veloxseeker

Morning Walk Turns into Scavenger Hunt…

The wife and I decided to take a walk this morning along the Arkansas River Trail. I took the Canon T7 along just to play with and get some field experience taking pictures. We saw 3 Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) which was neat.

I definitely need to get a telephoto lens and a macro lens for this camera. As we looked out into the river bed, what we saw disgusted us. Discarded tires littered the bed.

Discarded Tires! Oklahoma is one of those states that has trash laying everywhere. It’s sad.

Discarded Fishing Line! This pile was too big and heavy to drag out. Frustrating!

Enough with the depressing stuff! I did try to photograph some of the local flowers. You can still find natural beauty if you look.

Bluemist Flower (Conoclinium coelestinum)

I am always dragging stuff home much to the wifes dismay. One of these days our house will be full of specimens. We have shelves full of jars, rocks, bones etc.

Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) thorns

Yesterday while we were driving along the route we chose, I noticed several Osage Orange/Bois d’Arc trees bearing fruit and commented to the wife that I would like to gather some to plant on our property. As luck would have it…we found some!

Bois d”Arc/Osange Orange (Maclura pomifera) fruit.

Also known as Hedge Apples, Horse Apples, Brain Fruit etc.

We will process these at the beginning of next year and plant them in the spring. We ended the outing by picking up 2 bags of trash and depositing them in the park dumpster. It’s always good for us to get out and stretch our legs and minds and this was no exception. Thank you for reading and have a great day!

Went For A Drive Today (9OCT2021)…

Some of you may know that my wife drives a Subaru Forester, the green one we drive on most of our excursions. Hers has Method MR502 Rally rims with Falken Wildpeak A/T Trail tires which make it more suitable for driving to the places we like to go. I also drive a Subaru Forester that is silver. We’ve been saving up for months to add those same rims and tires to my vehicle. So after having them put on last week, we decided to take mine on an outing for its first trip.

We set a leisurely schedule without any firm itinerary. It’s been a rough week for both us and we wanted to relax. We had never been on most of these roads and it was fun to see “new” areas.

As the day progressed and the heat increased, so to did the wind.

Interesting scenery…at least we thought so

As we were driving down Bronco Road heading East to Caney, Kansas…I noticed a huge patch of Equisetum. I was pretty excited, but I’m a nerd.

Equisetum is the only living genus of the Equisetaceae family. A vascular plant that reproduces via spores. This particular species has been around since the Jurassic Era! Now you know…

We had a great time together and returned home at a decent hour so we could still get all of the chores done despite the temps being back into the mid-90F’s.

I’m still working my way through the camera manual and trying to learn all of the features this camera has. I hope to share some more photos in the near future so stay tuned for more. Thanks for reading.

Bought a Canon EOS Rebel T7 Camera…

Full admission on my part-I am not a photographer! But I have been tempted for a couple of years to move up to a full fledged DSLR camera. GoPro’s have their niche as do cell phones…but I wanted to take it to the next level.

I opted for this camera since I am a beginner and this camera is marketed as such. After several decades of taking mediocre pictures I was about to give up on the subject entirely, but decided to dip a toe into the camera pool. The Canon T7 isn’t a high-end camera but it gets good reviews so I bought it this morning.

I have NOT read the manual yet, but will soon. I did however watch a few YouTube videos to get a basic understanding of how to operate it. I opted not to use the Auto features and went straight to manual operation. I have much to learn grasshopper!

Anyway, I grabbed the camera, inserted the battery and an SD card and went looking for things to photograph…enjoy the gallery

I have A LOT to learn but I think it will be fun.

A Visit to the Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma…

We were spending the day with our Grandson and decided to take him with us to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, as it is known locally.

The Preserve itself consists of 39,650 acres on which 2500 Bison are free to roam. At one time, the Tallgrass Prairie spanned 14 states from Texas to Minnesota, but now has been reduced to approximately 4% of its original size. To date, this is the largest intact section left.

These Bison are carefully managed as is the prairie itself. Prescribed burns occur periodically throughout the year since wildfires are a natural part of the prairie environment.

Just driving through the area takes you back in time. There are sections where no powerlines or fences can be seen. It gives one a small sense of what this area used to look like.

Technology meets History. Down in the draw is a small group of Bison and way off in the distance on the skyline are windmills. This area was burned not too long ago as the remnants are still visible in the foreground as is the new growth.

The previous blog post was a video we took that shows the best part of the trip. Below will be the still photos to show some of the other things we encountered.

This time of year, the bulls are usually solitary or in bachelor groups. All of the really big bulls that we saw were alone and way off in the distance.

2 Bulls that were just inside the boundary.

Always hand a child a pair of binoculars…it pays dividends and adds to a great learning experience.

Our primary objective was to visit the main ranch complex and tour the Visitors Center but it has been closed since 30 March 2020 due to COVID.

Throughout the course of the 15 mile trip to the Visitor Center, we gave a history lesson of both the American bison (Bison bison) and the Tallgrass Prairie to our Grandson. We stopped often and let him use his binoculars to see the Bison that were in the distance. Eventually we found 2 groups converging at a road junction that were close enough to give him a really good look at them.

Most of the young females had calves with them which was great to see.

We had a great trip and plan on including our Grandson more often. It was good to share our passion for nature with him and he was able to see us pick up trash from along the road which allowed for us to explain our ethics and stewardship of the land. He got a kick out of us telling him that “we don’t own the land, we are only borrowing it from future generations.” And as such…we don’t want him to inherit a landscape full of trash. We strive to leave it cleaner than when we found it.

I hope you enjoyed the photos. Have a great weekend.

Tallgrass Prairie Trip Video…

Free-range wild Bison.

Boreas Paid a Visit…

Boreas- the Greek God of the North Wind

Monday was another hot day with temperatures peaking at 97F. Most of the local residents that I speak with are tired of summer. It has dragged on too long for their liking, and mine.

Oklahoma weather is fickle and such is the case this year. However, the North Wind made a surprise appearance today with a steady blow and temperatures topping out at 77F during the day and dropping to 50F as of this morning. Boreas tempts and teases us time and time again. Promising relief with a glimpse of the season ahead, only to vanish leaving the heat to fill the void.

And true to form…the days of this week will be pleasant, yet by the weekend we will climb back into the mid-90’s. Frustration looms large, yet patience is the order of seasonal change. Roller coaster rides with brief respites intermixed, autumn is coming…it’s just not here yet…but soon will be.

The Marttiini M571 knife…

The Marttiini M571 knife had somewhat of a cult following while it was in production. Its direct competitor was the Mora 510 or even the Mora #1/#2. The prices were similar of around $10 USD. Ergonomically the M571 won hands down, even though the blade was just a little over 3 inches long. Amazingly, the M571 came with a polished carbon steel blade edge…it’s the little extras that catch my eye. It also felt MUCH better in hand while using than the Moras. The “written rule of bushcraft” stated that you needed a blade that was the width of your palm. Good advice for the most part unless you knew what you were doing when using a knife.

I’m not going to get into the bushcraft aspect and all that it entails…I called it camping since we always did similar things when outdoors. Call it whatever you want.

Since we were dog-sitting this weekend and couldn’t get away, I decided to try my hand at re-handling knives. I had some Cherry, Blood wood and Zebra wood pieces laying around and they were the right size for my intended project. I didn’t take any photos of the process since it’s pretty straight-forward. I measured the blocks, cut a few pieces of leather for spacers, carefully drilled and filed the inlets for the blade tang and then epoxied and clamped everything together. Shaping was done by a bench belt sander to remove the bulk of the wood and final shaping was done by hand with sandpaper. When I was satisfied I applied wood stabilizer and let it dry.

The end results…

Re-handled Marttiini M571. Zebra wood and Cherry wood.

I prefer a plain handle over various contours.

I have large hands so I opted to make the handle longer.

I also re-handled an old Mora I had laying around. Blood wood and Cherry.

For working with softer woods the Scandi grind is ideal but here in the Cross Timbers the convex grind reigns supreme. It’s much stronger and holds up better than the former grind, and you remove a lot less metal when re-sharpening. But I always keep the M571 in my pack since I can use it for cleaning small game, whittling or other simple camp chores.

It was a fun project that kept me occupied for a few hours. I was happy with the results and feel it took the knives to a level that was better suited to my needs.

Thanks for reading….

Sumac-Ade…

Almost every summer we make a refreshing drink from the Sumac shrub.

We have these growing on our property in healthy patches so we use them for their medicinal purposes. I like to experiment with wild edibles and medicinals and according to common sense recommendations I always perform a test by rubbing some on my wrist and waiting several hours to see if there might be an allergic reaction. Then I proceed to the next step. That being said…I am NOT a Doctor or Homeopath so take all of this with a grain of salt and forage at your own risk. I spend countless hours doing research and plant identification as well as looking up any scientific studies relating to the species I am interested in. Research and “dirt-time” are critical components to my hobby.

It gets hot in Oklahoma and I haven’t found a better method to cool off and feel refreshed than drinking Sumac-ade. Of course we could always jump in a lake or stream, but this method has added benefits for us.

In this series of photos I will admit that I collected drupes from the Sumac rather late in the season and these specimens are not in their prime condition. When prime they are a beautiful, uniform red color. I have read on several occasions, that the drupes need to be collected before a rain or a week or two after since the rain tends to leach out the Vitamin C content.

The first step in the process is to properly identify the plant- be 100% positive that it is the correct species.

Collect however many drupes you need for the quantity you’d like to make.

We use a mortar and pestle to gently crush the seeds to help release the contents.

Next we place the lightly crushed seeds into a bowl full of water and let them soak overnight in the refrigerator.

We strain the mixture through some cheese cloth.

Resultant liquid after the first straining.

Second straining. We place a coffee filter over the mouth of a Mason jar and pour the liquid through.

Our end result. Prime drupes processed in a similar manner will have a more reddish tint than ours did.

This creates a tangy and tart liquid that is very refreshing. You can add a sweetener of your choice-organic sugar or locally grown honey if you prefer. We drink it as is.

Current research shows that:

-High Vitamin C content

-Contains Antimicrobial compounds

-Sugar regulating compounds

-Antioxidant compounds

-Boosts good cholesterol while lowering bad cholesterol

-and several other benefits

We like the tangy flavor and find that it cools us down on a hot day. It takes some effort to make but its worth it for us. On several occasions we have made this in the field just using a bandana. Currently we carry a few items with us to make foraging and using edible and medicinal plants easier…

We each carry a tea ball strainer and biodegradable tea bags in our packs.

Thank you for reading and have a GREAT weekend…

The Book That Started It All…

When I was around 12 years old, my family had a trip to Colorado planned. I knew nothing about Colorado except that it was a long drive to get there. At the time I was a voracious reader of history, Native American culture and skills and various other things. I was never really interested in comic books or Mad magazine. Anyway, I was strolling through a Woolworth/Woolco store and noticed a paperback on the wire rounder by the title of Outdoor Survival Skills by Larry Dean Olsen. It was $4.95…which I didn’t have. My mind started whirring and processing ways to make five dollars so I could buy the book.

So what does every desperate future entrepreneur do? I worked up the courage to go door-to-door in my neighborhood asking if there was any chores that needed doing for five bucks. On the second knock I found an older lady who agreed to pay me 5 dollars if I would edge her front yard. It’s a deal lady! I’ll do it.

I ran home and rummaged around until I found a pair of scissors. I raced back to her house and meticulously trimmed her front yard edge all the way around the curb. Man, my hands were sore after that! But I had the five bucks and ran all the way to the Woolworth store and bought that paperback.

On the ride to Colorado I leafed through it and stared at the pictures intently. I read it cover to cover and was desperate to start trying all of these skills out. Are we there yet? How much longer until we’re there? Yes…I was that kid!

I had a pretty good childhood. I was raised as a “latch-key kid” and my parents were all about kids being allowed to “free range.” I knew the rules and what time to return to camp…other than that, I was free to roam.

And roam I did! Up mountains, through meadows and along streams. The whole two weeks we were camped, that book was my constant companion. I tried almost everything that book mentioned or depicted. Bows and arrows, rabbit sticks, shelters etc. I tried to make fire with the hand drill and bow drill methods but failed miserably. But it all planted a seed that has remained with me to this day.

I still practice those skills. I wore that little paperback out years ago and currently have the 6th Edition of it on my bookshelf. I figured out pretty quickly that reading a book on something was only part of the equation. The other, more important parts are going out and trying it firsthand. Taking a class from a knowledgeable person really speeds up the learning process. I figured out that success and failure were both sides of the same coin and I could learn a great deal from both.

All of our children have received a copy of this book…among many others. I guess in a way I wanted them to have the same sense of freedom that I had and we free ranged our kids as well. None of them took to the woods like I did…yet each of them has an interest in it…be it fishing, hunting or camping. Maybe there is hope for them in the future. If not, that’s fine too.

I just fondly remember that book and the world it opened up to me. And I still thank my Dad for taking me to Colorado!

Local Lake Outing 12 Sept 2021…

I was talking to my Dad last night via Facetime and he was giving me a little grief about not fishing. He said, “you say its too hot yet you’re running around all over doing other things.” He was right! We were trying to come up with something to do today so opted to hit both of our local lakes. We got up early to beat the heat and headed out.

The first lake was a bust since it is completely overgrown now and fishing from the shore is virtually impossible. We caught zero fish after walking all the way around it. As usual I was on the lookout for plants. Here is just a few of what we ran across.

Indian woodoats (Chasmanthium latifolium)

After getting skunked and picking all of the burs and stick-tights off of us, we opted to try the other lake near us. As we were driving down the gravel road we were witness to a Bobcat crossing the road carrying a rabbit in its mouth. We watched as it loped across the road and coursed up a steep hill. We thought that was pretty cool…especially with how big it was.

We reached the next lake and chatted with a local. He was out on his 4-wheeler with the grandkids and was letting them burn off some energy. We know the feeling all too well.

All told we caught 5 largemouth bass, a perch and a crappie. I wanted to get a few pictures for the blog and quit fishing after an hour. Remember me mentioning that this area was covered by the Western Interior Sea during the Cretaceous Period 145 million to 66 million years ago? I took some pictures of the fossils that cover a large portion of this area.

As we were roaming around the area just looking, we ran across this guy!

Eastern hognose snake (Heterodon platirhinos)

It was pretty docile despite the flared hood. They come in a remarkable range of coloration.

After interacting with the snake we decided to move on and see what else we could find. As usual, there were numerous plants in bloom in the area.

Honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) Watch those thorns!

Common whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia) When reeling in I hooked some weeds and it rode them all the way in.

We had fun with the few hours we were out. We tend to free-range the chickens on the weekends so we decided to head home to let them out for the day. As I sit here typing, I’m surrounded by foraging chickens. There is shade at the moment and a breeze blowing through the tree tops.

They do a good job of keeping the raised beds tilled up…so I don’t have to do it!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Shore Exploration 11 Sept 2021…

Both of us had a really busy week and wanted to get out and relax for a bit and stretch our legs. The high temperature for today was forecast at 99F so we opted to go early in the morning. This particular area is relatively close to our house and it’s generally quiet without too many people around. We ended up seeing more Whitetail deer than people.

When I’m not fishing, I tend to just roam and explore. As I’ve stated previously, I am always curious about what’s around the next bend or over the horizon. And both of us continually learn something new every time we get out and look around.

The shoreline is covered with Willow trees, Buttonbush and Cockle Burs. We like to pick our way through it all and see the animal tracks and anything interesting we might come across.

Halberdleaf rosemallow (Hibiscus laevis)

We had fun even though we were only out for about 3 hours. We covered 4.91 miles and collected 8 bags of trash on the way out. I managed to find two other plants I wasn’t familiar with so didn’t include those as it will take me time to identify them. Below I will show 2 books that I use most often. If anyone from Oklahoma is interested-they are available from the Oklahoma State University bookstore.

One of the better books I have seen and used in relation to my area.

Taxonomic key. Not for the easily frustrated!

A few of the things we found (Knife is for scale).

The belt-kit I was using. I really like the Maxpedition Roly-Poly Dump pouch. It’s perfect for storing things when exploring or even foraging.

Thank you for reading. When the temperatures cool off a bit we plan on doing more fishing…but until then, we’ll keep exploring.

An Oasis…

The wife and I decided to get out to one of our favorite spots and take a look around. It had been awhile since we visited the area and summertime is as good of a time as any. In the Cross Timbers, water is life, and where you find water you also find life in abundance.

Several years ago, we were looking around in this area and stumbled upon an atlatl point. This area is perfect for a camp so I wasn’t surprised to find the artifact. I will discuss that atlatl point in another blog post at a later date. Back to the story…

Spring fed and drops into a pool down below the ledges.

We really enjoy visiting this area. We’ve seen snakes, bobcat, coyotes, deer, raccoon, beaver, opossums and mountain lions. To date we’ve managed to explore an area of about a 5 mile radius centered upon this area. Just to the South you will find a labyrinth of sandstone cliffs then it opens up onto a savannah, all the while surrounded by your typical Cross Timbers habitat of Blackjack and Post Oak as well as Hickory and Cedar.

Vibrant reds. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Brilliant whites and yellows. Prairie Fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) and Sneezeweed (Helenium amarum)

Subtle purples. Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum) and Lesser Snakeroot (Ageratina aromatica)

Being surrounded by color in the dog days of summer is a nice change of pace. Usually by this time of year, many plants are going dormant due to the intense heat. Yet water and shade allows some plants to hold out until the end of their natural life-cycle.

Tucked away in the shade and grateful for the breeze.

Both of us are amateur naturalists and are continually learning the plants and trees in our area. We consider ourselves “life-long students” and as such spend a considerable amount of time researching things.

I am forever taking notes and making observations.

I am a nerd at heart, and as such have a vast library on outdoor related topics. Everything from botanical taxonomic keys, anthropology, all the way to spelunking. We don’t own a television for the simple reason that we are too busy doing other things to bother with watching one. We try to spend as much time outdoors as our schedules allow and find that we are the happiest when in the wild.

My choice of gear. I use the pencil and canteen the most!

Addendum: in a previous blog post on the Cross Timbers Ecoregion I mentioned the variances that it contained. Below are 2 photos we took today to illustrate those.

Fringe Zone where the Cross Timbers meet the Prairie.

Thank you for reading and I hope you found this interesting. Take Care…