Tag Archives: Sunsets

Skywatch Friday – Autumn Surprise Spider Sunrise

I was out with the dogs the other morning admiring our sunrise when what did I see?

A spider on a web also admiring the sunset!!

Another sign of autumn is that I am starting my gig as a volunteer reading tutor. I’ve already met the young person I’ll be working with and am looking forward to helping them learn to read.

Another sign of autumn is that an organization I am with, the Tulsa Urban Wilderness Coalition has restarted our trail maintenance projects. It’s too hot in the summer!! Our latest project which we co-hosted with another organization had over fifty people working on various projects on Turkey Mountain.

I love autumn, it goes on for months here in northeast Oklahoma.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Tulsa Skies

I fired up my drone for the first time in a long time. It is Chinese made and partly due to the recent trade squabbles it is a little less friendly than before. But I navigated the changes in controls, got the batteries charged, and launched it right after a wave of thunderstorms came in and right before the next wave. That kind of thing can result in decent sky shots if you are lucky and I guess that I was lucky.

Another neighborhood sky shot, this one from ground level.

And yet another neighborhood shot, same street, different location, different day.

Not all my adventures result in a great time. I hit up my bride for a hike at Oxley Nature Center’s Northwoods Area. She said sounds good and we loaded up and went. Turns out that they are doing some road repairs on the access road, so they have closed it. So I said lets go anyway, so parked alongside the road and walked to the trailhead, about 0.4 miles away. And oops with the access road closed to the trailhead they are not maintaining the trail. We forged on ahead. We had sprayed on some deet at the car but left the bug spray in the car. The mosquitoes were hungry and were about to carry us off. The bride was getting eat up but we marched on ahead anyway but got stopped by a dead fall across the trail at the one mile mark. The brush was too thick to go around it so we came back on a slightly different route.

Not a whole lot of fun but still out in nature.

And I apologize but for some reason this post is not accepting comments from people. I have no idea why.

Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Oklahoma Sunset

The other day the sky looked promising for a decent sunset. It seems the best conditions are high thin clouds. If they are too thick they kind of smother the sun and you get no color. And the thing is the colors don’t last so you have to be ready to go or the opportunity is gone. So I was home, my drone batteries were charged up so I launched it from the back yard.

If you are lucky, and I was that day, you get opposite sunsets which is where you get colors in any direction. So this is looking north.

And this is looking south.

And this was the west, the day before.

And this is looking down. You can see my orange landing pad. I do think that is my new roof. We color matched it to the old roof so there it looks the same. I do only periscope flights. I go straight up from the backyard and look around and then come back down. I don’t fly the drone over other people’s property or anywhere where I can’t just legally walk over and pick it up if something goes wrong. That’s just me though.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

Skywatch Friday – Backyard Dronephotography

We’ve been having scattered cloudy days in Tulsa. Those potentially turn into decent sunset shots. So if I can try and be home then and launch my elderly mini drone up to about 150 feet or from my backyard and see what I can see.

Sometimes you luck out and get some color and texture.

I love those days. The color lasts only for a minute or two and then it is gone.

I’ve learned to turn the drone to look east as well to see the soft pink of the “reverse sunset.”

Sometimes you don’t get any pink but the reverse sunset is always worth looking checking out.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday

A New Launching Pad

I got a new launchpad for my drone. You don’t need one if you are launching from a hard surface but if you are on grass dirt it helps to have one to avoid damage to the drone’s propellers. Mine is about 24 inches square which is plenty big. The few times I have launched out in the wild it is hard to get away from grass, twigs, pebbles, and dirt.

So I checked it out in the backyard. Usually I launch from the patio but the metal in the furniture messed with the drone’s gps so I was always having to calibrate it.

***at 40 meters, my usual flying distance.***

I almost always fly from my backyard in “periscope mode.” I go straight up and then look around. I don’t fly around looking at stuff. Legally I can do it but in a subdivision I don’t think it is too neighborly to fly over somebody else’s property.

The view to the southwest. That’s the neighborhood elementary school to the left.

And straight to the west.

I think my launching pad works well.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday (April 13 edition)

Also linking to My Corner of the World

Skywatch Friday – Sunny Skies

Sunny weather this past week for the most part which suits my present mood. My brother got sick in late December and has had quite a journey but is getting released tomorrow to go back to his home. The whole family is happy.

A front porch skywatch photo. A cousin called it the Pythagoras Sky.

Another front porch sky.

Trees close to the parking lot of my brother’s hospital. I love the sight of trees in winter.

And a view of a sunset through the glass blocks of my gym.

Linking to Skywatch Friday

Fiery Skies in Tulsa

We’ve had some pretty good sunsets in Tulsa lately. Late day weather helps with the clouds in the western sky. One evening I launched my drone and went up about 50 meters. Not much wind which is rare for Oklahoma.

Another day I was taking son somewhere and we had good skies so I was taking shots as I safely could while driving. This is from our house looking west.

And at our church a little later.

And the drive home.

Another day I had to get my car serviced. We live only 0.8 miles from the mechanic so if the weather is good I walk back home. So this is an early morning shot to the east. I have to confess that since I have retired I have not seen very many sunrises.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday. Check it out, lots of great posts there.

Skywatch Friday – Different Ways of Catching Rays!!

Sunset a few weeks ago captured with the drone.

And an opposite sunset looking to the northeast

I’ve rediscovered “tiny planet” apps. They take a photo and wrap it around itself.

I went on a bike ride on a glorious, windy, sunny, kind of cool Wednesday. I took the Katy Trail from Tulsa to Sand Springs to avoid the mobs of spring breakers on the RiverParks trails. It’s an old railroad that has been converted to a trail.

And a vantage from a high spot.

And turned 45 degrees to the refinery across the Arkansas River.

A late afternoon skywatch shot. After weeks of boring skies I’ve been busy.

A sunrise early in the morning.

And the old drone pilot himself.

We had a full worm moon on Wednesday with just a very light screen of clouds in front of it. I love full moons.

I am continuing to do jigsaw puzzles on my ipad. I love them. I love this Caribbean scene.

And this street scene. It takes me days to do these things. I don’t mind though it is very relaxing.

Anybody else getting their vitamin D on. I love being outside so much.

I’m linking to Skywatch Friday. Come check it out. Lots of great posts from bloggers all over the place.

Skywatch Friday – The Skies Are Back

So lately our plain jane skies have spiced up a little bit, especially at sunset. So I have been flying my drone quite a bit.

There are even interesting skies on our dog walks.

One day we had a spectacular sunset to the west and…

to the East we got a nearly full Wolf Moon rising.

And a big thank you to Klara. Her excellent moon shots reminded me of my humble Wolf Moon shot for this month. Go check the link and see what she did with the Wolf Moon. Truly Spectacular.

Happy Skywatching to you! I am linking up at Skywatch Friday.

Up Periscope!

We are having some great sunsets the past few days. We get a little bit of rain sometime during the day and then the remaining clouds reflect the setting sun perfectly. I am launching my drone from my back yard straight up to about 150 feet and pointing it west. It is about the same height as when I worked in downtown Tulsa in a high rise with a window looking west. The DJI Mavic Mini drone that I have has a gps that holds the craft in place. If the wind is too much too hold it sends an alarm and I will lower it a little bit.

This is our back yard at about 150 feet up.

This is quite a bit lower. I liked the reflections in our neighbor’s pool.

I hope that everybody has a great holiday weekend. I’m retired so they are all holiday weekends for me..

I am linking with Skywatch Friday. Come join the fun!!

YogisDen.us

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