From Bras to Blahs to Brews

Well this week has gone from one extreme to another. Monday night Heather and I went to see a pretty darn wild Katy Perry concert. She is a great entertainer and a speed dresser. What do you think of the happy faces?

And then today it was cloudy and over cast and just plain blah. During blah days I just go with it and use the Hipstamatic App on my Ipod Touch. It makes the pics all kind of grainy and low-fi but it kind of fits my mood.

Plus I get annoyed at all the dummies parking at the Mayo Hotel. Does anybody know how to pull up to the curb any more Culligan man? I like to hang out and watch everybody piling into the hotel for their weekends in the city.

While I talk about being annoyed, I never have figured out this sculpture. I’ll tell you what it is. The city fathers of Tulsa decided to put up a sculpture in honor of the exotic dancers of Tulsa. I mean the city fathers needed some way to kill time after work so they wouldn’t have to help out with their kids homework and all and watching the dancers on stage is better than talking to each other so they decided to honor the ladies with this nice sculpture. That’s my feeling and you don’t want to invalidate my feelings do you? That wouldn’t be nice. Besides that I’m thinking about becoming a tea party member. The beautiful thing about being a tea partier is that you can have strong opinions based on your feelings and nothing else. Kind of like most people who are very partisian in their politics. But hey, I’m getting off topic. Not that this post has a topic.

Life is not all doom and gloom though. Not by a long shot. My happy place on Friday afternoons is the Praire Artisian Ales Taproom out on west 49th street in west Tulsa. You know out beyond the refineries and the tank farms and welding shops and drilling tool manufacturers and wrecker yards. They make beer the old school way out there. One barrel at a time. It is good stuff! They are open to the public from 4 pm to 8 pm only on Wednesday and Friday. There are no signs out there. The first time I went I drove by it three times before I drove in and asked somebody in the parking lot who pointed me to a nondescript, unmarked door.

They can only sell 3.2 beer there but it is pretty good. You can get a glass of it or a pitcher or a 64 ounce growler filled up right from tap. Talk about a kid in a candy store. Presently they have a stout, and a sour beer made with lime and salt, and an ale. They are all very good. So today I got a growler of the ale and a glass of the sour beer and sipped on it out in the parking lot watching the crowd come in for their weekly fix. Guys in suits in ties and refinery maintenance contractors still in their fire retardant work clothes, and everybody in between.

Anyways, the day ended a lot better than it began.

How about you, how is your day going?

Foto Friday Fun – Bull Riding the PBR Way

Well the number for Foto Friday Fun this week is 6387 and so this fuzzy pic of a bull and rider comes up. It was from a Professional Bull Riding event here in Tulsa a few years ago. Logan and I had free tickets and so we went. The PBR is not like like your local rodeo. This is like Bull Riding on steroids. Unlike the local rodeos, in the PBR, the riders don’t get much announcer love, especially if they couldn’t finish the ride and if they don’t speak English. I thought the whole thing was a little mean spirited.

Anyways that is my Foto Friday Fun pic for this week.

Foto Fun Friday

Yoga under a Big Sky

I participated in the Great Tulsa Camp Out on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain this past weekend. In addition to a great night of music, campfires, a glow walk, and lots of fun, there was a Yoga Class on Sunday morning. As you can a few people took the class in their jammies. I had my snuggie with me but I didn’t want to be the guy that took things too far.

Now really, does Yoga get any better than this?

Have you ever done yoga in your jammies? Or your snuggie?

Skywatch Friday

Katy Perry at the BOK Center

Heather and I went to see Katy Perry at the BOK Center here in Tulsa Monday night. We get lots of really nice concerts here in Tulsa and they are mainly on weeknights because the big popular guys and gals like to spend the weekends in the big cities where I guess they can make more money.

Anywho here we were at the concert late Monday night along with half the areas teenage and pre-teenage girls and their moms. Including our next door neighbor’s teenage daughter who sat right in front of us. We each pretended to act like we didn’t see the other.

I bet that there were lots of tired grumpy girls in class on Tuesday!! The concert didn’t let out until 11:30. That was late,even for me.

Anyway Katy Perry sang, and danced, and changed costumes, and then sang, and danced, and changed costumes again.

She sang loud and she sang soft, she sang while standing on the stage, laying on the stage and sitting on thrones.

She even sang wearing a cat suit.

And she sang while wearing a birthday suit (fully clothed of course, she is very classy)

Her guitarists flew through the air. I missed the shot where the guitars shot flame. Darn!!

She sang while adjusting her costume.

Did I mention something about flying through the air?

Oh yes, and she sang on a horse.

And she sang to everybody. She has quite the connection with the audience. That is what I like the connection. She can do it. Not quite like Michael Buble and Taylor Swift (nobody connects with her fans like Taylor Swift!) but Katy puts on a great show.

Now lets switch over the other people. This guy with the Murse is Katy Perry’s father Keith Hudson. He is a preacher!! He has a blog and made a very interesting post about meeting President Obama at the White House. Check it out!!

And I’m sorry, if you are taking a selfie, then I get to take a picture also. Its one of Newton’s laws of selfies. Something about for every photo taken then an equal an opposite photo must be taken. So I’m just representing the balance of nature.

I know this is a cute couple. I hope they don’t get mad. I don’t know why they would.

Ah, yes, well, ahem. Okay

Here is a little youtube of Katy. She really is quite talented and comes across as very grounded.

Edit this setlist | More Katy Perry setlists

And of course the set list. Gotta have the set list.

All in all, one of the better concerts we’ve been to in the last few years.

So, what do you think of Katy Perry?

The Great Tulsa Campout at Turkey Mountain

If you know anything about me then you know that I love Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Wilderness Park. A sizeable plot of land in Tulsa right on the Arkansas River. It contains miles of trails for people who like to walk, hike, run, bicycle, unicycle, geocache, picnic, and other things. The one thing you can’t do legally on Turkey Mountain is camp. Saturday night though the Great Tulsa Campout was held. One night this year where one could go camping. So I bought a pass, signed up to volunteer and headed for the mountain.

I got there, checked in, got my volunteer tshirt, and set up my tent. I haven’t had it out since Logan graduated out of Cub Scouts years ago. It still works just fine! Goes up and down easily, small to carry, holds all my stuff.

Here’s a 360 degree panorama. As you can see there were tents everywhere.

I rotated among several jobs. For a short while I helped people with parking. I also helped for a little while at the bounce tent.

Mostly I spent the time helping at the Atlatl demonstration helping Jason. He was a very patient teacher especially with the little kids. I tried it a couple of times, I’m needing practice bad.

Jason was pretty good. He ought to be. Plus he had the best tee shirt at the event. I got my work out in. I ran up and down the range fetching the spears. I got in my 10,000 plus steps in on my fitbit at least.

I also provided a little moral support to the firebuilding effort.

The smores crowd early, followed by the late night beer drinking crowd later, really enjoyed the fire. You can’t go camping without a campfire right?

For dinner Louies Dawg House was there with hot dogs and hot links with any topping you could think of. I had two!

There was lots of great music at the camp. Green Corn Rebellion, Ali Harter, and Grazzhopper played to an appreciative crowd.

I also helped create a glow walk through the adjacent woods. About 1600 glow sticks along the trail handing in the trees and strewn on the ground provided a magical effect while walking on the trail.

The next morning the sunrise was spectacular and everybody kind of slept in, others attended the yoga class. The beauty of an urban campout is that for coffee I went to a Starbucks about a mile away and got breakfast. I know that is major slacking but hey, the coffee was good.

The event was well organized and I think that everybody had fun. The guys that ran the event, Ryan Howell, Matt Carver, and Tyler Hanes were here there and everywhere making sure that everybody had a safe good time. If they have it next year I’ll be there again.

Explore Tulsa put together a nice video of the event narrated by Ryan Howell. You can get a little more of the flavor of the event.

I’m going to close with a video by Grazzhopper. They are good!!

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Have you been camping lately?

Turkey Mountain – Still Saying No to the Mall

Gone Girl with Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, and Kim Dickens

Hey are you looking for a good movie. Check out Gone Girl with Ben Affleck. If you like movies with clever twists and turns and ins and outs that leave you wondering what is going on? And at the end of the movie you are still wondering what is going on? Then this movie is for you.

Best to leave the kids at home though. Also, maybe not the best first date movie either. Lots of blood, and sex, and violence. Or if you are feeling a little depressed about things, go see something else.

Ben Affleck is well cast as the husband, Nick Dunne, whose wife is missing and Rosamund Pike is the wife, Amy Dunne. Turns out that neither one of them is a very nice person. My personal favorite actor is Kim Dickens playing Detective Rhonda Bhoney.

Foto Friday Fun – Unknown Lilac Automobile

This week I went the number 1500 in honor of Gaelyn, the Geopsy, aka Seasonal Park Ranger at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon’s 1500th post. As usual I’m a week or two late but at least I showed up. I put 1500 in my archive search function and this is what a I got!!

It’s a car, I know that, and it is purple or lilac or something. I’m not really sure. In fact I don’t even know what kind of car it is. I do know that I shot it at at the Leake Car Auction here in Tulsa a couple years ago. I like the looks of it though. So its kind of like “give me one of those.” Also, led lights for trucks exterior truck electrics can be bought here!

Somebody help me so Gaelyn will know what kind of car (photograph) that I’m giving her.

FotoFriday Fun

Skywatch Friday – Autumn Sunset on the Arkansas River

It’s officially Fall now. The sun is lower, each day is a little shorter than the previous day and the temperatures are going down and the air is drier and full of ragweed. I still run on the Arkansas River trails after work getting ready for the Tulsa Run 15K later this month.

Anyway the skies are so nice that I run for a while and stop and take photos for a while and then run a little more which is how I run races these days. It makes for a good excuse for why I don’t do better. At least I think it is a good excuse.

I use my cell phone to take the pics. It is a generic android phone that I got free at work. It is a Pantech. It is a lousy phone but it takes great pics and I didn’t have to wait in line or pay $399 to get it. And it is a 2013 model which means that is still more capable than a Iphone 6. Don’t get mad at me Iphone owners , just wait around for the Iphone 7 and then you will be about even with me. Unless of course I get a new free Pantech.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Come to Tulsa with Steve Winwood Opening

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came to the BOK Center in Tulsa for a concert last Sunday night.

We were a little out of sorts when we got there but he put is in the mood right away. Heather is the Tom Petty fan in the house at least up till Sunday night, now I am also.

There is something about seeing a band live that makes it all makes sense in a way that listening to the same music on radio doesn’t really bring. The personality of a performer comes out in a concert, for good or bad, and with Tom Petty it is for the good.

The concert was a totally satisfying experience. Worth the late time getting home with an 8 am meeting the next morning and being tired all day.

Steve Winwood opening up for Tom Petty was a big surprise to me, and nobody else. I had forgot all about this guy. He was big back in the day.

He hasn’t slowed down a bit. He sang his old songs and some of his new songs. He was really bluesy. Steve Winwood was a great opening act.

Plus I am entering this guy in the bearded stage security hall of fame.

Edit this setlist | More Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers setlists

Oklahoma Sugar Art Show and Grand National Wedding Cake Competition

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to the the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show. Sugar art is basically cake decorating and at the Oklahoma Sugar Art Show it is cake decorating on steroids for here is the Grand National Wedding Cake Competition directed by the the Food Network’s Kerry Vincent.

The cakes are amazing. They are works of art that are supposed to be made entirely of FDA food grade contents including all decorations. What I don’t get is how come nobody seems to care how the cake is. It seems like at the end they ought to be serving the cake. Oh well, nobody besides me seems to even worry about it.

I found an Oklahoma themed cake. Praire’s are always good in Oklahoma.

I loved this entry with an Indian theme. I really liked the elephants.

I liked this one with eccentrically stacked cake segments and then a flower cascade on the other side.

I love this art deco cake but I am wondering just how the lights on it conform to the rules that everything on the cake must be edible. I mean do they make edible light bulbs now?

I don’t know who won or lost. I think the presenters are all winners. At the top level all the cakes are wonderful. I just like looking them.

And I have something else to confess. This is the second time I wrote this post. I wrote it up last night and scheduled it and it disappeared!! Imagine my surprise when I signed on this afternoon to check on it and it was nowhere to be found. So, which one of you out there stole my post?

Linking to Our World Tuesday

2013 Oklahoma Sugar Art Show

2012 Oklahoma Sugar Art Show

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