Marshmallows on the Fire Pit

The first night after the 2012 Christmas Blizzard seemed like a great night to roast marshmallows!

The kids got a little carried away decorating cookies

Christmas cookies 2012

Got a man down this morning thanks to the wind

sent from my Android tablet

Interactive Map Shows Jersey Shoreline Before, After Storm

Link 

#BaldForBieber: Why fact-checking is important!

An elaborate prank online this week had teens shaving their heads for Justin Bieber.  It's an important lesson for anyone, not just journalists to check facts.

Click for the Mashable article.

Big Spring, Missouri

CARTER COUNTY, MO - Some of the most beautiful rivers in our country are in southern Missouri. The cool, clear water that flows in the Current, Eleven Point, and Jacks Fork Rivers is mostly from several large springs. This steady flow of water makes for year-round boating and fishing opportunities.


A Lot of Water!

Spring in the distance.

The spring itself pictured above.

The largest is the Big Spring, located just south of Van Buren in Carter County. On average, 470 cubic feet of water flow from the spring each second. For those in Arkansas familiar with Mammoth Spring, it releases an average of 347 cubic feet of water per second. In fact Mammoth Spring is the third largest in the region behind Big Spring and Greer Spring. The water travels through a cave system and makes it's way to the surface and then travels about 1,000 feet where if flows into the Current River.

The river created by the spring. It flows nearly 1,000 feet to the Current River.

The Park
The Civil Conservation Corps built a park with a lodge and cabins during the 1930's. Most of the buildings, including a restaurant are still in use today.

The lodge/restaurant as seen from the boat dock.

Boat dock and confluence of the spring waters and Current River pictured above.

Links:
National Parks Service: Scenic Rivers
National Parks Service: Scenic Rivers History
Wikipedia: Big Spring, MO
Big Spring Lodge and Cabins

VIDEO: Lightning recorded at 9,000 frames per second

Downward Positive Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Flash Triggers Upward Positive Leaders from Towers from ZT Research on Vimeo.

First bloom on miniature rose bush

Rainbow over Jonesboro

Look close, it's a double rainbow over Jonesboro, Arkansas.  We really needed the rain.  The rainbow was a bonus!

Up early watching TV

Clouds Over Jonesboro at Sunset

Storms over central Arkansas as seen from Jonesboro.

KAIT newsroom on election night

Hard Work!

I cleaned the back deck last night with some wood wash and a scrub brush. Hard work!  Hopefully the Sun will dry it enough today so I can apply some water proofing.

One Year Later: A Look Back at the 2011 Mississippi River Flood

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/meg/?n=2011riverflooding
(From the National Weather Service forecast office in Memphis)

Afternoon storm pops up

I watched this storm pop up over Sedgwick, Arkansas on may 6, 2012.  The picture at the top is 20 minutes later in time from the one on the bottom.

Arkansas Sets Pay Scale for State Offices

If you were curious what the Governor or local district judge makes, here's the list for the 2012-2013 fiscal year (open .pdf): http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2011/2012F/Acts/Act1.pdf

How Reports of Joe Paterno's Death Started

Poynter did some digging around and discovered where CBS Sports may have gotten its information and reported the death of Paterno.

http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/160270/how-false-reports-of-joe-paternos-death-were-spread-and-debunked/

Pictures from Mobile, AL

We had a great time cheering on the Arkansas State Red Wolves in the 2012 Godaddy.com Bowl.