Emily Nicole David

Emily Nicole was born May 16, 2009, in Annapolis, MD, to Lance and Grace David. She has big sisters Karis and Olivia.






Karis holding Emily.












Olivia holding Emily.







Mimi, the grandmother, with Emily.










Three of Lance's girls.




Photos taken by Lance, the Daddy.
Posted by Larry, the PaPa, the grandfather.

May 8th Tornado

Missouri doesn't seem to be in "tornado alley" as much as Oklahoma and Kansas, but we still get hit sometimes. In recent years, the worst storm damage has been northwest of Springfield. Last week, May 8, about 15 tornadoes hit the Ozarks. There were three fatalities statewide. Again, the area northwest of Springfield was hit hard. But a severe tornado damaged homes near Pomona in Howell County, only 15 miles southwest of Mountain View. And a smaller, but still powerful, tornado damaged homes and timber in Texas County about 8 miles north of Mountain View. Buildings in Mountain View were spared, but many trees and tree limbs came down, and much of the town was without electricity for about 10 hours.

Yesterday I toured some of the damage to the north and brought back some photos.



The elderly couple inside this home were both injured when the tornado moved the house 15 feet off the foundation. Neighbors had to clear a path with chain saws so the ambulance could get to them.






These trees, in the storm path just beyond the house, were twisted and snapped off.




Thousands of acres of timber were damaged. Salvage harvest operations are already underway. Logging it is dangerous because of many trees partially down and hanging in the overstory. The value of the logs will be greatly reduced.


Isaiah 45

⁶so that from the rising of the sun

to the place of its setting

men may know there is none besides me.

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

⁷I form the light and create darkness,

I bring prosperity and create disaster;

I, the LORD, do all these things.

By faith we understand that God is in control. God allows suffering for a season, but ultimately His supremacy will be revealed.

It's Spring

I think I need to followup on my earlier posts in which I expressed concern that the arrival of spring was delayed.




Spring is now well underway in the Ozarks. The dogwoods dominate the woodland landscape and also many town lawns. Redbuds are still bright red, but they will be fading soon.

Other wonderful signs of spring are turkey hunting season, lawn mowing, golf, and Major League baseball.




























Mountain View used to have the largest dogwood tree in Missouri, but no more. We still have that big dogwood out south of town, but someone found a bigger one somewhere else in the state. So now we are the home of the former largest dogwood.

Our visit to Maryland

On March 17-24 we visited the great state of Maryland. I had a one-day Wildlife Society meeting in Arlington, VA. Otherwise, we stayed in and around Annapolis. We didn't see the Chesapeake Bay. We didn't see the Maryland State Capitol or the U. S. Capitol.

I'll post some photos of those people we did see.

We had lots of fun with Karis and Olivia (and their parents).

Karis will be seven on July 10 and Olivia will be five on Sept. 4.

We got to visit Lance's new office.

And we are looking forward to seeing our third granddaughter sometime in May.

Some Signs of Spring

March 6. Two weeks ahead of the vernal equinox. More signs of spring.

In the morning I saw a common snipe on a pond bank in our neighborhood. He was on his way north to Wisconsin or Minnesota. That was a good sign.

The temperature was an excellent sign. The high reached 82. Great day for golf.

The long sleeves were actually much too warm.

Of course, the only reason I bring it up, is to make my Illinois friends jealous. The high in Champaign was 71 (nice, I guess) and in Chicago it was only 67.

The long-term average high on this date in Champaign is 45, but it is 55 in Mountain View.

Not Yet

It was only days ago that I heard the killdeers and spring peepers. On Tuesday I helped Dad cut firewood. On Wednesday I played golf. Now look at what we woke up to this morning.

We had about 5 inches at our house. Someone in Mountain View reported 7 inches to the TV station. Summersville had 9 inches.

Now I'm worried about those poor killdeers that flew in here from some southern state on a mild breeze a few days ago. Now they can't find a place to stand except in the snow.

Our forecast calls for 40's tomorrow, 50's the next day, followed by 60's after that. So maybe my yearning for spring will soon be realized.

The Cardinals have already played three exhibition games in Florida. I'm ready.

Spring in the Ozarks

I heard spring peepers on Thursday, February 12. I also heard killdeers that day. Surely spring is right around the corner.

Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training in Florida and Arizona on Valentine's Day. That must mean something.

Come up, You Jonquils!