Monday, June 17, 2013

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

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