Eagles are in the Ozarks

My pictures aren't that great but today I went out to Springfield Lake for their annual "Eagle Days" event. It has been reported that we have at least 4 maybe 6 eagles wintering out there this year. We got to see three of them, one while we were driving out to the Marina and two hanging out on the other side of the lake.

We watched from the Marina for a while then drove to the other side and found the two I show here. We were still a very long way away from them so I wasn't able to get any really good pictures. I did get to see one stretching his wings but unfortunately didn't get a shot of that. These are such majestic birds, it just takes my breath away!

New Award-- Noblesse Oblige

I received this award from Old Lady Lincoln whose blog title says: I like to share jokes. Sometimes I blog about my family, friends, home, hobbies, cooking and life in general. She has provided many insprirational posts and some funny ones too! One her most recent posts that I found to be so funny was this one titled: Have a Great Day!

The rules are :

The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervade amongst different cultures and beliefs.

The Blog contents inspire; strive to encourage and offer solutions.There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Cultures and Sciences and Beliefs.

The Blog is refreshing and creative.The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.

The Blogger who receives this award will need to follow the following steps :

1. Create a post with a mention and link to the person who presented the Noblesse Oblige award.

2. Display the award conditions on the post.

3. Write a short article about what this blog has thus far achieved - preferrably citing a post to support.

4. The blogger must present the Noblesse Oblige Award in concurrence with the Award conditions.

5. The blogger must display the Award on their blog.

The five blogs I choose to receive this award are :

1. Richies at An Arkies Musings

2. Marvin at Nature in the Ozarks

3. Pat at Remembrances of an Arkansas Stamper

4. Grammy at The Empty Nester

5. Gail at At the Farm

I feel that these five bloggers do fit with the conditions of this award. They have great blogs that are of great interest to all who visit them.

Living on the Lake of the Ozarks in the 50's

This is me when they brought me home from the hospital


When I was born my folks lived on the Lake of the Ozarks and my Dad was the proprietor of the Shorecrest Resort. If you can believe it for only 39 bucks two people could stay there for a week. You even had a boat furnished for free! Of course if you wanted an outboard motor that would cost you 4$ a day and a guide could be arranged. You would be staying in a brand new cabin, built by my dad and his partner that had a living room with a floor to ceiling window overlooking the lake, two bedrooms, modern (for the 50's) kitchen, complete with dishes, utensils and hot water!

My Dad working on the plumbing


I found an old brochure that boasts of new Rich Line aluminum boats at the dock. Or if you want to launch your own boat there is even a paved drive down to the lake. Shorecrest was built above the lake on a gentle slope right to the water. No hills to climb and a safe beach for swimming and plenty of play area to the children. What I remember is different, I remember the house we lived in was on top of a cliff overlooking the lake. Some of the pictures I've included reflect the wonderful view we had.



Our "Native Clothesline" as my Mom called it.


If you are not familiar with the Lake of the Ozarks it's located pretty much in the center of Missouri. It's a dragon shaped lake that stretches 92 miles-end to end-from Bagnell Dam to Truman Dam with over 40 miles of unobstructed tributaries. This adds up to over 1,150 miles of shoreline. Shorecrest was located on the Niangua Arm about 4 miles NW of Camdenton, that was famous for good fishing. You could catch lots of white and largemouth bass, crappie and of course catfish.




Doesn't he look happy!




Fishing was one of my Dad's favorite hobby and as you can see he was pretty good at it! The picture of him and the catfish was a record catch, there was is even a picture of him holding it posted in the local Lebanon newspaper. I used to have a copy of that, but unfortunately it's been lost. Even a record breaking; Muskie was caught in 1981 it was 49 1/4 inches long and weighed a whopping 41 pounds 2 ounces. The girth was 25 inches --4 inches more than each of the previous three state records!














Helping Daddy build something.

I remember very little of our time on the lake as we moved from there when I was about 3, but I do remember one winters day we looked out and there was a deer out in the middle of the frozen lake and everyone was concerned that the ice wasn't strong enough to hold it. What happened escapes me unfortunately. I'd like to think that it made it to where ever it was going and all was ok. We'll leave it at that.




My Sister and Brother and the kittens
There are many family stories I heard later, most of these concern my older brother, he fell out of the back of the jeep on a rocky road and was knocked out for a while, another time he was standing in the front seat of Daddy's Chevy on one trip up the gravel lake road and he somehow opened the door on a left hand corner and swung right out on his butt on the road. I think we are seeing a pattern here... And yet another time he was on top of the crib barn and threw a rock and hit my sister on the head! She survived but I can't say how his bottom felt after the paddling he got.



After we had moved to the city, (Richland Missouri) we did go back there for summer vacations for a time and I do remember some of those times as being a quiet peaceful spot of paradise. I know I was a lucky kid to have been able to experience that and only wish I lived on the lake now.

Edited 02-13-2010
I have had the pleasure of meeting a couple of really nice fellows here in the comments below that also had ties to this same resort! Something interesting has happened since they found this post, Jon has started his own blog called "Shorecrest Resort & Lake of the Ozarks in the 60s & 70s and Mike has sent me some pictures of his time visiting while Jon's folks owned the resort. I have posted a new article with his pictures here. So be sure to check both of these out for more info on Shorecrest Resort!

Skywatch Friday #8 The Ozarks Sky

The weather here has been difficult at best to get a good shot of the Ozarks sky because all we have had is overcast. But once in a while I was able to sneak out and capture a few for our viewing pleasure. I hope you enjoy them!


Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page anytime after 7:30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Thursdays to see sky photos from around the world. You'll be glad you did.

Above photo was taken Saturday, January 10, 2009

Above photo was taken Monday, January 12, 2009

and finally it was so cold outside I nearly froze!

This was taken today, January 15, 2009

It's Zero degrees out there!

They say by Saturday it will warm up to 40, and I certainly hope so!

My Private Part Died---Funny!

An old man, Mr. Wallace, was living in a nursing home.
One day he appeared to be very sad and depressed.
Nurse Tracy asked him if there was anything wrong,
'Yes , Nurse Tracy ,' said Mr. Wallace.
'My Private Part died today, and I am very sad.'
Knowing her patients were a little forgetful and sometimes a little crazy,
She replied, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr. Wallace. Please accept my condolences.'
The following day, Mr. Wallace was walking down the hall with his Private Part
Hanging out of his pajamas.
He met Nurse Tracy. 'Mr. Wallace,' she said,
'You shouldn't be walking down the hall like that.
Please put your Private Part back inside your pajamas.'
'But, Nurse Tracy I can't,' replied Mr. Wallace.
'I told you yesterday that my Private Part died.
'Yes,' said Nurse Tracy, 'you did tell me that,
But why is it hanging out of your pajamas?'
(You've gotta love this .)
'Well,' he replied, 'Today is the viewing.'

Skywatch Friday #7 The Ozark Sky

This was a good week for taking pictures here in the Ozarks. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did taking them.


Visit the Sky Watch Friday home page anytime after 7:30 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time on Thursdays to see sky photos from around the world. You'll be glad you did.

This was taken on Sunday December 28, 2008

This mysterious view was offered to me on Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Taken on New Year's Eve 2008 The First Sunset of the New Year 01-10-09

This is something to look forward to this week!
FIRST METEORS OF 2009: The annual Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on Jan. 3rd when Earth enters a stream of debris from shattered comet 2003 EH1. The timing of the encounter favors observers in western North America and across the Pacific Ocean who could see dozens to hundreds of meteors during the dark hours before sunrise this Saturday morning. Visit http://spaceweather.com/ for a sky map and more information.

Riding the Trails in the Ozarks

Recently I was given some old pictures from the 80's of a day that my brother,his wife and I went horseback riding. At the time I had a Quarter-horse /Thoroughbred mare named Uriah. I stabled her down on the Finley River south of Nixa, Missouri. It was a beautiful place to ride. We could ride the back roads to a spot where there was river access, well not really river access, but more like a spot that overlooked the river valley. The ride would take approximately 1 hour to get to a lane that would take you through the woods and finally to a power line easement that crossed the river.






Once you got to where you could see the river you were probably 100 feet above on a rock outcropping. Someone had constructed a log "seat", really just a couple of split logs that you could sit and see clear across the river valley to the next road. Often you would see hawks and once in a while you could see an eagle soaring around. It was a magical place that stills holds lots of wonderful memories for me.



I can remember one ride I had taken with my younger brother Mark that we had misjudged the time and it started to get dark on us. There was a small area of woods that you had to go through along a wildlife trail.

That trail was barely visible in the daylight let alone when it was dark. Fortunately for us the horses knew the trail pretty well. I led the way, or really my horse did, I was just along for the ride because I couldn't see a darn thing! We made it out of the woods finally and I swore I would never do that in the dark again. And I kept that promise, believe me!
There were many rides we would get stuck out in the rain, sometimes even the snow. But it never really bothered me because just being out on my horse was like heaven on earth. To ride something so much bigger than you that would usually do what you wanted them to do was amazing.


I've added the few pictures I have, they aren't that great but they do elicit some wonderful memories for me. The year these were taken my mare was pregnant with her first colt. She had been left with a young stud Quarter-horse for about a month and we weren't sure she had bred, I only figured it out for sure about 3 months before she foaled. But you can tell in one of these pictures that she has a big belly. She never was a big horse, not quite 15 hands and always very slim and trim. She stayed that was because she was kind of the "nervous" sort of a horse. Not everyone could ride her because she had an attitude most of the time. But to me that was just perfect.


The dog in the pictures was Jake, my side-kick.He went on every horse back ride I took.He would follow along never causing any trouble and once in a while he would even ride the horse with me. I remember more than once we were riding along a road that had a particularly bad dog and rather than get chased and possibly in a fight, we had a stump that Jake could jump up on and then with my help he would jump up in front of me in the saddle. It was always hilarious when we passed that dog, because Jake would never fail to bark from way up there. It always seemed to piss that dog off.

I wonder why?