Spaghetti meal offered at the Mug!

Forsyth MO. - A great plate of spaghetti and meatballs is what I would call one of the true comfort foods to be had in this life. Add in a salad and a roll for $6.50 and what you got is a must have meal and a great price! All of this can be had at the Frosted Mug on Sunday, May the 1^st! The price was verified by the staff, but you might want to call 546-4149 just to make sure! John's Frosted Mug is located at 15861 US-160 in Forsyth Missouri!

River Run Park looking great for Spring 2016!

Just as 2015 was a wet year with widespread flooding of the park system in and around Bull Shoals, so then has 2016 been pretty much the opposite with the rain drops few and far between. As of April the 28th, 2016 the river level was at 658 feet msl which is a bit on the low side.

Both River Run and Shadowrock Parks looked to be ready to go for what I feel will be a signature year! Shadowrock Park already had quite a few RV's there when I visited on April the 21st! Spring is a great time to come out to this part of southwest Missouri to camp walk fish or do all three!

Etc...Etc. A small shop run by great owners!

Forsyth MO – I recently had the occasion to stop in at an establishment by the name of Etc...Etc, a small shop 'with a little bit of everything'. The establishment, which  is right next door to the Chamber of Commerce, is owned and operated by Matt and Irma and has been in operation for some time and is popular with many of the locals due to the very affordable price points that can be found there. The shop offers a broad array of clothing (men's and women's on down to infant-ware) not to mention just about everything else under the sun. I was impressed with their jewelry display not to mention assorted kitchen appliances, Amish jams and jellies and all sorts of Bric a Brac! I understand that they also can do alterations and have a great selection of prom dresses!! While I was there, I purchased a large jar of Black Raspberry jam to take home.

The place is called Etc...Etc, and it's located at 16071 US Hwy 160, and while I wasn't sure of their store hours, you can give them a call at (626) 518-2103 to find out. 

Kool-Aid liquid shooters!

Tucked away in the juice isle of my local Country Mart store, located in Forsyth Missouri, are tiny little 1.62 fluid ounce plastic containers of Kook-Aid liquid beverage additive that you add to water for a refreshing and calorie free drink! About a two second squeeze is all you need to flavor a 24 ounce bottle of water! There's enough in each of these to flavor about about 15 bottles! And, at about $3 per, this works out to a cost of about twenty cents! Not a very bad deal. And yes, these go on sale from time to time, for about $2.50 each. A really great deal!

That mean old prison problem!

In the spirit of thinking way outside the box, I recently addressed the prison population problem in America....

To say our prisons are overcrowded would be an understatement as the graph shown here indicates. Of that population, a majority are incarcerated due to drug offenses. But, since those individuals broke the law, I have little remorse to share for them or their fate. Still, it is very apparent that we will need to do something in the near term that doesn't involve the building of more and more centers of confinement.

So, here's my proposal. Let's set up a lottery. Each year there would be a drawing with about 25% of the prison population being lucky 'winners'. What do they win? Well, here's the deal. We would take these individuals to special military camps where they would be given a modicum of training, handed a gun (sans ammo), two weeks rations and then shipped via a group of C-130 Hercules to be dropped over hot spots like Raqqa, Syria! They would then be charged with the simple task of survival and should they make it back to America, by what ever means, would be given much reduced sentences. Now just imagine a force of thirty to forty thousand of these sorts of people landing in the middle of an ISIS stronghold! (Sort of like a remake of the Dirt Dozen run amok, I would imagine...).

The upshot of such an effort would be multi-fold. For one thing, we would free up a lot of room in the prison system. For another, a few surviving inmates might get a chance at a better life once they got back home. And finally, the media would have a brand new reality series for viewers world wide. Oh, and as to the fate of ISIS? Well, that would be the real icing on the cake wouldn't it... See a win-win deal all the way around! Oh, and I almost forgot! Yes, the men would get ammo, of course. It would be dropped at selected sites all over the target area making for a rather mad dash in the vein of the movie It's a Mad Mad Mad World!

St. Patrick's Day 2016!

For perhaps the first time in my memory, I celebrated Saint Patrick's Day without imbibing any green beer! Actually, I did not have any beer at all, for I was in the midst of a month long abstinence that began on March the 1^st! So, coke in hand, I found myself sitting on a third floor balcony looking over a small valley through which ran Lake Taneycomo. And even though the temperature was a coolish 65F, I found that due to my western exposure and clear skies, that the temperature was quite comfortable. Looking upwards at my anemometer, I could tell that there was a light wind coming out of the west. Sitting there, I was reminded of a time, decades ago, when I lived in an apartment complex in Schaumburg Il. That place also had a second floor balcony and faced south. I think the year was 1990 and that man was far younger than the old person I am today.

So, in many ways, I'd come full circle. In those intervening days that went by all too swiftly, I had owned a couple of homes, fought the grass, lived and grew old. Funny thing about living. It's sometimes over before you even knew it. and on this day, I had not a stitch of green on!

2016 Presidential Election a perfect storm?

After watching the Republican debate last night, it was becoming increasingly clear that there was a problem developing with a party that was sharply divided over Donald Trump. It's looking more and more that, unless things radically change over the course of the next few months, Hillary may be assured the 2016 move into the White House!

I state this on the basis that the GOP looks headed for a runoff of sorts with that party's nomination being picked by straw vote. If that occurs, about half the voters may just end up staying at home on election night in November! A situation that would almost guarantee Hillary's success even if the vast majority of the total sentiment of the country was running against her!

Whatever happens, the silent revolution that is boiling just below the surface of America is likely to boil over in 2017 into a more traditional violent upheaval as the Federal government continues on the path of self destruction.