Land of the Giants

A giant accomplishment at the Dewey Short

Queen of the Night

Unusual Tulip

one of the floats in the Tulip Parade in Orange City, IA

David has discovered "selfies"

Tandee's giant find:  Morel Mushroom

big ole Iowa boy that came in the Dewey Short

Pileated Woodpeckers are all around us, but we can't get a pic!  My new friend from the wildflower hike shared her pic with me

May in the Ozarks was awesome!  We've seen a variety of seasons in one month, and the wildflowers are looking sweet! So happy to see some family this month, too!

woke up to snow this morning!!

snow on our windshiled as we headed to Texarkana

a dusting at the Dewey

5-3-13:  FLAKES in Branson!! Ok, I'm talking snow here.  According to one station, it's the first time in 69 years this area has had snow in May.  It was beautiful while falling.  We headed to Texarkana this morning and it snowed on us til just south of Harrison, AR.

Prob wild mustard in the fields

great views on hwy 65

atop one of the hills just south of Harrison on 165

and another

some of the oil spill clean up going on in Mayflower, AR -- it's been a big deal

On our trip down Hwy 65, we passed tons of wildflower-filled pastures and a small area of gorgeous Wisteria vines.  No good place to pull over for pix of the wisteria, but we loved the sight.

Our beautiful Edith -- wearing the mother's day gift I knitted for her

Spice and Rocky settled for a truce so they could nap with David

Edith and me

Rocky wasn't quite as chilled out with sweet Bailey around

Gus and me

5-4-13:  Loved our brief visit with Edith, Gus, and Cranford/Kathey!

Wheat Doily that Gene crocheted for me

5-6-13:  Gene is inspiring me to learn to crochet!

from a scenic overlook around Shell Knob, MO

5-7-13:  After taking Rocky to the vet in Branson West, the 3 of us took a scenic drive through Cape Fair, Shell Knob, and Old 86 Campground.  Beautiful roads, scenery, lots of Empress Paulownia (google that) trees in the woods, and a fantastic day!

My very first sighting of a Mayapple bloom

it will become a fruit after this

When we got back, Sherryl told me about Jack-in-the-Pulpits on the Lakeshore Trail.  She said she'd found a patch and described them to me.  I also googled them and went huntin'.  I didn't see those, but I did find a bloom under a Mayapple.  My first to see.  Of course, I had to nearly stand on my head to get a pic.  But it was worth it.

our first stop was for a breakfast cinnemon roll and pecan sticky bun at the bakery

Snyder Family

Old Dogs New Tricks

Generation III

The smallest Snyder

Mark Twain -- and a kazillion other characters in Branson. -- we love his Barney Fife and Joan Rivers impressions

5-10-13:  David and I caught one of our free days at Silver Dollar City.  And it's Bluegrass and BBQ out there this month.  So we enjoyed about 3 Bluegrass groups.  Well.........we listened to 3 groups.  We enjoyed one.  Maybe 2.  We listened to Generation III - pretty good.  Old Dogs New Tricks -- noooo.  And then the Snyder Family.  We really loved them.  The 17 year old can flat out play that guitar.  He's won many awards already.  The 14 year old girl had a beautiful voice and was quite the fiddler.  Then out came the 7 year old.  He upstaged them all.  Cutie pie, and quite a talented guitar player. Dad played the bass and mom sang one or 2 songs with them. We'll look for this group again.

any guesses?

5-11-13: While sitting around the campsite this afternoon, I watched this bird near the feeder.  He was huge.  My first thought was a Kestrel.  THEN, a tufted titmouse started attacking me (think it was the color of my shirt), I knocked my coke off the table, and scared Rocky out of my lap.  So when I looked back, the bird was gone.  I didn't get to see him fly away, which might've told me if it was simply a dove.  I don't think he was though.  Although the conservationists and naturalists I've asked have said it could very well be a puffed up mourning dove, I'd like to think it was an Inca Dove or a Common Nighthawk.  Maybe it'll find it's way back to us.

David and I've been commenting on how super clear Table Rock is right now.  Of course, last year about this time, it was orangish because it was turning over and stuff in it from the previous year's flood.  So we're thinking this clearness is what it's supposed to look like. But we read a report at the vc that says this is the clearest it's been in 30 years and in some spots the visibility is 40 ft.  This is due to the cooler spring and the zooplankton (algae eaters) didn't die off.  So happy we got to see the beauty of the extra clear water!!

My 2nd sock monkey 

Our Painted Bunting on Mother's Day -- Morgan named him David

Lulu and me

5-12-13:  It's Mother's Day and I saw my first Painted Bunting of the year on our feeder.  What a blessing.  That ranks right up there with Eagles and Pileated Woodpeckers for me!

Gene is an honorary "yellow shirt"

5-14-13:  We've so enjoyed Gene being here visiting Gala for 2 or 3 weeks.  She adds a fun element to the visitor center when she's there. AND she keeps us in check!  So as a "cya later" gift, David and I got her a yellow shirt.  That's what the volunteers and staff wear to work.  I told her when she comes back we'll teach her how to answer the phone!

5-16-13:  I rented a car and took a trip. This was my first time to be on Hwy 13 north of Springfield, MO.  I drove through some pretty Amish country around Osceola, crossed over Lake Truman a couple of times, and spent about 30 minutes driving through the Kansas City area. The wildflowers were really popping through MO.  Love driving alongside the Loess Mtn range on I-29. Redbuds and Lilacs are still out in SD.

Stayed in the All Saints Historic District of SF, SD where the giant Cottonwoods were greening up and everyone was loving the outdoors!  After such long winters up there, they jump at every chance for outdoor activities!
As I got settled in to sleep tonite with the windows wide open, I listened to the sounds of planes, trains, and a guitar player.  I always love train horns and then have to google the codes.

nature center in SF

one of the trails at the nature center - peaceful other than I-29 being nearby

these giant birdhouses were for the wood ducks

Oxbow Lake

see anything wrong in this pic?

prairie land at the center

these were flowering out on the trail - nobody could tell me what they were

back of the nature center

stands in the Oxbow for the geese to nest

Another view of the Oxbow Lake

bridge over the Oxbow

at the Butterfly House

I didn't go in due to what you see in the background

5-17-13:  Today I visited a nature center in Sioux Falls and walked a couple of their trails.  Pretty prairieland and wetland preservation.  I did have a serious language barrier there.  I asked "do ya'll sell postcards" and it took about 5 minutes and me finally going and finding one and holding it up before the poor lady could figure out what I was saying.  As I was leaving she agreed to work on her Southern if I'll work on my Norwegian. Went to see Oblivion tonite -- I'm not usually a fan of Tom Cruise or scifi - but it was pretty good!

wooden shoes indicate a farmer, leather were for the townies

why do kids always assume you're not in line just cuz you're a grownup????

5-18-13:  Got to go to the Orange City, IA Tulip Festival. Wow!  What an experience.  Rich in Dutch tradition and a huge turnout.  First we just wandered around town and checked out all the folks dressed up in their Dutch gear.  They really get in the spirit of it!

I'd def want the neon orange wooden shoes!

there's one in every crowd

Then we watched what I thought was the parade.  But it was the Straatfest.  Basically a way to share with us all the Dutch attire and it's "meaning", the various classes of people from back in the day, and the games the kids of every age liked to play.  Even the shoes they wore signified whether they were farm folk or townies.  And my friend, Sherryl, told me to google the history of Tulips.  Pretty interesting -- they used to be used as currency.  Then when the economy plummeted, lots of folks were stuck with lots of tulips!

Blushing Beauty

Giant Orange Sunset

Dreamland

Golden Nizza

Mix

After watching that for an hour or so, we decided it was time to stretch our legs again and checked out the heritage museum and the million types of Tulips that exist!

Soon it was time for the Scrubbing of the Streets.  This is a tradition carried over from the days of kings and queens.  They would scrub the streets before parading the royalty and now they do this before the current-day parade.  The guys filled up their pails from the cisterns throughout the streets and the ladies and girls would come along behind them with their brooms.  Laura and I had been told that this is the part that's a must to watch.  They were right!

Laura Lee and me

she stopped to give some water to a dog that was tethered in the shade

Our intentions were to catch a horse-drawn trolley ride and a pedi-cab ride through the town.  But we eventually pooped out and hit the road.

Big Sioux River

Big Sioux

  Thx Bill Boy, for the pix of my grandfather, William Madison Goff, during Fallen Officer Memorial Week. Papaw Goff was killed in the line of duty in Arkansas at age 35, when my Pop was 4 years old. Info on odmp.org.

My Dewey Short Peeps

Gala, the boss lady, donning her life jacket

I missed the "Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day" -- but it was a giant success!

5-20-13:  Moore, OK was hammered today by an EF5 tornado.  Reports were that this was the largest tornado in US history since recordkeeping began. The town looked almost completely wiped out.  Schoolchildren died while taking shelter in their school basement. Winds around 200 mph.

My mom's family back in the day.  Me on front row with Bill Boy right behind me

5-21-13:  Today would've been my mom's 91st bday.  Still miss her!

David getting right back into his old role

5-26-13:  David and I drove over to Springfield to see Mud at the movies.  What a good movie!  And I loved how everyone in it talked!!  Setting was delta land of Arkansas.

5-28-13:  We went to see 42 tonite with Gala and Allan. Loved this movie about Jackie Robinson.  Such a great piece of history.  One thing that struck me is that the games were in the late 1940's and the stands has both blacks and whites sitting in the same sections. In the North.  I told David that when I was younger, this wouldn't have happened in the South, sadly.  We had the separate seating, restrooms, water fountains, etc.

5-29-13:  The most beautiful purple or blue (depending on the light) flowers have begun popping out along 165.  There is a pretty big field of them around College of the Ozarks, so I walked back there and took some pix. It's otherwise near impossible to stop on 165 for pix.  I learned from Sherryl, via John Miller, that they are Beard Tongue, aka: penstemon cobaea purpureas.  I see why they got the name "beard tongue".

5-31-13:  Tons of schoolbuses at the vc today.  Which kinda makes David and me all rashy.  A wonderful day, tho.  We so love it here.

On one of my walks I noticed the parasailer just as the Branson Belle was approaching

Unbelievably, the OKC area had another record-breaking EF5 tornado tonite with winds over 300mph.  It was terrible watching it unfold on tv.  Thousands of people were literally stuck on I-35 and I-40 in that area.  Some of the deaths were from being sucked out of their vehicles.  Storm-chasers were injured and 3 killed.

COE completed the core-boring on the earthen embankment

Table Rocky

fog on the Taneycomo

Smoke Tree in front of the Dewey

these are all over the parking lot - from a Silver Maple

A visitor gave David a "diamond ring" (dime and ring) to give to me

purdy - but what is it?

Laura pretending to work in her office

Ranger Leah inspiring me to work in the flowerbed I've adopted

David, the Painted Bunting

Looking forward to June in Branson!  Hope to see some new sights and to keep on learning!

Love to you all,

Steve Burton, Valerie Scott, and our faithful giant companion