Friends Paul and Barbara Harvel invited us and Mary Ann Shaw to join them for a day of horse racing at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs. Neither Anita nor Dan know squat about horse racing, but we had a lot of fun acting like we did. Mostly, it was all about placing careful bets – well, not always – and enjoying the thought of hitting a big one (we didn’t). It was a very fun day with a lot of laughs.
RIP, Bird On Stump – April 1, 2015
No, this is not an April Fools post. It’s the sad story of our dear friend, Bird On Stump, getting blown off her perch during a vicious thunderstorm and shattering. BOS was brought to us in 2008 and placed on the stump of an oak tree in front of the house by sister Linda and brother-in-law Haltom, who had been on a scuba diving vacation in Cozumel and had hand-carried the ceramic sculpture for its immigration back to the U.S.
Click on the image below for a photo journey through the life of Bird On Stump.
Independence Day Celebration – July 4, 2014
We again helped Mountain Harbor and the Joplin Volunteer Fire Department with their annual July 4 celebration.
The first event was the patriotic celebration hosted by Phil “Uncle Sam” Merry. This event is held on the softball field in the Harbor South park. For the event, we take our “Engine 2” to the field and set it up with the ladder extended, and I (Dan) climb up with a couple of cameras to take photos of the event from the high perch. I basically get a lot of mediocre photos of the backs of peoples’ heads, but using a telephoto, there is an occasional good shot. A link to all of my photos from that event can be found here: http://www.joplinvfd.org/july-4-2014-celebration-at-mountain-harbor-resort/2014/07/
Following the celebration in the park, there is a 4-wheeler parade around the Resort featuring the terrifically-decorated buggies and their riders. The final count of parade participants was 154 vehicles!
After the parade, we generally settle into a lazy day at home, not wanting to contend with the huge crowd at the Resort or on the Lake. We go through the day with fingers crossed that there will be no accidents or other issues for the Joplin VFD to deal with, and this day we were rewarded with a good and safe day.
Once night begins to fall, our VFD cranks up our fireboats to be on hand, along with the Corps of Engineers and Arkansas Game & Fish, to be ready for any issues that may arise from the fireworks display hosted by Mountain Harbor Resort. The lake in front of Mountain Harbor is generally full of boats, and this year was no exception. And, the crowd on shore for the event was estimated at over 3000 people! It was a beautiful evening, clear as a bell and relatively cool for an Arkansas summer evening. Again, we were delighted that there were no incidents or other problems with the crowd on or off the lake, and the display went off without a hitch.
While Dan was driving Joplin VFD’s Boat 3, Anita was able to use our Nikon AW110 point-and-click camera set up in “Fireworks” scene mode to see what would happen. The results from the bouncing boat are pretty interesting! Click on the image below to view a bunch of these photos.
Another Sucky Day on Ouachita – May 18, 2014
We joined friends for another picnic and “hang-about” on our favorite island today: Lou and Kay Poole on their barge, Tom and Bunnie Lester in from fishing in their Skeeter boat, and us on our barge joined by Jennifer Brewer, Nick and Judy Tucker, and, of course, Winnie and visiting Toby.
The camera came out late after the Pooles and Lesters had departed and our friends Vicki Crawford and Lisa Ligon joined in, so there is no documentation of the fantastic grub we enjoyed: Jenn’s tenderloin sliders with Judy’s blue cheese sauce, and Anita’s broccoli/bacon salad, along with too much brie and crackers and salsa and chips and …
Sucky day??? Not at all. We love where we live!