Tag Archives: Snow

Saturday’s Critters – Winter Storm Fern Edition

My hiking friend and I went on a five mile hike on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain on Thursday. The weather was almost shirtsleeve warm. We saw this great blue heron fishing in one of the ponds. All I had was my cell phone so sorry about the graininess.

After almost a year together our two dogs, Kodi the Pom, and Sadie the Terrier have almost started playing together. I guess if this were human kids it would be called adjacent play. They seem to enjoy each other’s company now.

Kodi hides under this table when my wife is gone. He always has such a tragic expression.

Lizzie checking on the goings on out in front of the house.

This fiberglass penguin has its own geocache.

Winter Storm Fern came to northeast Oklahoma last night. This was the scene this morning. Not too bad. Not even an inch of snow. We are supposed to get more later on today and tonight.

And the backyard. Kodi the Pom got up this morning and went outside and did his business. He loves snow. Sadie is having a hard time. She wouldn’t do her business last night so she needed out at 3 am. I took her out and she peed and ran back into the house. She was in a world of hurt this morning. She needed to poop bad but wouldn’t go outside and wouldn’t go on a pad in the house. Finally I carried her out and plopped her in the middle of the yard and she saw a squirrel and she ran after it, completely forgetting about the snow, and then did her business. She felt so much better, she was running around the yard. (Sorry if this is TMI.)

We have a steady stream of visitors to the efeeder. Here is a short 12 second video of a male and female cardinal and a dark eyed junco taking advantage of the suet and seeds that I put out for them.

That’s it for now. We are staying home today and maybe tomorrow depending on road conditions. If you are in the winter storm, please stay safe.

I am linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Lots of great bloggers post there, check them out.

Skywatching at Home

Son Logan drives me around these days. So I get to take photos while he is driving like this sunset in the neighborhood.

Here is a skywatch photo from my front porch

And from the backyard

Another from the front porch looking west toward the sunset

And a skywatch photo from my driveway looking east.

While walking the dog in our neighborhood greenbelt

A sunrise looking east

And a jigsaw puzzle. These look like the Teton mountains in Wyoming.

And the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Along with a peacock.

And a jigsaw puzzle of a cool little cabin in the woods.

And a beautiful lifeguard shack on the ocean at sunset. Ignore the US flag flying in a funny manner.

Over 200 million Americans are going to get hit with a polar vortex in the next day or so. For Oklahoma it is going to be the worst since the 2011 winter storm. Here is an action shot of me shoveling snow in that storm.

And here is an action shot of our Maine Coon Chrissy during the storm. She loved the fireplace. I don’t know how she didn’t spontaneously combust.

I picked her up and took her outside after all the snow fell. You can tell that she was not a happy kitty. I’m glad I had my heavy canvas coat and leather gloves or may not have survived this photoshoot.

I’m linking to Skywatch Friday

To my fellow Americans in the path of the oncoming storm. Stay warm and safe!!

Weekend Backyard Golden Hour Morning Shadow

We got a little bit of snow last night. When I got up this morning, the light was a golden color and I needed a shadow so I went captured this shot of a chair shadow.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Skywatch Friday – Three Days in January

With the cold and my bum knee I have not had too many adventures yet.

I got up the morning of January 9 and this is what the sky was like. I didn’t use a filter. It was amazing.

And then this is what the snow brought. I actually liked it. We had enough to where it made everything pretty but it melted fast enough to not be a problem.

And on January 11 I captured the Wolf Moon a little early. You can tell by the fuzzy lower left corner that it was still waxing. I think January 13 was the night of the actual full moon.

I worked another jigsaw puzzle. I did the google images on this photo and I got no hits so it must be AI or some other made-up thing. This wasn’t too hard. I did the edge pieces simultaneously the edges of the two sky sections A great way to spend the evening. My favorite parts were the mesa to the left and the galvanized roof to the right.

Be thinking of me. Tomorrow my wife and I are visiting my surgeon to find out about scheduling a knee replacement. I’m kind of dreading it but things are continuing to hurt more and more so something has to give.

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

Skywatch Friday – Cold Snowy Spell

It has been a week! We have had some wicked cold weather and a little bit of snow.

Last Friday, my brother got sick and we spent hours in the emergency room. Turns out he had covid. So they bundled him up and sent back to his residence where he is being isolated for a while. I went home and tested negative but have been self isolating for five days. So stay at home, no gym nor anything else where people are. Low single digits inhibited me from doing anything outside so I’ve been a couch potato.

I had this bright idea of taking the drone out to various places around town and launching it. First though the batteries were all low and it took hours to charge them up. I went on a little test run in the back yard and I got just a little ways up in the air and the drone went crazy and one of the motors started barking. The screen on the controller said “Too Cold” so I nixed that but I got a few photos showing the snow in the neighborhood.

Normally with as sunny as it is our one inch would be gone but it is sticking around because it is so cold.

It took me about 20 minutes to push the snow off the driveway and walkways. If I didn’t it would turn to ice. Now that is really fun to deal with, especially when you are 68 years old!

So tomorrow I’ll self test and I’ll be free again!! (If I test negative) Plus it will be warmer outside. Probably going to be too muddy to go hiking ethically but I’ll find something else to do. Don’t you worry!! And my brother is doing okay as well. He is apartment is kind of small and he is going stir crazy. They will be testing him and if negative, he’ll be free as well! Being free is good in my book.

The other thing that happened last week is that I got notified by the internet company that hosts my blog that I had way too much traffic on it and it wasn’t coming from my friendly global blogging friends. It was coming under attack by evildoers! Traffic was up by a factor of 47,000!! They said fix it or we are going to shut you off. They were nice about it though. They sent a bunch of data on what was happening and gave me seven tasks I could do that would probably work.

Hey, couldn’t go anywhere, so the next day I went through the seven things with a sense of dread. Computerspeak is like a foreign language but with the links they provided I was able to tighten up security and upgrade things and it only took a few hours so I asked them to evaluate again and they said I fixed it and complemented me on how quickly I got-er done. Whew, big sigh of relief. My motto on the blog is if it is not broke don’t fix it. Turns out that is not too smart.

So that is about it for this week! I am linking with Skywatch Friday and My Corner of the World.

Skywatch Friday – Snow and More

We are in the middle of a cold front here in northeast Oklahoma. We got some sleet and snow with it and some cold temperatures. Not a fan of cold weather, snow, or any of that other low temperature foolishness.

The low temps are here to stay for a few days so we are not going to get much melting. Our fellow bloggers in Colorado, New England, northern Europe, and Canada are probably getting a big chuckle about whining like this. I don’t blame them at all.

This to shall pass.

Good thing Heather kept her snow men out.

Here is a scene from just a few days ago when we had shirtsleeve weather.

Son Logan wearing a tshirt while walking Rascal.

It was so warm that I was asked to water the butterfly waystation on Turkey Mountain. I made Heather come with me. She is a certified master gardener so I thought she could show me how to do it right.

I hope everybody is staying safe and warm.

I am linking up with Skywatch Friday. Come join in.

Storm Coming to Oklahoma

We have our first storm of the winter coming. On Ground Hogs Day! Here in Oklahoma we panic at the first thought of ice and snow. Everybody hits the grocery stores for bread and milk.

This is from my backyard weather station. It is remarkable that you can tell to the minute when the front hit. At 8:05 PM last night. The temperature and the humidity dropped like a rock. It is supposed to be sporadic rain/sleet/snow until this evening and then the snow will hit. Our weathercasters live for this stuff. The storm chasers are out and about in their cars driving on the ice, looking for stop signs with icicles flags blowing in the wind. Yep, weather is a major spectator sport in Oklahoma.

Weekend Reflections – Snowy Day

I love a good puddle reflection

Well it was kind of a snowy day last Saturday. I dropped the kid off at his Improv Comedy class and then went over to the river to plod a few miles. It had snowed a little earlier that morning but had quit. Just the kind of snow I like.

River Trails Reflections - Topaz Glow - Whisker Wires 85 pct

I used Topaz Glow – Whisker Wires effect on this photo – true confessions

So I did my thing, stopping and taking pictures every now and then.

Frozen Sculpture - Da Vinci Sketch I 70 pct

This sculpture is “Crossing the Prairie” by Glenna Goodacre. I happen to love this work. More true confessions I used Topaz on this photo also.

I don’t like cold weather that much but I don’t mind it when I’m running. I have the right kind of clothes for running in cold wet weather and my movement keeps me warm. I’m just hoping that we don’t get any ice. I hate ice. Except in my scotch, I like it a lot there.

Linking with Weekend Reflections

Digital Art Meme – Last Days of the Season

We had a brown Christmas, which suited me fine, followed by several days of lots of rain which wasn’t too much fun and then a day of sleet and then snow and now its cold so the snow is staying. So I got a Christmas photo of house all lit up with the snow which adds some reflection and makes the light a lot more even and later. I used Topaz Impressions software on this shot and then backed the effect by about 2/3 to capture the last days of the Christmas season.

The season started to end at about 5:30 the day after Christmas. Heather’s aunt, a retired school teacher, gave us all Barnes and Noble Bookstore gift cards and since we are all big readers we decided to go buy a bunch of books. So I was coming out of the store and it was raining and I was headed for the car in the rain and a car could have run over me but I was watching the drivers eyes and she wasn’t looking where I was, she was looking the other way and so I got out of her way and raised my arms up in a “What the heck lady” motion. She rolled her window down and said; “I wasn’t going to hit you and you don’t need to give me hand gestures in front of my kids.” I was like huh? and yelled “I didn’t do that!” and then she gave me the old fingered salute. Hah! it was comical and I guess that Christmas was about over, for her. I am still celebrating!!

I am staying home with the family this week eating too much, staying up too late, and sitting around too much. Back to the real world next week helping America fulfill her energy needs.

Linking with Digital Arts Meme this week.

Snow Day

Well it is Saturday and it is a snow day at the Bates household. We are weenies weatherwise here in Tulsa. I don’t think it snowed more than two inches all day long but we didn’t go anywhere. Tulsa is just now set up very well for bad weather. I’m pretty confident that I can drive safely but many of my fellow Okies just refuse to accept that bad weather should change the way they drive.

It was pretty snowy up and down the street. And my thumb is still skin colored as you can see.

I love taking pictures of lawn ornaments when there is snow.

I had my favorite snow footgear. My insulated crocks. They are very warm and cozy and I can unsnap the liner and throw in the washer when it is dirty. Of course I haven’t done that yet. I’ve only had them for ten years so check back next year. What!

My obligatory macro pics. I’m not much of macro photographer. Of course I’m not much of any type of photographer. I’m much more comfortable with being called a picture taker. Most photographers would be much more comfortable calling me something besides a photographer also. So it is a win-win. Especially for those photographers who don’t like thumbs in the pics. We picture takers just take that in stride.

On snow days you eat good. Heather cooked this for my second breakfast and made a great stew for dinner. I contributed also, she cooked and I ate. We make a great team.

This is Abigail. Don’t feel sorry for her, she doesn’t want in, she wants somebody to come out and play with her.

Here is the obligatory snow shoveling selfie, complete with some more thumb. No extra charge. No charge for the big ole double chin either. I read that on selfies you are supposed to stick your chin out to avoid big double chins. Just think how many chins I would have if I hadn’t done that. Do you like my new tortoise shell glass frames. I like them. Everybody else goes on and on about how they like them in a manner that makes me think that maybe they don’t like them. You can also see my deviated septum. An old baseball injury from school. Oh well, so much for this.

This is just to prove that I shoveled the driveway. Not too many people do that in the neighborhood. I don’t know why. My next door neighbor does a good job though.

And here is the front of the house. Snow has its uses. I think the whole family enjoyed the snow day.

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