paulmccord.net

PAUL L. MCCORD JR. | K5GLH – OKLAHOMA CITY

paulmccord.net - PAUL L. MCCORD JR. | K5GLH – OKLAHOMA CITY

Category Archives: digital photography

Life near an Air Force Base

B-52

When you live next to a military base you tend to have to deal with things that others do not.  As most of you know, we sold our home in Del City and for a period of time we have been living in an apartment in Midwest City until we get moved into our new home.  The photo above is pretty typical of what we see on a daily basis at this apartment.  There are period of time that we’ll have 20 or 30 large aircraft fly directly over our house from about 200 feet above the ground.  I took this picture of the B-52 as it flew over our apartment this afternoon.  These aircraft are so loud that we cannot hear our television inside our house.  We make good use out of our Digital Video Recorder (DVR) when we have to pause the program and then rewind it after the plane passes.

We often tell people about the airplanes flying over the house but they never get just how low and how loud they are.  Many people have airplanes flying over their homes but few experience the incredibly loud planes that we see.  I am not complaining because we chose this place.  Most of the time, the airplanes do their flying during the day but sometimes like this week, they have been flying up to midnight.  I really hate it when they fly over so late because it is hard to sleep with all of this noise.

IMG_6265

In this photo you see another B-52 flying over with the paint stripped.  This is an indication that the aircraft has just been through depot maintenance and is being test flown before being put back into service.  It is very interesting capturing these photos of the airplanes that most people never see.  Hopefully we will only be  here about six more months.

Growing Cranes

Extending crane

This weekend I went downtown Oklahoma City to see some more construction of the new Devon Tower.  The building has reached 13 floors and the crane was not going to be tall enough to lift items to the top of the building.  This weekend the two cranes were raised to make room. As you can see in this picture the closer crane is holding the end piece to the smaller crane on the left.  There are people on the crane attaching the end piece .

Extending crane

The crane on the right is about 450 feet tall at this point.  It is holding the end piece to be attached to the other crane on the left.  By the time this building is completed, the cranes will be about 1,000 feet tall.

Extending crane

In this picture you can see the people working on the crane trying to attach the two pieces together.  They are clearly more brave than I am.  I cannot imagine working 450 feet above the ground trying to bolt two pieces of a crane together.  This is a job where they really earn their money.

Devon Energy Buiding at 12 Floors

In the last picture you can see the building at 13 floors.  Actually there are 12 completed floors and the top is the floor to the 13th floor.  You can see where they are installing the windows on the bottom.  This is going to be a huge building by the time it is done. It will be more than four times as tall as it is now.  I will continue to post updates as time passes.

Devon Energy Tower at nine floors

Devon Bldg at 9 floors

When Devon Energy announced they were going to build a new 50 floor, 850 foot building in Oklahoma City, I decided that I would find a vantage point and take a picture of it once a week so that I could show the status.  Since we have been so busy trying to sell our house, I have lost some time.  The above picture was taken with the building at nine floors.  The first six floors are taller than normal buildings because they had a large grand floor.  I took this picture at SE 15th Street on the West side of I-35 on September 9, 2010.  There are four larger cranes though you can only see three of them in this photo.  The problem the I have is that when you get very close to the construction, then there is no place to stop and then you cannot fit the whole building into the picture.

Devon Bldg at 9 floors

In this picture you can see it a little more zoomed up but from the same vantage point.  The building has not surpassed the Colcord Hotel as you can see the white building just to the right.  In this picture you can see the fourth crane but only barely.

Devon Bldg at 9 floors

In the third photo you can see from a slightly different angle.  This one was taken on the SE 15th Street bridge that goes over the Oklahoma River.  This building is no different than others in that it takes quite a long time to build the foundation.  I was so use to not having any visible progress on the building that I did not take any pictures of it for a while.  They started construction on October 6, 2009 and most of the work was building the foundation.  Hopefully as it climbs a floor every eight days, I can post more often.  The CEO Larry Nichols spoke in a press conference that it will be about the same height as the Chase building on the right by Spring 2011.  The building is supposed to top out by August 2011.  I will try to keep everyone posted on the success of the construction as time goes by.

Devon Tower at 9 floors

Tinker Air Show

Thunderbirds at Tinker Air Show 2010

Last week there was an air show at Tinker AFB.  The days prior to the show had the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds practicing in the area.  I took this photo from my front yard as the Thunderbirds were practicing overhead.  As enjoyable as it was to watch, it was very humid making it very uncomfortable to sit out for a long time.  I took many photos like this one on my Flickr page.  If you click on the image, you can see the whole group.

Still Frozen

Icicles Growing

This morning we got out of the house to survey the storm mess.  I took some photos this morning to see some of the ice.  As you can see this picture was taken looking directly into the front door of the house.  I knew I better take this photo first thing in the morning because I have two teenage sons that would certainly remove these from the house and use them for swords.  I am sure you all can remember when  you were kids doing the same thing.  As pretty as the snow and ice are, I am ready for it to be over.  I am ready for some warmer, snow free ground.  This makes two major winter storms we have had this winter.  We almost always have a couple snow falls each year but nothing of this magnitude.  If you click on the photo, it will take you to my Flickr page where you can see the rest of them.

I Miss Colors

Ray Trent Park

As much as I love my hometown, there is one thing that it really lacks in the winter time and that is color.  As the photo above is in black and white, it is representative of some of the days we have in the winter.  This is Ray Trent park in Del City on a cold winter day with no leaves on the trees and a slight fog on a cloudy day.

Colors of OKC

Fortunately our winters are not too long and our wonderful colors return.  What brings this on is an unusual cold snap that we had this past week as did most of the rest of the nation.  We had temperatures that hovered around 10 degrees.  We went nearly a whole week where the temperature never climbed above freezing.  The colorful flowers were taken at the Myriad Gardens in Oklahoma City during the autumn transition.

I love taking pictures whenever I can but lately I have been so busy with work, family, and trying to fix things around the house.  We are looking to move in the next year so we are trying to get the house sellable.  This means taking my tower down and getting rid of it.  Though it is a bit sad to part with my ham radio tower, it will also give me some peace during storm season.  Every time we have lightning nearby, I cringe because one strike to my tower could burn the house down.  This is ironic because I love severe weather other than that.  People often say “just disconnect the cables” but if they only knew how many cables and how they were routed through the wall.  Well now they are removed and the tower is next after Christmas.

I can hardly wait until I have some time to go take some more pictures because it is enjoyable and I love to be able to share them on Flickr. By the time Spring comes around we will see a lot of colors with trees and flowers blooming.  I love to get out and take pictures then.  There is something psychological about the Spring time.  It is almost as if there is life for everyone to experience.  The birds singing, the flowers blooming, and it even smells fresh.  I love it and sure miss it when we have weeks like this.  I should be grateful because we use to live at Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, Alaska.  When we lived there, I could barely stand it when March would arrive and it would still be –15 degrees.  We are very fortunate to be able to experience all four seasons here.  It does seem that Winter is going to be colder this year since it is still not winter and we have already been as low as 10 degrees.  At least the cold will kill many of the insects and maybe next summer will not be as bad with fleas and ticks.  It has been a long time since we have had a real cold winter so I guess we are due for one.  Another good thing about having a cold winter is that spring is that much more pleasant after one.  I hope you all have a nice CHRISTtmas.    Thanks for stopping by.

Changing Colors

Changing Colors

Is there anything prettier than the changing colors of the trees during the autumn season?  Of course there is and it is my wife, but other than that, no. :)   I always love driving around this time of year to see the changing colors.  I have to hand it to the leaves this year for holding on as long as they have considering how much cooler the weather has been this year.  For the last month it has been mostly overcast with cold drizzle rain.  Our leaves usually turn in mid October on most years anyway but this year it seemed to get cooler much faster.  I really enjoy the scenery while driving out into the country side surrounding Oklahoma City.

Changing Colors

This photo as well as most of them were taken East of Norman, Oklahoma.  The sun was struggling to come out during this time so it was difficult to catch the colors they way they should have been.

Changing Colors

This grass picture was near Franklin Road and 156th East of Norman.  I was just playing around with some depth of field shots.  Life has been so busy with one crisis after another that I have not had time or been in the mood to take any photos.

Changing Colors

This final picture was taken on my own street this morning.  I knew that if I did not make time to take a few pictures this weekend that it may be too late to catch the changing colors.  This time of year it is not that uncommon to have some strong gusty winds that can remove these leaves very fast.  I looked into my hard drive and realized that I have not taken any photos for recreation since early July.  I really enjoy doing this because it is relaxing and non controversial.  Not a lot of politics involved in photographing leaves changing colors.  I took off today because my son was a witness to a crime and had to go to court to testify.  I am very proud of him for standing up and doing what is right.

Many Names

Vietnam War Memorial

This Independence Day 2009 my cousin Larry Cline asked me to go to the mobile Vietnam Memorial that was stopping through town.  It was amazing how many people showed up to see this.  I was only nine years old when this war was over but it seems as though it has been a shadow in the background my entire life.  It was a somber place to see because many people were clearly moved when looking at the names on this wall.  They had a ceremony where they called all the names of those from Oklahoma that were killed during this war.  You could hardly help being moved by it all even if you were not directly involved in the conflict.  It has always been a dream to go to Washington D.C. to see the real one among other things.  I thought this was worthy of sharing.

Summer Colors

Summer

We are fortunate this year to have green grass in August.  It is not very often when the driest, hottest time of year ends up being very comfortable as it has been this year.  Oklahoma has a little of both cold and hot here being in the central plains.  We have about 36 inches of rain a year though July and August are typically very dry.  Most years our grass dies and turns brown during July and August and then eventually turns green again in September when it cools down and the rains return.  This year, we have been fortunately to have some rain in August to bring the grass back.  In the picture above is a series of water slides at Whitewater Bay near Reno and Meridian in Oklahoma City.  When I was a teenager this was one of my favorite places in the world.  I think most teens would love a place like this.  There are many other rides in this park that are not visible. It just looked very colorful as I drove by and so I had to stop and take this picture.

Boy Was I Wrong?

Thunderstorm June 30, 2009

It is not that often that a person can get it so wrong that it brings fear to them.  Just 30 minutes ago I was complaining about the rain always missing us. This evening was shaping up to be another one of those evenings where there is a line of thunderstorms that goes completely across the state and then forms a hole just as it passes the metro area.  As much as I love storms I find myself getting mad when this happens.  Well I guess I insulted God, or angered him in some way because shortly after that, we had a downpour.  I would estimate that the wind was blowing nearly 80 MPH in the above photo.  You can even see a leaf blowing by in this shot.

Thunderstorm June 30, 2009

In this picture you can see how the street was flooded near my home.  This is the rain that we never get.  I would say the water was about four inches deep in the center of the road here.

Thunderstorm June 30, 2009

In the picture above you can see the tree branch laying in the road with the hail splashing in the flooded street.  The storm was almost over at this point and you can see the elementary school in the background is showing signs of the sun coming out.

Thunderstorm June 30, 2009

This is the beautiful sky as the storm is moving away.  The large bird circles over head asking himself “What was that?”  I really enjoyed this storm and wanted to share it with the rest of you.  That wind did get a little scary at one point.  I missed some great shots because I was trying to keep the camera dry.  At one point the wind was blowing so hard and the rain was coming down so hard that I could barely see across the street.  I do not want to be known as the one that always complains when things are going bad and never give God credit when things are going well.  We really needed this rain and it was a real blessing.  I am very thankful to be able to get rain especially when two hours earlier it was 97 degrees.  If you want to see the rest of the pictures, just click on any one of them and it will take you to Flickr to see the whole set.  Thanks for stopping by.