Never Forget

crabapple tree at the Dewey

David and me on the Taneycomo

Autumn!  My fave time of year.  Ozarks! My fave place to be in the fall! Things are cooling down a bit and we're starting to see a teensy bit of color.  

Sherryl, the new Great Grandma

Tristen, the new Great Grandson

Morgan, he won't break

9-6-13:  Enjoyed meeting Sherryl's new great-grandbaby today.  What a cutie pie!

Turn the camera around, Bruce

there ya go -- Dawn and Ron at the new gig

9-8-13:  Worked with our friends, Ron and Dawn, today at the Dewey.  They are naturals at this gig! 

Rocky leading the way on the Waterfall Trail

love the woods

nice little stream to cross in a couple of places

interesting rock formations along the stream

do these trees are slimming

bluffs along the trail

more beauty

sagebrush berry

some parts of the trail were narrow

arrived at the falls

nice little pool at the falls

Mr. McClintock

David went to the top of the falls and snapped some shots

very clear water

love clear water streams

on the way back

thank goodness for shade

Rocky and me blazing the trail back to the truck

you coming, Daddy?

Our little hiker

so nice and quiet

we added one to this cairn

Rocky is ready to jump in

hope the water is as clean as it looks!

he did not want to leave

beautiful stream

and he found another

sweet

great little trail and not too long

9-7-13:  We finally decided to take a hike on the Waterfall Trail.  Since it's a couple of weeks after the rains around here, we got to see some fairly full streams and plenty of water on the falls. Rocky loved swimming in the beautiful clear water.  It was a warm 90 degrees, but felt great to be out on the trails.

been making some owls -- they're a hoot!

large strainer from a thrift store

Sherryl's

The Great Texas Owl -- can you tell why?

Gala's

some kind of little bartender gadget

9-10-13:  I saw some wonderful owls on facebook made out of just about anything.  So tonite after work, Gala, Sherryl, and I tried them out.  So cute, so easy, and so fun.  And those 2 girls are SO creative!

crabapple tree at the Dewey

the mushrooms outside our camper from the last blogpost 

a gall -- oak nut or acorn that has been "stung" by wasps or other bugs

got a packet of seeds in the mail from C of O and this is one of the flowers

cool spiderwebs on the ground outside the camper early one morning

I don't know -- I just found it funny that with all the restrictions at the dam, the pizza guy can still come in

Accidental Twinkies

sweet notes from a couple of young visitors who went on the dam tour with us

C of O had a beautiful memorial for 9-11 complete with guards all day long

9-11-13:  Never Forget

Lilley's Landing on Lake Taneycomo

behind our pontoon heading upstream on Taneycomo

Ron, Phil (Lilley), and Jackson

Great Blue Heron

Blue Heron drying off

goin' fishin'

Andy Williams' home

Stalking

showing out a little

docks

my man and me

camera wars

I think he wins

Our Michigan friends, Dawn and Ron

in 2011 many homes and businesses were flooded out on Lake Taneycomo when the flood gates had to be opened

foggy

can you see the fisherman?

eerily beautiful

first sighting of the dam and the Dewey in the sunset

pretty cool riding between layers of fog 

Dam

when the dam is generating, the flyfishermen head to the shores of Taneycomo

Our beautiful workplace atop the dam -- Dewey Short Visitor Center

floodgates

David capturing the view

David, Jackson (Lilley), and Ron

heading back downstream

below the Hwy 165 Overlook

Cardinal flowers were aplenty in the wild along the shore

Green Heron

Eagle

EAGLE

EAGLE!!!!

Thank you Phil Lilley for getting us close enough to get some wonderful pix!

Baldknobbers?  No, it's just cold on the Taneycomo!

wonderful place and generous people

Lilley's Landing on Lake Taneycome offerred free pontoon boat rides for a few days and we decided to take advantage of it and our friends, Dawn and Ron, joined us.  Everyone had told us they would take us downstream toward Branson Landing.  What a wonderful surprise when we got to go UPstream toward the dam.  Phil took us as far as the law allows -- there is a line across the water below the dam that prohibits boats from going beyond. What beautiful sights we saw along the way.  Love the Great Blue Herons that live along Taneycomo.  Got to watch them pose, stalk, take off, and shake off the water they may have aquired while diving for fish. Jackson, Phil's dog, would run from one end of the boat to the other to keep an eye on them! 

One of the neat things about Lake Taneycomo is that it's a coldwater lake.  Temp is around 42 degrees.  So as we were riding along there would be some very chilly air coming off the water!  Between the moments of chilliness, the beautiful layers of fog -- some of which we were riding beneath --, the majestic Eagle that was keeping an eye on us as we went back downstream from the dam, and drifting beneath the dam as the sun was setting, this was one of the most profound God moments we've had in Branson. 

What a glorious way to end the day on 9-11!  So thankful for our freedom and blessings we have in this great country of ours.  They broke our hearts that day, but they cannot take those 2 things away.  Thank you to all who serve to preserve that freedom!

Rocky tries to act like he's not there around cats

Why do cats always love people who are allergic to them?

sweet little thing

Rocky says "I can't see you"

9-13-13:  Friday the 13th for sure.  As David and Ron were out playing golf, Rocky and I decided to take advantage of the heavenly weather outside most of the day.  A stray cat came along and hung out with us the entire time.  Poor baby looked like she was starving. She minded pretty well, which led me to believe someone just dropped her off rather than being a feral.  She sure was stalking our birdfeeder.  But it was out of reach.  

Tonight, we had the sad meeting with the Ozarks Rivers Heritage Foundation people about the USACE shutting them down.  The ruling comes from the Washington level and they've decided that it's illegal for foundations (of which there are about 30 across the nation) to earn revenue and not send it to Washington to be divied out. One of the sweetest deals about having foundations like this one is that their revenue can stay locally.  In this case it's Table Rock Lake.  We've loved volunteering for them and hope it works out that they do not have to dissolve, but it's not looking good. It makes us so sad because ORHF has done some magnificent things for the campgrounds around Table Rock.  But mostly it makes us sad that the people we've come to know and love will be out of a job. Hoping and praying that something turns around for them.

a stunned tanager

now it's looking around

after spotting us taking pix, it finally flew away

Christopher and Bailey taking a dam tour

Our sweet Sara Karnes brought us an autographed copy of  her movie, The "View from 216"

baby Lillian

Leah, Eli, and Lillian

morning spiderwebs outside the camper

they know how to catch stuff

looks like we have a boxelder hatching on the butterfly weed

Gaura

Goldenrod

Howard found another stunned bird on the 3rd floor deck

probably a young starling --  he began hollering and Howard took him outside and flew away

I think Gala may be under a little stress

sometimes ya just gotta get off your feet, right Sherryl?

9-14-13:  Rough day at work for all of us.  Just stunned about the news of the foundation having the rug pulled out from under them.  The Corps will still run the visitor center, but nobody knows what changes are in store.

Our Andrew is digging soccer!

9-17-13:  Got this pic today of Andrew at soccer practice.  Looks like this could be his thing!  He is so focused on it!  

The refurbished Lady Liberty

painting of her

God's beautiful pink sunset over Table Rock Lake

Tonight we went down to the lakeshore and caught a brilliant, pink sunset with Dawn and Ron.  After it went down we stayed a little while and soon a large boat came cruising by.  One that we'd never seen before.  I assigned David some homework of finding out what it could be.  Turns out it's the Lady Liberty owned by Big Cedar Lodge.  Very cool story that can be googled. 

Once again, David and I have been totally blessed this month.  We've seen some of God's nature and artwork and have had the pleasure of being around some of His most wonderful people.

We are looking forward to several friends and family coming to visit us next month.  Praying for our friends at the Foundation.

Much Love,


David, Becky, and Rocky