Sneakers

A lot of people are unaware of Winoka bridge. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure that Winoka bridge is the appropriate name for it, but that's what I've always heard it called by fellow Ozarkers. It can be found crossing Lake Springfield just east of 65 Hwy. It was the original 65 Hwy bridge when 65 Hwy came down what is now Glenstone turned east around what is now Sunshine and south again on what is now Lone Pine. Lone Pine will take you on a winding path down through what used to be Galloway Station and finally dead-ends at James River Freeway across from the Nature Center. Well, being that it used to be 65, it didn't used to dead-end. It went straight through the field that the big clover leaf interchange between 65 and James River Freeway now sits and connected with that old bridge....

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Seattle

The 90's was a definitive time for me as this short era contained all of my teenage years. It's well known that as teens we are constantly trying to define ourselves as individuals. One of the ways that we are heavily influenced during this search of ourselves is through music. I became a music nerd during this time. I guess you could say that when I was looking for who I was I found satisfaction with the music nerd label.Most everyone should remember the "Seattle Grunge" boom. However, it was much more than what most knew it to be. It had nothing to do with the clothes that most of you mentally pictured upon hearing it, but had everything...

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All Moved In

We got everything moved last weekend. We filled a 24 foot U-Haul three times. Saturday and Sunday were excrutiating. After 6 weeks of working at SRC during the day and working on the house during the night, I was ready for a nice weekend of nothing to do but lounge. I was neither physically nor mentally prepared for this move. Throughout the entire process I just wanted to give up and quit despite the consequences. Of course, we didn't have the option to quit, nevertheless I was considering it, justifying it, and making it make sense at least within the walls of my skull. We held out, though. We got it all moved and I officially turned...

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Bust a Move

The theme this weekend is "move". It's a short word that starts to look a little funny the more you say it and look at it's spelling. It seems to me that the word should be much longer and difficult to spell. Everyone has moved sometime so you know what I mean. If you're anything like me, then you know the "move" all too well. It almost seems like a way of life.For me, the nomadic life has been an adventure. Not a very good one, but an adventure nonetheless. I have never lived further than 12 miles from the hospital in which I was born, so obviously all my moving stories have a similar and familiar backdrop. However, although I've never...

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Heroes

My friend, James, sent me these today and I couldn't help but watch them over and over again. At first, I did the "OOhh!" thing, but as I watched them the third and fourth times the laughter came over me. The more I watched them, the funnier they became. Now, I do feel sorry for these guys to an extent. I did stupid things when I was a kid, too. But, I'm sure that even these guys had to laugh at themselves when they first saw the video despite stern warnings from the hospital staff that laughing can be very dangerous while in traction.I'd like to point out the un-sung heroes here, though. It's the geniuses behind the camera that make these so worthwhile for the rest of us. Their steady hand and unfailing dedication to "getting the shot" is honorable. They stand there and watch as their...

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Rent

I thought nothing of it at the time. However, exactly one week ago, I payed rent. This didn't seem significant other than it's obvious heavy significance in my checkbook register, but it was significant. It may be the last time that I ever pay rent again! Now, I don't claim to be a fortune-teller or a psychic or to have some sixth-sense ability to make absolute statements like this with any amount of certainty of it's destined truth. And, just for the record, I don't see dead people. So, this may just be an assumption on my part, but I am now closer to this being true than I ever have been before.Paying rent has become a way of life for me and...

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Redneck Love Poem

Someone sent me this and I found it sort of funny, so I thought that I'd pass it on.SUSIE LEE DONE FELL IN LOVE;SHE PLANNED TO MARRY JOESHE WAS SO HAPPY 'BOUT IT ALLSHE TOLD HER PAPPY SO.PAPPY TOLD HER, SUSIE GAL,YOU'LL HAVE TO FIND ANOTHER.I'D JUST AS SOON YO' MA DON'T KNOW,BUT JOE IS YO' HALF BROTHER.SO SUSIE PUT ASIDE HER JOEAND PLANNED TO MARRY WILL,BUT AFTER TELLING PAPPY THIS,HE SAID, "THERE'S TROUBLE STILL.YOU CAN'T MARRY WILL, MY GAL,AND PLEASE DON'T TELL YOU' MOTHER,BUT WILL AND JOE, AND SEVERAL MO'I KNOW IS YO' HALF BROTHER.BUT MAMA KNEW AND SAID, MY CHILD,JUST DO WHAT MAKES YO' HAPPY.MARRY WILL OR MARRY JOE.YOU AIN'T NO KIN TO PAP...

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Old Rivals

I have always been interested in the history of things. It seems that every time I learn some history on something that thing becomes much more understood and a lot more interesting. I'm probably a little biased since I've also always liked antiques and old things. I like things that have a story to them. It's why I drive a 1959 Ford, recently bought a 1909 house, and have several pieces of furniture that date back to the turn of the century (no, not 2000).Being born in Springfield and never living more than 10 miles away from it in my 27 years has provided me many, many snippets of history on the city. A lot of these interesting facts...

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Man, oh, man.

I think that we are still on track to having the house ready to move into by the 15th, but the days left to work on it keep falling off the calender and the list of things to accomplish still sits in my head without all the check marks that I would love to see by them. We are making some great progress, but I think that I haven't seen any checkmarks because we've been working on the hardest and most tedious two tasks on the list.Jodi has spent the last, I don't know how long, scraping off wallpaper. Not one, not two, but three or more layers of wallpaper. It's funny. Jodi found some wallpaper that was applied over the same style wallpaper....

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