IT'S AUNT JEAN'S 99TH BIRTHDAY TODAY AND SHE'S STILL MIXING IT UP IN THE MANIC SARASOTA, FLORIDA TRAFFIC

 A FEW PHOTOS AROUND THE PARK THIS MORNING

Aunt Jean and I decided to switch our Friday night phone calls from 8:15 to 7 p.m.  We have been doing these Friday night phone calls for the best part of twenty years.  It's Aunt Jean's 99th Birthday today, and by golly, she is still out there mixing it up in the manic Sarasota, Florida traffic.  Although she sold her car about three months ago, she currently has the use of her friend Pat's car.  Pat fell in her kitchen about six weeks ago, breaking her hip and her right wrist.  She is home now recovering, but not able to drive, so she lent her car to Jean until she can get back behind the wheel again.  Aunt Jean scooted off to her hairdresser and back this week and mentioned again how badly congested the Sarasota traffic has become over recent years.  Pat's car is an SUV and sits higher than Aunt Jean's previous car, a Toyota Camry.  No problem driving Pat's car, Aunt Jean said, but because of the height,  she has one heck of a time getting in and out of it.  

I was startled this morning on my walk while trying to concentrate on taking a flower picture with my iPhone.  All of a sudden I heard a gaggle of voices in my left ear, and on a deserted country road, all of a sudden hearing voices in one's ear can be instantly disconcerting, to say the least.  Not just one voice, but a gaggle of voices, and then, before I could turn my head, the fast-moving voices 'whoooshed' right behind me by what seemed like mere inches.  Those voices were traveling fast and in a split second I estimated they must have been going about 185 mph.  Swiveling quickly with my phone, I barely caught a dusting of them.

Home again, I took a little drive around our Park snapping a few pics here and there.  I saw two more recently poured concrete pads for more new homes, which I expect will be arriving before too long.  The Park owners had another 'open house' today with one of the models, and judging by the number of vehicles, lawn chairs, porch flower pots, and early landscaping, I think the majority of the new units are already sold. 

 AROUND THE PARK

OVER THE PAST NEARLY 24 YEARS, KELLY, MAX, CHECKERS, CORA, PHEEBS AND I HAVE WALKED COUNTLESS  HUNDREDS OF TIMES ALONG THIS EAST BANK OF PARK'S POND ON OUR ONCE DAILY WALKS

 THIS 'REST-A-BIT' BENCH ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE POND ALWAYS REMINDS ME OF KELLY, AND  I CAN STILL SEE HER SITTING THERE

Despite the heat and humidity, I busied myself putting down two bags of mulch in one of the flower beds, hauled out and got the lawn sprinkler going, raked up half a wheelbarrow of pine needles, and fashioned myself together a makeshift roof for the bird station.  Not exactly a thing of beauty, but it might keep the birdfeeder dryer when it rains.

AND THIS IS MY RUDIMENTARY BIRD STATION RENOVATION

 AND THIS IS THE FIRST LITTLE FACE THAT APPEARED THIS AFTERNOON, WHICH TELLS ME I AM GOING TO HAVE TO TRIM PACK SOME MORE BRANCHES

 THIS PAIR OF MOURNING DOVES WERE A LITTLE DISKABOOBLATED BY THE CHANGE TO THE BIRD STATION BUT WITHIN AN HOUR THEY WERE BACK ON THE STATION EATING UP THE SEEDS

 OF COURSE MY BIRD STATION ANTICS WERE OF NO INTEREST TO THIS FRONT YARD FROG POND FELLOW

 NO, THAT IS NOT MY FOOT......'GEEEEEZZZZ'

Had my coffee on the front porch again this afternoon and snapped a few more photos. Woodsy whipped up another 'Watermelon Salad' today, and before I got my face into it, I remembered to take a picture this time. By the way, strawberries make a great addition to this salad as well.  (watermelon, cucumbers, feta cheese, cooked chicken, and honey dijon mustard,) or a salad dressing of your choice.   

Al's Music Box:: Blue Bayou by Roy Orbison.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A guy walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. He said, "shingles." So she took down his name, address, and medical insurance number and told him to have a seat. Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked him what he had. He said, "shingles." So she took down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told him to wait in the examining room. A half-hour later, a nurse came in and asked him what he had. He said, "shingles." She gave him a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, told him to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor. An hour later the doctor came in and asked him what he had. He said, "shingles." The doctor said, "Where?" He said, "Outside in the truck. Where do you want them?"

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A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She reduced altitude and spotted a man below. She descended a bit more and shouted: 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago but I don't know where I am..' The man below replied, 'You're in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the ground. You're between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.' 'You must be an Engineer,' said the balloonist. 'I am,' replied the man, 'how did you know?' 'Well,' answered the balloonist, 'everything you have told me is probably technically correct, but I've no idea what to make of your information and the fact is, I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help at all. If anything, you've delayed my trip by your talk.' The man below responded, 'You must be in Management.' 'I am,' replied the balloonist, 'but how did you know?'
'Well,' said the man, 'you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you've no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it's my fault.'!!

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery 

THAT'S KINDA HOW PHEEBS AND I WERE YEARS AGO TOO

 NOT SURE WHAT THIS BIRD IS, BUT I SEE THEM FLITTING ABOUT IN THE WHEATFIELD ALONGSIDE MY WALKING ROAD

Decided to carry my Sony RXIV camera with me this morning on my walk, and take a few pics along the way.  Any day now, I expect a big grass-cutting machine to come rolling up the gravel road and mow down the ditches as it goes.  That means all the wildflowers growing along both sides of my walking road will be gone.  A lot of little yellow Butterflies and Dragonflies were fluttering about in those ditches this morning.  Evenings too.  After the ditches are mowed, those Dragonflies and Butterflies will move on, and I will miss them.  Well, at least that's what happened last summer around this time.

 CHICORY

 PURPLE VETCH

 MONARCH BUTTERFLY ON A MILKWEED PLANT

 TWAS A FINE LOOKING MORNING IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

With a warm, sunny, and humid day upon us, I enjoyed spending time simply sitting on the shaded front porch, appreciating all the greenery in the front yard with the sounds of birds in the surrounding trees and chipmunks scampering about all over the place.  Also had my music with me and my camera.  Of course, there is seldom any more than a ten-foot separation between me, a musical device, or a camera of some sort.  That's kinda how Pheebs and I were years ago, too.  I sure miss her.

Al's Music Box:: Hello Stranger by Barbara Lewis.

DRAGONFLY IN A WHEAT FIELD THIS MORNING

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A terrifying explosion occurs in a gunpowder factory, and once all the mess has been cleared up, an inquiry begins. One of the few survivors is asked to make a statement. "Okay Simpson," says the investigator, "you were near the scene, what happened?" "Well, it's like this. Old Charley Higgins was in the mixing room, and I saw him take a cigarette out of his pocket and light up." "He was smoking in the mixing room?" the investigator said in stunned horror, "How long had he been with the company?" "About 20 years, sir" "20 years in the company, then he goes and strikes a match in the mixing room, I'd have thought it would have been the last thing he'd have done." "It was, sir."

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- I met a nice girl at a bar last night and asked her to call me when she made it home. She must be homeless.

- “Electricians go with the flow, never against the current!”
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A boy had reached four without giving up the habit of sucking his thumb, though his mother had tried everything from bribery to reasoning to painting it with lemon juice to discourage the habit. She tried threats, warning her son that, "If you don't stop sucking your thumb, your stomach is going to blow up like a balloon." Later that day, walking in the park, mother and son saw a pregnant woman sitting on a bench. The four-year-old considered her gravely for a minute, then spoke to her saying, "Uh-oh ... I know what you've been doing."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery