Schooner Creek

McNamara #10

2011-08-07T15:13:00.002-05:00

Zeke followed the ragged man, who called himself Jeff, for two days. They camped where a creek with no name joined the White River the first night. Zeke, not trusting the man tied him to a tree. Judy Carol thought that was being "particully ornery" seein as how the fella was leading them to the General. Zeke wonder why she had decided to come along instead of waiting for her pa to get back and he asked her about it.
"Pa may take a notion to go to Fort Smith for all I know, he may not come back til fall and maybe not even then." was her response.
Jeff did not have much to say, especially after being tied to tree all night.
"You'd no call to tie me up Deputy, warn't me that took them shots at you, why I ain't had me a rifle gun since Shiloh and what lead and ball I got I made myself. Too dern hard to come by for wastin"
"Well I got me some sleep, you may have lost some. Besides you said we would meet up with this General today. You can go take a nap once we get there."
They had followed the river or at least kept it in sight, it was the only way Jeff said he could find his way. It was almost evening when Zeke smelled smoke and with in a few minutes they were overlooking a camp located where the Kings river joined the White. It was layed out like an army camp, with pickets standing guard at 25 foot intervals. Zeke could see what looked like rifles stacked near each cluster of tents. There were several small fires burning with men moving around preforming cook chores. In the center was a larger tent with a Confederate Battle Flag and another flag standing on either side of the open flaps.
Judy Caroll suddenly disappeared from Zekes side and Jeff rode down a game trail and entered the camp with Zeke behind him. They rode up to the flagged tent and Jeff dismounted.
"I'm back General, I brung hm like you said"
"Well done Jeff, your dismissed came a voice from inside the tent. Jeff lead his mount off turning and giving Zeke a dirty look as he left.
Zeke keep his eye on the tent. The rattling of a saber as it was belted on and the snap of a holster cover did not go unnoticed.
A rather tall man wearing the broad brimmed hat of a Confederate officer came into view, his face covered by the brim. His uniform carried the insigna of a General, however the tailoring was more or less added to a worn suit coat. His pants were gray, with a dirty yellow stripe down the sides. The saber was more like a sword with a thin blade sheathed in a round copper tube, His boots were black and polished to a high sheen. He exited the tent and raised his head, a full beard came into view along with a set of ice blue eyes. Zeke stood a few minutes staring into those eyes. Nothing was said until the General smiled and showed a set of almost perfect white teeth.
"get down Zeke, its been awhile"
"Virgil Taylor, you are dead." came Zekes reply.
"Naw, I ain't dead, why you should know that no Yankee Red Leg could kill me....they killed my horse though and that was a good horse."

July 13, 2011

2011-07-13T15:36:00.002-05:00

On July 3rd, 2011 at about ten minutes to eleven in the morning, heaven opened its doors and my lovely daughter Trisha walked in. She had suffered for 19 months with cancer. We knew from the very beginning that her survival was a long shot. Our hope and prayers, our tears and strength were tested. Tricia stayed strong, determined and maintained her dignity through the whole process. If only we as a family could have been as strong as her. We miss her, we think of her every day and we find ourselves with tears at every picture or mention of something she loved to do. Tricia we miss you and please save us a seat.

Funerals are for the living. We use the time at a wake to gather, renew old contacts, talk of things we thought we had forgotten and get to see relatives we have not seen in years. Tricia planned hers well, it was short painless for the most part and beautiful. She decided that she would be cremated. Her ashes were present in a brass urn. Simple yet elegant. It was a time of healing and learning to cope with her passing. It helped me get through the worst event to date in my life.

Now, with all of the tears in my eyes making it hard for me to see the keyboard. Its time to tell it like it is. The last person in this world that would want anyone crying over her was Trisha. She was full of life and a little stubborn. She had a sense of humor that really touched us all. The morning of the wake and memorial service, the electricity went out just as most of the women were getting out the shower with wet heads. Every house were my daughters and grandaughters could have gone to dry their heads was without the magic of electricity. It was not off long, just annoying. Come to find out that the reason there were 53000 homes in the dark was a snake. The only animal that Brian would aggravate her with as they were raising their family. Brian once caught a copperhead, killed it and then coiled it into a strike poise and put it in the freezer. When Trish opened the freezer door...well let us say Brian never pulled that one again. After the service The urn was placed in a cabinet once owned by her Grandmother Mary. Her son was curious about it so he picked it up, This is really heavy" he announced. His sister said "how do we know mom is in there?" With that he gave it a little shake

Tara pumped her fist and said " Shes there" Brandon said that it really felt weird and he put it down. I sat and watched the incident and thought about how Trish was smiling and her children. I really hate cancer. I really love Patricia Lynn Evensen.

June 30 2011

2011-06-30T12:14:00.002-05:00

Its a really funny year weather wise. We had lots of rain, filled Tablerock Lake to capacity and then some, now its dry. The lake is still full. Fishing has been poor to not good at all until recently. Judy and I went hunting gills a week or so ago and by chance pulled up to a tree that had just gotten clear of the water. Its a place where when the lake is at a more normal level we have caught some nice bluegill. After a few minutes we began catching fish. Now there is ten more feet of water around that tree than normal. I just did not think they would be there. Yet they were.

I took a good friend of mine, Bob, out with me this week. Bob grew up around the lake at his grandparents and fished with his grandpa. He moved away, grew up got married had kids and quit fishing. I'm getting him back into it. I created a little monster. Bob and I work together, so the next morning he comes to work and immediately starts in on me for not baiting his hook or taking the fish off the line. I started laughing and went right along saying he did not pay me for the guide service so he was on his own. We had a really great evening and caught a livewell full of fish. That next morning his concern was that I had not cleaned his fish, furthermore when was I going to have him and family over for supper so that he could eat his fish. I like Bob.

Judy and I are experiencing our daughters sickness. Each day is a new feeling and brings with it a whole new set of issues. What we are going through does not compare with what Trish is going through we know. It is just the pain and the feeling of helplessness that we cannot seem to get a grip on. I will say that at times like this it is family and the presence of good friends that help make the pain a little less. Each of us deal with the situation a little differently. We each have our moments. Together we seem to draw strength off each other. It is hard to hear folks ask about her and its really hard when you hear yourself saying that its not good, or its just a matter of time or anyone of a number of ways to say that which I can not yet write down. I really hate cancer.

So, to those of you that read this, thank you for support. Please understand when we answer you with tears and a smile. Its a hard thing to lose anyone, especially a child. Please don't stop your prayers and thoughts. We think it is what is getting us through.

I think we'll go fishing......

Thanks.

From the Journal of Deputy Zeke McNamara #9

2011-06-26T18:55:00.003-05:00

Bacon was sizzling in the pan partially covering the splashing and hollering of the girl as she bathed in the cold river water. The James is mostly spring fed and the water seldom gets warm enough for bathing. Zeke smiled as he listen to her fussing over being told to bathe. Once the bacon was done using the grease Zeke sliced the last of the tators that he had brought along. He seasoned them with some wild onions and mixed up a batch of pan bread. he was finishing just as she walked up to the cave entrance.

"This here soap got a mite of a bite to it, how come?" she complained.

"Got a little sand mixed in with it to help get down to the pink in the skin. Scrubs real good, I use it on everything I want clean."

"Well it shore got me raw in a few places."

"Good for ya"" How long your Pa been gone?"

"He been gone now close to eight maybe nine days. He said I was to wait for him at the cave and he would come along by and by."

"Your Pa leave you alone like that often?"

"Just for going after his coffee and other things. He's fond of his salt and sugar."

"You stay around here then?"

"We do most of the summer, Pa,he's sure he knows about where them diamonds are He talked to a breed before the war who told him that old Man Yokum had him a bag of diamonds he got from the injuns. he says that breed knew cause his grandpa was one of the injuns what traded them."

"Whats kept him from just getting them and heading out to California?"

"Pa says landmarks changes, trees grow up or die, storms and floods take em out. He says as soon as he finds the mark he'll know where to look." Ma got tired of it and we settled down on a rock down towards Berryville, it were there that the moccison got her whilst she was washing in the crick. That there is one of the reasons I ain't to pleased to get me a crick bath."

"Cleaness is close to godlyness so said my ma, especially on Saturday night" answered Zeke. "You seen a bunch of Johnny Reb's camped near here?"

"They was, left mostly a week ago, day or two after Pa went to fetch supplies." The went up the White river towards Shell Knob. They made a mess around here for a spell, digging and a tearing things up looking for gold or maybe for them diamonds. Pa tried to be neighborly, exceptin them Reb's was right standoffish." They run Pa off that first day we run into them, Pa he said they was runaway solgers and that we should stay good and clear of what they was doing. He said that they was a looking in the wrong spot anyways."

Zeke finished the last of the food then picked up the plates and fry pan. He walked toward the river. The girl Judy Carol had confirmed what he knew to be correct. If there was a band of soldiers in the area they were moving west. He would have to ride up the river to follow them. Riding up that way would leave him exposed to the bushwhacker that had tried twice to shoot him. He squatted down and was swirling the plates in the river when Judy Carol spoke from the cover of the willows.

"There be a fella up on the lip of the cave, he been watching you, he ain't got no rifle gun he's just keeping you in sight." When you turn around look there at the base of that lightning struck pine to the left. He watching you from there. Look for a patch of blue like a gobblers neck,he's wearing a blue scarf around his neck."

Zeke stood up and as he turned he spotted the blue. He stretched a little and walked back to the cave. When he was out of sight of the man above he ran to the side and followed a path worn slow by rain water till he was on top the cave. He moved so fast as no to give the man watching time to react. Zeke grabbed him anf hit him with a back hand blow that rocked the man back on his heels. Before he could recover Zeke slammed him again and then placed his cocked revolver into the mans nose.

"Who are you? What you want and why you sneaking around here?"

Zeke shook the man till his teeth rattled and his eyes glazed over. Zeke drug him off the hill and across the gravel bar to the river. He took the man by the collar and stuck his face into the ice cold water.

"Talk varmint or I'll drown for the stinking back shooter you are!"

"Urrugh" the man coughed up a pint of river water and as his eyes focused he was able to say

"The General wants to talk to you....says I'm to make sure you come see him..."

Friday June 24, 2011

2011-06-24T16:36:00.002-05:00

Well here I am again trying to fine the time to make entries. I've lost so many of my readers that it may take a while to get things rolling again. Recently I've come to the conclusion that no matter how hard you try life gets in the way and fate can throw you curves you best hit hard and pop them up to a higher authority. In February Judy and I learned via the US mail that our land lord on Bayfront had quit paying the mortgage and that we had less than 30 days to vacate. Landlord said he was going to call and fill us in he just never got around to it. We also got the word that our daughter's cancer had returned. The treatments were intense and they made her sick, Judy had to spend a lot of time in St. Louis helping. So finding a new place was left up to me......a challenge I jumped at....yeah right. I found a place, close to the one we had and with a great view of the lake. It had been vacant for several months and needed a good cleaning. Judy was out of town so I took my trusty shop vac and headed to the new digs. The first place I started was the gas fireplace. It was a mess to say the least, full of trash, soot and and just about everything else one could imagine. With the confidence of a Supreme Court judge I attacked the task. Let me stop here for a minute, shop vacs are really great tools, however, and we all know there are however's involved, the lid has to be very secure or all the dirt, dust, and in this case soot enters the atmosphere and an alarming rate. Yep....I could have set the place on fire and had less damage. I had to mop the floors.....over and again....soot does not like water so it turns to some chemical combination that has the adhesion of super glue and will not be allowed to be mopped up. One can get on their hands and knees, use paper towels, towels, microfiber, steel wool, and every other thing known to modern man with little or no results. I'm still wiping up black. Then there was the walls.....yes soot sticks to walls as well and if you use water on it it turns from a fine dust to a smeary black goo. Same thing applies... you can wipe to the drywall and it still stays put. Judy came back from a trip, said a few things that were not suitable for my ego and self esteem, told me to deal with it and then laughed till tears fell. I was proud that I could give her a little relief. We moved on time in spite of the largest snowfall in recent memory in southwest Missouri. I would have never made it for not the willingness of my son Brad, and the assistance of my friends, Doug-Wayne, Jim and Bob. Judy did not have much to move. I'm proud to report that we didn't break anything, just lost a few things. Like Judy's Paula Dean toaster and egg cooker.....never used that egg cooker. Any way, we thought I lost some of her necklases to include her pearl one. Found those last week in a drawer in a dresser we seldom get into...now I wonder who put them there....

Like I said that fate thing rose again couple of weeks ago, We learned that our landlady, Renee, was just informed that she had a large tumor in her pancreas and liver, she was told it was cancer, it was bad, and there was not much that could be done. I really hate cancer.......

My daughter is home, hospice is making her comfortable as possible and between Judy and my other daughter along with an aunt they are helping and being there when hospice is not. I ask for your prayers for Trish's comfort and strength for those that are there.

I will try to be a little more dedicated to this blog, I refuse to join facebook I don't know how to twitter and talking on the phone is so yesterday. If I want to discuss something with the grandkids I have to text, autocorrect is not my friend. So until next time thanks for reading.

Mike

Sunday February 6

2011-02-06T08:27:00.002-06:00

Just below this entry is the # 8 installment of Deputy Zeke McNamara. I hope you enjoy.

Things have been hopping here on Schooner Creek. The lake level is at 905 + a little. The USACE continues to drop the lake an average of about .15 of a foot every day. There is no ice on the lake where I am however I' told there is at Cape Fair and down to almost Point 10. (Aunce Creek)
Getting onto my dock at this point requires a repelling harness. I have no fishing reports to pass on. We suffered through a major ice/snow event last week and it seems that the "experts" are predicting another 10-14 inches of the white S%&...snow for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Judy and I are going to have to move, it seems that the current landlord and his mortgage company have not been getting together once a month for the payment. So the mortgage company has sent notice that the landlord is being foreclosed on. Imagine that.....
We are relocating to a nice house about 3 miles for our current one, with a nice view of the lake. I will post some pictures. Moving day is the last Saturday of the month if your interested..........You say you have an appointment to watch paint dry on that day....oh well I understand I'd come help you except Judy would not be happy with me and we all know that when the wife is unhappy no one is happy.

until next time......

McNamara #8

2011-02-06T07:29:00.002-06:00

The thunder rolled as lightning continued to flash across the sky. The rain seemed to be letting up. Zeke watched the cave entrance fully expecting the girl to return. Finally he rolled into his blankets and let the sound of the rain put him to sleep.

There was a faint light in the eastern sky when Zeke rolled out of his blanket. The sun was coming up in a clear sky, the storm long gone. The morning air was fresh. Zeke walked down to the river which had come up during the night and was dirty brown. One look made him think twice about using it for his coffee. He dipped some and then sat it aside to settle. He washed his face then using his fingers he combed is hair. he turned to walk back the the cave and reached down to pick up the pot. The buzz of the bullet came just before the crack of the gun. Had he not reached down to pick up the pot he would have been shot. Zeke dived for cover and saw movement towards the cliff top above the cave. He crawled to the base of the cliff where he was out of sight from above and worked his way back the cave. He took his rifle then began a slow flanking motion by duck walking along the base of the cliff until he reached a game trail that would take him to the top. Twenty minutes later found him standing were the dry gulcher had taken his shot. There was little there except the scuff marks on the rock. That was the second time he had been shot at and it was beginning to make him mad. Somebody did not what him nosing around.
"It wore a man wearing Yankee blue pants and a butternut coat with one of them little brimmed caps the solgers wear" said the girl Jude from a blackberry patch. " He didn't wait around to see ifn he hit you, he took his shot and skedaddled down the trail. He had him a horse tied down yonder a ways."
"You were here?" questioned Zeke
"I have me a place under a log to keep dry, I was a fixin to get up when I heard him a coming, I just laid here and watched. Didn't realize it was you he was sightin in, could have been a deer or somethin."
"Yeah, or somethin"
Zeke turned and began walking down the trail. He found where a horse has stood. By the looks of the bark he had been there long enough to get bored. He found fresh droppings. He checked the tracks. the left hind shoe had a cross bar in it. It left a defined track, the horse hair was sorrel in color with some white. The horse had scratched himself leaving hairs in the bark. He walked back to the top where Jude was sitting, as he walked past he said "come on, I got a bar of soap and then we can eat."

January 2011

2011-02-01T12:43:00.002-06:00

Wow, it has been a while since anything was posted to this ole blog. Excuses are often weak attempts to justify laziness. In my case that is partically true. I have experience computer issues comparable to Mount St Helens and the San Francisco earthquake and fire. However, if I was more patient and less prone to blow things off I would have continued to blog.

I owe several entries in the adventures of Zeke McNamara, fishing stories and how too. I will try to do better and we we all know the road to.........is paved with good intentions.

Lots of things are going on here on Schooner Creek. Today were are suffering through one of the worst snow storms in Missouri history. According to the news we have not seen this kind of "Blizzard" conditions since 1912. Now how they know that is beyond me. In 1912, weather people relied on things like looking out a window, calling someone way west to see how thier weather was, watching animals and insects. My mom says that if you catch a flock of birds sitting on a witre or fence it means its going to rain or snow. I always figured they were just tired. Or if a catapillar has hair longer than 1/2 inch it means its going to be a bad winter. Or my favorite if you break open a persimmon seed and the center looks like a snow shovel you are in for a lot of snow. Todays weather folks have computers with applications that track a storm days in advance. They get all excited when they get to interupt your favorite show to tell you its raining 75 miles away. Not only that if it's a storm they are telling folks what to do... like "Abandon your Mobile Homes !" Seems like I've always found that if its a bad storm one of the first things that go is the electric and battery tv is just not popular.

Anyway, I am going to make an attempt to be better at this, look for the next chaper on Deputy Zeke in a day or two.

Live from Schooner Creek this is ole mikey reporting that its a snowin hard.

Its tomato time.....

2010-04-12T19:41:00.003-05:00

For those that have read this any length of time they know that I like tomatoes, a lot. Since moving to Schooner Creek I have had a running battle with mother nature in growing them. Last year I tried to raise them upside down. The concept was great, they always work on TV. I can honestly say that I did not do so well. Watering was an issue, to much sun was an issue. And squireels were a major factor. My Judy warned me this year that if I put one tomato plant along the main walk, I would need to learn to sleep in the garage. Since I figure that I'm way to old to learn to rest on concrete I decided to builds raised beds for my palnts this year. Wish me luck, read down and see how I did it.

Tomato Time

2010-04-12T19:38:00.002-05:00

Pick an area that gets lots of sun. Most gardens like the sun. Measure your placement area then cut your 2x6's accordingly. In my bed because I was using a full 8 foot board I cut a center support to help hold the 8 footers together.

tomato time

2010-04-12T19:30:00.004-05:00

It's easy to figure out how much dirt you need, just measure the square footage of the raised bed, then remember that on each bag of dirt there is a scale that tells you how much each bag will cover. In my case, I needed 40 bags of dirt. They weighted 40 pounds each and I had to move them by hand 3 times. Do that math and it will tell you to not let your teenage son get away. To get square footage just multiply length of the bed by the width. If you are using inches remember to covert it back to feet. If that creates a mind warp, find a fifth grader and get your answers.

Tomato Time

2010-04-12T19:24:00.003-05:00

The finished product looks something ike this, or exactly like this. I can only hope that the pursuit of the tomatoe is a lot more successful than last years run.

From the Journal of Zeke McNamara #7

2010-04-01T16:48:00.003-05:00

Or a wet rat, it was a toss up. She crept into the cave and stopped just out of the drip from the opening.
"Well, can you talk" Zeke asked
She just stood there looking around as if she was making sure there was no one else in the cave, Zeke put away his revolver and stirred the fire. He pulled the coffee pot a little closer to the fire to let it warm a little. She just stood there, she was wearing an old wide brimmed beaver hat with a squared off crown. It had a piece of the brim tore off the front right where she could duck her head and by moving her eyes still see. Her hair was red, not the brassy kind, the almost brown kind and it looked like a bird had been living in it below the crown of the hat. She was a little over five feet tall, she wore a red flannel shirt with bib overalls and miners boots that were three sizes to big. She was dirty, her face was smudged with black and her fingernails were caked with dirt. She was carrying an old cap and ball rifle like Yankees used in the beginning of the war.
"You hungry?" Zeke asked. Again trying to get her to say something. She stood at the cave entrance, watching every move Zeke made. Her eyes darted over her shoulder and she seemed to buzz with energy. Just at the minute lightning flashed and thunder rolled overhead. She jumped inside the cave and immediately crouched and pointed the old rifle out into the darkness. Zeke chuckled and said " Might jumpy are you?" She turned on him, her face strained in anger. her first words were, " You stay out yonder in a nuff o'these storms your chances of getting hit by lightning gets greater and greater. You'd be jumpy to if'n you ever seen a body after lightning hits it. My pa had an old sway back mare that he left tied to a plow, lighting hit that ole mare and took every bit of the hair off'n her. She was as pink as a newborns bottom, dead too." Zeke laughed out loud and ask again if she was hungry. She looked off into the night and said " I can eat if'n you got extry."
Zeke put the fry pan back on the fire, cut off several pieces of bacon into the pan. He reached over and poured a cup of coffee and handed it to her. She put her old rifle down, leaving it close, and sipped on the coffee. She made a face and swallowed. Zeke smiled again and reached into his pack and tossed her a sack of sugar. She added a heaping hand full to the cup and sat back to drink it.
"You got a name?" Zeke asked?
" My daddy called me Jude most of the time, my momma called me Judy Carol till she died. Snake bit her down in Arkansas, Daddy said it was the biggest cottonmouth moccasin he'd ever kilt, Momma lived two, three days. She told me to watch out for snakes, that was the last thing she said to me."
"Good advise," Zeke commented.
The rain outside increased in volume and the entrance was now behind a thin wall of water, most of it ran off towards the river. One small rivulet came in towards where Judy Carol had sat down, she got up and moved toward Zeke. Lightning flash and thundered rolled then echoed. Each time Zeke noticed that Judy flinched when it flashed. Zeke handed her the fry pan and she took the bacon out. He reached back into his pack again to produce a sack of left over biscuits from breakfast. She placed the bacon in the biscuits . Zeke noticed that she ate with the style folks do that have not had much to eat in a while, slowly enjoying every bite. When she finished the bacon she sopped up the grease with a biscuit and ate that too. Zeke let her eat with out much conversation. When she was finished Zeke asked " You live around here?"
" I live where I want" she answered" got me a good gun and I know how to eat off the land. Momma taught me a lot about what plants you could eat and what ones you could use for medicine. I get by, Pa is gonna find them diamonds then we will move out to California and eat high off'n the hog"
"So your here treasure hunting?" Zeke inquired.
"Never thought of it as that, I reckon we are, Pa he took off last week to get more supplies, he favors his coffee."
"Where did he go?"
Said he was going to Galena, I figure he went down towards Blue-eye, cause the trader down there will take pelts for supplies, fella up in Galena he prefers cash or gold. We ain't got any of that."
Zeke thought back, there had been a stranger reported to have been seen around the trading post. About that time Zeke began to notice a foul smell filling the air. He looked around for its source. It did not take him long to figure out it was the young lady. As she dried out it was easy to tell it had been some time since she had had a bath. The odor was as nauseous as a skunk he sniffed and scrunched his nose. The motion was not lost on Judy Carol.
" Alright Mister, I know your sniffing me and I'm fixin to leave, been a while since I had me a creek bath with soap. Thanks for the meal, I'll be leaving. She got up and took her rifle and started toward the entrance. She took two steps and the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled. She ducked her head and stepped out into the rain.

Schooner Creek under the rainbow

2010-03-28T20:08:00.002-05:00

The winter of 2009-2010 has been one of the coldest on record here in south west Missouri. The temperature hit -11 one morning in early January and other than a one day breather we had no January thaw. Its the end of March and the temperature is still having a hard time getting above 60. The James River arm of Tablerock froze over above the White River arm at point 9. Not so hard as you can walk on it, it did support snow and folks up that way said it had not happened since 1963 or 4.

I for one am very glad that by the end of this week the temp's are suppose to be in the low 70's. The grass is turning green and them bushes people put in their front yards are turning yellow. All we need now is to see the Red Buds pop and right behind them come the wild cherry and plum trees then the Bradford pears and the Dogwoods. Hot dog.....when the oak leaves get to the size of squirrels ears and the dogwoods bloom, the crappie are jumping in the boat.

The rainbow in the picture hits the dock where my boat is sitting. I took that as a good sign, The water there is too deep to dive for the gold so I hope the luck fills my live well for safe keeping.

I had a lot of folks ask me today about my blog novel, From the Journal of Deputy Issac McNamara. I'm working on that to be my Thursday entry. So thanks again for following. Keep in touch and let me know what you like and dislike.....

Off to a GREAT start

2010-03-27T13:31:00.003-05:00

I'm passionate about my fishing, like some folks are mad about cars, golf, basketball, baseball and football. I love to go fishing. The way I look at it, I work hard 40 hours a week, pay my bills, stay out of trouble ( most of the time) and if I have a weakness ,it is fishing. Now Bass fishing is my favorite, the hours I spend just casting for the species more than pays for the price of the lures. When I catch one like the one on the right then all the money is worth it. When I'm out on the water my blood pressure drops, the idiots I have to deal with are forgotten, and everything is at peace in my world. I had a person explain to me one time that if I added the cost of the boat, license and all the tackle then every fish I catch is like $10.00 a pound. I got news for that person, I seen a new bass boat on a show room floor this past week and sticker price on it was over $41.000.00 That means that the fish I catch is like $200.00 a pound. Thank the good Lord I don't need a boat.
I walked through the lure department of my local Bass Pro Shop and readers, if I told you there were lures there that cost as much as $25.00 would you believe me? I remember when I thought spending a $1.50 on one was outrageous. Not only that but they have videos playing at the end of every isle telling you if you only buy this $25.00 piece of painted plastic you are going to catch these monster fish and be famous. I guess my age and experience saves me because much like a gambler can not help from dropping a quarter in a slot machine I have a hard time resisting the urge to grab up four or five of them high dollar lures just so I can try them in case they might catch a fish. Heavy emphasis in the word might.
I started fishing next to my dad on farm ponds and creeks near my grandparents homes in Texas County, Missouri. We used worms we dug up ourselves or grass hoppers we had to catch. We spent hours catching bluegill, small bass, and a red eyed fish called a goggle-eye. As I grew up, Dad took us to Minnesota for Pike and walleye, and later yet Lake of the Ozarks for Crappie fishing. Most of all we used natural baits we caught or trapped ourselves and caught a lot of fish.
Then when I was 18 a friend, named Don Kramer, made me into a monster. We were fishing a small creek called the Courtious (Coat-a-way) when he tied on a blue wooden bait with a couple of treble hooks hanging off it and cast it into a eddy. The thing floated there a few minutes, Don took up the slack, and the water exploded right before my eyes. A few minutes later Don lipped one of the biggest bass I had ever seen up to that point in my life. I was hooked, deep. Why if I could catch fish like that with out digging up worms, or crawling around in a chigger infested hay field catching grasshoppers, or waiting while a minnow trap does its job, then I was signing up. I did and several years later, and a whole lot of money spent, I'm still at it. I go just as often as I can and stay just as long as possible.
The first fish of the season was caught on a painted piece of plastic I paid a lot of money for....Ain't life good!

Did you think I Expired?

2010-03-26T14:00:00.003-05:00

Folks and readers that may or may not be following me I have returned. Its been a long cold winter here on Schooner Creek. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since my last entry. Let it be said that things are almost back to normal. I can almost see out of my eye,my daughters health is good right now, my computers health needs to be worried over. I made the mistake of installing a Norton anti-virus program that slowed my computer down so much it lost a race with poured molasses.
The weather is improving here in southwest Missouri, it is finally warming up a little. Tablerock Lake, here at Schooner Creek, has a surface temperature at 47 degrees prior to the heavy rains we have received since Monday. The rain was warm and hopefully has had a positive impact. Three days of fishing produced one fish, to small to keep. My grandson Joe has not let me forget about it yet, prior to the rain. Joe and I made the 45 minute run down to Cricket Creek in search of Crappie. The water there was stained getting on to muddy. Temperature was 49-51 degrees and the crappie had lock jaw. My friend Doug and I have worked our favorite places around the Kimberling City area with nothing to report. We are going out again this afternoon to try again.
The Lake level dropped below 915 for the first time in almost a year. Due to the rains it is back up there again around 917. I was told that to find stained water now you have to get up the James River arm above point 10. Last week the White Bass was making themselves popular up above Cape Fair, and for what it is worth fisher folk on Bull Shoals at Forsyth were have a lot of fun catching them off the banks near Shadow Rock Park.
Crappie are still spotty, they are still a few warm days from getting really active. My guess the water is still to cold. The coming week has several days of 70's and nights in the 50's. That will bring up the temp pretty fast.
My thanks to everyone that takes the time to read my entries. I have missed being able to put my thoughts down. Hopefully I'm back at it again and who knows, writing this blog will do more for me than the health plan.

Back it up

2009-12-04T10:39:00.002-06:00

I realize that with this entry, if anyone out there questioned my age, the question will be answered. I'm old enough to be very technically challenged. There was a time that I can remember that to make a phone call you first had to make sure no one else in the neighborhood was using it. If it was available you only had to dial 4 numbers. Then a few years later you had to dial seven, now everyone has become used to dialing ten, most of the time, eleven if its long distance from a land line.
Remember the days when if you were not home, and some one called, they had to call back, there were no answering machines or voice mails. Remember a thing called an address book, where you wrote down on paper using a pencil the address and phone numbers of friends, family, pharmacy and Doctor's. Some of them could be written in ink, pencil was safer if they moved around a lot. That little book stuffed with all of the papers, receipts and business cards was one of the most important books in the house! In my house there was a special place for it, and Lord help the culprit that did not put it back after it was used. Remember when you memorized all the important numbers you called so you would not have to look them up.
Today we carry our "address books" around with us, we do not have to memorize anything because it is all at the touch of a button on our cell phones. Heck half the time I have to stop and think about every call I make if I try to use my memory for the number.(especially if I call home) I have emails, phone numbers, important dates with automatic reminders, I can even search the Internet if I have to right from the palm of my hand using a cell phone. Wow, how great is that!
However, and there is always a however in life, what happens when the cell phone gets really hot in your hand, the display screen slips sideways and then goes dark? I'll tell you what happens your ability to communicate with the world goes up in electronic smoke and everything you had stored on this little battery operated nemesis is gone! All those numbers that you do not have to remember is poof! If your like some, even the silly passwords that you have to remember is kaput. In other words you have to start all over and try to remember everything you had in there including Aunt Molly's neighbors number so you can call her if Aunt Molly does not answer because she went on a cruise and did not tell anyone.
I know all of this because last week my phone, with out warning died. I buried it by putting it in a box and sending it back to whence it came with a prepaid mailing label. Now I have the task of replacing all that was in it. So far it has taken me two days and I may be one half done.
Now let me give some advise, most carriers have what is called secure backup services, which if you can subscribe that will automatically backup your devise so that should it fry to a plastic blob, your world does not have to be rebuilt. ALSO, and this is the most important part, you can get these little cards that plug into the side of your camera phone then they plug into another card that will plug into your computer so you can transfer all of those pictures you take of the fish you catch, sunsets, and grand kids. Of course most people may have already know this, I did not. I always wondered if there was a faster way of getting pictures out. I just did not want to ask. I did not want the person I asked to say, "Wow what a technically challenged" old man.

Black and Blue Friday

2009-11-27T11:34:00.002-06:00

Hey folks we made it back, short trip to St. Louis and a great Thanksgiving meal at my daughters and back in a day and a half. My Judy had to be back so she could supervise the sale of televisions on Black Friday. I cannot wait to hear about her morning. I talked with several folks about shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving, they all say that the deals have to be great and the savings off the charts for them to get out of bed at o-dark thirty and fight the crowds to save ten dollars. However, there are millions that feel differently. Local law enforcement in southwest Missouri have made maps, synchronised traffic cameras and electric signals. They have even assigned officers to physically direct traffic. Wow, shoppers have no idea just how prepared retailers and local tax based governments are rolling out the red carpet. I am especially impressed with the efforts of Walmart. Since the incident in New York last year where in a man was trampled. They have consulted with crowd control experts and designed a means to accommodate the shoppers while maintaining some semblance of order. I really hope it works. I witnessed a mad dash for some sheets last year. One lady shopper was softly bumped while she was reaching into a bin full of sheets. By the time she surfaced the sheets were all gone and she didn't get any. My demented sense of humor caused several people to give me strange looks as I rapidly walked away. After all its not funny to get bumped into a bin full of sheets and not even get one set to keep.
Yes, last year I was asked to help my Judy and I did. Black Friday is one of those events everyone should partake of at least once. Even if you don't buy anything.

Thanksgiving.....

2009-11-25T11:34:00.003-06:00

I went to the Doc yesterday. He peeked, examined made me look all around and decided that I was healing a whole lot faster than most. He released me to go to back to work this coming Sunday. I cannot wait. I think that I'm going to do "something" a lot over the next couple of days just so I can get used to it.

Congratulations to my Brother Kevin and a good friend Stan. They both harvested trophy size bucks in the recent Missouri deer seasons. My brother Alan and nephew Matt are included. they also put venison in the freezer this year. I was invited to go, its just when your sentenced to do nothing, even deer hunting is something.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Its a time we all get together to eat to much and visit with friends, family or just do something outside of the norm. We all celebrate thanks in our own way. If watching the parades, eating turkey and all the trimmings and visiting with family is your thing then or skiing off some mountain out west, just remember to give thanks.

Today my Judy and I are travelling to my daughters home outside St. Louis. We will part take of all the traditional festivities, eat lots of food and have to return home late tomorrow evening. My Judy has to work on Friday. She will have to roil out of bed around 2 am and drive to the store. Big doings at the store because its "Black Friday" and there are a ton of deals. My Judy has been placed in charge of television sales. she will supervise the chaos as shoppers push, shove, butt in line and generally be shoppers on black Friday. My Judy will handle customer concerns, and make sure no one gets out of hand. In my business I have to do that everyday, I told her, welcome to my world. She made a rude noise and gave me a dirty look.

I hope you are enjoying Deputy McNamara's adventure, I will add more to it this weekend. Wonder what will happen next.

From the Journal of Issac McNamara #6

2009-11-23T13:26:00.002-06:00

Zeke rode slowly down the hanging valley. He reached the end just after mid day and found the small game path that served as access to the outside. Mule had followed right along all afternoon occasionally looking to his right up the hillside and twisting his ears to get a better listen to something moving up there. Zeke had caught movement several times just never enough to clearly see what it was moving up there. The critter had stayed right with them as they moved and was really good at keeping to cover. That was the main reason Zeke was sure that whatever the critter wasn't, it was sure to be the two legged kind. Zeke eased his mount down the trail leaning back in the saddle to make the downward progress as easy as possible. He reached the bottom, crossed a small creek running with clear water, then followed the game trail . The trail was slowly falling towards the river and Zeke kept his eyes pealed for signs of humans being around. Still he found no evidence of folks gathering wood or cutting dead branches from the standing trees. He came out of the woods just above where the James River joined the White. He turned and rode upstream a dozen yards to a place he could cross with out getting his feet wet. He was midway across the river when the rolling sound of thunder came to him. He looked up into the sky he could see and there were no clouds. That was the problem with these Ozark Mountains they wee just deep enough in the valleys and high enough in the peaks that a summer storm could blow down on a fella with out much warning. Zeke kicked the horse a little and stepped up the pace. He crossed the river and immediately seen where folks had camped and seen evidence of trees being used for temporary shelter. He rode up the gravel bar a short way and found the old log hut that used to be Yocum's trading post. It was long ago abandoned, the corral was still standing in places and the cabin had one end of the roof collapsed into itself. There was a stone chimney standing at the other end. The door hung from one hinge. There were small holes everywhere a body looked. Someone had spent a lot of time digging small holes looking for something, most likely old Yocum's sack of diamonds. Zeke heard the roll of thunder again. The storm was getting a lot closer, it was moving very fast. He dismounted, lead his horse to the front of the old cabin. He took his rifle from the scabbard and gently using the barrel pushed the door wide open. He heard stirrings from inside. He reach down at his foot, picked up a hand full of gravel and tossed it inside the door. A faint buzzing noise answered him. He banged on their door and the buzzing became louder. Rattlesnake, Zeke flinched as the crack of lightning and the accompanying roll of thunder swept over him. The air was filled with the smell of brimstone. Zeke had no desire to fight a rattler over the dryness of that old cabin. He walked to one end and looked behind it and there was the entrance to old Yocums cave. Horse had no liking for that cave until the flash of lightning made the hair on his rump stand up. He lunged past Zeke int the safety of the cave. Mule followed right along. Zeke stood just inside the cave looking at the river. He caught a movement across the river and the flash of red cloth just before the rain made it impossible to see any further than the end of his arm.
It was still raining when it got full dark. Zeke has loosen his saddle and had removed the pack saddle from mule. he had a hard time finding enough wood for a small fire for coffee. Whoever had used the cxamp last had burned everyting with in a short dash f the cave. Zeke had to roam out severl yards to find enough to make a fire. he pulled several branched from a black oak. The lower branches of a black oak will be dead, and they will stay relativel dry in the rain. Branches on the ground will get wet and will have to dry to burn. Zeke had made him a rest using his back pack and saddle. He was sitting behind the fire to the inside of the cave. he bever looed right into the fire. That was something his Pa had taught him and three years fighting in the war had let it become habit. He was sipping his coffe and watching the drips from the falling rain off the roof of the cave when he heard a branch snap outside the reach of the fire light. Horse and mule both had ears pointing out into the night. Zeke took cover behind the saddle. He pulled his revolver and held it easy in his hand. Horse flared his nostrils and mule took in a deep breath.
"Your making my stock nervous, step in to the fire light or go away, makes me no nevermind" said Zeke.
Into the fire light stepped a figure, and by the looks of it it was a girl.

Soap box time, pull up a chair

2009-11-16T10:48:00.004-06:00

We have all read accounts of Global Warming and its effects on the climate. Not only is weather affected, some of wildlife are in jeopardy, animals like polar bears, whales and penguins have articles written about them everyday. Former Vice President Al has made millions flying all over the country encouraging people to wise up, get rid of their cars, quit buying plastic and write their Congressmen to accept the doomsday prophecies of scientists. This weekend a movie was released showing what will happen in 2012, the world will end because the Mayans ended their calender........ OK???

Having lots of time on my hands while I sit around a do "nothing" my mind has pondered the above and came up with an answer, "Horse Pucky" to all of it!
First anyone that has ever subscribed to National Geographic will know that over the centuries since mother earth was formed...there have been times of unusual weather. Remember the Dinosaurs? They lived in warm wet climates, most likely never thought about cold weather and then disappeared for reasons still not agreed upon. Then there was the Ice Age, a period when large sheets of ice called glaciers, slowly moved from the poles toward the equator, destroying everything it their paths. They had a lot to do with the formation of the Great Plain in America. I think that times change. The little bit of recorded time compared to the great amount of unrecorded time, has not has not left us with enough information to determine changes.
Look at what the ocean experts have said about New Orleans. It is sinking into the Gulf. It may not last out this century, yet our ever present and all knowing government has dumped millions of tax dollars into building a levy system to protect it. Its still sinking and will continue to do so.... Then there is the ice caps, they are melting. The level of the ocean has risen a little over the last couple of hundred years. yet at one time most of the southwest part of the US was under water, and out in Utah, the Great Salt Lake is still there. Let's not forget about the Dead Sea, its so salty you cannot sink in it.

I really think that we, especially us Americans, need to take a few minutes and remember what we do today will have a big impact on the future. I really think that we as Americans need to develop other sources of energy to the point that we can tell the mid-east to put their oil on their morning cereal. Years ago our ability to jump from horse drawn wagons to gasoline powered trucks is just the thing we need today. Most of us have seen articles or commericals promoting the use of Natural Gas, and Hydrogen as fuel sources. We see evidence of wind and water generated electricity with windmills and power dams. One man I talked to related that in some parts of the world, manure and corn stalks are coverted to fuel to power plants and power cities.. Heck, last week the local news had a fella on that could fix a diesel engine to burn used restaurant cooking oil. Its time America, be a leader and change! Let us unite and let our leaders know that if they want to keep their jobs they had better get with the program. Now is the time for action. Send the link of this post to everyone you know, tell them to send it on to everyone they know according to the computer gurus, it will quickly reach everyone with access to email. America we have to start now!

To address the Mayan calender issue ....I think that the girls and boys that sat down to write the Mayan calender got called to dinner about the time they reached 2012. The next day the Chiefs decided that they could finish it later and then sent them on to build the ruins.

Eye Update...

2009-11-10T13:05:00.002-06:00

This morning at the appointed time of 8:45 I was in the Eye Doctors office patiently waiting for him to enter say all is well and go back to work. I figured he would have some magic solution that would take my vision and make it all well. Lets face it that's why they go to school and one of the reasons they get to charge so much for 15 minutes of their time. Yeah right,
I waited for my turn and heard him tell someone that they had a hard time coming in the next few weeks as they waited for their vision to clear up. I had no idea who he was talking to and listening to him I began to feel sorry for the patient. When my time came he took his time n the examination, talked gibberish to his assistant with the promise to talk English to me as soon as he finished.
After he examined me he announced that all was healing well, that there was no obvious issues other than the gas bubble he had injected into my eye had not began to dissolve. He when on to say that it would start to go any time now and when it did it would go rather quickly. He wanted to see me in two weeks. I asked him how long it would take for my eye to heal and he advised that I would get everything I was going to get back with in three months. In other words hurry up and wait.
I returned home with my tail tucked between my legs wondering just what I was going to do for the next two weeks. My Judy smiled and said that she was sure I would find something to do. i called my boss and all he had to say was get better and I'll take you off the schedule.
So today I'm doing exactly what I was told to do, Nothing!
So anyone out there that wants to know what nothing is just drop me a line and tell what your doing. I will examine it, make you wait just long enough to justify the fee and make you feel sorry for me because I'm so busy, and let you know if its something or nothing.

Bad ideas and success stories....

2009-11-09T14:31:00.002-06:00

Well I know you are thinking "Just what has old Mike been up to this past week?" The answer is nothing...well almost nothing. Do you remember in by gone times when you had an idea that while in your mind it seemed like a fool proof great idea, that if perfected it might turn into one of those hobby things that makes a million dollars and gets you out of debt and you become famous and even get a guest appearance on Oprah....
I have one. Yes even with one eye closed (literally) I came up with and idea that if successful will save me a lot of money. If I have failed to mention it my favorite past time is fishing. The problem with fishing is that by the time you buy gas, line, fishing poles, insurance and everything else you have little left over for baits. Its hard to fish some of the places I fish and not loose a lure once in a while. When you start taking notes on what you've lost it is a serious piece of change. There are lures out there that cost over $100.00 dollars, many in the 20-30 dollar range and a few in the 10 to 20 dollar range. Those are not the kind I fish with. If I was ever incapacitated enough to buy a $100.00 lure, and my Judy found out I'd have to hide it as some kind of man jewelry, and wear it every day. I fish with the 3-8 dollar ones. When I loose an 8 dollar one I hurt. So, back to my idea. I figured that I could buy used lures, unpainted lures, lures I find on the lake or ones that I've used until the paint is gone and repaint them. I'm going to paint my own fishing lures.
Crazy! Why the man has lost his mind! He does not have any artistic talent! He hates to paint! His hand does not fit any paintbrush made! YOU say, Rubbish I say! Anyone can learn anything IF they put their mind to it. As nutty as it sounds your pizza delivery boy could be a brain surgeon Besides I think its a really good idea. I might become famous, even land a guest shot on ESPN.........
Today I got things set up, I read the handy how to airbrush something guide and put paint in the jar and noticed that some how I got it all over my hands. Then I turned on the little compressor and it made a very rude noise that sounded a lot like two pans being banged together. I opened the air gun valve and it began to shoot air out onto my practice project. It took quite a time for any paint to come out, then it came out in big splats. When I released the trigger, the compressor started that clanging noise again and paint began to leak out of the end of the nozzle. I knew this was a bad thing so I turned off everything to regroup. After several adjustments I again hit the on switch, this time it sounded like a barrel full of tin cups rolling down the hill. Several adjustments later determined that I had the wrong kind of compressor ( I hope). I cleaned the equipment, only getting a little more paint on my hands and face, and felt that it was a good day!
Now keep in mind that I'm doing all of this one eyed....which explains some of the paint being where it should not have been. I decided that I would wait until after my Eye Doctors appointment in the morning, before I tackle any more practice. After all one really needs as least one eye to paint fishing lures.

What are you doing?

2009-11-04T09:53:00.002-06:00

Monday a week ago, I underwent eye surgery to reattach my retina. The surgeon explained that it was not a simple surgery, rather it was very invasive and I would be under for an hour to an hour and a half. All went well, I woke up, spent the night in the hotel at the hospital and then went home with the following orders.
1. take it easy, no lifting or bending below the waist.
2. keep you head tilted in a reading position and cocked to the left.
3. sleep on your left side
4. do nothing.

Remember when you were young and a parent would as "What are you doing?" Your response of, "Nothing," usually got a response of "If its nothing quit making that noise or If its nothing how come your brother is crying?" Let me tell you as a parent of five kids and eight grandchildren, nothing is never nothing.

I have sat for over a week, doing nothing and to tell the truth there is just so much nothing a man can take. I sit watching television with my chin on my chest or reading using my good eye. Once in a while I get up and walk laps around the house. I get to walk to the mailbox once a day and usually find there is nothing of interest in it. I get visits from my fishing buddy Doug and hear stories of the fish he is catching, The phone rings its my Mom from Florida, and I hear stories about the fish they are catching. I turn on the fishing shows and guess what they are catching fish and talking about the great fall fishing. Yet I have to do nothing.

My Judy comes home from work and asks how my day went and I grumble, "It was what you see, I did nothing all day." I went on to explain that I had done nothing for so long that I had become an expert at doing nothing. She made a rude noise and fixed supper.

One of the things that doing nothing allows one to accomplish is thinking. I've decided that I should warn everyone to practice doing nothing. As one gets older and parts begin to wear out, sooner or later some Doctor will say, "Go home and do nothing." You had better be prepared. So take my advise and practice doing nothing, Nothing does not involve sleeping, because when your sleeping your doing something, you have to do nothing. along with practicing doing nothing you should practice using your weak hand to accomplish everyday tasks. Brush your teeth, wash yourself and finish all the paperwork. You never will know when you might have to use the skill. You should practice putting on your clothes, using only your weak hand. Drive using your left foot. Close one eye and try to type.

So if you need any counseling on doing nothing, drop me a line. I am qualified to tell you just how nothing is accomplished.

From the Journal of Issac McNamara #5

2009-11-03T10:28:00.002-06:00

Zeke tried not to look straight towards the face. It was watching him from beneath the wild fern. He gazed straight ahead over the back of his horse while watching for the face to make a move. He could see the eyes and maybe part of the jaw line. His mind began questioning what he was seeing. He blinked, the face was gone. He mounted and rode toward where the face had been. He looked the ground over and there was no evidence of any being there. There was a game trail winding down the side of the hill and he started down it. Zeke rode with his rifle across the saddle.
He had written along almost a mile when the the faint trace of woodsmoke reached his nose. He slowly worked his way down the trail. Game trails were good ways to travel in the Ozarks, unless your on a horse. Most of them are easy going as long as your no taller than a deer. The lower down he worked the stronger the smell of smoke. The trail opened into a meadow. Across the meadow stood an old cabin there was smoke slowly rising from the stone chimney. Zeke thought he knew most of the settlers along the James, however he did not know this one, he didn't even know this cabin existed. The meadow was one of those rare ones that opened up just a little more than half way down the mountain. It was about five acres in size and would have been almost invisible from lower down along the river. He had come on it from up above yet it was still unseen until the trail opened out at the upper end. Zeke held up and looked the place over. There were several chickens running loose around the cabin. There was a small corral built in front of a cave and in the corral stood a small painted horse. There was a cow grazing in the meadow just below the cabin and Zeke heard the squealing of pigs. There was a small garden planted next to the cabin. Zeke recognized corn growing along with some vegetables.
Zeke slowly rode toward the cabin. He stopped in front of the door.
"Hello the house" he yelled. Nothing
He tried again, " Hello, anyone home?"
Other than the chickens moving away from him there was no other sound from the cabin.
Zeke tried again. " I'm Stone County Deputy Sheriff Issac McNamara, anyone there?"
Zeke sat his horse trying to decide what to do, he reached up to scratch his head when he caught movement from the hill above the cave, Zeke had no doubts about watch had been poked out of the ground above the cave mouth, it was the business end of a rifle.
Zeke looked on past the rifle and then slowly raised his hand to his hat, He took it off and wiped his forehead with the back of his arm.
He looked over the hill side again, using his knee he turned his mount towards the cave and rode up to the opening.
" I see your gun, you have nothing to fear from me, all I'm interested in is some information. I could also use a drink from your spring. Its hot out here and I've ridden a long ways this morning."
It was quiet, Zeke heard the chickens clucking and the snorts of the pigs. Finally after several minutes a voice answered " Help yourself to the spring, there's a gourd hanging there on a limb."
A few minutes later a a small figure came from the cave and walked up to him. It was a woman, older than the voice sounded, gray hair wrapped into a tight bun on the back of her head, a pale blue sun faded bonnet hung by its ribbons from her neck, a gray faded dress hung from her shoulders and touched the ground. She wore a pistol in a holster on her waist and there was a large knife in a scabbard.
"Not used to folks being around." she explained "rather be by myself, I get along with myself better. Here alone most of the time, you coming down from the mountain was not the usual way I'm visited."
Zeke held his hat in his hand, "Like I said, I'm a Deputy Sheriff. Sheriff Overstreet sent me down here to investigate a gathering of men that could be Rebels."
She spat " Overstreet still the Sheriff....He was a real rounder when he was younger, suprised me when he got his self elected, always figured he should be on the inside of a jail rather than running it"
Zeke hid a smile, and continued" Mam, I wonder have you see anything, men moving or anything that don't belong?"
"There down there, camped right were the James runs into the White. They's making a mess of the gravel bar. Nothing worse than a white man in the wilderness. He mess up more any ten Indian's." They's a bunch of them that wanders around digging holes in the ground. My guess they's looking for Yocum's diamonds. Dern fools, if'n you had yourself a sack of diamonds would you take them with you or bury them under a tree?"
"I see your point, well I need to ride down there a see what them Reb's have in mind."
" You go do that Deputy, and you just forget about finding me up here, I don't need you telling anyone about me, them idiots down there don't know about me! "
Zeke thanked her for the drink and turned his mount down the valley. Mule followed along.

Goblins, Ghosts, Zombies and such

2009-10-31T09:48:00.003-05:00

I am one of those people that will not watch anything that has horror in its description. Suspense does not bother me or supernatural. If horror is involved you can bet I will not be present. As a kid I remember my cousins watching Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolf man on late night TV, I wanted no part of it and you could usually find me behind the couch. To this day I may be the only member of my age group that has never seen those movies in their entirety. No Halloween movies, Freddie movies or Nightmare on Elm street, no Chucky, chainsaw massacre or anything where zombies take over the world or some guy gets shot with a machine gun a million times and still cuts someones head off with a machete. Just ain't going to happen. It amazes me that Hollywood can make so much money making movies that are so unreal that millions of our youths and quite a few adults flock to the theaters to watch some thing that at one time may have been human kill so many stupid people. Lets face it if your home alone and hear a noise, who is going to go to the basement to check it out? If you on a lonely road and all at once your car stalls, are you going to get out and walk or use your cell phone to call for help? Besides if there was a serial killer chopping people up with a chain saw running loose in the area, would any parent allow their very attractive 16-17 year old daughter go out by themselves at night?
I am convinced that there are plenty of things that happen to each of us in our lives that if you think about them they will scare you to death, things like that nice walk in the woods where you stepped over the log and onto a nice long rattlesnake. Or the time you thought the electricity was off and you almost stuck your hand in the breaker box. Better yet the day you were texting on your drive to work and almost took out an 18 wheeler. Yes those type incidents would scare any person to absolute, skid making terror. I believe that everyday life is scary enough. Almost every member of our armed forces can describe fear. Police Officers, Fire Fighters and First Responders can give you first hand accounts. So to those of you that think Freddie Kruger is cool, go spend your money, after all makeup artists need to make money too. I'll be the old guy that watches the trailers on TV and shakes his head. To me the photo on the right is scary enough....

From the Journal of Issac McNamara.....#4

2009-10-30T08:25:00.003-05:00

Zeke slapped spurs to his horse before the echo quieted. The horse having really no need for the encouragement had already began its jump. Zeke tried a look behind him and caught the rising smoke from a fired rifle way up on the hill side. Down the trail they went all the while Zeke watched for a place to turn around. As he reach Railey Creek he felt the horse bunch and the he was out over open water. They landed just shy of the other side of the creek in about two feet of water. Zeke urged his mount up the bank and into the willows were he held up. No other shots came and after a few minutes he dismounted and slowly worked his way up the creek bank. He was looking for a shallow place to cross when he herd the sound of hoofs hitting the hard packed trail. Zeke got down behind a fallen tree and readied himself. Something was coming. He could no longer see his horse, if he could have he would have seen that he had began chewing on some grass in the little clearing under the willows. The air had become still, the sounds of the forest slowly creeped back into his awareness as he strained his eyes across the creek. More noise, cautioned steps could be barely heard. Zeke felt the strain of being still, his eyes would blur from concentrating so hard and he would have to shake his head. The cry of a passing crow caused a tightening on the trigger of the rifle he carried. Across the creek he spotted movement, then a flash of brown, more movement in the brush, then nothing. Zeke laid behind the log, watching. He had learned from an old Cherokee that the eye caught more movement to the side than straight ahead. Seconds ticked by, they became minutes. Zeke laid still and so was whatever was on the other side. A puff of air washed over him drying the sweat on his forehead. The air was suddenly filled with the bray of a mule, long and loud. It no sooner had stopped when Zeke's horse answered. Mule burst through the brush, slid down the bank of the creek and made his way to the other side where he stopped right in front of Zeke.
"Mule, I almost let the air out of you...." said Zeke as he got up, " must be your lucky day."
Zeke walked back to his horse and as he prepared to mount he seen another note tied to his saddle horn. It read,
That there was the onlyest warning your going to get.
Zeke cast around for tracks and found what looked like the side of a moccasin . Other than that there was nothing to indicate that anyone had been around. He mounted and staying well back in the trees off the trail continued south. He traveled slow, by the time the sun was setting he was worn out from the strain of watching so close. He found a small cave along the James that had been used before as a camp. He put together a small fire for his coffee and broiled some bacon strips for his supper.
It was warm enough that Zeke let the fire burn down. His bed was well back under the trees were he could see the small cave where most travelers made beds. He had rolled his saddle and pack under the overhang and covered them with his blanket. his horse and mule were picketed right behind him. Suddenly he was awake, the sounds of the night had stopped. He looked up and seen both horse and mule with their heads up and ears forward against the star filled sky. By the position of the stars he knew it was past midnight yet still a while before first light. His hand closed around the butt of his revolver as he waited. There was no smoke coming from the fire which meant it was either out or past the point of smoking. No sound came to him, no crickets or frogs just silence. He lay very still. He heard mule take a deep breath and let it out. When he looked at them again they were relaxed, standing head down. What ever had been there was now gone. Zeke could not go back to sleep. He rolled out of his ground cloth and laid sticks across the white ash of the fire. After a few minutes they began to smoke then erupted into a small flame. Zeke was ready to ride as soon as it was light. He worked his way slowly down the James River watching for tracks or signs that humans had passed before him. He knew he was with in a mile or two of Yocum's old trading post. The reports they had at Galena said there was a large force gathering there. He felt there should be signs of a large force. He scanned the ground looking for where firewood would have been scavenged, he looked on trees for evidence of broken branches. He found nothing. He circled north away from the river to come in on the White river side. After searching all morning he had yet to find anything. He pulled up in a small clearing above the White stepped down from the saddle and reached into his saddle bags for a looking glass. Zeke looked over the saddle into the woods. Looking back at him from under a wild fern was a face.

I have returned........

2009-10-29T11:14:00.003-05:00

It has been a very long time since I took the time to update this site. To say a lot of water has went under the bridge is an understatement of major proportions. First off it seems that it has been raining since my last entry. At one point Tablerock's lake level reached 923 almost. The CORP has been dropping the lake and the fish are really confused. First it was flooded then it was not. We have heavy rains again today with more on the radar for tomorrow. I/m not sure where I should begin to update my followers, I know I owe you and installment on the adventures of Deputy McNamara, I will get to it in the next day or so.
First let me say that my grandson Orrin aka Huckleberry, is doing well and growing like a weed. His daddy and mommy are doing everything the Doctors say, so Huckleberry is very much in charge. He lets them know when to sleep, how long to sleep and even where to sleep. He tells them when its time to eat, as well as when there is a need for a change of wardrobe. (diapers)All of this is per the instructions of the Doctor. I have to laugh when his daddy was a baby it was a lot different. Orrin is the third grandson, my goal is to be there every step of the growing process much like I was with Brandon and Joey. It will be harder because we live 4 hours away, it just means I will be using a lot of tire rubber burning up and down I44.
I mentioned my daughter was sick, she is doing better and has a very long road in front of her to get well. Please continue your prayers and positive wishes for her. I try to help Brian in his print shop when we are visiting, I'm not sure if I am a help or a handicap. My grandson Joey is much better at helping than I am.
The latest thing, which is part of the reason for the delay in updating is an incident I was involved in. I was helping a friend clear a tree that had fallen in his yard in one of our storms when a piece of wood flew up from the log we were splitting and hit me in the right eye. Och you say, yes it was an ouch and maybe a ow, and a Darn that hurt kind of moment. I staggered around for a few minutes and was able to keep my lunch down. It continued to hurt the rest of the afternoon. My sight continued to get worse on when I went for my semi annual firearms qualification I became aware that I could not see the target at the 15 yard line. That got my attention. I went to the eye doctor that afternoon and was given a guarded report with directions on what to do if it got worse. Last Saturday it got worse, in less than two hours I lost the sight in my right eye, I called the eye Doc, made arrangements to meet with him on Sunday at his office in Springfield. He determined I had a torn retina, and that I needed surgery ASAP. ASAP turned in Monday at 2:30 and as of today I have a great Halloween mask, my own face. I was told that the surgery was major, and that the success rate to reattach is between 85-90 percent. Which is good. I can see color out of the eye and movement so they say that is really a good thing. I am on bed rest as well as dong absolutely nothing for at least two weeks.
I've had a lot of time to think about this...first the oak was about 4 feet in diameter, it fell and destroyed three cars, a fence and a carport. The day it happened the friend, who owned the tree, got smacked in the eye by a branch as they cut if off the cars, then I get injured in the eye dealing with the same tree..... could there be something amiss???
Anyway, I go back to the Doctor next Wednesday and maybe back to work in a couple of weeks. Please pray for me as well as I need all the help I can get....

I have not ran away...

2009-10-04T16:55:00.002-05:00

I realize it has been some time since my last entry. There are reasons that I was asked not to go into here on Schooner Creek. Let it be enough to say that my family has been through an ordeal, and we are still in need of prayers for our well being. Not everything was bad, I am happy to announce the birth of our 8th grandchild, Orrin Wayne. he arrived on 9/28 a little after 2 in the morning at 8 pounds 14 ounces. According to our son Travis, he has big feet and big blue eyes.
He is healthy with all of the right parts in the right places, momma Alex is a little worse for wear, none the less fine and dandy. Travis is pretty excited, according to him he will be an easy baby to take care of. He plans to feed him a little, water him a little and let him out in the back yard once in a while. Its OK Travis is young and he will learn.........
Other than that there is not much going on here on Schooner Creek, The days have been chilly to say the least and the wind has been......less than calm. I got out and fish a little, and found that the small mouths are active just after dark. They have not been very large, just a lot of fun.
I hope to have more this week, including some pictures of the local color, if we ever get any, it is still pretty green.
Please stay tuned....

From the Journal of Issac McNamara.....#3

2009-09-26T11:29:00.003-05:00

The sun was an hour away when Zeke lead the sorrel horse from the Livery, behind it walking along was his mule. Zeke had found the young mule next to a burnt out wagon near Murder Rock over in Taney County, he was returning home to re cooperate from wounds he received at the Battle of Stone Mountain in Georgia. Best he could figure the owners had lost a fight with Alf Bolin's band of renegades and the little feller was standing weak legged by his dead mother. Zeke took charge and took care of him. He named him Alf, and where ever Zeke went that mule went as well. Alf Bolin had made a name for himself during the war as a murderer, he lead a band of misfits and created terror in Southwest Missouri raiding homes and killing people. He was beat to death over near Forsyth, and his head was placed on a staff outside the Christian County Court house for all to see that he was dead. Folks were that scared of him.

Zeke walked to the front of the Checkercloth were he tied the sorrel, Alf, walked up beside her and stood. Zeke entered the restaurant just as Ma was putting a plate full of hens eggs and sausage down in front of ole Mike the Jailer.

" Morning Zeke, sit yourself down and I'll fix you a plate." she said

Zeke sat down across from Mike. " Mike, good to see your still on the green side this morning."

"I am right now, but the day is young and Gerald Gideon still has his hopes up."

"Gerald is as dumb as an anvil, he should realize that should something happen to you he might go hungry for a day or two until someone remembers the prisoners."

" If that ain't the truth, ole Overstreet is so busy protecting his job, he may plum forget about them degenerates in the basement of the court house."

Ma brought out a plate full of eggs, sausage, fried taters and biscuits. She poured Zeke a cup of coffee and stepped back. She craned her neck out the window and seen Zeke's outfit at the hitching rail.

"Leaving us this morning Zeke?" she asked

"Yep, Sheriff says I need to earn my money. Say, you seen any strange men in town lately?"

"Just about everyday, now that the war is over they are coming through here in a regular basis. Most of them are bound for Texas and home."

"Seen any officers in full uniform?"

"Not so's I remember. they was a bunch traveling together yesterday afternoon, they had them a wagon and they got supplies from Cornelison's General store. paid for them with Yankee gold, surprised ole Cornelison half to death."
"They say where they was going?"
"You'd have to ask Cornelison, he might have heard, he don't ask many questions once the gold's been flashed."
Zeke finished his breakfast keeping up with the small talk of a morning restaurant as town folks came and went. He paid is money for the meal as was leaving when Mike asked him to hold up. Mike motioned for him to go outside away from the other folks eating.
"Boy, you listen to me, everybody in this town heard you was going to look for old Yokem's treasure. most of these folks would shoot their mothers for them diamonds. they also know about them Reb's gathering down near the White and James. These here folks was mostly with the south, they have them some strong feelings about Yankees and you need to watch your back. That Anderson bunch is running with Quantril now that Bloody Bill is dead. They would just as soon as kill a Deputy as look at one. Especially that young varmint Jesse James."
"I figured as much Mike, there is nothing that goes on in that courthouse than is not general news around town. Makes Mister Brown angry as a wet hen, he has to hustle to keep up on the news to report."
"Zeke, I mean it, your likely to be in a hot spot or two before this is over."
"Thanks Mike, I'll watch my top knot"
Zeke mounted the sorrel and with Alf following circled the court house and rode down to the river crossing on the James. It had been a dry year and the water was down enough that he didn't even get his boots wet as he crossed. Alf followed along with out a lead. Zeke had not gone down the trail more than a 100 yards when he seen a small piece of white fluttering from a low limb. He reached up to get it. It was a piece of white cloth with a warning written on it.
" Don't u Go, I mean it, turn around and head back, this is none of the laws concern."
Zeke had no more finished reading it when the limb above his head splintered and the sound of gunshot from a heavy rifle echoed off the river.....

Fall Fishing

2009-09-24T15:35:00.004-05:00

Folks I finally got a chance to get back out and fish a little. My fishing buddy Doug. ( right) showed me how to do it last night, his two were caught on the same plug at the same time. Both were short fish, however one was a Smallmouth the other a Kentucky or Spotted Bass. Mine on the left was a three plus pound Spotted Bass taken on a shad colored crank bait in 20 feet of water, at the very back end of a cove. They are scattered, however we found them off main lake points, over ledges and on the rip-rap of the Kimberling City bridge. Smallmouth are a little more active than the Largemouth, Spots are active when you are in their area. The shad, a bait fish. is plentiful in Tablerock and a main source of food for these fish. All of the Bass are stocking up on them. Buddy Doug even took a large Goggle-eye on a black spinner bait. I'd say right now if you have the patience to keep throwing you will catch a nice mess of fish. The lake level is coming up fgast due to the amount of rain we have relieved in the last couple of weeks. The water is still what I would call clear so a slight breeze is a bonus. The surface temperature was 73 degrees yesterday.

Fall Fishing continued

2009-09-24T15:30:00.002-05:00

Fall fishing is a lot like spring fishing. As the water cools down the fish become more active and some internal switch is flipped in the fish. They seem to know that cold weather is coming and they need to stock up on as much as they can hold. The white bass are schooling now on Tablerock. They "herd" schools of shad into big balls then force them to the surface. They then swim through them with open mouths and turn the surface into a froth. Almost anything you cast will catch these aggressive fighters.

Fall Fishing continued

2009-09-24T15:26:00.002-05:00

If you're a fisher person and the call of the lake hits you hard after it starts to cool down in the fall of the year. Then Tablerock Lake is a place you need to visit.

This is a three plus pound smallmouth bass, it was 17.5 inches long. I caught it on a topwater buzz bait right at dark.

I'm Back

2009-09-23T15:14:00.003-05:00

Wow what a trip and busy week this turned out to be! We had our Thanksgiving in September and was it ever a success. All of my brothers were there with most of their families. We had a great time! I caught several nice fish, my brothers Alan and Kevin and nephew Matt worked on their food plots for deer season and my brother Barry keep every thing organized by helping everywhere he could. I learned that my Judy was a dead shot with my 9 mm pistol and made myself a promise not to get her too aggravated at me in the future. I learned that my niece Shannon wants to be on a shooting team at college, and her sister Amanda was instrumental in saving a young mans life after being run over by a bus near Columbia. She kept him from going into shock. WOW what a family!

My Mom and Dad were happy beyond measuring to have us all together. There was turkey, ham. roasted venison. We had homemade bread, sweet potatoes and dressing. There was green beans, fresh tomatoes and all kinds of home canned tasties from the garden. Mom went overboard and fixed pumpkin pies, pecan pies, peach crisp, apple crisp and coconut creme pies. If anyone went hungry it was not of my parents doing.

I tried to figure out just how long it had been since we were all together. I lost track after going back 10 years. It may have been as much as 15 years ago. I am happy to report that although I am the oldest of the clan, I still give youngest brother Kevin a run for his money in youthful looks. Its not that my other brothers look old.....it just they have.....a more defined look. (yeah that's the way to put it, sorry bros...)

The weekend covered everything from eating to riding four wheelers, to fishing, to shooting skeet and pistols, archery shooting and just plain goofing off. We listen to the St. Louis Cardinals win two, the Mizzou Tigers kick some rear and not once during the weekend was a news cast watched, listened too or even considered. We had the Lone Guinea Rooster give us a morning report, we just did not speak Guinea. He made more noise than three chickens. Each morning I listened as the surrounding farm's Roosters as they helped the sun come up. They were assisted by the owls, cows, bulls and mules all adding thier two cents worth.

My Judy and I had a great time, it was sad to pull away to come home. The car was packed with corn on the cob, fresh tomato juice and onions, potatoes and peppers. The ride home took 6 hours,

I can only pray that all of us will still be together next year when September rolls around. We should be we're healthy and fit. Mom and Dad will be here on Schooner Creek next week and Judy and I will get to spend a few more days with them before they return to Florida for the winter.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in September

2009-09-16T14:17:00.002-05:00

My Judy and I are taking a trip up to north central Missouri this afternoon. MY Mom has arranged to have all of her children and most of her grandchildren present on Saturday for an old fashion family Thanksgiving. Yes I know, some of you will be thinking that I'm really pushing the season which is against my moral being. However, since Mother has asked, why should I be the one to deny....

It will be the first time in more years that can be remembered I will be together with all three of my brothers at one time. It might become interesting......but just in case it does not I have packed my fishing gear with several of my favorite lures. My shooting box with some practice rounds and my Judy wants to visit an Amish Community in Iowa. So we will have a good time.

For my Judy and I it will be the first time this year that we will have more than 24 hours together. It will just be like old times. I really look forward to that. I have packed the camera, and hope to have some good pictures to add to the blog. I will have two or three more chapters of the McNamara Journal ready to go . So, it is now time to head north....

See you in a few days!

Mules....

2009-09-15T17:10:00.003-05:00

Today I got the opportunity to meet three new characters, Albert, Frosty and Ornery. These three fellas are as different as three animals can be yet live in the same place, for a few more weeks at least. These three are mules, Albert is the biggest at about 15 hands, Frosty is next at about 13 1/2 hands and Ornery is the smallest and by the looks of him eats the most. According to his owner,Captain D, he eats anything and everything and he keeps his belly nice and round. Frosty and Albert on the other hand only eat the center of the round bale, and want their grain twice a day. Picky.

Albert will soon be going to a new home in central Missouri. He has joined a "cowboy church" group and will be used to preach the gospel. Albert is a good mule, with a strong determination to see things first and has yet to do anything that appears to tire him in the least. His new job may be right down his alley because we all know that cowboys need to be preached at for a lot of things.

Frosty on the other hand is a coon hunting mule. according to Captain D he loves to coon hunt and will stay out all night long, leading his hunters over hill and dale, through creeks, rivers and meadows in search of the elusive Missouri raccoons. His fame is know all over the county. Captain D has to keep him hid all summer cause if the raccoons get the word that Ole Frosty is after them they just lay down, shuck their skins and wait for him to get there. His fame is so great that last fall two old boys showed up at Captain D's place. They were from this uppity coon hunting group from up north. They begged Captain for so long that he finally agreed to let them use Frosty. He just told them to keep him away from Beaver Creek. Now Beaver creek is a tributary of Bull Shoals Lake, and the Captain knew the Frosty had no business being anywhere near that lake.

Them two Yankee coon hunters started off just about dark and wasn't gone an hour when Frosty took off after a coon. They chased that mule over hills and through meadows, up ridges and over fences when all of a sudden that came across a fence with metal signs every few feet. Those signs identified the US Army Corp of Engineers survey marker fence line for the high water line along Beaver Creek. Them two fellas looked at one another with fear in their eyes. They knew ole Frosty had jumped that fence and was heading toward Beaver Creek. They ran, called his name and fretted till almost morning. By that time they was both worn out and had to return to tell Captain that they had let Frosty get to the creek, and although they looked all night they could not find him.

Captain D was on his porch when they returned, they explained what had happened and Captain D took off his hat, threw it down on the ground a stomped it.He had at them two Yankee coon hunters like a Baptist preacher gets after a room full of sinners. Finally he stopped and said' Boys, we have a job of work to do, there is only one thing Frosty likes to do more than coon hunt......that's catfish, we may never get him of the bank of that creek.

From the Journal of Issac McNamara.....

2009-09-12T15:04:00.003-05:00

(REMEMBER, TO KEEP UP WITH THIS CONTINUING STORY OR TO GET CAUGHT UP SCROLL DOWN UNTIL YOU FIND THE PREVIOUS STORY...)

Sheriff Overstreet eased back in his chair and put one booted foot up on the desk.

"Back around 1790, the Frenchies still owned Missouri, a trapper by the name of Yocum moved up the White River and opened a trading post where the James River comes in. He would trade with the Indians, Delawares, mostly, for furs and pipes and he supplied blankets, trinkets, hatches and such. Had him a good thing going. He was the only white male in 300 miles and them Indians needed what he had. One day this group of Delawares came in to trade. They did not have any furs, what they had was a sack full of almost clear stones. Some of them big as your thumb others the size of bird shot. Old Yokum knew what those stones were right away. Them Delawares spoke a little French and he a little Delaware and soon he determined that they had got them down in Arkansas a ways and that they was just a laying on top the ground. Yokum gave them what they wanted and told them Delawares that he would trade for all them clear stones they wanted to bring in. Them Delawares decided that the old French man had lost his mind and never came back. Yocum left in the Spring of 1803 and went looking for them stones. He never came back. Some say he took that sack of stones with him, others are convinced that they is still buried somewhere around the site of that old trading post. You figured out what them stones were Boy?"
" Valuable?" answered Zeke.
"Do wild bears poop in the woods?" snorted Overstreet " They was diamonds!"
"Alright, so how does that affect us Sheriff, treasure stories run wild in this country. Folks tell of pirate gold being buried along the banks of the Arkansas, or hidden Spanish gold, why you can even find folks chasing the end of a rainbow."
"Difference is, this one is true. There are a bunch of Confederate Soldiers saying they want to start the war again, and they could afford it if they found Yocums diamonds."
"Sheriff, we got to let that war go, its over, we lost. We got to learn to get along with them Yankees." said Zeke.
"Boy, them Yankees is going to take my badge away, some blue belly up there in Springfield claims I rode with Anderson's bunch back in '62 and he wants to appoint a new Sheriff."
"Well. he's right, you did, but only till you realized Anderson was more than a soldier, he was crazy. You left and joined up with Bedford Forest just before Shiloh, same as me."
"Well, he thinks I'm a bad influence on the folks here in Stone County, so I might loose this badge, anyway I want you to take a ride down river to check and see if there is a group of men acting like soldiers digging up the landscape."
"Well. Mr. Brown is wrong, he thinks your sending me out to look for some renagade Reb's that robbed Gordy's post down in Blue Eye."
Overstreet smiled, spit a stream of tobacco juice into a tin can at the end of his desk. "Well, seeing as how your going for a ride....."

Friday September 11, 2009

2009-09-11T10:22:00.003-05:00

There is no doubt we all remember what we were doing on this day, My Judy and I were at Stillwater Resort on Indian Point at Tablerock Lake. We were celebrating our wedding anniversary. We had the Today Show on and they were live covering the "horrible accident" of an airliner crashing into one of the Twin Towers. We watched in awe as the second plane hit the remaining tower. I first wondered if there was something wrong with the Air Controllers, had one of them gone berserk and started guiding planes into buildings? It was some time after the crash in Pennsylvania that it became apparent that we had been attacked by terrorists.
Our reactions were across the board, first there was sadness for the families, then anger against the attackers. Then frustration as we the strongest nation in the world just sat back and did not annihilate every terrorist camp we knew was in existence.

Later that day we were with others at Silver Dollar City, there was a sense of loss and everyone was talking about it. Judy noticed that there were no planes flying and the quiet was almost deafening.

When I think back I am still mad. Not at Muslims in general, just those that are fanatics. I have never done anything to any of them so why should they decide to take it out on me? I don't care how they worship the god they worship, or how they live the life they live. However if they are insistent on going to meet Allah and play with a bunch of underage girls then I say, send them on their way, use what ever means necessary to get them there, do it with force and extreme prejudice.

Well I could get really rolling on a soap box over this, it would not do me any good and you folks that follow my blog may lower your opinion of me as a result. What I will say is that World Peace cannot be achieved as long as knuckleheads are in positions of power and they have no reason to listen. My Grandpa Jack, worked horses and mules all of his life. He could make one of them critters just about do anything. However, he always said, get their attention, once you have their attention they will listen."

I ask that today you remember the ones that we lost on this day and the days since. If you see a soldier say thankyou. Be thankful there are men that will run into an emergency instead of away from it as well as pray for your policemen/deputy sheriff's, for they are your first line of defense aganst the kind of people that caused 9/11.

May God bless us as a people, and may he bless the United States of America.

From the notebook of Deputy Issac McNamara, June 1865

2009-09-10T12:46:00.006-05:00

The sun was a hour from coming up when Issac " Zeke" McNamara stepped out of the Sheriff's Office. The bunk he had used had left him stiff. He knew the ticking in it had not been changed in a long time. Across the dusty street stood the Court House. He looked at it as he stretched and then looked down the street at the Checkercloth Restaurant. There were lights on there. Ma Wilson was known all over the county as having the best biscuit's and gravy. Zeke had shot two young squirrels the night before and left them with her. He could taste the fried squirrel with Ma's biscuits and gravy. He buckled the gun belt around his waist, settled the revolver on his hip and turned toward the restaurant.
"Morning Deputy," came a cheery greeting from the kitchen.
"Morning Ma,"
"Coffee is coming up, them squirrels are just about done, sit yourself down and I'll have your breakfast in a jiffy"
Zeke sat down with his back to a corner, so he could see the front door and the door to the kitchen.
A few minutes later Ma came out of the kitchen carrying a plate mound up with fried squirrel and a plate heaping with biscuits covered in homemade sausage gravy. Ma carried both plates in one hand and a pot of coffee and two cups in the other. Zeke looked up at her and smiled She sat down across from him being careful not to block his view of the doors.
"I just knew you'd be here before first light. Told the mister, that Zeke is not a lay-about, he'll be up early and I've got to get them squirrels fried,"
"Thanks Ma, what would I do if you didn't take such good care of me?"
"Why, you young fool, you'd do it yourself! I know your ma taught you how to cook and mend so don't be trying to sweet talk this old girl. cause I know better!"
The door opened and two men came in, Zeke recognized Bill Murphy and Lou Brown. Murphy ran the livery and Lou was the town newspaper man.
"Morning Zeke, you are up early, if your going to need your horse, you just help yourself, livery is open,"said Murphy.
"Thanks Murph, I'll need him, its just I have to see the Sheriff first. He's got something for me to do. "
" I know what that is lad," offered Lou Brown. "Them Rebel deserters robbed a store down to Blue Eye and they ran off to Taney County. Sheriff Overstreet wants to see you about that! Them scoundrels took a weeks worth of food and five dollars in gold from old Gordy. Hit him in the head with a revolver to boot. There was a mail rider came through yesterday telling the story. Gordy took several shots at them. He was pretty sure he hit one of them."
"Gordy know any of them?" asked Zeke.
"I'd wager he did, cause he protects that bunch most of the time, least ways when there is any Yankee's around. Now he is just mad clean through this time, I'd reckon." answered Brown.
"War's over Mr Brown, Lee surrendered back in April and the Missouri outfits will be disbanded."
"Makes no gall durn difference to me, Yankees is Yankees and they need to be run out of the county. Boy you should know that, you rode with Major Cloud"
"I know, Mr. Brown, I still carry a ball or two, its just now the war is over, we got to get past it and go on. The sooner we do the faster things will get back to being quiet. Bloody Bill's bunch and Quantrell ain't going to make things easier. Things need to settle and folks need to forget which color a man wore. We are all the same again."
Zeke finished his meal in quiet, Ma slipped him the bill and Zeke left the money. Ma would have billed the County for his meal, it was just not Zeke's way to let the county pay to feed him. He walked out just as the back door to the jail opened and out came the three prisoners currently being held there. Zeke watched as old Mike, the jailer walked them over. The chains on their feet rattled with each step and the last man, Gerald Gideon glared toward Zeke as they past.
"Careful Gerald, if that look you got there froze you would scare every woman between here and Christian County."
"Durn you McNamara, you didn't have to hit me with that rifle butt"
"You didn't have to take those shots at me either Gerald, heck, you knew I was coming, you done busted ole Jimmy up, he swore out a warrant for you"
" I'll do more than bust him up when I get out of these chains."
Zeke walked into the court house and up the steps to the second floor. He smelled Sheriff Overstreet's pipe long before he got to the office door. He tapped on the door jam.
Sheriff Overstreet looked up from some papers and smiled.
"Good Morning Deputy, I trust you slept well and have had your breakfast. Come over here and take a chair, help yourself to the coffee first and let me tell you a story"........

Labor Day

2009-09-07T18:22:00.002-05:00

Well if you follow the belief of the Schooner Creek area windowless weather people today is the official end of summer. It seems that changing holiday dates to co inside with Saturdays and Sundays was not enough. The weather folks decided to change the seasons So all you folks out there that care, its now officially Fall. Now I will have to admit that it has been cool enough the last week or so that My Judy and I have turned off the AC. However this afternoon as I BBQ'ed the official last pork steaks of the summer I happened to notice that the trees are still very green, the grass looks like it is still growing and what little tomato plants I have left are still in bloom. Now how is that suppose to go along with the Official end of Summer. Why, I seen boats on the lake with kids being towed on rubber toys, and when I was at the grocery store there was a woman in there wearing a swim suit cover up over a swim suit. She was with a man wearing flowered swim shorts and a muscle shirt with a Miller high life beer logo. I had to tell them that they were not dressed for Fall, the man looked at his watch and said he still had 6 hours of summer left. Well that explains why they were looking at me wearing a long pants a flannel shirt and jacket. I heard him say to the woman as they walked away, "Hillbillies......"
So now I am confused. If it is still summer does that mean I can wear white? Should I put my straw cowboy hat away and break out the felt ones? Must I move my summer shirts to the storage and get my winter clothes out? If it stays warm what should I wear? I never did like the shorts and jacket ensemble you see on some men. (If its cold enough to wear a jacket, put on some pants for goodness sake.) I know that some kids wear wool watch caps all summer, does that mean they will go hat less in the fall or just change colors? The more I think about it the more confusing it becomes. Just to show how bad it is I was listening to the news yesterday and the commentator was spreading gloom and doom about the Christmas shopping season. I turned it off. As a matter of fact, I believe I'm going to turn them all off. After all, I cannot change the weather so why should I care what the windowless weather people see in their magic screens. Fish don't care if it is raining, they are wet anyway. As far as politics go, I plan to do the only thing I can this fall and not vote for one single politician currently in office local, state or federal. I'll vote for the person running opposite. (Spread the wealth, give some other crook a fair shot at my tax dollars) Why should I worry over what politician is taking what group of people for an imaginary ride. I don't see where my watching the President is going to change my opinion of him and how he is doing. I did not vote for him and I'm sure he cares less about my everyday issues. Wow, I just freed up a whole lotta time....and that knucklehead in North Korea won't mind.

Family stories...

2009-09-05T11:45:00.004-05:00

My Grandparents on my fathers side, raised seven children. four boys and three girls. The girls were the oldest, they came before the boys. Now my grandfather was a dairy farmer. He milked a number of cows twice a day, 365 days a year. Rain or shine, sleet, snow and sub zero temperatures. What little spending money the family had came from selling milk. They grew their own food, vegetables to meat. My dad was born in 1931, and he cannot remember much of the Great Depression, as a matter of fact my aunts and uncles didn't have much to say about it, they got by just like always. Other than spending money being a little hard to come by it was hard to tell there was anything wrong if you was a kid.

Grandpa took a lot of pride in his milk, his cows always tested high in butter fat, which is a scale used to determine the quality of the milk a cow produces. he had some pretty strict rules, cows were to be milked twice a day, 12 hours apart. He started milking at about 4 am. My uncles were taught to milk as soon as they could make a good fist. The dairy was a family operation. Cows were cleaned, equipment was kept spotless and cows were "babied" to a degree to keep them healthy. They were not to be bothered in the pasture, the dogs were not allowed to chase them, varmints were closely watched for and any issues with the fence was addressed as soon as it was found. Grandpa's rules were for the protection of the family and strictly enforced.

Now along comes my Dad and his brother Oscar. Between the two of them my grandmother had to have her hands full. Dad worked as hard as the rest of them and he played just as hard. One of the favorite pass times in those days was riding cows. Dad and Oscar would catch a cow or two laying down in the shade of an old hedge apple tree, crawl up on the blind side of the cows, climb into that tree, scoot out on a branch, then drop down on the unsuspecting cow and off they would go. The ride would last as long as they could hold on. According to Dad, he would ride cows to school when they could catch them. On one particular day, My Grandparents were of to some meeting when Oscar and Dad decided that the time had come to ride cows. Throwing Grandpas rules to the wind they spotted two old cows laying under the tree. Slowly they crawled through the grass until they could ease their way up into the tree. Slowly they crawled out on the limb and at the given signal dropped down on the backs of these two sleeping cows and off they went.
Now I had the chance to ride a cow one time in my life, I quickly found there was nothing to hold on to. The cow I rode didn't buck per say, it ran. They run fast. So the best you can do is kind of lay down and put your arms around their necks and hold on.

Them two cows took off like the devil himself had grabbed their tails and up towards the barn they went. My Dad and Oscar holding on for dear life. The cows reached the barn and began to circle it at a dead run. My uncle Oscar, began to slip to the inside. Each turn around a corner found him a little more off center. Oscar had his tongue stuck between his teeth and the corners of his mouth were turned up in a great smile when the cow cut real close to a corner and the side of the barn caught Oscar full in the face, he stopped right there, Dad says he kinda hung there for a second with his face plastered to the barn then he fell. Dad claims he bailed of his cow and ran to help Oscar. Oscar had almost bite his tongue in two pieces, his eye was swelling shut and there was a cut on his forehead. Dad says he was helping him up when he heard Grandpa and Grandma coming back. Oscar got to his feet and Dad dragged and carried him to the back of the house where Grandma was getting out of the wagon. Dad said he got real excited and told them that Oscar had been walking the orchard gate, slipped and fell off. Oscar looked at him like Dad was an angel from heaven. After all you could not get a strapping for falling off the orchard gate, you could get a good one for riding dairy cows.

I was there the day my dad and Oscar told my Grandma the truth. She just kind of smiled and said she knew it all the time and so did grandpa. Boy were they surprised to think that for all those years they had pulled one off. Goes to show that mamas always know.......

Hey Guess what....ITS Friday! AGAIN!

2009-09-04T18:47:00.002-05:00

Busy week here on Schooner Creek, I had to work an extra day and I've gotten far behind. I spent most of the day playing catch up, except for the hour I spent on the lake trying to find a fish or two. No fish, however I did manage to get my self soaked to the skin. That's another story.

Today while I was getting wet from a nice downpour. I remembered back to a time when I was growing up. My Dad like frog legs and we would spend hours walking from farm pond to farm pond down in Texas County looking for bull frogs. On one particular outing we got caught in a rain. Now it wasn't just a gentle little drizzle, it was a regular down pour. One so hard that your sight distance went to zero and you had to point your nose to the ground to get a breath. We were on a farm that Dad said used to belong to a man named Andy Walling Old Andy was long gone of course, and his being dead did little to keep my Dad from telling me and my brother just how mean old Andy was. Dad went to great length telling us how he would beat his dogs, his mules and not feed his chickens. We were walking towards an old house during this tale, Dad kept it up saying that Old Andy was hated by all the folks in the community cause he would not doctor his hogs. Back in those days Texas County was still free range. Folks let their hogs run loose during the summer and then would have a hog roundup in the fall. Anyway, old Andy's hogs were always sick and spreading the illness from one group of hogs to another. Dad said that he always wore and old leather coat with a sheepskin lining. He would wear that coat in August when it was 100 plus degrees. He never took a bath and folks could smell him coming long before they ever seen him if the wind was right.
We got to the old house and went inside to get out of the rain. Now keep in mind that at 13 years old I thought I was pretty tough, except when it came to goblins, ghosts and ghouls. I would not watch the epics like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman just because I never seen any value in these movies. I would climb into a cave, but had to hide behind the couch to watch Dracula bite some unlucky person neck. I had no issues tackling someone twice my size if they wanted to fight, but to watch the stiff legged walk of a seven foot monster was out of the question.
Now getting back to my story. Dad continued to tell of events where in old Andy had beat a kid or starved a dog, he finally ended the story by saying that old coat must have been buried with him because no one had seen it since. The rain was beating down on the roof and we had to watch were we stood because with every little gust of wind the roof would spring a new leak. It was one of the shifts to stay out of a drip when I looked up and hanging right there on a nail on the wall was that old leather coat with a sheepskin lining.
I hit the door faster than a bolt of lighting. I did not stop or look back, as for as I was concerned being out in the rain was a whole lot better than standing in that old house with the windows broken out, wallpaper pealing off the wall, and that old coat Andy Walling had been buried in hanging on the wall.
I'm a lot older now, my father still laughs out loud when he tells this story. Me, I still feel the goose bumps on my arm when I think about looking up and seeing that coat.

The old days...

2009-09-03T09:54:00.002-05:00

Every morning when I arrive at work I pass a photo of the current Sheriff of Stone County Missouri, Richard Hill. It is a pleasure to work for Sheriff Hill, he leads a very efficient Sheriff's Department. We are reputed to be one of the best if not the best Sheriff's Office in southwest Missouri. Across the lobby from his picture hangs the pictures of former Sheriff's of Stone County. The photo's date back to the mid 1800's. By the look of some of these men they were more than capable of taking care of the county. One of them is posed showing his six gun, another supporting a beard to his belt buckle. Compared to the neat clean look presented by Sheriff Hill in his uniform, they just did not look like Sheriff's. These men had to be tough, I wonder if they did not patrol the 505 square miles of Stone County on horseback, or did they keep the county safe by leaning back in a wooden chair on a porch in front of the jail. By Missouri State Law the only "job" a Sheriff has is to maintain the jail. All of the protect and serve stuff
Law Enforcement does after that comes at the discretion of the Sheriff. I realize that once Mr. Ford's invention hit the back woods of the county the Sheriff's job changed. We have all seen enough old westerns to know that some Sheriff's just did not get from in back of the desk. My imagination runs rampant with me. I picture a grizzled older man with more guns that the first infantry division riding away from the small county seat of Galena to investigate an act of cattle rustling on the Arkansas border. I can also see several rustlers hanging from low limbs once he got there.

The Civil War and the reconstruction afterward had a hard impact on southwest Missouri. farming was tough, folks could barely scratch out a vegetable garden from the rocky soil. So most of them lived off the land or what they could raise in the form of cattle and pigs. Wild game all but disappeared due to the need for meat. My guess is that during those times you had to reach way outside the law for the Sheriff to get involved. Your justice most of the time came from the end of your own gun or any other means. Most men were Civil war Veterans or they may have served in the Army against the noble red man therefore most problems were solved with out the Sheriff's involvement. If you read history and forget what you seen on tv growing up, very few gunfights ever happened. I know that it is recorded that Wild Bill Hickcock, shot a man in Springfield, Mo. in a gun fight. Furthermore over in Taney County there is a place called Murder Rock, where an outlaw killed several individuals in robberies and because he could. There is a Golf Course by that name there now. There was a group of Vigilantes called the Bald Knobbers that ran amok in the area and these were all things that I could see would keep a local Sheriff and his Deputies busy. If a lot of people were shot, it sure isn't recorded anywhere.
I know we cannot go back in time, however if I could,I know I would choose to land in that 1860-1910 time period. Yes while I'm there I think the job of Sheriff would be my chosen profession. Life was hard then and a lot simpler I believe after all, back then who cared what some knucklehead in North Korea was up to, you were to busy wondering where the next meal was coming from. Sheriff's and Deputies used the force necessary to get the job done and lawyers were hard to find and seldom listened too. If a Judge told someone to do something he done it and if you got sentenced to 10 years in jail, you done 10 years.
I like to write about that era in time. I am currently working on a project where I will feature short stories of fiction about some of the adventures of Sheriff's and their Deputies here on the blog. Look for them starting next week. In the mean time try to imagine yourself crossing this great nation in a covered wagon where, sometimes, you would work all day and when you stopped that night you could still see the place where you camped the night before.

Well its been a couple of days....

2009-09-01T19:00:00.004-05:00

I was on my way to work this morning at o-dark-thirty when my cell phone rang and seeing as how I had just left My Judy, and I knew I had everything, or at least I thought I did who would be calling me at this time of day, as I reached for my phone, inside my shirt pocket, I mentally went through the check list, lets see, I have not forgotten anything have I : Lunch - check,-wallet - check, sunglasses - check , phone - ring- 0 duh, pants? I finally got the phone clear of the flaps on the pocket and low and behold it was my supervisor. I answered with a song in my voice, and his comment was....no blog, Armfield, Why is there no blog? He hung up.

Its not that I have not written anything new here in a couple of days, its just that there is only 24 hours in any given day, I know, for a lot of us that is not enough, but don't blame me. Blame the Romans, I think, they come up with the twelve month calender. Lately I have been running out of hours just about the time I have to start all over again. So not having enough hours in the day got me to thinking. If we made each hour last 45 minutes, that would give us another 6 hours in the day to get things done. six more hours of family time, six more hours of play time, six more hours of sleep. WoW, that is a lot to think about!. Now if that was accomplished we would have to be careful, after all, when the government, by an act of Congress, can change the date of Memorial Day, Labor Day, Fourth of July and Christmas to get a three day weekend we ought to be able to get them to change and hour from 60 minutes to 45. The being careful part plays in with keeping them to working at least a few hours a week at their jobs. If we give Congress any excuse to not be at work they will take it and then some, I'm off topic, I will digress.
I really feel that most employers would appreciate changing the minutes in an hour. After all if they all agree, we would be paid an hourly wadge for less time on the job and overtime would kick in faster. IRS would be able to collect more taxes on hours worked. Contractors would make more money for doing less work. Shoot, it might be the best thing that ever happened to the economy.
WAIT, isn't that what is going on now? People all over are getting paid good money for doing less and less. Just look at the stupid stares you get in a grocery store when you ask where they put the dill pickles. Last night on the news I watched a story about a new company that does GPS type tracking on products in the grocery store. If you get lost or need to find the disposable diapers, you call a number, and a mechanical voice leads you to them.
When is the last time you had someone pump gas in your car? Helped you carry something to your car? Showed up on time for an appointment or your appointment was on time? Of course my all time favorite is weather people, never in the history of pay days have so many people in one industry been paid so much money for being wrong.....over 70% of the time!

If I have accomplished the goal of today's entry you have already forgotten that I have not entered anything for a couple of days and your off thinking of all the people that don't do their jobs which makes yours harder to do, and all of the weathermen with their styled hairdos and designer clothes getting paid for being WRONG......

Oh all right, I'll try to do better......

Things to be Proud of...

2009-08-29T12:55:00.005-05:00

I retired from an organization that had "Proud Ones" as part of the seal that the organization used. It was on the patches of the uniforms as well as both doors of the company vehicles. Those of us that worked for the service had to put up with a lot of ribbing from others in the same business because of it. I soon come to realize that that slogan affected everything I did while I was at work. I tried as hard as possible to maintain a level of professionalism and to do the best job I could. That saying even followed me home and I tried to always live up to being able to say I'm proud of the things I have done.

Today I'm proud of a lot of things. The one I'm going to talk about a little today is my grandson, Brandon. This young man has grown into a man in the last year. He graduated from high school, much to a lot of surprise from a few folks, a couple of years ago and has since grown a little. He lives on his own and he takes care of his debts like no other 20 year old I know. He has stayed close to his parents, his Mom, my daughter, has come to depend on him for just about everything. He gets along well with both of his sisters, has a girlfriend and he has a job. He knew he was not that interested in college when he graduated, yet now two years later and having had a taste of responsibility he is ready to go back to school.

I have watched this young man, grow from bumbling school boy to responsible adult and the one word I have other than love for him is that I'm PROUD of him. He will do almost anything he sets himself up to do. This week he is in Florida, a first time fly away vacation on his own. He is fishing near Fort Lauderdale with a high school friend and has spent the week sending me pictures of the fish he has been catching. Like the ones above. As a matter of fact he has sent me several pictures of the fish. He has caught both fresh and salt water species, he texted me at 6:30 this morning to tell me he was on his way to sword fish, and he has no qualms about rubbing it in that he is catching fish and I'm not. He takes after me, he is paying me back for all the photo's I have sent him this year. Pay back is a bear......

It would not surprise me if he does not decide to stay in Florida. He likes the warm weather, he would have a job on a fishing boat with advancement to his own boat a real possibility and he loves to fish. I'm not sure how I feel about him living that far away. I know I would support him in his efforts, I also know I will be in Florida a lot.

Of course I am proud of all of my children and grandchildren. One of the things My Judy and I had to get used too was not being the center of our grand kids world. Oh we were when they were under 1o years old. Once they got out into the world of school and other friends we took a back seat and it was a lot of fun to do other things. Going to G-mas house was not top on the list of things to do. Now that they are getting to be older, they are in the process of coming back. Brandon comes as often as work will allow, Tara has been down once this summerby herself, as has Erika and Joey. Sophie would live down here if it was not for school and if her mom would move with her. The big difference is they are more equal to us than when we had to constantly watch out for bloody knees. They listen and they talk, they have interesting things to say and they are a true joy to spend time with.

I have always told people that the only reason we go through the pain of raising children is so we can have grand children. I really know this to be one of the truths of the universe. Be patient parents your time will come, grandchildren allow you to get even with every thing your child has done to you. Yes you can wind your grand children up and then send them home. You can buy them gifts at Christmas time, ones that require a lot of "slot a into hole b" or made in China and has to be assembled with a three inch allen wrench. You never have to say NO, and its always a party and Grandmas house. Then if your really lucky, they grow up like Brandon, Tara, Erika, Joey and Sophie and they come back to be your friend and and a person your proud of.

Thanks...

2009-08-25T18:44:00.003-05:00

I feel this is a good time to let everyone know how much I appreciate your book orders and the response I have received about the story line of the book. I've said it before and I really mean it it is great to know that readers like the book as well as want to read the second book in the series which has a working title of "Missouri Sunrise". In this book young Joe grows into one of the first Missouri Mule Traders and encounters several adventures as he does. Most of the characters in the first book are in the second, along with a host of new ones that should keep your interest. The book is finished except for the editing. My Judy is doing that for me and I've heard her laugh as well as caught her with tears in her eyes more than once. So please be patient and the second installment will be along soon.
One of the questions I've been asked is about bears in Missouri. The questions I have been asked varied from Where there bears in Missouri back then to are there bears in Missouri today. Are they Grizzly bears, brown bears or black bears. Where do they live, what do the eat, do they sleep all winter? The answers to these questions in some cases are pretty obvious. The television news carries every bear story they can get, bears have been sited all over Southwest Missouri. Not only in southwest Missouri, they have been sited as far east as Eureka, Mo. and as far south as Kennet Missouri in the south east corner of the state. Most of them are black bears, they are basically night creatures, however daytime sitings are not uncommon. One recent call to the Stone County Sheriff's office came in just in the evening time. A lady near Crane, Missouri called to say there was a bear in her driveway. After a few more minutes she decided that it really was a great thing and that she really did not want the Sheriff's Office to make an issue. After all its not everyone that has their own bear in the driveway.
My Judy wants to see a live bear so bad she dreams about it in her sleep.This past spring it was rumored that there was one being seen on Hwy 13 just south of DD, she became a moving traffic hazard for several weeks trying to get a glimpse of the creature. MY biggest worry about bears in our neighborhood is that I will see one when she is not with me and I will not be able to tell anyone because she would feel cheated. On a fishing trip into Canada one year I had to take her to a local dump just to see one. She is that committed to seeing one in the wild here in Missouri. So, if anyone has a bear story to share post me a comment. If not, get a copy of my book Missouri Beginnings and read about my spirit bear.

Cooperation....New Adventures

2009-08-24T19:32:00.005-05:00

My Judy and I will celebrate 23 years of marriage in a few weeks, We have been through a lot together, some of it good and some of it not so good, however through it all we have gotten closer and stronger. Back about 24 years ago while we were dating we agreed to try new experiences together. So, I agreed to do something with her I had never done before, like go to a live musical presentation of Evita, and she agreed to do something with me, that she had never done before like, float the river and fish.
I went to Evita first.....It was a great presentation of the story of Argentina's First Lady during the second world war. I enjoyed some of it, and when I was caught not enjoying it a gentle nudge was all it took to stop the snoring. We had a great evening out, and I was exposed to some class that prior to that evening I had never endured. The next week was my turn, I arranged a 6 mile float on the upper Meramec River in Crawford county near the town of Leasberg. I decided that it would be a much nicer float if we rented a paddle jon type boat. This flat bottomed craft is tapered at both ends to make it easier to paddle and steer. I made it better by attaching a trolling motor to the stern and that way my darling new girlfriend could just sit in the front of the boat, catch some rays, relax and look beautiful. We arrived at the outfitter at the appointed time. Loaded our fishing gear and coolers into the back of a pickup truck that was new when Harry Truman took office, sat on the seat filled with old burlap bags so the springs would not pinch so hard and had to hold or feet up because the gravel road was visible through the spot where the floor should have been. We got to the put in point, wrestled the paddle jon from its rack, I mounted the trolling motor to the boat, carried the battery and made sure all was in working order. I placed the cooler and tackle in the boat and placed the cushion for my fair maiden in the bow. With a slight nudge from our friendly truck driver we were off, The day was one of those rare summer days when the temperature was not too hot and there was no humidity. The river was running with plenty of water and the fishing report was excellent.
The dust had not settled from our outfitter leaving us when the small brown water snake swam towards the front of the boat. It was at that precise moment I learned the first thing,it became apparent that my Venus was deathly afraid of the possibility there might be a snake in the immediate 25 mile radius, much less right in front of the boat. It was at this same moment in time that I witnessed sure terror for the first time. I know what it looks like. Furthermore it is very easy to recognise. Its a full grown woman running full speed toward you in a 12 foot paddle jon. I immediately reacted to this situation, my suburb training in handling emergencies came into play. I assessed the situation, took in all of the information and deduced that A: If said attractive lady continued to run un-check through the paddle jon that there was a very good possibility that I would end up in the water. B: The snake was in the water. ( I myself are not terribly fond of the critters) C:Stop the woman! So I did the only thing that made sense to me by yelling at the very top pf my voice, so I could be heard over the screeching noise that sounded something like S....N...A....K....E! SIT DOWN!!!
It was at this time that I learned the second thing about my future bride, she did not like to be yelled at for any reason.
Dear readers, it usually takes 7-8 hours to properly float and fish this 6 mile stretch of the river. I'd done it numerous times so I knew. On that day we almost beat the outfitter back to the parking lot. That day the trolling motor never came off high and the only sound heard from the time of my unfortunate thought process, was the splashing of the water and its accompanying noise as we walked the paddle jon through riffles in the river.
She has never floated with me again........

H-Bird one to H-Bird Leader.....

2009-08-22T13:55:00.002-05:00

Judy and I are lucky enough to have a deck on the back of our place. On the deck we have several hanging baskets of flowers and one hummingbird feeder. For those of you that remember a few days ago I bloged about a fight between the red wasp and the hummingbird. That battle is repeated every so often and I stay out of it as long as the "dog fight" leaves me alone. Last evening Judy and I were enjoying the end of a great Schooner Creek day and watched while a group of hummingbirds tried to feed at the feeder. Notice that I said tried. It seems that the males of the species are bullies. Yes, they are the worlds smallest bullies. weighing in at about two ounces these fierce creatures guard the feeder with all of the force and aggression of a mama grizzly. They sit out in the trees until an unsuspecting intruder tries to get a taste then from out of the sun like a WWII Japanese Zero they attack. The sound of clacking beaks as well as bumping bodies fill the air with squeaks, twitters and chirps as the male drives off the other bird only to return to the protection of the trees to await another intruder. Look closely at the lower right side of the feeder in the photo above and you will see the little Corsair.(WWII American fighter) last night we watched the "dog-fight" until they retired at dark.

Just before good an dark we seen a male red fox in all of its red glory run across the back yard. its really nice living on Schooner Creek.

This morning I got up poured myself a cup of coffee and went out to watch the sun come up. I was sitting there when I heard the hum of an approaching hummingbird, he flew to the feeder hung there with out sitting on it and then flew away. I checked the feeder and realized that there was no food left in it. Last night after dark when we came in it was 1/2 full. Then I seen the little foot prints, we had a visitor from Ricky Raccoon last night. That little creature drank almost a pint of sugared water. I hope his sugar high keeps him awake all day long!

aerial combat with out the smoke!

2009-08-22T13:50:00.002-05:00

Here he sits, like a king over his domain. This male Hummingbird gards the feeder like the United States Air Force guards our shores. When another hummingbird comes near the feeder he leaves his post like a "Branch to Feeder Missle" flying into the unsuspecting encroachers with force enough to knock them sideways and the bump of thier bodies sounds like a sumo wrestler throwing an opponet to the matt.

Hey Guess what....ITS Friday!

2009-08-21T16:19:00.003-05:00

I know some of you out there in Blog land just knew I was going to forget that it was Friday again this week. HA! I did not forget, I remembered all on my own. Its been a busy week here on Schooner Creek. We've had some heavy rain, almost 3 inches, some lightning and a little thunder. Today its absolutely perfect. Temperatures in the low eighty's, humidity is low and there is a nice breeze out of the north. The weather guys have announced with some certainty that there will be no rain. I've been busy doing some foot work for book signings and the way it looks now is there will be one here near Branson and another over in Houston. I'm negotiating for a small space in Branson Mills where my books will be displayed. The first response I've gotten about the book has been more than favorable. My Captain read it, his granddaughter read it and now his wife is reading it. Captain says its one of the better books he has ever read and his granddaughter wants me to release the second one now! All that have let me know, have had a positive response. That makes me feel good. Its nice to know that somebody besides my Judy likes it. It also makes the reviews a little better than ....Mikes Dad says its the best book he has ever read, or Mikes Mom says it will be a great movie, Mikes cousin says it could not be put down, made me want to read it all at one time." Captain did complain that he feel asleep reading it, his wife left him there in his chair, he woke up with a stiff neck and was late to work. I've place my second order for more books. Those of you that have ordered one, I should have them back out to you by the end of the week, for those of you that have yet to order one you'd better get your check to me, they are going pretty fast.
If your going camping this weekend you've got a great trip ahead of you. If your staying home it would be a great weekend for grilling outside, spending some time in theyard, playing with the kids and leaving work.....at work.
I haven't heard much on the fishing report. According to the paper last week crappie were biting near Kimberling City, they were hitting minnows, down about 15-18 feet in the tree tops. You could not prove it by me. Lake level is at 916 +/-, surface temperature is at 82 degrees. The water has some stain to it due to recent heavy rains.

Old time things and by gone years

2009-08-20T13:05:00.004-05:00

Things that are considered antiques are things my parents used every day. I know what its like to sit on a milk pail that was used to store milk. I can churn butter in a paddle churn. I've picked up chips from my Dads axe as he split wood for the wood burning stove in my Grandma A's kitchen. I have ridden in a wagon pulled by a team of horses driven by my Grandfather A and every chance I get I look at and read about any old tool that was used around a farm in the late 1800's and up to the common use of a tractor in the 1940's. On the old farm, there was horse drawn mowing machines and hay rakes.

There was even a plow that you sat on instead of walked behind as well as a scoop shovel used for scooping out water holes or making a pond. There was most likely over a thousand ways a boy of 8 or 10 could get himself hurt by just being on the old farm. That's why my Grandpa A and my Dad always had something for me to do besides investigate the farm machinery. One of those things was; I was taught to make a Leprechaun's pipe. Now we all know what a Leprechaun is, they are the 'little people" that live in the twilight of the evening, or mist of the early dawn. They keep an eye out for those of us with a wee bit of the Irish in us and they occasionally preform acts of mischief such as moving that tool your using, or letting the air out of a tire as the car sits in your driveway. We have all heard the story about the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow these wee people are there to protect. My guess is every time we see a rainbow that pot of gold thought goes through our mind.

Any way, Leprechaun's have to make their pipes. So they use what they can. Acorns, for the bowls and reeds for the stems. My Grandpa A, who was a bent stem pipe smoker, taught me how to make a Leprechaun's pipe. First you have to find just the right acorn. One that is not all dried out, broken or gnawed on by a squirrel. It has to have a cap. The best kind of Acorn is a white oak acorn, they are usually bigger than one from a post oak. However a post oak acorn will do in a pinch. Once you've got the perfect acorn then you have to find a reed. Now reeds did not grow on trees in Texas County so, Grandpa said it would be alright if we used a small twig. Twigs did grow on trees and they were everywhere.

Once shown I was determined to learn to do it, and the trick is not splitting the acorn as you got it ready, or make the hole to big to hold the stick. I had hours of sitting under the big shade tree in my Grandparents front yard, my tongue held firmly between my teeth as I concentrated on getting the job done just as I was shown. My eight year old hands did not work as well as MY Gram pa's, there was still a "short" between them and my brain. I went through a whole bunch of acorns before I finally accomplished getting all the meat out of the shell without tearing up the shell. Then a whole lot more learning to bore the hole just right to fit the twig I found. Finally I accomplished it and I was one happy little boy. I ran to my Grandpa, my pipe clenched firmly in my teeth with a smile from ear to ear, Grandpa smiled, and declared, Nancy ( my Grandma), there is a Leprechaun in the living room!

2009-08-20T13:01:00.002-05:00

Take the top off the acorn by gently pushing it up. Under that cap is the soft center of the nut. Use your knife blade to gently remove the nut meat from the shell. Sometimes a wooden tooth pick helps pick it out. Try not to enlarge the hole any bigger that the round center of the nut. Keep in mind that you do not eat the nut meat of an acorn. Its bitter and will give you one heck of a belly ache.

2009-08-20T13:00:00.003-05:00

Take your knife, and gently twist the point against the side of the acorn until you have a hole. Make sure to insure that the hole is not bigger than the twig.

2009-08-20T12:54:00.002-05:00

The finished product, The Leprechaun's pipe. Simply put the small stick in the hole you gently bore through the side of the acorn.

I'm in no way trying to promote smoking. In my day as a kid growing up smoking was not considered that big a deal, in some circles it was a right of passage from boy to man. Stupid as that may have been.

Today's cows

2009-08-17T19:29:00.003-05:00

My hours have changed at work and I'm driving by the cow pasture before daylight now. Today, on my way home, I got a chance to see them in full daylight. It was about 5:20pm when I drove past and it was not the first heard of cows I'd noticed. Every herd, whether it had two cows or twenty cows were laying down. They seemed to be enjoying themselves just watching the traffic go by and chewing on their cuds. Now most of us know what a cud is. Its food that a cow brings up from its stomach to re-chew. Its part of their digesting process. Gross it may be, its just part of the process that goes into making a cow a cow.
Cows laying down is no big deal. Most of them will graze, also known as eat grass, during the day and then they will go to water. If they are being fed by the farmer, then everyday about feeding time they will go to where the farmer is feeding them, stand around waiting until he gets there. Some of them will be impatient and moo, others will just stand and swish flies. Cows are creatures of habit. I find myself wanting to know all I can about these leather bound US Grade A delights.
Years ago on cattle drives from south Texas, Cowboys knew that they had to get them gathered, keep them together long enough to get to know one another, then drive them hard for a day or two to get the idea that they were going some where else in their heads. Then it was just a matter of pointing them in the right direction, usually behind an old cow that like to see new country, until they were driven right into the stockyard at trails end. Just after the Civil War there were thousands of unbranded cattle called mavericks, running loose in the mesquite of south Texas. They were wild, huge animals, sometimes weighing twice what a horse did and had horns that span over six feet. These were the Texas Longhorn's . These cows had evolved into creatures that needed little water as well as feed. They could survive eating cactus, mesquite beans and small trees. Most were mean, had little desire to be herded into large groups and had no respect for man or horse. They learned to fear the rope and found that it was easier to go along than have a foot tied up off the ground and made to walk several miles that way. It was not uncommon for a Cowboy to loose a horse when a horn was forced through its side or worse yet, a cowboy go down by being gored. As I drive by my herd I try to imagine what it would have been like forcing 25000 of these beasts 800 to 1200 miles across country I've never seen to the railroads in Missouri and Kansas. I cannot help but wonder if I have what it took to be one of the men that accomplished this task so that thousands of people in the East could have beef at the local butcher shop. I've read accounts of men starving while on a cattle drive instead of eating one of their own cows. By today's standards that seems crazy, 150 years ago, it was money, much needed Yankee money so that families could survive.
Today, my herd of butter colored hornless cows were a little of everything, some were laying down, some were standing, one was standing in a pond belly deep. In other words they were just cows.

its Sunday, What happened to Friday?

2009-08-16T20:35:00.003-05:00

I was well on my way to work this morning when I realized that I had missed saying anything about last Friday. I really hate it when I get interested in following something and ....WHAT...where did it go. So I will try to back up two days and talk a little about Friday.....
Lets see it was nice, and it was hot and I......heck what is the use I'm lucky if I remember what I had for dinner last night much less what happened two days ago.
So lets talk about Sunday. It was nice and it was hot and....I had to work, got off on time, had a great dinner, took Judy for an ice cream, took a short drive by the lake and noticed that there was very little activity out on the water. Just about then I noticed tears in my Judy's eyes and I immediately wondered if I had mindlessly said the wrong thing, or forgot an important event in our 22 years that happened on August 16th, the tears were running down her cheeks when I finally got the nerve to ask, "Honey, what is wrong?" The answer was a surprise, almost to much of one because the relief of me not being responsible for the water works was so great that I had to immediately stifle a giggle of belly injuring proportions. " The kids are returning to school, this is a terrible week, it always has been, I hate going back to school time." My loving wife went on to tell how she hated seeing the grand kids return to school because she knew that our chances of seeing them anymore this summer were really reduced. I thought that it meant that we would not have to contend with so many jet skies, or idiots low on gas and full of beer coming into the cove to get gas at the marina.
According to Judy it has always been a sad time cause when our kids were growing up she always missed them so bad when they got on the bus. Me I was thinking that I was relieved when they got on the bus, that meant I had time to clean the boat, fix my tangled fishing gear and get the tackle box ready for the fall bite. Judy said she would mope around looking from room to room wishing they were home so she could play with them. Me I knew I would wander from room to room looking for my plastic worms, missing tools and everything else small boys can procure from my car, workshop and boat. She said she would cry cause she missed them so bad, I'll admit I cried a little too when I discovered that they had used my $25.00 spool of spider wire line to cut up into strings for pony bead bracelets and necklaces, or when that package of one of a kind, catch a lot of bass, worms was left on the window sill and they had melted together. Or the tool kit with all of metric sockets missing turned up in the back yard, I found them as the mower spit them into the neighbors yard. Lets not forget the hammer with the mud caked around it and rusted, the saw with the bent blade and my personal favorite, the blade that was bent on the pocket knife I had carried as a kid. Yes tears rolled down my cheeks as I thought of these things and about that time the big yellow bus went past us going the other way....Sorry Judy, the Lord designed back to school time in order to preserve the human race.

Back to the norm.....

2009-08-15T16:38:00.002-05:00

Today I'll get back to writing about things that are important instead of life on the stage. I'll have to admit that getting up in front of all those folks was so far out of my comfort zone that it will take a week or more for me to feel like myself. Its good to be uncomfortable once in a while. It keeps us from become to absorbed with ourselves.

A few days ago I mentioned that my Dad had been waging a one man war against the raccoons of Putnam County. The masked bandits had continued to make havoc in his corn patch. If you will remember I explained about the impulse fence, and what happens when something touches it. ZAP! On my recent trip I learned that my brother, Kevin, had become an expert in talking my nephew, Matt, into making sure the fence was still working. Dad explained that Kevin would begin by just asking Matt to touch it, then he would go on to say things like, " Matt, Grandpa wants to know if the fence works on the other side of the corn patch, why don't you go and touch it to make sure." or " Matt, them coons is getting into the patch on the road side, can you check and make sure the fence is on?" Matt would eventually grit his teeth and touch the wire. ZAP!, Dad says you could hear Kevin laugh all over the farm. Matt would just shake his head and say,
"I'm sure glad I can entertain him."
While visiting them last week I got the chance to see his one man war. Along about dark the first night I was there I seen him sneak out of the house carrying a small Styrofoam dish. In the dish was a small serving of dry gourmet dog food, my sister-in-law, Patty, feeds her boxers. He climbed on the four wheeler, and slowly putt-putted off towards the corn patch. That was the night that I caught the big bass and several others. The next morning my father comes into the kitchen and announces that it was time to check the trap. Now, one must understand that my Dad has had some issues with skin cancer on his face and my mother makes him wear a hat when he is outside working in the garden or mowing grass. So he has a Cami cowboy hat. He bought this hat down in Florida at a flea market. Now the other thing you need to know is, Dad just does not like to wear long pants. He lives in Florida all winter, wears shorts everyday. He does not come back to Missouri until its warm enough to wear shorts and he goes back to Florida about the time that long pants are a good idea in northern Missouri. The last thing is that since he always works in the garden after he checks his coon trap, he is wearing his garden boots. Now if it was 1957 these boots would be called boon dockers. The only thing they are missing is the two white round spots on the bottom of the soles. These garden boots are worn with no socks, because he has been fussed at by Mom for ruining his socks when the dirt from the garden gets in over the top and he walks it into the fabric to the point they will not come clean. Finally, the instrument he uses to send the trapped coons to the large cornfield in the sky is a .22 caliber pistol which he carries in a holster. he climbs onto the trusty four wheeler much like Matt Dillion climbed up on his horse Buck, then with a flip of a switch and a mighty Putt-putt-putt he is off to the corn patch. Mom then stands by the door and waits, after a few minutes the crack of a discharged .22 or the lack of it, determines the "He got another one" or "No coon last night" Another day on the farm has begun.

Outside of the box....

2009-08-14T10:26:00.002-05:00

Today I'm going to change direction. Last night Judy and I were asked to accompany close friends, Bob and Deb, to dinner in Branson. We attended the Golden Corral Theater, which is inside the Golden Corral Restaurant on Shepard of the Hills Parkway in Branson. The entertainer there is Allen Edwards. Mr. Edwards has been singing in Branson for 16 years. Judy and I have seen quite a few of the Branson shows and Mr Edwards was one of the very best. He sings songs from Nate King Cole, Eddie Arnold, George Straight and Jim Reeves. He does them with style. His voice is smooth and easy to listen to. Just before the show started, while Buddy Bob was away from the table, I was approached and asked to participate in the show. Normally, I would have declined. However, for what ever reason that entered my mind, I heard myself say sure, I'll do it. When the lady walked away I got up from my chair, and looked around for myself. After all I never volunteer, nor do I like being on stage for any reason where I'm not in control. Buddy Bob was unaware of what was going to happen......

2009-08-14T10:16:00.003-05:00

Midway through the show two waitresses wearing police hats came and escorted me away. Buddy Bob was shocked to see me go, I guess he just never seen me as someone that would go willingly with waitresses wearing police hats. I was soon returned wearing "stripes" and introduced to the 200 plus people attending the show. Mr. Edwards is a retired police officer from Texas, he had a ball at my expense. He introduced me and asked what I did for a living. I told him and he asked me if I liked the outfit. We had a few laughs and I ad libbed the straight man for him and finally boogied like a 16 year old to Jail House Rock. before being allowed to return the suit. It was a great time and I was way outside my comfort zone, Buddy Bob was amazed and my wife Judy called me a natural. I had a good time. It felt good.

Another story from the past.....

2009-08-13T08:54:00.002-05:00

My Dad taught me how to hunt. His methods of firearms safety would not be accepted in some circles today, however they were effective. To this day I cannot pick up a firearm without first determining the safe direction to point it, and then pointing it that way. I never assume a firearm is unloaded. I also have no qualms about telling it's owner if I don't have any idea what kind of weapon it is. His values and rules were ingrained in me over forty years ago.

One of my favorite things was squirrel hunting. The best time for us to go was in the early fall, usually just as the trees were turning. We would be up before dawn, Granny would fix us a breakfast of eggs, bacon, fried taters, biscuits and gravy. We would get in the car and drive a short distance to the old farm, and very quietly ease out of the car, get our guns from the trunk, load them, check for safe, and work our way into the woods. By this time the sky would be light enough to see shapes so not walking into trees was easy, seeing spider webs was not. There is nothing like walking face first into a full spider web to make one spit and think bad thoughts about spiders.
Dad had his favorite place to sit. In was in a small grove of hickory trees with a few old oaks spattered in. He would sit me down on against a big tree and having been there before I knew where I could shoot. Dad would then walk on down the little draw to his tree, he sat on the opposite side of his tree so there was two tree trunks between us. When thinking about it today I wonder if that was for my safety or his? Then we waited. If you are quiet enough in the woods, as the sun comes up you can hear all kinds of things. It usually gets coldest just before the sun comes up, birds that roam the night like owls may sound off a time or two before they go to sleep for the day, and day time birds like crows begin to fly and caw to each other as they look for breakfast. Cattle can be heard for miles on one of these mornings, as well as every rooster in the county. All of the little forest critters come to life with in seconds of it being light enough to see. Sometimes you might hear a turkey cluck, even a gobble once in a while. The sound of a doe bleating, or a buck snorting all at the same time like some musical arrangement is exciting. The smell of fall leaves and the feeling of the crisp air all add to the experience. It seems that as it gets lighter the squirrels begin to move. They like to eat hickory nuts and acorns. I very seldom took very long to have a couple in the game pouch which meant fried squirrel fir dinner . Once the sun came up good, Dad would come back and we would spend the next few hours walking as quietly as possible looking into the trees looking for the little patch of gray fur , or the flip of a red squirrel tail. It was during this time that Dad would teach me the difference between a post oak and a white oak. I would also be instructed on just what the best use of the tree was. White oaks are known for their flooring as well as making stave's for barrels. That was easy for a 12 year old to remember, barrels were used for aging whiskey. I didn't know much about what whiskey was then, I just knew cowboys drank it on TV.

As I blogged earlier, the old farm belongs to another family now, Someone "clear cut" the trees so now its just pasture. None of the old trees were I sat are there. I shot my first squirrel there, my first frogs, quail, as well as my first deer. My wife explained to me, things have to change to make the memories better. I can only agree.

Got it on a farm pond....

2009-08-11T07:57:00.005-05:00

I'm back. Yes friends and neighbors I have returned safe and sound and will try in the next few lines to pass on some of the really nice things about farm living. The first thing is that most farms have at least one pond. Ponds are nice, they provide drinking water for horses, cattle and every other creature that drinks water from other than a tap. They provide a source of moisture for plants, they are a food source for ducks, muskrats and cranes. AND they have fish. In the case of my brother's farm pond, big fish! The one at the left was almost full grown, at over 5 lbs. I caught over twenty fish, on anything that I tied on in two evenings of fishing. It was good for the soul as well as my ego. I fish mostly on Tablerock lake, I catch lots of fish there, but not like the old farm pond fishing,

Growing up and running the farms of Texas County in the summer I learned to fish on farm ponds. My brother Barry, a country companion named Leroy and I would become the absolute terrors of every farm pond we had permission to fish. From the time we were told we were going to "Grandma's" Barry and I would plan, discuss strategy and map out how we would sneak up on each pond. One of the finer points of farm pond fishing, learned from the old pond fisherman Leroy, was you could not just walk up to a pond, you had to sneak. We would approach a pond in the same manner a police SWAT team would take down a suspect. Slowly on hands and knees, peeking over the dam until all of the water was mentally cataloged. Then slowly, with baited hook, stand until you could cast. Then quick as a flash, line tossed over the waters with the slightest splash as the bobber sat down on the surface. Then WAM, the bobber goes down, the hook is set and the fight is on.

Miles would be walked dragging tackle boxes and sometimes the biggest stringer of bluegill and "line-side bass" you ever saw. At days end the fish would be cleaned, scaled, and the heads and tails would be removed. The fish would be dropped into the frying pan. My Grandma Holder would cook anything her grandsons carried home from squirrels to frogs to small perch. She was great. Granny made no complaints and we all ate with satisfied smiles of grandeur.

I use a lot of things other than " little green grasshoppers" for bait today. On my recent trip I caught fish on poppers, buzz-baits, plastic worms and spinner-baits. With every cast a memory of a by-gone catch on one of the many small ponds we fished as a kid would surface. It has been said you can never go back, poppy-cock, you might not get younger, but with farm pond fishing you always get a do over.

its a good day...

2009-08-06T07:52:00.003-05:00

Yeap, that's what I said to myself this morning. It's a good day. I am trying to adapt to the mindset that any day that you can wake up, see the green side of things, is going to be a good day. Its up to me to keep it that way or let in circle as it goes down the toilet. Today is going to be a good day.

I'm off this morning to visit my parents in north central Missouri. They live on a farm 20 or so miles north of Kirksville, Mo. in the summer time. My Dad, in his mid-70's still gets out every morning and does a full day's work of gardening, mowing grass, tending to chickens as well as anything my Mom wants him to do. His biggest challenge this time of year is keeping the raccoons out of the corn patch. He has spent a lot of time trying to accomplish this goal. He has the corn patch surrounded by a high tech electric fence. Its not the normal "trickle fence" that a lot of us are familiar with, its an impulse fence. In other words it hangs on its posts all day long with no juice in it, then if something touches it, a charge of atomic proportions surges through the wire to the poor unsuspecting creature. It is not fatal, it simply zaps you with a jolt. Its hilarious unless its you being zapped, then its just slightly amusing until the numbness wears off. My Dad also has regressed to the time and true method of trapping them, raccoons are plentiful, they are a lot like rabbits in that sense. There is a dangerous overpopulation of the critters on the farm. Local Conservation folks say its because they have no natural predators. They will strip a row of corn every night, they kill every little chicken they can catch. House cats and small dogs are not safe and with over crowding rabies becomes an issue. So yes, when they are trapped they are....sent to the big corn field in the sky. The problem in doing this is the buggers are smart. They learned how to by pass the fence and the traps are effective in moments of lapsed memory on the raccoons part. So my Dad is ever vigilant and thinking of new ways to protect his corn.
Look out coons, reinforcements are on the way.

My Judy cannot go with me and I'm not real happy about that. She has insisted that I go and explained to me that she is very OK with me being gone. She kissed me goodbye this morning saying she would miss me. it is good to be missed. I'm still at home writing this and I miss her.

So, anyway, I will be absent for a couple of days. When I get back I hope to have a few stories to share and some pictures to post. Did I tell you that the farm has two ponds with very large bass.......

Now that my hands have quit cramping...

2009-08-05T18:10:00.002-05:00

48 hours after the carnage of putting together the patio furniture my hands have quit cramping. I can stand the touch of my trousers on my knees and although I have yet to forgive the Chinese, I no longer curse them under my breath. I'm on to other projects. First I would like to thank the folks that have let me know they have received their book as well as how much they are enjoying it. My Department Head informed me this morning that he was late for work due to staying up reading the book. He explained that he fell asleep in the chair and woke up still in his chair, in the wee hours of the morning with a stiff neck. Again thanks to all of you, you words of encouragement mean a lot.

Today was a short day for me, as most of you that read this blog know I work a 4 day, 40 hour week. Most of the time Wednesdays are my Fridays. My wife, who I think felt just a little guilt, took me to the Gateway Cafe in Spokane, Mo. for dinner. This little country restaurant is right on Highway 13/160 in Spokane, Mo. It is one of those restaurants where you can still get fried chicken, that's what I had and it is more than good. To top off a really great meal my Judy had a piece of coconut creme pie that she scarfed with so much as a "you want a bite sweetie" comment. ( So much for guilt) Folks it is a highly recommended stop if your hungry on your way to the lake.

After a really fine meal we took a drive, Judy and I like to do that, we took in the views and vistas along Hwy 176 west from Hwy13 then drove through downtown Crane, Mo. Again, something worth doing, once. Fisherman be advised, if your quilter wife wants to see if there are any quilt shops in Crane its OK, there are none. After a few trips around the block to be sure a shop was not overlooked we headed south. Once we got back in Reeds Spring, Mo a stop at the 'Home of the Twist" ice cream shop was in order. It was good ice cream, not as good as Twist and Shake in Houston, but pretty good just the same.

A side trip down Hwy Y just out of Reeds Spring off Hwy 76 west took us to Hideaway Marina. The Original Marina on Tablerock lake, established in 1956. Then back to the house.
It was a great afternoon, I recommend every "old" married couple take one once in a while.

Chinese evens or May the Oriential bird of Paradise..

2009-08-04T18:53:00.004-05:00

My loving wife has been saving all summer to get some patio furniture. She has scrimped, saved, done with out until it hurt. Yesterday she had enough to pull the trigger and buy the set. She called me at work, caught me in the middle of one of the busiest days of the week and ask me if it would be OK to buy the set. In my very simple and uneducated mind she told me that all of it was reduced in price for summer clearance and that it would really look great on the deck. Being busy and always in a mood to let my wife have everything she asks for, ( I learned that its not a good idea to tell an Irish Cherokee, no.) I said "go, ahead honey I know you really have been working on that and if you don't get it now it may sell out and you will miss your chance."
I was rewarded with an " I love you ". It nice to have someone say "I love you " when your up to your ears in alligators. I had the nagging thought for just an instant, How is she going to get ALL THAT furniture home in that Durango. The thought was small and before it hatched into a full blown question, the phone rang and I was off solving another world crisis. I worked two hours overtime yesterday, my excuse for not adding any life changing / altering information to this blog. Anyway on with the story, I was driving home, listening to some Brad Paisley singing about fishing when that little thought about the furniture getting home resurfaced into a full blown question, followed by an immediate I'll bet I have to put it together. I did what anyone would do in my position with a cell phone and called her. She answered just after she had used all of that help and a two ton crane to get that box, (see photo below), into the back of her Durango. I immediately zoned in on her labored breathing and like a hawk swooping in on a sparrow, I stated " I have to put that together." Being very agile, she recovered her breath and said, "Oh... just a little, I'll help you, should take more that a few minutes. Maybe we can go fishing when its done." Man I knew it was going to be bad.

It was worse than bad, I snuck up on the Durango, very stealthily opened the back hatch, there in front of me was a shipping label written in something other than English. Thinking I had an out, as I glanced towards my fishing rods, she said " Don't let that bother you, I have a friend that speaks Spanish if we need to call her." I was had. Stick a fork in me cause I'm done.

I had to open the crate inside the car and unload the box, one piece at a time. One of the first things I seen was the little tool pictured to the right. It was an 'Allen" style tool about three inches long and 1/8 th of an inch in diameter. It has five sides. It took me less than 30 seconds to realize that somewhere in China ans you read this blog is a group of Chinese workers laughing over cold adult Chinese beverages, making fun of the dumb Americans putting together the furniture with that little hand tool. They are more than likely saying adult adjectives of a nature not suitable for mixed company and small children as they hold their hands in imitations cramped positions. They are getting down on their knees, then their bottoms with their knees trying to hold the imaginary pieces together so they can get the very small screws started with a tool that fits the top of the screw... almost.

Being of sound mind, for to upset the little lady is not in the realm of the real world, I fussed, muttered, worked the cramps from my hands and rubbed the sore knees until the finished product was completed. See the bottom photo.

It was worth it, my wife is happy, the furniture looks great and I earned enough "atta-boy" points to cover my next two aw-shucks.

Well...

2009-08-04T18:47:00.002-05:00

Now just so I'm making myself really clear, all of the furniture you see in the next photo down was in this box. Judy had the help of three men, four woman and a small child to get it in the car. ( Not really just a couple of co-workers) My darling wife expect me, an old man with issues to just pull it out of the Durango and carry it into the house. If you look real close you can see the handles of our trash cart sticking out on the left side of the box. This cart is three feet wide. Four feet long and three feet deep. It would have rolled into the box. Now according to the box there were two chairs, a love seat and a glass topped coffee table inside.

Chinese evens.....

2009-08-04T18:40:00.004-05:00

This is the finished project. two chairs a love seat and the glass table were in that box. It looks really good and it sits really nice. Its some really comfortable furniture. I did not teach my wife any new words during the time we put it together. I did have several unkind thoughts about the Chinese that put the parts together and if we ever meet in the here after I believe I will have to be well armed with lots of ammunition. I did curse not only the generation that put these parts into that big ole box, I went on to include the past generations as well as all future generations.

I need your thoughts

2009-08-02T20:50:00.004-05:00

I recently discovered that posting a comment here about something I've written about is not the easiest thing one can do. I think I have corrected the issue. Just click the comment button below, then select profile anonymous, you will then have to copy the "anti-spammer" word and your comment will be posted. Feed back is important because its the only way I know if what I have to say is making anyone think. Its also the way I can get ideas for more blog's. You'd think that a "published author" like myself , ( golly -gee its still hard to believe) would have plenty to say and to write about, I don't.

Right now the fish are not biting. It will be 6 more weeks or so before they start again for the fall bite. The best bite this time of year is just before daylight. I work at that time of day right now so other than my days off, I don't get out much. Judy likes to get out and with her work being so demanding right now she is worn out by the time she home. So what I'm asking is if you want to know something about the Tablerock Lake area, or an event in Branson, if you need information on where to stay, or what to do while you are here just ask via the comments section below.

Thanks to all of you that visit my site, I really appreciate your stopping by.

Did you know

2009-08-01T10:58:00.002-05:00

While I was out and about yesterday marketing my book I had the pleasure of discussing the history of the Great State of Missouri a little with other folks as interested as I am. Missouri is a very diversified state. Our discussion started with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I was surprised to learn that a lot of folks are under the impression that when those two took off the find the ocean that Missouri was a wilderness. Unoccupied by white men and uncharted. Poppy-cock. The French had lived along the Missouri River and the Spanish before them. Explorers like the Daniel Boone Family had established settlements such as Defiance in St. Charles County and Boonsville in central Missouri. one of the Boone's settled on a place just north of Springfield, Mo. Lewis and Clark didn't run into much wilderness until they got up north a little and ran into the Mandan Indians. A tribe that had members with red hair and blue eyes. Missouri was a pi vital state during the Civil War. one of the largest battles was fought at Wilson's Creek, however there were still almost 200 battles fought inside the sate boundaries. Missouri was a Border State, however most feelings were strongly southern in thinking. The major cites such as St. Louis, Rolla and Springfield were of course Union held. There was a prison for women in St. Louis and Rolla whose husbands, brothers and beaus were fighting or reportedly fighting for the south. It was a time of extremes. Missouri had a lot of positive things going for it as well, it was the starting point for the short lived Pony Express, the Missouri Mule, was bred here and that animal became famous on the Santa Fee Trail. The Santa Fee Trail began here, up near a town called Franklin on the Missouri River. The first cattle drives from Texas ended at Sedalia. The first Bridge, Eads Bridge was completed across the Mississippi River in the 1870's. Outlaws such as Jesse and Frank James called Missouri home. In southwest Missouri a group of vigilantes, known as the Baldknobbers were feared. World War Two ended on the deck of the Battleship Missouri in Tokoyo Harbor. My book, Missouri Beginnings, begins and the next two books will further tell the story of the Holder's. as they settle in the Ozarks. The history I tell about through the story really happened as well as some of the characters like Kit Carson really lived here, where I say they did. Pick up a copy from Amazon or through Barnes and Noble and begin the journey with the Holders.

Its Friday again!

2009-07-31T18:38:00.002-05:00

Its Friday again, and wow what a week. I got word today that my co-workers baby is doing much better and will most likely be released from the hospital in the morning. I received my first order of books from the publisher and only have a few of them left. Sales were good to say the least. I stopped by a local business today. Its called " A Taste of Missouri" it is located on Hwy 76 east of Branson West and the only things in the store are Missouri made items, they have a lot to offer from wine to yarn, candy to wall and kitchen decorations. This is a very unique little place and as an outlet for Missouri made products is well worth the 15 or so minutes it takes to stop, taste some really great wine and browse a cornucopia Missouri's finest products. They are going to have a book signing event for me as soon as we can arrange it and I hope you find the time to stop by if you are in the area. There will more to follow as we get closer.

As for fishing, the Lake is at 915 +/-, it is still clear. I caught one bass this week on a buzz bait right at dark next to a lighted boat dock. There is a story about the one that got away, that is still too fresh to reopen. Let it be said that this one was as big as any bass I've ever seen anywhere. The surface temperature has dropped off to 81 degrees. The weather this weekend is calling for some cooler temps so the lake will not warm up much. One man I talked with this week suggested chartreuse grenades in 100 feet of water, however I'm pretty sure the conservation department not to mention the water patrol will have something to say about it should you decided to try that bait.

Please continue to pray for the well being of Jordon, tests are still being done and as of today there was no results.My supervisor is one of those that one has only once or twice, your prayers will mean a lot to him.

Enjoy your weekend!

Extra Extra READ ALL ABOUT IT!

2009-07-30T15:46:00.003-05:00

I was sitting in my easy chair this morning when I seen the UPS man walking down the driveway. Yep, you guessed it the first shipment of my book has arrived. WOW what a feeling! I have read a lot of books in my day and I can tell you that it was great seeing my name on a book that I wrote is really a kick! Now I am a starving writer!

Its a day I have been working towards for over a year. There was a lot of rejections and one acceptance if I wanted to upfront almost six thousand dollars. I almost gave it up, my Judy stayed on course and today my first book was placed into my hands by the UPS man. What would any good man do with out a great wife and UPS? Folks get your orders in, You can send in an order, The cost with shipping is $21.00 per copy. Send me an email at schoonercreek@yahoo.com to place an order. I will send you back an order form with shipping instructions.

Tomorrow will be filled with marketing and book promotions. It will be my first day of putting into place the marketing ideas that Judy and I have been working on for the last year. Hopefully they will be successful. Wish me luck!

Adversity...

2009-07-29T19:57:00.002-05:00

Drama, in its place can entertain us, make us think, scare us and in some cases make us laugh. Drama can take us from agony to laughter in less time than it takes to say it. I'm reminded of the scene in the movie Steel Magnolias where Sally Fields is morning the loss of her daughter when her friend, Olivia DuCaucus offers another friend, Shirley McClain to hit. One minute we are fighting tears and the next rolling on the floor laughing. Drama is like that. This week I suffered with my co-workers as one waits in a hospital while the Doctors treat his baby daughter's infection. An other relives a life threatening disease with one of his children. Yet another co-worker goes through the testing process to determine if an illness she thought was behind her has resurfaced. Now it is time for a laugh. We are a small bunch of workers with duties of grave responsibility. So I say to them lets laugh. God will be with us as we go through these times, He will not give us more than we can handle. I'm not saying to take these issues lightly, I'm saying let God carry the burden with you for a few minutes and just cut loose and giggle.

Think back on a happy time where in you laughed so hard your sides ached and your stomach hurt. Remember the time that you had to beg for the laughter to stop so you could breath. Look for something to make you smile, like somebody falling. WHAT you say, how can that be funny?

I'm not sure why I think watching someone bust themselves is funny. to me it just is. Slap Stick is hilarious. Listening or watching a "Character" tell about his new computer not "finding" a printer so he turned the monitor towards the printer, or being told "you've got mail" and him telling how he walked out to the mailbox outside to get it. For a few minutes the drama is gone and the joy returns. One such incident in my life involved my grandson. Judy and I took him camping. We set up a tent and made our beds. After a campfire and roasted marshmallows it was time to turn in. We had not been asleep very long when two cats began to..... fight in the tree above our heads, Joey who was about 5 years old suddenly sat up between us and said "Grandma......do YOU hear that noise?" I needed an oxygen bottle that evening.

My prayers and those of everyone I know are with my friends and their families. I'm reminded of a training class I was in, the instructor relayed to us that the best way to handle any situation is one step at a time, address each issue as it arises, don't borrow trouble, let it play out. Have faith, change the things you can, accept the things you cannot and hope for the wisdom to know the difference. Keep you faith in the Almighty trust Him to guide those that need to be guided.

Let us pray.......

Time Traveler

2009-07-27T20:57:00.003-05:00

Like I posted last week , I attended a wedding of my nephew in Sullivan, Mo. this past weekend. It was a good time and seeing family is always....well most of the time an enjoyable experience. On our way home we took the time to visit the area of Texas County, Missouri where my book, The Holders, Missouri Beginnings is set. I seen the old farm place, the shop where my uncle cut hair and the little country store that I got my first taste of a one stop county store. Just like Wal-mart Merl had just about everything you would need, plus the post office! These pictures are glimpse of my childhood growing up and learning to be what I am today. From The Town Square in Summersville, to Gaston's store, to the old farm, I took the time to stop, get out of the car and remember what it was like to ride down the lane to Grandpa's house while standing up behind him as he drove the team home from Gaston's store. My Grandpa A never drove a car, he had only one eye. He always said he felt to drive a car a man needed two good eyes. He lost his eye as a young man. He always wore a pair of dark green sunglasses with the lens out covering the good eye. He would every once in a while take out his handkerchief and clean the dark green lens over the eye that was blind. Grandpa A had a sense of humor. I've often heard it said that a sign of a mans success was being able to keep his pipe going as long as the tobacco lasted. Grandpa would take his time and slowly pack his bent stem pipe from his "Prince Albert in the Can" tin. He would light the pipe using a strike anywhere wooden match and he'd smoke it for several minutes until it was going good. Then he might take a nap. Us children would set and watch as he slowly nodded off. We knew he was sleeping cause a small dribble of spit would slowly seap from his lip just where the pipe went into his mouth. The dribble would ever so slowly roll down his chin and just as it was about to drop off on his shirt he would come awake suck it all back into his mouth and puff on that ole' pipe. Sure enough the thing was still burning. Grandpa A may have never driven a car, or flew in an airliner, but he was a very successful man. He was the image I seen of Michael Holder in my book. He was not a very tall man, 5 foot eight or so but he was a giant in my eyes. He married my grandmother and together they had seven children. They raised them in that time between the First and Second World Wars, They waited as three of their four sons answered the call to arms in World War II, The fouth was to young, he was 10 in 1941. Then again as two of them fought in Korea. Most of those years were on the farm, the setting where Sam Holder built his mule farm.

Things will always change, that is a fact of life. It was a bitter sweet afternoon for me. Memories of shooting my first squirrel, the hours spent walking behind my Dad as we hunted for frogs or rabbits. Fishing the old farm's ponds and in later years going hunting by myself or with a friend. I even took my wife to the farm one weekend...that's the topic of another blog entry! I was a little sad to see a house on the place, especially since it's setting right where my character Sam had his camp. My wife Judy came to my rescue, she held me a little and told me that things that don't change get stale, and my memories are much better because of the way things are. Summersville is a very quiet little town with a lot of vacant buildings. Houston has been by passed and most of the town's businesses are along Hwy 63. In my memories they will always bee thriving little bergs with lots of people in the streets and on the sidewalks,

One of the new businesses in Houston is the Twist and Shake. The best little ice cream place in Houston! There is a real "Holder" running that operation and I'm here to say its the best soft ice cream you'll ever lick on a cone! Its right on the main road on the north side of town. Matter of fact if your coming from Rolla on Highway 63, its right there at the north Houston City Limits sign. My book is on sale there! Stop in and have some ice cream and get yourself a copy!

Americana....

2009-07-27T20:49:00.003-05:00

In old town Houston several of the older buildings display murals of the history of Texas County. In front of the court house there is a road sign historical marker giving a brief history of the county. Houston is one of America's small towns that the highway has by-passed. If your in the neighborhood you need to take a few minutes and visit this page of history still alive in this small town. You'll still find sidewalks that are swept by store owners, and benches under the shade of awnings were a weary shoppers can rest a few minutes or just pass the time of day.

Houston, Mo.

2009-07-27T20:47:00.004-05:00

This is downtown Houston, Mo. The picture was taken on a Sunday afternoon so traffic was at its lightest!

Eunice, Missouri

2009-07-27T20:43:00.004-05:00

This is the Gaston's Store and Post Office building. This old building was the information center for many years in Eunice. On the right is the sign announcing you are in Eunice, the sign is two sided on the same post!

Summersville, Missouri

2009-07-27T20:38:00.003-05:00

On the left is the Memorial Walk in

the Summersville town square. On

the right is a row of business's. One of these stores was the home of the Barber shop where my uncle cut hair for over 4 decades.

Visiting the past....

2009-07-27T18:52:00.003-05:00

This is what the old farm looks like today. I took the pictures from Hwy 17, and the house you see way off in the center of the picture is setting on the site that Sam made his trappers camp. in my book The Holder's, Missouri Beginnings.

I learned to squirrel hunt, rabbit hunt and deer hunt on this 80 acres of Missouri's Ozarks. My father was raised on this piece of property. In those days there was a house setting behind the one in the picture above. The little white spot in the forefront of the picture is a Longhorn.

Its Friday again!

2009-07-24T09:38:00.003-05:00

When I was a small child going to school I always loved Fridays. It meant that I didn't have to go to school the next TWO days. To me Friday's were never here fast enough and they always dragged on especially through math class. Today everytime I turn around its Friday....again. It is not just Fridays that seem to speed past like the second hand on a watch, its everything. Birthdays seem to fly past, Christmas is barely put away before its back, Summers seem to speed by at the rate of light and even the winters don't seem so long. I'll have to admit that February does seem to slow things down a bit. Its a short month and it was designed to slow down so that we can all catch up. Anyway, its Friday, today and for most of us it is the beginning of TWO days off that we can......attempt to cram every second of doing anything else except what we get paid to do, up early to mow the grass, take the kids to practice, paint the house, go grocery shopping, fix dinner for the neighbors, drink way to many adult beverages, wash the car, clean the garage, clean the house, do laundry, go to the dry cleaners, bandage knees, elbows, foreheads and ankles. We build dog houses, plant flowers, weed gardens, take dogs to the vet, return movies, pick up new movies, wash the other car, put up shelves, quilt, knit, and of course get ready to go back to work. We go to Church, visit with family, play in the back yard, put up bird houses and look for the cat. By the time Sunday night rolls around we have to have five days at work just to recooperate.

Any way today is Friday and on some Friday's we take off for the lake. Here at Schooner Creek the lake will get busy, its a favorite destination for a lot of folks in the summer. They are going to find the lake level is still at 916 +/-, the surface tempereature was 82 degrees and the water was pretty clear. The US Army Corp of Engineers is drawing down Bever Lake which is west of Tablerock and Tablerock will be rising slightly. I got out last night a fished for awhile. My fishing buddy Doug and used buzz baits, plastic worms, chug bugs and poppers with no effect on the bass. We caught several nice "war-mouths" ( green sunfish). According to the weather man we are going to have weather all weekend, some of it may be dry and some of it may be wet, it will just be weather.

Judy and I will not be here this weekend, we are invited to our nephews wedding in Sullivan, Mo. The really nice thing about going away from the lake on a weekend is that there is no traffic going our way. Sunday when we come home the same will apply. All the traffic will be going the other direction. I like living on the Lake.

Oh yeah, for those of you that don't know what the second hand on a watch does......it counts seconds.

Hey ! Its Here!

2009-07-23T11:26:00.004-05:00

I was called this morning by the publisher, the early release of my book is available. Soon it will be in my hands and for those of you that have made orders that means it will be in yours! I learned this morning that there is an early release of the hard back, which will be available in Book stores, is available as well. Anyone wishing a hard back version the cost of these are $34.99 plus shipping which is $4.00 per book. All of the hardbacks will be signed by me! ( what a deal)
Now that I have the good news out, I want you all to run right down the the post office and get your order forms sent to me.

Judy and I watched something last evening that neither of us had ever witnessed. We have a Hummingbird feeder on the deck. I've had a real challenge keeping the squirrels out of it, however with the assistance of some mouse traps that issue has been resolved. We witnessed an aerial battle between a hummingbird and a red wasp. Both of these critters wanted at the feeder. The bird was at first ran off by the wasp, then the wasp counter attacked and ran off the bird. You could hear the impact of the bird's beak on the wasp. They fought for several minutes then both would take a break. After one such break the bird returned with a wing man and together they kicked some wasp butt for a few minutes. Then as hummingbirds do they went after one another and the wasp got the feeder. We watched this amazing battle until the wasp began flying to close to me. I'm not sure about it, it just appeared as if the bird was forcing the wasp into my defense zone on purpose. After ducking and trying to say neutral in this engaugement it became apparent that the wasp was mad enough to attack anything including a non aggressor like myself. Several times both bird and wasp made yours truely take cover and finally, having enough, after all what kind of a man gets run off his deck by a hummingbird and a wasp, the wasp took a fatal strike from a well aimed fly swatter and the hummingbird took possession of the feeder. There is no doubt in my mind that the little bird planned to force me into a mutal aid treaty, he made several fly-bys to celebrate the wasps demise. After a few minutes several of the busy little birds showed up and the battle between the birds continued. This morning I had to refill the feeder.

politics and cow manure

2009-07-21T20:54:00.003-05:00

The job I have is a lot like babysitting. I have to keep watch over a group of individuals that either could not or would not look after themselves. They are in a place where they get three good meals a day as well as stay out of the rain, heat and cold. They get to watch all the Television they want and they have a "cornacopia of channels" to choose from. They get told when to go to bed and when to get up. Thier laundry is done for them and they don't have to fret over what to wear everyday. They do not have to work, yet a lot of them still get paid by the government. Being paid to be there was a topic of one of the conversation I had with my bosses today.

I being of sound mind I had a hard time accepting that our government, in is widom, pays these indviduals money because they are in my care. Keep in mind they are in my care because of things they have alledgedly done or not done. My boss, a highly experienced man we will know only as Captian D was explaining that most of the residents are drawing some kind of disability because they are addicts and unable to work. This money is the source of thier habits and the base for thier income. In discussing this I became slightly aggitated. After all MY governemnt would not subsidise thier behavior. MY governemnt has almost declaired war on these individuals by going to great lengths to make them residents. Captian D then reminded me that it was my government that rewarded some business for failing. They supported unemployment by sending jobs over seas and they are trying to figure out ways to tax me on the number of miles I drive my car. It is MY government that taxes us every year on the items we own and paid taxes on when we bought them.

Captian D smiled and walked away, over his shoulder he said " Now you got more than cows to think about.........."

Up until that point I had a good day, all my cows were up this morning as I passed them and they were all grazing in the same direction just like they were suppose to be.

Cows

2009-07-20T21:41:00.003-05:00

Every since I was small I have watched cowboys on TV, read about them in books, dressed like them, tried to dance like them, worn cowboy boots and hats, big leather buckles and even rode several horses trying to be one. So naturally my interest is cows was something I've always studied. While driving down the country by ways have you ever noticed that in a heard of cows almost all of them are facing one direction with usually one or two facing the opposite direction? Have you heard the fisherman's prediction that if the cows are lying down the fish will not be biting? Cows are interesting. There are basically two kinds of cows, dairy cows where we get milk, cream, butter and beef cows where we get or roasts and steaks. Now I'm not talking breeds of cows because there is a bunch of them. I know a lot of them just because I like cows. Cow is a term that usually depicts the female of the breed, Bulls being the boys. However, when we talk cows it means them all, boys and girls.

On one trip several years ago, my wife Judy was asking me if the area we were in might have bears living in it. My grand daughter Sophie was in her car seat in the back and all at once annouced there were bears in the area. She proudly informed Grandma that there was a bunch of bears just over in that field. Of course she was seeing cows. She was only about three and she had never seen cows in a pasture before.

Every morning on my way to work I pass a pasture with a whole bunch of cows in it. They are beef cows, a breed I'm still tying to figure out. They are a dirty tan in color and a little bigger than most beef cows. They are the strangest bunch I've ever seen. Like I said earlier, most of the herd I have seen are all grazing with their heads pointed in the same direction. Not this bunch, they point every which way. Usually when they are lying down there might be one or two standing. Not this bunch when they are laying down they are down, stretched out on their sides, heads on the ground, and everyone of them are that way. One morning I stopped my car to make sure they were not all dead. This morning I passed them and they were all curled up like baby kittens, nose to tail. Strange these cow critters......

In a way I'm glad I don't know why they are acting this way, if I did maybe I would not think about it. Having something to think about is good for the mind. Maybe it will keep "old timers" from taking over. Besides if you have to think about something besides fishing it might as well be cows.

The Holders Missouri Beginnings

2009-07-18T15:34:00.003-05:00

..............The wind was still blowing. The temperature was dropping pretty fast. I knew it had to be down close to freezing. It had a bite to it like it could snow. I was shaking a little like a did that day with the buck only I know now that it was from the cold. I sure wanted a fire, I just knew better than to ask for it. Finally about a quarter mile back from the raider camp Lt. Masters was telling us how we would attack. It was kinda funny cause he would say something, then everyone looked over at Mr. Thomason, Mr. Thomason would either agree or shake his head no then Lt. Masters would come up with something else. I had just about decided to attack that bunch all by myself when I realized that Wilkins was not among us. Furthermore, that there was a fella name Longly that was not there either.
“Where’s Wilkins?” I asked Boston, Pike replied that they left him behind with Longly so’s they We left camp when it was full dark Lt. Masters had ordered that the fires not be lit only after a pit had been dug in the ground to keep the light reflection down. We were on foot. I had to keep Boston in sight cause he wasn’t making any noise to follow, at times all I could see was a darker patch than the surrounding dark. We climbed up a small knoll where sure enough about a mile ahead we could see the twinkling of a campfire. We could see someone walking back and forth in front of it. Both of us figured we had found the raiders. We took our time moving up, after what seemed like hours we was crawling on our bellies peeking through the under brush. I watched as a big Indian stood before the rest he was talking in a booming voice as well as every once in a while he would thump himself on the chest. What ever he was saying must have been important cause the other three was listening awful close. My attention was busy tryin to locate that fifth raider when my eye caught a movement against a tree. I had dismissed what ever was laying against the tree as a pile bedding or trail gear. Suddenly it dawned on me that it was a human, not only just a human, it was Louise. She looked like she could go no further. She was bleeding from a place on her head. She was almost naked. She was laying against the tree where every once in a while it looked like she was trying to get up. Boston was working his way around the group tryin to get a feel where that other Raider was. It was getting awful late, any time now I figured them Raiders would lay down to go to sleep. The big one got finished with his speech,just then another one stood up. He started all over talking loud, pounding on his chest as well as every so often he would make a noise like passing gas. This one must be telling something funny because them other raiders would all at once let out with a laugh. Sam watched as the group listen to the story. Finally, another raider took over the story.. Sam kept trying to find that last raider. Try as he might, that last fella was just not there. Sam saw Boston as he finished the circle of the camp. He back crawled until he could talk to him. “Did you see her”, I asked
“Yep, she is in a bad way.” he answered “What you think we oughta do?”
“ We gotta get her outta there, soon. Did you se that last Raider, I knew we tracked five of them to here.” I said.
“Yep, he ain’t a gonna bother us.” Boston said “ Look up in that there tree above where the girl is.”
I looked up the tree, sure enough there was that last raider. He was laying out across a tree branch it looked like he might be tied up there. Boston whispered, “ He’s daid, that’s what all the fuss is about, them others is sending him on his way with stories of his bravery plus funny things he was involved with. Its suppose to give his spirit courage to cross over into the spirit world so it won’t wander around here. Them warriors is telling all kinds of things so’s the spirit will be relaxed enough to pass over.”
“I’ve never seen Indians that dress or look like them, have you?” I asked Boston
“Naw, I haven’t either but I trapped some with a fella that had spent some time at the head of the big river, Mississippi, they call it, the Indians he described sounded a lot like these look.”
“ You have any idea on what to do next ” I said
“ One of us has to get back to the militia, we need to be back up here in place to take them just before dawn, that’s when they’ll be sleeping good.” Boston answered
“You go.” I said, you’re a lot quieter, sides you can make better time. I’ll stay here to watch to make sure they don’t take off.” I told him.
“ I’m gone.” he said “ Keep you’re hair Sam.”
Boston then disappeared into the dark, leaving me to watch as the raiders continued to take turns telling stories. There was no moon, clouds covered it. The temperature was dropping. The wind had picking up ,sending chills to the bone, by the feel of it the warm spell we had been enjoying was about to end. I’m not sure how long I watched them, all of them had at least two turns at standing up, talking in that grunting kind of cadence. Every once in a while I would look over at the captive. I wanted it to be Louise, its just that whoever it was, was in bad shape. I just could not tell. I knew it was most likely a girl they had tied up because of the hair, Besides what was left of the clothes looked like it had been a dress.. Every once in a while she would move, She was having a struggle to try to sit up, she just never made it. Finally, them raiders banked the fire. They then rolled up in their sleeping robes. The smaller one walked over to the captive. He kicked her a little. She moaned something then with a force of will I didn’t think she had she kicked out at connected with his shin. That raider jumped back. He looked around to see if anyone had seen it, satisfied that no one had, he grabbed her by the hair before he spit in her face. It was really hard for me to lay there watching it going on, Boston had warned not to move around any. He also told me not to stare at them to hard. He said some of them can tell when they were being watched.
Some time later I must have dosed off a little cause I was wide eyed awake when something touched my foot. I turned around, there was Boston grinning at me He motioned me to follow him. “ Sam, you could loose your hair sleepin on the job” he whispered when we got clear. He said that the company was moving up. They would be here well before daycould travel quieter, seems that Wilkins started preaching. He was real loud about it, some of them said he were pretty good.
I was then asked to draw out the picture of the camp showing where the captive was as well as showing where the raiders were bedded down. I told them about the one being tied up in a branch in the tree. Finally, it was decided that we would surround them. Lt. Masters would give the signal then we would open up. Them Raiders should be in a cross fire. We could then send them raiders on to wherever they go. We where cautioned not to shoot anywhere near the captive. We moved out to take our positions.
************
Louise was cold, the raiders had finally laid down, none of them remembered to give her a blanket. Her head hurt where she had been hit. She didn’t feel right he felt dizzy. Her eyes would not focus properly. They had stayed where they stopped, it seems the one she had smelled the day before when she kicked him was all at once in bad shape. She had gotten a look at his leg when the others had torn up his legging to see. It was festered good. It had a greenish tint to it. He seemed to keeping it to himself real well until she had kicked him, after that he could not stand on it. Soon,it wasn’t long that you could tell he was having a real bad time. Them other ones had made him comfortable, one of them had made a poultice out of something he carried in a bag, however what they were doing didn’t seem to helping much. Just before dark he must have died cause it wasn’t long before they was pulling him up in a tree, tying his body to a branch. They had spent the rest of the day talking. All she gathered is they were taking turns talking about him, none of what they were saying made any sense. She finally had slept. She had been tied up close enough to the fire to stay warm when the wind started blowing, its just that now the fire was dying down. She was sure she could feel snow flakes. Just before that young one had rolled up in his blankets he had kicked her, she kicked him back, she got her hair pulled as well as spit on for her efforts. She fell asleep with it drying on her face. Now she was awake with cold. She was making her way to be closer to the fire. She had reached the end of the rope tying her to the tree when she caught movement in the brush. It has snowed enough so that it was possible to see bushes from flat ground. She at first thought it was a wolf, then she realized it was a bigger than that. The longer she watched the more of the bulk of the object could be seen. Thrilled rushed through her body as she realized that the movement was men, Rescuers! furthermore that they knew where the camp was. She had located three men one of them showed himself to her. She was sure it was Sam Holder, only he looked a lot bigger. Louise blinked her eyes a few times then tried to focus, her eyes just would not clear up enough for her to be sure. The last thing she needed was to be worrying about seeing things.
She heard the hoot of an owl just before the night suddenly erupted in gun fire. The raiders tried to get up when a second volley come from the other side of the camp. They all fell down, Men rushed the camp from every direction, with knives and hatchets in hand they stood over the raiders. Two of them were dead, killed in their blankets, the young one was moaning , the fourth was gone. She cried out as Sam came to her with a bedroll to covered her up.
“ Louise, is it you, can you hear me, It’s Sam, Sam Holder, we’ve come to rescue you.”
__________________________________________________________________

Well there is another little bit of my book.

T G I F

2009-07-17T18:42:00.002-05:00

That's it folks, its Friday! Hope all of you had a great week and have many happy hours of family and fun in front of you this weekend. wait a minute I promised a fishing report......

Fishing Buddy Doug and I got out on the lake yesterday afternoon. When we started towards a favorite spot down near Cow Creek there was plenty of cloud cover as well as a little breeze making it a wonderful day condition wise for Largemouth Bass. In the few minutes it took us to get from the dock the sky cleared up and the wind stopped. Suddenly we were under "blue bird skies, and no breeze." The temperature began rising as well as the humidity. The fish went where ever they go when it is to bright to be active! After about an hour of beating the water to a froth, we called it quits and retired to the BBQ grill and cold drinks. We ventured out again just after 7:00 pm, worked our throwing arms until 10:30 or so with very little to no cooperation from the bass population. We threw popping baits, chug baits, crank baits, spinner baits and Lunker Lures. Finally after it got good and dark we threw 7 inch black plastic worms and 7 inch red metal flake plastic worms. Mr. Bass and family did not feel like playing catch with us last night. The Lake level is still almost 917 with the water temp being 83 degrees. The water is what I would call clear, no staining affect at all. Our weather report is calling for clear skies, cool temperatures and little breeze. In other words it will be a great weekend for camping and water sports such as skiing and tubing.

Fishing..in the rain or not

2009-07-16T10:11:00.003-05:00

Some of us would be disappointed if they had a fishing trip all planned and had everything ready only to wake up at the appointed time and find it raining. Not just a little gentle rain, one of those light flashing, thunder rolling gully washers that are heavy enough to drown toads and small frogs. Here on Schooner Creek we had one of those this morning. I was up and getting ready at 4:07 am when my fishing buddy called and said have you looked outside? Well I'll have to admit that I had not, so I did and it was.....dark. It was very dark, which is normal for 4:07 in the morning. Just as I was about to pass on that information to my friend, the lightning flashed and the kitchen window I was looking through rattled with the resounding clash of thunder. It was just about that time that Doug, reminded me that he will fish in a gentle rain, he just draws the line at having his inner mechanisms vibrated by thunder and his hair styled by lightning. I whole hearting agreed and we decided to wait out the storm and give it time to pass. We will go later this afternoon.

Now this mornings storm does bring the topic of fishing in the rain to the fore front. I'm sure that all of us that make it a habit to get out as much as possible have been caught out in a "rain or two." We that fish will push the envelope of cloudy sky's because we know that cloud cover is great for fishing and sometimes a gentle rain will create a "bite: for fish. I've caught a lot of fish while being soaked to the bone. In warm weather being wet has its benefits. When its cold its miserable. Usually when it is raining or going to rain the barometer will be on the rise and that is a trigger for the fish. My position on gentle rain has always been the fish don't care if its raining they are wet all the time. I remember one trip into the back water country of Minnesota and Canada where it rained so hard that we had to take our canoes to the shore to dump out the water. During that rain I landed a 7 plus pound lake trout and several walleye. The rain had little effect on the fishing.

Common sense tells us that if it starts lightning to get off the water. lightning will strike the highest point and when your in a boat with an electric trolling motor on the front and a huge motor hanging on the back you are the highest point on the water. So, my advise is to get off the water when the light starts to flash. I do that, I'm real careful about lightning. However, ( there is always a however in life) when you find your self catching fish and they don't seem to mind the weather, your back in a cove with really high hills around, you might be temped to wait it out.

This past spring was one such time. I had my parents out one afternoon when it began to thunder. It was far off and you had to listen to hear it. After the third or fourth time it rolled my mother asked " Michael was that thunder ?" Now this is a good time to pass on that my Mom is a little bit of a worry wort. She was born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks, lived around the rolling hills of eastern Missouri until about 18 years ago when my Dad retired and they moved to southwest Florida. In southwest Florida the highest point is when you take the second step on a step ladder. Today my Mother has become a flat lander to the point that she shuts her eyes at road ditches. She is not the most relaxed person in a boat on top of things and will use any excuse to stay out of one. I love my Mom, I would never do anything that would hurt her or cause her any undo worry. She survived raising 4 boys and we pretty well put her to the test on more than one occasion. We all take good care of her and try to make her life in retirement and enjoyable one. So when she asked " Michael is that thunder?" I did what any good son and avid fisherman would do I told her " No, Mom there is a culvert on top the hill that trucks are running over, it only sounds like thunder, got another one, open the live well please." I looked past her to my Dad and got the " Good one son, lets catch more fish, but your on your own when she finds out look." The fishing was great we put several good sized goggle-eyes in the boat when the thunder really cut loose and my mother said, "That's no culvert. son."

We headed back to the boat ramp with the sky being a really pretty shade of purple with just a light shade of green through it. I got to the dock let her out and she made it up the hill to the pavilion just as it started to sprinkle. Dear old Dad had the car keys and it was his job to back the trailer into the water so I could put the boat on it. While waiting for him to jockey it into the proper position the rain came down harder and something struck me on the back of my hand hard enough to hurt. Then I got hit just behind my ear and it dawned on me that the little white balls hitting me was hail. For the next 5 minutes or so I got my self beat on pretty good by small hail balls some got to the size of marbles. There was a white out for a short time they were coming down so hard. Just before I lost sight of the car I noticed that my Dad was looking at me with that " I'm going to enjoy this look." There was not much for me to do, I just hunkered down and let it hail.

After the boat was put on the trailer and we were heading back to the house I glanced at my Mom and although she had not said much about my experience she did have a satisfied smile on her face. Makes me wonder if Mom's and mother nature talk.

Families

2009-07-15T19:06:00.003-05:00

Well I missed yesterday, didn't mean to, it just happened. I do have an excuse. I had a chance to meet a young man that is up and coming in the Southern Gospel music world. Branson is hosting a Gospel Music Convention and the Convention Center. I get to go on Friday and really look forward to it. I am a fan of Gospel music. My interest has been peaked due to this young man I met again last night.

He is 19 years old, has recently graduated from High School and is enrolled in college in his home state of Ohio. He has been traveling around the country singing Gospel music for a few months and his talents and the response to the songs that he sings has been almost overwhelming. His name is Jake Holder. Jake is the oldest son of a cousin of mine. He has a really great voice. I have known for years that his dad Kenneth, and his two aunts Janice and Justice have harmonized together. I heard them sing together for the first time several years ago at my Aunt and Uncles 50 wedding anniversary. I was told then that they began singing together in the car on the long drive from thier home near Dayton, Ohio to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Texas County, Mo. In my limited experience I can tell you they were good! Jake is good. His style and delivery is honest and you can feel the love this young man has for the Lord in his music. You can visit Jakes website at http://jakeholdermessengersound.com You can hear him sing. There is a list of the places he will be there as well and if he is close and you like gospel music, make arrangements to attend. I know he will be back at the Branson Convention Center on Friday this week. He will be on stage at 12:30 pm.

I'm going fishing in the morning, tomarrows blog will have a fishing update.

It's a Monday

2009-07-13T15:28:00.003-05:00

You ever had one of those days that things are so-so and then they are not? Better yet they start off like a dragging record then speed up into fast forward? By the end of the day your worn completely out and you feel like you have not accomplished a thing. My day so far started slow and as it gets toward the end of the day I'm breathing hard just to keep up.

How I would enjoy a day where you got up and started at one speed, kept that speed going all day and when the day is done, you accomplished everything and are still awake enough to enjoy a few chapters in a good book. A day when everyone that you talked to and told you they were going to do something did it. A day when every phone call you had to make was answered in less than three rings by a real live person. A day when your shoe string did not break, or your coffee cup lid come off just as you were taking a sip. One of those days that gas prices took a big drop just as you pulled in to fill up. When the traffic cop looks the other way just as you zip through the red light. The hot water lasts as long as the shower you want to take and your razor is not dull. A day when the fish are biting what your offering, the thread in the sewing machine lasts forever.

Those days are far between and few in number. When we have one we should be thankful and not wait for Murphy to show his ugly head, just relax and enjoy. I'm going to make the rest of my day as close to perfect as I can,why don't you do the same. If you see Murphy tell him you haven't seen me.

Just another little part

2009-07-12T18:53:00.002-05:00

Not much to report today so I thought it would be a good time to add a little more from my book

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

.....I had my head down moving slowly along a creek when I heard a grunt up ahead, then a snort. I froze. I knew what that sound was, I heard it once before when me and Little Hawk had stumbled into that momma bear. I slowly moved my eyes around. There sure enough off to my right I seen a bear. It was standing on its hind legs, its nose high in the air slowly looking around, I knew I was upwind of it that was apparently what she had smelled. My scent caused her to make an alarm. I looked around some more. Sure enough there was a cub, about a year old, making up the side of an old tree. I kept as still as I could, that bear looked right at me then past me. She then looked back. I knew she could see me, or at least the shape of me. I figured she knew I was not suppose to be there. She grunted again then dropped down on all four feet. She started my way. She made it about half way when she stood up again. This time she got a good look, then a strong whiff. Here she come at a dead run. She was snarling and snapping her teeth, I raised that rifle sighted down the barrel. I held my shot until she was no more than 15 feet away I squeezed the trigger. That rifle rolled back on my shoulder. Through the powder smoke I could see she was still coming. I dropped the rifle to pull the knife from my belt. She hit me hard. I sat down with her on top of me then rolled over back wards. I raised my feet in her stomach as she went over me. I flipped her. I had enough time to stick that knife as far as I could into her side when her weight pulled the knife from my hand. She rolled up on her feet then turned on me, I grabbed my tomahawk, I swung it as hard as I could as she hit me, again I swung down on her with all I had. She roared blood and saliva then swiped me with her paw knocking me over backwards. She was on top of me in an instant, her foul breath was in my face I twisted my head away as she bit down on my shoulder. I reached up around with my other hand until I felt the handle of my knife. I grabbed it pulled it free then plunged it in again, then back out until I could feel my strength failing. I could feel that bears hind feet digging into my legs. I was running out of strength, there was not much more I could do. I was under her with her foul breath in my face and her claws digging furrows down my legs. I figured I was a gonner when that bear suddenly began to relax. She groaned a little then with one final growl she collapsed on me. She was dead. I crawled from under her. Then began to look at myself. I was covered in blood. I was trying to figure out if it was mine our hers. Mostly it was hers. I had a bad cut across my chest from the first hit. I had blood oozing from the bites on my shoulder. Both my legs were bleeding. Other than that I was in pretty good shape considering. I tried to stand, got part of the way up, then just passed out.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Stayed tuned....

Orders are coming in!

2009-07-11T08:32:00.001-05:00

Thank-you for the emails yesterday that expressed a wish for my book, The Holders Missouri Beginnings. The official release date is August 22 and there is still plenty of time to get yours in. I worked yesterday getting some of the order forms out. Just so you know, if you mail me a check I will not cash it until I have confirmation that you book is on its way, either from me of the publisher.

I also have set up a new email address for Schooner Creek it is schoonercreek@yahoo.com, that was simple enough. So if you feel uneasy leaving me a comment, email me at the above address and I will respond.

Yesterday I had a request from a follower, Patty, for information on local quilting. I will work on that, I only know one local quilter. She is a busy lady with lots of projects. I do know that we had one rule around the ole homestead. I would take her anywhere to look at or get information on quilting as long as there was a place for me to fish while she was doing it. Of course the quilter I know is my wife Judy. She has been quilting for as long as we have been together and she learned from her Grandma Barker. Our daughters seem to have passed over the art however we have one Granddaughter that has made a couple of quits and seems to really enjoy it.

Judy has won a few local contests and she has completed some really wonderful quilts. In my book, The Holders Missouri Beginnings, young Sam's mother gives him a quilt to take with him and tells him that when he is wrapped up in it it would be like her holding him. I have to admit that the concept is true, and I "stole" the thought from Judy when I put it in the book, she says that a lot.

Women have been quilting for ever, the art of making quilts dates back to the first time an animal skin was used to to keep a body warm. There are all kinds of quilts made from all kinds of material. Judy is more of a traditional quilter, she gets "Yards" of material of different colors, patterns and designs then cuts them into small pieces, then she puts them back together to make patterns like, flying geese, bear claws, log cabins, plates, wedding rings and stars. Then all of those oddly shaped pieces are put together to make squares , strips, together they make a quilt top. Judy prefers cotton fabric, with Cotton thread. She uses 100 % cotton for "Batting" which is that stuff between the top and the backing of the quit.

Depending on the economy and the availability of material quilts have been made from old clothes , flour sacks, sugar sacks and feed sacks. Quilts have told stories, been used as maps, shrouds, tents and just about anything else. We have picnics on them, spark or spouses, and watch babies sleep on them. They come in all sizes from little wall hangings to tapestry size wall coverings. Most quilters can look at the fabric, design and style of a quilt an tell you if it is of German, Irish, English or Oriental in its style.

I'll have more to say about quilting....soon. Now its time for a fishing report. The fish are in the lake and they are wet. Some are big and some are small and they come in various shapes, colors and lengths. some have teeth, others do not. They are hard to see and harder to catch! The reports I have say you can still find bluegill in 18-22 feet of water near creek channels. If there are trees nearby it is better. Nightcrawlers are the best. Bass are being caught at night. plastic worms are best and if your fishing, try lighted boat docks. The color and style of worm is as different as you can image. Black, w/ metal flake, or purple may work as well as anything. Texas rig them. I have to say I do not have any reports on catfish. Tablerock was hoovering around 916 and the water temp was in the mid 80's. Topwater baits were still catching very early morning fish the last time I was out.

To those of you that have already ordered a book, thanks, to the rest of you get busy! The cost is $15.00 per book all I need is your name and address to reserve a copy for you. Remember you can email me at schoonercreek@yahoo.com

July 10, 2009

2009-07-10T08:10:00.000-05:00

Folks its summer time in the Ozarks! This week the temperatures will be in the 90's and they are saying that there "might" be storms everyday. Weather folks have it made, never in the history of the modern world have so many people been paid so much for being wrong so many times. I really think they would do better if they just had windows to look out .

My dad says when he was a kid they would listen to the radio for the weather, there was one weather man that did his radio broadcasts by calling other weather men in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas and finding out what kind of weather they were having today so he could predict tomarrow's. Dad claims he was very seldom wrong. No computers, no radar, just people talking to people, go figure.

I got some great news yesterday, The Holders, Missouri Beginnngs, has an official release date of August 22. The cost of the book is set at $15.00. You still have time to be one of the first to get one. Write me a comment with your name and email address and I will send you an order form.

July 9, 2009

2009-07-09T16:51:00.000-05:00

I have spent the day working on making contacts for the marketing of my book. My second project was to get my vehicle inspected and the new license purchased and mounted. Now one might think that one of those projects would have been enough for one day. Not me, Mr. I can get it all done at one time. It was my over confident procrastination that got the license thing put on the front burner. I just knew that there was nothing wrong with the car I drive everyday so there was no reason to worry about the inspection. We all know Murphy, and he let me know to the tune of a $400.00 estimate that his law is always going to make ones life difficult. The second thing is that there are several things I needed to know to get my sales plan put into effect, things like how many books is a standard order,Does my cost have to be paid upfront? What promotional items are part of the publishers cost?

So bright and early I get on the phone to get the answers I need. My car is being worked on, I have a 3:00pm inspection appointment. The license office is open until 4:00 pm. I got it made. Mission accomplished!

No one is available to talk to me at the publishers, unusually high call volume, leave a message, the message says and some one will call you back. I get the same response from the other phone calls I needed to make. OK, I will leave my cell number and while I go after my car and wait for it to be inspected I will work off the cell phone. NO service. It seems that the largest wireless service in the country cannot make its equipment work with the equipment of their latest acquisition so my once very adaquate sevice will not work. No Signal.

The inspection was a relief, The mechanic was ready for me at my appointed time and 15 minutes later I was out the door, passed safty inspection paper work in hand! ( That mechanic was Mike at Bear Automotive in Kimberling City on Hwy 13, If you need one while your visiting go to them!) I was at the license office by 3:30pm, furthermore there was no one in line except the folks that were being helped. I was finally beating ole Murphy. Thats when the lady being waited on began to throw what I would call a moderate to severe temper tantrum. What ever her issues, they were not being treated with the answers she wanted to hear by the clerk at the license bureau. I stood watching the clock looking at the warning sign on the license bureau desk reading "ABSOLUTELY NO CELL PHONES" knowing that any minute the ever waiving no service signal would disappear from my phone and it would ring. I stood watching the the drama unfold as the clerks tried to explain that a person could not just put any name the customer wanted on her drivers license. If that were the case mine would have Zane Grey, or , may be even Louis Lamour. (Their books sell!) About that time I eyed the other clerk as she was finishing up whatever she was doing. I could see the wheels turning, it was almost 4:00, she was almost done for the day, She had one eye on the clock and the other on the back door. I stood there, paperwork in hand carefully calculating if I could get to her if she made for it.
The drama continued to escalate, I started to wonder just how much more would happen before the friendly Police arrived on the scene. My attention was directed to the wailing lady. who now was making accusations about the intellgence of the license bureau.....

The sound of the voice was so soft I almost didn't hear it, "Sir you are next." Immeadiately my feet made for the sound of the voice, my paperwork extended before me. She looked at it, smiled and said "This won't take long at all."Three minutes 45 seconds later I was gone, new license in hand. My last glance into the office caught my helpful clerk sneaking out that rear door.

Mike one, Murphy zero..............

Oh Yeah, everyone I called today was gone for the day by time I got back to my house phone.

Mike one....Murphy one...........Its a good day!

July 8 0r 07/08/09

2009-07-08T18:26:00.000-05:00

Well I think its time to bring all of you up to date on my tomato raisin. It's not going so well. I've learned a lot about growing tomatoes this year. The first thing I have learned is that I stink at it! I planted about 12 plants total. Of those twelve I have 1/2 that may produce a frew scrawny tomatoes. We picked two from the patio plant that I have. They tasted just fine. Last Friday I mixed up the Miricle-Gro just like the directions said to do. I poured the concoction over the plants and by Sunday they were pretty well burt up. So lessons learned to date :
1. Don't plant tomatoes in pots, then place the pots where they get a lot of sun.
2. Water them a little every day, not a lot once a week.
3. Leave the liquid fertilizer alone. Or if you can't,mix it at 1/8th strength
4. Shade is good for potted tomatoes. The dirt in the pots gets too hot.
5. Tomatoes will grow upside down.
6. Find a Farmers Market so you can have all the tomatoes you want.

Stay tuned.....

July 7

2009-07-07T18:14:00.000-05:00

I'm really glad its the end of the day! Some days are just better than others and this one has been long. I think most of the issue is that I'm still suffering from to much to do and not enouogh sleep. I've got a few days off coming up and I hope me and my pillow will get to know one another again. Its really great to have a job that when your not 100% the team you work with from the boss on down can pick up the slack. I have the privledge of working with a group of people that define the word teamwork. I have a supervisor that can make the worst day bearable beyond belief. You never know what he is going to do or better yet what he will do to get the job done. Our boss is an experience leader that has taught me a lot about leading men. He's the kind of boss that instills a desire to be all you can be. My hat is off to both of these men.

I'm getting a lot of positive fishing news, plastic worms are beginning to be a great choice. I had good luck with a 4 inch crinkle cut worm and I even got a report that "electric" blue worms were catching nice fish, regularly! Night fishing around lighted boat docks produced fish as well as early morning banks where there was ledge within a few feet of the shore line.

July 7

2009-07-06T19:33:00.000-05:00

I don't know about everyone else, I for one am ready for a rest! Here on Schooner Creek the 4th was a rousing success! The weather was great, the fireworks display at Kimberling City was out of this world and God even helped with a little far away lighting on the horizon. The almost full moon just added to the effect!

I was very excited, today I noticed that between 5:50 am and 6:20 pm, gasoline prices dropped 11 cents at the pumps! Can you believe it, the holiday goes by, folks go home and gas prices drop. You know in my profession I deal with individuals on the lower end of the IQ scale from time to time, those individuals commit various and asundry crimes including stealing. Now folks no one likes to be snookered out of a hard earned dollar. So I'm going to suggest that the owners of the gasoline stations and oil companies institute a new policy of holding a gun on those of us while we pump gas. At least we would feel better about being held up. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against free interprise and making a living. Its just that when you dive three miles down the road, pass several stations supporting the same logo and the price of gas may differ as much as 20 cents from one to the other then someone is stealing...... We all know that the same delivery truck delivers gas to those stations, and the price at that point is the same.

Yeah, I know, I'm on my soap box......

Lets go fishing!

July 5th

2009-07-05T17:52:00.000-05:00

Folks I'm going to take today to give you another taste of my book....

The minute I entered the woods I felt at home. My eyes had adjusted to see with what little light the sliver of a moon cast. I made my way through a patch of woods. It was fairly easy going because all of the dead stuff we kept picked up for the cooking fire. Once I found the small stream that came down the ridge from the meadow I started up along the creek. I wanted to reach the edge of that meadow so I could get settled before the sun turned the sky gray. I knew that ole buck would water there just at the edge of that meadow. I’d seen his tracks and knew it was him. He used that watering spot a lot because he was almost hidden behind some cedars. He could look out through a hole in the branches across the meadow. I had found a place on an out break of rock that I could get down behind and still have cover in front of me. I‘ve sat there for a long stretches of time and only seen him once. Most of the time I got tired of waiting and would close my eyes for a second and then hear a snort or the click of hooves on stone. I knew I’d missed him. This morning was going to be different, I was going to stay awake. I’d get my shot at that buck. I could just see Pa’s face when I come carrying that monster into the yard. He’d say that was the finest Buck he’d ever seen. Ma would gush and say what a good hunter I was and that with me fetching the meat they would never have to worry about going hungry. Just about that time I stepped into a hole and almost fell on my nose. “ Better keep your mind on what your doing instead of what you hope to do.” I whispered.
Once at the rock I climbed into position and settled down to wait. I could see the sky getting lighter in the east. The sun would be in my face which was a bad thing, however the air currents would be coming up the ridge instead of down it. Little Hawk had taught me to always hunt the tops of the ridges in the morning and the valleys at night. Air currents seemed to move up in the morning and down at night. I figured by the time the sun got high enough to be in my eyes I’d have missed my chance at the buck again. I watched that little place where he come to water and kept moving my eyes just enough to keep them from seeing things that were not there. I knew that if you stared at something long enough your mind starting seeing things. Pa taught me that you see movement out the side of your eyes faster than right in front of you so you should move your eyes around when you were looking for something. Especially British, or Indians and even when your hunting. Pa says that you seeing the other thing first will often save your bacon.
The sky was lightening up and I was beginning to tell the rocks from the trees. I was watching that hole when I seen movement out of the corner of my eye, I moved my eyes real slow to get a good look at the cause. Soon I saw a small fox wandering from tree truck to tree trunk sniffing his way toward the watering hole. I watched him and was learning a lot about how a fox smells around when I heard a hoof click on stone. I knew I’d been had again, that ole deer had his drink while I was watching a dumb fox walk thru the woods. I turned my eyes back towards the creek and there he was. He was standing with his head down, getting him a good mouth of water. I slowly raised my rifle and was about half way to my shoulder with it when I saw his tail flick and up come his head. I froze. He was a looking right at me. He just stared and started bobbing his head up and down like it was attached to a puppets string. I didn’t even breath. He just kept looking at me like he knew I was there, however he could not figure out what I was. I was still as stone. One minute, then two, then five. My arms were aching, I was starting to sweat. I knew I could not hold that position much longer. He then dropped his head into the water and starting drinking again. I set that rifle against my shoulder, that’s when it hit me. I was looking right down the barrel of that rifle at the biggest buck I’d ever seen in my sixteen years on this earth. He was beautiful with a full head of horns, he had at least six points on each side. The muscles in his neck bulged out and I knew he would be over 200 lbs. I began to shake, all over. It was not just a little quiver, it was a full blown freezing’ to the bone shuddering. I tried to keep that deer in my sights, the end of that rifle was acting like it had a case of the shakes all on its own. I seen his tail flick again and I got a good aim and pulled the trigger. CA-Boom, I rocked back from the recoil and was waiting for the gun smoke to clear, when it did there stood that deer looking up at me like I’d lost my mind. He just stood there and after about a minute he just shook his head when he did that antler just fell off his head It was then I seen that the other one was gone as well, or at least part of it was. I hit it just about an inch off his head and the ball must of clipped it. I’d missed. That deer just shook his head again and gave me a look that said just look what you done. He turned and with a big jump was gone. Some hunter I was, I walked over the ground until I found and picked up them horns. I gave a slump of my shoulders and started home.
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There, now don't forget its offical release is August 22, get your order in early!

I wasn't able to get out to do much fishing, the lake was pretty busy with boat traffic and folks having fun. I haven't heard about any accidents except the fella that bought a new jet ski, put it in the water, took off and rode it till it sunk. Yep, right down to the handlebars. Just goes to prove that even new stuff is broken sometimes....but I bet we all knew that......

4th of July 2009

2009-07-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

Tonight most of us will gather with friends and family to watch fireworks in the sky. We will be thrilled with the colorful blasts of red, white, blue. Our very beings will shake with the impact of the "Boom" shells as the Oohs and awe's pass gently through the crowd.

While we are doing that I want us all to remember those of us that are somewhere in the world watching a different kind of display or better yet praying they don't see one. The kind that can leave one bleeding, or worse yet dead. It is to those few individuals I dedicate today's blog. To the members of our Armed Forces, Thanks, Thank-you for your serviceas well as your families sacrifice while you are away. Let them know that I am thinking of them.

There is one other group of men and women that need to be thanked. Those individuals that are members of the law enforcement community. These are the "guys" that keep us safe from ourselves. Our first and only line of defense against forces that could destroy our way of life. These men and women give up family time and holidays with loved ones. They work long hours with low pay. They very seldom get told thanks. So, today if you see a "cop" tell him thanks.

For if our Armed Forces and the Police took a holiday, the only folks that would suffer is us. After all, when you need help who do you call?

Happy 4th

July 3

2009-07-03T11:02:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the time of the year that we are suppose to be aware of the birth of our Nation and spend time with family and friends. I'm pround to say I'm an American, I'm not ashamed of it and if some one from somewhere else has an issue with America they can keep it to themselves or bring it up and we can discuss it. So that being said let me say this....Happy 4th of July! Go eat a porksteak, hamburger,hotdog or brat, eat some potato salad and cole slaw and have a few cold drinks of your choice. Have a good time and remember we are in the greatest county on the face of the earth, love it or leave it!

Went fishing this mornng, caught several small fish and one 16 inch Smallmouth Bass...that was an adventure! We found them on the ledges with plastic worms rigged both texas style as well as carolina rigged. The worm of choice was a 4 inch french fry worm in the green color called punkinseed. Bluegill are still hitting in about 15 foot of water near creek channels. Go out and catch a fish!

My book will be released on Aug 22, I still have a few of the "first hundred signed copies" again if you want one leave me a comment.

Happy 4th of July......

July 2 2000

2009-07-02T10:46:00.000-05:00

Grandkids are the best. Judy and I have 5 children, and we have been blessed with 7 almost 8 grandchildren ( almost is due in September). We moved to the Lake back in 2006 thinking that we would get to spend a lot more quality time with the kids and they would have a nice place to come for a break in the everyday grind of getting by. We get to see them, not as much as we want too, however the time we get is quality!

We had my daughter, her husband and two of the grandkids here for the last 4 days.They had to go home this morning, I'm sad about it, this home place is really lonely and very quiet right now. I told my Grandson this morning that the only way he can come back is to go home.....He looked at me and smiled then hugged me. Sophie don't like goodbyes much, she went to the car. She was waving when they pulled out. I'm already looking forward to them coming back.

We had a ball....We caught fish, went swimming, tubing and Brian taught us how to catch crawdads!

before and after

2009-07-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

Before and 4 minutes later

What you need

2009-07-02T10:41:00.000-05:00

Cajun style Brian

2009-07-02T10:39:00.001-05:00

They say there is meat in them crawdad heads!