Flood pics - April 2011

We have had some serious flooding here in southwest Missouri over the past week. In our area the rainfall totals have been between 15-20 inches. Trying to control the lake levels has been difficult because of the large amount of water that has fallen in such a short amount of time. Table Rock Dam has all 10 gates opened releasing water at an unprecedented rate of 68,000 cubic feet per second. This has caused the levels of Lake Taneycomo and Bull Shoals to rise drastically and has directly affected us. Here are some pictures taken over the last two days.

This is the Fish House Restaurant at the Branson Landing.  Normally you walk down into the restaurant but the lake is up and over the road.  The Bass Pro Shop dock came loose and crashed into this restaurant where it was hung up for awhile.  It eventually broke loose again and floated downstream where it finally came to rest near Edgewater Beach.

The view from the patio of Macaroni Grill.

 

The fountains at the Landing are underwater.

Shorty Small's and Ben & Jerry's

The power company shut off the power to our building on Tuesday night.

This was the water level Tuesday afternoon but by late afternoon we could see the water creeping into the parking lot.

This is the view from the back of our building on Wednesday morning.  Completely underwater.

This is looking up into the parking lot from the back of the building.  The water is halfway up the lot and moved up at least another four feet from here throughout the morning.

Our friends Steve and Linda's building is right around the corner from Ozark Productions.  They definitely got the worst of it.

This is a picture of K-Dock on Bull Shoals Lake where the pontoon boat is docked.  The rapid rising of the water combined with the large amount of debris caused such stress on the dock that it almost broke free.  Fortunately, they were able to repair the tethers and secure the dock before it was lost.

It's raining, it's pouring...

...and we've been stuck inside for a few days.  This has caused us to come up with creative ways to entertain ourselves.  Here's what Adrienne and Benny came up with.

Consider Yourself....

Our family had a wonderful time being part of our community theater's production of "Oliver!".  All three kids were cast as orphans, Dad got to help with lighting and other production stuff and I got to play clarinet in the pit. Such a great experience just sad when it's over!

We've been talking at home about how much we love musicals.  Of course we love the music and how sometimes you sing the songs over and over in your head because the tunes are just so catchy.  But we've also noticed that if you really pay attention to the lyrics there are many nuggets of wisdom that stay with you long after the show is done.

The musical, "Oliver!", is based on Charles Dickens' book, Oliver Twist, and takes place in London in the 1800s.  Most of the main characters in this musical are either orphans or folks making a living as pickpockets or thieves, either by choice or circumstance.  Although the musical is kind of lighthearted it does deal with some heavy issues at times - the cruel treatment of orphans, poverty, social class and social injustice just to name a few.  One of our favorite characters was Nancy.  Even though she herself is a criminal (having been raised in Fagin's "gang" of pickpockets), she tries to save Oliver from the same fate.  Yet all the while she refuses to give up Fagin or the violent Bill Sikes (whom she loves) to the police. She has an upbeat disposition and always tries to see the best in people and circumstances. "A Fine Life", sung by Nancy and the orphans, ended up being one of our favorite songs of the show.  The song is sung by characters whose lives are somewhat rough around the edges (to say the least) but the lyrics talk about being content with what you have and where you are.

If you don't mind havin' to go without things,
It's a fine life!
Though it ain't all jolly ol' pleasure outings,
It's a fine life!
When you've got someone to love,
You forget your cares and strife.
Let the prudes look down on us,
Let the wide world frown on us,
It's a fine, fine life!

Here's a little bit of that song as well as some pictures of the kids from the show...(I do realize this blog is rated G, so please just ignore the gin reference.)

Like other musicals we've been a part of, we came away with so many things at the end of this show - new friends and experiences, the satisfaction that comes from learning and putting together a production, a shared project the whole family got to be involved in, and of course...the music.

So go ahead, try it for yourself.  Think of one of your favorite musicals, or rent one on DVD, or better yet go see a live show and see what you come away with.  Last week, a sick Benny wanted to watch "Mary Poppins" several times.  Now, who couldn't learn from this?....

In every job that must be done, 
There is an element of fun.
Find the fun and...snap!
The job's a game!

Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down...
I think you know the rest.

Maybe it's time for us to start writing down all these gems of wisdom we're gaining and put them into a book.  We could call it....All I Really Need To Know About Life I Learned From A Musical.  ;)

More poetry

This is a video project for the latest poem memorized.  Adrienne loves that this poem is all about dreaming and really likes how the poet describes the dreamworld as a destination to which one travels.  Ironically, she is a very avid nighttime dreamer and often feels as if she's traveled when she wakes up in the morning. :)

the BIG trip

Hello there, Collin here.
A few weeks ago we got back from a BIG trip!  We had to go to a convention in Las Vegas.  It started on Monday the 30th of November and ended Wednesday the 2nd of December.  Because of the long drive, we decided to spend Thanksgiving with our friends, Kristy, Brad, Spencer, Tessa and Tanner in Albuquerque, NM!  One of the cool things about the visit was that our little friend Tanner had his first Thanksgiving and first snow on the same day!  Our friend Brad works with nuclear weapons at Kirtland AFB and before we left on Friday he took my Dad and I to the Museum of Nuclear Science and History.  Here are some pics.

 This is a Minute Man Nuclear Missile.  Back in the 1970's these missiles would be in big silos out in the middle of the countryside, and if needed would be shot directly from the silos.  They could get anywhere in the world in 30 minutes!

 This is our friend Spencer with my little brother next to a landing gear of a B-29 Flying Fortress.  This is the  kind of aircraft that dropped the atomic bomb to end WWII.

 

This is a model of the "Enola Gay", the B-29 that dropped the bomb and ended the war.  The picture shows that they put the bomb in a hole, backed the aircraft over the hole,and lifted the bomb into the bomb bay!  This was necessary because the bomb was too big to fit under the plane.

After we left ABQ we drove on to Flagstaff, AZ and spent the night at a hotel.  The next morning we headed off to the Grand Canyon!  We got there and tried to find a parking spot.  After we found a spot we decided to go to the south rim at the Yavapi section of the canyon.  Here are some pics.

One thing I discovered from being at canyon was that it is an international tourist destination.  There were many people that did not speak English.  Another thing I realized was that it is much more massive in person than it looks like in pictures.  The canyon itself is over 200 miles long!
So we soaked up all the beauty of the canyon that we could, and headed for Vegas.

We got to Vegas when it was dark, and it is not exactly flat around there.  When you are coming in to town, about 10 miles out you pop over a hill and it is a sea of lights.  There were lights EVERYWHERE!  We got to the Ballys Hotel, checked in and went to bed.  The next morning we set up our booth for the trade show at the International Association of Fairs and Expositions (IAFE) Convention.  Doing that trade show was very fun.  There are vendors and fairs from all over the world!  It had everything from Talent Agencies to Dippin' Dots!   

The next day after the trade show was done we walked down Las Vegas Blvd. and went to the M&M World store. It is 4 floors of all M&M merchandise!  Here are some pictures.

After M&M World we went to the Coca-Cola store that was right next door.  It has an elevator that looks like a big Coke bottle.  After that we were all tired so we went back to Ballys and went to bed.  Then the next day we did the trade show and put it all back in the trailer.  The trade show was done.  We went to the Gold Coast hotel and had the BEST all you can eat Buffet EVER!  Sorry I didn't get any pictures...I was too busy eating!  After that we went back to Ballys and fell asleep very fast.  The next morning we packed it all up and started the long journey home.  But on our way, we decided to stop at the Hoover Dam!  We had to drive down a curvy road, and because of Homeland Security changes, we had to get our trailer and van checked inside and out.  After that we crossed the dam and found a parking lot.  And when we stepped out of our conversion van (Ol' Bessie) we walked down to an observation level and saw how massive everything was.  The water level was down about 300 feet!  The dam has to be so massive because it powers 23% of Nevada, 18% of Arizona and parts of cities in California.  I got to see the new Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge!  It is 900 feet high and is the 2nd largest in the whole country!  It is just a bit shorter than the Royal Gorge Bridge.  We didn't stay at the dam very long because we had to get home.  But next year we are going to go to the visitors center and do some of the activities. A thing I learned about the dam was that the construction began in 1931 and ended in 1935,

Well that wraps up the story of our BIG trip. 


One of my favorite things about the trip was the scenery.  It was some of the most beautiful landscape that I have ever seen.

 I had such a fun time on the trip.  And I can't wait for the 2011 Convention!

Stellarium and The Star of Bethlehem

 

I found this over at SouthForte Farms, a blog I like to read.  It's called Stellarium and you can find it at:

www.stellarium.org

It is a free downloadable program that lets you type in the latitude and longitude of your current location and see the star scape that is over you at that moment.  You can even add layers to the stars, like the names of the constellations and over that, the diagrams of the constellations.  We haven't finished checking out the whole site yet but so far we love pulling up the star scape on the computer, then running out to the front yard to check out what we see in the sky.  We have a nice big view of the sky where we live and on a clear night, the stars are incredible. 

Another something we discovered is a documentary called The Star of Bethlehem.

This movie is an amazing presentation on the Star of Bethlehem. Approaching the star from somewhat of a skeptic's viewpoint, presenter Rick Larson uses Biblical and historical clues with some sophisticated astronomy software to take you through what was happening in the sky the night of Jesus' birth.  But what he discovers is more than just that.  He also shows what happened in the sky that set the stage for Jesus' arrival as well as what happened the day of his death...and how all this was set in motion at the time of creation. We have watched it more than once because it's a lot to wrap your brain around actually. But it's a unique and thought-provoking presentation that caused us to stop and consider the vastness of God, his creativity, and the lengths to which he has gone to reveal himself to us.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world."

Psalm 19:1-4

Field Trip

The fall weather has been beautiful around these parts, so the kids and I decided it was time for a field trip.  Where's our favorite place to go?....Silver Dollar City, of course.  This just happens to be one of our favorite times of year to go too because it's the National Harvest Festival and there are visiting craftsmen all over the park.  We spent a full day there and didn't begin to see everything there is to see.  But here's what we did do...

Of course we started the day at the bakery.

Having a giant cinnamon roll first thing in the morning helps you keep up your strength.

 We looked around quite a bit at the different demonstrating craftsmen and saw some amazing things.

This is our friend Dee's dad.  He and his wife make sorghum at the park.

 SDC has a whole section of downloadable lesson plans available on their website so we printed some and took them along on our outing.  One of the things we did was interview the master craftsman at Carrie's Candles.  Candlemaking is one thing that we enjoy doing so we were interested in learning how they do it at SDC and what candlemaking was like in the 1800's.  We learned that candles back then were made out of animal fat called tallow and were made more out of necessity than for any other reason. (We had guessed that scented candles weren't a big thing back in the 1800's.)  We dipped our own candles which is something I remember doing myself as a child when we visited SDC.

From there we headed over the Oak Trail Schoolhouse.

We sat at the desks and wrote on the slates.

We learned how to make a 5-pointed star with a few folds and one snip of the scissors.

We watched the big "Headin' West" production at the Opera House and spent some time at McHaffie's Homestead looking around and sitting on the front porch listening to the storyteller tell the true story of Birdle Mannon.  It was fascinating.  Birdle lived in a 2-room cabin in the Ozarks from 1916 until she died in 1999.  Her cabin was moved to SDC and now sits just behind the Homestead.

Well, perhaps the most exciting thing about the day was that the lines were short so everybody got to ride their favorite rollercoaster!

Ready for blast off!