplane, Solar Impulse 2, flying from Abu Dahbi around the world landed at our local airport a few days ago. American Airlines had a huge hanger available and they let the plane park there until the weather clears up. The owners of the plane made it available for public viewing for two days. So of course I had to go since there was no admission charge.

The airplane is amazing. It uses only solar electric power, with batteries, and can take off on its own power. It can fly for days at a time. It is about 74 feet long and has a wingspan of 236 feet yet its fully loaded weight is 5100 pounds. It has four engines, each of which can generate 17.4 horsepower. Its maximum service altitude is 27,000 feet but with supplemental oxygen for the pilot the aircraft can go up to 39,000 feet. I got all these stats from wikipedia because teasing it out of the plane’s website was kind of hard.

I figured out what the term “Cavernous Hangar” means. This thing is huge!!

The plane is amazing piece of engineering. It is so light and can generate enough power from solar panels and with the batteries on board it can fly pretty much indefinitely. It has a crew of only one person in an unheated and unpressurized cockpit. It uses an autopilot to fly when the pilot is sleeping. The project has a support staff of about 60 people a bunch of whom were in Tulsa. The control center is in Monaco. The spend a considerable amount of time plotting routes that avoid weather. The plane cannot take very much weather.

The plane’s owners intend the project to be a demonstration of the feasibility of solar power and its practicality and I must say the demonstration is impressive.

I was most interested in how the thing took off. Surely I thought it was pulled by a truck or something but no, as the above video shows it takes off under its own power.

As interesting as the takeoff is I thought the landing was a very skillful and precise affair. It has to be perfect.

And a video about the landing in Tulsa. They are trying to get through tornado alley as fast as they can.

Leaving the hangar we got a glimpse of the Solar Impulse’s support aircraft, a funky looking Russian made Ilyushin II-76 heavy cargo carrier. According to my good friends at Wikipedia it can carry 40 tons of cargo a distance of 2700 miles and land on a dirt runway. I found it almost as amazing as they Solar Impulse.

Mid Day Run

This is our refurbished library under construction. They say they are going to be open this summer. I think they are going to have hump it do so. That is an oilfield term.

During the Spring and Fall, while the weather is mild I love to run during my noon break. That gives me a chance to read the paper and drink some coffee in the morning before work instead of waking up at 5:15 to run or run on the treadmill. I belong to a gym downtown and take off from there.

I run from downtown to the river and back downtown so I get to dodge office workers, construction, workers, meth heads, k2 addicts, and homeless guys and gals on my out. Plus I have to run by the Oklahoma State University Medical Center. They have banned smoking on their campus so the doctors, nurses, and others go stand on the sidewalk and pollute the air and throw their butts down on the ground and it has made quite a mess. I’ve been thinking about writing a post about hospitals that do things like that. Saint John’s Hospital’s employees to escape the smoking ban cross a busy street and loiter at my drug store and again leave a mess behind. Meanwhile the hospitals get to brag how healthy they are. Well send a crew over and clean up your employee’s mess fools is what I say! What do you say?

Finally I get down to the river trails and get to run along them for a mile or so of my four mile route.

Coming back from river to downtown I go through a pleasant neighborhood that includes the Council Oak Tree memorial. A band of the Creek tribe picked this area on a bluff overlooking the Arkansas River as their council ground in 1836 after the US Government forcibly removed them from their lands in the southeaster USA. The tree in the background, an ancient burr Oak, is reportedly the original tree that they met under. The sculpture in the foreground is called “Morning Prayer” by Creek artist Dan Brook.

I love to check out the roses in the flower beds of the houses I run by.

There is a fountain on the way also. No big deal today but I love running by it when it is a 100 degrees outside. ( true confessions, I don’t run outside when it is close to a 100 any more)

And then on back to the core downtown. My gym is on the 16th floor of the green topped building to the right.

A good time was had by all!!

Skywatch Friday – Post Oak Lodge

My employer had a retreat Wednesday for some of us at Post Oak Lodge in north Tulsa. It was a an intense day in a beautiful setting. I went out side for all the breaks to get some sun and take in the views. We had some rain over the past several days and so now things are very green. This is why northeast Oklahoma is called “Green Country.”

And true confessions, I cheated a little bit with Topaz Impressions’ Degas Dancers II filter backed off about about 40 percent.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday this week.

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