Sculptures of Sheep grazing contentedly on the lawn.
Leaves casting a shadow on a sidewalk
And now a reveal. This is the site of Philbrook’s only geocache from years ago. It has been disabled for years. It was a complicated multicache that would take a lot of time but lazy old me thought it out. Most museums are very protective of their gardens and don’t want nasty deet smelling geocachers tramping through their exhibits, dismantling light fixtures, and climbing trellises, fences, and art work so I thought of two places where the fusty but fun museum staff would deem safe enough for geocaching. And I was right! I found it 13 years ago, read all about it here. Oh, don’t bother looking for it if you visit Philbrook, it is long gone.
Our backyard trailcam caught this cat wandering into the bed of yarrow where our resident little cottontail kit hangs out.
It came out a few minutes later. Fortunately the kit is still around as well.
Here is Kodi our chocolate colored fur ball taking a break on his walk.
We try and walk him daily in our neighborhood green belt. It backs up to several backyards with dogs and sometimes they are out and they can bark at each other.
On my recent trip out west for a high school reunion I stopped at the old mining town of Magdalena, New Mexico. Ever since I was a little kid I was intrigued by old mining town of the west. At the time, the early 1970’s the town reminded me of the desolate towns in Clint Eastwood’s Fistful of Dollars movies. Magdalena was a town where we never stopped, we just went through. My dad worked for the US Forest Service and they had a ranger district in Magdalena and my mother would thank her lucky stars that dad never been transferred there. So here I am years later able to stop. I didn’t spend too long though.
The Magdalena area was of course populated by Native Americans prior to, and after, Europeans arrived. Spainish soldiers explored the area in the 1500’s but I don’t think they stayed. In the 1860’s miners were digging for lead, gold, and silver and the town became incorporated in 1884. A railroad spur was built to the area about then. The railroad helped spur the cattle and wool industries in the region. Most of the mines were up the canyon in the little town of Kelly.
Magdalena Hotel renovated in 2018
After World War II Magdalena started a long decline as the mines had depleted also wool and cattle prices declined. The railroad quit operating and the tracks were pulled up in the early 1970’s. Ranchers were shipping their cattle by truck by then.
The town has less than a thousand inhabitants but has kind of turning into a funky location. The town’s hotel and other buildings have been restored and there is kind of a funky vibe in the air. The Very Large Array Radio telescope is within a half hour and that has added some spice to the mix. They still have that beautiful blue New Mexico sky overhead as well as an intense sun beaming down despite relatively low temperatures.
A church in Kelly that looks like it gets used every once in a while.
I drove up the canyon the short distance to the old town of Kelly where the mines actually were. Lots of old mine entrances fenced off and violators will be violated signs. I don’t think anybody lives there any longer but it looks like a great place for the local high schoolers to party. The only building still standing was this old church.
Old wall or foundation.
I was up there all by myself and then this old guy in a truck with Texas plates shows up and he comes over and we start talking. Texans are like that you know. His family has a ranch in west Texas and it had an old abandoned mine in it. The guys brother was poking around in it and found some old metal parts of some kind labelled Magdalena Smelting Company, or something like that so this guy was always intrigued by that and so was scouting things out. He wanted to explore some more and I had a timed entry admission to the Very Large Array and so we parted ways.
Some sort of mining thing I think.
On the way out of Kelly I came across these old foundations. Who knows maybe that was Magdalena Smelting Company?
So I got to visit Magdalena after being intrigued by it 50 years ago. Never give up is what I say.
Here is a video of the ghost town of Kelly made by not me. I tried to find old photos and there a bunch of them and many of them very cool old cowboy, ranching, mining stuff but all rights are reserved so I am not touching them.
Hiking on Turkey Mountain I came across this complex set of shadows.
The Riverparks Authority has installed “flyovers” on the trails to separate the suicidal, speedy downhill daredevils on mountain bikes from we more sedate pedestrians.
And, it’s my fifteen year blogaversary yesterday. Woo Hoo!!
A summer heat dome has settled in over Tulsa. Very hot and humid but I am kind of used to it so instead of exercising at a gym I am spending a lot more time outside. I mean you know, it is summer in Oklahoma and that is just the way it is. So I’ve been out in the woods a lot more lately and I am not seeing much in the way of critters. I am sure they are resting during the heat of the day. Well, I came across a little turtle hiding in plain sight.
Our Pomeranian, Kodi on the other hand is a fluff ball so we only walk him early in the mornings otherwise he gets a little overhead. So we play endless games of fetch in the house. Him being the prince of the house decided to jump over to our coffee table the other day. We tried telling him that it is a coffee table and a dog table but he wasn’t going for it.
That’s it for this week. I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters, go check it out.
On interstate 40 last week on the way to a class reunion in Arizona. The Texas Panhandle is pretty flat but the skies were interesting. Lots of people tell me how “boring” this stretch of road is. I don’t find it boring at all! Oh no, I see all sorts of interesting things while driving.
I stopped for gas in Shamrock, Texas. Shamrock is home to the Tower Gas Station. A beautiful art deco structure from the 1930’s. It has been restored and is beautiful. It is no longer a gas station but more of a visitor center.
Attached is “Do Drop Inn” a former restaurant that has also been preserved. Roadside America has a post on this stop. The gas station and former cafe are big stops for Route 66 fans.
Further to the west on the freeway is the Bug Ranch. It is kind of like Cadillac Ranch (for a later post). I found it fun. It’s free and they take donations so I gave them a couple dollars. It’s another Route 66 attraction. Most references call it the slug bug ranch.
You can buy spray paint but I declined. I just wanted to take photos.
They had a couple of other vehicles as well.
I love road trips. The rest of my family hates them. I kind of like the Route 66 attractions but I don’t spend much time driving Route 66. Too slowwww!!!
I visited Springerville, Arizona for a high school reunion. I had some free time so I went on a hike on a trail built and maintained by the Arizona Wildlife Department along the Little Colorado River as part of the Becker Wildlife Area. I saw lots of birds who were too active and in too much cover for me to get photographs.
I did capture this fuzzy photo of what might be a swallow of some sort. I got it posted on iNaturalist and they are pretty good about figuring out what the various critters are. Update! The consensus from iNaturalist is that this is a Northern Rough Winged Swallow.
There was some private land adjacent to the trail. I got this far off shot of what might a longhorn cow. It was in a pasture with some angus cows.
This section of the Little Colorado River is managed for trout fishing and they have done a lot of work to stabilize the banks. Here is a weir put up to divert some of the water for irrigation. Downstream of the weir was a deep pool and it seemed a very popular spot for trout fishing.
The river also has several beaver dams so there are pools above the dams and running water below.
Our family lived in this area back in the late 60’s early 70’s. My brother and I liked to go fishing in the river upstream of this area. We didn’t catch any fish but the ice cold water felt good on our feet on hot summer days.
They didn’t have these cool riverside trails and bridges back then.
The trail out and back was only about a mile long but it was an enjoyable walk. A fellow hiker I encountered said that a rattlesnake was seen on the part of the trail I was headed towards. I thanked him for the information and went on my way. This part of Arizona is thick with rattlesnakes. We saw several on our property when we lived here and my brother and I felt duty bound to kill them all. I leave all snakes alone now. This is where they live and they have their role in nature. Anyway, I didn’t see it. I’m sure it saw me!
I’ve been incommunicado since last Saturday. I went on a road trip to Arizona to attend my 50th reunion of my first high school, Round Valley High School in Eagar, Arizona. I didn’t graduate from there but I was contacted by several of my classmates and why not go? I like those people and had not seen any of them since my family left the area at the middle of my sophomore year. So I went and had a great time. More on that later, and by the way I am attending my Albuquerque high school 50th reunion in August. How many people do you know get to attend two reunions? Sorry this is a skywatch post so I’ll get to the task at hand.
Keeping it real, iphone shot from the car, bugs on the windshield and all. The west has big skies. I could of taken hundreds of windshield shots but held back.
A leaning water tower in the Texas Panhandle. What I read is that it was intentionally installed that way by a guy who was trying to promote his business. He and the business are gone but the tower remains.
I stopped and checked out the Very Large Array in a remote area of New Mexico called the San Agustin Plain a very flat former lake bed that met the project’s desire for low humidity, “flatness” and isolation from human electrical signals, (you have to turn your cell phone off as well as any device that has bluetooth on it.) More on the VLA later and there were dramatic skies.
Another shot from the San Agustin Plain. It takes forever it seems to drive across, my father always called it the “San Agustin Very Plain.”
So I am glad to be back home now and I am linking to Skywatch Friday
We had a big wind storm here in Tulsa a week and a half ago. Over 200,000 homes lost power. (We were lucky, we never lost power.) So my SWF post last week was mainly about the storm. Now, almost everybody has had power restored. It’s amazing how fast other power companies send crews to storm ravaged areas to restore service quickly. How do they do that? They do it a lot and are good at it and I am grateful.
So these are photos that I have been saving.
A view down a neighborhood street at sunset.
Time spent at a music event sponsored by a local park.
A stop on the Arkansas River.
What’s known as Pepsi Lake on Turkey Mountain.
The refinery on the river experiencing an process upset. Generally you can’t even see the flare. When I was still working downtown and I saw this I would call a friend of mine who’s husband was a manager at the refinery and I’d say, “Call Don, something’s wrong, don’t want him to get fired.” She’d laugh as with things like this all sorts of alarms go off and Don would know all about it.
Construction still going on for the new pedestrian bridge and dam across the Arkansas River at the Gathering Place.
I always fly the flag on holidays and Flag Day is a holiday.
My bike at a rest stop on the river.
Hey, that small mound across the river is Turkey Mountain. I appreciate everybody not calling our mountain a hill. We love our little hill.
The end, nice a refreshing spot on the river. I call it the Bear Fountain. Its actual name is kind of complicated and includes the name of the company who paid for it. I salute them but I’m still calling it the Bear Fountain. They used to have “do not climb the fountain” signs on the sculpture and people were all over it including me and my son. They took the signs away and so people stay off it. We are a funny species is what I think.
