Tag Archives: Tulsa

Lunch Breaking in Downtown Tulsa – Sights, Mysteries, and Discoveries

I assure you that our buildings in Tulsa do not lean to the left.

I’m one of those guys who has to get outside for at least a little bit every day regardless of the weather. So many of my coworkers over the years just stay inside, and surf the net or work or whatever. I couldn’t stand that. I have to get out. Over the course of a month or so I tramp all over downtown. I always take my camera.

The old Sun Pipeline Building.

I’m not satisfied with just one photo of something and then I’m done. Nope, there always different sides to things. The weather is different. The surroundings are different. I’m always amazed how much things change.

I like to visit old sights. These windows for instance. If I wont the lottery, which I won’t because I won’t spend the money on a ticket, but if I did. I would have bought this former AT&T building and put in a room with big comfy couches right under these windows. I don’t have to worry about it now. A church bought the building. I hope that these windows are put to good use. I’ll keep you posted;.

Here is a recurring mystery. This little lookout has been here for years. What is it for? Guarding and empty parking lot? Perhaps. I’d like to have a little look out, especially with air conditiooning. Wouldn’t you?

And old vintage gas station now an Avis dealer. I love old buildings put to good use.

I find remnants of Tulsa being the “Oil Capital of the World” such as this divider of some sort made out of oil well casing pipe.

And I found where somebody has started up a lending library of sorts in the East Village area.

What about you? Do you like to explore, tell me about it.

Digital Art Meme – 1931 Spartan Monoplane

A Spartan Aviation C-2-60 Monoplane. A two seater with a three cylinder 60 horsepower engine built by Tulsa’s Spartan Aviation in 1930. Spartan was trying to deal with the reduction in market by building a cheaper lighter plane but only sixteen were ever built. I think it is sleek and beautiful. This one is on display at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum. Spartan is still in business as an aviation school.

I used Topaz Lab’s Glow software with the “Squiggly Lines” backed off about 50 percent. I like how the background colors faded to monochrome bringing the aircraft out of a very busy background.

Linking with Digital Art Meme

Skywatch Friday – Front Porch Sunrise

December Sunrise - Topaz Glow - Whisker Wires II 54 pct

True Confessions – I used Topaz Glow

A shot to the southeast off my front porch a week or so ago. Sometimes you don’t need to drive a long ways to get a photograph.

I hope that everybody had a good Christmas. I know I did. I’ve been very lazy, read some books, watched a few movies, stayed up late, slept in late, getting really fat.

So now we have New Years. Everybody have a good time and stay safe. I wish everybody a great and prosperous New Year!

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Morning River Parks Sky

I dropped the kid off at school the other morning and being a day off I spent a few minutes walking on the River. It was the start of a glorious day. The sun was bright, the sky was blue, the air was clear and cold with a stiff breeze. It doesn’t get better than that.

LInking with Skywatch Friday and with Pippa’s Friends Meet Friends

Update on Turkey Mountain and Helmerich Park

There is a lot of news these days of interest to those in the Tulsa area interested in preserving green spaces and wilderness as wells as the financial health of our city.

Maybe the most exciting news is that two local powerhouses, QuikTrip and the George Kaiser Family Foundation have given the Tulsa River Parks Authority a loan for $5.6 million to purchase 150 acres of land on Turkey Mountain, presumably including the 50 acre tract that Simon Properties wanted to purchase to put in an Outlet Mall. That deal fell through in September when Simon announced that that the were going to put the mall in the suburb of Jenks. Money to purchase the 150 acres is expected to be in a bond issue to be submitted to the owners within the next year. Reported separately Friday, the Jenks Planning Commission appproved Simon Properties’ plans for the outlet mall.

The bridge loan is great news. Until the land was in the public’s hands, it was at risk of development. This puts it out of private hands and into the River Park Authorities control.

It is pretty rare in Oklahoma for people to fight city hall and win. City hall is not happy. Our mayor Dewey Bartlett got people riled up in November by pitching a proposal for a restaurant on the mountain. It didn’t go down very well.

Mayor Bartlett was probably a little sore at losing the sales tax revenue from Simon’s mall to Jenks. Cities in Oklahoma are financed primarily by sales taxes and with the downturn in the energy industry and the rise of internet sales, sales tax collections are struggling. Friday, the mayor announced a job freeze because of decreased sales tax collections. The city has been working hard at attracting national retail stores to Tulsa to increase sales tax collections. Some of us wonder if all we are doing is cannibalizing existing businesses but we are generally okay with smart development.

Helmerich Park, or not a park, just been used as a park.

So now we have a new controversy over green space, this time concerning land in a city park, Helmerich Park, on the Arkansas River that the city is wanting to sell to a developer for a shopping center. Not a mall, just a moderately bigger than average strip mall type facility as far as I can tell. The problem is that you can’t sell land in a city park without going through a process involving the city council. The outdoor equipment retailer REI is expected to be the anchor tenant. To its credit REI has announced that it is not coming to Tulsa until all legal questions over the legal status of the proposed site have been answered.

The volley ball courts at Helmerich Park. Note Turkey Mountain in the background.

So the city’s attorney has come up with this claim that the park is not really a park. It is just land that has been used as a park. So we are probably headed to court to settle this. It is very complicated because of claims that money was donated to the city to purchase the land to be used as a park in perpetuity.

Acccording the city, this is not a park

The city wants to move fast to keep the project on tract, and a bunch of citizens are wanting to slow down and figure out this whole thing about what it means to say that land is not a park but is being used as a park. Plus we are trying to make sure that once land elsewhere in the city, like Turkey Mountain, is preserved as a park that it won’t be “unpreserved” by some fancy legal footwork. And of course we are also concerned about the city getting enough money to pay for services and keep our police and fire departments staffed up and with the equipment they need to keep the city safe.

So now we are going to have another real life Quality of Life vs Development controversy in Tulsa.

Check out information from Smart Growth Tulsa Coalition. Among other things, they have a link to a video of our present Mayor Dewey Bartlett stating the land for the park will never be sold.

Facebook Group: Save Helmerich Park

Channel 6 Television story on the Bridge Loan

Channel 5 Television story on Tulsa deciding to sue for right to sell land in park

Tulsa World Newspaper story in 1991 announcing brand new Helmerich Park

Channel 2 Television story back in August where city announces they sold twelve acres out of the park

Digital Art Meme – Trees

Son and I went on a walk around a local park in Tulsa last weekend. I liked the look of many of the trees that lost their leaves. You can see their arms now and their arms look like they are dancing.

I used Topaz Lab’s “Glow” software to emphasize the “arms” on this tree.

Linking with Digital Art Meme

Lunchtime Geocaching – Walking in the Woods looking for Tupperware

A bare hint of a trail at West Highlands Park

Fall has definitely come to Tulsa and we are in a period of gorgeous days with sunshine and blue skies. And with the brush, bugs, and snakes gone I am back in the woods finding the larger geocaches. Once or twice a week I take off at lunch to go find one or two. Early in the week I went to west Tulsa’s West Highlands Park to find one hidden deep in the woods in an undeveloped area of the park. Previous finders had reported a lot of difficult bushwhacking. I’m lazy and I had my work clothes on and wasn’t interested in getting all tangled up in the brush, thorns, and mud so I spent a considerable amount of time looking for a trail headed to the cache. It wasn’t a regular park maintained trail. It is what land managers call a “social trail” and you are liable to find anything on such a thing. It is best to keep an eye on what is going on because it is possible to walk into something you don’t really want to walk into. Check out geocaching.com to learn more about geocaching or my link at the end of this post.

Sure enough about 100 feet into the woods I find a collection and porno mags and some whiskey bottles. Sometimes I wish I had a trash bag with me (and a really really good pair of gloves!). I’ve brought along trash bags and it works out well. You pick this crap up and and drop it into a trash bin at the park parking lot. I hate it when people leave trash in public areas.

A few hundred feet further and I came upon an old squatter’s camp that was no longer active. They had left a bright green Dollar store shopping cart. That puzzled me because you would basically have to carry that thing through the woods to their camp. I mean if you have that much energy why don’t you get a job, earn some money, and get an apartment?

Soon after, I left all signs of squatters and came upon signs of nature. Some busy little beaver got after this tree.

I found the cache, as a courtesy to the Cache Owner and the people looking for it I am not showing where I found it. If you want to go look for it, it is named “TAG CITO 2014 Commemorative Cache – West Highlands.” It was a fun one to find.

At lunch on Friday I drove out west to Keystone Dam to look for a couple of caches.

I wasn’t really familiar with the area and ended up on this old road on the south side of the Arkansas River downriver from the dam. A road like this demands to be driven to the very end and I did. So then I looped back and got to business at hand.

I saw an eagle take off from the top of these trees near the “Ground Zero” of the Bomb Squad Cache.

The first one I went after was close to the dam and was named Blue Blazes after the trail that goes by it. This is on Army Corps of Engineers managed land and there was no signs of squatters or porn parties. Just me, the trail, and the woods.

Then I went to the other side of the dam and took a short hike along the north bank of the river and found the Bomb Squad Cache so named because the cache owner originally placed the cache too close to a post office and the police bomb squad came in and looked at it. They didn’t go stupid though. They left a note asking him to move it somewhere else and he did deep in the woods, and I’m glad he did.

Anyways I love walking in the woods this time of year on a bright sunshiny days. What about you, have you ever been geocaching?

Geocaching 101

Skywatch Friday – Bear Fountain

Last week before the five or six days of rain at one of my favorite fountains and sculptures on Tulsa’s River Parks.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Checking out the Tulsa Air & Space Museum & Planetarium

Son, Logan and brother Bob in front a Spartan 7-W -Executive

It was Thanksgiving weekend and brother Bob came to visit from Corpus Christi. We usually go hiking or running together outside but it rained and rained and then rained some more this weekend. Plus I have dragged him to the Gilcrease and Philbrook museums several times so, time to hit the Tulsa Air & Space Museum & Planetarium.

Logan in front of the Spartan 7-W Executive

The place is packed full of airplanes of various types and there are all sorts of helpful but not intrusive volunteers to answer questions or just chat.

Spartan NP-1

Tulsa has quite an aviation history. American Airlines has a major maintenance base here. According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, Air Force Plant 3, also known as the Tulsa Bomber Plant manufactured during World War II: A-24 Dauntless Dive Bombers, B-24 Liberator Strategic Bombers, and A-26 Invader Medium Bombers. Peak employment during the war was over twenty three thousand people. During the Cold War up until 1957, the plant built B-47 Stratojet Strategic Bombers and B-66 Medium Bombers.

Spartan C-2-60

Tulsa is also home to Spartan Aviation. An 87 year old company started by oilman W.G. Skelly in 1928 and then later by another Tulsa oilman, J. Paul Getty. Spartan was a manufacturing company in its early years and later a pilot, technician, and mechanic training organization. According to Spartan’s web site, Getty sought an officer’s commission when the war started but was told what he needed to do was hand over his oil company concerns to others and to concentrate his talent on Spartan because the military was depending on Spartan to train military pilots. They are still in business today and have trained over 87,000 pilots. They advertise that they can get you “airline ready” in 33 months. If interested check their website. Financing available, tell them Yogi sent you.

Aeromet AURA (“Autonomous Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft”) One of the first Military drones built in 1986 for the US Air Force by Tulsa Company Aeromet. This aircraft is considered to be forerunner of the drones now in use.

I don’t think any airplanes are being manufactured in Tulsa any longer but American Airlines and its associated contractors are still a major contributor to Tulsa’s economy. Any big bond issues generally have some millions of dollars of goodies in there for American to keep from moving their jobs somewhere else.

Oh yeah the museum has fun stuff like a model airplane flight simulator also as Logan found out.

Brother Bob tried it out also.

We bought tickets for the Planetairium. They have a bunch of different programs offered frequently during the day. The one we watched was “Earth, Moon, and Sun” and they also had a short program on the status of the former planet Pluto and another program on Light Pollution.

Anyway we had a good time. Go check it out if you are in the area! Their web site is loaded with good information.

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Our World – My Favorite Street

Most mornings after I go to the gym I head up to the Panera on Cherry Street for a bagel, coffee, and the morning newspaper. Afterwards I drive past this street on my way to work. Friday I looped back around to take a pic. It was pretty bright with the morning sun on the autumn leaves. Me, being me, couldn’t leave well enough alone so I ran the photo through Topaz Impressions backed off about 60%. The photo quite a bit off level and after correcting it, I I undid the correction. I love all those tall trees right on the street.

So that was Friday, Saturday was cold and windy and I bet many of those leaves are down on the street now.

YogisDen.us

Welcome to my world