WE ALREADY HAVE TWO FROGS IN THE FRONT YARD FROG POND

 OUR FIRST FRONT YARD FROG POND FROG OF THE SEASON

I hadn't been out for a quiet night drive by myself since probably early November of last year.  But, with our warmer temperatures and catching a glimpse of Monday night's Moon from home, I knew I had to take myself out for a drive to my favorite sky watching place on Tower Line Road.  It felt so good to be outside under the night sky again, even if it was mainly cloudy.  I watched as the darkened clouds moved slowly across the face of the Moon, mostly obscuring it from view.  But, sitting in the car, with the driver's side window open and using the window frame as a brace, I was able to get a couple of reasonably steady handheld shots of the partially clouded Moon with my camera.  I stood on the country road and sat in the car for quite a while just thinking of thoughts that only come in quiet times like these.  I don't spend nearly enough time with my quiet thoughts.  Sometimes, things are just too helter-skelter.  And oh my, in the distance, I could hear Peeper frogs:))))))

Thunder, lightning, and rain pounding on our steel roof woke me up in the night, but luckily, I fell asleep moments later.  The next big rumbling sound woke me up just after 7:30.  It was the garbage truck out front dumping the garbage cans.

 SPENT TIME RAKING OUT SOME FLOWER BEDS THIS AFTERNOON

Under mainly cloudy skies, and not a lot of rain for most of the day, we hit a wonderful 70F.  Warmest day of the year so far.  Lorraine and I slipped up to Goderich for a few groceries, and upon arriving home, I again busied myself outside.  Cleaned a lot of debris like small branches, leaves, and pine needles out of the front yard frog pond, and having turned our outside water on yesterday, I topped up the water level.  Not long after that, I spotted our first frog of the season.  Then, I saw a second one.  They may very well have wintered over in the pond, but I'm not sure.  They seemed a little groggy.  Depending on the weather, I might hook up the pond pump over the next few days.  At the time of writing this, I received a rain squall warning on my phone.  Quickly checking my live radar site, I could see some very nasty weather quickly approaching.  I may post this early to thwart a possible power outage.  Oh-oh, here comes the thunder rolling in over the lake........7:48 p.m. About ten minutes after writing that last sentence, our power went out in a torrential downpour.  I have never seen it rain as heavy in the Park as it did, and I've been here well over twenty-three years.  The power remained out for a couple of hours.

TOPPING UP THE WATER LEVEL IN THE FROG POND

 SPOTTED THIS SECOND FROG CRAWLING UP OUT OF THE WATER

Al's Music Box:(( On The Beach by the late Chris Rea.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( After a long, dry sermon, the minister announced that he wished to meet with the church board after the service. The first man to arrive was a stranger.  You misunderstood my announcement. This is a meeting of the board, said the minister.  I know, said the man.  If there is anyone here more bored than I am, I'd like to meet him.

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- “Did you hear the one about the woman who threw her toaster away because it kept burning the bread? She was black toast intolerant.”

- How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?

- How do you make a tissue dance? Put a little boogie in it.
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A fellow’s wife was very worried about her husband’s heavy drinking and one night she decided to give him a fright. She draped herself in a white sheet and went down to the local cemetery, knowing that her husband was in the habit of taking a shortcut through it on his way home from the pub. It was not long before he came staggering along, and out she jumped from behind a headstone.  “Ooooooo!” she wailed, “I am the devil!”  Her husband sticks out his hand. “Put it there, pal,” he says, “I’m married to your sister.”

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Al's Doggy World

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OUR FIRST E-BIKE RIDE OF THE SEASON

SUNDAY NIGHT'S SUNSET AT BAYFIELD'S BEACH

Okay, I guess I had better get myself caught up since I haven't posted anything for the past three days.  It has been quite a while since I last missed three days in a row.  I think my Spring clean-up this year has tired me out more than usual, and by the end of each day, I didn't seem to have enough energy or enthusiasm to write anything.   Plus, I didn't take many photos either.  I'm hoping I can soon get myself back into the blogging groove again.  Thanks to readers for their patience, perseverance, and true grit at hanging in here with me through these often repetitive and at times rather bland and boring posts of mine.  Alrighty already then,i t's time for a recap, so let's start off with last Friday..........  

OUR FIRST BACKYARD CROCUS FLOWERS ARE UP

 MORE CROCUS FLOWERS IN OUR FRONT YARD ARE ON THE WAY

Friday:: A beautiful sunny early Spring day made for a nice morning drive through the countryside despite the icy 25F air.  The blog's beginning photos were taken on Friday morning.  Home again, and despite the cold below freezing temps, I spent a couple of hours outside again working away at my Spring clean-up and a few new projects.

 HAD IT NOT BEEN SUCH A FREEZING COLD, AND WINDY MORNING, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN PERFECT FOR A WALK ON MY COUNTRY ROAD

INSTEAD, I STAYED WARM IN THE CAR AND TOOK A DRIVE ALONG THE FORESTED BANNOCKBURN LINE

Saturday::  Again, another icy cold morning, but after a long, cold, and snowy winter of sitting inside, I dressed warm, headed outside on this partially sunny morning anyway,  Fired up my wheelbarrow and accompanying clean-up tools, and away I went......dodging a few snowflakes in the air along the way earlier in the day.  A productive warmer afternoon, (34F) and I did get a lot of things done.  Took down a rickety section of cedar rail fencing out front, etc.

 THAT PILE OF WOOD ON THE LEFT WAS ONCE PART OF MY CEDAR RAIL FENCE OUT FRONT

 ANOTHER WHEELBARROW LOAD OF YARD WASTE TO BE LOADED INTO THE UTILITY TRAILER

Sunday:: Our third morning in a row for a fiery sunrise encouraged me to quickly head outside again and pump up my enjoyable Spring feelings.  Just hearing the happy uplifting sounds of so many birds chirping lifted my spirits hugely, maybe even bigly.  Wasting no time, I was soon at the tasks at hand.  More piles of leaves and pine needles to be picked up and loaded into the utility trailer.  With 6 days of rain predicted, beginning Tuesday, I had a list of things to wrap up today, so I skipped my morning drive and walk.  With my bow saw in hand, I cut down two old 30-foot sumac trees alongside the driveway.  Sumac trees are a soft wood and can be easily cut down and cut up.  One of those Sumac trees got hung up in another Sumac tree on its way down, and it took me a while to get that snarly little problem sorted out.  Not only sorted out, but it wore me out too.  The two Sumacs were at the end of their days.  Turns out it took two utility trailer trips to the Park's recycle area to get rid of the two trunks and branches. And, Lorraine helped me load some of the branches into the trailer.  What a nice early Spring day it was to be outside accomplishing things.  

 THE FIRST SUMAC TREE IS DOWN

 SUMAC TREE NUMBER ONE HEADS OFF TO THE PARK'S RECYCLE AREA

 AND, THERE GOES SUMAC TREE NUMBER TWO

 SUNDAY EVENING AT BAYFIELD'S BEACH

 THERE IS STILL HEAVY EQUIPMENT ON THE BEACH

 AT THE WEST END OF BAYFIELD'S HOWARD STREET

Okay, it's Monday now, and this finally brings me up to date.....Two birthdays of note.  This was Kelly's birth date, and it is also Lorraine's birth date as well.  Two fine ladies, both born on the same day.  With five straight days of rain, beginning later tonight.  Figured it was a good day to turn on the outside water on and as the day warmed, I wheeled our E-bikes out of the carport, installed the batteries, and it wasn't long before Lorraine and I were heading east down Bayfield River Road for a pedal.  Everything went fine, and neither one of us fell off our bikes.  I didn't even need a jacket on.  

 A FISHING BOAT ON THE BAYFIELD RIVER THIS MORNING

 LOTS OF PORTHOLE WINDOWS IN THIS BOAT

 AND YES, I WAS EVEN CRUISING ALONG THIS AFTERNOON WITH SUBIE'S SUNROOF PART WAY OPEN

 AND IT WAS THE FIRST RIDE OF THE SEASON FOR US ON OUR E-BIKES TODAY, AND WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A RIDE IT WAS WITH SUNNY SKIES AND TEMPS ALMOST UP TO 70F

Al's Music Box::  It's Up To You by Ricky Nelson.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two guys were fishing down by the Ohio River on different sides of the riverbank at night. Guy number one was catching a whole bunch of fish for his family, but guy number two hadn't caught any and was frustrated and called out to guy number one "How come you've been catching all them there fish and I ain't caught a single one?" Guy number one replied, " I don’t know.... why don’t ya come on over here?" "I don’t know.... I don’t see a bridge, and their aint no boat, and I don’t swim to well" Guy number one picks up his flashlight, turns it on, and replies, " Why don’t you walk across this here beam of light?" Guy number two was outraged and replied "do you think am stupid? When I get half way you'll turn the flashlight off!!!"

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A kindergarten teacher gave her class a "show and tell" assignment. Each student was instructed to bring in an object to share with the class that represented their religion. The first student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Benjamin and I am Jewish and this is a Star of David."The second student got up in front of the class and said, "My name is Mary. I'm a Catholic and this is the Crucifix." The third student got in up front of the class and said, " My name is Tommy and I am Baptist and this is a casserole."

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My wife asked me why I call her 12?
Dozen cook, dozen clean, dozen do anything...

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April 1, 1957: The respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, 'place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.' Even the director-general of the BBC later admitted that after seeing the show he checked an encyclopedia to find out if that was how spaghetti actually grew (but the encyclopedia had no information on the topic). The broadcast remains, by far, the most popular and widely acclaimed April Fool's Day hoax ever.

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