Thursday, February 12, 2026

THE SQIRRELS BONANZA SMORGASBOARD

 SORRY FOR TWO SELFIES IN TONIGHT'S POST BUT MY EXCUSE IS THAT i WAS SHORT ON PICS...THIS SELFIE IS FROM MY FIRST SNOW SHOVELLING THIS MORNING
When I hung my main bird feeder from a tree branch several years ago, I positioned it so that I could walk freely underneath it without bumping my head.  To fill the feeder, I could simply reach up and lift it down off its hook.  I noticed a short while ago that when shoveling out my front yard paths to reach the bird feeders, I was occasionally bumping my head on the feeder. I didn't clue in until this morning,  when, turning around, I did a full face plant right into the feeder.  What the heck!!  I right away looked at the Sunburst Locust tree that the feeder was hanging from to see if the tree had sagged.  Nope, looked okay.  Looking up, I expected to see the branch broken that the feeder was hanging on.  Nope, the branch wasn't broken.  Now I had a mystery going on.  How could I have walked right into that low-hanging feeder?  Thinking as logically as possible, I considered that maybe from all my exercise biking, my legs have grown longer.  Standing there, looking down at the snow below the feeder and pondering my dilemma, and the chance my legs may have stretched, I suddenly had a light bulb moment.  Of course, the ground had risen up.  Well, I was partially right.  It wasn't the ground that had slowly risen up....it was the snow on top of that ground that had risen up.  With all the snow this winter, and with all the times I have been out around that bird feeder shoveling snow, my boots have gradually packed the snow down with my boots. Each time I did that, the packed snow gradually built up, becoming higher and higher.  So, with that theory under my belt, I figure I probably have over a foot of hard-packed snow along my paths and under and around that feeder.  'Whew', I thought to myself, another one of Al's little mysteries of life solved.

 I AM STANDING AT EYE LEVEL WITH THE BIRD FEEDER
Looking out the sunroom window first thing this morning, I noticed right away that the birdfeeder atop the bird station was missing and had been knocked to the ground.  'Squirrels'!!  Sure enough, there in the snow under the bird station lay the toppled feeder with a cluster of frenzied squirrels going bananas at the bonanza smorgasboard.  I wasn't long in throwing on a pair of boots and wading through the overnight's five-inch snowfall.  The squirrels scattered, and I retrieved the snowy bird feeder and brought it inside, took out another feeder, placed it on the bird station, then came inside and patiently waited and watched to see how the dickens a squirrel had got onto the feeder because for sure, at the urging of his buddies, that same squirrel would be back atop the feeder again.  Well, 'for sure' doesn't always happen every day, and today was one of those days.  The second feeder remained atop the bird station and remained undisturbed for the rest of the day.  We'll see what the morning brings.

 HERE ARE THREE OF SIX DELIGHTED SQUIRRELS AT THE SMORGASBOARD THIS MORNING
 LOOK CLOSELY AND YOU WILL SEE A RED MALE CARDINAL ATOP THE BIRD STATION WONDERING WHERE THE BIRD FEEDER WENT
 QUITE A BONANZA FOR THESE GUYS
Al's Music Box:: The Poor Side Of Town by Johnny Rivers.

 THIS SELFIE IS FROM MY AFTERNOON SNOW SHOVELING
GROANER'S CORNER:(( A young banker decided to get his first tailor-made suit. So he went to the finest tailor in town and got measured for a suit. A week later, he went in for his first fitting. He put on the suit, and he looked fabulous; he felt that in this suit he could do business. As he was preening himself in front of the mirror, he reached down to put his hands in the pockets, and to his surprise, he noticed that there were no pockets. He mentioned this to the tailor, who asked him, "Didn't you tell me you were a banker?" The young man answered, "Yes, I did." To this, the tailor said, "Whoever heard of a banker with his hands in hisown pockets?"

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“There was a sign hanging in the window of a dry cleaners I passed by. It read: 'So-and-So Dry Cleaners. Working on the same spot for 72 years.'”

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Dear Abby: Admitted She Was At A Loss To Answer The Following Questions Readers Had Sent In!!
- Dear Abby, A couple of women moved in across the hall from me. One is a middle-aged gym teacher and the other is a social worker in her mid twenties. These two women go everywhere together and I've never seen a man go into or leave their apartment. Do you think they could be Lebanese?
- Dear Abby, What can I do about all the nudity, fowl language and violence on my VCR?
- Dear Abby, I've suspected that my husband has been fooling around, and when confronted with the evidence, he denied everything and said it would never happen again.
- Dear Abby, Our son writes that he is taking Judo. Why would a boy who was raised in a good Christian home turn against his own?
- Dear Abby, I joined the Navy to see the world. I've seen it. Now, how do I get out?
- Dear Abby, My forty-year-old son has been paying a psychiatrist $50.00 an hour every week for two and a half years. Do you think he's crazy?
- Dear Abby, I was married to Bill for three months, and I didn't know he drank until one night he came home sober.

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Wednesday, February 11, 2026

OH MY, THOSE WERE QUITE THE DARING DAYS

I MOVED THE BIKE BACK AWAY FROM THE WINDOW BECAUSE THE GLARE FROM THE OUTSIDE SNOW MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR MY EYES TO READ MY KINDLE
 IN THE FOLDED UP POSITION, THE COTTER PIN CAN BE SEEN UPPER RIGHT LOCKING THE BIKE IN THAT POSITION
A few snowflakes in the air this morning and a whole bunch in the air this afternoon. We remained below freezing, but I am heartened by a stretch of above-freezing temps coming our way by the end of the week.  I slipped up to Goderich and back this morning.  Woodsy headed back to Stratford yesterday and will be back Friday.  Maybe with a few milder days coming up, the ice cream shops will be open.  Ya right, fat chance!!  Those folks are all likely stretched out on a warm beach in Mexico somewhere.  Woodsy and I did that a couple of times back in the mid 80's.  Oh my, those were quite the daring days for we two:))

 WITH A WESTERLY WIND KICKING THE LOOSE SNOW UP, I MADE MY WAY TO GODERICH AND BACK WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS
 ON PORTER'S HILL LINE IT LOOKS LIKE A TRAIN IS COMING THROUGH THE BLOWING SNOW
Al's Music Box:: Deep Purple by Nino Tempo and April Stevens.

 I LIKE BIKING IN OUR SUNROOM AT NIGHT....SO QUIET AND PEACEFUL
GROANER'S CORNER:(( A Chinese person walks into a bar in America late one night, and he sees Steven Spielberg. As he was a great fan of his movies, he rushed over to him and asked for his autograph. Instead, Spielberg gives him a slap and says "You Chinese people bombed our Pearl Harbor, get out of here." The astonished Chinese man replied, "It was not the Chinese who bombedyour  Harbor , it was the Japanese"."Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, you're all the same," replied Spielberg. In return, the Chinese gives Spielberg a slap and says, "You sank the Titanic; my forefathers were on that ship." Shocked, Spielberg replies, "It was the iceberg that sank the ship, not me." The Chinese guy replies, "Iceberg, Spielberg, Carlsberg, you're all the same."

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Doctor, doctor, I keep seeing into the future. When did this first happen? Next Tuesday.

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My wife and I decided not to have kids. The kids are taking it pretty hard.

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Patient: Doctor, you must help me. I'm under such a lot of stress, I keep losing my temper with people.
Doctor: Tell me about your problem.
Patient: I just did, didn't I, you stupid idiot!!
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Two students were arguing when their teacher entered the classroom. The teacher says, “Why are you arguing?” One boy answers, “We found a ten-dollar bill and decided to give it to whoever tells the biggest lie.” "You should be ashamed of yourselves," said the teacher, "When I was your age I didn’t even know what a lie was." The boys gave the ten dollars to the teacher.

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