Tag Archives: Cows

Arizona Critters

I visited Springerville, Arizona for a high school reunion. I had some free time so I went on a hike on a trail built and maintained by the Arizona Wildlife Department along the Little Colorado River as part of the Becker Wildlife Area. I saw lots of birds who were too active and in too much cover for me to get photographs.

I did capture this fuzzy photo of what might be a swallow of some sort. I got it posted on iNaturalist and they are pretty good about figuring out what the various critters are. Update! The consensus from iNaturalist is that this is a Northern Rough Winged Swallow.

There was some private land adjacent to the trail. I got this far off shot of what might a longhorn cow. It was in a pasture with some angus cows.

This section of the Little Colorado River is managed for trout fishing and they have done a lot of work to stabilize the banks. Here is a weir put up to divert some of the water for irrigation. Downstream of the weir was a deep pool and it seemed a very popular spot for trout fishing.

The river also has several beaver dams so there are pools above the dams and running water below.

Our family lived in this area back in the late 60’s early 70’s. My brother and I liked to go fishing in the river upstream of this area. We didn’t catch any fish but the ice cold water felt good on our feet on hot summer days.

They didn’t have these cool riverside trails and bridges back then.

The trail out and back was only about a mile long but it was an enjoyable walk. A fellow hiker I encountered said that a rattlesnake was seen on the part of the trail I was headed towards. I thanked him for the information and went on my way. This part of Arizona is thick with rattlesnakes. We saw several on our property when we lived here and my brother and I felt duty bound to kill them all. I leave all snakes alone now. This is where they live and they have their role in nature. Anyway, I didn’t see it. I’m sure it saw me!

I’m linking up with Saturday’s Critters.

Saturday’s Critters – On the Ground and in the Air

I went on a bike ride on the Osage Prairie Trail north of Tulsa. It is a Rails to Trails project done years ago where an railroad is converted to trails. I love it because it goes through a lot of back country including ranches. I saw this Hereford cow looking happy in some tall green grass. Don’t see too many white faces like this any more.

And some of his friends, Angus cattle also grazing.

And in a different pasture I found some horses with their heads down.

And I found this little turtle crossing the road. Why did the turtle cross the road? (To get to the shell station!)

And a few miles away another, bigger turtle getting across the road.

And on a different outing on my first hike on Tulsa’s brand spanking new Mooser Greenway trail system I found myself a deer.

I love seeing deer.

Later on I found this feather. Google lens says it is from a red tailed hawk. I left it near where I found it.

And this might be the Shell Station. Just so happens I worked for Shell Oill for a short time and I learned that nothing makes a die hard Shell Oil employee madder than calling their logo a clam. It’s a pecten they will say in a heartbeat. So of course I doubled down on calling it a clam. Alrighty, sorry, I’ll get back to Saturday’s Critters.

I found this fresh cut disk cut out of a tree blocking the trail. I tried to count the rings and I came up with a 102 years old.

And speaking of red tailed hawks, this dude was up- on power pole looking for his lunch. He was a long ways away. At the very limit of my ancient Canon Superzoom camera. How far away you ask?

He was on top of the rightmost power pole as seen from our back yard. I love my DSLR with all the various lens but it is hard to be beat a superzoom for lightweight and usefulness in a wide variety of situations.

Here’s another photo of the hawk.

And here is the mandatory pic of Kodi the Pomeranian in a pensive mood. He’s the same color as our floor so he is Kamo Kodi in dim light inside.

I”m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Go check it out. Lots of talented bloggers link up with her.

Saturday’s Critters – Cows, Horses, and Ducks

This newborn calf is walking around the same day as it was born. On a ranch in western Oklahoma owned by my wife’s family.

And this is son Logan with kitten Lizzy. Lizzy is affectionate, but she doesn’t like to be held, unless I am holding her, and even then I get about 30 seconds before her “I’ve had enough” signals to let her go.

I went on a bike ride last week on a suburban freeway trail and saw this horse.

We got a duck pair hanging out in the afternoon in our front yard. Heather fed them once and and now they come back every day, and if we don’t feed them, they head to the garage. Ducks are such moochers. We have another pair of male ducks that also show up. We call them the gay ducks, (no offense, seriously) and they get demanding about getting fed also.

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

Skywatch Friday – Another Arkansas River Sunset

I am such a lazy skywatcher. Every work day this time of year at about 5:15 I get from my cubicle with my iphone and walk down to the west end of the building and check out the sunset. Sometimes if it is too cloudy or no clouds there is not much to see. I shoot through the glass and I have found a spot behind a pillar next to the window where I shoot through the glass at an angle, and that cuts the back reflection back tremendously. It is still there but you have to look hard to find it.

This is a bull from the ranch in western Oklahoma. The photo was taken by my wife’s cousin’s wife who sent it to me and I edited it a little bit. I love the scenery and people of Western Oklahoma. You can tell this bull has a little attitude. Life as a bull is a balance. You need to get the job done with the heifers and a little attitude is tolerated. Too much and off you go, never to be seen again except maybe at your local butcher shop.

A little closer to home is a family walk on Turkey Mountain the day after Thanksgiving. We had a nice Thanksgiving and we all (including my brother not pictured) went a little walk. I am pretty gimpy right now and I got real gimpy during the walk. I bit off a little more than I should have with my running. In the course of a month I ran three fairly long distance races, a 15K road race, a 25K trail race, and a half marathon on the road. So my knee is kind of sore. So I am working to strengthen my quads, and loosen my hamstrings, and try to maintain some sort of fitness with non running exercises all while loading up on ibuprofen, and icing my knee when I can. So far my it is getting better. I don’t think I will be running until January.

Anyways, thanks for visiting. Check out the fun folks at Skywatch Friday

Western Oklahoma Cowscape

3G Ranch, Washita County, Oklahoma

We were in western Oklahoma last weekend visiting relatives. As part of our visit we went out to check the cattle. Usually by the time July rolls around the color is washed out of the landscape but this year with all the rain the grass was still green and belly high. I’ve spent a lot of time in western Oklahoma and I love the friendly open people, the big sky and seas of grass across the rolling landscape.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

Our World Tuesday – Crashing a Pool Party

Our World Tuesday – Crashing a Pool Party

This past weekend we ventured out to the big skies of western Oklahoma. We had lots of fun but let me tell you about one thing that happened. And I swear that it all happened just like I say below, more or less.