I had a birthday recently. I turned 67. Somehow I still don’t feel old. I feel bad though, but too bad. When I got out of college and went to work in the oilfields I saw all these really old elderly guys and gals in the mid-30’s thinking boy they are burnt out. Now people that age seem like little puppies. All full of vim and vigor.
I guess I’ll have to end my “Being 66 on Route 66” schtick that I have been playing this past year. I don’t even know if there is Route 67. I like prime numbers and 67 is a dandy prime number.
Heather and Logan made the day great for me. I had banners.
And balloons.
And some cool sandals with a Jerry Garcia design on them. This my seventh pair of the same type sandals. Only one other has a Jerry Garcia design though. Just call me the Ferdinand Marcos of Oklahoma.
They took me to breakfast at a chic upscale place. The stuff on the plate is avocado toast. Most places that I have that I am still hungry. Not this place. We went to a movie afterward.
We also went to the Tulsa Botanic Garden and saw thousands of tulips.
Logan went to work and Heather took me to dinner.
Next day, not an official birthday event, I got a pedicure
So hey, I had a great day. I recommend Happy Birthdays to everyone.
Early one morning last weekend I and along with several other members of the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition met with some Tulsa County Park Officials at Chandler Park in west Tulsa.
They showed us an area that they have been reconstructing for some time. They are putting in a lot features and turning into much more than a place to have picnics. They have an event space, complete with substantial electric power capability and a pad that can handle food trucks, and area that can be used for big tents complete with tie-downs. It’s going to be great when they open it up to the public in a few months.
Then they took us on a hike on all three of their trails. Some of them still have some graffiti.
Other areas have been cleaned up with power washers. This area was used in the filming of the upcoming movie “Killers of the Flower Moon” and the movie people cleaned it up.
The “Lost City Trail” at Chandler is unique with all the rock walls, cliffs, and narrow passages. It is a hotspot of activity for the local climbing community.
It has several different overhangs.
They have a pond that they are finishing up. It’s pretty amazing all they are doing.
They are looking to partner with community organizations for events and other attractions. The energy and enthusiasm of the staff was cool.
On a tour of Tulsa’s Chandler Park, the staff showed us the dynamite shack used way back when what is now Chandler Park was a rock quarry. I love stuff like this.
This last week or so of March has been great for skywatch photographs here in Tulsa. I love all sky photos but it helps if you have clouds or something like that to provide a little texture.
Drone photo looking west.
The afternoon clouds have been good for sunsets and the winds have died down some days so I can launch my lightweight (249 gram) drone.
I’m still using my drone from my back yard.
In the woods one evening recently as the sun was going down.
A wrapped around pano shot of a local hospital.
A heavily edited photo from my car (while stopped) recently in the evening.
And this isn’t my photograph. It’s another jigsaw puzzle I completed this week on my ipad. They are fun!!
I am linking with Skywatch Friday, come join in!! Bring a friend!!
Sunday morning I got up and headed out to Turkey Mountain to meet up with a couple dozen other people for a Work Day sponsored by the RiverParks Authority and the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition. We were going to work on the recently completed new trails to kind of finish them off a little bit.
So I grabbed my loppers, trash bag, and a bottle of water and went with one crew down a new trail. We were using the loppers to cut out staubs that stuck up out the trail causing people to trip and possible tire problems with the mountain bikers. Cutting them things out is difficult! At least to me at was.
Others in the group were planting grass seed on the backside of the switchback berms and using axes to tackle the bigger stubs or staubs. I think the hardest job might have been pushing the wheelbarrow containing the equipment and seed.
It was hard work but scenic. We worked on about 2 miles of trail before going back to the parking lot for refreshments and a break. A bunch of people were going out again to finish the job but I was spent so I said goodbye. These trail maintenance volunteers are a hardy lot.
I went home a collapsed!! I guess that I’m not worthy but it was a morning well spent. I’m always in awe of these folks who show up with their own tools and spend their time helping out the community.
Check out the TUWC website for more information. Get involved.
It’s the love season for dove. Here’s a couple doing some mixed bathing, almost concealed because the blend in so well with the fence.
Mr. Squirrel gets kind of thirsty also.
And we have another cat roaming the back yard at night.
We have lots of sparrows stopping by.
I love the cardinals.
I was walking at Lafortune Park the other day and saw this goose checking everybody out. As I approached it he started acting restless so I backed off so he could chill down.
Grackles everywhere. I run them off whenever I can.
And a brief kerfuffle between a sparrow and a cardinal.
And I completed another jigsaw puzzle on my ipad. I am really slowwwww on these. But they are fun.
Up first thing this morning and we had some color in the sky!! I was up early because I am experimenting around with yoga classes. I realized that the reason I got into yoga a couple years ago was because of the breathing and stretching and the classes that I’m taking have gotten away from that so I went to a “gentle stretch yoga” class Wednesday morning and it was wonderful. So first day of branching is a success.
This is from a family outing this past weekend. Pretty soon all these trees will have leaves on them.
The park is adjacent to old sand mines on the Arkansas River. The structure you see in the distance I suspect was part of that. There is a geocache located on it. I found it years ago. I went home, grabbed a foldable ladder carried it across the park and set it up and found the cache that way. Those columns are over ten feet in the air. Gravity is not my friend!! Here is my post on my initial look for the cache, eleven years ago! And here is post showing the big, scary, not scared coyote who was staring at me when I came back with my ladder.
Enough of the boring going down memory lane stuff. We went on the Bixby bridge across the Arkansas River. This is looking west. I intend one day to take some sunset photos here.
And here is “tiny planet” type photo that wraps a pano photo up. It is further north on the Arkansas in Tulsa looking at riverfront oil refinery.
And this is not my photo. It is another jigsaw puzzle I solved on my ipad. 440 pieces and it took me a lonnnnnnngggg time to complete it. Just love it. I hauled somebody to a doctor appointment last week and I worked on the puzzle out in the parking lot in my car. Try that with a regular puzzle!!
That’s it for this week. I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Come join in the fun!!
This site has been proposed for a long time. We moved here 30 years ago. I’m about to give up hope!! I’m wondering if Washington Irving put up this sign when he came through the area 190 years ago.
I’ve been putting the trailcam out at night. Most nights I don’t get anything but I got this cat one time. I think it is somebody’s pet. It doesn’t have that lean hungry look of a feral cat.
I’ve caught him a few times stalking birds near our feeders during the day.
And we had a bunny one evening. I hope they don’t have a nest in the yard as it is quite sad when our dogs find the nest.
I captured this house finch the other day. I am thinking the bird right next to it is a sparrow.
And a dove scavenging seeds on the ground. They are not as skittish as other birds. They are not too smart with their nesting sites.
And our Lizzy chilling out with us in the living room.
