Tag Archives: Skywatch Friday

Morning Shadows at Bluestem Park

Early last month the family ventured to Keller, Texas for a family affair down there. I noticed at the hotel we stayed in that there was a park nearby and also found out that there were several geocaches there. So the next morning, I got up early (I always get up early), go dressed and went out to search for them. It turns out that there was a trail system connected to the hotel’s ground. Sweet!!

So off I went onto the paved trail into the trail system.

The name of the park where the trails are located is Bluestem Park. It is only about 14 acres and it appears to be a public private partnership to recreate a bluestem prairie ecosystem like what was there before white people showed up with their wagons and air conditioning. I love any sort of trail I can find but trails that interconnect with other trails are deluxe. The Bluestem Park trails are interconnected with other trails and it looks like one can wander for miles if they wished. I love Urban Wildernesses like this.

A shadow selfie. One of the advantages of shadow selfies is that no one else can tell your age. Am I right?

Morning Glories, in the Morning at Bluestem Park

Google lens tells me that these are morning glory flowers. I think most morning glories are alien invasive species but they sure are pretty.

Unfortunately the geocaches were not right off the trail. I’d have to get off trail in the grasses and shrubs. If I were home I would be ready for that, here though I didn’t have the right clothes or shoes, nor any bug spray. So I just enjoyed the views. Didn’t really want to show up at a family function covered with burrs and seeds, nor chiggers, ticks, or fire ants. Years ago I got a bunch of fire ant bites geocaching in an area near here and I didn’t want to tangle with them again. I had a great walk though of a couple miles.

I am linking with Shadow Shot Sunday and this coming week’s Skywatch Friday.

Skywatch Friday – At Home and on the River

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From late September to early October

A sunset drone shot from 50 meters above the backyard looking west.

Another sunset on a different day from my across the street neighbor’s driveway.

Another sunset from the curb on the street in front of our house. That’s our mailbox!

Downtown Tulsa from across the Arkansas River

The downtown Tulsa skyline from across the Arkansas River while on a bike ride.

Williams Crossing Bridge Across the Arkansas River

Another bike ride shot of the Arkansas River with Zink Dam, with a bunch of fisherman, and the Williams Crossing Pedestrian Bridge.

I am linking to Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Halloween, Home and Beyond 2026 Edition

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I found this scary dude while hiking the other day, or maybe it found me. I survived though by promising it that it would be on the blog.

The family went out to the Tusla Botanic Garden the other day. We found some scarecrows.

In late September I started another year of reading tutoring at this school. The little person I am helping this year is a hard worker. I am loving not having to bargain, beg, and threaten them to settle down.

I am mowing two yards now. This is my former mother-in-law’s house near where we live. Her neighbors are begging us to move in. It’s a nice house but a long ways from where we like to go. Nice pool. we got to use it a few times before it got too chilly. We have some legal hoops to jump through before we do anything with it.

I love stoplight sunset photos. After months of not much rain we had a lot at the end of September.

And a neighborhood sunrise looking east from my front yard.

And a middle of the day, cloudy, skywatch looking the same way.

I am linking this with Skywatch Friday

Skywatching from the Neighborhood

The Full Harvest Moon on September 26

An opposite sunset (looking east). I love how just the tops of the clouds are in the sun.

A glowing cloudless sunset

Clouds add such drama to a sunset.

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Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center Skywatching

The prairie at Oxley Nature Center.

Morning Sun on the Trees at Oxley Nature Center

The trees at the edge of the prairie welcoming the morning sun.

A little further on I came upon Bird Creek.

Later on in my hike I came across Coal Creek. This is the lowest I have ever seen it. I’m told by the staff that if one gets here early in the morning one can see a family of otters swimming around. I have yet to catch them. I’ve seen muskrats which I think some people confuse with otters.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday. You can also go direct to the inlinkz linky.

Skywatch Friday – New Aircraft at the Tulsa Air and Space Museum

A few weeks ago, I found myself at the north side of the Tulsa International Airport and I noticed that the Tulsa Air and Space Museum had several new aircraft on their parking display so I checked it out.

A-10 Thunderbolt II - "Warthog" at Tulsa Air and Space Museum

First up is the iconic A-10 Thunderbolt, or “Warthog.” A legendary warplane built for ground support. It has a high speed cannon that runs almost the entire length of the plane and is designed as a tank killer. It has been around for decades.

"Gruman Gulfstream II-B/ G-1159B" Aircraft at Tulsa Air and Space Museum Halo II

Second up is Gruman Gulfstream II-B/ G-1159B Halo II. A modified civilian aircraft designed for research the US Missile Defense Agency. You know, secret spy type stuff.

1965 North American Rockwell NA-265-40 Sabreliner at Tulsa's Air and Space Museum

And third is a 1965 North American Rockwell NA-265-40 Sabreliner. A pilot named Bob Hoover flew this. He is famous in aviation circles for being the best pilot in aviation history. Here is his Wikipedia Listing. Talk about great stories in his wikipedia. My favorite is that he was taken prisoner by the Germans in World War II. He escaped and found his way to a German airfield and then took off on one of the planes and flew to Holland and landed inside allied lands. They should make a movie about that but nobody would believe him.

Tulsa International Airport - old control tower

Enough with the museum. I drove closer to the airport to check out the new control tower being built. Above is the existing 1959 vintage control tower. Looks kind of cute doesn’t it?

Senator James M. Inhofe Air Traffic Control Tower Complex

So just turned about 45 degrees to my left and took a photo, with the same magnification, of the new tower. Wow is wow is what I said.

Here it is magnified a little bit. It is huge. Looks like about seven stories tall at the top of the tower. What, are they selling condos? It is ginormous. Ginormous is a word in Oklahoma. We are easily impressed. What can I say?

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

You can go direct to the Inlinkz Linky Here

Skywatching on the Arkansas River

In late July this year I went on a bike ride on the Arkansas River Trails here in Tulsa. I took a “good camera” along. I only take a good camera if there is no chance of rain.

Here is the Public Service Company Oklahoma’s Tulsa Power Station. They have two sources of natural gas to run the plant. I worked for one of the source pipelines for eight years and then I went to work for the other source pipeline.

And here is my bicycle with the Williams Crossing Bridge in the background. It is a beautiful pedestrian bridge that is only about two or three years old. It was named “Bridge of the Year 2026” by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the National Steel Bridge Alliance. Read all about it here. I checked on the bridge construction almost weekly while it was being built. It was fascinating to watch.

Above is a photo from September 2025 showing the bridge at night. It has one of those funky lighting systems that can do all sorts of colors.

There were rowers on the river that day. Used to be Tulsa had quite a rowing community at one time, then Covid came, and then came the reconstruction of the Zink Dam and the Williams Crossing Bridge so it is nice to see rowing on the river again.

21 plus miles. Not a bad ride for an old fat guy is what I think.

Switching gears to the home neighborhood.

A neighborhood sunset in late July. If I don’t feel like launching the drone then I walk across the street to our neighbor’s driveway to get the right angle. The street is straight east and west and the sunset in July is a little north of west so I have to get a little south to see it.

This is a reverse sunset looking east on another day catching the glow of storm front off in the distance.

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Summertime 2026 Skywatch

I am still way behind on posting my sky photos. These are from the last half of July

This is a neighborhood photo showing a front blowing through.

A sunset photo looking west from our neighborhood greenbelt.

A drone photo about 40 meters over our house looking west from Tulsa.

I was on a bike ride on a trail I hadn’t used in a long time. It’s closed, for repairs. It looks okay to me!

A view from a bridge across the Arkansas River looking north. To the right is a complex of buildings that used to be the Oral Roberts Hospital and Medical School. They are now regular office buildings. The high rise to the left is the Muskogee Creek Nation River Spirit Casino.

Here’s a closeup of the Casino from the bike trail around the riverside of the complex.

And from the same trail only a couple miles north is a view across the Arkansas River to Turkey Mountain.

And July’s Full Buck Moon. I love moon photos. I have hundreds of them.

And this is a drone shot that I modified by having a program called Dynamic Auto Painter using a modernist acrylic techniques. It’s not AI. DAP has been around a long time before AI ever showed up. I kind of like how it turned out.

I am linking to Skywatch Friday.

Skywatch Friday – Rainy Days and Cloudy Times Edition

Hey Look, a concert about to get going on the beautiful Jenks Riverwalk. We’re all there and minutes after I took this photo everyone was dashing for our cars. You can kind of see in the right margin that something was coming.

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

This is just a few minutes after we left, the storm had passed, the sun was shining, and a rainbow appeared. I love rainbows.

And another pic, from a bike ride. The Tulsa Skyline under some clouds.

At home, you can see the front passing through from left to right.

And a neighborhood shot of clouds.

Reverse sunset in the neighborhood looking south.

Reverse sunset looking east.

And a sunset looking west. I get asked if I used a filter on this shot. The answer is yes, I brought to bear every filter I had on this. Just so you know, I am not a purist.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Home Sweet Home Edition

We got home from vacation in early July. We had a great time and saw a lot but it was nice to be home.

That was before the big heat dome. We had big fluffy clouds in the sky and rain! I’m into rain.

Cockeyed neighborhood skywatch shot looking east.

And another one looking west. I miss the rain. We haven’t had any for weeks now.

This is a jigsaw puzzle I did on my ipad a few months ago. It’s the Goosenecks in the Colorado River in northern Arizona. I’ve never seen it with my own eyes. Accounts I’ve read say that some days its a zoo there with everyone elbowing and jostling trying to get the perfect shot. Anybody been there and can give us the straight scoop. Leave a comment and tell us about it.

I’m linking this with Skywatch Friday

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