From the Trail Cam

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I decided to fire up my trail camera in the backyard again. On New Year’s Day it captured this cardinal couple getting a drink.

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And a squirrel. Critters of all kinds need water.

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I’m thinking that these might be house finches but I am not sure.

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And a squirrel climbing up the fence.

Our new Pomeranian puppy, Kodi is a delight but he is also a whirling dervish and I have yet to get a decent photo of him. He does not sit still. He had a play date with his brother Tucker, the light colored dog above. Tucker and Kodi used to play hard together before we brought Kodi home and they resumed that quickly during the play date. All sorts of fearsome noise and chasing and pulling on chews and toys in the opposite direction. Nobody lost their temper and they were both exhausted afterwards. It was fun!!

He’s a fun and affectionate dog and loves being around people and playing hard.

A late update, a portrait of Kodi!! I finally took a halfway decent photo of him. My wife gave him a bath and that calmed the whirling dervish down to where I could take a photo.

What a face!!

That’s about it for this week. I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out. Lots of talented bloggers link there.

Skywatch Friday – From the Ground and the Sky

A late afternoon hike on Turkey Mountain, I love hiking there when the sun comes down.

Another front porch skywatch shot.

We had some weather the other day. I didn’t get my drone too far up in the air before the old warning alarm about too much wind. Looking west to the sunset.

One day we had tornade alerts off to the east. So this is a sunset looking east. Kind of a backlit storm. Glad we were were on the west side of this storm.

Another day, another sunset, I love color in the western sky at sundown, and low winds so I can fly my drone. It’s very light and I’m very careful with it. I noticed on the local Next Door, some poor guy got a brand new drone. He charged up the batteries and took it outside and launched it and that was the last he ever saw of it. I felt sorry for the guy but how could he be so clueless?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

The Christmas Chute at Sapulpa, Oklahoma

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Sorry for the fuzzy foto

I know that many people are just so done with Christmas right now but hear me out. The town of Sapulpa, OK just southwest of Tulsa put on a special light show this year on their main drag which is also part of Route 66. They call it the “Christmas Chute” and it was several years in the making.

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People in town conceived of this idea of blocking off the street and putting some platforms above the sides of the street and installing lights.

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The result is magical. You have lights overhead and they are a bunch of different themes. You are walking along the streets bathed with light from above. So the effect is that the people watching are part of the show and it adds to the energy.

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An upside down US flag.
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The underside of Santa’s sleigh

They are going to do it every year from now on and it will be part of our Christmas goings on from now on.

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At one end stands the county courthouse with a Christmas tree in the yard.

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This is the star at the top of the tree.

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Speaking of Route 66, this was their section of the show.

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The downtown merchants got in the act by dressing up their window displays.

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Snowmen!!

Here is an article from Southern Living discussing the installation and how it came to be.

Linking with My Corner of the World, check it out!!

Year End Shadows

Here’s a Christmas scene at our house with some early morning shadows coming through the front window.

And a Little Library on a trail. In addition to books, it contains a geocache. I was the first person to find it which makes me a legend in my own mind. I actually didn’t find it, I had been looking for it for 20 minutes and the cache owner walked and handed it to me. It got approved so fast that she hadn’t hidden it yet. So I hid it. A couple guys came by six minutes later so they were second and third to find.

And a shadow selfie cast across a trail sign asking people not to use muddy trails.

So these are my last shadows of 2022!! I wish everybody a Happy and Healthy New Year!!

I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Go check it out.

Skywatch Friday – End of 2022 Edition

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I see this sculpture ever year end. I always pay my real estate taxes at the last of the year and this sits right outside the Tulsa County Courthouse.

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A week or two later I went hiking on Turkey Mountain. My outside time had been limited by a medical procedure on my face (I’m fine, really) where I had to stay out of the sun for a week, bad weather, my wife caught the flu, we got a new puppy, and my brother got covid. So things are looking up and I went outside in some sunny but nippy weather.

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The trail builders on Turkey Mountain are putting in a long staircase from the top of the mountain down to the lower parking lot (don’t be too impressed, that’s about 335 feet, but still a big deal in Tulsa. I had to wibble wobble my route. The powers that be ask us not to walk on muddy trails, especially new trails, to keep them getting eroded so I kind of had to improvise a route.

On my route was this trail from the lower parking lot to the top of the mountain. It is bidirectional for people on foot and uphill only for mountain bikers. It looks like a hard go for them but hey they are tough.

And then here is a recently opened downhill only trail for intermediate level mountain bikers. No hikers allowed either way. The bikers fly down the hill and it is wise to keep people on foot out is what I think.

Here is the signage warning people of what they are getting into going down the trail. My modest biking skills and my bike with no suspension will not be on this trail or any other trail on Turkey Mountain. Gravity is not my friend!

And I found a cedar tree somebody decorated for Christmas. They are kind of fun especially if they take the decorations down soon after the holidays. Most people do, some don’t and these ornaments do not age well over time. They are not really “Leave No Trace” compatible.

Just a tad shy of 3 miles. A nice little outing after having been inside for weeks.

And guess, what I saw some flagging from the contractor building the trails. They are going to build more trails. More, more, more is my motto. When it comes to trails.

I am taking more skywatch photos from my front porch. Here is a recent one.

And here is another one.

And here is one of our house from the street. Yes I used a filter. I was trying to emphasize the lights.

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Skywatch Friday – Santa is Almost Here Edition

Another front porch skywatch photo. I went artsy here by crouching behind our shrubs with some Christmas lights on them. As old as I am crouching down of any kind might be termed as “suffering for my art.”

Kodi the Pom puppy is who I blame for not getting out and taking more pictures. Having a new puppy is kind of like having a kid. They demand constant attention! If we don’t give him positive attention by playing with him, then he gets negative attention by chewing on electrical cords. We’re exhausted!

Another front porch skywatch shot!

My wife bought Kodi a couple of Christmas outfits. He is not a fan but we thought he rocked this elf outfit.

This time I stood on my front porch and pointed the phone to the southeast instead of the southwest like the previous two photos.

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I was able to head out to the Arkansas River trails and check on construction of the new pedestrian bridge. It’s looking good but it won’t be done until well into 2023.

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And I checked on the PSO power plant across the river. I love stuff like this.

Oklahoma Christmas

To those who celebrate Christmas I wish you a Merry Christmas, Oklahoma style. To everyone else, I send you greetings and well wishes.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Beatty’s Cabin by Elliott S. Barker – Adventures in the Pecos High Country

A fellow lover of all things Northern New Mexico, Terry Clark, told me about this book, a memoir of life and adventures in the Pecos Wilderness by Elliott S. Barker. Barker grew up in northern New Mexico and visited the Pecos high country first as a ten year old boy in 1896, Beatty’s Cabin is more of an area of the Pecos rather than a particular place. Barker spent the rest of his life in the area. He was a rancher and a Forest Ranger and later a game ranger and in fact led the New Mexico State Game Department for years.

In this book he recounts personal history of his own adventures in the high mountains, hunting, fishing, and camping and tells of other’s adventures hunting grizzly bears, elk, and deer. The period of time covered is from the late 1800’s until the early 1950’s.

Part of my interest in the book is my father was a Forest Ranger at the Pecos Ranger Station of the Santa Fe National Forest back in the 1950s.

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Here is a photo of my Dad pointing out a feature to me (with the Smokey Bear) and my brother. as you can see I wasn’t good at following directions. Dad told me that the Forest Service hired a photographer to come out and do a shoot and dad was told to cooperate.

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He took a lot of ribbing from the people he knew. He said the photographer called him Mr. Cowboy and gave him explicit directions on where to stand or sit, what to point at and all the details. I would really like to talk about this book. I am sure he knew some of the people talked about in the book. Who knows?

Me, I have no memories of the Pecos Ranger station but I got these and other photos from the shoot the Forest Service made of my dad.

Anyway, I loved the book. Barker is a great writer.

Kodi the Pomeranian Puppy

We brought Kodi, our new Pomeranian puppy, home on Thursday. He made himself right at home.

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He’s very affectionate and cuddly. He knows his name. As soon as we picked the name the breeder started using it with him.

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He’s just two pounds and the best way to interact with him to get down on the floor with him. He loves to play with his toys.

We think he and our Lizzie cat might become friends. They lay next to each other and Lizzie lets Kodi clean her ears until she gets overloaded and hisses and runs off.

We took him to the vet today for his initial exam and puppy shots. He was a hit. He got passed around to everyone and he was totally fine with it. He got his shots and he is a little sore this afternoon.

Anyway, we think we have a keeper.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters today.