PROP

Surprisingly, our boat’s propeller made it in good shape for a couple of years. We are up in the shallows quite a bit, setting bait traps out, scouting for bait fish, and recovering fishing jugs.

On the left is our original prop after being rebuilt by the Perfect pitch prop shop. On the right is a stainless steel prop that will go back on the motor.

The rebuilt prop will be carried in the boat, along with a new prop nut and spider washer, as an emergency replacement, in the event of loosing the prop or some other damage type emergency that could put a end to our annual fishing trip.

Here is a look at the assembled emergency prop kit. It is all held together with ty wraps.

Here is the kit, bagged up and ready to stow in the boat until needed.

Now for a look at the end result.

The stainless steel prop is much tougher, but that can be a danger to the motor’s lower unit. A hard hit can twist a output shaft.

For us the stainless prop is a calculated risk that we take because we are nearly always at idle speed when in shallows.

Our stainless prop on our dive boat was there for 11 years and was in the prop shop once in that time.

JEEPIN’

Our Nissan 4x4 was a good pickup for us, we had it for over 12 years. It just wasn’t a Jeep and when we took the Nissan pickup  out on the road with us, it got twenty plus miles per gallon. Soon we discovered that the off road stuff that we like to do was a bit much for it. It was time for us to get back in the Jeepin’ business !

Here is a look.

As usual, we put step bars on it for convenience, and added the mill spec ruck sack cover for a spare tire cover.

On the front we added a Blue Ox base plate for the tow bar. Here is the photo.

Side view.

Even before we started towing it, we got our first rock damage to the windshield at 123 miles ! Luckily the our Arkansas Farm Bureau waived the deductible and the Glass Shop, Custom Stripes and Tint, made the repair at no cost to us ! Now that’s sweet !

DOLLY

We have traded our Nissan 4x4 and now have a 2012 Jeep Wrangler that we will tow flat, with a blue ox towbar. Our one year old Stehl tow dolly is for sale. Here is a look at it.

Wheel hold down straps and wrench for adjusting the strap winches.

Front view of the Tow Dolly.

Safety chains, emergency break away cable, tail light plug, Hydraulic Surge brake control and 2" hitch.

Manufacture data plate with the VIN number and build date.

Vehicle loading tilt latch and safety pin.

Tire, wheel and EZ Lube hub.

Disc brake cylinder and rotor.

Wheel hold down winch strap.
As you can see this is a fully equipped tow dolly that is ready to hit the road, and the first $1,200.00 takes it home with them !
We have put very low miles on this dolly and it will give many years of service.
Call 479.243.5450 if you would like to talk about it.

FISH

Over the years we have been fortunate enough to have caught some nice catfish at the lake during our Spring time fishing trips. As time for us to go to the lake nears again, we have been looking at some old photos and reminiscing. Here is a look at a few photos. Click on the photo for a larger look.

Betty and I show a couple from the mornings catch.

The business end of Mr. Flathead.

One morning’s catch .

Betty shows the underside of a good flathead.

One morning’s catch just before the cleaning began.

Betty and Fran show a couple of good ones.

I don’t remember the fish’s weight, but it filled up a 35 gallon live well.

Dillon looking over the catch.

These two good ones had pulled the jugs several miles up the lake to Arrowhead point.

VALOR

 

RV and Boat Shows catch our eye !  We have an interest in keeping up with current trends in functionality and design.

This show was within 50 miles of our docking port. Of course we we went !

The Hot Springs Convention center Arena had plenty of parking and we walked and looked until we were wore out, looking at everything that struck our fancy.

After a lunch break at a Chinese Restaurant that we won’t write home about, we took in a movie. ACT of VALOR.

The Senior admission fee was $7. We were there a bit early and got our pick of the seats. If I had to pick a one word description for the Act of Valor, it would be Intense. The audience was mostly totally and quietly engrossed,  except for a few moments of levity in some of the scenes.

There was a lot of older veterans there, that, like myself, were totally absorbed by the movie. I expect that we were comparing the older technology that we knew, with what we were seeing up on the large screen. The surround sound in the theater made a firefight truly rage all around the us. Special effects were dead on solid.

For example when a Dillon mini gun was firing during a hot extract, the sounds and visuals were so dead on in the surround sound filled theatre, that I almost thought that I could smell the dragon’s breath of the mill spec ss109 powder that was burning outside of the barrels and making the bright fire blossom .

Like most veterans, I caught myself looking for someone that I might know. Then I realized that a character that looked like a guy I knew named Knudsen, would have to be his great grandson, should he be related to him ! Yeah, the years are a’ rollin’ by.

Here is a photo of one of the displays in the theater lobby. Click on any of the photos for a larger view.

As the movie ended and the crowd came out into the lobby, they were somber and contemplative.

On the lobby wall was a place where you could list the name of a military loved one that you had lost and wanted to honor.

I hope I havn’t made the movie sound sad, it was a great movie that honors the service of our military to America.

KNOCK

It was eleven thirty at night, deep in the Arkansas outback. A front was coming in and a stiff cold wind was blowing out of the North. Then an unlikely thing occurred. There was a knock at the door. Betty and I lock eyes. The unspoken and underlying thought is  .  .  . .  . trouble !

 

The messenger at the door, had, however, no bad news that night. Though a phone call would have done it, news of this magnitude required personal delivery. For after all, a Ouachita Mountain boy that went off to war, would finally be coming home.

Here in the Ouachita’s we almost never called it a conflict, as the media was doing. We knew and could recognize,  war when we saw it, and many here saw it first hand. Korea.

Our messenger had word about a mountain boy that never made it back from Korea, had finally been identified in North Korea, and his remains would be soon coming home.

Years had passed and family members, still hoping for news,  had submitted DNA samples. Then after all these years, word came.

Here is a look at the current marker, it says on the bottom, “at rest in North Korea”.

TREES

 

The old Norman High School and the Home Economics Building on the left.

Tree planters in action. The crew, left to right, Keith, Dicey and Betty.

They are planting flowering Pear trees.

Lots of preparation work had been done before our planting crew arrived.

Graduating Seniors names in the sidewalk.