Anniversary Trip

For our anniversary celebration, we chose to spend the week-end in Hot Springs for old-times sake. We stayed at the Arlington Hotel, dined at McClards, Pancake Shop, Bella Arti, and Fisherman's Wharf. We enjoyed a day at Garvan Gardens (pics on next post) and participated in the Art Walk on Friday night. On the way down to HS, we spent the night at Petit Jean State Park lodge, and hiked and dined with Tami and Kevin and their friends. We also stopped on the way and on the return from Hot Springs to visit Ben, Myka, Charlie and Tucker. We had a great few days to mark our 39th!

 

Before our hike on Cedar Falls trail

Cedar Falls

Sisters

Wifey in front of the Arlington Hotel

My favorite breakfast haunt of all time

More wildlife

 Newly born fawn in back of house.  Mom came to get it very soon after this shot

 Hummer that hit the window.  A little TLC got him over his headache and he was on his way!

Tom 

Return to Crystal Bridges

We were able to return to Crystal Bridges Museum for the Norman Rockwell exhibit. We have always admired his work and to see all his works in person was a real treat. This museum is a true treasure for Arkansans - not only for the art, but also the architecture and landscaped grounds and trails.

 



 

The shape of the buildings reminds me of my favorite critters, the box turtle.  Looks right at home in the Ozark woods, just like the turtles.

This sculpture is so realistic it is creepy.  Hopefully it wasn't created by a taxidermist.  Most folks pass by it thinking it is a man resting on a bench.



Crooked Creek Clean-up Float

We participated in the annual float to pick up trash on Crooked Creek. This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Norfork and White Rivers organization, and was our second year to join then. The even is capped off by a crawfish boil and live music at a Game and Fish pavilion. It's rewarding to do a good deed and then cap off the day with a fun and
entertaining social event.

Back to the blog: Miscellaneous sitings at Trout Lily

So due to the early arrival of our twin grandsons, our little blessings in the form of Charlie Monroe and Tucker Cash, I have taken a four month hiatus from the blog. So lots of catching up to do. Mostly just pics I have collected in the few spare moments we have had. Will probably not load up the blog with grandson pics at this point - there is a link to the Tabortwins blog on this blog in case you are interested.

Barn swallow nest off screen porch

 



 Large moth

 Tami and Charlcie

 Hummingbird enforcer - waiting to chase off any others

 Hummers

 Salmonfly stonefly - exciting insect for flyfishers - steak dinner for trout

 Our "Cotter" trout addition

Can you spot the goldfinches?



Controlled burns

In the past week, the National Forest Service, National Parks, and other agencies have been involved in several controlled burns of forests in Arkansas. The largest is in the National Buffalo River wilderness area. Since we are just a couple of miles upriver of the confluence of the Buffalo and White Rivers, we have observed a lot of smoke from the fires. Evening and night we were able to observe the actual lines of flames as they climbed up and down the mountains - actually a pretty impressive sight in my opinion - and I love the smell of a good leaf fire!

Bluebird morning, turkey afternoon

With the recent spring-like weather, we have been able to hike around our acreage (and others), paint/place our bluebird houses, and monitor the wild turkeys that have been frequenting our yard lately. We have discovered that sometime in the past, a very large area of this development was utilized as a "Commercial Game Bird Shooting Resort" as identified by the several dilapidated signs that we have located hanging on trees on the outer borders. We will have to do a little research into this and hopefully get the full story.

Back of our house from rock garden below 

 We had a fun time painting the bluebird houses before mounting them on the posts in the field

Beautiful Tom



Tom (x4) along our driveway - picture taken from our bedroom window

Derek and Janell in Arkansas

One of the most recognizable and talented artists in the fly fishing world is Derek DeYoung. We were pleasantly surprised when Dally's fly shop arranged from them to spend a week here fishing and a day of painting at the shop. Derek's work appears on covers of the top industry magazines and articles, and on many of the products on the market. His passion for fishing matches his passion for his art, and it shows in the final works - what impresses me the most are the vivid colors that are captured and are reflective of the beauty of the subjects. The talent is obvious, but what is especially notable is the fact that Derek and Janell are the nicest young couple you could hope to meet. We have been impressed since first contacting Derek relating to Trout Unlimited fund raisers, his taking a day off to take us fishing for grayling in Montana, and visiting with him and Janell here in our neck of the woods. And we hear they could make a return trip next year! As soon as we win the Powerball drawing, then one of the first acts will be to purchase some original works :)

 Janell and Derek

 

 

At home with the critters

Always deer - getting closer and closer to the house. And we will have to start protecting our landscaping very soon. So far, all that has been installed is deer-resistant. We will have to come up with a plan for defense against deer as we complete our plantings. With the ice storm this week, we have observed some very interesting bird movements. Dozens of robins and cedar waxwings have flocked to our yard and trees, especially the large hackberry tree at our entrance. The tree is loaded with berries that attracts these birds, and the ice storm has deposited many berries on the ground, so we observe huge groups on land and on limb. As I've said before, it doesn't take much to entertain us! Always click on the pics to see full size - and in this case, be sure to click on the bird pic - they sure are pretty little things.

Annual Arkansas Week-end with Cabin Group: 2013

Each February, our group of road-trip warriors head for a week-end together somewhere in Arkansas. This year it was at Azalea Falls lodge between Kingston and Ponca, near the Buffalo River. The weather was quite nasty, but we had a great time with great friends. The view out the back of the lodge was the most spectacular waterfall (actually series of waterfalls) I have seen in Arkansas. We figured out we have been doing this for about 12 years and still going strong. We have also had a few group trips to Colorado during this time. Anyway, enough experiences to generate our own set of trivia questions for a hilarious round of Cabin Group Trivial Pursuit. This all started with almost year-round road trips to various competitions as all our kids played club, high school, and college soccer. We just can't get the road-trip out of our systems - especially when we're able to get our fix with such a fun group. We have quite a time for a bunch of old folks!

Elk herd near Ponca

Azalea Falls

 

Friends

Twins' Reveal Party

 

Although Ben and Myka knew the results of the ultrasound on Wednesday, they were somehow able to keep a secret until the Reveal Party at her parents house Sunday afternoon.  Excitement was building and the betting was active before the announcement - boys? girls? or one of each?  The grandmothers had the honor of cutting the cakes and blue (x2) led to lots of cheering and smiles.  Then Ben and Myka made an announcement: according to the physician, in all likelihood the boys will be identical.  Double Tabor trouble.  We're truly blessed and so excited!  Ben and Myka are very touched and appreciative of all the support and interest of their friends and family.

 Almost half-way

 Proud, happy parents-to-be

 Rick checking the winners of the pool, Janice and Charlcie with mouths wide open, and Ben securing the cake

Blue (x2)

Thing 1 and Thing 2!

 

it gets loud!

Christmas tribute

Melancholy, beauty, reverence, respect, pride, love. Emotions apparent during a visit to the National Cemetery. Thanks to the volunteers who place the wreaths at Christmas and the flags on Independence Day! Impressive tribute to those that have shouldered the sacrifice. Update:  found out after the fact that my brother Steve was able to place the wreath at our mother's marker - they allow family members to participate in advance - which makes this extra special.

Christmas on Trout Lily Lane

The Happiest Christmas

This Christmas was special, considering our recent news that Ben and Myka are expecting twins this summer. We are obviously very excited and looking forward to spoiling grandkids in the future.

Feathered friends at White River Valley

We see plenty of wild turkey in our area, sometimes as many as 30 at a time. We have seen owls fly in front of us when driving at night, but this barred owl was near the road at dusk and we were able to stop, observe, and photograph. This was when Ben and Myka were here for our Christmas, so we all got to enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2012

We were fortunate again to spend time with most members of our families at Thanksgiving this year - but didn't take many pictures. Did get an opportunity to let Ben take some shots with my new shotgun - enjoyed being outdoors on a beautiful Ozarks fall day.

Morning fog off the river at Trout Lily on the way out of town

 



 Getting ready for target practice