Rain for Many Areas/Toad Suck Park/Table Rock Lake

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
Tropical Atlantic and Pacific are quiet.

Ridge is beginning to flatten and retrograde as a trough begins to dig southward into the central US. On Monday, highs will be in the 90s and 100s across the southern plains and southwest with highs in the 70s along the coastal sections of California. Highs will be in the 70s and 80s across the rest of the country. Many locations will have a chance for thunderstorms but no severe storms are predicted by the Storm Prediction Center.

On Monday, Houston will have some thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday. Chances decrease middle to later part of the week. But there will still be a few Wednesday through Friday. Highs will be in the low to middle 90s early in the week and middle to upper 90s later in the week.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do restaurant, or restaurante, pronounced rehs-tair-RAHN-tay. Check out the AND MORE section for the name of a restaurant that we think is unique.

Speaking of eating, your kids will love learning the spanish words for several words associated with eating (and drinking). They are presented in a fun, musical way in the first volume of our award winning DVD, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. Order your copy from www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, http://www.dololanguages.com/, http://www.carlexonline.com,%20www.thecuriousmindstore.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.bestbuy.com/, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. For our English as a Second Language (ESL) version, go to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
We're staying in Aunts Creek Resort, which is near Reeds Spring and Kimberling City, MO (outside of Branson) on Table Rock Lake. On the 12 hour drive from Houston, we usually stop at a restaurant in Hope, Arkansas called Dos Loco Gringos. Well, first of all, if that name was correct it would be Dos Gringos Locos--2 crazy white men. But, anyway, we find the Mexican food interesting and tasty and we stop there almost every time we make the trip. I asked Anthony (one of the waiters) how that name came to be. He said that years ago, the two men who bought that restaurant, already owned 2 other restaurants and their friends said they were crazy to buy another one...since they were "white" guys, they came up with the name "Dos Loco Gringos"--literally translated--Two Crazy White Guys. Now you know.

For years, we've seen the exit for "Toad Suck Park" outside Conway, Arkansas. And we've always wondered what in the world it was all about. Come to find out it is a recreation area run by the Corps of Engineers. But we wanted to know the origin of the name. And I pulled the following from the Conway Chamber of Commerce web site.

"Long ago, steamboats traveled the Arkansas River when the water was at the right depth. When it wasn't, the captains and their crew tied up to wait where the Toad Suck Lock and Dam now spans the river. While they waited, they refreshed themselves at the local tavern there, to the dismay of the folks living nearby, who said: "They suck on the bottle 'til they swell up like toads." Hence, the name Toad Suck. The tavern is long gone, but the legend and fun live on at Toad Suck Daze."

Hi, it's me again. Toad Suck Daze is a festival Conway has in the spring. Check out these sites for more information.

http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/parks/toadsuck/index.htm
http://www.toadsuck.org/

It has been rainy on and off for the past week in the Table Rock/Branson, Missouri area. But after the morning fog lifted, we had a spectacular day. Check out the photo at right--the view from the deck of the cabins we are staying in.

Have a great week everyone!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman