White Swan Fish House

This week I had the pleasure of eating at the White Swan Fish House located at 15709 US Highway 160 in Forsyth Missouri. This building used to be a laundromat for many years before being converted to an eatery. It’s owned and operated the by the same folks who run the very popular Danna’s BBQ in Hollister and Branson.

When you first walk in, there is a service counter on your left where you can place an order. A very nice person by the name of Bridget made me feel welcome as she clearly explained the menu items including the specials they were running at that time. I was told that the most popular meal is currently the Fried Catfish Quesadillas, although the Po-Boys sandwiches may give them a run for their money. Other menu items include the Grilled Seafood Tacos (sounds interesting) and their basket meals which can include shrimp, catfish, chicken, oysters or even craw fish. A special youngster meal is also offered.

In case you’re not familiar with this eatery, it’s located at 15709 Us Highway 160 just across from Comb’s Furniture. So, it’s conveniently located and there's plenty of parking for all. Current store hours are Monday through Thursday 11 AM to 2:30 PM and Friday and Saturday from 11 to 8PM. It’s always a good idea to call them at 417 546-2231, however just to make sure.

John is the manager and chef of a well run and clean establishment. I counted seating for about fifty plus not including a group section that would seat 16 and more. The background music was very pleasant and all around you are reminders of the fact that you are in a fish house. Following is my ranking on a scale of 1= awful to 10 = awesome!

Cost to eat: 7

Cleanliness: 9

Food: 9

Service: 9

Name that Park Contest

Forsyth Missouri will be getting a new park that is situated on Birmingham Road just off Hwy 76. When complete it will have two baseball fields, a walking path and playground equipment. The most important thing, however, it is won’t flood in the manner the Shadowrock has in the past.

The park is scheduled for completion by mid 2011 and folks can help out by giving it a name as part of a contest that runs until September 7th. It asks local residents to submit names (no person’s, service organization or business allowed) at City Hall or on the City’s Web site. You can save postage or gas by emailing your entry to the mayor (link is provided on entry page). The winning entry will receive a $50 saving bond after the announcement should be made sometime around September 17th. The winning entry will be based on how well it describes the distinctiveness, creativity, marketing and branding potential of the park itself.

I drove by this area but was unable to find any evidence of construction.

Empire Electric Rate Increase in September!

A rate hike of 13.35% was announced recently by Bill Gipson, president and CEO of Empire Electric Company. Apparently the Missouri Public Service Commission approved the increase after it was announced that he Plum Point generating station in Osceola, Arkansas was completed ahead of schedule. Accord to Mr. Gipson, “The new rates will allow us to begin recovery of the costs associated with the environmental upgrades at Iatan I and the new Plum Point generating station.”

What this means to the average customer of Empire will be and increase of about $13 a month per thousand kilowatts of use.

River Run Park – A sign of rough financial times?

Living close to the River Run Park in Forsyth Missouri affords me a chance to keep an eye on the goings on in this popular vacation spot. This summer I’ve tried to make it a point to drive through the park every so often just to check things out. In years past, it has been crowded (when it wasn’t flooded) this time of year. I’m sad, however to report that this season, attendance seems to be off a bit. Actually, a lot!

Now it’s true, we’ve had a very hot summer with most of August sporting temperatures in the mid nineties. I’m sure that may have kept some away, even though many of the people who come here do so in state of the art RV’s complete with air conditioning and satellite TV’s. Also, the park has not been maintained as well as in past years and that may have been a turnoff. I’ve noticed that the grass has been allowed to get high enough to go to seed before it’s cut with other areas have been let go all together. To me high grass means lots of bugs. Not sure if that is true though.

To the parks credit, when I was out taking pictures, a company called Loftis Mowing was cutting the grass in selected areas. Even so, there was only a camper or two in the entire park!

Hang in there. The Wx in SW Mo is about to get a little cooler! I Hope!

Starting on Sunday, August the 15th, the weather here in southwest Missouri should start a process of moderation that will result in ‘cooler than normal’ temperatures starting as early as Monday and continuing on through the balance of the week. The yellow arrows point to two cooler fronts that should swing through our neck of the woods. Praise God.

Meteor Shower - You missed it!

Tonight (Aug 12th) and tomorrow night marks peak viewing for one of the most prolific and awe-inspiring annual meteor showers visible in North America, the Perseids, which will rise from the northeast beginning around 11 p.m. At times as many as 60 shooting stars are visible during the shower.

Named because they come from the direction of the constellation Perseus, the meteors are actually the stream of debris cascading from the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years.Because there's a waxing crescent moon just now, the Perseids should be visible in most of the country where skies are clear.

Astronomers suggest driving away from city lights and finding a dark spot with good vantage of the entire sky, preferably at an angle so you're looking up at the sky without craning your neck.While the eye adapts to the dark within 10 minutes, a full switch to night vision can take up to 45 minutes, so the falling stars will become brighter and more visible as the night wears on. Be careful not to place yourself where you see oncoming car headlights, which can 'reset' the eyes for light, meaning it will take another 45 minutes to get full night vision back.

NASA astronomer Bill Cooke will hold a Web chat from 11:00 p.m. tonight to 5 a.m. EDT about the Perseids and how best to view them from the Marshall Space Flight Center. Most of the meteors in the shower Americans will see tonight and tomorrow night are from a filament of dust from the comet that streamed off in 1862.

Humans have been seeing the Perseids for at least 2,000 years and are associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years. The Earth passes through the tiny debris cloud that trails the comet every August. The particles of ice and dust burn up as they enter the Earth's atmosphere, creating a beautiful shower of meteors.

NASA will also be running a live feed of the shower beginning as darkness falls on the East coast.

Thanks Empire Electric, I think…

In the mail this afternoon was a box of Lumacoil energy saving compact fluorescent lamps. Four in all. They were really neat and I appreciate my Electric Company for sending them to me. Maybe this is some government program trickle down thingy that has finally made its way to my humble door!

Enclosed with the lamps were two pages from Empire with a bunch of information showing how there are various rebates and incentives for both home owners and building contractors. Nowhere does Empire actually address in these papers why they sent me these nifty lamps in the first place. (Must be a gift horse kind of deal. Just don’t look too far into its mouth…).

Could this be some kind of government benefit thing? And if so, who's paying for it? I’m only asking because the lamps actually came from China! What?