Posts Tagged 'Branson'
Christmas Cash,Costs,Challenges of The Ozarks 1960s
Christmas Cash,Costs, Challenges
Of The Ozarks
This small house beside Missouri State Highway 176 in Stone County, Missouri in The Ozarks can go unnoticed by passing motorists. This Old House served as The DeLong Family Home in the 1960s. Birthday parties, Fourth of July, Halloween Trick or Treat events,Thanksgiving Supper and Christmas Day Dinner celebrations were held in the three – room house, which had a Laundry Room built on in the 1970s. There was no inside plumbing. Uncle Joe built an Outhouse down on the hillside. While the house did not have the social comforts of some 20th Century homes in The Ozarks; it always felt like "Home" to DeLong family members, who returned to Stone County and the Missouri Ozarks anytime of the year. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Home in my childhood was "The Ozarks."
The Ozarks is one of the places in the world, where myth and reality live side by side.
You live your life in The Real World and sometimes it seems like you look up and see a wild,white-haired Mark Twain smiling down at you with his pen in hand.
The heavy snows of winter fall. The scene looks like a Currier and Ives lithograph on a china plate and then you feel the "bone chilling cold" enter your body. You see your breath. You trudge out of the knee-high snow into the warmth of your home.
You "warm" by the large, rectangular, dark brown "Warm Morning" gas stove and realize winter in The Ozarks means Christmas is usually just days away.
You get a hot cup of coffee and wonder why people think The Ozarks is "permanently stuck in an 1800s Time Warp."
If you ever watched an episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies" you may believe the fictional characters represent "Life In The Ozarks."
You would be wrong.
I grew up in the Ozarks and I never ate possum.
I have ate squirrel.
Uncle Hobert DeLong was a "dead on shot" with a rifle. Every time he went into the woods, he came back with a "mess of squirrels" and sometimes "a mess of rabbits."
Of course, no one remembers Jed, granny and the rest of the Clampett were supposed to have been from Bugtussel, Tennessee and the characters get associated with The Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks.
Cartoonist Al Capp made a large fortune drawing the comic strip of Lil' Abner for 43 years that reached 60 million readers in more than 900 American newspapers.
Capp's newspaper comic strip was one of my mother's favorites. Capp put the characters in Dogpatch, Kentucky, but as a kid everyone though if you were from The Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks, then, you must be like Lil' Abner.
I never went to a Sadie Hawkin's Day dance.
Dancing wasn't allowed at Galena High School in the 1960s. It was an issue that came up with every senior class wanting a "Prom." The Baptist and Pentecostal churches of the 1960s in Stone County were vocal in their objections and they kept the prom dance out of school.
I graduated in 1973 in a "Graduation Exercises" ceremony, but there was "No Prom" because the churches still didn't allow dancing in school.
The Ozarks Hillbilly Stereotype
No matter how incorrect the "hillbilly" stereotype is about The Ozarks. Americans and foreigners seem to cling to the dumb hayseed and lazy cartoon and television stereotypes of "The Ozarks Hillbilly."
The irony is that the Ozarks is pretty close to the center of the United States and it has always seemed like an "undiscovered country" to foreigners and other Americans.
My geographical calculations of "The Ozarks" begins from the southern city limits sign of Jefferson City to the southern city limits sign of Little Rock, Arkansas, which is what I always considered to be, "The Ozarks."
Stone County, Missouri is in the southwest section of the state and borders Arkansas, which means, "reckon I grew up one of them thar' Ozarks' country boys."
Missourians in the Ozarks joke, "If you don't like the weather just wait 15 minutes and it will change." There is truth to that joke. The weather doesn't always change every 15 minutes, but in a 24-hour day, the weather can change several times in a day.
Pen To Paper
To put pen to paper and write a story about Christmas in The Ozarks, I will have to set the stage.
There are many famous Missourians from United States Army Generals of the Armies John Joseph "Blackjack" Pershing to "The Most Trusted Man In America" Walter Cronkite, but, usually the celebrities are known as Missourians and not necessarily, "Ozarkers."
Neosho, Missouri's Thomas Hart Benton put his brush strokes on canvas to paint pictures; I will try to paint a word picture of life in The Ozarks in the 1960s.
Tom Sawyer Childhood
Life in "The Ozarks" in Stone County, Missouri in the 1960s was like "Tom Sawyer on a tractor and in a pickup truck." Laura Ingalls Wilder's Midwest buckboards and stagecoaches were replaced by 18-wheelers, Greyhound and Continental Trailways buses.
Rose O'Neill's Kewpie dolls could be still found in toy stores in the Ozarks. Overall, Life in southern Missouri had not changed all that much since the days of Mark Twain, Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose O'Neill.
"The Tomato Factories" of Reeds Spring, Abesville, and Galena in the 1930s had been replaced with "The Garment Factory" in Reeds Spring and Crane and Crane had a "Casket Factory."
Fasco in Springfield, Missouri employed several people from Stone County. In 1960, Silver Dollar City was just beginning operations. Branson, Missouri in 1960 was "no threat" to country music in Nashville, but, Nashville musicians would begin to head for Branson, during the 1960s. In the area of economics, "times were tough", in Stone County and southwest Missouri in 1960.
Blood Out Of A Turnip
Every nation has an economy. Money flows around in the metropolitan and urban areas, but in rural areas the ocean of money flows into a narrow stream that sometimes becomes a dry creek bed. In Stone County, it seemed even the rocks in the creek bed were usually "bone dry."
After The Great Depression and World War II, the United States economy was strengthening. In the rural areas of the Ozarks, being "poor" is still a way of life.
In the early 1960s, the local power companies were working hard to provide, stable and reliable electricity.
Stone County, Missouri had a reputation of being one of the poorest counties in The Show Me State.
Traditionally in Missouri, statistics reveal "Mining" is the major source of manual labor income for the state. Farming comes in second. There were caves in Stone County, but no working mines.
Farming is hard work. Even with good weather and the money to buy seeds, livestock and equipment, farming is a full-time job to make a living.
Gardening maybe a hobby; Farming is a job.
Grandma DeLong like to sum up an economic situation as, "I couldn't afford to make a down payment on an old settin' hen with all her eggs rotten." The purpose of this country statement was to point out that someone was "financially broke." It was a common financial phrase that you heard in The Ozarks in the 1960s.
By 1960s, some farmers in Stone County had had it with "life on the farm." Some people sold their farms and moved to other states. Some people stayed on their farms, but tried to get a "public job" at Silver Dollar City.
When it came to money in Stone County, Missouri and The Ozarks in the 1960s "people minded their Ps and Qs" and sometimes the lack of money was described as "Trying to get blood out of a turnip."
Ozarks Hills And Hollers
Corn and tomatoes were the big income producing crops in Stone County, Missouri in my childhood in the 1960s. There were always stories of some of the corn being used to produce "moonshine" and "white lightning."
In the early 1980s, I was "home on leave" from the military and a family friend unscrewed the lid on a Mason jar and asked me if I wanted some of the clear liquid.
I thanked him, but decided not to drink the "white lightning."
The geography of Stone County had some cliffs and bluffs in the landscape of the hills and hollers. When the soil was too rough, rocky or poor to raise any other crop, usually the farmer would sew cane and other pasture grasses.
Fertilize was not all that expensive, but, the amount needed to nourish the soil and get crops to grow was sometimes too big a chunk of money out of a farmer's budget.
Uncle Richard had one field beside State Highway 176, that the family called, "The Cane Field" because it was too rocky and the soil too poor for any other crop. The cane was used to feed to the cattle in the winter time,
Spring and summer usually the crops grew well and there was plenty of pasture to feed the livestock. Farmers didn't get rich, but they made "the ends meet."
Winter in southwest Missouri in the 1960s was always Armageddon. Fields were buried under blankets of deep snow. The important contribution of the deep snow and cold temperatures is the weather would kill off chiggers, ticks and snakes as long as farmers burned the brush in their fields and hollers in the early falls.
Burning the tree leaves in the hollers that fell kept deep leave beds from filling up the hollers. In the winter time, chigger, ticks and snakes would burrow into the deep leaves to try and wait out the winter until spring.
Southwest Missouri's picture postcard "snows" were efficient in freezing farm ponds, which stayed frozen unless you broke the ice with an ax for the cattle to get a drink.
The weight of a Black Angus, Polled Hereford, Jersey or Holstein cow would sometimes shatter the ice and a cow could drown trying to get a drink of water in the winter.
Later in the 1960s, someone invented a device to stick in farm ponds in the winter to keep the water from freezing.
The deep freeze of the Ozarks in winter would freeze trees. The weight of ice on the limbs would cause the limbs to fall and take down electric lines. If you were lucky, you would be without electricity for a day.
On average people usually went without electricity for two to three days usually two to three times,during winter from October through April. The worst case scenario meant you would go without electricity for one to two weeks during the winter.
The strength of my childhood came from my family in the Ozarks. Momma, Grandma DeLong, Uncle Richard, Uncle Hobert, Aunt Mary, and Cousin Donna were my family in the Ozarks.
In Houston, Texas, I could step out in my front yard. Donna and Debbie Brinkley from the house next door only had to walk out their gate and a few feet to walk into my yard for us to play.
In the Ozarks, neighbors always seemed to live a country mile from your front door.
Thelma Thomas was my closet neighbor in 1960 and she lived about a tenth of a mile from my front door on top of a hill. Her kids were grown with families of their own.
The Galena School District usually included Jenkins and Wheelerville, Missouri, which was only a few miles from Crane, Missouri. And, Crane, Missouri was 10 miles from Galena.The district would extend south to almost Reeds Spring, which was about 15 miles from Galena.
Many of my classmates would have to do chores before catching the school bus in the morning. The bus ride for some of the kids meant they were on the school bus for two hours before they arrived at Galena Elementary or Galena High School. After school, they would spend two hours on the bus once it left the school.
You would see classmates in school, but the distances and the rural road conditions to their parents' farms meant that "visits" and social interaction was almost impossible, except for possibly on the weekend.
Crane, Missouri was only 10 miles from Galena and we usually only went grocery shopping in Crane on Saturdays.
"Life On Planet Earth Before Electronics"
Children of the 21st Century will think I grew up in The Dark Ages because there was no Internet, no facebook, no twitter, no computers, no X box, no play station and no cell phones.
Yes, there was "Life On Planet Earth Before Electronics."
Fire had been discovered. My father always carried his Zippo cigarette lighter.
We didn't have to use stone tablets and chisels because there was an archaic device called, a typewriter that used ribbons, bond paper and carbon paper that helped people put words on paper for future generations.
Telephones Come To Stone County
Telephones were being installed in homes, near Galena and Abesville, Missouri.
In order to have a telephone in your home if you lived near State Highway 176, you had to be willing to be on "a party line", which meant when your phone rang, your neighbors telephone gave off a jangle sound,
There was one public telephone booth in Galena, Missouri. The phone booth was on the sidewalk by the US Post Office, next to Floyd's Barber shop, which was next to Rose's beauty shop, which was next to the Hillbilly Cafe and sat across the street from the courthouse. In 2011, that area is now a parking lot for The Stone County Judicial Center.
The reason why the telephone was so important in 1960 was it allowed Momma to call Daddy in Texas and he could call her from Texas. Grandma and Uncle Richard never had a telephone. DeLong and Warren family members, who lived in other states could call us and we could call them.
In the 21st Century, when it seems children own a cell phone as soon as they learn to speak; it may be hard to imagine the importance of a telephone in your home, but, imagine for a moment that you lived in the snow and ice of the South Pole and you were trying to make a phone call to your grandparents in the United States.
If your grandparents lived in a city like Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles or New York City, it would be easy for them to place a call. But, if you lived in a remote location at the South Pole, there might not be phone lines or cell phone towers, so you might not get the phone call.
Old Missouri Spring
This old spring is on Warren Land in Stone County, Missouri. The Ozarks area of the United States has always been difficult for "people to live off the land" because the soil is poor and rocky. If you need rain; you will get a drought. If you need sunshine;you will get a flood. Nature seems to enjoy working against farmers. Wildlife and insect pest can have a negative effect on crops. The Old Traditional Ozarks Hillbilly concept portrays citizens as dumb and lazy. The truth is an Ozarks Hillbilly is one of the smartest and hard working people, you will ever meet because they use their elbow grease and common sense to work a "Miracle" on stubborn pieces of land to earn a living and raise their families. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
The Miracle Of Life In The Ozarks
When you think of "The Ozarks" in the 1960s; you understand the word, "Miracle" is a reality.
The Ozarks' lunar style geography of cliffs and bluffs, poor soil, an over abundance of rocks, moody weather, predator wildlife like wolves and coyotes as well as insect pests; it is a "Miracle" that people were able to live, earn a living, and sometimes prosper in this section of the United States.
When you are a child, you open your toys on Christmas Day. Underneath the Christmas Tree, you begin to play with the toys.
As a young man, you can find yourself trying to decide if you want to go "Home For The Holidays."
As a senior citizen you can sit back with a cup of coffee or a glass of egg nog and remember the toys and the celebrations. When you look back long enough at your childhood, you really begin to understand and appreciate the sacrifices that your parents made for you.
At last, you can understand, the challenges, costs,hard work and the effort that your parents made to make Christmas seem like a "Magickal Holiday" that simply happens.
Posted in Bloggers, Blogs, Business, Crafts, Current Events, Ecology, Editorial, Family, Holidays, Money, Nature, Opinion, Patriotism, Rocks, Stone County History, The Ozarks, Tourism
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"The Exorcist" October Creature Feature
The film that transformed an obscure Church ritual into a sought after global profession
In my lifetime from October 1955 through mid-December 1973,in the United States, if you needed an "Exorcist", you would have few real options.
You could buy a plane ticket to go to the Vatican and try to convince a priest or the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.
You could try and find someone who knew a root worker or conjurer in New Orleans, Louisiana, who might be willing to help you.
You could try and contact someone who had a friend, who lived out in San Francisco, California and was into "The New Age Movement."
If you seriously needed an "Exorcist" before 1973, in the United States, you really had to look under every stone to find one and hope you could find someone who had an understanding priest in the Roman Catholic Church, who would take you seriously enough to actually look for an "exorcist."
The Real Deal Exorcists
William Peter Blatty's 1971 novel, "The Exorcist," had aspects that were inspired by the actual Exorcism of Roland Doe in Maryland in 1949. Jesuit Priest, Father William S. Bowdern and Father Walter Halloran were the real exorcists.
There have been television shows that talked about the original exorcism and one fact all seemed to agree on is the family basically had to beg the church for an exorcism. The practice of exorcisms had become essentially a ritual that had been left in the past.
The "resurrected" ritual of exorcism did much not only for The Church, but for all churches. William Friedkin's film, "The Exorcist" based on Blatty's novel put God back up on the marquee that got people going back to all kinds of churches, temples, synagogues and mosque because Satan was real again.
"Rosemary's Baby" and "The Omen" were child demonic films of the late 1960s and early 1970s that also got people's attention.
What always got me about "The Exorcist" was how such a "normal" little girl could be possessed ?
Effective Evil Effects
There were no Hollywood Computer Generated Images for movies in the 1970s, production and special effects people had to do create the effects the old fashioned way '– "They had to be creative." Now, people smile at the "pea soup" that gets shot out of Regan's mouth in the movie, but, it was one of those "Wow" moments in theaters in the 1970s.
The fashion sense, or lack there of, of the 1970s does much to make a film look dated, but, the story, the actors, actresses and effects did such a magnificent job Regan MacNeil, the possessed girl, is one of those Halloween characters in the shadow between vampires, mummies, Frankenstein and zombies that no one wants to think about because she just might be "The Real Deal after all."
Face it, no one wants to have to tell their father or mother, "We won't be coming home for Christmas because your granddaughter is possessed by Satan."
The real fear of The Exorcist movie is that maybe, just maybe, your child could be possessed by Evil. The movie really does turn that parental fear into the worst case scenario by the use of suspense and the creative use of effects. It is little wonder why this movie has become an American Cult Classic.
You factor in the notion that you have a veteran priest, who has dealt with and faced Evil at various times and is ready for the battle. Then, you add the young doubting priest to the mix, who believes he is more "a man of science" than "a man of the cloth." Basically, he let the Church pay for his education, so he could become a successful psychiatrist. Stepping into the ring, Satan has the upper hand and the odds are all in His favor.
Temptation Of Teenagers ?
Ellen Burstyn, who plays the actress mother, wants the best for her daughter. Linda Blair, who plays Regan Mac Neil, the daughter, is the average All-American Girl for the 1970s.
I grew up on a hog farm in the conservative Midwest of the United States of America, known as the Ozarks, right smack dab in "The Bible Belt." My family, friends and neighbors went to the Baptists and Pentecostal churches. Some crossed the line into Taney County to go to Branson or into Greene County to go to Catholic churches, Lutheran, Methodists and Presbyterians.
The preachers and pastors of Stone County, Missouri took their "hellfire and damnation" lessons to heart and knew they were the First Line Of Defense against Satan and His Demonic Legions.
Thus, in the Ozarks and the Midwest, you never expected to see Satan walking down the highway or shopping for groceries in the local supermarket. But, in the 1960s or 1970s, if you are writing a story, script or play – how would you get Satan or any of his demons to realistically appear in the literary work ?
Demon Dare
As decadent and liberal minded as New York City was suppose to be in the 1960s and 1970s; there had to be a way to get Evil into the script and the movie. The All-American Fall Guy – the Ouija Board.
In the US, in the 1960s and 1970s, it seemed there were only two real ways for Evil to show up. Teenagers had to figure out some way to do "Satanic Rituals" or go to the store and pretend to be nave enough to buy and use a Ouija Board.
In this film, the Ouija Board is the culprit that is "The Three Mile Island" incident that starts demonic radiation leaking into the MacNeil home and poor Regan glows with it.
Use of the Ouija Board, helps explain how an East African demon gets through US Customs without a passport and visa. Then, again The Department Of Homeland Security is a story that doesn't happen until the beginning of the 21st Century.
Max von Sydow, who stars in the role of Father Lankester Merrin really does come across as the devout veteran priest, who is ready to stare the demon in the eye and send it back to Hell.
Jason Miller as Father Damien Karras does an excellent job as the young priest, who really believes he is a long lost psychiatrist in his soul. One of the story twist is suppose to have the young priest broken up about his mother's death. I didn't get the message in 1973 and I haven't gotten it since.
On screen the first time you see the aging, invalid mother, the film mom is sort of already a citizen of "The Twilight Zone" looking to move into "The Outer Limits." Without more details or a back story to show the mother and son relationship, that story line to me wastes film. I'm a Momma's Boy, so I'm critical.
Actor Titos Vandis, in the role of the young priest's uncle works with Miller to pull off the story line, but, that is an area where I believe the movie falters and probably gets forgotten about in the overall bouts with the demon. In this movie, the mom character was dead before she was written into the script and she seems just as dead up on the screen.
Exorcist Era Excitement
This is the movie that "Really Did Start It All." The obscure term, "exorcist" smoldering in the Vatican archives, "purified" the way for an American religious revival in Catholic and Protestant Churches and created battalions of televangelists and legions of lay (and lame) exorcists throughout the globe.
Satanic Seventies ?
The ongoing, relentless, never-ending Vietnam War had made young Americans jaded, cynical and skeptical. Grandparents and parents looked at the grandchildren and children and wondered if maybe "alien astronauts" had abducted" and switched their kids because "The Generation Gap" was the real deal.
Generations of Americans spoke English to one another in their homes and yet the message was like "A Day At The United Nations Without Translators " – No one understood 'nuthin'.
America's politicians in the 1960s were the kind of leaders that people rushed to build statues to. By the 1970s, Americans politicians seemed to be like "used car dealers that you couldn't get rid of."
America had the traditional movie and sports celebrities of their generation in the early 1970s, but, the "Godfather" movies did "the kinder, gentler dance" for Organized Crime. J. Edgar Hoover had gotten long in the tooth and the organized crime bosses of America had their own brash, public style that had to be the envy of America's "stale bread politicians of the early 1970s."
While American underworld figures weren't holding their daily press conferences at their mansions, they were out and about and people couldn't get enough of their exploits in the streets of America. The irony is the Crime Rate in America was pushing people to believe "Vigilante Justice" might not be such a bad solution as long as you don't get caught. "Dirty Harry" had become the ideal lawman of America.
Nix on Nixon
Nixon had no use for the American news media and the American news media had no use for Nixon, other than the political cartoonists, who thrived on daily demonizing his facial features.
After Watergate, nothing Nixon said really mattered. The press didn't seem to believe a word he said and his approval rating with the American public dropped faster than a bad day in the stock market.
Then, of course, Men in America actually got to wear something other than white shirts and black ties. Unfortunately, the Men's Fashion Scene of the 1970s "overdosed" America's fashion sense – too much, too soon. Wide ties, wide lapels, bright colors for men's suits, white belts, white shoes, hounds tooth sport coats thrown into the mix with polyester and wide collars on mien's shirts. Plus, there was the jogging suits to wear, even if you never intended to go jogging. And denim flared jeans and denim flared bell bottoms were still on the drawing board for the seventies fashion scene.
The early 1970s had America's scurrying like mice on an exercise wheel – they just weren't sure where they were suppose to be running to.
Demonic Days
If you look back at 1973, you wonder if someone on Satan's staff had decided to literally "set the stage" leading up to the release of "The Exorcist."
January 22, 1973 – US Supreme Court rules on Roe versus Wade and overturns states' bans on abortion.
The Vietnam War "Officially Ends" January 27, 1973 with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. Nixon tries to take credit for the peace agreement. The American news media and many Americans actually see Dr. Henry Kissinger, America's First Jewish Secretary Of State as the man who got the deal.
November 5, 1973, the term, "Shuttle Diplomacy" entered the American culture and described the efforts that Secretary of State Kissinger made in the Middle East at the end of the Yom Kippur War to help keep the region stable.
Despite Secretary Kissinger's hard work to keep the Arab states and Israel living in a somewhat peaceful existence – some religious critics started shouting that Secretary Kissinger could be, "The Anti-Christ."
March 29, 1973, the last United States soldier leaves Vietnam.
May 17, 1973, I wear the cap and gown and graduate from Galena High School, Galena, Missouri. It should have been a proud moment for God and Satan. It was a proud moment for me. By June, I was in college at the School Of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Missouri.,
The US bombing of Cambodia ends June 1.
July 12, 1973 – The National Archives Fire – The entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis Missouri is destroyed by a fire. Countless US Navy and US Army records are lost, which will affect World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War military people and their families for generations to come in the area of honorable discharges, military retirement pay and documentation of earned and awarded military decorations.
Egyptian and Syrian military forces attack Israel, September 11, 1973, to start the "Yom Kippur War," in the Sinai Pennisula and the Golan Heights. I am working at KSOZ-FM, to work my way through college. I look through the large plastic window at the huge gray Associated Press teletype thrusting down the keys to announce the start of the War. I'm excited about the story.
I rip off the yellow sheet of news copy and hand it to someone in the newsroom. They nod and comment, "Another War in the Middle East."
I understand now, why no one rushed to get it "on air" as breaking news. It was the 1970s, and there was always bad news coming out of the Middle East.
I saw the War as a possible start to "Armageddon." Everyone else in the newsroom just saw it as more bad news from the Middle East to be read after the day's latest Watergate story.
The Yom Kippur War ends October 26, 1973.
October 10, 1973, "The Saturday Night Massacre," Richard Milhouse "Tricky Dick" Nixon fires Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus.
No matter What Nixon did – The Watergate Break-In June 17, 1972 – would not go away and each day's newspaper brought a new "Watergate" headline in the continuing scandal.
By December 23, 1973, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, had doubled the price of crude oil at the pumps – just in time for "Christmas."
American theaters flip the switch and Warner Brothers "The Exorcist " flickers on to movie screens December 26, 1973.
By November 1979, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini labeled "America, The Great Satan: in a speech. Khomeini was the 1970s version of Al Quaeda's Osama bin Laden.
In the early 1960s, Khomeini used his criticism of the Shah of Iran Pahlavi to rise to power among his Muslim followers. The Shah exiled him and he spent more than 14 years in exile between Paris, Turkey and Iraq. Khomeini did not like that the United States Government had close relations with Iran and that the Shah had moved to modernize Iran.
When you look back at 1973, it seems like God had gotten dropped off for church bingo and Americans weren't sure if they were going to pick Him up or hand Him His "Pink Slip."
Satan At The Box Office
The film brought in $66.3 million from theaters in the United States and Canada. It currently stands as "The Top Grossing R Rated Film Of All Time."
"The Exorcist" movie proved to be the "shakeup" that got God back in His penthouse and kept Him on as the CEO Of Heaven. "The Exorcist" woke up and scared Americans.
Before the movie appeared in theaters, many Americans were like Actor Lee J. Cobb in the role of New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, something is wrong and you just can't put your finger on it.
The approach worked for Cobb's detective's role in the movie and outside the theater in the streets of America, "something was wrong and no one knew how to put a finger on it."
The Medical Men
Arthur Storch, in the role of the psychiatrist and Barton Haymen as Dr. Samuel Klein are the classic American "Medical Men" of the 1970s, "Of course, Science has an answer for it." But, when Regan's condition doesn't respond to medical treatment, one of the doctors blurts out something about an "exorcist."
The time devoted to the "Science" and "Medicine"approach in the movie is smart because by the 1970s doctors and scientists had taken to their academic pulpits and "preached" to anyone who would listen that science and medicine would find the cure for all the ills of humanity.
America's New Prophets
America's Psychiatrist were on a roll. Sigmund Freud had got them out into the limelight. People seemed hungry for the latest development from the psychiatric world. Hollywood didn't let the fad pass by; they cranked out movies as fast as they could about doctors and psychiatrist saving the day.
Psychiatrists were America's New Prophets. It did seem doctors, scientists and psychiatrist had an answer for everything.
"The Supernatural" remained the chink in the psychiatrist's armor. The responses of : "superstition", "imagination", and "all in your mind" worked until something happened before your eyes.
Find An Exorcist In The Yellow Pages
Before the movie, your best bet to find an "exorcist" would be to seek permission to search the Vatican archives for a vague reference to an "exorcist."
After the movie, "Exorcists In America were thicker than hairs on a dog's back." At the current rate of growth in a few years America will probably be turning out as many exorcists as we do lawyers and doctors.
No doubt, none of the televangelists of the 1970s and 1980s will ever give "The Exorcist," "Rosemary's Baby," "The Omen," or any of the other religious horror TV or movie spin-offs an honorable mention, but without "The Hounding Hell Horror Of The Satanic Silver Screen," some of those preachers would of stayed on cable TV and still be going through the Ozarks trying to arrange "Brush Arbor Revivals" and church pie suppers.
A 21st Century Exorcist ?
Hollywood is silly if they don't already have plans to do an updated version to compliment, but not compete with the original movie.
A new version could not compete because Linda Blair's Regan MacNeil character had her unique unspoken, "I'm not going away. . .ever" look, near the end of the movie.
The silly 1970s wardrobe makes "The Exorcist" dated, but, hey, even in the 1970s, "We had to wear clothes."
Casting Directors – Stellan Skarsgard has earned the right to be Father Merrin in an updated version. In Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist," Mr. Skarsgard became the role. In "Exorcist:The Beginning", he became Father Lankester Merrin, Roman Catholic Archaeologist Priest.
Now, if the Department of Motor Vehicles could just get Mr. Skarsgard 's name on his new license right and the Vatican would quit sending him offers for another exorcism overseas.
"Darling Demonologists"
In another more contemporary version, it would be nice if the screenwriter could write in a way to bring in a senior ranking demon with more established credentials in religious history, which would allow for even more suspense, special effects and (probably) a bigger budget.
And, since the "Name Of The Game Is Horror", a senior ranking demon could up the on screen body count to stress the possibility that today's dog walker shouldn't count on being tomorrow's "Darling Demonologist."
Exorcist 2013 Script Session
Quick, get Warner Brothers on the phone. I've got it.
Camera Fade In: Regan's granddaughter graduates from Oxford and returns to the US to visit "granny." They are doing the girl, "shoot the breeze" conversation routine. Suddenly, Regan's youngest granddaughter comes up out of the basement with something in her hands.
You guessed it, America!
Sometimes the old literary devices are the best. All together now, "Ouija Board !"
They chuckle. Of course, granny has had a wonderful life and completely forgot about the initial possession (and probably The Exorcist" spin-off movies after the original).
They open the box, take out the board and begin to play.
Too late "Granny" remembers.
The granddaughter is now "possessed."
Granny whips out her cell phone hoping that she still has an exorcist priest on speed dial.
The granddaughter does her contortions routine, while the youngest granddaughter jumps up and down screaming.
From here on out. . .it is up to the Hollywood screen writers. You guys and gals run with it. But, go for a demon, who usually gets top billing, with "name recognition."
St. Peter's Basilica from Castel Sant'Angelo showing the dome rising behind Maderno's facade. Public Domain Photograph
Exorcists Resurrection
The Vatican is now admitting, "Exorcists exist" and is training them. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, a group of British school girls seem to be blurring the line between Fact,Faith, Fantasy and Fiction.
Based on the "Darling Demonologists" ages, someone should hand them an old mystic text and point to the section on teenagers,hormones and, "Oh, Look ! Puberty and Poltergeist ?"
Five Star Rating
"The Exorcist" is an American Cult Classic, as it should be. Hands down I give it a Five Star Rating and remind viewers it carries an R rating.
For your Halloween viewing this is definitely a movie to watch on All Hollow's Eve or the night before.
Incidentally, when you swing by Wal-Mart to pick up your Twizler's and Junior Mints, you might want to make a quick stop at the church to make sure you have a crucifix and rosary beads handy. May, as well pick up a little Holy Water. . .to be safe.
Exorcist Information Links
Exorcism of Roland Doe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorcism_of_Roland_Doe
Father Walter Halloran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Halloran
The Story of a Modern-Day Exorcist
By Gilbert Cruz Monday, Mar. 16, 2009
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1885372,00.html
British School Girls Exorcists
'We're not like normal teenagers': Meet the exorcist schoolgirls who spend their time casting out DEMONS around the world
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024621/Meet-exorcist-schoolgirls-spend-time-casting-demons-worldwide.html
Posted in Bloggers, Blogs, Creature Feature, Editorial, Movies, Opinion
Tagged with 1960s, 1970s, 1971 novel.Exorcism of Roland Doe, 1973, 1980s, A 21st Century Exorcist ?, Actor Lee J. Cobb, Actor Titos Vandis, America's First Jewish Secretary Of State, America's New Prophets, American Cult Classic, American news media, American religious revival, Arthur Storch, Associated Press teletype, average All-American Girl for the 1970s, "Armageddon", "Brush Arbor Revivals", "Darling Demonologists", "Dirty Harry", "Exorcist:The Beginning", "Exorcists In America, "hellfire and damnation", "Name Of The Game Is Horror", "Rosemary's Baby", "Satanic Rituals", "Shuttle Diplomacy", "The Anti-Christ", "The Bible Belt", "The Exorcist " flickers on to movie screens December 26 1973, "The Generation Gap", "The Hounding Hell Horror Of The Satanic Silver Screen", "The New Age Movement", "The Omen", "The Saturday Night Massacre, "The Supernatural", "The Top Grossing R Rated Film Of All Time", "Yom Kippur War, "Puberty and Poltergeist ?", "Sinai Pennisula, Baptists, Barton Haymen, Branson, bright colors for men's suits, British school girls, by Samuel E. Warren Jr., Catholic, church pie suppers, churches, conjurer, crucifix, December 23 1973, Demon Dare, Demonic Days, denim flared bell bottoms, denim flared jeans, Deputy Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus, documentation, Dominion Prequel To The Exorcist, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Dr. Samuel Klein, Effective Evil Effects, Egyptian military forces, Exorcist 2013 Script Session, Exorcist Era Excitement, Exorcists Resurrection, fact, Faith, Fantasy, Father Damien Karras, Father Lankester Merrin, Father Walter Halloran, Father William S. Bowdern, Fiction, Find An Exorcist In The Yellow Pages, Five Star Rating, Galena High School, Galena Missouri, God, Golan Heights, Greene County, Halloween, Hell, Holy Water, honorable discharges, hormones, hounds tooth sport coats, i"Exorcists exist", Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini labeled "America, Israel, J. Edgar Hoover, January 22 1973, Jason Miller, Jesuit Priest, jogging suits, July 12, Korean War, KSOZ-FM, lay exorcists, Linda Blair, Lutheran, March 29 1973, Max von Sydow, May 17 1973, Men's Fashion Scene of the 1970s, Methodists, Middle East, military decorations, military people, military retirement pay, National Personnel Records Center, New Orleans, New York City Ouija Board, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, Nix on Nixon, November 1979, November 5, October 10 1973, October 1955, OCTOBER CREATURE FEATURE, OPEC, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Ozarks, Paris Peace Accords, pastors, Pentecostal, polyester, possessed, preachers, Presbyterians, price of crude oil, priest, Protestant, psychiatrist, records, Regan MacNeil, Richard Milhouse "Tricky Dick" Nixon, Roe versus Wade, Roman Catholic Archaeologist Priest, Roman Catholic Church, root worker, rosary beads, San Francisco, Satan, Satan At The Box Office, Satanic Seventies ?, September 11, Shah of Iran Pahlavi, Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox, Springfield, St. Louis, Stellan Skarsgard, Stone County Missouri, synagogues and mosques, Syrian military forces, Taney County, televangelists, temples, Temptation Of Teenagers ?Ellen Burstyn, THE EXORCIST, The Godfathers, The Great Satan, the last United States soldier leaves Vietnam, The Medical Men, The National Archives Fire, The Real Deal Exorcists, The School Of the Ozarks Point Lookout Missouri, The US bombing of Cambodia ends June 1 1973, The Vatican, The Vietnam War "Officially Ends" January 27 1973, The Watergate Break-In June 17 1972, The Yom Kippur War ends October 26 1973, United Kingdom, United States, US Army, US Navy, Vatican, Vietnam War, Watergate, white belts, white shoes, wide collars on men's shirts, wide lapels, Wide ties, William Friedkin, William Peter Blatty', World War I, World War II, young priest's uncle
Warren Land Sells !
Sells !
American flags at the Main Gate of Warren Land, beside State Highway 176, in southwest Missouri, between Abesville and Galena, in Stone County, Missouri. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
My Official Date Of Public Release – October 30, 2011
Three years ago, I asked the question, "Is it possible to sell farm land using the Internet ?"
Now, I have my answer.
Warren Land, the 70 plus acres of farm land in southwest Missouri, sold in August 2011.
I waited until my birthday, October 30, to answer this question because I wanted to take the time to answer this question based on my experiences.
The Pessimists
The pessimists and naysayers all snickered that our 70 plus acres of farm land would never sell.
Warren Land had traditionally been used as pasture land for breeds of cattle ranging from Black Angus and Polled Herefords to Red Angus. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Childhood Change Inspires Confidence
I was a boy in the early 1960s, when the land in Taney County, known as Branson, was going for about a nickel an acre. The Baldknobbers had just started regular music performances in Branson and Silver Dollar City had just opened their gates. Ideas like "The Nashville of the Ozarks" and a tourist attraction of how people lived in the 1800s had yet to catch on.
As a boy, I had seen the land in neighboring Taney County and I knew the cliffs and bluffs made it
Rock cliff face on Warren Land. Missouri is known as a farming state, but the Show Me State also brings in major revenue in the form of mining. While Stone County has rock cliff and bluff faces, the rock cliff an bluff faces of neighboring Taney County was credited as one of the normal reasons for low real estate prices in the 1960s. The rock bluff in the photograph is located in one of the hollows of the property. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
difficult for farmers to raise livestock. There were even stories that sometimes a cow would stumble and fall to her death at the bottom of a cliff. I had seen the hills and knew there could be truth in the falling cow stories.
As a youth. I, Michael Cutbirth and Jack Gordon joined the Ozarks Chapter of the Order of DeMolay, which would meet for six months at a time in the Forsyth Masonic Lodge and six months at a time in the Branson Masonic Lodge. In attending these meetings, we had to travel on average about 60 miles round trip from Galena, Missouri to either Forsyth or Branson. Thus, I had a front seat to the changes that happened in rural Stone and Taney counties from the 1960s through the 1970s and had traveled the highways long before the Missouri Department of Transportation began major highway projects to widen the roads, install overpasses or bypasses.
Branson Blossoms
Bulldozers gave Branson a facelift and redesigned the farm terrain to go with the ideas of creative citizens and suddenly unnoticed farm land had a new lease on life. The Plain Jane of Ozarks Real Estate was suddenly the supermodel in training. Of course, the opening of Table Rock Lake also served as a necessary augmentation to boost interest in the local real estate market.
Having witnessed Branson, Missouri blossom, in my lifetime, and go from wall flower to debutante, I didn't put much faith in the pessimists and naysayers' warnings. If the forgotten farm land of Taney County could transform into a Midwest mecca of country music, then, Stone County, next door, should also be able to shake off real estate puberty and gain a place in the sun.
Seek Out A Successful Real Estate Agent
The tough decision was to part with land that had been in my family since the mid to late 1940s.
My wife, Christy and I decided to sell the 70 plus acres of farm land in southwest Missouri in an attempt to return to the Republic of the Philippines, where we could be surrounded by her large family.
Once the decision was made, then we decide to look for a real estate agent. Like most people we begin looking at newspapers, browsing the internet and talking to people trying to find a realtor or real estate agency. At the start, it came down to a yellow page in the phone book.
Dismal Real Estate Setting
The October 3, 2007 American Financial Fiasco described as the collapse of "Big Banks on Wall Street" became history, but the effects of that financial catastrophe were still being felt when we decided to try and sell our land. People were complaining that banks weren't loaning money and so people couldn't or wouldn't buy real estate. Even though, we didn't list our land for sale until 2008, people were still complaining that the banks were not loaning money to people to buy real estate.
Find Your Land's Selling Points
A butterfly lands on a wild flower on Warren Land. Selling farm land is never easy because there is an emotional investment in the land. Thus, you should work to be objective and be honest about the land's strengths and weaknesses. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Be honest with yourself about the land. I grew up playing in the hills and hollers of Warren Land, so I knew I had an emotional investment in the property.
This white steer calf is symbolic of generation of cattle born and raised on Warren Land in southwest Missouri. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
But, what would a buyer want in the land ?
Goldie and Sarge play around the main farm pond on Warren Land. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
There is one big pond and two small ponds on the property.
There were no phone lines or electric lines
This small farm pond lies hidden in a holler on Warren Land and serves as a source of water for cattle and wildlife. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
on the property.
Several acres at the back of the property had been used to raise tomatoes commercially for about three years in the 1970s. In the 1960s through the 1980s, The Christmas Tree On The Stone County Courthouse Lawn either came from Warren Land or the adjoining DeLong Land – cedar trees love the soil of DeLong Land and Warren Land.
In 2010, about 17 deers were taken during the deer hunting season in Stone County and based on what hunters told me, basically, 10 of those deers had been taken on Warren Land.
From the 1980s through the 1990s, my mother had also let hunters hunt wild turkeys on Warren Land.
Hidden Spring on DeLong Land. DeLong Land and Warren Land have available water sources. Both DeLong or Warren Land was used to supply The Christmas Tree for the Stone County Courthouse Lawn from the 1960s through the 1990s. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Warren Land contains a multitude of walnut, black and white oak trees that were cut over the years to sell as lumber. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Every three or four years from the 1980s through 2003, my mother, would contact a local logger and allow them to go in and cut down trees.
This skidder pulls logs over the terrain of Warren Land. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Logs from Warren Land were destined to be milled as lumber. One log was selected for a local wood sculptor. Another log reportedly was selected to be shipped to China to be used for a dining table. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Thinning out trees allows young ones the chance to grow. The last time walnut logs were taken off Warren Land, one was selected to reportedly be sent to China to be used to build a dining table.
There are some crude All Terrain Vehicle trails on Warren Land. There were four gates on Warren Land and three of those gates opened out on to the main highway: State Highway 176.
The Choice Of The Wrong Realtors
At least, a local real estate agency should seem like a good idea because they know the local area and should be familiar with the local property. I made all the wrong decisions in selecting a real estate agent. It was little comfort that I picked the first agency out of the yellow pages of the telephone book.
I should have realized that the selected agency was perhaps, too close, to Table Rock Lake, which should of suggested that they are probably more interested in selling lake front property than farm land.
Although the first real estate agents smiled when I told them about the history of the land and how tomatoes had been raised there and logs were cut for building and furniture; I should of realized that the realtors seem more interested in selling residential or commercially developed land or lake front property than farm land.
I also should have realized that when everyone starts singing the same song – I should listen to who is singing the song and how often they sing it. The realtors gave me the classic Top Ten response of the day about, "You do realize that in this economy property is not selling."
I heard the song and dance about property not selling so often it should have been one of Billboard's "Top Ten."
The first real estate agency produced no results.
My Own Real Estate Initiative
You Can't Sell Anything If You Don't Tell People. The first realtors put up three signs around the property and they posted a small photo on their Internet page. Time passes and the realtors don't call us to tell us of any offers. The phone does not ring.
I take my Nikon camera across the road and spend several days off and on shooting photos of the property. Then, I burn the photos to a CD. I thought outside the box, so I went on line and searched out the addresses of companies that I thought might be interested in using the property to build a warehouse or for other development.
Wal-Mart, Google, Yahoo, Paramount, and Walt Disney Pictures were some of the corporate entities that I thought might be seeking a location in the Midwest and rural land to develop for their own concerns. Then, I mailed out around 40 CDs.
I got a nice letter from Walt Disney Pictures that thanked me for thinking of them.
None of the other businesses bothered to respond.
My idea may have been a long shot, but when you consider the foundation stone was laid for the White House in Washington D.C., the original property was reported to be a swamp, so prime real estate is not always a consideration for building. Since Warren Land, already had a history of being successful agricultural land, why couldn't it be used as a shooting location for movies made in the Midwest or as a warehouse facility for a corporation ?
My Next Bad Decision – The Second Realtor
My next bad decision was to go with a national real estate agency. Again, the realtor sang the old, "real estate really isn't moving in this economy. And, it will probably be a year or two, at least, before we see any property start to move" song. The realtor posted a small photo of the land on their Internet website.
Time passes and I called the realtor a couple of times. By the second time, I had called the realtor, the person talked "down to me." Country boy that I am, it did not set well with me that the person's tone of voice sounded like a school teacher scolding me.
The year passes.. The national real estate agency gave us no results. National advertising on television, in newspapers, on billboards and on the Internet should never be confused with the success of the realtor. I was glad to be rid of them.
Low Opinion Of Realtors
By the third year, my opinion of American Real Estate Agents ranked right down in the gutter with national Republican political candidates, the American Republican party, in general, and poisonous snakes in the Ozarks, in particular. I have no use for snakes, very little use for Republicans and American realtors overall were quickly battling in my mind for a spot between the snakes and Republicans.
Still, I believed what my mother had told me that land is an investment.
The Right Realtor
By the third year, Donna, my cousin, asked if we really wanted to sell the land. I told her yes. Then, she said, I have the name of a real estate agent for you. Donna looked me in the eyes and said, "If you really want to sell the land, call Katie. If the land can be sold, Katie can sell it." I made the phone call.
When Christy and I began we knew nothing about realtors or real estate agencies. Three years later, Christy and I were being to feel like Federal Bureau of Investigation special agents responsible for doing in-depth sensitive personal background checks. We were to the point that we didn't want smiles, promises and the standard catch phrases. We wanted to find a realtor that wanted to make a sale.
This time we knew the questions to ask and we expected honest answers. We didn't want to hear the old, "Woe Is Me This Is A Bad Economy," song. We didn't want to hear the old, "American Banks Are Afraid To Loan Money To Buy Land" song.
Katie Philipps, our realtor, called us with two different offers within about a month. In three months, Katie had us a buyer ready to buy the land. Thus, the 70 plus acres of Warren Land in southwest Missouri sold. We found the right realtor.
The Sign Of The Right Realtor To Sell Warren Land. Among my initiatives to try and sell the farm land, I cleared away sections of tall grass on the highway embankment and tried to landscape a noticeable space to draw attention to the real estate signs from three different realtors in three years. This sign proved to be the right sign of the right realtor. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
The naysayers were wrong.
The pessimists were wrong.
No, I don't believe in 2011 the Internet is a good choice at this time to sell farm land.
Blackberries begin to ripen in a psture of Warren Land that was used to raise acres of commercially -grown tomatoes in the 1970s. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
If you talk to a realtor, who gives you the "Gloom and Doom" song about "this is a bad economy to try and sell land in" – then, you should seriously consider looking for another realtor. In 2011, it maybe a "bad economy," but times change and sooner or later people will start buying land again.
While Warren Land – proper- the 70 plus acres sold, the Warrens still live on the few acres of Warren Land across State Highway 176.
Open Air Photography Studio - One added benefit of Warren Land through the years was Warren Land always provided a variety of natural settings for photography. Whether the goal was to shoot landscape, livestock, wild life, wild flowers or bring a prop into nature Warren Land always proved to be the Ultimate Open Air Photography Studio. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
The moral to the story is if you have farm land to sell : talk to people and get yourself a good real estate agent if you want to sell your farm land.
Posted in Current Events, Photography, Photos, Real Estate - Warren Land, Sam I Am
Tagged with 1960s, 2011, August 2011, Branson, China, farm land, find a realtor, Forsyth. Christy Warren, Internet, investment, Katie Philipps, lake front property, October 30, prime real estate, real estate agency, Republic of the Philippines, Samuel E. Warren Jr., sell the land, sold, southwest Missouri, State Highway 176, Stone County deer hunters, Stone County logging, Stone County wild turkey hunters, Table Rock Lake, Taney County, The Christmas Tree On The Stone County Courthouse Lawn, the right realtor, walnut logs, Warren Land
Weekend Plans in southwest Missouri ? Summer Photo Feature
Weekend Plans in southwest Missouri ?
Into James River
Fisherman carries his catch of blue gill from the James River. "Galena, MIssouri – Float Fishing Capitol Of The World" – Before Table Rock Dam became famous for water sports, anglers came to Galena and the James River to go "float fishing" from the 1930s through the mid 1960s. In 2011, visitors and tourist still journey to the waters of the James River around Galena to canoe and kayak. Still some people bring their fishing pole and fish from a boat, one of the banks or wade out into James River. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
One of those weeks. Everything that can go wrong – Did.
The temperatures have been through the roof – and you felt like you were sweating in the shade. How many more hours until the week end ? You can't wait to kick your shoes off and just kick back and relax. Have you already made your plans for the weekend ?
A Chair To Relax In On A Bank Of The James River – One local landowner has the right idea. Pull up a chair and watch the canoes float by. Bring your chairs to the gravel bars of the James River and relax. But, please, leave this man's chair alone. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Grocery prices seem to keep rising. And, gas prices are out of this world with no end in sight. The TV news and
Secluded Cabin on a bank of the James River at Galena. The heavy rural foilage and vegetation in and around Galena make it a paradise for people who want to get back to "The Great Outdoors." The James River weaves in and around the countryside, which is still home to deer, raccoons, wild turkeys and foxes. The massive bluffs ov Horse Creek that look down on James River will amaze tourists and inspire photographers. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
the news stories that show up on your computer make it seem as if the "Whole World Is Going Nuts !" Thank God for the Week end.
How many hours until the week end ?
If you are looking for an idea to relax. Consider James River. If you live in northern Arkansas or southwest Missouri, then, one way to relax and get away from the cares of the world is to kick your shoes off and wiggle your toes in the waters of James River.
Bring a fishing pole and fish off the banks of the James River or relax on one of the gravel bars and just watch children playing in the river.
Galena. Missouri is a small town of under 500 people, in southwest Missouri, near Springfield, Republic, Nixa, and Branson on the banks of the James River.
You can spend the day on the James River and should still be able to drive into Branson for an evening music show.
Sitting In The James River – Sometimes a writer and photographer has to leap into a subject with both feet. On this day, I waded into the James River and found a shallow spot to sit in the river and let the water flow around me.I also promised myself if I ever win the Missouri Lottery that I would buy one of those waterproof housings for my camera. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
In The James River – In the Spring and Summer, there are shallow places in the river by Galena, Missouri, where you can wade into the river or relax on a gravel bar. If you pay attention to the current, you can sit in James River and lean forward with your camera and get a photograph of the water flowing under the Y Bridge. Photo by Samuel E Warren Jr.
If you have a short canoe trip in mind, then, you might consider putting in at Horse Creek, which is basically about
Man's Best Friend Stands Guard On A Gravel Bar In James River. One pet owner brought his dog to allow the animal to be able to "dog paddle" and swim in the river. Later the dog, got comfortable and stretched out to enjoy the afternoon sun. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
half-way between Abesville and Galena, Missouri.
Time To Shove Off – Weekends and days off, during the Spring and Summer, are times when you can put a boat, bass boat, canoe or kayak into Missouri's James River at different points along the 130-mile waterway and enjoy a day of boating or fishing. This boat rests on a rock on a bank of the James River, near Galena, Missouri. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.
Posted in Editorial, Family, Opinion, Photography, Photos, Stone County History, Tourism, Vacation
Tagged with Abesville Missouri, bass boat, blue gill, boat, Branson, canoe, conservation, Crane, fish, fishing, float fishing, Galena Missouri, Hootentown, Horse Creek, James River, kayak, Kimberling City, Missouri Department of Conservation, Nixa, northern Arkansas, Reeds Spring, Republic, Samuel E. Warren Jr., small mouth bass, southwest Missouri, Springfield, Stone County Missouri, Table Rock Dam, Table Rock Lake, tourism, tourists, vacation, water, water sports