Alvord, Texas
Our World – Road Trip with SuperPizzaBoy to Ride Horses, see some Bison, and Save a Turtle
Saturday Sweetie was going to spend some time with a friend so me and SuperPizzaBoy had the day to ourselves.
First stop was All-Star Therapy in Ramona, north of town. SPB rides there almost ever week. Here he is with “Seven” doing some rounds outside.
SPB worked under the direction of Lisa who should slap me silly for this pic. There was a daytime moon I was trying to get in the pic and didn’t even notice what Lisa was doing until later. You can just barely see the moon about right in the middle of the pic.
After All-Star SPB and I loaded up and went further north to the Nature Conservancy’s Tallgrass Praire Preserve north of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. I just love it up there for a number of reasons. You can really see a long ways. 39,000 acres of tallgrass praire. The largest remaining tallgrass praire on earth it is claimed.
You really are out in the middle of nowhere up there. You barely have cell phone coverage. An investor group wants to put a bunch of windmills up there to generate some so called “renewable” energy. They would sure ruin the view. But it would sure make investors rich! You are not one of them are you? What are you going to do with the money? I bet you are not going to build a home near any windmills.
We didn’t see any bison on our way into the preserve. We stopped and did the short loop nature trail. They have loops from 1/2 to 3 miles.
It was about as nice a day in July as you are ever going to get. It was in the low 80’s when we got there. See how lush and green the grass is. Usually everything is sun bleached, beat down, brown this time of year.
The wildflowers were pretty also.
SPB really liked the trail. He announced it was too short so we we walked a little on the longer trails.
On the way out the bison made an appearance. Here is a momma with two calves.
And then these two guys came straggling past along with a bunch of others.
In another part of the preserve we saw some cattle. Cows are more sociable than buffalo. They always stop and look where bison just barely acknowledge your present. I love these three.
And there were some white cattle also. You can tell that I really know my cows. You see you have white ones, black ones, multi-color ones, and so on. Anything else you want to know?
Very pretty coloring.
On our way out I almost ran over this dude. He was right on the edge of the ruts taking a nap.
I moved him to the side of the road. Hopefully it was the side he was wanting to go to. He was about to be turtleburger if I had left where I found him.
And then, SPB headed to Bartlesville for some barbecue and then “Home James” to the house. We were near the Pioneer Woman’s ranch but just were not in the mood to go say hello.
I love road trips. What did you do Saturday?
Scavenger Hunt Sunday – Cooling Off
The theme this week centers around cool and cold in this hot time of year.
Cool Colors
Nothing cooler than the Blue Whale, an attraction on Route 66 in the Tulsa suburb of Catoosa. Especially since I shot this in December, and I like the picture upside down. I’m an upside down kind of guy is what I say.
Leaves
These leaves are near Mount Rainier. It was very cool there.
Iced Beverage
Ah yes, the iced drink of choice in Oklahoma is a Margarita on the Rocks.
Cooling Off
Our ceiling fan on the back porch.
Raw
Oh yes, Ahi Tuna, yummm. And in my family I don’t have to worry about anybody stealing bites. Nor from my raw oysters.
Check out Ashley Sisk’s Scavenger Hunt Sunday. It is lots of fun, at least for me it is.
The Adventures of Me and SuperPizzaBoy on our trip to the Tulsa Zoo with a Canon Canonet
It was my 9/80 day off Friday. I work 80 hours over nine days and get every other Friday off. Son, SuperPizzaBoy and I decided to take a fast trip to the Tulsa Zoo even though we had some on again/off again rains. It turned out to be perfect, the weather was cool, and the zoo was deserted. That suits both SPB and I. We are almost anti-social at times. I mean I like people but when it is crowded, the stupid people are the main ones who show up, or at least make their presence known the most. I don’t want to step on any toes in case you happen to be a stupid person. I mean stupid people don’t decide to be stupid, they are born that way. They can’t help it. Oops Sorry, I digress. And besides they were no stupid people out and about Friday morning, or at least the ones that were well were dispersed. That may be the solution for stupid people, dispersion. You know how some companies, and many present day politicians, used to think that the “Solution to Pollution is Dilution” well maybe it works for stupidity. Maybe not though.
I brought along the fifty year old, plus or minus/ Canon Canonet that my Dad gave me last month. It is a solid hunk of metal, glass, and not much plastic with a light sensor which sets the fstop for a given shutter speed but otherwise is manual focus, film feed, film speed setting, and almost everthing. It sure is silky smooth to operate and the shutter is so quiet that I wondered for a while if it was working. I love it. It’s a real gem.
We saw some Siamangs. I had never seen them so active out on their island. It looks like the zoo staff had put their food in the white plastic jugs strung along the rope so the animals were moving out and across fetching and eating their food.
Here is SuperPizzaBoy with the Zoo’s statue of Ganesha, a Hindu god with an elephant head placed next to the elephant building which is closed for renovations. Some of my fellow Tulsa citizens periodically make a big deal about the statue saying that its presence at the city owned Zoo means that the city is trying to establish Hinduism as an official religion. These are people who really do need a life or a new hobby or something.At least in my opinion.
We saw a tiger, who was pretty loud. Sorry no zoom on my camera and I’m not cropping the photo. The pics today are all SOC!
And a lion who was also mouthing off. I’m wondering if the big cats had their breakfast yet.
These guys, within earshot, seemed pretty nervous. What do they feed those big cats anyway? You ever thought about that? I think these goats have thought about it plenty.
We saw some African Penguins. they are only about a foot tall. They are cool though.
SPB tells me that the penguins are his favorite critters at the zoo.
On the way out we passed the flamingos. Talk about lazy, they were still sleeping. Lazy or smart, I’m not sure. What are the going to do when they wake up? Sure is cool how they can sleep while balancing on one leg. Can you imagine how hard that is? Especially here in Oklahoma where the wind never stops.
So we went home, with a stop at Walgreens to get the film developed. I’m pretty happy with the results.
So what did you do on Friday.
Saturday, if the weather is good SPB and I might be going to Pawhuska (where the Pioneer Woman lives) to look at the Tallgrass Praire Preserve and the the bison who live there. Too bad Sweetie can’t make it, we could stop in and see Ree Drummond (aka “The Pioneer Woman”). She is a great cook but I think she’d lose in a cooking throwdown with Sweetie.
Weekend Reflections – Remembering a Peaceful Easy Feeling…
Skywatch Friday – Through the Ropes
Water Tower Wednesday – What Goes Up Has to Come Down
My blog friend Fashionista of Out and About in New York City features a photograph or two of the city’s many rooftop water towers on Wednesdays. I’ve have had severe case of water tower envy because we don’t do that here in Oklahoma and the water towers we do have are not near as stylish as those in New York.
I was delighted however to find a photograph of a water tower in my Dad’s collection of slides that I recently scanned. He told me that he got to tour a paper mill in under construction in Snowflake, Arizona way back in the 50’s and that was the mill’s brand new shiny water tower. I remember that paper mill. We used to drive by it now and then and it stunk! It stunk to high heaven for miles. It was flat awful. Talk about a good reason for air pollution laws.
So, I got to thinking. (I’m not used to thinking and it does kind of hurt when I try, but I kept at it, and worked through the pain) and I got to wondering what happened to the old paper mill, and, if the mill was still around, was the water tower still around. So I turned to my old friend Google, and found out that the mill’s owners shut it down last October because the newsprint it produced was no longer in demand and sold the facility early this year to a company who then went and auctioned every single thing they could in a very detailed list 24 pages long.
As far as the water tower is concerned above is a screen shot of the present water tower, at least as it existed last August. I can’t really tell if it is the present water tower or not. I’m betting with the dismantling of the plant that it is not long for this world. Maybe somebody bought it and is moving it to a rooftop in New York City.
And so anyway I guess that it is all kind of sad and everything and I feel bad for the workers who lost their job but things such as this happens as our economy changes and reacts to technology. So those of you who longer subscribe to daily newspapers are to blame! How is that for a parting guilt shot?
My World – Tulsa Children’s Museum – Discovery Lab
It was hot Saturday, so SuperPizzaBoy and I went to the new Tulsa Children’s Museum at Owen Park just north of downtown Tulsa.
It is located in the old Owen Park Community Center but the buildng has been totally revamped and repurposed.
We did it all, SPB really liked the bed of nails.
No children were punctured for this blog. He said he could feel slight pricks fromt the nails but that was it.
We went through the Tulsa Tape Tunnel. A long winding tunnel through the air that seemed like it was made of packing tape. It was lots of fun.
It is very safe and stable. The little kids shot past both of us.
It ends with a long slide to the floor. I didn’t know that they made slick packing tape?
We did it all. They have displays on aerodynamics, mechanics, optics, waves, electric circuits, lots of stuff, and they have things to build and play with.
They have lots of people to help with the displays if needed.
They have an activity center to make stuff.
It was a great way to spend the afternoon. I also tell you that it is not just for kids. I was definitely not the oldest person enjoying themselves. They also have stuff for the real little kids. Nowhere did I see any “Do Not Touch” Signs. This place is definitely a “Please Touch” museum.
I know that we liked it.
Scavenger Hunt Sunday – Cheerleader Edition
Camouflaged
Camo is an easy category for me cuz I’m an avid geocacher. My fellow geocachers are fiendisly clever. Fiendishly, maybe “Fiends” needs to be a Scavenger item, Whattyathink Ashley? Huh? Uh, sorry, I’m off task, time to either take my meds or get back on track. What do you see, Fungus? Maybe?
Nope, it is a geocache. See what I mean about fiendish. This is is downright evil.
Nutty
Nutty I’ll tell you wht is nutty are the bikers who ride the “FroFlo” trail on Turkey Mountain here in Tulsa. You can’t tell very well from the photograph but you ride your bike up a ramp and then along a tree trunk for some distance. I couldn’t even walk it but the “FroFlo” bikers do it with ease. If that aint nutty, nuttin is!
Alike
Some people think that water is all alike. Boy are they wrong. The bottle shape actually changes the molecular configuration of water. A cooler bottle makes cooler water. I bet you didn’t know that did you? Wake up Sheeple!
Identical
Son and I have many similarities. Cheerleaders like to hang around him.
And they hang around me too!!!! Son and I are both chick magnets. These ladies are actually fellow geocachers. They have given up on the Dallas Cowboys. Speaking of the Cowboys they have a little crisis going on. Did you hear? Their 1990’s highlight tape is broken. What are they going to do? Their tape is broken and their cheerleaders are deep in the woods looking for tupperware. Its not like they have anything to cheer about for the last fifteen years do they? Sis Boom Bah!!
Jaunt
I also like to do trail runs. They are great way to run outdoors and everybody is friendly. You get to run, walk, and climb all you want. The rest stops have major food like hamburgers and baked potatoes. It is quite the scene, if a little exhausting. Unless you run it the way I do. I don’t get get exhausted. You want to know my secret? The secret is to start off slow and then taper off. Works my friend, you’ll get last place every time. Or at least you and me will be fighting for last. That’s part of my competitive spirit.
These two guys manned a beer stop on my last race. I come cruising up and they said “Wanna Beer?” and I replied, “You got any other stupid questions, or is that it.” Or something to that effect. As a blogger I have the right to change the dialog over time. It’s in the bill of rights. Don’t like it, don’t talk to me, talk to Al Gore. He’s the one who invented the internet, not me. I’m just exercising my Constitutional Rights.
Well that’s it for this week’s entry. Check out Scavenger Hunt Sunday by Ashley Sisk.
Friday Fences – Flashback
Another one of my Dad’s slides from the early 1960’s that I scanned during my recent visit with him. He wasn’t sure just what this was a picture of but I loved the log fence and the cabins. We speculated that the mountains in the background were the San Francisco Peaks in northern Arizona but who knows. I love the mystery of it all.