AND, I FOUND THAT OUT THE HARD WAY

HOSTA BLOOMS IN THE FRONT YARD

Had it not been for the smoke obscuring the night sky these past few nights I would have been out to my night viewing spot to look for a Planet line-up.  Maybe tonight if skies remain clear. (They didn't)

 RIPPLES ON THE FROG POND

 A COUPLE OF BUDDIES HANGING OUT BY THE POOL

 SITTING BY THE WATERFALL

Looking out the living room window at first light, I was heartened when looking up through the tall pine trees to see patterned clouds in the morning sky.  That meant one thing.....the wildfire smoke was finally clearing out.  A touch of slightly diffused sunlight tumbled through the window and didn't appear to be as yellow as the past few days.

HOSTAS

With my early 5:30 a.m. awakening and arising this morning, I was out the door for my walk earlier than usual.  It was a strong but pleasantly warm southwest wind blowing the wildflowers and long grass around in the ditches alongside my walking road.  I had to hold onto my hat, and that was okay, because I could feel the heavy humidity in the air.  Without that cooling wind, I probably would not have done the walk.

 NOTHING LEFT IN THIS HARVESTED WHEAT FIELD EXCEPT STUBBLE AND FARM VEHICLE TRACKS

 A WHEAT HARVEST UNDERWAY ABOUT HALF A MILE FROM MY WALKING ROAD

 A THISTLE ALONGSIDE WHERE I WALK

 I BELIEVE THESE ROADSIDE FLOWERS TO BE SWEET PEA

It was coffee on the front porch mid-morning, and with a pocketful of peanuts, I soon had a lot of company.  Even a Blue Jay dropped in looking for a peanut.

 THIS BLUE JAY HAS ITS EYE ON THE PEANUT AT BOTTOM RIGHT 

 THIS LITTLE GUY WENT RIGHT INTO MY PANTS POCKET AND GOT THE PEANUT....SAID HE DIDN'T WANT TO BOTHER ME WHILE I WAS NODDING OFF

Over the years, some readers have referred to my blog as a fireside chat, and I like that analogy because I feel the same way.  I'm pleased that it has morphed into a gentler version of my early blogging years when I, at times, was sharply opinionated and critical of a number of things.  I welcome the change and I guess it came with age, and a lot of blog writing experience.  I am comfortable now at the end of each day that I have not gone and deliberately offended anyone.  Groaner's Corner sometimes gets a little dodgy, but I hope people know and understand it's just a joke, and we all certainly need a little humor in our lives during these difficult days.  Sometimes, I partially rewrite the jokes so as not to make them hurtful to some folks.  And, as I've said several times before, I stay away from politics and religion.  In the past, I have got myself into hot water with both those topics, so I now make a special effort to stay clear of them.  Not easy at times, but I would sooner have readers wrap up their days with a chuckle and a smile on their face, and not mad all over the place with steam coming out of their ears.  There's too much of that in the world already, so I'll leave that kind of writing and opining for others.  Besides, I'm too thin-skinned to write like that anyway.  And, I found that out the hard way.

 THIS BLUE JAY PERCHED ON A CORNER OF THE SUNROOM DID MANAGE TO SWOOP DOWN AND NAB  A FEW PEANUTS FOR HIMSELF

 ROSE BREASTED MALE GROSBEAK

 ANOTHER ROBIN ON THE BIRDBATH

 WELL, AT LEAST I KNOW THIS LITTLE FELLOW ISN'T A CROW

Al's Music Box:(( Up On The Roof by The Drifters.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two drunks are walking along. One drunk says to the other, "What a beautiful night. Look at that moon!" The other drunk stops and looks at his drunk friend. "You are wrong. That's not the moon; that's the sun!" Both continued arguing for a while when they came upon another drunk walking along. So they stopped him and said, "Sir, could you please help settle our argument? Tell us what that thing is up in the sky that's shining. Is it the moon or the sun?" The third drunk look at the sky and then looked at them and said, "Sorry, I don't live around here."

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A man visits his psychiatrist and talks about being haunted by visions of his departed relatives. He says; these ghosts are perched on the tops of fence posts around my garden every night. They sit there and watch me and watch me. What can I do?
The psychiatrist says; that's easy … just sharpen the tops of the posts.

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It was three o'clock in the morning, and the receptionist at a posh hotel was just dozing off, when a little old lady came running towards her, screaming. "Please come quickly," she yelled, "I just saw a naked man outside my window!" The receptionist immediately rushed up to the old lady's room. "Where is he?" asked the receptionist. "He's over there," replied the little old lady, pointing to an apartment building opposite the hotel. The receptionist looked over and could see a man with no shirt on, moving around his apartment. "It's probably a man who's getting ready to go to bed," she said reassuringly. "And how do you know he's naked, you can only see him from the waist up?" "The dresser, honey!" screamed the old lady. "Try standing on the dresser!"
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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery