Shadowrock Park emerges once again!

Forsyth needs its own Park/Tourist Center!

After spending yet another spring and summer season languishing beneath the waters of Bull Shoals, the one popular park located just to the east of the city of Forsyth, MO has emerged. And, as you may have guessed, there's a boatload of assorted debris that will now need to be hauled off.

With the final holiday of the summer just a day or so away, Labor Day will have to be celebrated at some other area park should one be so inclined. Empire and Shoals Bend are the two closest that I can recall. And while Empire Park does only have a few amenities, it still shines brightly when compared to Shoals Bend. Here's a very short rundown on all four;

Shadowrock Park - May become available a few days toward the middle of September.
River Run - I'm guessing the the Corps will keep this park shuttered until perhaps next year.
Empire Park - Open for business
Shoals Bend - This is actually not a park. It's a fair ground that few seem to want to go to... I definitely don't like going there after dark.

If I might be so bold as to say WTF? is the town of Forsyth so strapped for resources that we can't develop a fully functional and equipped park somewhere in the city limits? And, I'm not talking about a few picnic tables dumped on some vacant field with a porta potty. I'm talking about a fully landscaped area that could support such amenities as; flush toilets, a stage, a public indoor swimming poll and meeting hall, vendor sites. Well, you get my drift. All that's lacking is the public's will to plan and develop what I feel would be a true visitor attraction that could also pay for itself over the long haul. Will this ever happen... no, probably not.

A Pittsburg salad with fries? And at the Frosted Mug? Uh no...

Forsyth Mo - Here’s the real deal, salad lovers. Sometimes we all want to eat a salad that’s simply full of lettuce and vegetables. Other times we want to eat a salad that’s full of lettuce, vegetables, shredded cheese, croutons, Ranch dressing, more cheese and more croutons.

But we had no idea we wanted to eat a salad that’s full of lettuce, vegetables, cheese and FRENCH FRIES.

That’s right. There’s an actual real life salad that’s topped with our favorite French cuisine — fries. WTF??

I had the occasion to observe this creation served, recently, at a local venue and had to admit that the patron who ordered it (special) seemed to enjoy the experience totally!

So, is this so-called salad now on the menu at the Mug? No. It would seem that only the intelligentsia has access that mere mortals, such as myself, can only dream...

Shadowrock Park may soon reemerge!

Park at 678' or just after it was closed for the 2019 season!

Forsyth MO. - After spending the bulk of the spring and summer resting beneath the waves of Bull Shoals Lake, a popular area park may once again make an appearance by early October or just in time for the end of the Summer season. The graph below is based on water level trends and assumes a relative dry month of August (dotted trend line). The more aggressive purple line represents the most recent trend based on higher release rates at the Bull Shoals dam.

Bull Shoals Lake level

What's missing regarding restaurant condiments?

I think that most everyone who lives in and around Forsyth Missouri has likely had a chance to  visit one of the many fine sit-down styled restaurants that my small town supports; Long Horn Family Dining, Fat Daddy's, Thrive and Mountain William's Pizza to name a few. All offer a great dining experience and my only, as of late, concern has been with the table condiment selections as of late...

Most venues have the basics always in place at each table; table salt, pepper, sugar and sugar substitutes being the most common. Other venue's table side condiments reflect the food that is served with places like Fat Daddy's also having a nice selection of sauces to go on that shredded pork sandwich or BBQ. But, there is most always something(s) missing, and I wanted to address that point in this post.

Even if unused, these open tubs must be tossed!

The picture above was taken at the Long Horn on the date of this post. Notice that there is no salt substitute or packaged jellies. Whenever I dine out that this venue, I often have to request the jelly and always have to bring my own ' fake salt'. Seriously, in a town with a pretty large population of older persons, you'd think everyone had gotten the message about why per capita salt intake is at record high levels! Likewise, I prefer that the jelly be in sealed packages along with the salt and pepper. Please see my other post on 'The Gross Reason You Should Never Pepper Your Food in Restaurants'!   

Friday, Aug 16th Back to School Party!

July 19 power outage!

It was about 8PM, or so, on Friday July the 19th when I noticed that the cable had died. No internet and no TV. Then, about five minutes later the power went also. So, there I was sitting in the dark on one of the hottest evening of the summer....wondering...

Apparently, something blew at the Powersite substation above the Powersite Dam (which was also not working at the time). And so, I went on to bed and lay there in the dark wondering when things would get back to 'normal'. About two hours later, the power did come back on as did my air conditioner, so I was able to get some sleep. But as I fell to sleep, my mind pondered the question of out power infrastructure and what sort of shape it was in. Were the problems sporadic and local or were they more widespread? Following is the response I received from Liberty Utilities after I inquired as to the cause of the outage;

From: Doreen Maynard
Sent: Saturday, July 20, 2019 10:20 AM

Subject: Outage

Unfortunately we cannot promise service 24/7 but when we do experience an outage we respond as quickly and safely as possible. We did have and issue with a substation,  we can’t predict when this might happen however with the extremely high heat index we have experienced that may cause extra load on our equipment. With our lineman responding quickly and our customers conserving usage we will do our best to make sure outages are as infrequent as possible.

Thank you

Doreen Maynard | Liberty Utilities  (Missouri) | Customer Service Rep-Contact Center-Sr

VAT#123456
While I greatly appreciated the prompt response, I still could not help but be a little troubled. Was the power grid getting a bit old? Was it not able to keep up with the increased loads placed on it by a society that craves electrical devices? It was my sincere hope that Liberty Utilities, a Canadian owned power company, would stay on top of these questions.

Repairs to damaged gates could happen in early August!

Forsyth MO. - On or about June the 28th of this year, some form of flood debris damaged a part or parts of a pneumatic line that was used to inflate air bladders that would raise or lower the gates as needed. When this line was 'cut', a goodly section of the barrier lowered, allowing water to flow freely from Taneycomo. On July 15, I was able to get in touch with a spokesperson at Liberty Utilities who informed me that repairs would have to wait until the water level on the Bull Shoals side had dropped enough for it to be safe. I was told that level would be 685 feet above msl. (I had posted 675 feet and got a correction notice from Liberty Utilities - see update below)! A situation that could be hampered due to Bulls Shoals Dam in Arkansas having to restrict their release rates, somewhat, until things improved on the Mississippi (my assumption).

While it may be hard to see in the graphic above, those little black triangles represent sensors that show when the body of water they are located on is above flood stage. It would appear that the Missouri and Mississippi rivers were both a little high, (to say the least). What is not apparent, yet, would the be effect of all the rainfall dropped on the Mississippi by tropical storm Berry. Again the bottom line is, in my limited view, it could be quite a long period of time before these main waterways get back to something close to normal.

 Update From Liberty Utilities:

'Heavy rain and flooding conditions in the lower Mississippi river valley have impacted several of the lakes in our Southwest Missouri area. 

Flood debris recently caused damage to two sections of the spillway gates at our Ozark Beach dam on Lake Taneycomo. Because of the damage, these spillway gates can’t be raised due to broken or cracked air lines. A breach to the dam has not occurred, and there are no immediate safety concerns. Crews will repair the air line damage once the water level in Bull Shoals lake has dropped to 685 feet, allowing them to safely access the dam equipment. Until that time, residents may experience dropping lake levels at Lake Taneycomo. 

If you plan on boating at Lake Taneycomo now or in the near future, please check the lake levels before entering the water and practice caution while traveling on the lake. Repairs will be made to our Ozark Beach dam as soon as conditions allow.'

Extrapolating from that new guideline and assuming that we do not experience any more heavy rainfall in the near term, I cam up with the following graphic click on to expand):

If correct, the 685 foot level could be reached at or before August the 10th! That's a big 'if', however.