Tag Archives: Logan

Family Life – The Kid is Mowing and Driving

Logan is growing up every day. Last year he graduated from high school, this year he finished his first year in college.

He has been mowing the yard for a few years now. He is getting better at it. He has figured out that it is not much fun. He hasn’t figured out that when you are mowing, nobody is messing with you. He is doing pretty good but left unattended he wants to go creative on his mowing pattern which would be okay if he got all the grass mowed. So he has some “mowhawks” I have to clean up. That’s okay by me. Making progress is the thing.

He got his Driving Learners Permit late last week. Sunday afternoon, after mowing and getting cleaned up we went to a local parking lot so he could drive around it very slooooowwwwly. This is going to work best if we go at his pace and so I imagine we will be doing parking lots turns for a while until he is ready to get on the road. We also regular driving lessons set for the near future. I think he is ready to learn how to drive.

Life is moving from one milestone to another and we are getting there.

The Kid Bows Out and Other Happenings this Weekend

Last Friday was Logan’s last performance with the Laughing Matter Teen Improv Group at the Clark Youth Theater here in Tulsa. He is aging out of the program. Heather and were trying to figure out how long he has been with the program. We think that it has been about eleven years but we are not sure. What kind of crappy parents are we anyway??

He’s really enjoyed it and it has been fun watching the other kids grow up also. We are going to miss it. He hasn’t really started looking at what’s available for him now in the community but we’ll keep you posted. He just finished his first year of college and did very well. His mother and I are pleased.

The kids have really blossomed. Maybe they blossomed too much. They are an independent bunch and I think that is a good thing.

Saturday morning we did our cat rescue gig at the the Petsmart in Broken Arrow. We have gotten kind of fond of the cats and are happy that they all eventually get adopted.

There were three new ones Saturday morning. The one above is a male that got caught in a fence and some asshat shot him with a bb gun. He’s a sweetie but he is a little traumatized by his new surroundings. He’ll make somebody a great cat.

After the cat gig Heather and Logan went home and I went geocaching. I’ll post in detail about it later but I bushwahacked for 0.3 miles through the woods alongside the Verdigris River looking for a geocache. All told I spent two hours on that gig and didn’t find it. Three ticks found me though! The cache above is one I found later. I guess that I can find them if they are painted pink and have yellow caution tape so that I don’t trip over it. Yep, I love geocaching whether I find them or not.

We went to see Guardians of the Galaxy II later on. Heather and Logan loved it, and me I was just confused. Still am. We did build a fire in the patio and chill out for a bit afterward though.

Sunday was a work day at the house. Logan and I mowed the yard. Heather “amended” the soil. I got my chainsaw down and cut down a volunteer tree in the greenbelt behind the fence. We got a lot done, heathen pagans that we have turned into.

Later on we went to Nana’s house (Nana is the world’s greatest MIL) and grilled burgers and chilled. That’s Nana’s dog Reba above. She is my model for chilling.

And that’s a wrap on the weekend. How was yours?

I’m linking with Our World Tuesday

Easter at Nana’s House

This is Nana, the world’s great MIL. We had Easter dinner at her house this year.

And this is Nana’s daughter, my wife.

And Logan, the kid, the big kid.

We had quite the spread. You can tell we are really heavy drinkers.

And after dinner, while everybody else is working I am snooping around. These are Heather’s cowboy boots from she was just a toddler. Her grandfather had a ranch you see. No matter, if you live in Oklahoma you have cowboy boots even if you hardly know what a horse looks like. Next the boots is a photo of our son Logan on a horse.

And this is Nana’s mother’s Easter hat. Nana wouldn’t model it for me. When I was a kid, all the women had Easter hats, and gloves, and white shoes. The little girls had little muffs and me and my brother Bob had bow ties.

Yep that’s us, rocking the bow ties. Better than muffs but still torture. In case you were wondering, I’m the good looking guy.

Back to Nana’s mother. These are her Iris’s that Nana transplanted from the family home in western Oklahoma. I love these flowers.

And this is Nana’s father’s saddle and hat. I love this old family stuff.

And here is our family photograph. We hope you had a great Easter with family and friends because we sure did.

The Knot Board

We spent Easter Sunday with my MIL Nana and we had a great meal and visit. I had my camera so I was taking pictures of this that and whatever. Nana has her late husband’s knot board hanging in her garage. You see her husband, Charles, one of the world’s really good guys was really involved in Boy Scouting. He was an Eagle Scout in fact. Charles has been gone a number of years now but in many ways it seems like just a few days ago.

Charles and his grandson, Logan had a special bond.

Charles was a great story teller and one of my favorites is about scouting. You see Charles went on to become a pharmacist and after he got his degree he went to a small town in southeast Oklahoma and looked up the local Boy Scout Troop and went to the scoutmaster and introduced himself and said that he would like to get involved and was willing to help in any way possible. So the Scoutmaster said that was great and told Charles when and where the Troop met and invited him to the meeting.

Logan and I went through Cub Scouts but neither of us was interested in continuing with Boy Scouts.

So Charles showed up at the appointed time and the Scoutmaster said “Everybody gather around here.” and then he said “I would like to introduce you to your new Scoutmaster, Charles.”

I loved that story and of course Charles was a great scoutmaster. The knot board is something that he made for the scouts. Heather and Nana have lots of stories about numerous scout outings. When Charles passed away years later, several of his scouts showed up for the funeral. I think about him every day and still can’t believe that somebody who so full of life is gone.

Skywatch Friday – A Family Walk at Oxley Nature Center

Last Friday the family decided to go for walk at Tulsa’s Mary K. Oxley Nature Center. One of the best kept secrets in Tulsa. Acres and acres of trails, woods, marsh, lakes, and meadows and hardly anybody ever visits it.

Well somebody had been visiting. We saw a few of these in the park but they didn’t look like they had been used.

I love the big and small ponds, lakes, and streams on the property.

It looked like some beavers had been hard at work.

A sign needs either replacing or fetched.

A nice surprise were some pelicans. They were cruising about. The geese seemed a little put off their visitors.

Heather taking in the view near the photo blind.

Yep, I’m a lucky guy is what I think.

Heather and our gentle giant of a son, Logan checking out some storm damage from last year.

And here is our route. About 3 miles and a good mix of woods, open land, and water. We saw nobody else during our three miles.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday this week.

Shadow Shot Sunday – New Years Eve Walk at Ray Harral Nature Park

Logan and I went for a little hike on New Years Eve. He had his wisdom teeth taken out a few days ago and he was supposed to be quiet but by NYE both he and I were pretty owly and needed some fresh air and walking time. I have a hard to shake sinus infection and so I haven’t been doing much either.

So off he went!! He isn’t into running much but he was pretty restless. We went to Ray Harral Nature Park in Broken Arrow, a suburb of Tulsa. I kind of like it. It has lots of trails and not very many people. By planning your route you can get a couple miles in by varying the loops available.

The woods were grey but I did find a cardinal hiding from me in the shadows for a bit of red.

I finally catching up with the kid. There is something about pedestrian bridges that I love. I alos feel compelled to tilt the camera. For some reason it seems more interesting.

How about you? What do you tilt the camera for?

I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday today.

I wish everybody a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!

Black Friday 2016 at the Tulsa Zoo

I don’t know about you but we really enjoyed Thanksgiving this year (we do every year) we had a lot smaller group than usual but we did just fine. Uncle Bob drove up from Corpus Christi and the world’s greatest MIL hosted the dinner. We enjoyed fine food and fellowship most of the day.

The next day is the notorious Black Friday where everybody gets up terribly early and stands in line to trample their fellow humans to get half price televisions and laptops and such. Not us, we slept in. We had a guy trip to the Tulsa Zoo. No standing in lines there, easy parking, and friendly people!! I hope you enjoyed your shopping, we enjoyed our nonshopping.

The first critter we ran into was this grizzly. He doesn’t look too happy in there all by himself.

Next was this rattlesnake all coiled up and ready to strike. I don’t know much about rattlesnakes but I’m wondering if this is kind of an old guy judging by his filmy eyes. He might just be confused. I do geocaching and trail running and am always concerned about running into snakes. It seems we have more copperheads than rattlesnakes but I’m cautious nonetheless.

And an American Bald Eagle. They sure do look noble.

And a pair of American Albino Alligators. This dude is in serious need of some orthodontics.

And a Scarlet Ibis.

And a pic of son.

And a Golden Headed Lion Tamarin. He doesn’t look happy either.

And the flamingos are always cool and elegant.

The Rhino was up and doing this thing.

And the giraffes were reaching for their lunch.

And the elephants were having their meal as well.

I tried to see if the Zoo wanted this guy for the chimp exhibit. Nope, he eats too much he says.

There is a big construction project going on at the zoo. The Tulsa Zoo Lost Kingdom is going to be a huge addition with enhanced habitat for many of the critters. It is going to be finished sometime next year.

A good time was had by all. We celebrated Brother Bob’s birthday and so we had another excuse to eat well!!

I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving and a pleasant Black Friday. We sure did.

Arkansas River Reflections

View from the west bank of the Arkansas River here in Tulsa of some rowers in the late afternoon last Tuesday. Tulsa has an active rowing community and I see them often out on the river practicing. It looks very hard work to me.

Logan is in production on the play he is in at Clark Youth Theater, “Romeo and Juliet Live From the Underworld.” This is a musical version and … “Romeo and Juliet awake in the after life, confused and unaware of their deaths. With the help of those in the Underworld, the lovers watch as the events of their lives replay before them, eventually making peace with the choices that led to their demise.” The play is very different and I am glad that I saw it twice as I did not understand at all what was going on the first time.

It takes a little to get an ear for Shakespeare especially when done to rap rhymes in Iambic Pentameter. The kids are doing a great job. There are some really talented and accomplished actors among the teenagers. Logan has a small part and does really well with it.

Anyway that is it for now.

New Beginnings – Logan Starts College Today

We were trying to figure out what to do Sunday when Logan announced that he would like to go hiking on Turkey Mountain. It only took a few microseconds for the words to hit my ear and my response didn’t even go to my brain “Lets go!” I said.

It was a change for Logan. He has a couple of other big changes coming up. For one he is starting college today at a local community college. He is starting part time. So we are not photographing decorated dorm rooms and new room mates and all that. We are starting kind of slow to see how it goes and get him used to it and he’ll live at home.

Not everybody of course goes “off” to college. I graduated from high school in Albuquerque and went to the University of New Mexico and stayed at home. Suited me!! I went off to the Permian Basin of west Texas to work as a roustabout in the oilfields during the summer. I loved the work but I loved getting home also. I think Logan is a home body also. Eventually he want to get a job and get a place of his own. Hopefully not too far away.

We found someone camping illegally on the Mountain

The other change for Logan is that he is starting a work skills class at Goodwill Inc sponsored by the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitative Services (“DRS”). Its going to be several hours a day and they are going to learn about all the various things a person has to know in order to have a job. We have been very impressed with both Goodwill and DRS. They are very nice people and we think this will be great for Logan. It will be in a small group type environment and they will all learn together.

Anyways say a small prayer if you would for our son as he starts this new things in his life. He is very nervous about it.

“…Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go…”

Joshua 1:9

Driving Lessons, Tourists, and a Rant

The kid is starting formal driving lessons next week. He has never been behind the wheel before so we went to our local community college parking lot and he sat in the driver’s seat and we went through all the controls and knobs and all that. Then he started the car, put it in drive and we idled through a few loops. I had forgotten how hard the steering thing was to learn, going into and out of a turn. He did great! The best thing was that he had a million questions. I like it when I’m teaching somebody something and they ask questions. It shows me that they have the want to’s. You can’t give people the want to’s I have found out.

So what do you think? Would this be a good first car for Logan?

In other news, Heather had a weak moment and let me go grocery shopping for her. I like taking action shots of her. She is always on the move so basically that is all that I have, is action shots. She is not much of sitter.

Well, I’d been whining about not being able to go to the pool and we went over to Nana’s house and hung out. She has a very nice and inviting pool and back yard. It was getting late afternoon and and I loved the light.

Saturday morning I went on a run on the Arkansas River close to the Creek Tribe Casino. They are building a big huge Margaritaville hotel, bar, and restaurant. They are putting part of it in the river. We have lots of tribal casinos here in Oklahoma. My gambling budget the last several years has been, let me see, approximately zero. If I want to flush money down the toilet I can do that at home.

On Friday there were several tour groups downtown. Tulsa is getting more and more recognition for the art deco architecture. Plus there has been an explosion of new hotels, restaurants, and night clubs the last several years and there are lots and lots of housing options. I think that is all a good thing. We just got through electing a new hipster, progressive mayor. He did a great job as a city counselor. I’m hopeful that Tulsa and Oklahoma will start backing out of the economic dead end and false promises of the tea baggers who have pretty much destroyed our education system in their quest to make Oklahoma “A shining beacon of liberty” as my idiot state senator puts it. (Unfortunately, he got re-elected).

Anyways, that is that, sorry for the rant.

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