These signs concern me. What’s the deal? Are remote control 16 wheel trucks next? I don’t get it.For Yellow from all over check out Mellow Yellow Monday.
I had a whirlwind day last Thursday.
First I drove from Tulsa down to Oklahoma City for a meeting of Natural Gas and Energy Association of Oklahoma. They had the meeting at the Oklahoma History Center near the State Capital.
You could really tell that the price of natural gas is down. Not many people showed up. March prices for Oklahoma gas could be down in the $2.70 per million btu range. That is about 1/3 of last summer’s prices, and its winter. Doesn’t look good for the rest of the year. Also, the speaker was going to talk about Nuclear Energy in Oklahoma. To a bunch of gas folks?
Some people have told me that energy companies rig the prices. I tell them that the energy companies are pretty piss poor at it.
The Speaker was State Represenative Scott Martin of Norman. He is sponsoring a bill to facilitate nuclear power plants in Oklahoma. I think it is a good idea. That is for another post.
I kept thinking Scott Martin, Scott Martin . . . Seemed like he was involved in the Nick’s Law controversy going on in Oklahoma. He is a Republican . . . Some Republicans’ have suggested that Oklahoman’s with autism and their families maybe need to move to some other state. That kind of bothers me. Maybe the politicians need to move instead.
Anyway I got home and googled Rep Martin and was very pleasantly surprised. According to this Rep Martin was one of only four Republicans who stood up to their leadership to try and bring Nick’s law to the floor last year. So, I think that he is a good guy. I wished I had talked to him, but he had to go to a hearing, busy, buys, busy.
Speaking as a Republican, I have been wondering for some time now what they bring to the table, I mean, if you are not a big contributor looking for special favors in return for contributions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to turn Democrat on anybody. But still I’m wondering.
I had other things to do so I didn’t go through the Oklahoma History Center. I have done it before and I really recommend seeing it if you hadn’t before.
I did go through the grounds though. Lots of oil and gas stuff there.
Drilling rigs of various vintages. Look at the sky, you wonder why I didn’t want to stay inside?
A pumpjack, an older model. For pumping oil.
There was a geocache on the grounds. I’m sorry to report that I didn’t find it.
I loved this house. I signed a 1 year lease and left before the lease was up. Everything that wasn’t nailed down was disappearing. I even caught a fine young coed from that great Methodist school, Oklahoma City University, stealing bricks from the back yard. She said she didn’t realize that they belonged to anybody. She offered to put them back where she got them. Boy, that was nice of her.
I then left the city and headed west, to western Oklahoma. To check on some projects I helped put together commercially. In particular a couple of compressor stations.
Here is what one looks like. Isn’t it a beauty? Ok, time to quit.
Earlier this week I went out on what us oilfield trash in the energy business call a “foilage tour.” My employer has some projects going on in western Oklahoma that I had a hand in so went to check them out. Not that I have anything to contribute to them at this point besides get in the way and impede progress.
I had finished looking at what I came to look at and I was taking the back roads home. I was on a gravel county road when I saw some critters out walking in a wheat field. I did a double take and saw this group of birds. I’m not sure what they are, herons or cranes come to mind, and I’m sorry for the quality of the picture but it is the best I have.
There were other groups further out in the field walking around also. I have seen these birds in rivers standing alone looking for something to eat I always presumed.
Now, I know that birds come in flocks not herds. These birds looked like they were in a herd.
Thanks for visiting. For pictures of critters from all over please check out camera critters.
Supplement! Fishing Guy and a few other people said that the birds were sandhill cranes. I googled them and looked at the pictures available and to this unexpert eye, I think they are right. I found out from the International Crane Foundation site that sandhill cranes are the most populous cranes in the world and it is also the oldest bird species still surviving (10 million years+). Fishing Guy also pointed out that a herd (flock) of cranes is a sedge.
Thanks Fishing Guy for taking the time to let us know what the birds are.
Thanks guys, I love learning this kind of stuff.
I just finished “Scarpetta” by Patricia Cornwell. Baloney at “That’s Baloney” asked me if I had ever read her. Another friend Diamond Girl was also a fan. So I had to try and I’m glad that I did.
In my book reviews I don’t try and examine how the book helped me explore the inner realm of my outer consciousness, or wait, is it the other way around? Oh, darn I forget. Nor do I worry about the plot, unless it is cheesy. I just try and report if the book is a good read. A good read is a book that just grabs you and makes you read it. Necessary are good characters, a believable story, and a smooth writing style.
This book is a good read and is not cheesy. The plot is not for the faint of heart. But hello, the lead character is a medical examiner. You got a weak stomach go read something else.
This book rates 3.5 out of 4 stars.
I recommend it highly. It has been out for a while. I got my copy readily from the library. Don’t buy it!! Its a great book but go to the library, get a card, get the book.
Late Afternoon from deep in the woods near Chandler, Oklahoma.I am on Facebook quite a bit. Not a whole lot. Unlike some friends of mine, I can quit anytime I want. Anyway I missed the big controversy where they tried to change the terms of service but there was a huge outcry from their customers so they reverted back to the old terms of service overnight.
The Geek blog, Lifehacker, recently had a link this article on allfacebook.com, an unofficial Facebook online guide. I suggest that anybody who uses Facebook a lot read the article especially those of us who work outside the home and have work friends and personal friends. I thought they were all the same. There are ways to differentiate privacy settings between different sets of friends. That was news to me.
If you are Facebook user, I definitely recommend reviewing the article.
Well I’ve blogged about cats and dogs, kids, and auction baskets. Sometimes I have to let my inner engineer geek side come out. Below are pictures from a customer who is upgrading a refinery and had to get this big widget over a highway via a temporary bridge.
I think the guy sitting down must be the project engineer. Sitting down far away from work is usually the best use for an engineer when actual work is going on. Usually engineers have negative productivity during this kind of thing. Not only are they not doing anything, they prevent other people from working. So planting him down in the grass like a flower is a smart move. The risk you run is him filing a workman’s comp claim for chiggers or fire ant bites on the butt.
Man I wish I knew how much that bridge cost, let alone widget. I bet they ordered all that early last year when oil was over $100 a barrel.
Don’t you just love this kind of stuff?
72%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?
I’m pretty much useless for anything else these days. Just ask Sweetie.
I got a kitchen pass to go run after work tonight. Thanks Sweetie. I didn’t have my running stuff at work so I didn’t run on the river. I came home changed and ran on the Creek Turnpike trail.
I was all excited. A geocache needed found also. If I run and cache then I have to blog it. So it was running, caching, and blogging tonight. I also take my ipod. Full blast: Metallica, Bride, Blink 182. All that music will rot your brain. I wouldn’t listen to it if I were you.
About two miles from where I started, this is the cache site. Its not on the sign or around the sign, in the ground, or anywhere else.
Its in the power pole. What’s up with that? How do I get it out? Its snug. I need a tool. I don’t have any tools. Why should I need a tool to get a cache? Oh well, I don’t have any cheese to go with my whine. What can I use?
Aha, there is a tool! Its not a snake, its a stick.
Extract the cache. Look at the log. You can’t see it. The dork that took the picture over exposed it. That’s why.
The cacher before me was “CCATBQFM”
It means
Captain Crash and the Beauty Queen from Mars.
Everybody knows that.
What a perfect evening Sweetie. Thanks.
The Pythian Building in Tulsa, sometimes called the Gillette Tyrell Building started construction in 1929. Originally it was going to be a 3 story office building with a 10 story office tower. That topped with a penthouse. The stock market crash happened though and the owners did not build the hotel tower. This story sound familiar?
The exterior is mildly interesting if one knows what to look for. There is a lot of tilework set into the terra cotta. Really it is a an understated building on the outside.
The interior is another story. It is L shaped and has spectacular tilework on the floor and walls in shades of blues, reds, and creams. The ceiling of the lobby has a fake skylight that uses etched glass.
The tiles are durable also. I am told that the floor tiles have never been replaced. The building is fully occupied and the present owners are taking very good care of it.
The detailing of the tile work is wonderful. No two patterns are alike.
