MONDAY MUSINGS LIFE IN THE OZARKS

Apologies for the later posting. I had some computer/internet issues.

I live in the Ozark Mountains in Missouri. Like the Appalachian and the Catskill Mountains, the Ozark Mountains are actually what you’d call a dissected plateau, meaning we were once a surface plain until tectonic uplifting and then the Canadian Shield glaciers left rivers, streams and time to carve out deep valleys and ravines. We look like mountains in elevation but our elevations are pretty uniform across the range and we don’t have extensive faults and magma of those mountains such as the Rockies.  Elevations where I live are about 1300 ft. Missouri’s topography has a high limestone content with caves, sinkholes, and underground springs and waterways. It’s truly a beautiful state with a lot of diversity and an amazing system of riverways. I’ll be sharing more about life in the Ozarks next month.

I live the pink a little W of the orange area (wiki commons)

The Ozarks aren’t particularly high mountains and so don’t effectively block the cold arctic or the hot and humid Gulf air and means we have cold winters and humid summers. This also makes for some volatile clashes in the way of thunderstorms, high winds, and tornadoes. Most of the tornadoes are in the flatlands and only a few touchdown in the higher elevation plains.

Weather can be extreme in my area and there are different ecological pockets—sort of an independent area where we can get more rain or snow then other areas rather close to us. For example, I have a girl friend that lives about five miles southeast of our town and she hasn’t gotten as much snow this year as we have. I live nine miles northwest of the same town. This last storm, almost two weeks ago, dropped about 10 inches of snow but she only got about 4 inches but did get more ice. It can be pouring down rain here, at the house, and I drive to town (eight miles away) and they have gotten little or no rain. There is actually a rain line on the way. And it’s weird to be driving in rain and then hit a dry area the rest of the way into town.

Not a lot of green yet on our creek

No green yet on trees

This year there wasn’t a gradual transition to cold winter or spring for that matter. We were in the normal fifties with a few spikes into the upper 70’s this fall and someone threw a switch and we were plunged into the teens by the next day and there it stayed for several weeks. Same with spring this year (and last spring for that matter), Twelve days ago we were in the lower teens during the day with snow falling and we got ten inches by the time it was done. Four days later we were in the upper 40’s and lower 50’s and rain and by day six all snow had disappeared and it jumped to spring. It confuses the body. One day you need a coat, gloves, scarf, and boots and the next you find yourself automatically pulling on those things only to realize you don’t need them.

Spring has finally sprung here with birds singing, sunshine, and temperatures in the upper 60’s lower 70’s. This past weekend it was shirt sleeves during the day. I have tulips and daffodils breaking ground by about 3 inches, my tiger lilies just broke ground yesterday. The brown grass of five days ago is now mostly short green. You can see the green slopes of the hills surrounding us.

As my mother says, if you don’t like the weather today, tomorrow it will be different. She’s not far off by that statement. <smile>

Monday Musings: Spring Is Springing



Apple blossoms from one of my trees

 Ah, spring is springing here in Missouri.

Snow is gone. Thank you God. But as the flowers and long days increase so do ranch responsibilities.

Spring is renewal for me. The long winter and being confined to my house unless there is a four wheeled vehicle or a horse and sled, has been bleck and then being sick enough to have to go to the hospital, has made the longing for spring that much more intense.

Spring brings all sorts of things beside my daffodils opening and bird song. It also brings chores out the ying-yang, since all the snow and ice wrecked havoc with several things here on the ranch. Seeing as I now can move without coughing up a lung and few toenails, there are chores to be done.

On Friday, we had in a huge dump truck with a load of gravel for our mud bog, otherwise known as our driveway. Now normally, these guys can spread gravel two inches thick without any trouble. But wait, this my house. So I do have gravel and I also have places where it’s eight inches thick and not two. So now we’re talking spreading by hand and using buckets to even a dump load where it needs to be. I’m not quite well enough to haul five gallon buckets hither and yon but I can fill them while watching my guys do the hauling and sweating in almost seventy-degree weather. By the end of Friday afternoon the driveway looked much better and will have to do until the neighbor can come down with his tractor and blade to thin and smooth it more.

I have no idea what happened to the gravel that had been dropped here three years ago. I think it’s a case of paranormal activity. See, my theory is most of it was swallowed by an underground monster so it can produce what Missouri is good at growing—chunks of rocks. Lots of them, which makes projects such as putting in a new tree, shrubs, roses, or a flower garden is a major thing. Not to mention having enough rocks to use as a rock border around whatever you’re putting in when you’re finished.

 

Back of my house from the pasture and the whole fence line needs replacing.



Did I mention the need to redo two hundred feet of fencing that separates the back yard from the pasture? And a hundred feet (that’s the short side) of one the Great Danes running pens. Sigh. Then there is the drive through gate (which you can't see in the above picture) that has been wired shut and I think there is a bit bubble gum and lots of prayer holding part of the fence up right there. One of my horses decided to rub her big old rear against the pole the gate closed against and snapped it two and took down part of the fence. Since the ground was frozen, we had lots of fun driving in a T poles to hold the fence in place until spring. There are times having a strong teen son are a blessing. At least from MY point of view—I think his is a bit different. Lol!

New fencing material will be delivered next week. I’m going to have a cookout and invite my nephew in law up to help my son and I put in the fence. They can do the pole pounding while his wife and I clear the garden areas and set in a few new flowering shrubs so I don’t have to worry about annuals being planted in those areas. The knees just don’t do well when I have to pull weeds and the cats refuse to do it and while my house Dane loves to dig, she also tends to remove the flowers, and the horses? *Snort, they just eat them. What’s a girl to do? I’m all for simple and pretty this year.

My front yard oak-2 years ago.

I also have a huge oak tree in the front yard that has to be at least a hundred years old and is about four-five feet round at the base. I have a raised rock garden surrounding it filled with tulips and daffodils for the spring and Hostas and shade loving perennials when it’s full of leaves in the summer. Due to surgery, I haven’t done anything with that area for two years. We need to add another layer of large rocks to return it to its two-foot high glory and add more soil before the Hostas and shade flowers start growing. So the kid and I are going rock hunting. They’re usually found on the side of the gravel county road we live on. Trust me, within two miles of the house we will be able to collect all the large rocks we need.

We’re putting in new water tanks for the horses and Danes, a new water line to fill them easier in the winter along with deicers so I don’t have to carry water by buckets and break the ice. I’m so over that winter chore, lol! And there will be new feeders. So this coming winter should be much easier on me. I like that.

That’s just part of the list of outside chores needing to be done around here as spring unfolds here in Missouri. Don’t get me started on the list for the inside or writing projects in need of completion, lol!



Right now, I'm dealing with lots of rain and my pond is
overflowing

 But it’s all-good. At least we will be having lots of sunny days and mild temps between the spring rainstorms.

• What kind of projects do you have earmarked for the spring? Writing or otherwise. 

Be sure to check back Wednesday when I’ll be having the Gears—Michael and Kathleen O’Neal visiting with their new Dawn People series. Some other upcoming guests:  I have a couple of different thriller/suspense writers, Stacy Netzel, Joel Goldman, then there is para romance author Linda Wisdom and erotic romance author Olivia Cunning and a few more.