After walking the woods for years
I see fungus covering everything, everywhere
What was wrong with me before?
Running under the Hunger Moon on Turkey Mountain
Earlier this week a group of us met after work on Turkey Mountain under a full moon. It is supposed to be called the Snow Moon but there was no snow so I used the alternate name “The Hunger Moon.” So called because the hunting was pretty bad in February way back when.
It got kind of dark but we turned on our headlights and ran for a little over three and a half miles. The group runs for a while and then stops every now and then to let everybody get back together before we head off again. Nobody wants to leave anybody stranded on the mountain at night. Night running can be quite disorienting especially if you are not familiar with the trails.
A good time was had by all and we didn’t lose anybody. Especially the old guy who took the picture.
Linking with Skywatch Friday
Digital Art Meme – Oklahoma Rock on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain
The Oklahoma Rock is a landmark deep into Turkey Mountain. If you haven’t found it yet, and it is not hard to find, then you really haven’t had the full Turkey Mountain experience. Lots of legends about this rock. One or two of them might be true. Otherwise you have to believe that the Native Americans here before the arrival of the white people already knew what the state would look like.
It is also part of a popular geocache. It is an offset cache where you go so many feet from the rock in the direction that the rock is pointing. That’s great except the rock has been pushed over and propped back up so many times that that doesn’t work. I found it by searching in an arc of the required distance around the rock. Even then it took me several tries.
Fortunately for us Oklahoma Rock fans it is not on the property proposed for an outlet mall. At least for now.
I ran the photo through Topaz Glow. I have seven days left on my free trial. I still haven’t decided whether I’m going to buy it or not. They should just let you use it for free until you decide to pay it. Don’t you think?
Linking with Digital Arts Meme
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Song-ography – “Ordinary Day” by Vanessa Carlton
I apologize in advance for cheating on this post.
Double Exposure with a 35mm film fisheye camera
“…And he said take my hand,
Live while you can
Don’t you see your dreams lie right in the palm of your hand
In the palm of your hand…”
(Written by Vanessa Carlton)
Complete Lyrics
Linking with Song-ography
Blue Monday – New Cat
As I’ve mentioned before. The stable where Logan rides has new cats, all males. Most of them are teenagers but there is this new one drinking from a blue bowl. He is another one who walks around the horses hooves without a concern in the world. I hope that he lives long enough to grow up. He is kind of a cute little guy.
Linking with Blue Monday
Shadow Shot Sunday – at the Vault
Heather drove downtown on Friday and we had lunch at The Vault which is a restaurant in a converted Mid-Century Modern bank building. The building features not just a spiral staircase (for staff only) but an exterior with the old patterned concrete blocks which makes for interesting shadows. The restaurant follows through with mid century modern decor and you can order craft cocktails from the 50’s and 60’s. We of course didn’t have a cocktail but we had a great lunch.
Saturday Critters Update
This is Cisco, the horse rides at his weekly Therapeutic Horseback Riding lesson. Cisco is a sweet horse but he is a little lazy. If I’m in the arena he always heads for me especially if Logan has zoned out in the saddle. I’ll have to say, “Hey wake up, get your horse off of me!” Oh yeah he says. Teenagers, you know what I mean.
Here are they are in the arena, around and around they go, Logan with a big smile on his face. I’m told that that the horses head being down so low means the horse is relaxed. Sounds good to me!!
The stables had one old kitty who was something else. He slobbered all over everything. He won a fierce fight with a hawk who tried tohaul him off and was a proficient mouser. He died last year and now they have a whole bunch of cats to replace him, all males. This one is either brave or dumb. He likes to get out in the arena and run in amongst the horses feet as they go around and around. I think he is going to be dead and we’ll never know whether he is dumb or brave. He’ll be just as dead either way so I guess that it doesn’t matter.
This is Abby, sound asleep late at night. She is a sweetheart. She loves to eat. She got groomed yesterday so she is not as shaggy now. She is not the smartest dog we have ever had but she is very sweet. She likes to go out frequently and update her Barkbook status. Drives our neighbors crazy, me also.
Here is a collection of photos most of them with our critters, from my new Fuji polaroid style camera. I love the pics but I’m still trying to figure out how best to post the results. It seems a lot of people just strew them similar to what I did. It seems better than scanning them one by one. Anybody else out there have such a camera? What do you do? The black dog that I’m holding is Rascal our very black pomeranian. I have to get do some sort of HDR thing with him in order to keep him from looking like a big black blob.
I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters today. Go check it out.
American Sniper with Bradley Cooper
Last week on my day off Heather and I saw American Sniper. It is a movie about Chris Kyle a US Navy Seal sniper. We get a fast run down of Kyle’s upbringing learning from his father the values of protecting innocent people from predators and then fast forward to the bombings of the American Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania which prompted Kyle to join the US Navy Seals and then later in Iraq after the invasion where Kyle served in several deployments as a sniper where he did overwatch over troops patrolling the streets of Iraqi cities.
From there things get pretty hairy. Kyle’s duty is to prevent harm to American troops but that harm can come from anybody from “military age males” to women and young children. He is forced to make split second decisions on who lives and who dies. The scenes are intense and not for the faint of heart but Kyle seems at home in that environment.
The hard parts are when Kyle goes back to the states to be with his young wife. He grows distant from his family as he can’t transition from life and death every day on the battlefield to life with his wife. All he can think about is that the troops in Iraq need him. The movie shows him going through several such cycles of deployments and returns.
This is one of those movies where people want the movie to be about something else. Some want Kyle to be against the Iraq war, some want him to support the war. The problem is that this is a movie about Chris Kyle. This is a movie about him protecting the troops and his life as a husband and father in between deployments and after he got out of the Seals. American Sniper is a great movie. Go see it. Leave the kiddos at home because it is very bloody. Bradley Cooper does a great job playing Kyle not only in the gory battle scenes but in portraying his increasing distance from his wife.
I thought the movie was anti-war if anything in the sense that it showed the high price that our soldiers and their families pay especially over multiple deployments. The battle scenes looked realistic to me but there was no glory in them. It is plain nasty business. It is not enough to just support our troops but we have a huge responsibility to not send them into battle without a darn good reason.
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Good Fences – Stable Fencing
A gate and fence at the stables where my son takes his riding lessons on Saturdays. I used Topaz’s Impressions software on the image.
Skywatch Friday – Bixby Countryside
A crossroads near the Tulsa Suburb of Bixby. It is amazing how fast one can be in the country from the city. There is something about getting out of town relaxes the mind and slows down the pulse. I like life in the city but I need to get away from time to time to keep my head on straight.