Cumuloblubus

Queen Ann's Lace

Smoke Tree in front of the Dewey

Magnolia Blossom at Branson Meadows

a petal off a Magnolia blossom

Laci Goff's peeps in the visitor center

6-1-13:  Ya just never know who we might see in the Dewey Short Visitor Center.  Today it was some of Laci Goff's peeps from Benton, AR.

Magnolia tree just starting to bloom

 bud just before opening

these Magnolia cones will be full of red seeds just before falling

Chicory

New Jersey Tea, I think

a newly bloomed Queen Ann's Lace

Heal All (Self-Healing)

Prickly Pear Cactus blooms on the Lakeshore Trail

Redbud trees are now loaded with pods

Butterfly Weed behind the Dewey

The purple flowers are Leather Plants

Sweet Cicely, possibly

They call it Butterfly Weed for a reason

near one of the bio swales at the Dewey

trumpet vine

6-2-13:  The Ozarks are still rockin' its wildflowers!   Pink and Yellow Cone Flowers, Queen Ann's Lace, Magnolia tree blossoms, Butterfly Weed, Spiderwort.

Poppy Mallow and pink Cone Flowers on 165

Poppy Mallow

And now we've started seeing Poppy Mallow along 165.  It's a brilliant little magenta bloom among the whites and yellows.

Ole Happy Feet Brett

The Brett's

6-3-13:  David and I got up and went to see the Brett's show this morning at Dick Clark's theater. What a wonderful family and we really enjoyed their show!

Notice the Doug Gabriel band is doing this little number with car parts

Tonight, as volunteers at the Dewey, we were invited to see Doug Gabriel's show at his new theater.  Enjoyed the evening with our co-workers.  Fun to see some of them cut loose! Doug has an outstanding singing voice and he has the craziest son!  Reminded us of Jerry Lewis!!

Scissortail Flycatcher

Flycatcher waiting for me on the trail

6-4-13:  David squeezed in 18 holes today while I blogged at the library.  This evening on my walk I got to spend some up-close time with a Scissor Tail Flycatcher.  He followed me about 1/2 mile and kept landing on the trail in front of me.  I began to wonder if he was hurt.  But he finally flew away when other walkers came along. The Queen Ann's Lace was really popping on the trail.  Love it!

Manning holding a cricket frog in AR

And loving the sound of cricket frogs!

Jerry and Janice took a dam tour while in Branson

6-5-13:  Great seeing Jerry and Janice from Douglass, KS today!  They came into the visitor center and took a dam tour.  Which David got to give. Met some Texarkana couples today at work.  That's always fun!  And then there was the guy from Australia who asked ME where I'M from as soon as I started talking.  What????

at Persimmon Hill

rows of blueberries

looking healthy

various colors/stages

these look Thunder Muffin worthy

blackberries

gettin' there

sure wanted to start picking

nice

awesome drink

6-7-13:  David and I drove out to Persimmon Hill Farm. David enjoyed their famous Thunder Muffin while I pigged out on their Cumuloblubus. Yum. my. This was simply a warm Thunder Muffin topped with ice cream and cool whip. Their blueberries and blackberries are growing nicely.  Great place to go picking.  I was hoping to see their gooseberries, but they took them down due to age.  They are planting new ones but don't expect fruit this year.

a day at the museum

David said he's gonna get me one of these.  Huh?

never knew there were so many styles of juicers

interesting gun

:)

voo-doo doll

My smaller version Shirley Temple doll was my fave gift from Santa when I was a kid

Makes me wish I'd saved Memaw Gentry's glass eye

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

Looks like they could've been among the first

This is about 1/4 th of the their collection of car vases

never thought about this sort of thing being found in Japan

Afterwards we crossed the King River and drove through the COE campground, Viney Creek and met the sweet workampers there, then stopped in Golden, MO at the Golden Museum.  WOW!  Wonderful museum that's free.  Looks like a little metal bldg, but inside it goes on and on and on. Soooo many collections.  We'll definitely go back to that.

At the spring at Roaring River State Park

some of the wildflowers in Roaring River Conservation Area

Drove on toe Eagle Rock, Roaring River State Park, Cassville, Cape Fair, and back home.  Full day of lots of Ozark beauty!

Recently, President Obama and some other D.C. officials rec'd ricin laced letters in the mail.  Tonight we saw on the news that Shannon Richardson from New Boston, TX was arrested in the case.  She'd turned her husband in a few days ago for doing it. But it turns out he didn't do it..... but she did.  Crazy.

fishing day at the hatchery

6-8-13:  David helped today with the fishing "class" at the Dewey Short, which was actually held at the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery.  He said some of the kids really caught some monster trout. Rocky and I spent most of the afternoon birdwatching. Most of the birds like the Downies, Red-bellies, and Chickadees were paired up and feeding each other.  But the House Finches had their whole families out taking care of each other.

these bugs like the weeds in my adopted flowerbed

then they cover themselves with their own dooky as protection 

saw a parasailer while weeding

had to remove the pretty ground cherries

the fruit was already coming out and covered with a paper-thin shell or husk

had to disect before trashing them

Rocky met another Rocky on our walk this evening

can you see the Scissortail Flycatcher

pretty butterfly resting on the window sill at the vc

size of the those SD wood duck houses -- but it's a bat house  (Lakeshore Trail)

6-9-13:  While David worked at the vc today, I got a few things done around the camper, worked in my adopted flowerbed at the Dewey, and spent some quality time with Rocky watching the birds and squirrels in our "backyard". Watched a squirrel take a power nap.  Don't know that I'd ever seen one nap before.

all about the Y Bridge

all about Galena, MO

Rocky and me heading down to take a look at the Y Bridge

It was built to avoid the bluff ahead

walking bridge only now

these unusual red bugs were all over this growth in the cracks of the bridge as seen  in the previous pic

from across the street

David said "Y are you over there, Bec?"

heading back from one side

6-10-13:  Ever heard of a Y Bridge?  Doesn't sound like that big of a deal, right?  But evidently, there's only been 3 ever built in the world.  2 in Ohio and one in Galena, MO (Dewey Short's birthplace).  So we drove over to take a look this morning. The 20's era concrete bridge was formed and poured on-site using local materials.  This particular bridge, tho open only to foot traffic now, may be the only one of the 3 that is still original.  The others have been rebuilt or restructured.

looking downstream of the James River from the Y Bridge

the new version -- Justin called this the I Bridge

turtle enjoying the peace

Off the south side of the bridge

the north side -- note the huge tree stuck in the structure

the sign said it's as secure as it was when built -  yikes!

a view of the huge stuck tree from above

a sycamore that gave Rocky a little shade on the bridge

It was built over the beautiful James River and kept the traffic moving North and South so as to not go through the bluff on one side of the river.

The Y Bridge from below

a different tree stuck in the bridge -- it still collects flood debrie

Rocky in the James River

refreshing

gotta get this shell outa here

can't think of anything else til it's done

clear, clear water -- not sure what's all over the rocks

pretty water snake checked us out

he put on a show -- back and forth and did some diving

Rocky was oblivious to him

or was he?

 Drove down to the Cox boat launch under the bridge and let Rocky play in the water.  He spent much of his time obsessed with a shell that was underwater.  Once he got it, he sniffed it and moved on.  He missed seeing the snake swimming around near him.  David and I enjoyed watching it as it swam near the minnows and then would dive under the water.

Selfie on the James River

Reeds Spring - super clear water

Reeds Spring, MO

Made a quick stop at Reeds Spring.  The covered spring downtown is not very well-kept, but the water in it is crystal clear!

This afternoon we enjoyed the Pierce Arrow show.  They have 2 new singers with them and the comedian is still the best in town!

Made my 10,000 step goal today!  Got over 9500 this afternoon.  I didn't wear my fitbit this morning to Galena, but I'm sure I made it over 10,000 from the walking around the Y Bridge. Yay!

Rabbit on the Lakeshore Trail -- he let me get fairly close

they are repairing the flooded out part of the trail near the boat launch -- Scott's bench

yellow Cone Flowers calling it a season

Saw several Brown Thrashers on the trail this evening.  Just too quick for me to get a pic.  One of them stayed put long enough for me to get pics, but he was just a little too far off the trail for me to capture him.  I could hear some rustling around in the leaves.  Thinking it was prob a squirrel, bunny, or even a lizard, I stopped to watch and it was the Thrasher.  Cool to watch him scavenge.

6-11-13:  Saw another beautiful Eastern Garter snake by the camper today.  This time I had my camera, but he disappeared before I could snap.  Pretty long fella.

running mate

Rocky left me a "love note" in the laundry basket

Did laundry today and ran into the retired rodeo bullrider that I met last year -- and he was my running mate in the last presidential election.  We "ran" as write-ins.  Missed it by "that much".

David getting a shot of the domed QAL at the top of this blog

Queen Ann's Lace

so beautiful when blowing the wind -- looks like bouncing balls

one is closing up

6-12-13:  After taking pix of a pretty little pasture full of Queen Ann's Lace in Branson,  David and I took a drive over to Bull Shoals Dam so we could take a tour of it. It was pretty different from our dam tours.  Learned a lot -- but will have to say I think ours are more interesting.  We didn't get to enter the actual dam at Bull Shoals, so that was kind of a letdown.

At the visitor center at Bull Shoals State Park

Bull Shoals' Dam and Powerhouse - 17 flood gates, 8 generators, 2 station generators

White River at the BS Dam

lakeside of the dam

 But the powerhouse was much more spacious than ours with their 8 generators and 2 station generators. They keep it spic and span in there, too. We had a few steps to deal with and then a ride on an elevator. Definitely not as much walking on this one. The highlight for us was getting up close to the shaft which gave us a good view of the wicket gates and turbines. Bull Shoals Dam and state park still have a HUGE problem with buzzards.  They used to try feeding them "crazy corn", but that was killing them, which is illegal.  So now they shoot an air cannon from the dam quite frequently.  They first time that went off it made me want to hit the deck!  I guess the folks downstream do not like it either.  And it appears it's not doing much to help with the vultures.

cool display at the Bull Shoals' Visitor Center

earnings info for the year from a dam construction worker

Golden Eagle display

Some interesting history we learned in the visitor center before the tour was that Bull Shoals used to be called Newton Flat.  Blasting at Lee Mtn for the dam materials damaged most of the homes and businesses in Flippin, AR..  Also, in 1952 when it came time for President Truman to come for the dedication, they decided they needed to pave Hwy 178 for him.

heading toward the Peel Ferry in AR

sho nuff was

coming in to get us

all aboard

had to stay in our vehicles as we crossed -- looked out over the old White River Channel

Wisconsin and North Dakota friends we made on the ferry

getting there

made it to the other side

On the way back to Branson we took a new route -- hwy 14.  We came to the Peel Ferry in AR and got to ride it across a finger of Bull Shoals Lake to get to the road on the other side.

single lane bridge on 14

another cool old bridge

bridge over Bull Shoals

It was a beautiful drive back to Branson.  Very curvy roads with lots of greenery and wildflowers. A couple of one-lane bridges along the way as well.

Baird Mtn at sunset

dam at sunset

sunset in the Dewey Short windows

Branson Belle in the afterglow

and it's gone

June in Branson has been full for us............and it's not over yet!  This week we got to spend a day at Dogwood Canyon with Jackie and Dave (pix on next post), and we will head to Doo-Dah to see the McClintock's and Leighton's.  Looking so forward to a few days with family!

Until next time,

X, Y, and Z