Hall of Fame Illinoisans

We moved from Illinois to My Corner of the Ozarks in May 2004. We are "back home" where we met in the 5th grade. But we left behind many wonderful friends in Illinois. We lived in or near Gibson City for 30 years. We honor those brave Illinoisans who made the trip to the Ozarks to visit us. So here is the Hall of Fame.
Our first visitors from Illinois were Ron and Marti in July 2004; sorry no photo.





December 2004
Although they were technically no longer from Illinois, we first knew Chad and Wendy at Gibson City. We had a fun visit with Coplea, Callie, Caris and their parents.






February 2005
Del and K. brought news of Gibson City Bible Church and endured the Mountain View tour to see our "roots". Del could find no suitable fields to raise corn in My Corner of the Ozarks.






April 2005
Paul, Connie, and Aaron checked us out. It was probably some kind of "spiritual test". We never heard if we passed or not. We toured all the local sites, springs, mills, etc. All our visitors also got to visit Gene and Thelma, Larry's parents.





April 2005
Errol and Marlene no longer lived in Gibson City, but they still lived in Illinois. Marlene's sister now lives in Howell County, our county. So they visited My Corner of the Ozarks frequently. Alley Spring is in the background. All visitors got to see Gene, Thelma, and Alley.






May 2005
Can you believe that Wendy hauled cattle to West Plains, only 25 miles from our house. We had a short visit with Whitney and Wendy on that trip.






May 2005
Can you believe that we ran into Wayne and Carol at Silver Dollar City? They stopped by our house on their return trip to Illinois. I think Wayne, the Arab, got along okay with the rednecks in My Corner of the Ozarks.







June 2005
This was the first visit by Dean and Julie. They have been faithful to come for a canoe trip every summer. They are busy people and we are glad they put us on their calendar.






June 2005
Dean and Julie have progressed in their canoeing ability. But they have damaged some trees and rocks in doing so. In the Ozarks we don't call it "canoeing", we call it "floating". I think that's because we know to go "down stream".






July 2005
This was the first visit by Derald, Sunita, and Sunila. As far as I know, they have never lived in Gibson City. But they have tried most other towns in east-central Illinois; currently Cissna Park.






August 2005
Julie, Eunice, and Sue graced our home at the end of the summer. Julie and Sue floated. We should have given Eunice a canoe. I know she could have taught us a thing or two.








September 2005
Homer and Jane visited us before the river was too cold. We had fun showing them our roots and floating.







September 2005
Actually, Current River, shown here, is always cold. 60% of the water volume comes from springs, not run-off. Homer and Jane only got wet once.








February 2006
Dave's visit was a nice winter interlude for us. He brought many stories from Illinois. We believed some of them.







May 2007
Sue, Donna, and Susie made a quick trip to My Corner of the Ozarks. They saw all the local sites and took a float.






May 2007
The "Sue Crew": Sue and Susie. They were good. They both seemed to like adventure.









March 2008
Rich, Marlene, and Errol made another visit. Gene and Thelma came over to check them out.







July 2008
Is it "river rats"? Or Larry, Linda, Julie, and Dean? We probably stopped to eat. That's a necessary part of any float, no matter the length.







September 2008
Frank and Joyce included us on one of their Ozark trips. Frank brought us some "domino boards" from his wood-working shop.








October 2008
Jerry and Pat finally made it to My Corner of the Ozarks. Like many from Illinois, it seemed to be difficult for them to figure out how to cross the Mississippi River. Jerry diligently fished the Jack's Fork, but never landed any of those smart Ozark fish.






March 2009
Bob and Gloria came for a cool-weather visit. Although Bob is an experienced floater, we stayed on dry land. Next time?







July 2009
Derald, Sunita, and Sunila at Alley Spring. Isn't Sunila growing!









August 2010

Wendy and Kenny had to drag Ed kicking and screaming. But we enjoyed a brief visit with them.






July 2011
We first met Bill and Judy in Illinois in 1976, so they count as Illinoisans. 
So they came to visit us from Colfax, Anchor, or Long Beach, take your
pick.  They are the first visitors to be "inserted" into the Hall of Fame in
almost a year. 




July 2011

Eric, Amy and the boys made a quick trip to see us.  We spent the whole day on the Jack's Fork.  Only Linda and Amy failed to dump their canoe.  The guys are still trying to learn to operate their "hooey sticks". 






May 2014
It was great to see Kevin and Diana.  We enjoyed Alley Spring and a Jack's Fork float trip.

July 2014
Homer and Jane made an "all-too-brief" visit as they traveled through My Corner of the Ozarks.  It was their second visit, but we didn't have time for any traditional Ozark activities, i.e. no floats, no hunts, etc.

October 2015
Steve and Vicki stopped briefly to see us.  We had a hillbilly lunch and sent them on their way.









I have an "insert" key. We can add your photo to the Hall of Fame if you come for a visit.

Weather? Hot and dry.

This is a photo of our brown front lawn on August 19. In the center is the “stump” of our new maple tree that we planted in the fall of 2009. As you can see, our new tree didn’t make it. And our weedy lawn turned brown and ugly.
The news in summer included reports of flooding in Iowa, northern Missouri, Oklahoma, and western Arkansas. But Mountain View was in the center of a circle of low rainfall; drought really. Our soils are thin to non-existent. Ozark soils are rocky and very well drained. It dries out fast around here. We need about an inch of rain weekly in the summer to keep pastures and lawns green.
I’m so thankful that September rains came and also brought some cooler air. July and August 2010 were very hot and very dry in my corner of the Ozarks. We had 7.5 inches of rain in September which is almost twice the average. I thought the drought was broken.
But October brought more dry air, dry skies, and dry soil. We had only one measurable rain in October and it was only 0.3 inches. Nothing yet in November.
We’ve had a warm fall, which is pleasant, especially after a miserably hot summer. The heat started early. We had 15 days in the 90’s in June including 98 three times. In late July we had 17 straight days at 90 or above. From August 1-25 the daily high fell below 90 only two days. We had seven days in August with highs of 100 or more. Yuk!
What’s next? I guess I’m going to open up some persimmon seeds and go in search of wooly worms to find out.

My Mother

My corner of the Ozarks has been a little sad for the last few days. Mom left behind her earthly shell on July 17.


As I said at her funeral, she would not want us to talk about her. She was always content to be in the background. You could say she was "shy". But as Garrison Keillor would put it, she could get up and do what had to be done.




But I would like to tell you a few things about my mother. She was a woman of faith. She had faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. She had faith that the resurrection of Christ was just the "firstfruits" of those who sleep and that she too would be resurrected. In life she had that faith. Now she sees clearly.



My mother believed in work. She was always happiest when she had work to do. Work was instituted by God before marriage or the church. She was a worker. She made a quilt for each grandson and for each great-grandchild. Whether it was cooking, cleaning, gardening, canning, quilting, or crocheting, she was always working.





My mother was committed to her husband and her family. We all knew she love us, cared about us, and she was always serving us.

You hardly ever saw Mom without Dad. I watched her watch him when I was a kid. Her love was profound.






Mom was a very sweet lady. But there were some things she hated. For one, she hated sin. I found out how much she hated sin at a very early age. I found out that the consequence of sin was a long walk to the peach tree in the back yard to select my own switch.






I'm so glad she got to know all nine of her great-grandchildren. I'm glad our three sons and their families were able to visit her in June. I'm glad Linda and I moved back to Mtn. View six years ago and were able to see her nearly every day since.






Obituary

Thelma Louise( LeBaron) David departed this life on July 17, 2010, at Mountain View, Missouri. She was a loving wife , mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She loved her family and her Lord. She attended many “ball” games to watch her husband, son, and grandsons.

Thelma was born on January 12, 1928, the daughter of Frank and Myrtle Partney LeBaron at Mountain View. She graduated from Mountain View High School in 1945. She was united in marriage to Eugene David on May 9, 1945, at Salem, Arkansas. To this union were born one son, Larry, and one daughter, Janet.

She is survived by her husband; her children and their spouses (Larry and Linda David of Mountain View, Janet and Dwight Ellett of Branson, Missouri); five grandsons and their spouses (Lance and Grace David of Annapolis, Maryland, Kirk and Jeanine Ellett of O’Fallon, Missouri, Andrew and Betsy Ellett of Ozark, Missouri, Bradley David of Nairobi, Kenya, and Matthew and Elizabeth David of Joliet, Illinois), and nine great-grandchildren (Jacob Ellett, Lexie Ellett, Grayson Ellett, Adelyn Ellett, Marian Ellett, Karis David, Olivia David, Emily David, and Jackson David).

She was preceded in death by her parents, and her three brothers, James, Eugene, and Troy LeBaron.

Thelma was employed for 26 years by the Mountain View- Birch Tree School District where she was a secretary and bookkeeper. Over the years she had previously worked at LeBaron and Sons Dairy, Padgett Hardware, Scott’s Family Shoe Store, and others.

Thelma trusted Jesus Christ as Savior during her teen years. She played the piano at church for many years. She also served the Lord in her church as Church Clerk, Treasurer, Sunday School teacher, and Vacation Bible School teacher.

The family will greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 20, at Yarber Mortuary in Mountain View. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, July 21, at Little Zion Baptist Church.

Memorial gifts may be given to Little Zion Baptist Church, Mountain View, where Thelma and Gene worshiped and served faithfully for 57 years.

At the Creek

Nothing beats a hot summer day spent playing in the beautiful water of an Ozark stream. My dad used to ask if anyone wanted to "go to the creek". Who wouldn't?

We took our three boys to the same Jack's Fork when they were young.

Last week our whole family got to spend several days at the creek. Our three sons and their families were able to enjoy the Jack's Fork.

Some photos are posted below. Feel the cool water?










Lance and Olivia.








Brad snoozed in the shade.









Matt introduced Jackson to the Jack's Fork.








Emily had her first Jack's Fork experience.










My bride, relaxing.

Gobbler #15

At 6:50 this morning I shot Gobbler #15 (in my lifetime). It was a beautiful morning. The temperature started at 53 degrees. The sun came up nice and bright. An old gobbler started calling about 5:45. Just after 6:00 a hen flew into the small valley field in front of me, followed by four more hens in a few minutes. Then four gobblers walked into the field. Only the two biggest toms strutted and gobbled. The other two males had nice beards, but they acted quite subservient.

A fence divided the small valley field in half and all the turkeys were on the opposite side of the fence from me and my two decoys. When I called, all four gobblers looked over my way, but none came across the fence.

At about 6:40 the two bigger gobblers and two hens went north and the two smaller males and three hens went south. The last young gobbler stopped at the fence and stared at my decoys for several minutes. After a few steps he turned back, ducked under the fence and came right to me. I shot him at 35 steps. Although he had a 10-inch beard, he only weighed 15 lbs.

Now I'm only 49 turkeys behind my Dad's harvest total. The legal limit in Missouri is four per year. I need to shoot the maximum for 12 years to have a chance to catch him.

I had a chance to see several spring migrants after I carried my gobbler out to the road to meet Dad. This morning's bird list includes eastern meadowlark, northern cardinal, American crow, northern bobwhite, redwinged blackbird, brown thrasher, blue jay, American goldfinch, eastern kingbird, indigo bunting, blue-gray gnatcatcher, turkey vulture, Canada goose, dickcissel, bobolink, and scissor-tailed flycatcher.

There were three grassland species foraging this morning over a fescue pasture (dickcissel, bobolink, and scissor-tail). I think this was the first time I had ever seen a bobolink in an Ozark pasture. I only noticed dickcissels in recent years. There are many thousands of acres of hay and pasture here where there was once only forest. These prairie birds are likely only migrating through. They would probably not have much success nesting in tall fescue.

So it was a good morning all way round!

Grandson Jackson Dean David

Jackson Dean David was born March 14 at Oak Lawn, IL to Matt and Liz David. Jackson weighed 8 lbs. 5 oz. and is 21 inches long.

Jackson is Matt & Liz's first child and our fourth grandchild, but our first grandson.






Jackson was due on St. Patrick's Day, but he arrived a few days early.







Matt is a proud papa. Jackson's family lives in Joliet, IL. He will undoubtedly be a fan of the Blackhawks and White Sox, but hopefully he will also be a St. Louis Cardinal fan.










Elizabeth is a wonderful mommy.









Grandchildren are a blessing from the Lord.

Mimi is in "Grandmother Heaven".

Early Arrivals

Signs of spring are all around. Jonquils are popping up.

Today I saw three migratory birds here for the first time this spring. (You mark those "EA" for earliest arrivals.) This morning I saw an American woodcock and heard an eastern towhee. This afternoon we saw a great blue heron on the Jack's Fork.

I also saw a mockingbird today. It was the first I had seen here since last summer. They winter here, but they must be rare here in winter.

Killdeers arrived at Mountain View on February 20. That same day we saw several large flocks of snow geese flying north. On February 22nd the redwing blackbirds arrived.

On Tuesday, March 9th, the killdeers were doing their courtship display in the street in front of the house. Now that's a sure sign of spring.

Tuesday evening we heard spring peepers singing at a pond. They always sing before Easter. The scientific name is Pseudacris crucifer. The species name, crucifer, was given because the annual timing of its singing coincides with the time of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

One wintering bird species, the junco, has been missing from our backyard feeder for about a week. We had 5 or 6 juncos around all winter, along with 35-40 goldfinches, 8-10 mourning doves, 3 song sparrows, and 3-4 house finches. Although they didn't consume our bird seed, we also had bluebirds, robins, and starlings in our yard all winter.


This photos of crocuses was also taken today. I'm ready for the redbuds to show some color.

You could say I'm in "spring training".

Ozark Springs

Springs boil to the surface and feed the surface streams all over the Ozarks. Ozarkians have recognized their value for many generations. Indians camped near them because of the dependable water supply. Early European settlers also used spring water both for drinking and to power early mills.

In the 20th Century Ozarkians recognized springs primarily
for their beauty and preserved many of them in the Missouri and
Arkansas state park systems.

This is Big Spring in Carter County. It has an average daily flow of 276 million gallons, the largest single-outlet spring in North America. When we were kids, a visit to Big Spring State Park was a thrill. The park became part of the Ozarks National Scenic Riverways in 1964. Big Spring flows into the lower Current River.
The added volume changes the character of the Current to that

of a much larger river.

The second largest spring in Missouri is Greer Spring in Oregon
County. Greer Spring contributes the major volume of the Eleven
Point River with its daily flow of 220 million gallons. The pristine woodland and rugged spring branch were protected in private ownership for many generations. It is now part of the Mark Twain National Forest. Much of the Eleven Point, which is designated a National Wild and Scenic River, is within the Mark Twain.

These scenes are along the mile-long spring branch which

tumbles down the bluff to the Elven Point. The drop is 62

feet from the spring to the river.

Mammoth Spring is located in Arkansas, just over the state line
on Highway 63 south of Thayer. It is the largest spring in Arkansas and has an average daily flow of 220 million gallons.
Mammoth Spring, now a popular state park, feeds the Spring
River with water collected mostly from the north in Missouri.




A rock dam on the spring branch forms a 10-acre lake. Until
the 1970s a hydro-electric plant operated at the Mammoth
Spring dam. In earlier generations grist mills were powered
by the spring's flowing water.






This is Welch Spring on upper Current River. The Current
starts at Montauk Spring, but Welch boosts the flow enough
that the Current River is always floatable below Welch.







This is the outlet of the Alley Spring branch as it head to the
Jack's Fork River. Alley Spring empties 76 million gallons per
day into the Jack's Fork. Floating above Alley is questionable
in mid-summer, but there is always plenty of water below Alley.

The most recognizable feature at Alley Spring is the red mill.
It is one of the most photographed grist mills in the Midwest.
When we were kids, Alley Spring, was also a state park and
a favorite visit. Our senior class "skip day" trip was to Alley
Spring. There is great hiking trail up the bluff above the spring.
In 1965 there was a softball field in the park where the Class
of '65 had its final intramural game.

Don't miss the Ozark springs when you visit us!