Cruizin' for a Cause

So much starts on facebook these days. While posting on the Remember in Hot Springs site Brad commented how fun it would be to cruize Central like in times past. It grew into a plan and became a benefit. How could the police interfere with a benefit drive?  In the fifties it was quite popular with my group to go around the fountain. By the eighties the traffic got so bad around K-Mart and Burger Chef that the city put a stop to it.

Kay Ekey and group visiting with Brad Lovell in the old K-Mart parking lot.

These girls had a blast and let everyone know they were in the HSHS class of '75.

Always nice to have our sheriff get out and have some fun too. Larry was surprised that I remembered what color his panel truck was when he drove it to Lake Hamilton as a student there.

Folks seemed quite interested in this Cobra.

Yep, this is Arkansas..anything goes!

And around the fountain they went. We chose to drive to the Arlington and sit on the bus bench and watch. Had it not been a Razorback game night and a Friday night of the county fair there probably would have been a much larger crowd.  

I was surprised that nobody put soap in the fountain!! I had my turn long ago and wanted to give others a turn.

 

 Lots more photos on Facebook.

Hot Air Balloon 101

So we were on the way to breakfast and as we passed Cornerstone we spotted Spa Force One and the early morning crew. "Brakes, Leon!" How fun to watch from beginning to end.

I never realized how really small the baskets are!

Good idea! Especially if  you are pilot Mike Hickey.

Things are starting to take shape - it does take a crew.

It is eight stories tall and 58 feet in diameter and has 872 yards of nylon material held together by seven miles of thread.

Up, up and away!  It contains 90,000 cubic feet of air when inflated and can lift 1,980 pounds.

At last .. on to the English Muffin .. I am starving! But what a great way to start the day.

Spa City Blues Society Festival - final night

We enjoyed 4 nights of fabulous blues music. No doubt, it was the best festival yet. Wheatley Plaza is a good location with the Army Navy Hospital in the background.


Leon was quite excited about his dessert while I was enjoying bar-b-q.

 I instantly became a fan of E.C. Kight, aka the Georgia Songbird.

I didn't expect to run into so many cousins but had a nice visit with Greg and Barbara.

Then along came Steve.

Scotty Harris was amazing on saxophone and Roxy joined the group on her viola.



But the highlight, in my opinion, was Greg and Lee Oskar, and the crowd seemed to agree.

So we enjoyed the festival tremendously and got the shirt to prove it!

Getting ready for travel

I ordered a hitch immobilizer from Blue Ox to keep the bicycle rack from bouncing. Tomorrow I will flush the black tank. Not one of my favorite things to do. We are going to be heading for Savannah, Georgia in October. Should be fun.

Goodbye to toys

I said goodbye to my motorcycle and my Hobie Kayak. The motorcycle went to a young man in Springfield, MO and the Kayak went to a gentleman from Tennessee. There was a time when I would have used them but that was long ago. Well on to the next project, maybe another quad or a sail boat, or how far our we from the sea I've always wanted to surf?

Singing the Blues

Wouldn't you rather be geocaching? Decisions, decisions! We were over in Malvern locating a few caches and these folks kept being in our way as they were cleaning up the city parks. We have done most of the nearby caches and have to travel a little further these days.

Let the blues begin!

The 106 year old Ohio Club is still a pretty popular night spot in downtown Hot Springs. Each Wednesday night they have a spa city jam but this Wednesday was special so away we went. After a delicious supper we listened to the band and visited friends. There was an amazing crowd.

We had just about given up on Lee Oskar showing up but his plane had been delayed an hour. Show up he did and what a musician. I have never heard an accordian sing like his did! And I did not know about Scotty Harris on sax but I do now!

The Spa City Blues Society will be keepin' the blues alive in Hot Springs beginning tomorrow! Check their website for a list of the performers and location of the venue. We will see you there!

Lee Oskar and Scotty Harris performing at the Wednesday night jam at the Ohio Club! What an evening.

A little shopping flurry!

I seem to have a pretty good reputation for doing all my shopping at once. I might not shop for months and then .... and then .... well my friends know the rest.  So I had to go get a new basic black dress as mine just seems to keep shrinking. And what did I spot but some UGGs.  My friends also know I rarely shop anywhere but TJ Maxx so they seemed like a good deal ... kind of like a half price sale! Come on winter!


I then stopped in next door to check out the new Home Goods store. I don't really feel a need for much new in the home goods department but there was the chair I have been looking for! Today after Leon and I hauled some tables for my sister and just happened to have the trailer hooked up it was time to nab it! Well if I don't spend the winter on the Florida beaches I will be all comfy in my new chair donning my new boots!

Marcus, Arkansas

I think I have always had a passion for old buildings. I just like old wood, old metal and stone. The highlight of a recent geocaching loop was coming across this old homeplace.

The old well and outbuildings were still there and I wondered what must be in the house, but I did not trespass.

Marcus was an old community on highway 84 west of Bismarck. There were many families living in the area and it was pretty decent farmland.

Further down a dirt side road we passed this old barn. The house wasn't much newer but there were folks living there. Just good country living I guess.

And I thought July was hot!

July started out with a bang as usual but turned out to be one of the hottest I recall. It is usually hotter in August. So that I won't be disappointed the heat index yesterday was 109. The temperature should be at least 104 for the next three days and when it is only 98 on Sunday perhaps it will feel nice.

As soon as it does get cooler we have some trees waiting to be cut. While out marking trees we noticed this very long black snake and he noticed us. Now how does he know that he blends with that coax cable?

Up in NWA (Northwest Arkansas) my nephew is feeling the recession crunch I guess. He has a recession garden, a goat for milk, and now some Dixie Chicks. He was surprised one night when he went out to gather sticks that Nibbles was giving the chicks a ride. The sticks in July were for his prototype heating system that he was building.

So life goes on in Arkansas and I look at photos of my friends kayaking on beautiful mountain lakes in Oregon and wonder why we are still here. Last year when the temps were like this we ran to Michigan. Oh yeah, the dentist appointments! It is his fault that we are still here!

Arbor at last!

Several years ago I got creative with a leftover piece of plastic tubing to see if the muscadine vine in the yard would grow on it. And grow it did. All looked well until it got too heavy for my arch.

I backed the van up to the drainage canal from the church parking lot and managed to get my new materials to the constuction site.

Leon to the rescue with the post hole diggers. In no time, one post was set.

And then another. It appeared that it was actually going to happen!

Now we can go sit under the new arbor which I think might never fall! 

On the way back to the house I stopped to study this unusual tree. No wonder, not a leaf on it except for poison ivy. That will be another project, maybe for August.

Hanging out!

Sometimes it is nice to stay home in summer and enjoy what so many others come here to see and do when on vacation!  We have been taking lots of early morning walks at Garvan Gardens before they open. Members can go in the delivery entrance as early as 6 am and if one isn't walking by 8 they should forget it! Hot weather seemed to arrive early this year. This was one of the many whimsical art pieces we saw in the children's garden.

Downtown we went one night to take in the Wednesday night blues band and listen to Greg join them on his harmonica.  What a treat. All sorts of talented musicians showed up this night and we were out way after dark!

Don came down for a visit at the end of June on his way from Tulsa to Houston. We did not let a 98 degree heat index keep us in the house all the time! This is not what I expected to find at our first geocaching stop at McGill Cemetery. Thank goodness he had jumped out of his skin..I almost did too!

After a while Don and I realized it was easier to just climb on the running board of the truck as the caches were only .1 mile apart.

 

 We were excited to come to this cooling spot about half way down Huddleston Springs Road. We did not find the springs but this was good enough. We took the wet way to the cache!

There is just something refreshing about a shady spot on a country road in July. OK, I admit we did not even know what road we were on until we got to the end and ran into Mtn. Pine Road.