Tag Archives: Beer

Shadow Shot Sunday – Super Bowl Edition

The last football game of the season (big frowns).

Here is our little Lizzie on neighborhood watch with LJ down in the shadows below. They love to watch the goings on.

I went on a walk around our Lafortune Park the other day. Lots of good shadows there. I love playground shadows.

And winter tree shadows.

I found me some bleacher shadows at the baseball diamond.

A couple of friendly old guys (in other words about my age) came by on their bicycles. Don’t normally see bikes on the walking path but they were going very slow and not causing any problems.

Heather and I went to Philbrook Museum a week or so ago for an art respite. I think shadows are an integral part of some art.

And another work

This isn’t my photo, it’s an ipad jigsaw puzzle I did. I love the online puzzles. I don’t like real jigsaw puzzles. Such a mess and I have a real sensory issue with the paper backing. I can’t stand touching it. Plus the pieces scattered about are a mess. The online puzzles are cool. For rookies like me you can specify the orientation to be up and down which simplifies things greatly and when you make a fit, the screen has a small flash and a cool little clicking sound. And when you finish, the jigsaw lines go away and you get the photo. (Note, the copyright still belongs to the company, not me.)

And another puzzle I finished. I love the combination sea and landscapes with interesting buildings.

And speaking of not my photo, this is from my buddy Josh who is working this week in the Bakken Oil Field of North Dakota. He is always giving grief about how pensioners like me need to get back to work. I give him a hard time being so dang lazy.

https://flic.kr/p/2n3ddom

Here is another photo from Josh from the inside of a natural gas processing plant. I find the plants to be very cool. In fact they chill the gas down to about minus 132 F to extract the ethane, propane, butane, and natural gasoline out of it. Oh well, I can tell you don’t care. I don’t blame you. I am way off topic, sorry.

I’m staying off topic for a bit, sorry. It’s Super Bowl Sunday. Heather makes a Turkey Chili. That is all the snack I want for the game. Our son loves it as well. Don’t tell him that Heather loads it up with all sorts of vegetables that just mix right in.

I eat the chili with Fritos scoops. Don’t get me the regular Fritos, more sensory issues from me.

And this will be my beverage of choice. It comes well recommended.

I hope everybody is having a good and safe weekend. I am linking this hot mess of a post with Magical Mystery Teachers Shadow Shot Sunday 2 meme and with Lady Fi’s Our World Tuesday. Come join in the fun!

Shadow Shot Sunday – The Winnie Mae

Last week I stopped in at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. Their big centerpiece display is the Winnie Mae, a replica of the Lockheed 5C Vega aircraft that Oklahoma aviation pioneer, Wiley Post, flew solo around the world in 1933. He subsequently flew the plywood framed Winnie Mae to 50,000 feet using a homemade pressurization suit. In 1935 Post and another Oklahoma legend, Will Rogers died in an airplane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska.

Now back down to earth, I had a symmetrical shadow in my back yard.

I’ve started running again. Didn’t realize how much I missed it. Here is a mesh shadow of some temporary fencing.

And of a pedestrian bridge.

And speaking of pedestrian. Heather and I went to a local brewery and had a couple of their beers. As a bonus, the glass had some interesting shadows. I guess it was time to head home.

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

Weekend Reflections – Renaissance Brewery

My wife and I had a bunch of errands to do yesterday that took us all over Tulsa. We rewarded ourselves with a trip to Renaissance Brewing. A brewery we haven’t been to in a couple years.

A photo of the brewing equipment through glass. Kind of hard to tell what is what.

First up for me was the Gamma Ray IPA. A full 16 ounce pour of a solid, very drinkable beer.

And then second was the Dragonsbreath ale. A smaller pour (that’s okay!) brewed with fiery serrano peppers. It was very spicy and very sippable.

So we had a good time in the brewery off by ourselves in the corner, socially distancing. We are loving the brewing scene in Tulsa. There are lots of good places with great beer.

Check out Weekend Reflections

Monday Meandering in the Heat

Son likes to shop for used video games at a place named Vintage Stock. They have several stores in the Tulsa area. They sell not only video games but new and used DVD movies and CD’s. I don’t mind the place, they know Logan and treat him well and I like to head over to Sun and Ski and look at all the outdoor gear and bicycles that I can’t afford. They treat me well also. Anyways, it is in the biggest strip mall in the universe and I like to walk the long ways around instead of shortcutting across a parking lot. Mainly because I don’t like getting run over by wild drives in a parking lot that would do a football stadium proud. (Hold on, there is a point to all this) Anyway in amongst the many empty storefronts (courtesy of online retailers such as Amazon) there are some real businesses including a Japanese restaurant named Shoguns that has decorated their storefront.

Another view of Shogun’s storefront. I like it when a business does more than absolutely necessary.

Son went to a friend’s birthday party so Heather and I had a little us time at a local restaurant. Us time is important.

I’m still sampling beers that I bought in Alabama from our vacation a couple months ago in Alabama.

Our family likes to go to lots of movies. Theaters now have lifesize displays that encourage one to take pictures of family an friends to post on Instagram and Facebook. Free advertising except the displays are huge and complicated and I’m sure they are expensive. The movie pictured above isn’t going to be out until late this year. The green part of me wonders what happens to the cardboard display. Do they recycle it or do they put it in the dumpster out back. I love the new theaters in town that have the reclining seats. No better way to beat the heat than going to the movies in my book.

Life’s a Beach – In the Air, on the Ground, and in the Water

Heather and Logan went on their parasailing adventure the other day. I didn’t go, the pics were taken by a boat hand.

And then way up there!

Before coming down for a little shark dip, and then the credit card went though and they went up again.

While they were up there, I went to the beautiful Gulf State Park’s Backwoods Trail.

And found some geocaches. No snakes, no bug bites (thanks DEET), but a few thorn scratches.

Heather and I have taken several long beach walks along the Gulf underneath everchanging skies.

And I have been crushing beers in the surf. That is what us guys do, we crush our beers. We have found some decent beer here finally. Alabama is a bigger beer wasteland than Oklahoma.

And I found me a friend at the fishing pier at Gulf Shores. I’m not much of birdwatcher except for the big ones like this Brown Pelican.

Today, we are going on a Segway nature tour of the Gulf State Park. I’ll give you a report later.

New Orleans – Audubon Park via the St. Charles Streetcar

True confessions, this isn’t the streetcar I rode out to Audubon park on.

I’m here in New Orleans at a convention but Monday morning is mainly convention business meetings so I got up and had me a parfait from Starbucks cuz I’m trying to be healthy at least for a few hours and then I walked up Poydras Street from the hotel to St. Charles and caught the streetcar from there to Audubon Park.

I have been to New Orleans several times now but have never set foot on a street car because I was unsure how one paid and where they went and so on and kind of worried about the safety of it all especially since former New Orleans Saint football player Will Smith was murdered in the Garden District just a day or so ago and Audubon Park is in the Garden District.

My first New Orleans geocache in several years. Boy did I take heat on facebook for this. Everybody is going “Aren’t you supposed to be working?” Hey, you take care of you, and I’ll take care of me! Deal.!?

I checked the world wide interwebs and it was kind of strange. People said that despite the New Orleans being the murder capital of the USA, they didn’t feel nervous about putting their garbage out late at night. Whoa, it had never occurred to me to worry about taking the garbage out anywhere I have lived. Should I startt?

Well, I was very brave. I headed out on the streetcar without a weapon, not even a knife or even pepper spray.

Well guess what, Audubon Park is pretty mellow, people walking their dogs, coeds from Loyola and Tulane jogging (how come lots more young women run than men???) old folks walking their dogs. It was a very chill scene (did I say that right? I’m an old guy and I know that I risk making a fool of myself when I pretend that I’m hip.) (Although at this point, I’m beyond caring what people think.)

Anyways I didn’t go to the Zoo. I walked the two miles around the golf course and it was nice. Huge old oak trees.

Lots of them, and I took lots of pics of them. The trees are alive!!

This looks like a former street to me. Trees and lights on both sides. What’s up.

They have paved trails with politically correct divisions between bikers and runners and dirt trails also.

And some dinosaur looking birds which I think are cormorants but I’ve come to find out that there are a gazillion different types of cormorants as well.

So I walked a little over two miles, took a trip out and a trip back on the Streetcar and started the convention in a very chill mood which I have maintained through the whole day.

And so I was able to visit the L.A. Turbines Voodoo Chapel and get rid of some bad ju ju and reinfore good ju ju. I love a vendor owned by a Belgian, don’t you? Especially one who is generous with Belgian Beer.

Wordless Wednesday (Almost) – Air Travel

Amusing myself with the Harris Effect App on my Ipod Touch at the Idaho Falls Airport

More amusement – sometimes I wonder who I amuse.

You can tell the people from Idaho.

Waiting in the jet way for the gate checked luggage. People always seem a little tired and worn waiting for their gate checked luggage. I am always happy that I didn’t have to manhandle it into an overhead bin nor pay $40 bucks to have it checked through. You play your cards right they will check it through from the podium for free.

The pause that refreshes. The New Belgium Cafe at the Denver airport has a most excellent Cocoa Mole Porter on tap.

Wild Brew 2015

Heather and I went downtown Saturday night to attend Wildbrew 2015, a beer tasting event benefitting The Sutton Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The Sutton Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to funding cooperative conservation solutions for birds and the natural world through science and education. They were instrumental in reestablishing bald eagles in Oklahoma.

The place was buzzing when we got there. There were lots and lots of craft breweries represented and many of the restaurants in town were handling out samples (good size samples) of their food. Heather and I kind of alternated between the beer and the food. Plus the Midlife Crisis Band was playing.

There were so many breweries represented that the lines never got long for any of them. And don’t worry, it was not a drunken brawl. We had little sample glasses. We’d sample it and then dump the rest to go try more. It was fun. Lots of unusual beers out that night.

And the hipsters were out in force although I didn’t see any of the Hipster Nation’s favorite beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon. or “PBR” as the hipsters call it. The thing about hipsters is that not a one of them will admit to it. Sorry dudes, rolled up cuffs are a dead giveaway.

One guy showed up in a kilt. Hey dude, wrong party!!! But stay and have a beer anyway.

Everybody had a great time. There was one attendee who was committed fully to the event.

You know what I mean. This pig gave his all.

Return to Turkey Mountain with the Tatur Tots and an Update on the Outlet Mall

The parking lot was cram full. Word is getting out on Turkey Mountain and its popularity is increasing.

The weather warmed up this week so Tuesday night I went to run after work with the Tatur Tots on Turkey Mountain. An informal group meets Tuesday evenings at 6:30 and Sunday mornings at 7:30 and breaks into groups based on speed. The motto is no one gets left behind. Typically there is a fast group and a slow group.

So off we went on the slow group, up the blue trail to the upper parking lot and then down the Snake Trail.

See that ridge over there? That is where the Outlet Mall would go. They would extend the ridge this way and put in a 75 foot tall retaining wall right on the creek. They want to start construction this Fall and plan to be done in a year. So in two years just imagine this ginormous parking lot looming over Turkey Mountain like a mesa and all their loose trash blowing out in the wind. Simon has said that we are just going to have to trust them on the water runoff issues and they do not plan on doing anything special in regards to making sure trash doesn’t blow off the property. They are a reputable company, but I’m not in a trusting mood right now. What about you?

And further on we went, or rather they they went, as I was taking pictures.

I caught up with them and took their picture. I think they were discussing doing away with the nobody gets left behind rule as it pertains to slow fat guys who hold everybody up to take pictures.

Aha, nope, it is not Simon Group starting on the mall. It is the River Parks authority reopening the upper parking lot at Turkey Mountain. The lower lot is full most weekends now and on nice days after work.

It’ll be nice to have. Don’t worry, they are reworking an existing parking lot so very little of the mountain is affected.

Time to go home and have an adult malted beverage. It may be a little early for a wheat beer but I had to try this nice Oklahoma brewed Coop Ale Works Elevator Wheat.

Here is our route.

More News about Simon Group’s proposed Outlet Mall (Check Urban Wilderness Coalition for Updates)

A public forum was held this week to discuss all sides of the issue. Simon was invited but didn’t show up. I wanted to go but couldn’t.

Simon has asked for a continuance for their hearing before the Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission (“TMPAC”). You just know they are out behind the scenes, working the city councilors, the mayor, the chamber of commerce, doing the big juicy carrots and ugly stick thing. Whispering “Jobs”, “Development”, “Business” blah, blah, blah into the ears of the movers and shakers. It is very rare for Tulsan’s to try and fight any sort of development. I still don’t know if this movement to get Simon to back off is going to succeed or not is going to work. I don’t know anybody, including me, who is against an outlet mall somewhere in principle. The site for this mall just doesn’t work. Check the Urban Wilderness Coalition site to see how you can help.

Y Not a Yopener? Prairie Artisan Ales Second Birthday

This past Saturday Heather and I dropped Logan off at his rehearsal and we went to far west Tulsa to the Prairie Artisan Ale Second Birthday celebration. It was cool.

I have been much concerned about hipsters and who they are what are they about. I haven’t meet anybody who admits to being one. Logan tells me that if you say you are one then you are definitely not one. Also, if what you like turns out to be the next cool thing, then you quit doing it. It’s kind of an anti-cool thing. I don’t get it. Do you?

I do think that we spotted a bunch at the brewery. What do you think. We also ran into a friend of ours, John, who is quite a beer guy. He gave us a sample of some the “good stuff” that they were not giving to everybody. It was darn good. Turns out that John and his son Josh also make a sell a beer bottle opener made out of whiskey barrels. It is called the Yopener. They sell it on etsy here. We bought one. I hadn’t tried it out yet. Besides being cool looking (I admit I have no idea how to use it, but I’ll figure it out) it’s great feature is that opens beer bottles without bending the cap. Myself, I recycle all my caps. Turns out that some collectors like to keep the caps.

It has a magnet and I as I type this it is on our refrigerator ready to do its duty! In the growler is a Lime Gose. A very nice sour wheat beer flavored with lime and salt. It is sitting nice and safe in my refrigerator right now.

So it was a great time, music, beer, hipsters, friends, and of course beer.

So how do you keep your beer caps from bending when you open a bottle? Do you care? Do you even drink beer? And are you a hipster? Do you know any?

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