Cars at the Route 66 Roadfest, I

This weekend was the second annual Route 66 Roadfest at the Fairgrounds here in Tulsa. It was a little subdued just because of all the rain that we had. I went last year and really enjoyed it. They have a lot of information grouped by decades of the history of Route 66 and how it was gradually supplanted by interstate highways and is now in a full blown revival. So all that was fun to read and review. I was also interested in the cars. They have a lot of vintage cars on display as well and took lots of photos of them. I love the styling of old cars but I like driving new cars. The old cars were very unreliable and required lots of routine maintenance.

A VW Microbus. My wife’s parents had one and they went camping in it all the time. They talk in warm tones about them. I remember back in the 60’s they were everywhere. Now going up mountain passes? That was not their jam. Lots on the side of the road cooling off. I love the train case on top of the bus. Remember train cases? All the traveling ladies had train cases. I haven’t seen one in years.

And some people had stickers, some had many stickers. We were never a sticker family. The only sticker I have had on my car ever was a Dallas Cowboys sticker. I no longer have one. Being a Cowboys fan is not anything to be proud of these days. But I am still a fan! A stealth fan!! Don’t tell anybody, you are sworn to secrecy. Too late for you to back out now. I’m watching you!!

And an old 60’s model Chevrolet Corvette. Time was only airline pilots, millionaire’s and IBM salesmen had them. Now it’s just old boomers dreaming of the good ole days.

Back in the day even family sedans had lots of chrome, swoopy curves, and whitewall tires. Now all the cars look like Toyotas. Now I like Toyota’s don’t get me wrong but you won’t see me posting any photos of them.

And a little bit older car. Look at all that chrome and paint job!!

More chrome and two tones of paint.

I had a lot of fun. I’ll post more car photos later.

Linking with My Corner of the World

Shadow Shot Sunday – Memorial to Andy

In the shadows along Tulsa’s RiverParks Trails is a homemade memorial to “Andy” who was apparently a golfer.

ShadowShot Sunday 2

Breaking out the Trailcam Again

A dashing squirrel

A cottontail cooling off.

A red bellied woodpecker getting a snack

Little cottontail “Bugsy” helping out with the weeding.

A spying squirrel

A Rocking Robin

Mr. Grackle checking it out

A peaceful dove

Another squirrel

I’m helping out a biology professor doing research on native pollinators

Tagging the take

Bugsy getting a drink!

Mr. Kodi the Pomeranian getting possessive about his stick.

Check out some more of God’s creatures at Saturday’s Critters.

Tulsa Wind Storm 2023

We had a horrendous wind storm hit northeastern Oklahoma at about midnight last Saturday. Straight winds of 100 mph were recorded and our family, and the dog and cat, were in our “safe space” for not very long.

We didn’t suffer any damage at all although we are getting our roof inspected and might have some tree work to do. Our neighborhood didn’t have much damage either except for trees down. All I can say is thank goodness for underground utilities.

Elsewhere in Tulsa it was a different story. Over 200,000 people lost power. By now over half those have it back and it has been a great response from other states sending their utility crews here to help get power restored. They think that they will have everybody hooked back up by late Saturday afternoon.

Turkey Mountain had a lot of damage. Volunteers got out there with their chain saws and got a lot of the trails cleared. I don’t do chainsaws but I moved some limbs off the trails as I found them.

There are still some “hangers” or “leaners” that will have to be removed by people that know what they are doing. Best to keep an eye up in the air to avoid hazards.

The sounds of chainsaws were all over the place when I made my outing the other day.

Reportedly by now almost all the main trails are open.

Of course it is difficult to pin any particular weather event on global warming but still one wonders. Something new I’ve seen in the last few days is “#ShowYourStripes” a graphic developed by Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading in England. It’s like a bar code showing the yearly variation of temperature from the long term average over a time period.

The global temperature change chart is as follows. Blue means below the long term average and orange is above. The darker the color, the more difference there is. So this is the Global stripes showing data from 1850 and one can definitely see that things are warming up quickly. Keep in mind it is just temperature data and doesn’t say anything why.

**Created by Ed Hawkins of University of Reading, Creative Commons License**

So, I jumped in and looked at the Oklahoma data which they have from 1895 and the results surprised me. Oklahoma has had ups and downs over the whole time period. Although there is a definite trend since the year 2000. But there was a previous period back in 1930 or so that had increasing temperatursewhich roughly coincides with the dustbowl.

I find this kind of thing fascinating. Go check it out for your continent, country, state or province at ShowYourStripes.Info. Let me know what you find.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Shade and Shadows Sunday

It’s Fathers Day. Congratulations to all the fathers out there, I hope your loved ones are spoiling you, my family is. This is my dad. He is gone now and I miss him. Here is in a shady spot in the woods with a beer in hand, relaxing with family and friends. He loved doing stuff like that.

And here is our Kodi the dog on a walk passing a guantlet of shadows. The little guy lives to walk.

And here is my favorite place, Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area here in Tulsa. The bright sun sure makes for deep shadows.

Saturday I was part of a cleanup effort on Turkey Mountain sponsored by the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition. These two people were helping me clear one of the trails. Extra nice because they both had just finished running a 5K trail race on the mountain and then they grabbed the loppers and cleared out about three miles of trail. A very impressive pair of young people. I have no patience with people who disparage the generation coming up. Not me, I am very impressed with their work ethic, caring, and sense of community. Not just these two but almost everybody I meet. And as common in Tulsa we chatted a little bit and we knew people in common. I swear, Tulsa is the biggest small town I have ever lived in.

I was with them but then on a stubborn limb I was lopping, the limb gave way suddenly and one of the lopper handles popped me right on the mouth and split my lip. I bled all over my spiffy yellow safety vest. My companions gave me some gauze so I hiked a mile or so back to the lot and eventually made my way to urgent care where they cleaned my face up and sent me home with no stitches but a huge headache. I’m sure they are saying something like, “I knew we should of taken the old guy’s loppers away from him.”

Anyway, I digress. I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday 2 today.

Water Creatures and More

I went on a bike ride the other day and I packed my elderly superzoom along and I saw a few things.

A great blue heron doing one of those twisty turny things with their neck. I wonder if they ever accidentally tie their neck in a knot?

And another one. They sure are patient fishers. They are also very sensitive to their surroundings. I’ve learned to move slowly even when they are at quite a distance.

Anda the ubiquitous geese. They are everywhere it seems.

And some basking slider turtles.

And the latest water critter, Kodi in my MIL’s swimming pool. A couple weeks ago he was there with us on the deck and he just jumped in like he knew what he was doing. We are trying to teach how to get out of the pool safely. He loves the water.

Meet Fanny, my MIL’s latest pool decoration. She has solar cells and at night glows in the dark. Pretty cool stuff.

And another flamingo decoration for the pool area.

I was hiking the other day and come across this critter. I haven’t figured out what it is yet.

And it is baby bunny season now and this one hangs out on the patio. Fortunately for it, Kodi barely gives it a glance but we still watch him.

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters

Suburban Adventuring to Stokely Event Center

Last week, son had a meeting to attend at our church. I’m always looking for a side trip for such things. There was an urban bike trail I wanted to explore and it was adjacent to where he was meeting. So I took my back and saddled up.

First part of the trail was nice. Nice and wide, protected from traffic and in good shape. (Sorry about the photo quality, I was using my generic go pro mounted on my bike and it was taking a photo every ten seconds.)

That lasted about a mile and then…

On to a sidewalk for me. Bicyclists are not suppose to ride on sidewalks but nobody else was using them so why not?

Got to a place where I could cross the busy highway. It took about five to ten minutes for a big enough gap opened up where I could get across the street safely. On the return trip I used a crosswalk at an intersection.

I was in a commercial area for most of the rest of the trip. I was marked as a bike route along with lots of helpful, but ignored, “Share the Road” signs. Actually everybody was pretty nice about it and gave me plenty of room.

And then back on a trail. There is an outdoor advertising company that owns an event center, Stokely Event Center. At the event center they have all sorts of vintage outdoor signs. Inside they have lots of neon signs. We have been to several events there and they do a great job. Very good hosts who are generous of the time and amenities that they provide. No nickel and diming. Check the link above.

They have huge billboards with painted replicas of old signs from Tulsa’s past. The billboards front a freeway intersection but you can’t really study them ripping by at 65 mph. The bike trail I was on also fronts them so I was able to go and check them out.

That was the whole purpose of my trip. Oh I could have driven and parked closer and walked on the trail but that’s no fun!!

Mission accomplished. So I just turned around and went back in time to pick up the kid.

Here is a map of my route. I learned a bunch for next time, except there probably will not be a next time.

Here’s a video of my adventure. I had a blast all though it was not what I would call a relaxing ride.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Tulsa Tough 2023 – River Parks Criterium

Tulsa Tough is a mult-day series of bicycle rides and races ranging from long distance bike rides to short “Townie Rides.” I rode in a short ride of about 30 miles four years ago that kicked my butt. The actual races are criterium rides where the riders go round and round a short circuit and they are pretty exciting. They have all sorts of categories for men, women, age grouped amateurs and professional riders.

The criterium rides have lots of spectactors who cheer the riders with cowbells, cheers, and beer. My favorite is the Riverparks Criterium. It features a steep ride up a hill, called “Crybaby Hill” for some reason and then a fast ride down to the bottom of the hill with a sharper than 90 degree turn at the bottom. You really have to know what you are doing.

I had some family stuff Sunday afternoon so I just spent a short time at the criterium watching the racers. I did not ascend Cry Baby Hill this year to witness the rowdy goings on. I’ve done it a few years over time and I recommend everybody to do it at least once unless you are easily offended by things.

Maybe I’ll ascend it next year.

I’m linking with My Corner of the World

Front Yard Swallowtail

I find Swallowtail Butterflies a challenge to photograph. Unlike monarchs, swallowtails are here there and everywhere. We had one in the front yard the other day that wasn’t so active so I was able to capture an image with my phone camera.

And a short video, even though I lost it for a second.

And here is Lizzie, she sits still.

Our little pomeranian, Kodi never sits still, he is here there and everywhere.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters. Check them out.

Skywatch Friday – On the Trails

I went on a bike ride recently on Tulsa’s RiverParks Trails alongside the Arkansas River. I love the trails because one can ride for miles and miles without crossing a street. I took along my cheap GoPro clone camera that I have had for years. It takes a bad photo ever ten seconds. I end up deleting almost all the bad photos but I keep a few and run them through Adobe Lightroom to make highly edited bad photos. I kind of like them actually.

I like how the camera and then Lightroom distorts the colors. I also like it when people are involved so they are kind of like street photos but on a trail.

To me these photos capture of sense of not just solitude but aloneness like everybody else in the world has disappeared.

Familiar scenes seem vacant.

On the other hand this looks like a guy out for a run.

I also brought a “good camera” a lightweight superzoom and took a couple shots across the river. This building is the River Spirit Casino.

And this one is a collection of office buildings that used to be the Oral Robert University medical school and hospital.

So if you are on the Tulsa River Parks and see an overweight old guy on a bicycle with a go pro clone mounted on his handlebars smile real big!

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

YogisDen.us

Welcome to my world