Tag Archives: Tulsa

Tulsa Wind Storm 2023

We had a horrendous wind storm hit northeastern Oklahoma at about midnight last Saturday. Straight winds of 100 mph were recorded and our family, and the dog and cat, were in our “safe space” for not very long.

We didn’t suffer any damage at all although we are getting our roof inspected and might have some tree work to do. Our neighborhood didn’t have much damage either except for trees down. All I can say is thank goodness for underground utilities.

Elsewhere in Tulsa it was a different story. Over 200,000 people lost power. By now over half those have it back and it has been a great response from other states sending their utility crews here to help get power restored. They think that they will have everybody hooked back up by late Saturday afternoon.

Turkey Mountain had a lot of damage. Volunteers got out there with their chain saws and got a lot of the trails cleared. I don’t do chainsaws but I moved some limbs off the trails as I found them.

There are still some “hangers” or “leaners” that will have to be removed by people that know what they are doing. Best to keep an eye up in the air to avoid hazards.

The sounds of chainsaws were all over the place when I made my outing the other day.

Reportedly by now almost all the main trails are open.

Of course it is difficult to pin any particular weather event on global warming but still one wonders. Something new I’ve seen in the last few days is “#ShowYourStripes” a graphic developed by Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading in England. It’s like a bar code showing the yearly variation of temperature from the long term average over a time period.

The global temperature change chart is as follows. Blue means below the long term average and orange is above. The darker the color, the more difference there is. So this is the Global stripes showing data from 1850 and one can definitely see that things are warming up quickly. Keep in mind it is just temperature data and doesn’t say anything why.

**Created by Ed Hawkins of University of Reading, Creative Commons License**

So, I jumped in and looked at the Oklahoma data which they have from 1895 and the results surprised me. Oklahoma has had ups and downs over the whole time period. Although there is a definite trend since the year 2000. But there was a previous period back in 1930 or so that had increasing temperatursewhich roughly coincides with the dustbowl.

I find this kind of thing fascinating. Go check it out for your continent, country, state or province at ShowYourStripes.Info. Let me know what you find.

Linking with Skywatch Friday

A Shadowy Shelter on the Mountain

A shadowy shelter survived a prescribed burn on Turkey Mountain.

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Skywatch Friday – The North Woods at Oxley Nature Center

A week and a half ago, late on a Sunday afternoon, I went on a hike at Oxley Nature Center’s North Woods area. I love the North Woods area because it is beautiful, the trails are well maintained and hardly anybody besides me goes there even on a nice weekend afternoon.

It’s kind of a walking meditation.

Be careful while you are meditating and walking though. This thing will give you a headache.

The staff and volunteers are always tweaking and improving things on the trails.

It’s got water views and benches.

And what I call tree tunnels cutting through the woods. I love to come here when it is windy like it was on my hike. The woods are thick so there is no wind on the ground but you can hear the wind as it moves through the tops of the trees.

Later on in the spring, the reflections will be prettier.

I was hoping to see deer, not today!

And the end.

I try and go on all the trails during my visits to the North Woods. That entails taking some of the trails twice. That’s alright.

I am linking with Skywatch Friday.

2022 Dia de Los Muertos Art Festival at Living Arts Tulsa

Living Arts hosts normally hosts at Dia de los Muertos Arts Festival during or close to the holiday of November 1 and 2. Of course, nothing since 2020 has been normal. This year I wasn’t able to attend the festival which includes art and performances and food because of the weather but I did make it to the gallery to see the Ofrendas or altars to the dead.

I love the ofrendas. They are made to honor the dead. They have a lot of symbolism in terms of the colors and decorations used. Here is a great article about the symbolism. Many of the altars adhere to the pattern others do not so much.

I look at them as stories of a person’s life as told by the loved ones. Religious faith, professions, hobbies, loved ones, favorite foods, sports teams, and other facets of a person’s life is displayed. Obviously almost all of these people were much loved when they were alive.

So I try to never miss these. They are wonderful works of art with meaning.

This ofrenda was finished off by sand on the floor below with a beach scene. That could be mine, or a small trail in the woods.

Some ofrendas were communal such as this one offered up students at a local school or who made painted rocks in memory of a loved one of theirs that they had lost.

Dallas Cowboys merchandise was displayed on three of the altars. If somebody makes me an altar, they could add that.

Outside, there are murals in honor of deceased people.

RIP Frida Kahlo, what an amazing artist.

Have you thought about an altar for somebody. I have. I think it would be interesting and emotional coming up with a design and gathering the various elements and then putting it together. I think it is good to remember people. I am not one who wants to get rid of reminders of people. Yes, sure that can be sad, but what about all the happy memories?

I am linking with My Corner of the World. Go check it out.

Fall Colors with Shadowy Sunlight

Shadows, Sunlight, Fall Color, all at once, seen on a hike on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain on a cold Sunday morning hike.

Linking with Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Lots of fun there.

2022 Tulsa Veterans Day Parade

We had a big Veterans Day Parade in Tulsa today. First one I have been to in a while what with being retired and Covid and all that mess. It lasted a long time. In Tulsa we love our Vets and we show up for them. We had several color guards for instance.

The motorcycle cops did some fancy riding and looking all intimidating and such.

I guessed that these are reservists or something.

My employer sponsored the race and a bunch the employees marched.

There were dogs.

These planes did multiple flyovers.

There were vets in trailers.

And vets on trucks.

We had guys in kilts.

And high school JROTC cadets looking sharp.

Lots of vintage cars.

One guy brought his personal tank.

A couple celebrity storm trackers showed up. They got more decals than NASCAR racers.

And high school marching bands with baton twirlers showing their stuff.

And Firemen!!

It was quite a show. For the vets.

My brother was in the Navy a long time, now retired.

My Dad was in the US Army during the occupation of Japan after World War II. He’s no longer with us but I think of him every single day. He was proud of his service. Dad’s grandfather served in the Army during the Spanish American War and Dad has a brother, my uncle, who was an officer in Navy. I have a cousin who served in the Army in Korea way back when.

My brother-in-law Irvin is an Army vet. He and my sister and their kids lived all over the place during his service. That is the thing about having a family and being in the military. They serve as well. Irv has a grandson and a son-in-law currently serving.

To all our vets, we salute you and appreciate your service.

Shadow Shot Sunday – Vernon AME Church

A brick screen casts shadows at the historic Vernon A.M.E. Church in the Greenwood District of Tulsa.

Shadow Shot Sunday 2

Hiking at Oxley Nature Center

Friday morning I talked son Logan into going on a hike with me to Tulsa’s Oxley Nature Center.

In the parking lot we spotted a swallowtail butterfly. Swallowtails move around a lot so I just kept taking photos hoping one would be okay.

Later on in our hike we found a doe and her fawn in the woods. They were kind of skittish and the woods were thick so it was hard to get a good photo.

And later came upon this armadillo rooting around for something to eat. It pretty ignored us. I don’t think they see or hear very well. Years ago when I lived in south Texas they got hit a lot on the roads.

And as we were leaving we saw this doe and her two offspring. I think one might be a yearling and the other a pretty new fawn. They ignored as well.

Here’s my hiking companion, son Logan who has started a couple classes in the local community college’s Paralegal Program.

I’m linking with Eileen’s Saturday’s Critters. Come check out it!!

A Tour of Tulsa’s Lubell Park

Last week after walking the new trails at Bales Park in west Tulsa, I drove ovder to nearby Lubell Park to check out their new trails. Their trails new to me but they had the grand opening on the new trails in October 2021. Before that they were hand cut trails by volunteers. The new trails were put in by the professionals at Rogue Trails out of Arkansas. The same people working on the Bales Park Trails.

I’ve only been to Lubell one time before to find a geocache. What Lubell was mainly known for up until the new trails was the number and aggressiveness of their ticks.

Ticks no more on these big wide, sustainable, cool trails. At least I didn’t get any (I use tick spray whenever I am in the woods.)

The trails are pretty cool. The project was sponsored by a local bicycle club and so the trails kind of cater to mountain bikes but they are perfectly hikable. These are the only mountain bike trails that I have seen in Tulsa that I think I would be okay with riding my bike on. Smooth, no steeps ups and downs, and doable turns. The new trails at Turkey Mountain and Bales are pretty cool but I don’t have the skillz necessary to ride them successfully. At my age, gravity is not friend! Can I get an Amen?

And they have some interesting features such as this shelter.

These look like thrones to me. Lubeell is integrated into the surrounding neighborhood such that some people have gates in the fences that open into the park. That is where I found these.

And they had several cairns or stacked rocks. I used to think they were cool but they don’t really go with a leave no trace vibe. They are not much of a problem in Oklahoma but some parts of the country are getting overrun with these and are technically illegal in National Parks.

The east boundary fence appears to be a deer proof fence. I noticed a deer feeder on the other side. Notice the greenery. It is lespedeza, a noxious plant introduced to the United States from Asia in the 1890 and was widely used as a cover on non-productive soils. The problem is that it takes over and deer and livestock won’t eat it. I hate the stuff.

Moving on, near the end of the trail there are some nice obstacles mainly for bikes. I walked the little maze above.

More fun for bicycles.

And Tulsa has these things all over town. They are tornado sirens and many of them seem to be too big for the wooden pole that supports it and they are bending over at ever increasing angles. They send out three types of alarms. Tornados and chemical releases get a three minute monotone. Then there is a three minute wavering tone used only for nuclear attacks. So if you happen to be in Tulsa and those goes off, best just to kiss yourself goodbye. I remember in grade school in the early 1960’s we were told to get under out desks in case of nuclear attack. The third signal is a three minute high low tone. That is a flooding alert.

Sorry I digress, again. Here is a short video showing my hike at Lubell.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday – go check it out!!

A Sneak Peak the new Trails at Bales Park in Tulsa

We’ve had days of over 100F heat for quite a while now. When the weather gets you down you have to learn how adjust if you don’t want to end up spending all summer on the dreadmill at the gym or mall walking. Me, I am getting up earlier and getting out before it is too hot.

Back in March of this year the City of Tulsa Parks Department announced that they had a grant to build some trails at Bales Park. Bales Park is right across a four lane highway from Turkey Mountain and there has been some talk of connecting the two trail systems.

DSCF0285 — The signs and netting were down on the ground so I figured I was good to go.

I saw on Strava that a friend of mine checked out the trails so I thought I would. I think they are having a soft opening while they do finishing touches.

Downtwon Tulsa from the trail at Bales Park looking north. The highway department is redoing the intersection shown in the foreground. Rumor has it that they are making it so that Bales Park and Turkey Mountain can interconnect.

Turn 90 degrees to your right and look east. That is Turkey Mountain right across the road. Oh well time to move on.

The trails that city is building using Rogue Trails as a contractor look a lot like the recent trails built on Turkey Mountain. An emphasis on shedding water to avoid erosion and making the trails “flowy” back and forth and up and down, side to side.

Sure the flowy parts are for the mountain bikes but they are good trails to hike on as well and they will last longer and require less maintenance.

The trails go deep into Bales Park in areas where I doubt many people have been Lots of big oak and hickory trees there.

It’ll provide a great alternative to Turkey Mountain which on weekend afternoons can get crowded in the parking lots. Although, you get a quarter mile down any of the trails you are basically by yourself on the busiest of days.

Today, it was just me. And an equipment operator from Rogue building trail.

I gave him a wide berth. Supposedly there will be about 3 plus miles of trail. I made it to just over two miles today.

I didn’t see any critters besides a few squirrels and birds. Despite being early in the day it was still kind of hot.

I’m very happy about this latest addition to the Tulas Trail scene. The Gilcrease museum up in north Tulsa is raising funds to build an extensive trail system on property they have adjacent to the museum and connect their trail to the Katy Rails to Trail system which connects to the Tulsa River Parks system (as does Turkey Mountain’s trails). I love interconnected trails.

I think the city is having a grand opening set for sometime in August or so for their new trails. I am not into crowds so I’ll just be happy with the mini grand opening I treated myself to today. I do think that the people of Tulsa will be happy with the new trails at Bales Park.

I’m linking with Skywatch Friday. Check it out!!

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