I got to enjoy Harper and her mom and dad for another half day on Sunday.  She awoke feeling much better after the long night before; “cutting” new teeth is not easy work!  After playing around the house and eating breakfast, she enjoyed the kiddie pool, and loved splashing water everywhere.  Kids really enjoy water, and don’t seem to mind cool water temperatures.  She tried desperately to catch the water drops.  She is such a pleasant baby when she’s not feeling bad.  We were sad to see them leave as we only get to visit with them a few times each year.  We will travel to Memphis on July 27 to help celebrate her first birthday a few days early, and are already looking forward to seeing them again.  She and her mom make a pretty picture!  I’m sure luck to have beautiful women in my life.

DATE:  Monday, June 24, 2013
TIME:  8:00AM TO 1:30 PM
WEATHER:  Low 90s, partly cloudy, windy

The rest of the week was slow, by our “constantly rushing and staying busy” standards with near 100 degrees Tuesday and remaining hot the rest of the week.  Butterflies were flittering around Tuesday, but slowed down considerably towards the end of the week.  I was able to photograph this female spicebush swallowtail feeding on a nearby lantana.

Happy Father’s Day all you dads.

Once again, attendance at the Sunday school class FUMC asked us to co-teach is challenging—only one couple showed up.  Kay is a real trooper, and continues to teach regardless of the number of attendees.  And, she still gives “a full measure” preparing for each class.  In our society, young adults with children in school are so busy and pulled in many different directions—swim meets, softball, baseball, soccer, lake time, vacation, and maybe a little family time thrown in; regrettably, church and Sunday school take on a low priority for most, but not all, young families.

We had a relatively quiet week.  I enjoyed some great wade fishing on the Norfork River Monday through Thursday, getting caught by unscheduled high water (generation) on Monday and having to walk/run downstream to a walk-out point.

We played duplicate bridge on Friday afternoon, and our lack of bidding knowledge proved to be an Achilles heel as we came in last among 10 partnerships.

My Father’s Day present arrived a few days late—Harper and her parents, Jenny and Brian, arrived Friday evening, and we were quite surprised at her amount of growth, increased dexterity, and inquisitiveness.  Obviously, the rest of the weekend was devoted to spoiling her. She has just begun walking and really gained confidence this weekend, walking all over the place.  Saturday saw her “cutting” teeth, and she was stuffy and a bit unsettled, and didn’t take naps when needed!  We all went to the Farmers’ Market in Mountain Home Saturday morning.  She slept when we first arrived at Norfork Lake, and as we motored to a cove, anchored, and her parents swam. 

She did enjoy some time in the lake, but the mandatory PFD appeared to be quite uncomfortable, and combined with her not being 100 percent made for a less than happy time for her.  And, Saturday evening, she could/would not go to sleep, and I ended up walking her around the house while Jenny and Brian walked and had the traditional s’mores; Harp wanted her mom! She finally went to sleep, with her parents, about 11:00 PM, and that’s the way we ended the blog week.  Despite not feeling well, she was a good baby and had lots of happy time with DD and KK.

Ridge, Karyn, and Matt left Sunday morning after a very busy weekend.

We returned to Quarry Park and the motorhome for a couple more days of cool weather.  When we arrived, our “neighbors” from Ohio were readying their motorhome to drive back, trying to get ahead of foreboding weather along the way.  We said goodbyes, gave them a contact card, and asked that they call us when they come back to the area.  We enjoyed the rest of the evening sitting under a large oak tree along the river.

Early Tuesday morning we loaded everything that had accumulated over the last 12 days—chairs, grill, propane tank, ice chest, table cloth, satellite dish, hoses, camera tripod, etc.—and stuffed it in the Explorer and Honda, retracted the slides and jacks, emptied the tanks at the dump station, and drove home.  There, we rinsed the tanks, and unloaded the motorhome of clothes, computers, and food as we won’t be “camping” again until late July.  And then, I parked it on its newly leveled pad, having had to add about 8 inches of compacted gravel towards the front axle.  Wow, did it ever make a difference!

After a haircut, we washed and dried the motorhome, readying it for its first waxing.  The rest of the week was spent arduously waxing the roof, back, front, and sides, using two containers of wax in the process.  All in all, it took about 12 hours of hard labor, but it shone like a new penny!

On Thursday and Friday, I played hooky for a part of each day and fished with Ed and John, having a blast in the process.  It’s the first time I’ve fished since November 2012 when water levels never dropped and instead increased to the point that Ed and I could not make it back across the river.  Previously, I hadn’t fished since September 2012, so in effect this was the first time fly fishing in about 9 months!

I returned home Sunday after church and Sunday school, meeting and greeting the “Old Girls” before they departed for home.  Kay is amazing regarding the large number of long-term friendships she enjoys.  After the guests departed, we cleaned house and did laundry, readying the Dunnhill “Bed and Breakfast” for next time.  We enjoy entertaining, and designed our house to accommodate guests comfortably; most say they sleep better at Dunnhill than anywhere.

Back at Quarry Park, we met our new next door neighbors, a moderately young couple from Ohio.  We visited quite a while, and learned that the husband, Scott, has been coming to the area for about 20 years, enjoying great trout fishing in both the Norfork and White Rivers.  While here this week, he hooked and released a 24-inch brown trout; of course, there were no photos, just his mother as a witness!  The wife, Christy, is a birder and our RV sites back up to large trees holding many birds.  She and I enjoyed many conversations about birds, and she was great in identifying them. 

Scott identified the Gray Cat Bird, and it was a noisy bird, singing constantly.  It hung out in a large tree behind our motorhome.

This red bird sure looked like a Summer Tanager as viewed relatively close through binoculars, but now looks like a young cardinal.  It was the first time we had seen it, and another accompanied it to the small tree behind our motorhome.

Though we’re “camping”, we return home almost daily to pickup mail, tend to plants, and use the unlimited internet.  As many of you may know, I bought a new HP Windows 8 computer in January to replace the great 2-year old Dell computer with a bad mouse pad.  It was and remains a frustrating experience using the new HP, and particularly using Windows 8.  The HP keyboard is awkward to long-time Dell users, and Windows 8 is totally new and untested (and disliked by most users).  Consequently, I decided to go over to the dark side, and ordered a MacBook Pro, switching to the Apple operating system.  It came in Wednesday afternoon, and was relatively easy to set up.  I was able to transition all the files over to the MacBook Pro by week’s end.  It will require some effort adjusting to new software, file management, and ways of doing things, but it’s got to be better than Windows 8!  By the way, Kay has a really hard time relaxing…yeah, right!  Of course, she has to check up on the grandkids quite often–thank goodness for social media.

There are several “new to me” butterflies showing up in the park, like this Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa antiopa)

 And, we never tire of seeing the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly.

About mid-week, we received a hint that Ridge and his folks might show up late Friday evening for the weekend.  A call on Thursday confirmed the visit, so Friday morning we secured the motorhome, packed a few things to take home, and left to spend the weekend at the house.  

This blog was drafted, but lost!  So here goes.

We were surprised on Sunday by a visit from Ridge, Karyn, and Matt, and one of Matt’s friends and his 12-year old daughter.  We always look forward to seeing Ridge…and of course, his parents.  Kay and I kept Ridge Sunday afternoon while they fished high water on the Norfork, catching lots of big fish, including Karyn’s biggest ever brown trout.  They brought food and we had great pulled pork and all the fixin’s Sunday evening–very good.

They left Monday morning, Memorial Day, and Kay and I did laundry and a quick house cleaning, and spent the rest of the day just hanging out.
On Wednesday afternoon, returning from duplicate bridge lessons, Kay suggested we go camping.  Upon arriving home, the RV slides were withdrawn, satellite and electrical cords unhooked, and we were ready to go.  After selecting a site and setting up the motorhome, we returned home to gather food, clothes, toiletries, and toys and returned to spend a quiet night at Quarry Park, immediately downstream of Norfork Dam.
With the motorhome gone, gravel was ordered and delivered at home to resurface the drive and build-up the RV parking pad.  The driver did a great job of spreading the gravel on the drive, but a couple of areas required significant shoveling and raking.
Kay returned home on Friday morning to receive guests at Dunnhill.  Four ladies who taught with Kay some 30 years ago came to spend the weekend, something they do almost annually.  I stayed at Quarry Park, out of their hair, and we all probably enjoyed the privacy.
I discovered a couple of great butterfly areas at Quarry Park, including the dump station where people dump their sewage, and an overgrown area near the launch ramp and parking area.  In addition, a few day lilies survived the floods and weeds in the overgrown area, offering beauty in an otherwise drab environment.