Back from beyond the Internet!

I must say our vacation was not as I had imagined! There was SO much water in both Missouri and our neighboring Arkansas. The road to the boat launch on Lake Norfork near our property was totally flooded, as was the road to our place, so we had to drive the back road which is longer and not paved. These are a couple pictures of the road we usually come in on...Highway "T."



There is a bridge and guardrails under the water - we launched the boat right here on the road a couple times and the depth finder showed it was 20 feet deep out in the middle!



This is another boat launch we used on lake Norfork - also flooded. The second shot is the bathhouse at the picnic area.

This is a playground over at Bull Shoals Lake:

Pigeon Creek Boat Launch - Part of Norfork Lake across the state line in Arkansas:

Dry Run Creek at the Fish hatchery near the Norfork Dam:


The Norfork Dam in Arkansas. The Army Corp of Engineers was forced to open the flood gates and let some water through since the lake was at 99% capacity. This is the second day and the gates are no longer fully open. This did cause more flooding for the properties below the dam, but if the dam were to overflow, it would be much worse!

The weather did get nicer later on in the week, although it was a bit cool and most days were windy. My DH and nephew went fishing one windy day and I went off sightseeing. Here are couple of pretty old water mills:

A random tree - but I liked the purple flowers and bright blue sky!

Ok here come the critters!

First up are deer in the yard. Hank filled this old birdbath with corn and these two deer seem to be at a standoff with a plump squirrel!

Looks like the deer have won!

Thye next few shots are not my best, some were taken in low light and others at quite a distance, but I am posting them anyway just to give you an idea of the variety and abundance of wildlife in the area. Here are: an armadillo, ( shot from out on the boat) an opposum under our bird feeder one evening and 8 turtles on a log, with a ninth turtle way in the back. I am amazed at how many different creatures I see here!

A flock of Goldfinches feeding on thistle seed:

A Pileated Woodpecker:

A Hummingbird (we only saw a few; probably since the weather was so cool):

A Red-Bellied Woodpecker:

The next few are my favorites...

A Black Swallowtail on the lilac bush:

A white Breasted Nuthatch:

A Barred Owl:

And the highlight of my vacation is these shots of a Roadrunner over at the Norfork Dam Picnic Area. I have seen a few roadrunners down here but I have never been able to get shots like these - they run away SO fast!

These are sized down to fit on the blog - the full size photos are even better!

Notice the two lizards she has caught for lunch! I think it may be a female with nest nearby, which is why she seems to be hanging around. Very sweet of her to pose nicely for me!

All in all it was quite an enjoyable vacation - even if not as warm as I expected, and with all the flooding. I am really happy with the photos I was able to get. Other than that I did a lot of reading, and we watched a few movies at night. We went to Fantastic Caverns up in Springfield, so neat to see inside the cave! We also had some nice visits with our friends and certainly did a lot of eating! I now need to lose at least 10 lbs!

I am finding it hard to get back into designing again - my creative side must still be off on vacation somewhere. I am hoping it comes home soon!