Do you believe in leprechauns?

Missouri is as good as Ireland, we have little people at Twin Lake. If you leave your sand pails unattended and full of water, the little people use them for swimming pools.

III is just a memory

Erica, asked, will we blog from III again . . . and we won't. Sad, ain't it?

Seems like I was using Nana's View for Creston things, family, children and for grandchildren's stories and photos. I had taken to writing on III when I had something to say about Missouri . . . I was using III for stories about the outdoors, nature, wildlife and most things Missouri.

Now that III, the place, is gone, I changed the name of the blog to "Too at Twin Lake". This is where you will tune in to find out what is going on in Missouri and to see if Himself has had anything to say -- which as we all have noticed, he seems to be tongue-tied since he turned 60. But check in every now and again, he might just get the urge to write. He might surprise us.

It really is a bit of a relief, to have just one place to go. Don't get me wrong, I loved III. I loved the timber, the trees, the wildlife, the cabin and I especially liked the fact that I had room to grow. I had a place where I could try new things, practice new skills, make a mess, muck about and just, basically, act like a carefree kid. With no one to make fun of me and no one to criticize (well, hardly ever). The rule at III was "Do what you want, when you want" . . . as long as no one got hurt!

It will be nice not to have to worry about getting our work done at Too so we can get to III to mow. It will be nice that we can down-size the fleet of mowers. It will be nice that we don't have possessions scattered over two states and three counties because we are finding that our memories are not what they used to be and we were starting to keep lists, and inventories. Diaries and journals -- just so we would know where something was! And it will be great when we get a little house up at Too with basement and laundry and a furnace, maybe. Shower? Okay, Okay, I'll consider a shower for all your sakes!

Meanwhile, III is not completely gone. We have left all the blog entries and photos from Shagbark III right here in this site. It will be handy for me and Himself to wander back in time, dust off the photos, browse and nudge amongst the memories and be able to relive our good ol' days at III.

Meanwhile, (clink), I propose a toast to the future good days at "Two at Twin Lake"! Cheers!

Door to the past

"beasties" . . . a Bee Story

Craig and Traci, I have a story to tell about your little ones.

I have to preface it by saying that I have absolutely no fear, dread, anxiety or revulsion of bees, wasps, hornets, et al. Don't know why, just don't. Also, I'm admitting (hesitantly to be sure) that I don't understand that in other people, even other LITTLE people. Since I don't understand, I don't have too much patience. Wish it were different and I am working on it!

At Too, the last time with Gabby and Joey, we were unloading the car or doing some chore when two little dears set up a howl, crying, and in a panic. A wasp had flown around or by them.

Nana thought to nip this in the bud because you all are aware that in rural Missouri we are going to be dealing with bees, wasps, hornets, et al about every 28 minutes. Nana stopped in her tracks. Gabby! Joey! When you see a wasp, react! Don't just stand and cry! If you are outside, go in! If you are inside, go out! Soldiers react! Move. Walk. Go. Don't just cry!


The rest of the day, off and on, we talked about "reacting", being proactive, doing something to make things better. We talked about soldiers (okay, "army men"). Moving. Doing. Changing one's position.

Don't know if it made an impression or not . . . but I heard a few good stories about Daddy and insects, anyway . . . and we didn't have any more tears over wasps.

Moral of the story, tho, if the little ones talk mean about Nanny once in awhile, I deserve it!

Last time

This big baby took little ones along this weekend . . . so I'd have to be brave for a final visit.

I stood in the clearing and cried last time

but didn't this time:


I have had fun.

I have learned a bunch!

I had a good time with Himself.

I enjoyed nature.

I discovered things!

I made muscle.

I made good memories.

I built campfires.

I built a drogue.

I split a tree!

I stood naked in the privacy of the trees and showered.

I built a bed.

I persevered.

I did what had to be done.

I come from Pioneer Stock.


PS: I wish Himself was more interested in photos.
There would have been a bunch!

SHAGBARK III- THE FINAL CHAPTER

This will be hard to explain, as fast as I am(was) and as hard as I tried, I cannot outrun the thoughts of getting old. It hit hard when I turned 60, worse at 61, and now 62 is looming. 5 years ago when we purchased III, I had no thoughts of age. We jumped in with both feet a runnin, and had a blast. But as family duties allowed for less and less time to be at III, and II also, it becamed apparent that something had to give. And, as we had more ties to II, as herself's parents built it, we, me in particular was ready to abandon III. But, we will always have the memories we made, in writings, and pictures. The greatest of times were at III, as we plowed into the unknown, and made things happen. That will never be taken away from us. Now we will concentrate on II, make it better, and the story will continue on from there.
III has been sold!!! The ads came out on the internet on Wed., August 5, 2009, and the deal was finalized on Sat, August 8. We never imagined this could happen so quickly. A young couple from K.C. and their children will take over for us. They seemed very excited and wanted to know everything about the property. They will do fine.
Boi(himself)

Chocolate Lake

I like the name Audri invented for our little ol' pond. She jumped out of the Jeep, took one look and talked to PaPa about the Chocolate Lake. All I had ever thought to call it was muddy . . . so was glad to be around when a little one imagined it as "chocolate".

The pond has been named.

Blast from the Past

This is where we first launched the Leurine Lucille. What an adventure! I loved that old houseboat and if I ever win the lottery, I think I'll buy another.

Canapy and sunlight

High summer at III. The canapy is at it's heaviest; thickest. It is cool and damp, under the leaves on the river bottom. It is shady and cool, especially if you can catch a breeze.

Where the sunlight cuts through the branches and reaches the timber floor, it washes the area with light. Looking from aways back, those highlighted areas look like pools of water, rippling.

The timber looks different at every time of the year. It changes each month and even day to day. This might be my favorite time of year.

PS: what is with that photo, third down? The day was warm and humid but it wasn't foggy!

Fairy Flowers, gone by

Himself and I stole a part of a day and went to visit the enchanted forest. We found evidence that the Fairy Flowers exist! They still bloom and (somewhat) flourish at III. There were dried blossom heads here and there. They were not everywhere as they were that one year (was it 2 years ago? or 3?) but they were more abundant than they were last year.

Maybe next Spring -- maybe Spring, 2010, they will run rampant through the timber again.

Triplets

This little critter was one of 3 siblings came to our yard last evening and "whooooo'd" around and fluttered from tree to ground to tree. The neighbor had told us about a nest of youngun's last year but I never saw them so it was a delight to spot them flitting around our back yard. At first we kept our distance but after discovering that they didn't seem too scared of us, we would slowly walk up to within 3 feet or so and just stand and watch.

We are on sentinel detail tonight; waiting for the little owlets to come back for another evening rendezvous.

The little guy below seems to be scolding me!

Bird Watchers = Old Fogeys

Maybe Himself and I are Old Timers now but we do enjoy sitting on a screened porch watching the birds at the feeder . . . and making plans for our future.

Look what I found!

I was weeding around my little Kutsura Tree when I found this. I was glad I found it -- otherwise it might have found me! I was startled.

I didn't know Missouri had spiders this big. I described it to Himself as the size of a Tartanula. It is! It is huge. Do you notice I am saying "it is huge"? I had planned to lock it up in this jar and let the sun bake it to death. Then I was going to preserve it for my grandchildren, some way or another, so they could take it to show and tell.

I was going to perserve her but Himself said, Let that spider go. So I took her across the road. I took the lid off the jar and lay it in the weeds. She could go free . . . but not in MY yard!

PS: it is a she as that white thing on her abdomen is the egg sack. She's going to hatch out about another 100 just like her! I can't quite match my photo up with "Identified" spiders in the internet but I will call her a Fishing Spider. That is as close a match as I can make without touching her. And I didn't. I won't!

Jack's Discovery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killdeer
Killdeer nest on open ground, often on gravel. They may use a slight depression in the gravel to hold the eggs, but they do not line it at all, or line it only with a few stones. Since there is no structure to stand out from its surroundings, a killdeer nest blends marvelously into the background. Furthermore, the speckled eggs themselves look like stones.
The killdeer frequently uses a "broken wing act" to distract predators from the nest.
Jack and I first saw the startled Killdeer flopping away from her nest, acting as tho she were injured in action. We showed Morghan and Maddie and then Erica. Each subsequent trip down the road in the golf cart got Mama Killdeer less and less excited. By Monday, she wouldn't even bestir herself off the nest. She was blasé. Or should that have been . . . we are blasé?

Memorial Day Weekend

Himself and I had a nice long holiday weekend.

He left home Thursday after work and went to Too and set to mowing.

I felt I had to work Friday, as we have been so busy -- thought I should work at least half of the day, anyway. I ended up working until 12:30, to help the office through the noon hour. Then I had errands to run and places to go, before I took off for Two.

I also felt at liberty to stop at every garage sale and junk shop that I could find, between home and Too. And did! Himself doesn't like to stop, when he's driving, so I take advantage of the times when I drive down alone. We didn't come home until Tuesday and went back to work on Wednesday. So we did have a long weekend.


But we didn't spend much time here -- here at III.

Himself has sort of cut ties with this place. I think ever since the blankety *&^^%$#@%^ blank electric company went through and chewed up the "Top", Himself has sort of backed away. He has turned his back.

I think Himself thought when we purchased this acreage that this was THE PLACE. The Place where Corporate America , Big Brother and/or Government would not come calling. But, darn it, they did. They came calling, crawling, chawing and chewing. And spitting. It wasn't/isn't pretty.


They brought the big machine in and even though Himself had tended, mowed and cared for an electrical right away, it wasn't good enough (or they were just contrary enough) that they marched that huge tree eating machine down the right-away and chewed up every tree, limb, bush and shrub -- within chawing distance -- then spewed the remnants out on the ground like a honking chaw of tobaccy.

There is no way in Heaven Himself could begin to mow The Top now without one of us first taking a garden rake and spending 15 -20 hours up there raking and clearing.

I think Himself is heart sick.

We are talking about selling out.

But look!

Look at the cabin clearing! Isn't it just so pretty? Just like a park.

How can we give this up?

Blast from the Past 2004

Our very first visit after signing the "to buy" contract! January 2004.

That almost looks like a hockey stick in Joey's chubby baby hands. Gabby has a stick too -- well, okay, more like a log! Traci is sure good to let them try things, to experiment and they were (and are) curious little creatures. Fun! Makes me miss chubby little baby hands, cheeks and legs!

Oh, hey! We'll soon get to meet Miss Isabella and we'll have more chubby little baby cheeks and elbows! Can't wait!

Oriental umbrella?

They are pretty and fragile looking when the leaves first start to sprout.

They might be Hickory trees, a Shagbark Hickory.

We see these at III.
What do you think?

'bout time

We have been to Too several times in the last couple of months but it has been awhile since we've gotten to III. For one thing, we are busy. Just busy and it is hard to find a good weekend to go. For two, it has been a very wet spring. That lane does not get any better, week after week. It stays wet. The Missouri clay stays slick and the ruts remain because how could we even attempt to grade the lane (if we were so inclined) until it drys out a little.


Finally, Thursday, I said let's go. Let's take Friday off and we'll go mow Too. Take Friday and get a head start. We'll need to be home Sunday morning. We have a dinner date at the Freys.


'bout time, we got there.

We did head out Friday and got to Too where there had just been a soaker of a rain. The lawn was saturated and the ditch was running. I dumped Himself out and went to town on the assumption that he would not be able to mow until afternoon or possibly, even the next morning. In fact, I went more than to town, I went to Jamesport. I had been needing some Amish herbs and spices and other things. I need a day to bebop. A day to stop at garage sales if I found one, to turn around and go back the way I came, to take back roads and byways. Himself was content to stay at Too and putter, he said.


I went, guiltless. Carefree. Joyful in the knowledge that Himself wasn't working his fingers to the bones while I galivanted. Himself wasn't out there slaving away doing all the mowing by Himself while I was out spending money.


I would be back in time to help mow and I would have adventure and enjoy sights and do a little shopping.

Sometime shortly afternoon, I called Himself to let him know I was okay, still in Jamesport and after one more country store, I would head home. "I'm almost done mowing" he said. What? you weren't going to start until after Noon? Well, there went some of my lightheartedness but I was 50 miles away and had one more stop at Jamesport and several stops yet between Jamesport and Too so what could I do?

I made my way back home although it took me about three hours as I was an hour a way, I had to stop at the Mercer grocery store as I had a grocery list, needed to fill the Jeep up with gas as Himself had requested and had another errand or two.

I dragged in to find the lot half mowed. I thought you were "about" done mowing 3 hours ago? Well, he just told me that, he said. He had saved half the mowing so I could practice on the new zero turn mower. Okay. I got at it, got on the new mower, refreshed my memory and mowed the rest of it. I WILL get used to the new mower. Sometime.

Jamesport