May Connection

The May issue of Connection magazine is out & it's a really good one.

Check out one of my articles about the historical Powell Bridge on my portfolio.

You can also download the whole issue here.

Drying Out

Above ^^^ the west creek crossing.
We survived the floods! Surprisingly, the water did not get much higher than in the video I posted on Monday. We got a lot of rain -- I'm not sure what the "official" measurement was, but it was around 10 inches.

Today, the sun is shining and everything is drying out. The creek is calming and receding -- the low-water crossings were crossable via pickup yesterday (although I would not have driven my car over any of them!). I even hitched a ride to town to pick up the May issue of Connection magazine, drop off some photos at the newspaper office, get my bones cracked at the chiropractor and stock up on coffee and other necessities at Walmart.

I've been busy putting things back in order -- moving drenched plants into the sun so they can get rid of some water, filling the birdfeeder, re-planting my azalea. I ran out and dug it up during the rains because the water was threatening to come up and drown it. Yes, I am a wee bit paranoid.

Some more photos of the flooding: Above^^^water overflow from the creek into Thomas Hollow Road, just east of my house.
Above^^^the overflow coming down the hill behind my house, through the pasture and into the road.

Above^^^Thomas Hollow Road (flooded) on the right, the creek on the left!
Above^^^the east creek crossing -- the debris marks how high the water came up.
Above^^^Baxter in place (for scale, you know) at the east creek crossing. Note how the concrete has shifted. Not sure how bad it is on the far side. Surprisingly, the county road department was out fixing the crossing early Wednesday morning!

Floating Away!

We are being washed away here in southwest Missouri. It's been raining since Friday, and the creek is rebelling. All I can do is watch (and move my car, dig up some plants) and take pictures and videos. The rain keeps on coming down.

I shot this video at about 9:45 am Monday, April 26. I figured I better post it while I still have electricity and an Internet connection. It started pouring rain again as I finished the video. I'm just hoping we don't break any records and that the water doesn't get any higher than my front steps (and into the house). Nothing to do except wait and watch.

Colder Weather

Talk about being "stuck in colder weather." The Zac Brown Band concert at Mulberry Mountain in Arkansas Friday night was, to put it nicely, a mess. And not just because of the weather (40 degrees, windy and misting is not the best weather for an outdoor concert).

I had a great volunteer opportunity come up for the concert. Because it's a national campaign and was supposed to be coordinated by a nonprofit organization, I hesitate to put the actual name on the blog. If you're a Zac Brown Band fan, you should be able to figure it out. Anyways, the opportunity meant I could sell my concert ticket and still get into the concert. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.

I arrived at Mulberry Mountain around 4:30 p.m. -- the main gates opened at 10 a.m., and the gate into the concert area was supposed to open at 3 p.m. When I got there, they were very organized with the parking -- it was pretty painless, considering there were thousands of people there already and more on their way. (The fact that I could not find my car afterward was my own fault!) After parking, it all fell apart. There was a long line at the concert area gate -- an hour and a half after it was supposed to open. The line just got longer and longer, stretching out over the Mulberry grounds as the evening went on. The crowd had been expected to be about 13,000 strong if that gives you a clue about the size of the line. I'm pretty sure the food and beverage vendors and t-shirt sellers inside the concert area were just about as ticked off as the concert goers. Everyone was wet, cold, and at the end of their patience threshold. And I didn't even get the volunteer t-shirt I was promised. Not that I did it for the dang t-shirt but I was just not impressed with anything I saw that night.

Lucky me, I didn't have to stand in line -- I bypassed the line to go to my volunteer area. Which turned out to be two bare tables out in the rain -- no cover or light whatsoever. Nowhere to hang a banner (which was actually very cool, but nobody got to see it). The person representing the nonprofit was a no-show. There were about a dozen volunteers there, and we tried our best to do the mission we were there for, but it was kind of difficult between the weather, the ticked-off people STILL waiting in line (many who had been drinking all afternoon).

The concert organizers finally opened the concert gate at 7:30 p.m. -- a full half-hour after the concert was supposed to start. And Zac Brown didn't even start playing til about 8:30 or 9 p.m.! While it was a good show, it was nowhere near as good as it could have been (not to mention dangerous with the 30-40 mph wind and rain). I'm pretty sure ZBB won't be coming back to that area again, much less for that production company. There are a ton of complaints online about the way it was handled. I can't say I blame people -- most of them shelled out $40 a ticket plus $10 a car for parking. I know I am going to be wary of any even put on by this organizer in the future.

So that's one of the two volunteer experiences I've had go awry this week. What's that saying..."no good deed goes unpunished." Yeah, that would be it.

Favorite

Dogwoods are simply my favorite tree. Spring blooms, fall color, cool shapes. They have it all. Someday I will get around to planting one in my yard!

And of course no photoshoot is complete without one snap with Baxter in it! The pose is 100% his.

In Full Bloom

Sorry for the absence! I got knocked sideways and upside down by a migraine last week and am finally catching up on everything that went on the back burner.

Around here, things are in full bloom! Yesterday, I mowed the lawn for the first time this season. Lots of goodies are popping up in the gardens. It's fun to watch things grow. I'll be sowing seeds in a couple of days -- we are inching toward the last frost date. I do have a few seedlings started in a tray -- bee balm, lime zinnia, ornamental kale and calendula. But. (Yes, there is a but.) I neglected to bring the tray in one night -- the ONE night we finally got a heavy, ground soaking, drenching rain. Needless to say, the tray and seedlings got watered very well. The seedlings have been drying out in the sun the past two days, and I'm happy to say that it looks like they are not only surviving, but there are a few more seedlings popping up! I dodged a bullet there.

The tulips didn't do so hot this year. Actually, they were kind of sad. I have more than 100 bulbs in the ground and had maybe a dozen actually bloom. Hopefully next year will be better! I did get a few photos of what I did have.

Hello, April!

April's come in with sunshine and warm temperatures. I finally got to cross off a big item from my to-do list: finish a semi-new flowerbed.

I've neglected this spot in the front yard -- closest to the road -- for years. An old bed with just wild irises, I never really weeded it or made it into an actual bed with borders. Until today!

Here's the before, with the layout marked out so I could see what it could be. There were a LOT of overgrown, crowded irises in there. And weeds.

BEFORE:

And now here it is with the irises (mostly) thinned out and spread around. I found yet another bunch of tulip bulbs that needed to be planted, and those are in there -- they should do well in the spot.

AFTER:

I'll probably put in a bunch of zinnias and four o'clock mix, as those love the full sun.

I suppose that now that it's April 2, I should sit down and finish my taxes. Fun.