Tag Archives: Skywatch

Skywatch Friday – From Here to the Moon and Back

Here: Taken on a recent morning hike with a friend through The Sanctuary at Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness Area. It’s kind of an isolated part of Turkey Mountain so we don’t generally see anybody early in the morning.

To the Moon!: The Full Harvest Moon for a couple nights ago. Clear skies in Tulsa made this one easy. Social media blew up as thousands of people posted their Full Moon shots that night. I loved it.

And back: From an October 2019 trip to Jackson, Wyoming. My wife and I hiked all over Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Park. What a beautiful place that is.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Late April 2025

A sunrise this morning. We have a new dog, Sadie, and she gets up early, and that means we get up early with her. You dog owners know that when the dog gets up you better take it outside right away or face the consequences.

A neighborhood skyshot and reflection.

My volunteer gig with the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition is kicking in. It’s Earth Day season. Here is me and my friend Marci at the local electric utilities employee Earth Day event.

And at a community event a couple days later in downtown Tulsa.

And speaking of electric utility, here is there power plant on the Arkansas River.

And the boat shed at Tulsa’s Gathering Place.

Here is my wife Heather. We attended a fund raiser for the local botanic garden. It was called “Sip and Stroll” so that we sipped and strolled, noshed appetizers and talked to people. Our first grownup date in a while and it was fun.

It had been raining in the gardens so the iris’s had raindrops on them. I love raindrops on flowers.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.

Recent Tulsa Area Skies

Last Thursday it rained and then late in the day the sun came out and I happened to be driving by to see this church with some great golden hour light so I stopped and got a photo.

Earlier last week during a cold wet miserable day I was on the RiverParks Trails here in Tulsa and captured this image of downtown Tulsa. It’s kind of grainy but I like it.

At local park on a sunny day I got this pond and skies.

I went to the Tulsa Boat Show last Friday. On nice days the Tulsa Driller is always a must do photograph.

Expo Square is where the Golden Driller is, right on Route 66. The county has made some improvements

And a backyard skywatch photo looking east.

And again in the backyard looking northwest.

And from the front driveway looking down the road to the west.

And that is about it.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.

A Man on the Moon, and Other Views

The other day, the moon here was 99% full and we had some scattered clouds so I took some photos. This one looks like the moon has a face, featuring a split lips. Reminds me of a cat actually so I guess this isn’t a man on the moon it’s a cat or man in the moon kind of thing.

We had some color in the sky the other day so I launched the old drone. This is looking roughly south of northwest from our house. About 40 meters up.

And this is a similar view looking straight west at the same elevation.

And this is roughly southwest.

And looking straight east. One can see the faintest tints of pink in the clouds. I love reverse sunsets.

And that is it this week. I am linking with Skywatch Friday. Come check them out.

Shadows on the Trail

Saturday I took a short walk on a bicycle path to look for a geocache.

Across this funky enclosed bridge across Mooser Creek.

Next to this tree bunch casting some cool afternoon shadows.

The cache is somewhere in the rocks to the left of the tree. Ididn’t find the cache. It’s about the third time I’ve looked. Everybody else is finding it pretty easily. Oh well, I had a nice walk.

I’m linking with Shadow Shot Sunday 2.

Skywatch Friday – Dronephotography Sunsets

For a while we had weeks and weeks of either clear blue skies or heavy overcast with rain, neither one of which lends themselves to using a drone to take photos. Lately though we have had some interesting skies so I have been launching it a little bit to see what I could find. I did all of flying over my backyard.

Looking southwest over the local elementary school. Some pink in the skies.

On another day, looking straight west

Another day looking west. That tall building on this and the previous photo used to be Oral Roberts University’s hospital and medical school.

Looking northwest from the backyard.

An overcast day, I launched the drone anyway and got this shot. The clouds were too heavy for color in the sky so I just got some brighter sky further up.

More color in the northwestern sky.

Another view of the northwest sky.

I have a lot of fun flying my drone although I don’t develop much flying skill just going up and down from my back yard.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Come check them out.

Skywatch Friday – Snow Moon

Here’s is the almost Snow Moon from my back yard. I usually take it in the front yard but our neighbors across the street had some sort of ruckus going on that sounded like I needed to avoid. I think it is pretty much the same as the front yard offered at a lot lower sound level.

I went on a walk in a city park here. I love the trees against the blue sky.

More blue sky! We are supposed to have storms tomorrow (Thursday) and cold weather so be thinking about us.

F10FF0B8-2187-4309-AE81-457FA7199A39 — Not my Photo!!

And I finished another online jigsaw puzzle. I’m loving this relaxation induced anxiety. All this stuff in Canada, and the Ukraine, and life in general, just rolls away while working jigsaw puzzles. Actually, the concerns don’t go away, I just escape having to worry about them for a while.

I hope everybody is having a good week. I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Please join in!!

2021 Tulsa State Fair

_DSC0073 — Something about Ferris Wheels!

I was going to pass on the Tulsa State Fair because of the pandemic but I thought I go early on a weekday and stay outside as much as possible and wear a mask when I go indoors. So that’s what I did Wednesday. I got there early before the midway opened up the rides so I got to see a lot of things without being around too many people.

They had a double decker merry-go-round. That is something you do not see every day.

A lot of younger kids were showing off their livestock.

And some older kids as well.

Cows were well represented.

And for a brain teaser, how about table with chains for legs. The chain links are not welded together. They are just regular chains. And the table is pretty stable. I had to study on it a little bit.

And there were lots of awards for the various crafts they made.

So I spent a couple hours, walked three miles, saw lots of stuff, drank a couple of beers and went home. (I’m not into so called fair food.)

Do you to fairs where you live?

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Join us!

Special Bonus Photo!!

A drone photo from over my house at sunset looking north. So its really kind of a reverse sunset.

Skywatch Friday – Vintage Oil and Gas Skies

I took the kid back to college on Wednesday. He got a sprained ankle last week so Heather and I did an evacuation to back home and got him in to see a doctor, fed him, did his laundry and got him rested up to go back. It’s just a sprain says the doc so we got him a brace and some ibuprofen and so back to school he goes. On the way back from dropping him off I stopped at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. I had not been there in ages. Turns out that they have a lot of new stuff to show and I’ll post about that later. Today I am showing what they had outside, underneath a big blue Oklahoma Sky with some wind. (If it is Oklahoma, the wind is always blowing.)

I looked at a bunch of oil and gas stuff. This is known as a “Christmas Tree” with valves installed on a oil or gas well to control and regulate the flow. I have never actually seen a stack this high. Usually they are about only two or three valves. I’m guessing what happened is that somebody wanted to donate the tree and so they got all the junk valves they could round up, bolted them together, slapped a coat of paint on it and said “Here you are!” Makes for an impressive sight but I wouldn’t stand near it in a lightning storm.

This is a pump jack used for pumping oil out of the ground. They are also used on natural gas wells to pump the water out that impedes from natural gas well. There is a technical name for those kind of gas wells. They are called “sorry ass gas wells.”

An old school wagon using for hauling oil.

A portable drilling rig. Needs a coat of paint. Also something to stay from in a lightning storm.

And a red truck. I’ve loved red trucks ever since I was about two years old.

That’s enough for now!!

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Come check it out.

Skywatch Friday – Trees

I went on a walk at Tulsa’s Lafortune Park. The trail is 3.1 miles long and loops around two golf courses, baseball fields, a tennis complex, a high school, a public library and there is almost always something going on except it was a cold windy day and I had the place to myself. The skies were overcast so I took photos of the trees on the golf courses.

I love trees in the winter. Their twiggy fingers reaching to the sky. I love trees in all the seasons, how about you.

I got my first Covid vaccination shot this week. I think it is crazy that every state in the union has their own way of doing things. I spent two days refreshing my browser every ten to fifteen minutes. The other thing is that here in Oklahoma just because a site says no appointments available doesn’t mean anything you have to click through to be sure. I know others out in blogland have related similar stories. Anyway, I am glad we are finally getting a foothold, a beginning, to rid our earth of this awful disease.

I’m thankful for the vaccine and for the many millions of caregivers around the world who have risked their lives taking care of people who got sick with the disease.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday, come join us.

YogisDen.us

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