February 24, 2021. Holiday Island, AR. Tough Guys

On February 16, we had a low temperature of minus 15 degrees. One week later the the ice and snow had disappeared and the high temperature was 72 degrees. In one week a temperature swing of 87 degrees. That is pretty amazing, but not out of the realm of possibilities in many places in our country. People who endure these conditions on a regular basis are considered to be rugged, survivalists, nature freaks or just plain tough.
But with all the clothing, insulation and other conveniences, we aren't all that unprepared, What really is amazing to me are the animals, birds and other critters which survive these conditions. Want to hear about our fish in the koi pond? When the water temperature dropped below 45 we stopped feeding the fish. When the air temperature went below freezing, the pond began to ice up, and as the temperature dropped lower and the snow came, the brook stopped flowing, the pond was totally frozen and the fish had not been fed in over two months. At 72 air temperature, the water was back flowing and the water temperature was only 45. I dropped a few pellets of fish food in the pond, but the fish ignored them. They were content to muddy the water and huddle together. Today with the water temperature above 50, they still didn't come to the food. There were no floating, belly up fish, and they seemed perfectly content with their environment and having survived a tough period. The only casualty in the pond was a tiny, tiny frog, belly up on the bottom.
We were told the fish were tough and didn't need any special treatment over the winter. Move over Jaws, Moby Dick and all you MMA and Ninja Warriors.........these gold fish and koi pond residents got you beat.





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February 21, 2021. Holiday Island, AR. Toward Normal?

We have escaped the deep freeze, and while there are still remnants like that in the picture just posted, we are already on our way to clear roads (as shown in the picture) and temperatures in seasonal range. Plumbers will have plenty of work, roofs will need repair and insurance claims will spike, but we can look forward to brown and green instead of white.
Our country has been through a lot, considering the virus, the variants, the vaccine, the political fighting, finger pointing, severe weather, economics, immigration policy changes, school openings and virtual learning, facts vs fear......
The hope is that in all this uncertainty and rapid change in "policy" we can move toward life without contention and strife, we can get along better with each other and enjoy all we have been blessed with, and be able to see smiles on faces again rather pieces of material coving our face from........who knows what........

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February 21, 2021. Holiday Island, AR. After The Big Freeze

February 18, 2021, Holiday Island, AR. Out Of The Woods

Karen and I live in the woods, so why the above caption? Our temperatures have been below freezing since about 9pm on February 8th. That means we have had nearly 10 days without a temperature above 32 degrees. While tomorrow is forecast to still be sub-freezing, Saturday looks like the day we will be "out of the woods" and see a temperature even as high as 40. Break out the shorts and suntan lotion.
We have enjoyed watching the birds visiting our feeders on the back deck. We changed our bird seed and have seen our usual juncos, titmice, sparrows and finches and our cardinal couple, but now, also bigger birds, like blue jays and woodpeckers. They are fun to watch, except when they hit our windows and knock themselves out. One jay lay on the deck for a while and then was gone. Not sure if he revived or was carted off by a "birdavore". Amazing how the animals and critters can survive such harsh conditions.
What may be the benefit of this long cold snap is that we may have fewer chiggers and ticks come the warmer weather, although the experts are not unanimous on this topic. Still have to be vigilant and observe all the anti-critter protocols. Oh boy. As Ripley made famous........Believe it or not.

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February 15, 2021. Holiday Island, AR. Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Boy, is ever cold. Today we have been in the single digits, plus and minus, with wind chills about 15 below. It sure isn't like the Arkansas we have experienced before and with another 6 or so inches of snow, it is more like the Colorado we lived in for over 40 years.
We are grateful for the cabin and it's warmth and comfort as opposed to the motor home and our constant concern about freezing pipes and enough propane for heat or efficient space heaters to keep us safely warm. The motor home feels like a distant memory and we hope it will "winter" well and be able to be sold in a reasonable time frame. For now, we thank God for the timing of all the recent events, including the delay of my surgery. It would be tough to navigate an immobility sling with the weather we are now facing.
We have had temperatures under freezing since February 8th, and the forecast is for sub freezing until this Friday, a stretch of eleven days. That must be some kind of a record for northwest Arkansas. Did someone say something about global warming? We'll talk about that later.........


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February 12, 2021. Holiday Island, AR. The Best-Laid Plans..........

I may have used this title before, but life is full of instances where plans we make do not turn out as we want them to. Life has a way of doing that and we just have to go ahead with Plan B, Plan C or some variant thereof.
As we started for the VA and my surgery on Wednesday, we received a call from them asking if we were still planning to come, since the weather overnight had given us icy roads and very dangerous driving conditions on our 40 mile route. We told them we were going to try, but within a few minutes it was obvious we were not going to get up the first hill without using four-wheel drive and two miles later the main road was solid ice and not worth proceeding any further. We called to cancel the surgery and are now scheduled for March 3 with a check-in time of 6:30am.
We are now in our fifth straight day of temperatures below freezing, with the prospect of more snow over the weekend and continued sub-32 temps (maybe even sub-zero) until a week from today. We have not seen such weather since 2013, and certainly not in Arkansas where we have been in only one storm (for half a day), and nothing more than a skiff of snow in all our time here.
We're grateful for the protection we have been afforded, the fact that we are not living in our motor home in such conditions and that we are provided for so bountifully by a caring and loving God. We rest in the assurance that His plan is better than our best plans and we look forward to all He has for us as we continue to serve Him............Thank You, Lord.

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February 9, 2021. Holiday Island, AR. A Day Early

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, with rising early, traveling to the VA in Fayetteville, COVID test at 10am, wait for results, and rotator cuff surgery at about 1pm. With anesthesia and a local in my shoulder, no telling what I will be feeling like and what it will be like with a sling immobilizing my right arm.......so I'll write now and get back on schedule later in the week.
We were able to get the motor home unloaded, cleaned and ready for the hoard of interested buyers to descend upon us and though it was a lot of work, it feels good to almost be out of the "on the road" mode and ready to fully commit to cabin life. My activities will be very limited for a while, but we anticipate being able to be ready for the 2021 Passion Play season when it begins Easter Weekend.
We thank God for the many seasons we have been here in Eureka Springs and for the many more seasons which He has guided us through. We leave it ALL in His hands and thank Him in advance for what is yet to come. See you later in the week.......and thank you for your prayers and support.

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