Alley Mill - Rocky Falls

Dustin and I went to Alley Springs again and got to go inside the mill and the old store/visitor center. Afterwards we headed over to Rocky Falls, too many people for my taste but a beautiful place non the less. 

Inside The Old Store/Visitor Center

Inside Alley Mill 

Rocky Falls 

YouTube video - https://youtu.be/krZm9MGdU24

Another Abby Story - We're Under Attack!

I'm sitting in the recliner watching TV and the dogs are both laying on the floor relaxing, a pretty typical evening. Abby is all stretched out about eight feet or so away from the front door. I have had this picture hanging above the front door for a couple of years and Abby's entire life, which she passes under several times a day on her way outside. Suddenly she jumps up and sits at attention for close to two minutes staring at this picture, I have totally lost focus on the TV program, wondering what she is thinking as her whole being is focused on this picture… all of a sudden she starts barking at this image as if the most frightening creature in the world was trying to attack us and she had to stop it… Which got Herc into the act, of course he had no idea what he was barking at but he was going to help protect the family.  I laughed so hard I started to cry. She didn't think that was funny at all, We're under attack, I finally got them to relax and we are all safe.

Father & Son Adventure To Big Springs

The largest spring in Missouri and one of the largest in the world with a daily discharge of 276 million gallons on average.

Follow the spring run to the Current River, a nationally biologically important river.

Enjoy birding along the Current River in spring and summer for a diversity of songbirds.

NATURAL HISTORY:
The name says it all. Big Spring is indeed a big spring and the biggest in Missouri in terms of average daily discharge with some 276 million gallons of cool spring water (58 degrees Fahrenheit) flowing from it each day. This is one of the largest springs in the world. A dye-trace study has showed that dye introduced into a losing stream 39.5 miles away (near Mountain View) was detected at Big Spring 16 days later. This is the longest distance groundwater trace in the U.S. Large springs such as this depend on large areas of karst landscape to recharge them. The spring is at least 80 feet deep based on research dives.

The spring run of Big Spring provides cool water that feeds the Current River. Within the spring run, characteristic Ozark fishes include the Ozark sculpin and the bleeding shiner. Star duckweed, a plant species restricted to springs, occurs in the spring branch along with a variety of other plant species characteristic of springs including water starwort.

Downstream of Big Spring the Current River boasts a fish fauna rich in diversity including colorful darters and shiners (e.g., rainbow darter, bleeding shiner, and rosyface shiner,) and game fishes (e.g., shadow bass or goggle-eye, longear sunfish, walleye, and smallmouth bass). The Current River saddled darter has been located downstream of Big Spring. This fish species occurs only in the Current River watershed and nowhere else in the world. The Current River is of global conservation significance according to The Nature Conservancy and provides habitat for 35 global priority aquatic species of which 25 have their best or only populations on Earth in the river. The Nature Conservancy considers the Current River and its watershed to be the crown jewel of Missouri’s native landscapes. Birding along the Big Spring branch and along the nearby Current River you may spot the rare cerulean warbler. Other birds to look for include the kingfisher, the American redstart, the wood thrush, the red-shouldered hawk, and the northern parula.

The Big Spring area became a state park in 1925 and was developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression era of the 1930s. In 1972 the area was transferred to the newly created Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM9ThyAoWcg

https://youtu.be/YswxxOWLYz4

A Little Garden Work

Looked out of the window yesterday and saw what looked like half of my peach tree was broke, thought that the last storm had got it, finally went out this morning to take a look. 

It Just had too much weight hanging on too small of a branch, seems like a waste but for the health of the tree the fruit has to go…

That's Better

I checked out the other peach tree and found the fruit wasn't looking too good either, so off it came.

Something else interesting...

Did a little bit of weed whacking but my back started hurting so bad I had to stop. Oh to be young again... :-)

Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area --- 200th post

I was going though some old pictures this week and found a lot from some of our trips to Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area in Southern California, thought you might enjoy seeing some of the adventures we had. The Yellow Tube Buggy we bought well worn, without an engine and we wore it out even more. The Orange VW Thing I still have and am planning on getting back on the road soon.
My YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/EfzDAwucoQQ