Fourth of July!

We just got done with our mortar rockets and fireworks. The kids are off to bed and we are surfing the internet. But the day was full and happy.

We started with the kids out of bed at 6 AM, but the daughter in law got up with them and we slept in. The big family breakfast, and the long morning boat ride made it thru the middle of the day.

Swimming made up the rest of the afternoon, and Ben fished from the dock most of the afternoon. Your normal holiday activities.

The big event here at the Lake of the Ozarks, is the fireworks at the Lodge of the Four Seasons. They have had these, every year since we have been coming to the lake. That would be for 34 years. I am sure that it has been going on longer than that. All of the boats congregate out on the lake in front of the hotel. About 5,000 of them.

The trip around the end of the peninsula to get to the front of the hotel is about 12 miles. We have learned to go to the back of a cove two miles away. From there you can see over the hill to the back of the hotel about a mile away. But that is not a secret anymore, because tonight there were about 1000 boats in the cove when we got there.

After we anchored, there were almost that many boats filled in behind us by the time it got dark. The show was about 30 minutes long and the kids were restless. The grand finale was loud with about 50 or more shots all at once.

The big challenge is all of the boats leaving at the same time. The lake becomes a massive wave pool. We sit still for ten or more minutes as most of the other boats leave. This lets the lake calm back down before we head out. Still there are boats going everywhere, after dark. The fireworks are worth it though.

The fourth is over but the weekend is just beginning. Its after midnight but firecrackers are still ringing out allover the lake. Fireworks are legal here in Missouri. We have always enjoyed that freedom here at the lake.

The day before the holiday!

Folks were pouring in here yesterday afternoon. On the way home from Wal Mart, the traffic was quite busy. This week will be kind of an anomaly as there are not as many set patterns to folks vacations.

Some will have Thurs thru Sunday and others will do Friday thru Monday. And the really lucky ones will have a week that will somehow include the Friday 4th holiday.

It is now 5 PM on Thursday and the lake has someone at every lake place, all around our cove. Weed wackers have been running all day as the folks get ready for their company. Our folks have not arrived yet, but we are expecting the younger son Ben and his family. He is the one year olds daddy and she has said mommy all day long.

Smaller boats have their covers removed and folks are swimming from the docks. The large boats will be used too, but I think on specific trips that will require the people carrying capacity of the the two V8 twin engine boats.

The folks directly across have a new boat with a single engine, but have kept their big dual V8 job as well. The resale on these is in the tank, so why give it away. The cover is off of the new smaller deck style boat. The older one is covered and parked.

Money seems to be no object for these folks, but I still think the psycology of using 14 gallons an hour of 5 dollar product, is limiting to everyone.

I noticed that we had some humming birds flying around our house, so yesterday as I was waiting for the oil change, I bought a red nectar feeder. $4.88. And some bottled nectar. $3.88. I tied this to the rope light fake palm tree on our back deck.

As I am typing this outside, a little fellow with a brown head and green back feathers has claimed the new feeder for his very own. He is chasing the other birds away as best as he can.

Maybe I can get a picture of this, but the older grandkids are coming and they will perhaps chase the birds away, instead. Peace and quiet will be gone directly.

Wal Mart for oil change

Now most of the blogs I read will rant about folks that camp at the Wal Mart parking lot. Its only common sense that you can park overnight at the Wal Mart but that getting out the grill and the lawn chairs and actually camping is a big no no.

But today I was only looking for an oil change. I use Wal Mart as an oil change facility as a last resort. But at times I have been really glad they have that service.

When camping in Texas last winter, for instance, in Rockport, Texas, I did not find a fast lube place anywhere up and down the Ocean front for miles. But the Wal Mart was right there and they had it done in 30 minutes while we shopped. Hard to argue.

Here at the lake we lost the super lube place to road construction. They literally plowed it under. There went the best place I had found. So today, it was back to the local Wal Mart.

I pulled around the corner and saw I was first in line, "good" I thought. But then I wasn't helped right away. The ticket writer was talking to a customer that had walked up from a park bench. After he signed for some work, then I was helped. So I went inside to wait. First I noticed that they were pulling my car back away from the door.

So I wasn't in line after all, I only thought so. Then the whole place except for one mechanic went on break at the same time. What? So I sat some more. After about 30 minutes, I learned the extent of the work ordered by the guy that was ahead of me.

As the single mechanic pulled his jeep over into the tire lane and began to rotate and balance his tires, I began to shake my head.

They did all come back to work, and I did get the oil changed, and was on my way in about an hour and a half. Not bad for first in line. LOL

With the afternoon gone, the pontoon stayed in the dock and we saved gas on the trip we didn't take. We had quality time with the grand daughter and fed supper to her. She is becoming much closer to her Grandpa. She always was close to Grandma, because she stays at our house in KC during the day.

After going into the KFC/LJS for fish and chicken dinners tonight we are home reading and passing a peaceful evening. The grand daughter is fast asleep, and life is good.

Its Tuesday already.

What happened to Monday? I meant to blog but then didn't get it done. I guess it just slipped my mind. LOL

So this isn't much of a different day either. We have the one year old with us here at the lake. Seems like we always have one of the grandkids with us these days. That's good though, since we do not see them much in the winter.

One year old's need lots of sleep, so the afternoons are spent hanging around the house while she is taking her nap. We washed on the pontoon boat and the dock yesterday while she was down and today we just spent the time out on the screen porch and fell asleep for a short while ourselves.

Folks are using their boats and boating all over the lake, but I think at a slower pace. The gas on the water is $4.60 or better, so parking and swimming is always a good option. We were going out yesterday after the nap time, but Loyce came back upstairs to get up the little gal, and didn't come back. So the pontoon has just sat there since we arrived.

We did go in to Bandana's BarBeCue last night. Boy we have been getting our share of the barbecue thing here lately. Bandana's is a chain out of St Louis, and we particularly like their food. It seems to have become the standard, that I judge other places by.

They do the Memphis style meat, that is rubbed and smoked dry. The sauce is added by you, the customer. I am trying to decide why I like that better. Perhaps it is because the meat is more steak like when it is served. The sauce is more like it is out of the bottle, and has not been caramelized by the heat of cooking. Its a personal thing I'm sure.

They do serve a sandwich that they call the wet bandana. It is the pulled pork thing with the sauce cooked thru the meat. It seems to be so goopy, globby, kind of like the Arthur Bryants that I went to in KC with son Chris.

I am going to go out on the lake here sometime today, if I have to go alone. LOL Its just not right to let a good pontoon set idle with the cover off and not be used. Need an on the water fix or something.

So its slow and easy here at Lake Ozark, but then why did we come here, if it wasn't to be that way?