Another trip on the Dogwood Trail

These are some pictures I took on my hiking adventures
on the Dogwood Trail near my home . I love getting out on
the trail this time of year . Penny and I were taking our walk
around the neighborhood today , and we saw about 4 or 5 deer running in the valley behind our house . They came up and ran across my neighbors yard and then down and across the street . I am always glad when I leave the house and get out in the woods..... every time I am always amazed by something .

A nice home for a squirrel ......

These bluffs are at the end of the Dogwood Trail in Lakeview. You can look across the lake and
see the dam site . I had a lot of fun scrambling around on these rocks ..... good thing Penny wasn't along
I might've made her a little bit NERVOUS .

 

This is what a hollow tree looks like from a squirrel viewpoint ........

 

 

 

There are nice solid oak benches placed every half mile along the trail .......

A very nice spot to stop and sip some water and take in a beautiful lake view.

 

I worked my way out onto the last rock in this outcropping . I felt a little

squeamish as I leapt over the crack onto the rock. I know the sign at the trailhead says

a 200' bluff at the end of the trail .... I think the water is very deep around here .

I could just imagine as I landed on it , it cracking off and taking me down with it .

But ..... I still had to get out there ! I didn't stay on it to long though .....

 

The shorelines of Bull Shoals Lake are all like this around my area ... very rocky.

The water is really very clear though ..... it's a beautiful lake .

Finished the Roof on our Deck



This was our deck before I started working on the roof top . Every time it snowed or rained
it would be a mess and we couldn't enjoy it too much.

After the roof was built ... we can still enjoy the wildlife , even if it is snowing ..... It SNOWS a LOT up here !
 

Another snowfall this week ... we are going thru bird seed like crazy . There are so many beautiful
varieties of wild birds that come up to our deck to feed. Penny and I really love to watch them , and
I even broke out my bird identification book to start identifying them .... are we GEEZERS ??



 

This is the area underneath the deck .... now with the top covered it makes a great storage area .

   I was reading a book today .... 98.6 degrees , by Cody Lundin . There was a quote that I thought really struck home ....  it went

" It doesn't take any guts for someone to applaud when others are already clapping " ..... I thought of this quote later this evening when I saw a story about a student at a college campus who had been expelled and was facing charges , because he would not "stomp on" a piece of paper that his college professor has instructed them to write the name " Jesus " on . How sad the state of this country is very quickly becoming. I am sure there were several (hopefully lots!) of other students who knew or felt this stupid exercise was wrong .... but yet only the one boy "clapped" and stood up for his rights. This rest were content to just "go along with the crowd " and do what the professor instructed. I pray for my daughter Candice who is directly in the line of fire of the wave of this culture at our Universities .

  You know you live in a small town when , on the way to the grocery store we saw a deer grazing beside the road .......then on the way back , he was still there , only he had crossed the street into the city park. Then we turn onto a side road going towards our house , and see a flock of wild turkeys in a field nearby. I really love being so close to the wildlife !  Getting ready to watch "The Bible"  on the History channel ... good show . C Ya!

Your words are so powerful ....

   One of the most powerful forces in this life are .... your words. Many , many times you have seen it happen ... someone will speak something ... then it will come to pass . It has happened to me lots of times . Here is the lastest .........

I'm always joking around when I go get the mail saying "maybe there is a big check for us in there today " .....especially since Penny and I are both unemployed right now . Well, the other day I said it , and went out to check the mail , and lo and behold , was an envelope with a check in it for 10,000 dollars ! Now , it was a scam , a fake check from an auto sales lot type of thing , but Penny and I got a good laugh out of it. We both agreed again how powerful our words that we speak are , and I then said " Next time I'll ask for a REAL check in the mail .  A few days later I was filling out our income tax return for 2012 , which I have been putting off , because again ..... we are unemployed , and each year since we are "middle class" according to our wonderful president , we usually have tp pay in 6 to 8 hundred dollars on top of the 5 to 6 thousand dollars we hold out of our pay throughout the year. As I finalized our tax return I could not belive it when we were due a REFUND of about 600.00 ..... a "real check in the mail" !  God will grant you what you ask for in his name , if it is in his will . Pray for God's will to come into your life and stand back and watch what will happen !

It is with a sadness that I learned of the death of my cousin Bobby Sherrill today . I did not know him very well , it had been many years ago when I last saw him , when we were children . I saw his obituary in the local newspaper and was surprised to learn he lived only 20 miles from our new home , here in Lakeview . He was only 51 years old. Life is very short ..... live well and love the days you have . RIP Bobby Sherrill