The News From Lake Tawakoni

Thanksgiving at Clarendon

2009-11-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

We got to spend a few days on Ryan's Family Ranch near Clarendon. The group included Melanie and I and neighbor Lamont Jenkins of West Tawakoni; Kim, Ryan, Kody & Josh Hodge of Amarillo and Joey, Allison and Case of Fort Worth.

Kody barreling down a canyon as we started a short hike. He managed, unlike me, to get down the first draw without falling.

Besides eating well, we spent a lot of time outside and had a chance to do some turkey hunting. The highlight of the trip for me was Kody decided he wanted to try his hand at turkey hunting. After getting permission from his dad, I taught him some safety concerning a shotgun, had him fire it a few times and he was ready to go. The first time out, we did not see a bird but we did get up close and personal with a few mule deer does. Saturday morning Kody and I got up early and set up near a corn feeder and He bagged his first turkey- well- he actually killed two with a single shotgun shell. He was very excited and it is a memory that will last with me forever. The previous morning, I killed a pair of turkeys, also with one shot, as Case, in full camo, went hunting with me. Case was very excited during our hunt. Joey and Allison had spent some time with him last week at home "practicing" hunting and he was a real trooper.

Case and Josh helping prepare the Thanksgiving meal

Kody posing with his two turkeys

Ryan's Tawakoni Visit

2009-11-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Son in law Ryan Hodge had a short, fast visit to the lake last weekend and we did get in an hour or so of drifting for catfish while he was here. Also ran the juglines and caught more than enough fish for the annual "Suaray to Luray" pheasant chase in Kansas next week.

Ryan is cranking while the net woman (Melanie) gets ready

Ryan with another catfish headed for the fillet table and then on to Kansas to feed pheasant chasers

Halloween at the Lake

2009-11-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

We had a neighborhood Halloween Party Saturday and set up across the street at Sandy & Lamont's house. We had hot dogs and candy for the kids and just sat out and enjoyed a wonderful, full moon evening. Merikay and Johnny brought Marcy and we had a lot of fun. We hope to continue our efforts in the future.

Boat Ramp Progress- Butterfly at Garden

2009-09-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

The first concrete pour for the sidewalks and pads for picnic tables and the pavilion will take place this afternoon. Shown here is the coffer dam for the boat ramp itself. Met with the contractors this morning and had to stop on the way back to City Hall for the butterfly shot at the garden at the City Park.

Birthday Weekend for Josh

2009-09-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

Case waiting on Nanny at the City Park in Gainesville

Case made his second Josh Birthday Weekend trip this past weekend. I picked up case Friday in Fort Worth and we met Nanny in Gainesville at their wonderful City Park.

Saturday, Josh had his birthday party at a Nature Center in Amarillo and then it was on to the Maxor Family picnic at a park in Amarillo where the kids had a great time playing on the bounce houses. Back to Gainesville Sunday to meet Joey and Allison. Great trip with Aunt Kim, Uncle Ryan and the three grandsons.

Why didn't they have these things around when my kids were young- Case enjoying a movie, probably Scooby Do, in the car

For those who don't know, our 3 grandsons (from bottom) Josh, Case and Kody

Josh holds the rabbit while Kody holds Case

Bounce House fun at the Maxor Family Picnic

Another great Joshie Birthday Weekend

Rain and Missy's Striper

2009-09-15T06:46:00.001-07:00

A view of the sunset looking up the Caddo Inlet

Missy showing off a striper she caught

The weekend rains kept Melanie and I inside. The sunset shot followed a nice shower Sunday and the other shot is Melanie's sister Missy and a striper che caught during her last lake visit.

Short Case Visit

2009-08-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Making Sausage Bread with Nanny

The New Funny Face by Case

We went to Fort Worth after work Friday and picked up Case and took him home on Sunday afternoon. He had a laid back weekend, spending most of his time playing with Nanny. He did take a short break from the serious work of making sausage bread to show off his new funny face. That face reminds me of the goblins on Nightmare Before Christmas. It was great to have him arround.

Butterfly Garden at Park

2009-08-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

Was driving over to see progress on the new boat ramp and spotted this big guy having lunch at the garden we planted this spring at the City Park...

Barbecue

2009-08-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

A better photo of Mel's 23 and a half inch hybrid.

We had Johnny & Merikay, and neighbors Lamont & Sandy over Saturday evening. Filled the grill and froze several meals in advance. It was a great day. Today, the most energy I will expend will be helping Tiger Woods come from 3 back.

Found the Hybrids Saturday

2009-08-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Johnny and Merikay came for a visit this week. Early Saturday morning, Melanie, Johnny and headed for the dam and we ended up keeping 7 hybrids. Big fish was a 23 and a half inch caught by Mel.

Case comes for a Short Visit- Kody's Fish

2009-07-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

Swimmers having fun

Kody performing his world famous "butt buster" for Nanny & Case

Kody & Case playing on the couch

Kody with a Sand Bass he caught Monday

Joey had an outpatient procedure done on Thursday so Mel drove over to Fort Worth, picked up Case and she, Case and Kody went to Hurricane Harbor and spent the day. They came back to the lake and out for a boat ride-swim we went.

Kim, Ryan, Kody, Josh & Stef

2009-07-31T07:12:00.000-07:00

Stef and I

Josh catching his dad with a fish net

Kody driving the boat

On our way back from Colorado last week, we stopped off in Amarillo, grabbed the grandsons and headed back to the lake for their summer visit. Lots of swimming, boating, fishing, eating and visiting ensued. Stef made her 4th summer visit in five years- not bad for a college student from Belgium--- here's a few shots...

Ctiy Awarded Police Officer from "Obama Dollars"

2009-07-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

I have spent a considerable amount of time this spring and summer chasing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Funds and that chase paid off Tuesday as the Department of Justice announced the City will be able to hire a police officer, paid for by "stimulus" funds.

West Tawakoni was one of 31 Texas law enforcement agencies awarded funds to replace police officers who were laid off by budget cuts. In a locally controversial move last summer, our City Council eliminated two city staff position, one of them a police officer.

Here is a story from today's Greenville Herald Banner...

West Tawakoni to receive federal funds

By DANIEL WALKER
Herald-Banner Staff

WEST TAWAKONI — The City of West Tawakoni has been awarded $117,000 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

West Tawakoni was the only Hunt County entity to be awarded funding by the program. “We’re real excited. This is going to make a big difference in the community,” said West Tawakoni city administrator Cloy Richards. “We’ve been chasing those Obama stimulus grant dollars all summer and we finally got one.”

The Obama administration on Tuesday announced $1 billion in grants nationwide to help keep police officers on the beat during the economic downturn. The aid announced by Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder was highly sought after. For every $1 to be delivered, another $7 in requests were unfunded under the grant program, Community Oriented Policing Services, commonly called COPS.

“We figured we only had a 12 and a half percent chance of being funded. We are tickled to death that the City of West Tawakoni was able to obtain a slice of the stimulus pie,” Richards added.

West Tawakoni, which currently has four police officers, had been forced to eliminate a police officer position during the 2007-08 fiscal year due to budget shortfalls Richards said and the money will put that officer back on the streets.

“We had been running a deficit and had no way to fund an officer,” Richards explained. “It upset quite a few members of the community,but we had no choice. This will get us back to nearly full staff.”

Richards said the city can hire the fifth police officer immediately and he expects the city to act quickly. The grant will fund the officer position — including pay, healthcare, retirement and benefits — for three years with the city responsible for the fourth year.

“As excited as I am about the grant, I’m a little overwhelmed by the grant owner’s manual I just downloaded, it’s 81 pages long,” Richards added.

According to the Department of Justice, West Tawakoni’s application was ranked 18th of the 385 Texas entities that applied for funding. Thirty-one entities in Texas were approved and 196 new officers will be hired in the state.

Colorado...

2009-07-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

The State Flower of Colorado and one of my favorite wildflowers- the Columbine

Sunset at LaManga Pass

The Cumbres & Toltec train blowing its horn at a crossing (we had Case and Joey on the phone and they heard the whistle loud and clear)

The cookout fire just below Platora

Brookies ready for the camp fire

Melanie Fly Fishing

Me at the Homeowners Park at HORCA named for Dad

Elk Creek is still swolen from runoff

The Conejos Valley from the observation turnout on Highway 17

A welcomed guest to our cookout taken from Elk Creek

Me with the sign for Dad's Mile on Highway 17- Yes Mel and I cleaned it although his friends have been doing a great job of keeping it clean

For eight years, our immediate family shared a lot of memories and good times in Colorado. Mom and Dad bought a house, and, as usual, opened it to everyone they knew and even some they barely knew.

It has been five years since Melanie and I have been to HORCA (located between Chama, NM and Antonito, CO on Colorado Highway 17) and it is an amazing place.

Melanie and I arrived late Saturday afternoon and took the drive up Spruce Hole to take in the view. Sunday we went to the Conejos Community Chapel and connected with a lot of friends mom and dad had there and Sunday afternoon we started fly fishing the creeks and the Conejos River. I don't really count fish but people always ask "how many did you catch". Tuesday morning I was the first one in on the Elk Creek Trailhead so I started from there instead of hiking in, past the other fishermen. In three hours I probably released 35 or so and ended up with the final four small brookies Melanie and I had reserved for a cookout. In two and a half days of fishing, probably 50 trout were caught and all but eight were released. The largest I landed were a pair of 14 inch "twin" rainbows but, as ususal, a nice brown, maybe around 20 inches, got away from me in the fast currents of the Conejos about 75 yards north of the 17 bridge at the end of an S curve in the river. I had him to withing 10 feet or so, but when he saw me, he shot to the main current and we had about a split second standoff, I felt a shake of the head then felt the tippet break.

We drove over 250 miles just in the Conejos Drainage in three and a half days, going back to see all those places where so many happy memories were made. I heard the stories again of how admired my Dad and Mother were and are and what they meant and mean to the people they know.

I hope to return to chase the trout, see the leaves in the fall and just soak in that aroma of pines, camp fires, and clean mountain air.

So, to Robert and Jean, Dan and Martha and a couple of others who welcomed us back- thanks. We hope to see you soon.

(Remember- click the photos to enlarge if you care to do so)

Mel's Here to Stay!

2009-07-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

She got word Thursday she has been hired at Bland ISD. It is 35 to 40 minutes from here but it is a lot closer than Midland. WoHoo!

Big Tomato

2009-07-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Recent lake visitors have been enjoying the tomatoes, peppers, squash, zuchini from our small garden but I had to share this very large tomato I picked yesterday. Our tomato plants must love their lakeside home (they are a couple of feet from the water). That is my hand hidden behind the monster.

July 4th Weekend

2009-07-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Gang Sunday evening

Jana's big sand bass

The new fish cleaning station

The Qualls gang invaded Lake Tawakoni over the weekend. Johnny and Merikay and their four children and nine grandchildren spent the weekend, along with Melanie's dad Fred, his youngest daughter Emily and her friend Emma. We did not have room for everyone so all three trailers at the city park housed a bunch of people.

We had three boats so people spent a lot of time swimming, tubing, wakeboarding and of course there was a gotta catch fresh fish for a fish fry fishing trip. Jana and John caught some big ol sandbass and we got the brand new table pretty bloody as we cleaned 76 sand bass. We fed 32 people fish Saturday and then everyone loaded up boats and headed to Mrs. Stanley's firworks show on the lake.

Sunday we had a barbecue for 20 or so on a new barbecue pit Melanie bought and put together (by herself) for me.

Johnny and his son John built the very cool new fish cleaning table that has running water, electrical outlets and lights. That thing will last forever and is very much appreciated.

It was hectic and Sunday evening some folks that were still around wanted to take a ride out and watch the sunset. I stayed behind and ate some leftovers and just kinda chilled.

We had a good time, no one got hurt (well, a splinter here and a boo boo there) and as usual, the only person who showed inappopriate behaviour was me.

Tiffany's Hybrid

2009-06-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

My sisters' daughter, Tiffany Thompson with her big hybrid she caught during their recent Lake Tawakoni visit. She was just as excited when she caught it as she is here posing.

The Virginia Bunch Invades Lake Tawakoni

2009-06-26T12:52:00.001-07:00

My sister Dinetha brought her family to the lake for a couple of days of tubing, fishing, bird watching and visiting. Shown here are (from left) Nathan, Dinetha, Mom and Tiffany. They managed to catch enough fish for a fish fry and tried fried green tomatoes for the first time (they liked them). This was just a practice run as there were only 8 in that group. July 4th we have 21 on the way.

Weekend Shots

2009-06-15T07:00:00.001-07:00

(From Left) Alex, Stephanie, Matt and Terry take a break from fishing

The fish finder shows what they were catching

I thought we fed birds

That's more like it

Summer is here and the lake house has been busy. Since June 4th, there have been 2 nights that Melanie and I have been "home alone". This past week, Johnny and Merikaye were here and they did a lot of work around the house (hanging new rope lights, power washing decks). Johnny and his friend Tim and I went out Wednesday and kept 58 white bass. On Friday, Melanie's brother Matt, Terry, Stephanie and Alex came in from San Antonio for fishing and boat riding and they took home enough fish to feed 36 people.

All is quite until Father's Day when my sister and her gang come to Tawakoni from Washington DC.

Birthday Weekend

2009-06-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

Feeding the Catfish at the Athens Fresh Water Fishery Center

Case, Nanny and Emmalie getting ready for a ride on the tube behind the boat. The two kids rode alone together and had a blast

Joey and Case, Shane and Emmalie and Koby and Asia all came to the lake this weekend. The guys were doing a "daddy day care" weekend with their kids and they spent Friday night and Sunday night with us. They camped at the Tawakoni State Park Saturday night. Melanie worked around the house Saturday while I acted as though I had taken benadryl all day and Sunday we drove over to Athens to visit the Texas Fresh Water Fisheries Center and do a little shopping. Thanks for all the birthday well wishes from friends, family and coworkers. Here's a few photos from the weekend

Tawakoni Sunset and Gardenia Tree

2009-06-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

Although we cannot take any credit, we have a wonderful gardenia tree in the front yard and it makes everything smell great

Saturday evening Sunset on Melanie's first day back as a full time resident

I wrote back in August that Melanie had left to work in Midland and that was a sad time. But, time heals all and she's back at home. She was basically packed and ready Friday night and we made it back Saturday in time to hit the lake for some fishing. We had a great time Sayturday and Sunday and di not manage to get a lot of work done but we needed the break.

Butterfly Garden Doing Well

2009-05-26T09:36:00.001-07:00

For those of you who saw the unplanted garden at the City Park, this is a shot only six weeks later. The garden was planted April 15 and this is hot it looked Memorial Day.

Austin, College Station and Crappie

2009-05-22T07:30:00.001-07:00

Saturday Crappie at Anchor Inn
Monday in Austin

This was one of my usual crazy weeks. Saturday morning I went to Anchor Inn and kept 9 crappie, including that 14 1/2 inch male. Sunday afternoon, headed to Austin for a fulld ay of meetings on Monday and then went to spend two nights and a day with Mom in College Station. We had a crappie fry Tuesday night as Glenn and Suzy, Mom and I were joined by family friends Pat Griffin and Jim Anderson.

Looking forward to Memorial Day as Melanie flies in tonight and home for good Sunday week.

More yard shots

2009-05-15T06:19:00.001-07:00

Baby squash
Hollyhocks

Since the spawn crappie season is about to wind down, I have been spending a little more time in the yard. I planted a small garden this year with squash, zuchini, peppers and tomatoes and we are already starting to see young fruit on squash and jalapenos. The hollyhocks are in the "back-back" yard near the lake. They were brought here from Merkel and like their new home.