Skywatch Friday – Inside Edition

I call this week’s Skywatch post “Inside Edition” because that is mainly where I have been lately. After some great outings that all came to a halt through a combination of my wife catching the flu and cold rainy weather.

So it was like I went to my backyard and took some sky photos because I didn’t have any recent ones and it was a nice sunny day finally. And of course I used one of my iphone camera apps and edited the photos. I do that a lot. I hope it doesn’t bother you.

And the other thing I do is I am constantly tagging photos. I’ve got 85,642 photos in my flickr account and about 3,000 are untagged starting in November 2015 and going backward. I delete about half of my untagged photos in a given session. I found this one this morning during a tagging session. It’s kind of over the top on editing but hey, I kind of like it. I think I used my distressedfx app.

I also found this untagged photo from November 2015. It is from a run I did along the Arkansas Rivier at night. You know starting in 1992 until 2020 when I retired I ran by myself every Wednesday night after work pretty much regardless of the weather. During the non-Daylight Savings Time months I ran on the river because they had lights. Now I am thinking what was going through my little cotton picking head. Of course the answer is that I worked during the day and I was running longer races back then so I had to run longer in training. I’m retired and now, and don’t run, but I walk and ride my bike a lot. All during daylight hours.

Earlier this week it was Heather’s birthday. She recovered from the flu and we had a great time going out for breakfast, going to a movie (Spirited, see my previous post, a wonderful movie) opening gifts, going out for dinner, and then birthday cake!!

https://flic.kr/p/2o5Rf3u

Son Logan joined us. We all had a great time.

And we are all decorated for Christmas.

04D1331A-D9D5-4F03-BE77-6072E2953064 — Jigsaw puzzle

I completed another jigsaw puzzle. This one of an old barn. This one about killed me. All that wood was hard to piece together. I’m doing one now of the Grand Canyon. It’s hard also. That’s okay. I love ipad jigsaw puzzles.

That’s about it for this week. Check back soon. After losing all three of our dogs in about a year’s time to illness we are picking up our new pomeranian Kodi. I’ll have a few photos of him to post. Here is a preview from several weeks ago.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday.

Spirited with Will Ferrel and Ryan Rynolds

Our family loved the Spirited, a new movie based on the the Dickens classic novella, A Christmas Carol, I am not going to give anything away as we all know the basic plot, right?! I will say that this movie takes the tale and turns it back on itself, then inside out, upside down, and whirls it all around. It’s a musical adaption, the songs are great, there is even dancing. I think it is destined to be a Christmas classic. Ferrel and Reynolds do a great job. Here’s the trailer.

https://youtu.be/VZ8Tl9qBTzo

Finding Abby – The Search for Edward Abbey and his Hidden Desert Grave by Sean Prentiss

“Finding Abbey” is partially a book about Edward Abbey, author of Desert Solitaire, and one of the founders of the wilderness preservation movement in the United States and partially a book about where Edward Abbey was buried, and partially a book about the author Sean Prentiss and his search for meaning and direction in his life as he searches for Abbey’s grave.

Abbey was a cantankerous guy who had passion for wilderness, especially the desert wilderness. He railed on against mining, oil and gas production, and what he called “industrial tourism.” He was not very woke, so to speak but he was outspoken. He died young in Tucson, AZ in 1987 and wished that his friends would bury him somewhere in the desert. They did that at a secret location and vowed they would never tell anyone the location of the grave.

Prentiss, a college professor, and a lifelong fan of Abbey decides to go searching for the grave. The book is not a linear telling of the story. Prentiss weaves his own story in with Abbey’s as he visits Abbey’s friends and interviews them about Abbey. He goes back and forth between his search, his own life, and the stories of Abbey’s devoted friends and in the process travels all over the desert southwest. So the story goes forward and backwards and all around. Fortunately Prentiss is a talented writer and pulls it off.

Did he find the grave? Does he reveal the location? Hey read the book and find out. It’s a hard book to find. Tulsa’s library system got my copy on loan from the Central Arkansas Library System. I give the book five stars out of five.

You can also read my post, from years ago, on Desert Solitaire.

Shadowy Bollards along the River

The concrete bollards cast shadows along the Arkansas River in Tulsa one recent frosty morning.

Linking with Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Saturday’s Critters – Oxley Nature Center

On my hike out to Oxley Nature Center I cam across this little critter. I may be wrong but I think this white-tailed deer is a yearling. It kept looking over to our right and I saw what I think was its mother.

She wandered over to where the young one was. They didn’t run off. They were grazing and moving slowly away from me.

Meanwhile I spotted dad he was way away amongst some underbrush in this tightly cropped photo which explains why it is so grainy. We all love using manual mode on our cameras and looking down on those still using automatic mode. I’ve learned though when going through the woods where the lighting is variable that I am best served in auto mode, without the flash, and using manual focus. Otherwise the camera wants to focus on the tall grass and miscellaneous branches. There you have it!! True confessions.

I also came across this armadillo. I have seen more armadilllos this year in northeast Oklahoma than I have in the thirty years that I have lived here. What is the deal?

I got a little video of him snuffing around. They are blind and deaf apparently. They look very ancient. I have a feeling that when human kind is goine, armadillos will be rooting around the ruins of our cities looking for bugs and other stuff to eat.

There were a lot of waterfowl out and about on the ponds and lakes but they were staying way away from me. I’m not much of a bird guy but I think these are mallard ducks. Correcting my ID of these critters will certainly not hurt my feelings.

That’s it for this week. My cats got tired of being featured every week. They want royalties, or at least a food upgrade or some new toys.

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Come join in!!

Oxley Nature Center – Land Between Water and Sky

The other day I ventured out to Oxley Nature Center. It’s not as popular as Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness but Oxley has its charms. No mountain bikes for one thing, flat trails for another. And lots of water, even during a drought like we are having now.

To me Oxley is defined by the water in its lakes, streams, rivers, marshland and ponds.

So if you like the sky and reflections, you are in the right place. Even if the skies are gray and overcast like they were the day of my visit.

I actually came looking for otters. The staff tells me that the otters have taken over an old beaver lodge and the best time to see them is around 6 am. Well, that isn’t happening. So I take my chances during the day every once in a while.

I love Oxley’s woods and water and proximity to town and its many trails.

And opportunities to take photos.

I even found a geocache on my visit. Finding it was easy but you have to sign the paper log for it to count. This one had a “field puzzle” to solve. They had nine bottles of scents and the combination to the log involved identifying three of the scents and putting them in the correct order. That took a lot of time, for me. But I eventually figured it out even though my sniffer got worn out. Good thing it wasn’t summer when I would be wearing scented bug spray. I loved it, such an original concept for a geocache.

So I had a good time in what seems sometimes like my own private forest preserve. Do you have a secluded place you can go to to get away?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Tulsa Jingle Bell Run 2022 5K

Dallas Cowboys Santa Cap, Heated Vest, and downtown Tulsa in the Background.

Last Saturday I ran the Arthritis Foundation’s Jingle Bell 5K in Tulsa. It is a fund raiser with races in almost all the bigger cities.

You can tell we have drouth going on. The Arkansas River is way down.

Back when I used to run a lot the Jingle Bell Run was a must do. They had the best tshirts!! Big thick shirts with bold graphics. I think the fastest 5K I ever ran was during Jingle Bell Run. I think the temperature was 9 degrees F. I was motivated!!

Years ago, they used to have the run adjacent to a large inside space so you could stay inside where it was warm and when you finished you could go inside and warm up.

None of that nowadays! The race started in a big open field with a cold wind bearing down direct from the north pole.

DSCF0503 — All the slow folks, like me, are bundled up.

Don’t feel sorry for me though. I volunteered to run the race and brought my heated vest that Heather got me for Christmas last year.

It worked great. Not only does it warm the body but it also warms your neck and has heated pockets!! So I was warm.

DSCF0507 — The route went right by the Route 66 Neon Sign Park.

In fact as the race went on, I turned the heating elements on my vest off.

DSCF0508 — Crossing the Arkansas River looking south.

The race went up and down the Arkansas River using the River Parks trail system. I am up for a fast walk up and down the riverparks. I always see something new there.

I finished out of the money but I got a very nice participation medal. I don’t know exactly how I finished in relation to others in my age group for some reason they don’t have a link to the timing company on their web page. I’ve sent an email asking about it.

And the tee shirt. Still a very nice, thick tee shirt.

So I walked the whole way. Nowdays my fast walking pace is only a bit slower than my trotting pace so I just took it easy. Enjoyed myself immensely. I’ll be back next year.

Shadowy Reflections

Early one chilly morning recently at a YMCA. Reflections of Shadows.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Waterfowl at Oxley Nature Center

On my recent hike at Oxley Nature Center in Tulsa. I came upon lots of deer but they were skittish and took off and I couldn’t get a clear shot through the underbrush. I also saw a possum but had the same problem. I did come across these birds on a lake paddling around. I didn’t have a very long lens because I was trying for more foliage views than long range photography. I am not sure what kind of birds these are.

I’m linking with Saturday’s Critters. Go check them out!

An Afternoon at Oxley Nature Center

Wednesday here in Oklahoma started cold, about 29F but it was clear and it warmed up nicely and the skies were clear in the afternoon into the 40’s so I bundled up and drove to north Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center to get some trail time and sunlight.

I took the trail called the North Woods Loop. I have been on this trail dozens of times over the years and hardly ever see anybody. Today there was nobody at all.

The air was crisp and the skies were blue. It was late afternoon and the lowering sun illuminated everything perfectly.

There were lots of dead leaves on the trail which made it hard to walk stealthily.

The sun was brilliant shining through the remaining leaves leaving an impression almost like stained glass.

It was a great day to be out in the woods.