"Summertime and the Livin' is Easy"

Lucky Swimmer on the Buffalo River

Jack just opened his "Back To School" letter. It's a shock to realize summer vacation is almost over! And the cabin paint job isn't finished, the shelves in the closet aren't built, we haven't even made our annual fishing/floating trip! Where did those "lazy, hazy" days of summer go? Our days are a whirl of cabin guests coming and going, preparing the cabins for the next guests, and squeezing in a little "down" time for ourselves in between.

We have especially enjoyed the live music at the cafes in Jasper, (not to mention the good food!). Joe Villines is a talented blue grass singer as is his brother and wife, Pat and Mattie. They have also brought in others, all winners of various music awards, such as the Honey Dewdrops. Check them all out on "My Space" .

Cabin guests are always fun. They come as strangers, and leave as friends. We enjoyed getting to know the family from Louisiana who decided to take a road trip to the Ozark Mountains on their Harleys. They miscalculated their travel time, as well as gas mileage, and literally coasted down the last mountain to the bottom of our driveway--at 10 o'clock P. M.! We always leave the light on, and in this case, were anxiously watching for them. Jack gassed them up, and they settled in Deer Pond Cabin for the night. Being so late, they didn't get into Jasper in time to buy groceries so they were "running on empty" in more than one way the next morning! With a sandwich or two from us, they were out for a day of exploring. They returned to the cabin that evening in time to make a blackberry pie with berries picked in the cabin yard. We supplied the sugar and enjoyed a delicious dessert with our new Louisiana friends.

The rains continued to keep the river up and floatable. That has attracted a lot of families to the area to canoe and kayak. Looks like real summer weather is here with temps rising, but that's okay. Our families are now finding the swimming holes, fishing, touring caverns and having a great time. We love to read the notes they leave in the cabin journals.

Here's one recently written by some Eagle's Rest Cabin guests:

"Last night I lay on a blanket and watched the stars with my two-year old...I watched the whole sunset for the first time in my life...my twelve-year old left his video games long enough to canoe the river with me. And he enjoyed it!... I remember why I love my husband... We will be back!"

Come make wonderful memories at Mountain Springs Cabins. It will give your children something to write about in that "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" essay!

"It is the simple things of life that make living worthwhile, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest and living close to nature." Laura Ingalls Wilder

Welcome to my Ozark Mountain Garden

My Ozark Mountain Garden

When Jack and I married, our first house was duplex on a college campus--basic student housing. If those little houses were there today, they would be considered historic structures. The white wooden buildings were part of the Rohwer Japanese Internment during World War II. When we lived in them, they were a row of little one-story apartments just off to the east of the football stadium. An easy walk to campus. Our first spring there, Jack borrowed a shovel and dug up a little piece of ground just under the living room window for my first flowerbed--pink petunias. It was the beginning of a series of flowerbeds that have multiplied each time we have moved.

Today, Jack is still digging flowerbeds. The little borrowed shovel has turned into a new Kabota tractor--his pride and joy. Mine too! We can now move dirt, logs, rocks of all sizes, and anything else that isn't attached to the mountain.

When we first saw our 65 acres with the remains of a burned down house with an old fence surrounding the backyard, I had no idea of the joys that were in store for me! This yard was once a barnyard, and the soil is so rich that I usually don't have to add more nutrients. And rocks! They are mine for the taking! I have outlined beds, laid walking paths and patios, built stonewalls and steps, and have the beginnings of a water garden with a waterfall and fishpond. Only time and my aching back keep me from going crazy!

I love to share my garden with our guests. Most of my plants have come from friends and family, and many guests and friends leave with a seed packet of hollyhocks, Angel Trumpets, or Mexican Hats, or a clump of whatever is blooming at the time. Most of the flowers in my garden are "pass-alongs". And, so I continue the practice. I also have plants that I brought from my yard in Hamburg that have special family ties such as the dark pink phlox that grows by my fence just as I remember it growing near the fence in my grandmother's backyard when I was a little girl. It's roots are from those old, original plants. Also, the day lilies from Jack's mother yard, and the pink old-fashioned rose I call "Aunt Marie's Rose" have a special place in the garden.

Today, if you were to visit Mountain Springs, you could probably take home a clump of Butter and Eggs, a vigorous little yellow snapdragon-like flower that blooms from early spring to frost, and spreads like wildfire! Soon, I will be collecting seeds from Coreopsis, Blanket Flower, fever few, and hollyhocks. We have a sack of daisy seeds already. Along with these flowers, the hummers and butterflies and bees are really enjoying the lavender, oregano, garden phlox, butterfly weed, and butterfly bush blooms. The wildflower seeds that I sowed several years ago make a wonderful "natural" area outside the fence. The seeds are collected every year and planted each spring. And, outstanding this year, are my "Candy Stripe" zinnias. I have never had such a wonderful "crop" of zinnias, though I never miss growing them somewhere in the garden, this year they are something to brag about!

I hope you will check in occasionally for updates on what is growing in my garden. I love to walk around the yard and talk about my plants and flowers. We might even get our hands dirty!

Just living is not enough..

One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

Hans Christian Anderson

All Creatures Great and Small

Our mountain is teeming with 'critters' this time of year. Some are welcome some are not.

Our deer are a welcome sight. We are still feeding a small herd each afternoon. We now see the mothers bring their fawns out in the open when they come. It is always fun to watch them chase, play, and interact with each other, just as all children do. I even notice when mom has had enough, and gives the little fellow a bump' with her nose to show her disapproval.

The little bluebird couple are still hanging around. They chose a box in the backyard to raise their little ones. These babies are now on their own. She never seemed to be too concerned about them, and he did a lot of the childcare, or fledgling care, while she sat at our window and looked in. We can count on seeing her each morning at our bedroom window. Then, in the afternoon she joins us at the living room window while we are reading the paper. The couple seem to be leaning towards housekeeping in the box on the porch. That is just about as close to the house as she can get without moving inside! I have become accustomed to seeing her each morning as she joins us for our first cup of coffee. I expect she has been up since first light, has eaten her breakfast, and is wondering why we are such sleepyheads, staying in bed until 6 in the morning! This little couple is welcome to share a few early morning moments with us.

Speaking of early morning! We always see a family of rabbits scampering around the backyard when we look out the kitchen window while pouring that first cup of coffee. If we are quiet, they will stay until we let the dogs out for the day. Other than nibbling a few green shoots in early spring, they don't seem to bother the garden too much. They are welcome as long as they eat only their share.

And then there are the UN welcome ones---

One night this week as I stepped out on the porch just before going to bed, my eye caught a shadow undulating across the yard toward the porch. Being familiar with the movement and scent, I realized that Mr. Skunk was making a visit. I called for Jack, though I knew we were not going to do any kind of confrontation with the critter being that close to the house.

And close he was! After shinning his light around under the porch, Jack declared him gone! I think not! I went to the back door to close it and heard a scuffling sound very near. Mr. Skunk was checking out the dog food bowl! Or, at least checking to see if we had accidentally left it out, as we had done the night before. Fooled him! Again, I called Jack to come see. His light revealed no critter on the back porch.

Then, I went to the side door close it. From the scent of things, Mr. Skunk was very near, and I saw a form scuffle away from the door as I again, for the third time, called Jack to bring his light. Mr. Skunk was obviously playing a game of hide and seek around the porch with us. Jack never saw him. I saw him three times that night.

Because skunks, even those with a playful sense (scents) of humor are really not welcome around here, Jack set out a trap--Have-a-Heart, of course. He baited it with dog food dipped in barbecue sauce (sounded good to him) and placed it in a place not too near the house, but within the path he had come the night before. The next morning the trap was empty, but the barbecued dog food was gone! Mr. Skunk is such a joker!

The next night, same trap, same bait--no skunk! But it was very obvious he had left his "mark"! On the third night, Jack moved the trap a little further from the house, thinking we may have made him a little wary of us! Ha! I doubt it! Mr. Skunk isn't worried about us!

End of story--We never were successful in catching Mr. Skunk, who hasn't been heard, seen, or smelled of since. However, that next morning when we checked the trap, a very large brown raccoon was puffed up and very mad about getting caught. (I think Mr. Skunk tricked him into crawling into that trap.)

The rest of the story--Jack relocated Mr. Raccoon down on Possum Trot Road. Yes, there is a Possum Trot Road. Just come up here and we will take you there! You may even see Mr. Raccoon--and, of course, a possum or two!

When the sun has slipped away and the dew is on the day,

Then the creature comes to call (that) men malign the most of all...

All he asks is that men let him be.

Robert T.Coffin