An Arkies Musings

An Arkie's Faith column from the July 31, 2019, issue of The Mena Star. The mountain road wound along the ridge, stretching on ahead, hugging the land, and taking each turn in easy stride. It was a beautiful drive with the forest, alive with green, lining the road for as far as the eye could see. Occasionally, Black-eyed Susans along the road created a profusion of yellow that beautifully complimented the deep green of the trees. When there was a break in the trees, there was a glimpse of soft blue haze shrouding distant mountains. We were on our way to The Rock House in Talihina, Oklahoma, to celebrate birthdays. This month, my wife and my cousin had birthdays, but we had not been able to be together to celebrate. The Rock House is a restaurant in a remodeled 1920’s era rock home that sits in the middle of Sam and Tami Balzanna's 280-acre rural property near Talihina. The restaurant's reputation for great steaks and pasta has spread to a three-state area with ...

An Arkie's Faith column from the July 24, 2019, issue of The Mena Star. Maggie, my Golden Retriever, was out of sorts. Usually, she wants a lot of attention, but today she wanted nothing to do with me. Immediately after eating, she went upstairs. I had to call her back downstairs so I could let her outside before I left for work. When she came back in, once again she didn’t want my attention but ran back upstairs. For the next two days, this scenario repeated itself. When I would come home from work, Maggie would not be there to greet me as she usually was. I would have to call her down from upstairs to let her outside. After several days of this unusual behavior, something seemed to change. Instead of ignoring me, Maggie now wanted constant attention. When she wants to be petted, she is very insistent. If you stop petting her, she will put her nose under your arm and lift it. It now seemed that I could not give her enough attention. What had caused these unusual behaviors ...

An Arkie's Faith column from the July 17, 2019, issue of The Mena Star. Softly splashing raindrops hit the windshield as I drove out of town early in the morning. The skies were overcast, and a blanket of grey shrouded the landscape. I watched the raindrops trickle down the side windows as the wipers kept the windshield clear. The drops were steady but soft, and I hoped that it wouldn’t begin to rain harder. I don’t like to drive in heavy rain, especially on the crooked, winding roads of Western Arkansas. I was heading to Mountain Pine to pick up my eleven-year-old granddaughter. She had spent the week at summer camp. Campers from the week had to be picked up early so that a new group of campers could be dropped off to spend a week at camp. After an hour or so, the rain became intermittent, and there was a hint of blue skies trying to break through the grey clouds. By the time I reached Camp Yorktown Bay on the shore of Lake Ouachita, the rain had stopped, and it was a beau...

An Arkie's Faith column from the July 10, 2019, issue of The Mena Star. “You will be riding with me on the Megalodon,” my daughter said. Everyone had such a good time floating the Ouachita River the week before that we decided to do it again this weekend. Last week six of us floated the river in a rubber raft while the rest of the group used paddleboards. This week the water wasn’t high enough to float in a raft, so we used paddleboards, kayaks, and canoes. The Megalodon is a large, very stable, multiple person paddleboard, but I was a bit nervous about riding it. I had never been on a paddleboard. Even though my daughter has lots of experience on paddleboards, I wasn’t sure how I would do. Once all the paddleboards were inflated, we were ready to head down the river. I crawled onto Megalodon and sat down. As we paddled down the river, I was surprised by how stable the Megalodon was. I had expected more movement. Before long, I was comfortable enough with the board to try a...

An Arkie's Faith column from the July 3, 2019, issue of The Mena Star. The house was with a flurry of activity as kids and adults prepared for a day on the river. We were excited because the Ouachita River levels were perfect for floating a raft. Seven adults, four kids, food, drinks, a rubber raft, and three paddle boards including the Megalodon multi-person paddle board loaded into the vehicles and we were ready to head out. It had been raining off and on, but our spirits were high as we headed to the Ouachita River. By the time that we reached the Pine Ridge access and started unloading, the rain had stopped. While others were blowing up the rafts and paddleboards, a couple of us ran the shuttle to drop off a vehicle at the Shirley Creek access, six miles downstream. When everything was ready, we pushed off into the water and started downstream. The river was gently winding its way between the banks with lush green trees whose roots have been exposed by high water earlie...