Landscapes, People and Foods

I wanted to show the foods that we have here, since back home we are predominantly Mexican (southwest) influenced. The southern food we encounter here has no correlation to that. In fact we have tried several Mexican restaurants here, but they just don't hold up. You eat at one, and you have eaten at them all. One thing I hate is that they pour this queso sauce on everything they serve, which makes the food all taste the same. Just remember to tell your server to leave off the queso. Better yet, just say NO!

Now, below are some simple representations of the southern style. Our branch has a pot-luck at the end of the block every 3rd Sunday, which spotlights some of these interesting southern foods everyone has heard about, along with most everything being "southern" style whether it has Italian, Spanish, or what have you influence. That.... is what the south is all about. Check out these pix:

 Picture of brother Traylor's double yoke eggs for breakfast. Those eggs are the BEST!

Our 3rd Sunday potluck display of foods. the scalloped potatoes were prepared by Sister Clement. They were a HIT!

I gotta' tell you that the eggs here are fresh, because they come from the members.

Scott Child wanted to make us some cookies. He didn't have any chocolate chips, so he innovated using Heath Bar chips. These really made my blood sugar go UP! But they were SO good. To be fair, these were made sugar free, except for the Heath Bar chips. You would never know it! Thanks Scott!

Didn't I say everything is fried here? Well, at least there was a baked potato to lessen the clogged arteries. One of the most common entre' is catfish. Everyone serves catfish. I think I can do without catfish. Kathy is no catfish lover either, and usually stays clear of it.

Hey, you have to feed the animals too, no?

Bob and Kathy Bassham's sign above the entrance to their property off Byron Rd. They invite us usually once a week for dinner. We LOVE the Bassham's!

 Back up, and look at the sign at the entrance of Bassham's estate. 80 acres of prime Arkansas property.

Bob Bassham raises cattle, and sells them at the local auction. He usually makes money doing this. Bob is retired from General Motors just like I am. We have a lot in common.

The Bassham Castle! They have such a nice home, and property. It sits on top of a hill overlooking their property, of which they can see most of it by just looking out the window!

Bob and Kathy Bassham. Bob is an Arkansas Native. Along with this property, and another plot of land, he has almost 300 acres of Arkansas property. Just like a lot of us, Bob had to move to Michigan for much of his life to get job security. He chose to work for General Motors, and lived in Flint Michigan. I worked for GM as well, and traveled to Michigan for my job often, and in fact worked in Flint several times. What a small world! Nice to have common ground.

Kathy Bassham served us up a delightful southern style meal, with fried chicken, fried okra, potatoes and gravy, along with fresh tomatoes and homemade sliced bread. It was SO delicious! We love and appreciate the meals that Kathy prepares for us. I am just not having much success with my diet here.

People of the Mission

 Our branch president Daniel Ochoa.

 Brother Trayler, Elder Rubio, Elder Wyson, Elder Nelson, Elder Levitt, and Elder Clement.

 Elders Levitt, and Anderson. They were assigned to Mountain View Branch. Senior couple Elder and Sister Miller are now assigned from there. They are from Utah.

 Brother Trayler owns a chicken farm. He gave us a total of 120 eggs that were double yokes. We love the fresh eggs, and these are XXXLarge eggs! Won't even fit in a normal egg carton. YUM! Alright, do the math. 240 yokes. But to be fair, we did end up giving many of them to the branch members who were very grateful. The Elders also got their share of these eggs as well. You can never have too many eggs.

 Our very cool branch building located in Ash Flat, on highway 412/62.

 Looking to the front of the chapel. There are a total of 8 pews. There are only 2 buildings like this in the world. The Ash Flatians are proud of this place.

 Elder Kohler, brother Trayler, and Elder Rubio from Batesville Branch. Brother Trayler is the Mission leader of the Batesville branch.

Kathy and her smile. Our branch building with all 8 pews.

 Kathy and Sister Dorothy Wagner. Dorothy is 108 in one week (September 2nd, 2012)



 Kathy and Bandit the Pomeranian.

 Grandson Colton, and Grandpa Clement

 Tom and Kathy in front of the Memphis Temple.

 Sisters: Judy Heath, Kathy Bassham, Kathy Clement, Teresa Bailey, and Feliza Castor

 Tom Lee Clement Family, Colton, Ashley, Aedan, Tom

 Teresa Bailey

 Kathy Bassham

 Child Family, Ron, Billie, and Scott. I found out, quite by accident, Billie is my 5th cousin. The link we both share is through Newell Knight, who was a personal friend of Joseph Smith. Interestingly small world after all!

Brothers Stephens, and Christman

Brother Inman. Kathy believes that he is a relative. We were unable to make the link, because he has moved to Illinois, but the information that he gave us lead us to believe that he is a very close relative. Melvin is a really nice fellow.

Homes, and Wildlife

 Lots of broken trees in the backyard. Very thick, dense forest. I am not going to try to negotiate this forest. I am going to leave it as it. This tree is dead, Probably broken from the ice storm a few years back.

The owner of the San Juan home was always trying to encourage birds, and what have you into view. I have not loaded these with seed, so I don't know if any of them will bring the wildlife. In fact, I have not seen many birds here at San Juan home at all, nor have I seen squirrels, or raccoons. I have seen deer, a woodchuck, and an armadillo. The squirrels and raccoons were all over the place at the Apache home. Anyway, I am looking at getting a stock camera, one that flashes when it senses game moving through. Kathy thinks I am nuts. I probably am.

 The fawn and the doe (below) were walking through the front lawn. Both looked right at me as I walked up to the front porch to take their picture. Then casually walked across the road and disappeared.

Looking at the back corner of the "defined" backyard at the house, and deck. The house looks bigger than it looks from the front. the deck is really nice, but we don't spend much time using it.

 



 Front porch, looking down at the front yard, and the picket fence. Very nice arrangement, but this yard is very hard to maintain. Probably best to just let it be "natural".

 I guess maybe I can clean the dead debris off of the edge of the driveway.

Looking back at the rear deck, and the satellite dish. There is some work to be done on the doors. They are almost impossible to open, especially the right hand door. It appears to be sprung out of kilter.

 

 The house that never was to be. This house was infested with spiders. Black widow's among other things. That is why we moved into the San Juan home. It was much safer.

The Tawsee house. Also known as the "spider" infested house. It was a lovely house located on the Lake Chanute. Too bad the spiders had moved in, and made our move impossible. Thanks to the realty for finding a suitable home right on the other side of the lake.

 OK, this wasn't from the Tawsee house, but I have only seen one of these tarantulas since I have been here. This one was moving across the Simstown road in Evening Shade, AR, and couldn't make up it's mind whether to cross or go back. Ended back where he started.

You usually don't see the raccoons out during the day, but they have gotten bold because I suspect they are hungry. First night we lived in our Apache home, we put the trash out. Later heard a crash, and went to find our trash all over the place. Never put your trash out until the morning of.

 Our Apache house is just up the road. This is a common occurrence. The deer are abundant here, and they are always crossing the road.

This deer was trying to get away from us, and Kathy snapped the photo. This one also was near our Apache house.

 

 

They called this turtle a terrapin. I have heard them called that before, but don't know what constitutes a "terrapin" over a "turtle". He was in the middle of the road, and you saw them mostly in the spring. Think, crossing the road for these little critters was hazardous to their health. This one wouldn't move, even when I got up close to take pictures. But the expression on his face tells the whole story: "Go around me, you dummy!"

 Armadillo. What a critter. Foraging for bugs in the yard. See these smashed on the side of the road quite often. They don't move very fast that makes them vulnerable to the speeding cars here. Yes, the roads are narrow, but people think they are super highways or something. OK, the reason these creatures end up dead on the road, people think that if they drive over them, they will not kill them. Problem is, when frightened, they jump STRAIGHT up into the air, and hit the underside of the vehicle, splattering them all over the place. If people will just go around if possible, a lot less of them would become road-kill. Maybe.

I wonder if those bugs are really tasty.

 

Speaking of narrow roads. This is a very narrow bridge. I have found a few of these in various locations. This is Spring River, and is created by Mammoth Spring north of here.