THE SIRENS



Between Harrison and Marshall on US Hwy 65
headed to Little Rock. Note clouds hanging
over mountain range peaks.

Have you looked up the definition of sirens lately? Believe me, I was shocked to see my idea of a siren is way down to 3b: a device often electrically operated for producing a penetrating warning sound <an ambulance siren> <an air-raid siren -. It must be an AGE related shock.


US Hwy 65 between Harrison
near a little
town, Botkinburg.

 We traveled 150 +/- miles to Little Rock for an appointment with a specialist in electrophysiology cardiology April 26. As usual we travel the day before and stay in our preferred motel chain, La Quinta Inns, for two nights, returning the third day. This necessitates boarding our beloved Luckie at her non-favorite spa, All Creatures Veterinary Hospital, the kennels of which include veterinarian supervision. The kennel attendants love her; she is always at the run door wanting petting and attention.


Monday, April 25th and 26th were both days the wave of serious storms crossed Arkansas. It was raining as we left home and traveled to the vet hospital. It continued to Harrison but we had a dry, dreary drive as far as Clinton, then it commenced the rain again. We stopped at my husband's favorite buffet in Conway, Ryan's, for lunch. None of the rain was stormy, just rain, at times, heavy.


We arrived at our destination in light rain around 2:30 p.m. and checked in. We had packed treats, so we only ate out once a day. But as the afternoon and evening progressed,there were interludes of some sun, which increased both temperature and humidity, all bad news by us who have lived through tornado seasons.



We followed this 'home on wheels' bus
and pickup out of Clinton headed north
several miles on Wednesday after
 breakfast at Huddle House.
This area is near Marshall. 

 The constant weather stations were alerting parts of Texas, Arkansas and Missouri of severe thunderstorms, as well as a wide area of of slight risk. Little Rock was slap-dab in the middle of the red area on the map.


I kept peeping out the window at the clouds. Being from Texas, I had seen all sorts of tornado clouds.  Besides the color and sometimes rotation of clouds, an ominous period of NO or very slight wind precedes the event of severe thunderstorms which may contain tornado possibilities.

By the way, I have seen WHITE tornadoes besides the black funnel and wall clouds.


In early evening the TV began issuing warnings for Conway, 40 miles+/- from west Little Rock, where we were. The storm was tracking in a classic SW to NE trek for tornadoes.



Although this is a terrible photo,
see the deteriorating elements:
rain, fog and  car motion and a
camera nut thinking she can make
something out of it. This shot
is north of Clinton near Leslie
as we headed home. 

 When all of Little Rock was added to the mix I started watching the wind. Sure enough it began to pick up and the sirens began to whine, scream, and intensify in pitch and length. It seemed they would never end.
I had already determined I was going to camp in the handicapped equipped bathroom. It had no mirrors or much that could fly around....well maybe the toilet paper, towels and tiny bars of soap.


As the sirens wailed, I grabbed my Kindle and a pillow and skedaddled to the toilet. Why not the bathtub/shower? I have artificial knees. If I sat or lay down in the tub, it probably would take a crane to get me out. So I sat on the toilet with the pillow on my head, reading my Kindle. What was I reading? THE SHACK, which I had started a few days before. I finished it in my unconventional "tornado shelter" and started another.



Pardon My Window Wiper!
This is the long hill after Botkinburg
Where there is a runaway ramp.
It is barely visible-the brown
sand after the crooked
curve sign.

 How long did I sit on the 'throne?' Well, it seemed like two hours, but I doubt it. The tornado touched down around the Little Rock airport, well south of most of Little Rock. However, the Conway tornado missed Conway but tracked across I40 to a small town-Vilonia where there was at least one death, and threatened areas around Jacksonville where there is an Air Force Base.


And where was husband? Like many men (so I've been told) he was standing by the WINDOW watching the storm---just like my Dad used to do--family in the cellar, only breadwinner above ground watching the storm.


I highly recommend The Shack, and another short read, GIVE IT ALL TO HIM (Max Lucado). I have started a classic now, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Jane Austen, which is free to Kindle owners.


And the purpose of our visit, THE APPOINTMENT, was anti-climatic. The appointment was made in February when it seemed the high-powered, somewhat dangerous drug was not very effective; also before my Advanced Nurse Practitioner decided to discontinue one medicine, a stomach proton pump drug called Nexium; instantly, the drug Tikosyn and also many other medicines, including two blood pressure drugs increased to near 100% in effectiveness.

Verdict: No procedure in immediate future. The Tikosyn is one of several drugs which block the errant electrical impulses which cause arrhythmias. All have dangerous side effects, but so does heart fibrillations: strokes, heart attacks, clotting, death. These drugs eventually become ineffective; the heart finds a way around them.


The downside is this specialist does not accept Medicare assignment. As I am aware of what that means, I will be searching for a similar specialist in the interim.

The storms were moving northeast. It
had stopped raining,so we took AR 235
20+/- miles north of Marshall, going
through the Bruno community to
Yellville. We're getting closer to
home, after I bailed Luckie
out of the spa. These  clouds
were a little more blue grey
than this shot photo shows.

The trip home was nearly a repeat of the journey to Little Rock, with an added of period dense fog mixed with rain between Clinton and Marshall. We saw the area along I40 where the Vilonia tornado crossed. There were a lot of snapped pines and other trees.

Photos in this blog were, of course, taken in a moving vehicle through rainwashed window. A few were totally unusable, but you will get the somber mood of our trek, except I was relieved by my temporary 'stay of execution'-no procedure in the immediate future, and more importantly we arrived home unscathed by weather or driving hazards.

Arriving home, we found all the major lakes in our area are at or above their maximum flood levels and gates are beginning to be open. Bull Shoals Lake is the last in a chain of five lakes in the White River Basin. When the upper four lakes reach flood levels, and each releases water through its flood gates, guess where it ends up? Unfortunately, when Bull Shoals begins to release water, areas all the way to the Mississippi River may be affected with high water and flooding.

No matter how dismal this trip may seem, it cannot ever surpass the suffering of the people of Tuscaloosa, AL. Pray and help if you can, either as a volunteer, or in donations. Every penny counts and every prayer is heard.

Weird! Ominous! Beautiful!

Weird Frontal Cloud Formation

Monday found us on Bull Shoals Lake fishing--first trip out this year for me. Yes, we caught 4 respectable, but not 'keeper' bass.  But fishing is not the subject of this post.


A weather front was approaching from neighboring Oklahoma. We watched clouds slowly move into our area of Arkansas.  "Watching the weather" is a secondary occupation of fishermen, especially on large reservoirs, like Bull Shoals, which impounds over 45,000 acres and 700 miles of shoreline at power pool to 70,000 acres and 1000 shoreline miles at 690 ft. near top of the flood pool. 


Misjudging an approaching storm can lead to an inconvenient drenching, or more disastrous events.  Lightning strikes is very real danger to vessels on the water. Capsizing when the winds stir the water into white-capped waves is another hazard.

Weird Frontal Cloud Formation

However, this front was a very slow-moving storm. We returned to our boat stall about mid-morning.  As we returned home we noticed the looming cloud formations were unusual, not in the tornadic sense, but, well.....weird!


As we crossed Bull Shoals Dam, the clouds appeared as very neat layers, almost as if an artist had painted them! Come to think of it, a Great Artist did 'paint' them!


Because of construction/repair crews (your TARP dollars at work) and other restrictions on the Dam, I could not jump out of the car to capture the moment. I waited until we arrived home to capture the effect. By then the effect was not as dramatic, as the moment we crossed Bull Shoals Dam.

Local media received phone calls, alerting news reporters of the  unusual cloud pattern, and expressing anxiety of impending danger.  Indeed there was a short term weather alert of sky-to-ground lightning but nothing indicative of tornadic activity.


As the clouds passed over us, we received thunder, some lightning, and rain, generally a mundane weather event, except for the CLOUDS!

Did We Catch Fish?

The SHORT Answer is YES, we caught fish. We learned to fish for walleye, something we had never tried, so first few days were zilch, until we decided to pay for an half day guide.

August is a hard month to fish for anything on Bull Shoals Lake due to water temperature; surface temperature currently averages 85 degrees. Most fish are 30-40 ft. deep or deeper. To some extent this is true on most bodies of water.

Husband (H) went and I stayed at cabin. Since I side-arm cast, we did not think it wise to kill the messenger/guide! H has learned to duck when I cast. :)

After the guide trip, we bought recommended equipment and our luck changed.

Next trip out with new, strange equipment we begin to catch fish: some keepers, some too short. I caught a 22" and 18.75" walleye, and one blue gill - photos below). H caught several non-keepers.

On a subsequent trips H caught a 18.25 walleye (photo below); we both caught spotted bass (kept 2) and blue gills.

We harvested two quart bags of fillets.

PHOTOS: The one of H and me was taken by a friendly guy from St. Louis who tried to use my new little Canon A102. Guess my instructions were poor because it was terribly out of focus and dark. I really had to work it over in the editor to get this.

The rest of pictures were taken by me. A couple of thunderstorms ran us off the Lake once or kept us off the Lake.

Great Balls of Fire! - Apologies to Jerry Lee Lewis

These photos are multiple shots of one sunset, August 15, in order of setting colors which started in yellow orange and ended with reddish sun with hues of magenta and blue. I took them from a road behind my cabin, not at the exact spot but general area, so some may appear out of order, but I may have been at a slightly different point on the road a tad to the right or left of center of the sunset.

I took another set today, Sunday. not sure they vary enough from these. To get the brilliant reds and oranges which reflect in water, it needs to rain and clear out the haze so there are sufficient colors in the sky AFTER the sun has already set. There is not much now.

Cabin, Lake, and SUNSET!

A few photos of our cabin at Black Oak Resort, Bull Shoals Lake shots from the deck of our cabin and a sunset from somewhere in Mountain Creek. The sunset is not the prettiest I have witnessed on BS Lake, but a sunset, nevertheless!

Just put my uv/Haze filter on to see if future shots are better It is very hazy here right now...reminds me of the Smokies!!I was able to photo a young deer very near the cabin and a sailboat out on the lake. Wish I had had a higher range Telephoto for each.