Tag Archives: Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Fall is Falling

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My wife’s cousin’s wife, Cheri Lou took this photo at the ranch in western Oklahoma. I love the rolling hills, grassy rangelands, and the big skies out there. The people are great also.

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Where we live in northeastern Oklahoma is more forest land and a lot wetter. Son Logan and I went on a little jaunt at Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center. Lots of wildlife in Oxley. Lots of water also and it is right underneath the main approaches to our local airport and is right next to the police gun range so it can get kind of noisy but I love it.

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There are several sizeable lakes and ponds and it is known as a good birding site. I love birds but I don’t have the patience to put in the work.

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Here you go, any photoblogger worth his salt has the obligatory first red leaf of Autumn. I think this might be my first red leaf ever.

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This gave me a start! Don’t worry, it is a rubber snake placed near a geocache. At least I think it was near a geocache. I looked for it and didn’t find it. I lifted a rock and found me a real snake. Just a tiny little garter snake but I decided, enough is enough.

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Saturday I had some time so I went looking for some urban caches in Tulsa. Found one near the Saba Grotto. I think it has some relation to the Masons. There were a few instagram pics with Saba Grotto. it looks like a big man cave. They have a pretty active facebook page and they seem to have all sorts of benefits and events. Who would have thought? Stuff like that intrigues me. People don’t seem to join clubs any longer. They belong to “affinity groups” where they do people who have similar interests but is a lot looser. Anyway, one reason I love geocaching is that I find new places and learn new things.

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Another cache I found was on a freeway interchange. Talk about hiding something in plain sight. Lots of cars whizzing by while I figured out where the cache was.

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I am still training for the Tulsa Run 15K the last weekend of this month. Last week I ran 9 miles after work and I actually felt pretty good. Cooler weather and a hydration vest works wonders. I had already signed up for the race and went ahead and signed up for the Route 66 Half Marathon in November. This weekend I am running 11 miles on Sunday morning. At least that is my plan. Check back later. Plans change.

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A side benefit is running is the opportunity to take photographs. A great deal of my running (and a great deal of my photos) are along the Arkansas River. Tulsa really is a beautiful town. Of course I love the gritty west side of Tulsa where all the industry and refineries are.

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In the Fall the skies get a lot more interesting. This is a sunset photo looking east with my back to the sun.

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I’ll finish up with a selfie with a combuster at a waste treatment plant on the river. I was halfway on my nine mile run and I was really happy with how good I felt. Cooler weather, a hydration vest, and Metallica on the earbuds works wonders. That is about as big a smile as you will ever get out of me.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Boston Avenue Church

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Monday night I was working out at my gym downtown and when I left to go home I captured this scene. I took a bunc of shots of it and spent some time “messing” with them with various filters. The above uses good old Snapseed, the free and very powerful and easy to use app from Google. The building is the Boston Avenue Methodist Church in downtown Tulsa. Designed by Bruce Goff and built in the late 1920’s. It used to be our home church and I will tell you that it is even more beautiful on the inside than the outside.

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What I started out taking pictures of was the pink clouds. It was spectacular.

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And this is from last week from my office looking toward our Library. We got soaked all day.

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I took this homey pic of a scene across from my office building. I loved the glow of the lights and the reflections. And I really ramped up the HDR on this.  I love using filters. I find that I don’t have the time to edit photos with my editing software any more.

We are having a couple cool days now but it is going to be back to the 80’s the day after tomorrow. What is the deal!!

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And how about a kitten picture. This is Lizzie. She has taken over the house and is about as cute as cute can get.

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This is Ginger and Logan. They are not so cute any more.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Oklahoma City Walk

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My last post was about a wedding we went to, this is about the day after.

I wake up earlier than everybody else and sure I drink coffee and read the paper but I like to get outside and I didn’t feel like running so I went geocaching.

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A simple type geocache is a skirtlifter. Located on the skirt on a parking lot light. There were two close to our hotel so off I went to find them.

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The caches have little paper logs that you sign to prove that you were there and also a separate web page that you “log” to show the world that you found it. Check out geocaching.com for more info.

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Some of the containers are pretty small. Plus under one of the caches I spotted a black widow spider.

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Who would of thought that high rise apartments in Oklahoma City would be around enough to need renovation.

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You are saying, “Hey this a Skywatch post, where is the sky?” Right here, behind this architectual gem. I don’t know whether this is mid century modern or Googie or what but I think it is beautiful. It is also empty, but seems well cared for. I love those arches with the cables. I am thinking this used to be a bank.

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This is the back side of what I think is a bank. I don’t know about you, but I really think they should install more lighting. Eleven lights is just not enough.

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And this building is a special place. This is Founders Tower and there is a restaurant at the top that rotates and that is where Heather and I had our first date back in the 80’s. It was called the Eagles Nest then and now it is called 3sixty restaurant and bar. We had a great time. Or at least I did.

It is also and office building. The oil and gas industry at a certain level is almost a barter economy. You have geologists, landmen, and reservoir engineers who will work for an interest in a well rather than cash. Lots of those guys used to have offices here.  That was back in the day when you could drill a vertical Redfork well in the Anadarko basin for “only” $1.5 million. Nobody does that any more. Now to drill and frack a horizontal Woodford Shale, or STACK, or SCOOP or other shale well is going to cost you $10 million. I have had customers with a straight face tell me about “pilot projects”  with seventy such wells.

The technology invoved used to be almost generic but now the players keep their secrets very closely held. I am out of the game a little bit now but I wonder how the barter economy has survived. As Alan Jackson says, “the big money has come to town” or something like that.

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And then back to the hotel. Notice the pedestrian friendly streets in Oklahoma City. I’ve always loved Oklahoma City for its pioneering boom and bust attitude.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday

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Its late September and that means that I am spending a lot of time every week on the River Parks trails along the Arkansas River training for the Tulsa Run 15K that occurs in late October. This is the perfect time to run where we still have daylight savings time and the weather is beginning to cool. Last night I ran eight miles and it went splendidly.  I have decided that I am going to sign up for the Route 66 Half Marathon which runs in November.

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And the skies are a lot more colorful this time of year. I took this in the street in front of my home.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Autumn is Coming Edition

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Every morning I drive by this greenbelt. At Spring and Fall the sun rises just perfectly.

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My “cousin-in-law” Cheri Lu took this photo at her family’s ranch in Western Oklahoma. I love the big skies out there. Even with power lines.

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Another scene from the bike ride Heather and I took last weekend. Autumn is Oklahoma’s best season as far as I am concerned. It is really long period of warm days and cool nights. It is time for backyard fires and camping.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Anniversary Edition

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On Sunday Heather and I went for a bike ride. We drove 14 miles in nice weather under a beautiful blue sky.

And because I’m such a nerd, here is a video of the route we took.

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Saturday night we celebrated our Anniversary in style at a trendy restaurant downtown. The Bull in the Alley, only ten tables in the place. But it is deluxe.

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We had lots of real estate to ourselves. We had a nice leisurely dinner. We’ll be going back.

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The entrance is in an alley. Who’d of thought. No sign or anything.

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We also have a new member of the family. A nice little female kitten. She has taken over the house. We are trying to name her. The vet we got her from calls her Wendy. We think Windy might be more apt because she is kind of gassy. We are thinking Izzy or Lizzy or Chloe sounds good. What do you think? She is very sweet and not scared of our goofy dogs at all.

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Nana kind likes her also.

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Heather is already hooked, and so am I.

Anway, that is what is up with us. I did post a bit of the sky so this is my Skywatch Friday post.

Skywatch Friday Eclipse Madness in Totality – 2017

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I got to see the Eclipse in Totality in Idaho Falls, Idaho. My dad’s assisted living center had a viewing organized for the residents, staff, and guests. My sister had already bought me a pair of glasses.

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They brought out a bunch of chairs and provided refreshments and snacks. They had a narrator also telling us what was going on.

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So I got out there kind of late. The sun seemed as bright as ever but you would tell that the temperature was lowering and a breeze was picking up. Also, as the eclipse progressed, it didn’t seem to get that much darker until the very end but we could hear the crickets start chirping and the birds started singing. Right before totality it started getting notably darker.

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It got pretty dark but there was light on the horizon for 360 degrees around us. The narrator told us that we could take our glasses off and look directly at the eclipse. I didn’t bring my good camera, just my cell phone.

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When we took off our glasses off, everybody gasped. I have not seen any photographs yet that gives the experience justice.

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It was like living, breathing physics and astronomy and was a little overwhelming. I can understand a little more why people spent such vast sums of money coming from all over to experience.

The next total eclipse coming to the USA is on April 8, 2024 and is nipping the very southeastern corner of Oklahoma. The above is a NASA map of the route of totality. I’m going to do my best to experience it again.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Catching Up Edition

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I mentioned in my previous post that my father passed away in Idaho recently. That was sad but our small family gathered and we got to see our newest member from Arizona. What a sweetheart she is and so active. Getting friends and family together is a positive part of funerals so we gathered from the various corners of our country including brother Bob, a civilian employee for the Navy who was evacuated from his home in Corpus Christi because of Hurricane Harvey. He thinks his apartment is okay but will not be sure until he gets home.

My heart goes out to the Texans who are flooded because of the storm. I used to live in the Houston area.

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Anyways from the scene above I could take photos of the Idaho sunsets over the back fence.

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I also got some great sky shots while passing through the Denver Airport. I’m headed home this afternoon and will pass through Denver again.

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One of my trips up here, I had to drive back to Salt Lake City to catch a flight home because of the Eclipse madness. I took the opportunity to find my first Utah cache. I’ve now got all the states in the west except for Nevada.

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I had to turn around and fly right back to Idaho from Tulsa and I got to see a sunrise on the way back.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday

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We had storms in Tulsa on Tuesday. I hate the storms but love the rain and all it brings us. As long as it is not too much. I’m choosy about my blessings.

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I went out to western Oklahoma for a meeting on Monday. I love the big skies and the big hearted, hard working people out there. If you look close you can tell I work for a pipeline company based on all the stuff in the foreground.

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This is evening on the Snake River in Idaho Falls from our trip out there a couple weeks ago. We went to check on my father. He is not doing very well and your prayers on his behalf would be appreciated. My sister is there with him right now. I think I’ll be going back soon.

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Here, There, and Everywhere

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I had a little time in west Tulsa this afternoon so I snuck over to Route66 Village and took a photo of the Frisco 4500 steam powered locomotive on display there. I love the locomotive not only because of it being there at Route 66 Village but because me and and a couple of coworkers found it during a geocaching outing during lunch years ago. We found it out in the middle of nowhere in north Tulsa so I think we were in the know before it was cool. It is a huge engine. Those wheels that it has are each taller than I am. It is truly a monument to early 20th century technology.

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I had been gone from by beloved Turkey Mountain for two weeks and last night got to run on it for eight miles. I love running and knowing that nobody knows where the heck I am. I am fully cognizant that this can really truly bite me in the butt under the right (wrong) circumstances.

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I am a bad blogger. I am the only active blogger still hosting Skywatch Friday. Last week I got hte Skywatch Friday post up so my fellow Skywatchers could link to it but I didn’t get my own post up. Me an my family traveled to Idaho Falls, Idaho to visit my Dad. He is in a very nice assisted living facility but lately has had some difficulties. Sorry, I wasn’t into a blog post. As primitive as my posts are, I still have to be into doing them or they are not going to happen and when I am stressed I can rarely write a post. I can report that things are looking better now.

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One of the beautiful things about Idaho Falls is the Mormon Temple right on the Snake River. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. I am not LDS but I have to tell you that they do their temples right. I have been thinking that when I retire I would like to travel the country and photograph the various Mormon temples because the ones I have seen have been architectural masterpieces. One of them, the temple in Oklahoma City, I toured years ago right after it was constructed but before it was dedicated. The exterior and interior of the temple was sumptuous. Nothing but the best went into its construction and furnishings.

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The Idaho Falls temple just got through with a two year renovation and they got a refinished statue at the top. It is the Angel Moroni blowing his horn to the east.  It is fiberglass and has a new gold fill finish that should last 20 years. Speaking of Idaho Falls, it is in the prime viewing area for upcoming solar eclipse. If you were staying there, check your hotel reservations. Apparently some hotels are cancelling their reservations because they can make more money rebooking the rooms  to somebody else. Good old American Capitalism at work.

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Idaho Falls has a great green belt along their frontage of the Snake River. My wife Heather found some decorated rocks on the greenbelt. I just love stuff like this. People doing things for other people to find and appreciate.She spotted several rocks. I have yet to find my first. How about you? Have you found any decorated locks yet?

I am linking with Skywatch Friday