New Steeple

A couple weeks ago a blog friend here in Oklahoma emailed me with a heads up that the First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa was putting up their new steeple in downtown Tulsa.

I had to go check it out. For an economic downturn going on Tulsa sure has lots of projects going on. I try and sidewalk supervise all of them but there is only so much that one guy can do. So I need all the help I can get.

My friend told me that her husband would most likely be the guy at the top bolting the steeple onto its base. I think this may be him. I hope that he was appreciating the daytime moon while he was working. Actually I bet that he pretty much concentrates on his job and lets us desk jockeys worry about composing the shot.

This is from the church’s web site showing what it is going to look like when they are done.

Skywatch

River Bear Fountain

SuperPizzaBoy and I call this the River Bear Fountain. I have no idea what the official name is.

It is on the Arkansas River trails at 71st and Riverside.

SPB and I have been resting here on our jaunt’s since he was one year old and I was pushing him along in baby stroller. A few more years he may be pushing me along!

Watery Wednesday

Deer Capital Geocachers

Over Thanksgiving on 2006 about five years ago, I along with son SuperPizzaBoy and my Father in Law, “Boompa”, placed a geocache at the Wildlife Heritage Center in Antlers, Oklahoma a small town in the former Choctaw Nation of southeastern Oklahoma. Lots of forests, rives, and lakes and very very outdoorsy.

The cache is called Deer Capital. (Because Antler’s is the Deer Capital of the World, haven’t you heard?) I had to keep pestering Geocaching.com to approve the cache. They like caches to be hidden, not in museums but they gave up under my relentless ~~whining and crying~~, persuasive arguments. I put a camera in the cache and asked finders to get photographs of themselves.

There have been only 50 finders of the cache in five years and not too many took photos but I like the variety. You have crusty guys.

And grandmothers with the grandkids.

And some close knit families. Note the deer in the background also.

Geocachers come in all ages and shapes.

I have to tell you though that the little guy down below in front with the red hair,

might be the cutest geocacher kid I’ve ever seen.

Anyway, if you find yourselves in Antlers stop by the museum, ask for the cache from the volunteer on duty, sign the log and get a picture of yourself with the included camera. Take the photo outside because it doesn’t have a flash.

The Siege of Vicksburg – Firing Cannon

As part of our vacation last summer we spent a couple of nights in Vicksburg, Mississippi which of course is the site of the Siege of Vicksburg during the Civil War. I didn’t really know anything about Vicksburg or the siege or why it was important or really anything at all.

There is all sorts of great information on the Siege of Vicksburg on the web. Vicksburg was important militarily because of its natural forts overlooking the Mississippi River. The Union wanted free mobility up and down the river. So in 1863 General Ulysses S. Grant ringed the city with 75,000 Union troops and hundreds of cannon. The Union Navy had their mortar barges on the river and for 47 days rained hell on the Confederate troops and civilians in Vicksburg.

The Confederates of course defended themselves the best they could but finally surrendered the city on July 4, 1863. Vicksburg did not celebrate July 4 until the 1940’s.

The Vicksburg National Military Park takes up the heart of Vicksburg and even now Vicksburg has the air of an occupied town. The Battlefield is wonderful but there were not that many people there in the heart of the summer.

It’s a very solemn place. During the battle the soldiers were buried here, there, and everywhere and it wasn’t until after the war that they were dug up and re-interred in cemeteries. I’m sure that they missed quite a few.

I had been trying to figure out how to post about Vicksburg. There is too much stuff there for just one post so I am going to several.

These photos show local high school and and college students demonstrating, under the direction of a Park Ranger (above right), the teamwork needed to fire a cannon. It was very interesting. He let us get up close until it came time to fire the cannon and we had to back.

At just a half charge of powder, firing blank, it set the burglar alarms off in the cars in the nearby parking lot and made a ton of smoke. I cannot imagine what dozens of cannons firing together, full charges, would sound like.

Our World

Gaillardia Serendipity

Friday was my day off, so Sweetie and I dropped the kid off at school, had breakfast and then headed to Tulsa’s fabulous Philbrook Museum. We saw the most valuable items ever found on the show Antiques Roadshow. These five rhinoceros horn cups were appraised for $1.3 million when the show came to Tulsa on July 23. If you have any rhinoceros horn cups in the attic I’d go find them if I were you, they are worth some serious money!

We also saw some weeds. Except don’t touch, they are not weeds. This is art. By Tony Matelli. Click on the link to see his web site. He is seriously not from Oklahoma. Very talented though.

And then to the gardens. They are beautiful.

We saw my old friend, the car bumper rhino.

And what Sweetie told me was Gaillardia, I said “Whoa, get back!!” Isn’t Gaillardia a serious tropical disease? Like coral snakes though, deadly but pretty.

Then we left Philbrook and went to the Linnaeus teaching gardens. There we found some Gazania. Beautiful.

At the entrance we saw the statue of Linnaeus. Wait, what does he have in his right hand?

Hey, the deadly Gaillardia. I wonder if that is what he died of?

And look at the book in his left hand, again.

And on a plaque behind him.

Supposed Gaillardia thrives in hot weather. It should be the kudzu of Oklahoma in that case. Turns out, Gaillardia Pulchella is Oklahoma’s State Flower. It is otherwise known as Indian Paintbrush.

Today’s Flowers

Oklahoma Antiques Roadshow Find Is Most Valuable Ever [Television] (gawker.com)

Weekend Reflections – Walking on the River Trail

Another photo taken while running on the Arkansas River Trail.

Weekend Reflections

Turkey Mountain Sunset

Sunset on Turkey Mountain in Tulsa.

Skywatch

Woof Woof Grrr Woof

My Diana Mini lomo camera has an option where it shoots half frame shots. In other words I can take two photographs in the space of one frame of film.

I’m not sure why they did it that way but it means that I can put two related subjects together like the photographs above sharing a frame. It was the same house bordering a city park and I think maybe the homeowner is a little tired of the dog walkers in the park fouling his fence.

Note that one sign is for the dogs and one for their owners.

Signs, Signs

What is Lomography?

Tilt Shifting

Have you ever heard of Tilt Shift? I hadn’t until I got interested in how bloggers can make some photos appear like miniatures, such as this of Columbus Circle in New York City.

(image by “avhell” on Flickr, Creative Commons License)

Here is my first attempt. I know that it is kind of rough.

Basically it is an optical illusion created by blurring the edges of the photograph. It can be done via a special lens or various software. It seems to work better on photographs with an above ground perspective.

It is an interesting effect. Have you ever tried it?

Lake Pretty Water

Saturday was a big day for son, SuperPizzaBoy. He went running with me, in the morning and then his Improv comedy class. He is with the teenagers this year, they bring they A game to class so SPB has to step up.

Then we decided to go fishing. We hadn’t been fishing for years. So after a late lunch, we packed up our rods, reels, tacklebox, and cooler and headed to WallyWorld for me to get a license and get a few other odds and ends. (Fishing license in Oklahoma is $25!!!!!)

We headed up to Lake Pretty Water in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. I love the name and the name fits. It is a beautiful small lake out in the middle of nowhere. Clean, neat, and well cared for.

We got special licenses to fish here. It was worth it. Come November they stock it with trout. We were fishing for catfish today. We didn’t catch any fish. I think that may by why they call the activity “Fishing” and not “Catching.” Didn’t matter, fishing is a great way of getting my head on straight, and get some relaxation.

I wasn’t the only one who was chilling Saturday.