2011 First Baptist Dardanelle Fall Fest Petting Zoo

Our third petting zoo of the year was for First Baptist in Dardanelle.  They had a huge Fall Fest with the entire community showing up!  We took a lot of animals: two goats, two ponies, the donkey, the mini cow, a goose, two ducks, a sheep and some rabbits.  Several Wrangler Club 4Hers showed up to help: Malcolm and Kurt Penka, Dayna Walker, Libby Bailey, and Cody Chuculate.  It was a lot of work, but a great success!

We took a big set up this time, three pens, one for the main group of animals (ponies, donkey, goats and sheep) that the kids could enter to pet them, and one for Ellie the mini cow and one with a goose and two ducks in it. 

 

Our ponies, Johnnie and Elvis, letting some happy girls brush them at the petting zoo.










ClaireAnna sharing her duck with two young festival goers.






Lots more pictures in the album below!

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2011 Zion Lutheran Church Fall Fest Petting Zoo

One of the things ClaireAnna and I do is to take our petting zoo to area events and churches.  We do it for free as a community service project.  This one at the Zion Lutheran Church helped raise thousands of dollars for the River Valley Christian Clinic and other organizations. 

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2011 Ozark Memories Day

This is our small town annual festival in Dover, put on by the Chamber of Commerce.  We start the day out with a short parade through down town Dover.  I didn’t take any pictures during the actual parade this year because I was leading The Grinch.  It was his first time in a parade and he did fantastic!
Claire rode Cindy, as usual.   
The Grinch took everything in stride.  No spooking at all!  Next year, Claire will ride him and let one of her friends ride Cindy.
 
This picture of my friend Sylvia in her first every parade, show’s how excited Grinch was about being there!
After the parade, we went home to put the horses away and change our clothes.  Back at the festival, we had some snacks: funnel cake, tamales, nachos and soda. 
I did the skillet toss! I didn’t win, but I didn’t embarrass myself either!
 
They had a men’s log toss, but Ted’s arm is busted.  Here’s a random guy doing it!

ClaireAnna tossed the bean bags.    
This is our town, Na na na na na!   

2009 Ozark Memories Day Parade

ClaireAnna riding Cindy and her best little 4-H buddy, Dayna riding Kenai in the 2009 Ozark Memories Day Parade. This is our little town's yearly festival. We start the morning off with a Lion's Club pancake breakfast. Then the parade. The afternoon is filled with kid's games, music, craft booths, contests, pony rides and food booths. A band booster chicken dinner closes out the day at 5:00 PM. The whole thing is very small town and quaint. We see all our friends and have a nice, relaxing day. Today, the weather was perfect, sunny and about 75 degrees with no humidity and a wonderful breeze. This is my town! Nana Na Na Na.........

Only in Arkansas

What is wrong with this picture? Can you see it? Look closely....... Yup, its a recliner!
In the first picture, you can see a barbed wire fence. That fence separates our property from our neighbor's. He has had some brush bulldozed into a big pile that you can see on the right. He plans to burn it. About 2 weeks ago, he drove out to the brush pile and plopped down this recliner. I asked him about it and he says he is going to burn it. But there it sits....in the middle of his cow pasture.....only in Arkansas!

Total Loss

We went over to Randy Martin's place today. These pictures represent what's left of everything he owns. We can only credit God that his family is alive and uninjured. ( see previous post titled "Tornado.") It is truly a miracle! Another miracle -- his yard was full of people today. Total strangers with leather work gloves, chain saws, back hoes and dozers. At least 50 of them. From what we saw this morning, Randy's mess will be cleaned up by the end of this weekend. Then he can begin to rebuild, along with the many other victims across the country.

We told Randy we would come get his goats and keep them till he had a place fixed for them. We did that today, but as we collected them he said, "Ted, I don't have a place for ME to live. It will be a long, long time before I'm worried about where my goats will live. Just keep them." (See them in the next post.) As we left Atkins with our horse trailer full of Randy's goats, we passed a funeral procession. I can only assume it was that of the family that died Tuesday. Mother, Father and sister all dead. Son/ brother the only survivor because he was not home. Please pray for all those who lost family and/ or homes.

The Dover Times

DISCLAIMER: ARKANSAS FRIENDS - I LOVE YOU, DOVER IS GREAT, DON'T BE OFFENDED! THIS IS JUST A LITTLE HUMER ABOUT THE CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN WHERE WE ARE FROM AND WHERE WE LIVE NOW.

I wish I had thought to do this sooner. There are always hilarious ( to a Yankee) little articles in the weekly Dover paper. We get the Dover times free in our grociery bag at the Dover Market if we shop on Wednesdays. Otherwise, you can put a quarter in the can at Ewing's Video and Tan and get one. ( you can also buy jewelry and glittery shoes there if you want to show off your tan while you rent a movie!) Read this article to yourself with a slow southern drawl.

The Dover Boy Scouts anual chili dinner is a very popular event in Dover. The funny part is that these are just local folks, cooking some homemade chili with the meat they have in thier freezer.

The Red Barn is just that. A red barn on the corner of a highway, at the edge of a farmer's field in the middle of nowhere. ( I'll try to take a picture next time I go by) They have a "sing'in" ( you have to say it right) every week and sometime special guests. It costs a dollar to get in.





Now, here, Dover has made the big time. And of course, this is no joke. A local girl, Nona, was violently murdered over a year ago. Her long time boyfriend, Kevin, was accused, tried and found not guilty. Her family believes he is the killer. His family sold thier business and home to pay for his defense. The DA insists Kevin is guilty. The police messed up the investigation BIG TIME. Nona and Kevin were/ are friends of Josh's from highschool. Kevin has been to Josh's appartment. We buy round baled hay from Kevin's dad and Ted's dad hired him to do dozer work on his property. Watch the show tomorrow and you will see our little town in all it's glory.



I'll keep my eye out, now, for other funny articles. Or maybe next post I'll tell ya'll about the guy who calls in to "Swap Shop", (a local radio show where you can advertize things for sale for free ) to sell used 5 gallon buckets for 50 cents each.

Tornado

Pope County has been declaired a National Disaster Area. The town of Atkins, where the tornado began it's 100 mile long tirade, is 10 miles from us.

Randy, a man who works for Ted in the warehouse, and an Atkins resident, lost everything. He was in his home when he opened the front door and came face to face with the oncomming tornado. They ran out to a car, Randy and his wife, thier adult daughter and her 2 month old baby, plus 3 dogs. They backed away from the house just before the tornado struck. Thier house is a total loss. If they had stayed, they would be dead. The barn and chicken house are gone. All but 6 of thier 20 some goats were killed. The pony had to be euthanized. 3 vehicles, 2 tractors and 1 motorcycle are totaled, including the car they were in. These people hunched down in the floor boards of thier car while the tornado went right over them. The windows blew out and debris blew in, but no one was injured. Even the dogs survived. We will be bringing his surviving goats over here for the time being. We've taken them some food. But what else can you do? He has absolutely nothing left. He has lived on that land for 30 years, clearing it, building the house, the barn and fences, a new corral......all gone and now just a twisted mass of tree limbs, debris and metal.

A neighbor and his family have lost thier entire house...all but the bathroom blew away. Good thing that's where they were hiding.

An elderly gentleman down the street was killed when his entire house was blown away.

Another resident (a couple of miles away), his wife and thier, 11 year old daughter were all killed.
The girls and I drove over to Atkins today. We probably shouldn't have. We stayed out of the way, but managed to get some pictures. This is not Randy's area, but a couple of miles away. This tornado was on the ground for 100 miles. It killed over 50 people in several states. 27 in Arkansas, 4 of those in our county.

Not sure what used to be here

Damaged Church

Part of Church's roof, across the street.

This cow was alone in a large field that was riddled with depris. I am certain that she is severely injured. Soon after this picture was taken she layed down and continued to drool and hang her tongue. Hopefully, someone will come and put her out of her misery soon. You wonder where her herd mates are? There wasn't another bovine anywhere in sight.

No roof.

This vehicle was several yards off the road. The orange paint is some kind of code used by rescue workers indicating that the truck had been searched. There were many vehicles like this along the road and in fields. Remember, this tornado came after dark.

This is a field of planks, sticks and steel, planted by the tornado like a row crop.

Please pray for the victims and survivors of this disaster.