Saturday’s Critters – A Trip to the Tulsa Zoo

One of the great things about being retired is you really have a lot of time to do what you want to do. The other day I wanted to go to the zoo so I just went. The best time to go to the zoo is after school starts in the fall and during the week.

Notice the long line at the entrance. Not!! Zoo staff outnumbered visitors that day.

The first thing I did of course was go find a geocache. It involved the base of that rotating sculpture behind me. It was an earthcache so there were not a physical cache to find, I had to answer questions about the base. It took me a while but I think I got it.

And I passed by one of the pollinator gardens in the zoo. I spotted this Gulf Fritillary butterfly. What a beauty.

And this pipestone swallowtail.

And this hummingbird. I don’t know what kind and AI wasn’t sure. So if you know what kind it is please let me know in the comments. (Goes for any of the information in this post, let me know if I am wrong.)

From there I went to see the elephants. They are all Asiatic elephants. Elephants in zoos is very controversial. I get it.

And a komodo dragon.

And a kangaroo resting in the shade.

A pair of bald eagles.

A fuzzy photo of snow leopards chilling out.

An alligator floating in the water.

And a quartet of grey headed silverbills.

I took some short videos of other critters and then had my iphone stitch them together. The resulting clip is only 37 second long. Check it out if you have the time.

I loved my trip to the Tulsa Zoo. Do you like zoos? I love them.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

From the Moon to the Gulf of Mexico

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I totally forgot to post my Full Blood Moon photo last week, so I am doing it now. The internet is forever right?

A morning sunrise shot in the neighborhood.

One afternoon I noticed low thin clouds late in the day so I went home and launched the drone from the backyard and I’m pretty happy with this.

Orange Beach

I got a ton of skywatch photos on our vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama, on the Gulf of Mexico back in August so I’m still posting these.

I’m linking to Skywatch Friday

My Corner of the World – Anniversary Time!

Last week my bride, Heather, and I celebrated our thirty-sixth wedding anniversary. That is getting up in some years. We have been through a lot together, up and down and all around. I will tell you one thing, you don’t stay married that along by accident, both people have to work it. Anyway, we celebrated here in Tulsa.

We decided to go check out the Tulsa Botanic Garden. We are members but we haven’t been there in a while and it is always fun.

They do a great job with both the plants and garden decorations. I love gardens that also decorate with non-plant items. It adds a little extra.

I love color!!

And whimsy and butterflies.

While there we checked out their CrossTimbers trail. It winds for a mile or so through woods and prairie.

It’s got some great views.

I really wanted to see it because I was part of a group of people with the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition who came out in June and rerouted the trail to make it more sustainable and take it through more interesting areas. That’s an action shot of me above, back in June, with my loppers, bug spray, sun hat, and water bottle lopping away. We got a lot done in just a few hours. The garden still had some work to do after that day and they announced the new trail route was open a few weeks ago.

The Garden had a controlled burn done last year that really worked out well and knocked down the invasive species and opened the woods up.

There’s Heather, way ahead of me as usual.

Heather Alan Botanic Garden

I stole this photo from Heather’s facebook. She takes better portraits than I do.

So after the trip to the gardens we went home and cleaned up and went shopping for our anniversary gift. We were looking for a chiminea and we found one from a local out fit right away. A medium sized one complete with a bag of pinion, a bag of lava rocks for the fire to sit on, and a hat for the chiminea. And they delivered it to us a couple hours later.

So we went to our favorite restaurant and had a great Italian dinner and then came back home.

And fired up the Chiminea. Lots of fun and smells good with the pinon wood.

Heather Alan Anniversary

Thirty Six years in the book. I’m a blessed man, what can I say. Looking forward to Thirty Seven. Thirty seven is a prime number and I love prime numbers.

I am linking with My Corner of the World

Saturday’s Critters – Butterflies and Flowers

I visited the Philbrook Gardens here in Tulsa and found a couple of butterflies. I love it when I can capture them feeding from flowers.

A Gulf Fritillary butterfly feeding from a zinnia flower at the Philbrook Gardens.

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A Buckeye Butterfly feeding on globe amaranth at the Philbrook Gardens.

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters

Skywatch Friday – Early September Edition

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From our vacation to the Gulf Coast of Alabama earlier this year. This is an inland scene in a bay near Orange Beach. We had a great time and I took lots of photos.

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This book themed sculpture is outside one of our local Tulsa libraries. I love all things books.

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And an action cam photo from one of my bike rides here in town. I love this old natural gas powered electric generating station. The sign on top is neon and looks great from the other side of the Arkansas River. The camera mounts on my handlebars and takes a photo every three seconds. I don’t keep all of them. Typically I have about 1500 photos of which ten to twenty are ones I want to keep. I can do the winnowing quickly, typically in about ten to 15 minutes.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Saturday’s Critters – Butterflies! – Monarchs on the Mountain

A female monarch butterfly in our backyard recently.

And a Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly on our patio.

And if you live anywhere near Northeast Oklahoma come to Chandler Park in Tulsa for Monarchs on the Mountain. It’s a yearly event about everything butterflies and the environment in general. It is very educational, bring your kids and it is free! No admission fee, free parking, just free. Lots of organizations will have booths and there will be presentations. Check this link for more details including the lineup of speakers and some of the ancillary events associated with Monarchs on the Mountain. If you go, come by the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition booth and say hello. I’ll be there.

(1) Monarchs on the Mountain | Facebook

I am linking with Saturday’s Critters.

Skywatch Friday – Far and Away and Online

Orange Beach, Alabama

From our vacation last month. A distant rain shower moving across the Gulf of Mexico.

And in the neighborhood here in Tulsa a colorful sunset.

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And not photo, not my copyright, although somebody holds it. A jigsaw puzzle I finished earlier this week. The sky was a bugger on this one. I’m working on a sea turtle puzzle now. It’s really hard.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Our Corner of the World – Pirate’s Cove

On our recent trip to the Gulf of Mexico we decided to branch out and check out Pirate’s Cove. A beach bar not far by miles from where we were staying, maybe five or six miles, but over 45 minutes to drive to because of the all the bays and inlets.

It’s a laid back beach bar that was packed on the day we went. They are on the bay and I’d guess most motored their boats over there. They are famous for their hamburgers and their alcohol laced bushwhackers. We had one of each when we were there.

It has a funky vibe and is supposedly the inspiration for two beach songs. I don’t know if it’s true or not but the place is good and the songs are good so I’ll match them up but I’m not going to fight anybody over it. (Us photobloggers don’t fight.)

The first song attached to this place is Jimmy Buffet’s legendary, “Cheeseburgers in Paradise.” I will say that I would put Pirate Cove’s Cheeseburgers near the top of my list. They are not cheap, if you are looking for cheap go somewhere else.

The other song is Kenny Chesney’s “Bar at the End of the World.” Pirate’s Cover is definitely out in the middle of nowhere. I would recommend making sure your car’s navigation system is working. Even then, we made a wrong turn or two. We started out in Alabama, ventured into Florida, and then back to Alabama to get there.

I am linking with My Corner of the World