Let them eat CHILI!

A couple reminders for the chili cook-off and Halloween party tomorrow night at Charles and Lisa Luna's garage... The chili tasting starts at 6:30 p.m. If you're making chili, please arrive by 6:00 so we can get everyone situated before the hungry crowd gets there. Please bring a ladle for your chili. We should have plenty of extension cords and power strips. However, if you have one that you would like to bring for your slow cooker... bring it! We need as many as we can get. PCM has all the fixin's for the chili, plus a keg o' beer and a non-alcoholic beverage, too. You may bring a dessert if you'd like. Cost to eat is $5 for adults; $3 for kids. (Chili makers eat for free.) Anyone who eats gets to vote on his or her favorite chili. Winners take home cash prizes!

ALSO... it is a Halloween party! So you can wear costumes! Kids and adults! I'm dressing up! It's going to be so fun! We'll have a costume contest later on in the evening. If you can't come up with a good idea, no worries, you'll still be allowed to come in. :)

If you have ANY questions, please let me know!

Mother Nature is our pal

Well, it seems we dodged the bullet again last night. Thank goodness for that! I'm sure many of you are aware of the severe weather that passed through the Ozarks last night. Some of you probably rode out storms at your own homes. I hope everyone is safe and sound this morning. Other than a bit of debris on the roads, a few misplaced trash cans and some trash in the fuel dock this morning... all is well at PCM.

The Scoop

(Left) Last year's Chili Cook-off winner, Skip Dechau, modeling a great costume idea for the Halloween party on October 27.

Okay, so I've had several people ask me about the details for the Chili Cook-off and Halloween party, coming up on October 27. So here's what you need to know... It's going to be held at Charles and Lisa Luna's garage. They were kind enough to let us do it there last year, which worked out great, and they've agreed to let us have it there again this year! (If you don't know where that is, just ask me.)

If you'd like to enter your chili, all you need to do is bring a crock pot (something that can plug in and stay warm) of your best recipe, and a serving ladle. We're going to open the tasting at 6:30 p.m., which means the chili makers should arrive at 6 p.m. to set up. PCM will provide all the fixin's for the chili -- cheese, crackers, etc. Plus we're donating a keg of beer and non-alcoholic beverages, too. If you're not making chili, but you'd like to contribute something, feel free to bring a dessert. Cost is $5 (all you can eat) for adults; $3 for kids. Anyone who eats gets to vote. Winners take home cash prizes!

Remember, this is also a Halloween party, so we encourage you to be festive and wear a costume; however, you certainly don't have to dress up. The Halloween party will go on into the evening, and there will be a costume contest for kids and adults.

If you do plan to enter the chili contest, please shoot me an e-mail or give me a call, so I can have an idea of how many crocks of chili we'll have this year. Last year we had 20!! It was a great turnout. Skip Dechau took first place... Who's taking on the challenge this year???

Hellooooooo!!

Sorry I've been absent for a while... I just haven't had much to write about. But here goes...

First of all, we're open 8am to 5pm daily and will be through the end of the month. Jackie's is open 3-10pm Wednesday and Friday... AND you should know she is not serving pizza on those days. Pizza only on Saturday and Sunday. And she is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturdays and Sundays, although the kitchen does close early on Sundays.

The Chili Cook-off and Halloween party is 16 days away and counting! Have you picked out your costume yet???

Fishing has been pretty good. Matt caught a couple crappie a few nights ago. Yum.

That's all for now. Have a good evening!

Matt the Trash Man

This is the pile of trash Bill Adams, Dennis Kroeker and Orville Vogt picked up on Saturday. Click here to see more pics from the Pontiac Lake Clean-Up and Full Moon Party. (Oh, and thank you to Sharon Davidson, who took some of these pics.)

Clean-up Wrap-up

The Pontiac Lake Clean-up was Saturday. We filled two truck beds with garbage. Bill Adams, Dennis Kroeker and Orville Vogt collected a big bunch of it. They brought in three big Styrofoam blocks that were pretty water-logged. Matt loaded all the trash into the trucks at the launch ramp, and let me tell you, I wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to get those things into the truck bed by himself. That’s how heavy they were. Those guys also brought in several old tires, and some other garbage.

Gary and Cindy Peterson, Jessica and Gabe Blackburn, and Eric and Cathy Callahan also brought in a lot of trash—including the kitchen sink. Literally. They found a kitchen sink AND a refrigerator. The fridge was too big to haul back, so they just brought the door back as proof. Susan Dieckhaus found a barbecue grill that was dumped at Gulley (Gooley) Creek. Other participants included Micky Iseminger, Lynda Dunsmuir and her granddaughters, Nina and Ashton; Lynne Akins and her family, and several others. We collected about two-thirds as much garbage this year as we did last year. A lot of folks told me there just wasn’t much out there, which tells me people are picking up after themselves (and others) on a regular basis. Thanks to everyone who helped out!

Afterward the Pontiac/Price Place Volunteer Fire Department served hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans and dessert at the park. They raised about $400 for the fire department. Bob Kirgan, Ted Gutweiler, Shirley Sanders, Bill Richardson, Roger and Debbie Lee, Chuck Wilson, Georgianna Dorell and Vita Curvey were there to help. (I apologize if I forgot anyone!)

Larry Wallace and the Outlaws entertained us with their music. All in all it was a fun day and night. I'll post pictures later on.

Cheers!