December 13 - Resort Adventures

Tommy on the left, Martin on the right

Today began as a rainy, dreary day. PERFECT for a stop at the White River Coffee Shop. The regulars there are Dean (the proprietor and Coffee Connoisseur) or as he refers to himself, "The Barista", Greg who is also a coffee guy and home grown potter and coffee roaster (which he roasts in a pop-corn maker) that's a story in and of itself. Soon Tommy, Jerry, Jackie and others arrived to catch up on the "goings on" around town. Around Town refers to Rockaway Beach, Missouri. A booming center of tourism from the 1920's through at least the 1970's (or maybe 80's)  but much slower and less well known now. Branson Missouri, which is only a few minutes to our west, dominates the tourism scene nowadays however Rockaway still enjoys it's own charm and heritage dating back nearly a century.

Today, many of the same world problems were solved as other days, at least in theory. Of course our world pretty much stretches about a quarter mile outward in the general direction of the four compass points. While there, I received a text from our Treehouse Builder Randy. It simply said "Christmas Squirrel".

The balance of the morning included tracking down a simple, inexpensive tool called a flare tool. I own three of them but in two weeks of digging around, I cannot find a single one! (I guess that's part of the "Adventure") More like part of the aggravation! between the four resorts, with a smattering of tools at all of them, I cannot find any of my flare tools. So in reluctance, I called my much more organized mechanic friend Joe. I hate borrowing tools mostly because I hate it when people ask to borrow tools. But I am determined to not own four flare tools and Joe understands...…. At least I think he does. I'll have to be generous to him at Christmas.

So what is a flare tool, you may ask? It's the specific tool I need to get the gas fireplace blazing in the house at the Rainbow Haven Resort, thereby bringing peace to the house once again!