A Place To Lounge and Assembling A New BBQ

We bought this little Weber Smokey Joe the second day after arriving at our new old house in Arkansas. We used it that Spring, Summer and Fall almost daily .... but it's charcoal so we used it on the cement porch downstairs because we didn't want it on our upstairs composite decking .... I tend to spill hot charcoal out of the chimney starter now and then :) .... so here's what may be the final shot of Old Smokey cooking hamburgers Thursday afternoon .....

because ....yesterday we bought a new propane BBQ to use in a more convenient location .... on the deck upstairs .... near the kitchen .... but it came in 500 pieces .... or was it 475 pieces? Anyway Lea left and spent the afternoon at the nursery (a wise decision) while Ozzie and I put together the BBQ ....

as much help as a cat can provide it wasn't enough to cook the steak last night .... it was ready but I wasn't :) So tonight we'll break it in.

Planted more seeds but a drenching storm this morning probably washed them away .... I'll just keep reseeding until they stick. In the meantime .... yesterday morning .... when it wasn't raining .... we worked on "A Place To Lounge" ......


I'll get some steak shots tonight :)

I Only Have 4 Words To Say ... and a photo

One Year Ago Today ....


Ok ... I lied :) ... I have more to say. This photo was taken on May 06, 2010 at Tahoe Valley Campground where we kept our motorhome. We gave it to my nephew but had to get everything out of it that we treasured to haul back to A.J. and then home to Arkansas .... whew! That was a trip that we wouldn't want to do again but it had such great positive results that we have to treasure the whole experience.

From Storms To Sunshine

Today was beautiful! It stopped raining this morning after 3 days of what seemed like non-stop rain and thunderstorms. We're lucky to have the basement ... part of it is the shop and has windows but another part of it (not shown in the video) is safe of windows so when it gets scary we just hang out in the shop .... close to what I call "The Cave"....


So here's a little snip of life during and after this weekends storm...

Iris, The Garden and The River

The Iris are starting to bloom ....



And a little update on the garden and the river ....


Another storm is moving in as I type this out and I've gotten the emails from the weather channel warning of chances of more flooding .... but it's looking like the rest of the week (after Monday) is going to be really nice! We want to go kayaking!!! We're also trying to plan a day trip to the Mark Twain National Forest up the road a bit and across the border in Missouri .... waiting on one of those perfect spring days.

The Storms

Lots of extreme weather over the past several days .... flooding, severe thunderstorms and tornados that went around us and not through us. I've had lot's of emails and phone calls ... some from friends I haven't talked to in a long time ... so I realize that the series of storms we've had have caused concern .... thank you for caring! Lea and I are very sorry for the residents of Alabama that suffered so much loss and our hearts go out to them .... we are fortunate and we are fine :)

Yesterdays High Water

Loberg Park in Hardy

We made into town today via the long way to get around the flooded rivers and closed roads. Main St. in Hardy was drivable but you couldn't cross the Spring St. River Bridge ....


At the end of the video you probably heard a RailRoad Crossing Bell ... that's because the railroad lines had been flooded

and the crews were working to restore electrical. It's been an exciting few days and although the sun was out today, a storm is moving in for tonight and tomorrow .... but .... Thurs. and Friday are going to be beautiful!!!