The Quiet Waters Near Rattlesnake Lake

During our vacation to Seattle last week one day we visited Rattlesnake Lake about 25 miles west of Seattle and in quest of fresh water we stumbled upon the “Cedar River Watershed Education Center” run by the City of Seattle. You see the local watershed is where Seattle gets most of their water so they want to make sure people understand just how important the area is for providing clean water to Seattle.

We found some water to refill out bottles there and also found the coolest thing, drums that were played by water through some drip valves. It was the coolest thing and I just love serendipity. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my video camera along and didn’t underestand how to make the video function work on my regular camera.

(by MyCinerama on youtube)

But YouTube saves the day. Lots and lots of people have made videos of the drums. I have embedded one by “MyCinerama.” I found the effect of the drums to be very calming which brought to mind the following verse.

He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams.

Psalm 23:2
(New Living Translation)

Baloney’s Perfect Pairings

Camera Critters – Deer in the Park

During our recent vacation to Seattle we rented a car one day to go check out Mount Rainier National Park. The Park is a lot more than a big hill I’ll tell you. We went hiking down a nature trail near the Paradise Area to look at a glacier. On our way back we heard some noises like a hard breathing sound and something big moving through the woods.

We saw a deer who had stopped an was looking around with their big ole ears.

It looked downhill.

And to the left,

and right,

And then right at us. We didn’t move and neither did the deer. We finally moved on a few dozen yards and happened on what looked like a smaller version of the first one. I’m certainly no expert on deer but I think it is a black tail deer. By all means if I’m wrong let me know.

It didn’t seem too afraid of us either. The first deer started acting a little agitated, trotting back and forth. We could hear it but couldn’t see it, so we moved on.

Camera Critters

Chris Isaak at The Joint at Hard Rock Casino

Thursday night for Sweetie and I ventured out to the Cherokee Tribe’s Hard Rock Casino in the Tulsa suburb of Catoosa to see Chris Isaak play at The Joint. The Casino’s very nice (and non smoking) music venue.

I’ve had a passing interest in Isaak’s music for years. There is nothing like seeing a performer live to making one a fan.

Isaak’s voice is strong and clear, his band is very tight (He said that they have been playing together for 27 years.) It wasn’t long before Isaak had the audience dancing in the aisles.

And up on the stage! He kept trying to shoo the ladies over to the bass player.

Some of the women who couldn’t dance were updating their status.

Sweetie and I were talking about what kind of music that Isaak plays. We decided that he has rockabilly influences.

I found him to be very funny. He was fully of self depracating droll one liners. Plus he took lots of shots at his band especially the bass player.

The music was great, the Joint’s acoustics were perfect. It was a perfect concert.

And it featured the world’s biggest blowup doll. I mean if you like that sort of thing.

He sang and played the guitar for over one and a half hours.

It seemed like ten minutes.

I strongly recomend seeing him live. I understand that PBS is televising one of his shows. I’m going to watch it. If Sweetie will let me have the remote one of these days.

Watch Chris Isaak Live! Beyond the Sun | Preview on PBS. See more from pbs.

(Fair warning, the following video is almost R rated)

Skywatch Friday – Seattle’s Great Wheel

Seattle’s Great Wheel opened up recently. We had to try it.

The view from the waterfront.

From right below

From the top, Seattle’s skies are amazing. I’ve been looking at Sylvia’s Seattle Skies for years and I finally got to see them for myself.

Skywatch Friday

Signs – Truthless in Seattle

Rooms cost lots more than 75 cents in Seattle these days;)

Signs, Signs

Ruby Tuesday – Manly Oil and Gas Show Edition

Red, Red, What is Red????

I know last year’s Oklahoma Oil and Gas Trade Expo in Oklahoma City is Red.

The oilfield requires rough and tough stuff. The stuff painted red is the most rugged stuff. I don’t know how that got started but it is true.

Blue is used for electronics and other sensitive items that don’t belong on a drill site.

There was lots of manly red at the oil show.

My employer’s booth didn’t have any red. White and Blue are our colors. There may be “nothing finer than a pipeliner” but we don’t have all the manly stuff that oil and gas producer’s have. If we did, we wouldn’t be pipeliners, we would be producers.

I think this shoot out was a tie, what do you think?

Saint Barry Switzer, former University of Oklahoma football coach was there. Manly stuff and football go together.

This isn’t red, but it is still cool. A natural gas powered motorcycle.

I took these pics in October 2011, so they have had time to marinate. Have you seen any manly red lately?

Ruby Tuesday 2

Intenational Geocaching Day

I went a on a little geocaching jaunt Saturday at Keystone Lake.

I went to fetch a geocoin for a geocaching friend of mine and to get two other caches as well.

I headed off on the trail and then had to get off the trail to the cache where the geocoin was. Not there!! Dang. Common malady among so called trackables.

At the next cache I ran into fellow geocacher and trail runner “Speedy.” He’s kind of slow but steady and not too trusting. Speedy and I are always battling it out at the local trail races to see who is going to be next to last. I can almost catch him during the races but right at the end he puts on the afterburners and leaves me in the dust. I’ve been working on my kick and getting better but he still finishes ahead of me. One of these days I’m going to beat him. Jut look at him. I’m going to wipe that smirk of his face one of these days.

He needs to be careful or I’ll send him to south Louisana. Years ago I built a natural gas processing plant in the swamps near Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Cajuns who worked at the plant cooked and ate everything that slithered, scurried, or crawled across the plant site. They’d know just what to do with Speedy.

I went after another cache that was described as a “bit technical” by an earlier finder. That is a polite way of saying “older fat guys might think about staying away from this.” I went ahead anyway. Good judgement is not something I’m known for, especially at home. I got out relatively unscathed, relatively. No witnesses at least, so I’m not telling.

Anyway, it was International Geocaching Day and by finding a cache I got this badge.

And the badge is fine and good and all that but I go geocaching for the walk in the woods.

Its kind of why they call fishing, “fishing” instead of “catching.” It’s all about getting your head on straight.

So, all is well with my (Kia) Soul.

Turkey Mountain Geocaching – Oklahoma Rock and What are these doing here…

Wednesday Night I cashed in my weekly kitchen pass for a trail running and geocaching expedition on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain.

I headed down the Blue Trail and then another fainter trail to the Oklahoma Rock.

The cache is also named Oklahoma Rock but it is not at the rock. It is 207 feet from the rock in the direction that the rock is pointed. The Oklahoma Rock cache was placed by M5, otorious for ingenious fun hides. This cache has a twist because he placed a smaller version of the Oklahoma Rock near the cache, pointing back to the big Oklahoma Rock. Sounds easy right?

So off I went. I’m not going to spoil the fun for you by showing you what the cache looks like, what the smaller rock looks like, or talk about the problems I had in finding the cache. You need to figure that out for yourself.

I found it though. Finally, this was my third attempt. It hadn’t been found since June.

I was so pumped I went to look for another cache further into the mountain named “What are these doing here…:: A cache hidden in or near a bunch of old Pepsi Delivery Truck’s parked at what is called Pepsi Lake near the Westside Y. Don’t ask me what they are doing there. Don’t ask me where the cache is either because I couldn’t find it.

First I got stopped by a baby possum.

Standing in the middle of the trail. He must be an NRA member because he was standing his ground.

Mean looking, brave little cuss about three inches tall.

Not very cute and cuddly though. I don’t think he was packing but I went around him. Don’t mess with critters hogging the trail is my motto. Usually refers to snakes but I’m adding possums to the list also.

I got to the Lake and actually climbed into the trucks, and looked high and low. “What are these doing here…” was hidden by adairmd. Another cacher who knows how to frustrate people. We cachers like the tough hides. The fun is in the looking. This cache was found by blogging and trailrunning friend Trail Zombie. I can’t let him get one up on me.

It was getting dark and I didn’t bring gloves or anything protective to search through the vehicles. I’ve already been to the doctor several times to get treated for various insect bites and I get tired of the staff laughing at me and giving me that look that they give to addled old fat guys. I’ll be back though.

Thank you again my fellow Americans. You have spent billions of dollars putting satellites into orbit so that I can climb through rusty truck bodies looking for a box. That is quite a sacrifice on your part. Especially seeing how I didn’t find it.