Empire Park is thankfully high and dry!

[May 2011 Forsyth Missouri] – While other popular recreational locations are still deep under water, Empire Park is open for business.

After record rainfall fell over much of southern Missouri during the later part of April, much of the area near rivers and streams is still under water. This is especially true of the parks in and around Forsyth Missouri where Shadow Rock and River Run are completely inundated.

I'm told it will take quite some time for the water to recede. However Empire Park, which is situated above Powersite Dam, is looking awesome and ready for business. This site, maintained by the Empire Electric Coop, has a boat ramp, restrooms and picnic tables and is open to the public.

Here's a link to some footage of Empire Park I took back in 2008, which ironically, was another year in which the other parks located down stream were also flooded.

A new way for Mediacom to run cable?

Perhaps this is a new thing, I’m not sure. It seems Mediacom has decided that, in some cases, the best way to route their cables is to route them the easiest way possible. Instead of burying them or employing existing telephone pole infrastructure, they have elected to just leave them wherever they happen to fall on the ground. These cables run from two junction boxes and in the process meander across the ground before crossing a busy street in Valley View Village. Apparently, this practice is okie dokey with the city official as one of the cables has been like this for over a year!

I’m not sure what the intent of the statement by Mediacom or its parent company Comcast is here? Is it that they are just too big to be bothered with local cable ordinances? Is this a new way to string cable and nobody told me? Is it a sign of crumbling infrastructure? I could understand a cable, especially a communications cable being managed this way for a week or so under extraordinary circumstances, but a year ore more. You go to be jacking me!

And it’s not like no one has complained about this situation. Letters have been written, phone calls have been made and officials notified. All to no effect. I’m not sure who to be the most upset with. Mediacom and its sloppy approach to service or the men and women who work for Taney County and who are responsible to see that codes are enforced. Either way, I hope this is not a sign of things to come. For more on Mediacom, be sure to visit Complaints Board and enter their name into the search box.

Chicago Dogs come to Sonic!

By chance, I happened to see a commercial on TV that indicated Sonic had added three new hot dogs to their menu. One was an All American dog, while another was a New York style dog looked  interesting, but what really caught my attention was the addition of a Chicago style hot dog! Too cool.

It’s been quite sometime since I last had one of these (see the real thing at right), yet just the memory gets my mouth to watering. According to Sonic's web site, their version of a Chicago Dog is 'a 100% pure beef hot dog topped with pickle, relish, tomato, sport peppers, celery salt and mustard all served up in a soft, warm poppy seed bun'. While that description is close to the one I remember eating in Chicago, I think an authentic Chi town Dog has relish that is iridescent green and the dogs were always served with limp fries. To be fair, I decided to buy one and decide for myself.

I was able to test this out recently when I motored over to the Sonic located in Forsyth, Missouri where I ordered a Chicago dog and fries. The total came to $3.76 which was a bit expensive, but I felt it was justified in the name of science.

For the record the dog packs a 440 calorie wallop not counting the small fries which bring another 220 calories to the game. (This is not a meal for the meek at heart or for anyone who is trying to live with a diet as I am). However, once again, since I’m doing this for a scientific cause, it’s OK to do today!

The other two bits of bad news would be the cholesterol at 40 milligrams (livable) and the sledgehammer amount of sodium that come in at 2600 milligrams for both. Still, I reasoned, if I made sure to refrain from eating for the rest of the day (and maybe tomorrow), I'd make out. Now onto the esoterics…

The visual appeal of this meal was all that I expected and the smell was to die for. So, score a 10 on that part. The taste was pretty much as good as I remembered although the fries were just ordinary and not limp at all. The cost for the hot dog was $1.99 and the fries were $1.49, so not all that bad. Overall, a very good meal that I would encourage everyone to give a try! In the name of science, of course!

Google Scam Alert

If you see something like this in your mail. It is a scam by crooked foreign powers.

Dear Gmail User,

The Gmail infrastructure is going through an annual security and performance overhaul.
In this respect, you are requested to verify your account by clicking on the following link and login.
The Google Security Team is available to provide you all the assistance for secure communication over the Internet.

htpps://www.google.com/accounts/RP?c=CNE6ouyytXHe5wEQoMy85ta2d-8Np&hl=en 

You are requested to act on this immediately to guarantee the smooth functioning of your mail account.

Thanks,
Account Security Administrator
Google Security Team
Google, Inc.
Phone: +1 650-253-0000

In aftermath of storms, the Powersite dam is still flowing!

The Powersite dam is still flowing at a good rate (as of May the 3^rd, 2011) even though the water levels on the other side are now approaching normal levels. Hopefully, the levels in the parks downstream will now begin to go down and the locals will be able to enjoy planned activities this coming summer and fall.

 

While I was walking near the dam located, I came across this Zebra Swallowtail butterfly (Eurytides marcellus). This species is found throughout the middle and southwest parts of the county and is striking in it coloration.

May 2011 Powersite Sewer Project Update - I think!

I recently received a response from an engineer at the Powersite Sewer project who informed me that as of May the 3^rd, 2011, they were ‘in the process of staking preliminary sewer locations in the field and then verifying these locations.’ The engineer also stated that as of this date, ‘we have completed this process for the north half of the project, including the Valley View Village area.’

So that’s all I have been able to gleam from these folks thus far. I was also admonished to check the webpage for more updates. Interestingly the last one was on November 4 of last year. I still do not have a feel for when this group plans to begin the laying of sewer line or when they will want to being the process of having affected dwellings contact someone to fill in their septic tanks and get them hooked to the new line. Will it be 2012? I’m not sure. It would be nice to have some idea as the cost to homeowners will be significant and it would help if they could plan for that.

And the beat in Forsyth goes on...

The beat of rain that is, yes rain is once again falling all across southern Missouri with close to an inch and a half recorded for the first day of May. My weather station recorded a record monthly total of 19.08 inches for April, and now, it looks like the trend may continue. Where's Al Gore when you need him? Anybody seen good old Al?

As I am writing this, it's late Sunday, May 1^st and outside my window lightening is crisscrossing the nighttime sky as a light rain falls. The forecast for Monday is for, you guessed it, more rain. Guess I'll batten down the hatches and go to bed.