Tag Archives: Sunset

Skywatch Friday – On the Move Edition

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Me and a friend continue to hike on Turkey Mountain and other places. This is a moon gate leading into The Sanctuary section of Turkey Mountain. I go right through it, my friend goes around it. I don’t know why.

Turkey mountain has maybe nine lakes on it, plus two or three more in The Sanctuary. Anywhere else they would be called ponds. Three interesting things about the lakes (at least they are interesting to me) is, first, that the Wildlife Department stocks the lakes for fishing. Second there is a big colony of beavers on the mountain and they move as a group from lake to lake cleaning out all the fish in each pond. I think that is hilarious. Third, the beavers move up and down the Arkansas River and migrate to and from Turkey Mountain via Mooser Creek which is the northern border of Turkey Mountain. They know this because the wildlife has tagged a bunch of beavers so they can track their movements. I have a feeling that beavers are going to outlive humans.

This is a pipeline for one of my former employers running through Turkey Mountain. Last year another former employer of mine laid a pipeline adjacent to this one but they drilled the little swale you see instead of putting in a span like the one above. Drilling pipelines across tough spots has been all the rage for years. Contractors can now drill across the Mississippi River for large pipelines and hit the other side a mile away within a few feet of their target. They also do it in culturally sensitive areas like ruins and such. They can stand off a few hundred yards and drill way underneath the ruins instead of having to go around. The problem with going around is that you often run into more ruins.

The tree house in The Sanctuary. If you look close you can see a couple of swinging porch benches underneath. A nice place to wait out a rainstorm.

Anyway on this hike, it was almost exactly five miles. That’s my sweetspot.

Switching gears to the backyard. Sunrise!

Mid-day from my front yard looking east.

And a late sunset, looking west.

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Later that night, the Full Snow Moon. I love full moons on a clear night.

And a shot from the neighborhood green belt.

I’ve continued working on jigsaw puzzles on my ipad. I love beach scenes.

And a windmill jigsaw puzzle. The windmill is cool and I love the house. except not many windows upstairs. I like the lightning rods though. Random thought, I am sure that windmills get hit with lightning. Do they burn down?

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Colored Skies and Subtle Skies

I fired the drone up over the backyard last week toward the end of the day.

It had been raining and I wanted to go hiking so I went to Broken Arrow’s Ray Harral Nature Center. A beautiful place with many paved hiking trails so one can go hiking while adhering to Leave No Trace guidelines. The end of the hike I found this composition with flowers, trees, and a sky. Nothing earth shattering, just kind of pleasant.

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Grab Bag of Skies

Tuesday I noticed that there was a hole in the sky so I took a photo of the hole.

I love power plants, especially those powered by natural gas and if they light up really good and have a cool sign then so much the better. This is Public Service Company’s Tulsa Power Station located on the Arkansas River in Tulsa.

This is a backyard sunrise shot from earlier this week.

And a shot of my neighbor’s sprinkler reflecting the sunset one day against a cool sky. Hey I’m opportunist and don’t apologize for it.

And this is from back in 2012 when our family went to Seattle for our vacation. We took a day trip to Mount Rainier National Park. I tried to take this photo but we were blacked out because the sky and the mountain was so bright. I figured out how to correct that on the iphone Lightroom app using their new masking capability, and I was able to bring us out from the dark. You can tell that I didn’t do that good a job on the masking but you know sometimes enough is enough.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Sunset with Half Moon

I got sidelined for a few days with a sore knee. I finally went to the bone doctor and he gave me a range of treatment options from continue using OTC Ibuprofen to getting a steroid injected in the knee to a “surgical solution.” I opted the steroid in the knee. And it helped but I’m not 100% yet. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

I’ve been out and about. My wife and I had our 35th anniversary the other day and so we went to the zoo and 16,000 steps later my knee was calling my name!!! It felt great at first.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Dronephotography and my own Dam Party

This is from Tuesday evening.

From a week or so ago. Part of a series of photographs showing that it was raining all around us except where we live.

And a cheerful morning sunrise

And an optimistic Labor Day. I fly my flag right side up!!

And a long last, the new Dam and Bridge across the Arkansas is done. They had a whole multi day party to celebrate over the Labor Day weekend called the “Big Dam Party.” I missed it all. I got out there Tuesday morning and checked it out myself. I had my own dam party.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Sunset, Eclipse, River Views

I went on a walk one evening and found this sunset at the end.

We got a new backyard fence a couple months ago. I finally got my weather station reinstalled.

My sister and her husband came to visit. One day we had an eclipse party in the backyard. Everyone had the special sunglasses except for Kodi the dog but he doesn’t care about eclipses so it was all good. After this shot, I wished I had thought to launch my drone. Not to look at the eclipse but looking down at this group as it went up in the air. It would have simulated the rapture for me. Don’t worry, I’m not a rapture but I thought it would have been fun to simulate it.

I took a short bike ride and checked out the water behind the new dam on the Arkansas River here in Tulsa. The river sure looks like nice full of water.

I feel kind of guilty because the Arkansas River is braided prairie river. They have sandbars and multiple channels and support lots of wildlife. So I am conflicted. But the “new” river sure makes nice photos.

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And another Lego animal from our trip to the Tulsa Botanic Garden a few weeks ago.

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

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.

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

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On another day, looking straight west

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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.

Entertaining One’s Ownself

My wife and I went to Tulsa’s swanky Utica Square shopping center the other day. She really likes the Athleta store there. As an exercise instructor she lives in workout gear and Athleta’s stuff is great. So while she was shopping for her Christmas gifts from me to her I took my phone out and did some exploring.

I found this cool clock. Who uses a clock to tell time any more? We all have phones and stare at them all day long.

Found this sculpture of a little girl reading. I love to see young people reading. I volunteer with Reading Partners and tutor a girl in reading for an hour a week. She’s really a hard worker and stays engaged the whole hour. Unlike some of my generation, I see lots of hope in the future generations. If you are interested check the link see if they have a program in your area.

Right across the street from Utica Square is the Temple Israel Synagogue. I have long loved their bas relief of the Ten Commandments. I shot the photo from the shopping center’s parking garage to get a little elevation.

I also love their 3D Menorah. For the longest time I thought it was just a cool modern sculpture. Well duh, it’s a Menorah I found out on their web site.

Also across the street from the center is this cool office building. I love it’s design including the arches on the ground floor and all the balconies. It looks like it belongs on a coast somewhere.

Found this dolled up wooden sculpture next to a day spa.

So that’s it for the shopping center. You get the picture. I went drone flying earlier.

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So here’s a sunset from 40 meters over my back yard. Somebody in one of my drone groups on facebook said that they were tired of sunset photos. Suck it up buddy, here’s another one is my response.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday – come join in!!