Tag Archives: Tulsa

Skywatch Friday – Downtown Skies

Tulsa Skywatch

This is a view of downtown Tulsa. My favorite part of it is the reflection of my Nikon Coolpix AW110 against the building to the right. Used to be I’d worry about it and now, I’m like hey that is the way it is. There is lots of other things wrong with this picture but what is right about it is the tall building against the funky sky and the reflections of the western sun in the windows.

I also love it for the tower of the building to the far left, the 320 south Boston Building. Legend has it that the tower was designed to dock dirigible airships back in the 1920’s or so. I love that legend even though there are skeptics who say otherwise.  I say pooh on the skeptics,

What about you, do you have notions that the skeptics don’t like?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

 

2016 Daryl Starbird Car Show – Ford Model T Skull Bucket

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I love the yellow and purple… and all the chrome, don’t you??

This latest weekend was the latest installment of the Starbird Car Show here in Tulsa. The event is just mind boggling. There are hundreds of cars on display and they are almost all one of a kind in one or another and the display of creativity, craftsmanship, hard work and pride that the owners put into their machines is just amazing. I took hundreds of photos but don’t worry, I’ll spare you.

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The spoiler and those big ole wide tires…

The guys that build the machines are car guys. I am not a car guy but I know several. I hardly ever pop the hood on my own car let alone do anything to the car. My Dad taught me how to do all the now obsolete skills. Change the points, adjust the timing, gap the spark plugs, all that stuff. All that has gone by the wayside now. But there are still lots of people who modify engines, change transmissions, put in new rear differentials. Others who do their own body work and have learned wire welding and how to paint. I salute them.

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So, is that a legal turn signal. Have you ever had a skull wink at you?

The cars at this show are done by the professionals and dedicated amateurs who have poured hundreds of hours into these creations.

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The small little death’s head on top of the headlight. Does your car have that feature?

I hardly ever miss the regular Tulsa Car show held in the Spring of the year. The cars are great but are not very distinctive. All the sedans look like Toyota Camry’s in my opinion. Nothing wrong with that mind you but I like looking at bright colors and outrageous designs.

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Well, I don’t think it gets good mileage and the tank is rather small. I think it will get you a quarter mile which is long enough.

Anyways, you may wonder why I take hundreds of pictures of great and unique cars and yet show only pics of one car. Hey if you figure it out let me know and then we will both now. I am just simply overwhelmed so I decided to just start with one of my favorites.  I’ll be doing other posts on this cars and dribbling out on Instagram as time goes by.

So, have you seen a car you like lately?

Getting Schooled on Hill Repeats

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This week instead of doing my weekly run on Wednesday, I did it on Thursday and I did it earlier on Thursday than what I normally run. The wind was howling and the air was full of smoke from all the wild fires due to the dry conditions. You can see how hazy the air is. I decided to run on Turkey Mountain. The trees stop the wind cold up there. I ran into Ken (aka Trail Zombie) and Clint,  a facebook friend who I have never met before, Ken asked if I wanted to go do some hill repeats, so I said sure and so we three along with a lady named Lea went off to do hill repeats.

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TZ, Lea, and Clint headed toward the lower yellow trail.

After a warmup loop on the red trail we went up what TZ calls Leadville. It is about 300 feet in a quarter mile and it is brutal. I’d like to say I ran up all the way. I didn’t run any of the way but my heart was pounding by the time we got up on top.

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TZ and Lea headed down “I Want My Mommy” Clint is already out of sight and I was carefully picking my way down.

I Want My Mommy is pretty darn steep. You can see TZ and Lea way ahead of me. Then we went a few feet and came back up to the top of the mountain on another trail. Clint and TZ are both on a Strava climbing challenge and they hitting the hills hard and they are good at it.

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Finally we headed back to the parking lot. Running hills is hard work but fun with you are doing it with people. I had an excellent workout.

Skywatch Friday – YMCA Sunset

YMCA Skywatch Sunset Impressions Cezanne II 58 pct

I used Topaz Impressions software on this to give it kind of an impressionistic effect and then dialed it back about 40%. I also cropped out some annoying features.

We are having some colorful skies lately here in Tulsa. I liked how the color was shining through the windows of the old downtown YMCA. A developer demo’d the interior and has the project on hold pending higher oil prices probably. I also like the reflections on the building on the left, the old Amerada Hess Petroleum building. They bugged out for Houston back in the 90’s during another oil downturn, and insurance company occupies the structure now.

Will the last person in Tulsa please turn out the lights?

I’ve been told by numerous people that the energy companies manipulate the prices of oil, natural gas, and gasoline. That may be, if so they are doing a really poor job of it. What do you think.

In the meantime I’ll be enjoying the sunsets.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday!

Our World Tuesday – Checking Out Chandler Park

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Sunday I decided to explore a new area with Logan. It is the land west west of Chandler Park is far northwest Tulsa. I was inspired by the facebook posts of TrailZombie Ken who is my guide pretty much for anything having to do with trails and trailrunning in Oklahoma. 

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We start out at the very southwest end of Chandler Park and cross the gate and head down the road. The first thing you run into is this sign. This is the Compass Industries Landfill EPA Superfund Site. A gazillion dollars was spent cleaning up “…620,000 cubic yards of solid, liquid and sludge wastes, including acids, caustics, solvents and potentially carcinogenic materials” in a former limestone quarry.  The cleanup was paid for by the polluters themselves but all that stopped in 1995 and now we taxpayers get to pay for cleanups. I guess because it is unfair to ask the polluters to pay the expenses. It might cut into their campaign contributions budget or something.

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We go a little further and we find the that the fence has been breached in a major way. I wonder what kind of morons trespass out there on a regular basis?

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Shortly thereafter the trail gets away from the site and continues on west. We only saw one other person during our outing. Turkey Mountain is great but on nice weekends some of the main trails get crowded and Logan doesn’t like the constant bikers coming up behind us. No traffic problems at Chandler Park, yet.

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And then it got a little rocky and I spent 40 fruitless minutes looking for a geocache and we continued our trek until the trail looped around to Avery drive.

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We took a little break and then decided to head back on a different route.

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If it looks steep, it is.

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Just ask Logan, he’ll tell you.

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We got into some of rock formations that make Chandler popular with the local bouldering and climbing enthusiasts. We are not into any of that.

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Logan took a picture of the old man in full nerd regalia standing on a rock.

So it was a nice easy out and back introduction. I can see when daylight savings time returns that I’ll be coming out here some to do my Wednesday night runs. The area is lots bigger than Turkey Mountain but literally about 1% as many people. I’ll be learning the trails and looking forward to it.

Timely column today in the Tulsa World: Do we even need Chandler Park? I say yes!!

Have you been anywhere new lately?

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Skywatch Friday – Arkansas River Sunset

Arkansas river sunset hdr topaz adjust

I know that I’m being a little repetitive and I apologize in advance. At about 5:30 these days at work I peak outside and if it looks like their might be a good sunset then I take the elevator up to my old floor where there is a clear view out to the west and go to my old office and take a few pics. One day somebody is going to be in my old office and I’m just going to have to tell them to get out of the way I have to take a photograph.

It is getting warmer here in Oklahoma. On my run after work I was able to wear shorts and a long sleeved tee shirt instead of the running pants and layers of cold weather technical gear. In the depths of winter I’m warm but my goodness it is a laundry load. It will get cold again for sure but the trend is my friend as they say. I’m looking forward to the beginning of daylight savings time so I can back to run on Turkey Mountain on Wednesday nights.

So are you looking forward to the change of seasons?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Abandoned Buildings – The Catron Building

Catron Building - West of Downtown

On a lunchtime geocaching expedition to a not great area of Tulsa just to the west of downtown Tulsa on West Admiral I found this gem of a building. It looks abandoned but there is a shiny mail slot in the door to the right and a city garbage container to the left. This looks like it used to be stores below and apartments or offices above. I”m trying to figure out what it used to be.  I love mysteries like this.

The Marshes of Oxley Nature Center

Oxley Marsh Trees and Reflections - Topaz Glow - Fur and Feathers

Topaz Glow – Fin and Feathers

Oxley Nature Center is built on some land nobody else wanted. Just north of the airport, wrapped by Bird Creek, and right next to the police department shooting range, nobody likes it except hikers, families, trail runners, geocachers, and photographer, not to mention deer, squirrels, snakes, lizards, ticks, fish, and lots of birds.  The marshes of Oxley is what gives wildlife its space against us humans. I’ve been out here and have seen deer run across the marshes and swim the sloughs and leave guys like me trying to get good pictures behind.

The marshes give Oxley a lot of its mystery. I used Topaz Glow to emphasize that mystery. I like how it brought out the reflections of the trees and the texture of their bark.

Oxley Nature Center – A Great Alternative to Turkey Mountain

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Heather and I wanted to go hiking on a warm sunny Winter afternoon and we decided to on the north side of Tulsa to Oxley Nature Center to avoid the crowds that show up at Turkey Mountain on nice days. The successful fight to save Turkey Mountain from developers really aroused the public’s interest in the park and I’m happy that so many people love it but there are other parks in Tulsa to go and hike, run, bike, and whatever you want outside with a lot less people. Where you can get a little elbow room and hunt for a parking space.

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Oxley, adjacent to the also hikeable Mohawk Park is a little more structured and has a interpretive center with staff to help you with planning your hike. And it has hours of operation and such but if you just want to show up and hike or run, just park and do what you want. Check the link for hours of operation, maps, and such.

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So on a day where Turkey Mountain was a little crowded (only at the parking lot, you get a quarter mile from the parking lot and the crowd are diminished considerably) Heather and I found a hiking spot and took off on a circuitous route. Sure we saw other people but just every now and then.

So don’t let crowded parking lots deter you from spending time outside.

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We say several deer right close to the parking lot. I haven’t seen a deer on Turkey Mountain in years.

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So we were just moseying along at a leisurely pace. Our son is on a school trip to Breckenridge and of course we stopped every time he texted us.

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And we had a great time. Over four miles all in all.

As far as what was going on in Breckenridge, here is a selection of some of the pics Logan sent Heather.

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This was from the bus ride as they were getting close to town.

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The condo they are staying in and reportedly doing lots of “hanging out” and “relaxing” when we ask him what he is doing.

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And it sounds like there is an ice sculpting contest or exhibition going on so this is one of the sculptures.

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And this has something to do with dragons. Anyways we miss the boy and are glad to be able to hear from him.

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