Thursday, December 31, 2015

Package says a straight line isn't easiest, cheapest, fastest ...

I saw these camo boots online, the Sunday before Christmas, at Academy Sports + Outdoors and I wanted them.  I have been hunting a pair of boots like these for months.
The price was right; reviews were positive; I needed the boots to traipse around the barnyard, in the mud.  I'm not a hunter, but I needed them.
But dang, folks, after I got the shipment notice and tracking number, why were they sent to Memphis, Tennessee.  From Fayetteville?
Heck, I could have driven to Fayetteville and picked them up, if I had known this.
What's the gimmick?
How could shipping this package from Fayetteville, Arkansas, to Valley Springs, Arkansas, take 10 days? Let me describe the box's travels.

 Sunday night, December 20, 2015, I ordered a pair of boots, online, from Academy Sports + Outdoors.
I received an e-mail the following day - Monday, December, 2015 - that the boots had been shipped from a Fayetteville store.
That made sense to me, send the order to the store closest to the customer.  That would be the Fayetteville store.
But then any sense of logistics vanished.
Google maps shows the distance between the starting point (Academy Sports + Outdoors in Fayetteville, Arkansas) and ending point (Valley Springs, Arkansas, Post Office) is about 85 miles.
But tracking the package shows it went to FedEx in Lowell, Arkansas, on Monday, December 21, 2015, then overnight it was transported to Kansas City, Missouri, arriving just after midnight. The package then left Kansas City on Tuesday morning, December 22, 2015, and 12 hours later was logged into the FedEx facility in Memphis Tennessee. Later, about midnight, it was registered at FedEx Smartpost in Southhaven, Mississippi.

 The package was left at that location through the Christmas holiday, not coming to life until Monday, December 28, 2015.
As you can read, shipping information was sent to the US Postal Service about midnight Monday, December 28, 2015, then the package left Tuesday morning, December 29, 2015, for the US Postal Service back in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The package arrived Wednesday morning, December 30, 2015, at my local post office at Valley Springs, Arkansas.


I picked up the package just before the post office closed for lunch at 11 a.m. Wednesday, December 30, 2015.  The only connection to FedEx on the box is the postage stamp that reads - Parcel Select U.S. Postage Paid SmartPost e-VS.

And here are my new boots, delivered with free shipping.

 I would think, in this day when all my online movements are tracked, that a computer whiz at FedEx could determine that it would be cheaper to mail the box from Fayetteville to Valley Springs, rather than truck the package around the four-state area, then mail it from Mississippi to Fayetteville and Valley Springs.
And some of our lawmakers apparently think private business could do a better job of handling the mail than the job that U.S. Postal Service is currently doing.
What are your thoughts?
I sent that question to customer service for Academy Sports + Outdoors on Tuesday. Here's the auto reply: Please allow 24 - 48 hours for a response.
OK, I'm waiting, and Megan burst out laughing.
Dwain
RESPONSE:


CC
Today at 5:59 PM

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Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Disaster! Flood! Looky-Loos - that's us!


Nothing brings out folks with their cameras and cell phones like a natural disaster.  You should have seen the traffic in the neighboring Missouri towns of Branson and Hollister earlier this week.  We don't think the tourist-towns could have anticipated such large crowds for the post-Christmas floods.  But here they came.  Where are the rest of the RVs?  Normally, this RV park in downtown Hollister, Missouri, is packed.

Here's an example - we were guilty.  At least we weren't in the way of any emergency crews. This picture was taken below Table Rock Dam, date-stamped 12/28/2015.
The roar and rush of the water, and the cold mist brought out people like tourists going to experience Niagara Falls.  Alice Ivy is dragging Dwain back to the car for another stop.  Other motorists were patiently waiting for our parking spot.  They wanted a chance to take a selfie or family photo.  Seriously.
Woah!  This ain't wading weather. The water was cold; the wind was biting.  Two hours later, snow was flying.  Where are that boy's shoes?
Megan's bundled up with her Mad Russian fur cap pulled tight under her chin.  See the TV camera truck, streaming video, way in the background?  This was an event.
Doesn't this look like the mist at Niagara Falls?

All 10 flood gates across Table Rock Dam are open a record 4-1/2 feet each. You're looking at 59,100 cubic feet per second.  Beaver Dam's flood gates were open 9-1/2 feet on Monday, but they're slowing being closed today as that lake level stabilizes.  This is in response to weekend rains of biblical proportions, but at least, no violent storms.
I'm glad the walk to the overlook was hard-surfaced, because the ground was mushy.

Alice Ivy thought the mushy ground was delightful.  Drinking water everywhere.  She might have gone for a swim, if we had brought her water wings instead of an overcoat.
Hurry up!  Look at the crowds!  Every day is a good day to be alive!  She is always so happy ...
... And excited.  She didn't blink, she just jumped up on top of the wall.  What is everyone looking at?
OK!  What next?  What next?  That was fun!

Oh wow, Mom.  I'm the only dog here.  This is a great park!
That's Dwain in the green coat.  He just took a right jab to the side of the head, and didn't flinch.  That's concentration.

 License plates showed Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Maryland, Missouri and Arkansas, and on and on.
The road and bridge past Bass Pro on Branson Landing were closed because of high water.  Yep, traffic was funneled onto the old (big, tall) bridge.  It is reliable.

Here's the warning opposite Branson Landing.  Why were engineers so short-sighted as to not visualize that Lake Taneycomo could come up this high in a flood?  And the supplemental flood gates weren't even open.

Road closed!  Those are familiar sights across the rain-flooded region this post-Christmas weekend.
This is a shopping-center in Hollister, Missouri.  Troy Burleson has a martial arts studio in one of those flooded buildings.

Hood's up!  Sump pump is running!  What are they pumping the water into?  Surely not the same pool of standing water. ;(

This is a housing division along Lake Taneycomo in Hollister.

And another home in that division.  We like the blurred-action in this photo.

What do we see drowning along the shore on the other side of Lake Taneycomo in Branson, Missouri?

There's a lovely Magnolia tree, a boat dock, another boat dock, a deck with water rising on a house.

Here's a homeowner's landscape and porch, and the entire yard is underwater as Lake Taneycomo surrounds the house.

Oh, here are the RVs.  Like a wagon train, they've been pulled in a circle ...

... around the edge of the Lowe's parking lot.  We even saw a license plate from Alaska on an RV, and a motorhome pulling a travel trailer.
We're ready to dry out.  Time for supper.  Pizza by the Chef, just a few feet away from Lowe's, sounds good.
Megan and Dwain - stay dry folks. 
P.S.: We're going to send 3 video snippets on later e-mails.
look·y-loo
[ˈlo͝okēˌlo͞o]

NOUN

  1. a person who, out of curiosity, lingers around the scene of an accident, etc., or strives to get a look into the private property of others, especially celebrities:
    "the trespassing looky-loos caused her to build a fence around the front yard"
    • a person who seems interested in making a purchase, but whose actual intention is only to browse:
    • "a treat for all the North Shore's looky-loos: the popular Spring Designer Kitchen Tour"
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Sunday, December 27, 2015

At least we weren't dumb enough to hang out clothes ...

Mercy me!  When will the rains end? Who's going to win this battle? The clothes line. The tree. The fire station. Which has been standing the longest?

 Late Sunday afternoon (December 27, 2015), weather alerts on both our cell phones went off, and we were like boxers coming out for the bell.  We went charging to see what all the hoopla was about.
Guess we had cabin fever, even though we went to church today.
We loaded up Alice --

-- And Megan took an extra pair of socks in case her feet got wet or cold.  She can't stand cold feet.
We pointed the truck toward Valley Springs.  Hog Creek is normally a trickle, if that.  We could step across it, easily, in places.  Today, we were worried about being washed away.

This afternoon, we thought this looked like a white water river.  No, we're not planning to open an extreme float service.
Where to - next?
Ozarks ponds are overflowing and fields are making streams where streams didn't exist before.

What a difference from the winters of Dwain's youth. He remembers winters as cold and dry. Break ice for cows!  That was miserable.  Cars and trucks wouldn't start. 
Never floods.
Neither of us remember  ever losing electricity as kids, even in an ice storm.
We're on Highway 7 heading south. That's the entrance (to the left) to Marble Falls.  That's probably a chalet on the left.  Looks like someone might be living in it.  Forty years ago, we might be going snow skiing at Marble Falls, rather than putting in a kayak on Mill Creek in downtown Dogpatch USA. 

There's the falls.  It's really visible and hearable.  Megan liked the outline of the hills and water hanging off branches.

See the power in all that water.  And to the left, is part of the old Dogpatch USA theme park.

Lots and lots of water rushing through downtown Dogpatch.  It was hard to take a picture, because every time we rolled down the window, rain poured inside.
That's Crooked Creek boiling under that bridge.  Let's take a right.

We're sure glad for the bridge and guard rail between us and the raging creek. Yes, we've seen Crooked Creek at higher levels, but that rain hasn't stopped and isn't planning to for the next 24 hours.  At least, it's not snow.

Raincoat weather.  We pulled underneath the awning at First Baptist Church so Megan could stretch her legs and snap a picture.  No, she wasn't planning to play in the water in those white corduroy pants, white top and white snowflake sweater.  At least she wore her rubber rain boots.  And don't forget those extra socks she was carrying.

Here's one of those accidental pictures, that appeared after touching the back of the camera.  What a nice surprise.

Welcome to the picture Megan was trying to get.  Harrison school personnel were looking for higher ground to park the bus fleet, rather than let them float downstream.

Rainy!  Rainy!  Rainy!  This is what Christmas decorations look like through a rain-splattered truck window.

We're crossing Lakeshore Drive and looking at the Harrison Junior High School.  Or in Megan's days, the Harrison High School.

Still, lots of airspace between Lake Harrison and the South Main Street Bridge.

We didn't see a soul out walking or fishing.  Not a child on the playground.  Usually this place is full of people relaxing and exercising.

Dusk is slowly descending, as the lights come on.  No one appears to have rented the pavilion this afternoon for a party.

Even the ducks and geese were taking refuge from the floodwaters and trying to duck the debris.

It's amazing how lights reflect in the rain, even stoplights and blinkers.  They look very festive.

We've got a green light looking north on Main Street, and a yellow light and Christmas lights reflect off the pavement.  Or as our daughter-in-law, Suzy, would say, "Off the tarmac."

This gloomy weather sure causes the Christmas lights to look pretty.

This is East Rush Avenue. The Old Federal Building is on the left, and Sam Alexander Pharmacy on the right. This is one of our favorite streets in the winter.  Do any of you remember the Rush Hotel?  It had neat Christmas lights a couple of years before it burnt.

It's raining and raining!  Anyone recognize this place?
Well, these little piggies have decided that we better head home before we float away.  Rub-a-dub-dub, we're full of nursery rhymes tonight.

 Megan and Dwain
You all stay dry and warm.  Get a pair of socks like Megan's.
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Location: Harrison, AR 72601, USA
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