I AM NOT AS MUCH FROM A MUSICAL FAMILY AS I AM FROM A FAMILY THAT ENJOYED MUSIC

JUST A SLOW LAZY KIND OF COWSY DAY

Despite a heavy cloud cover threatening rain for the first part of our day we never did see any water falling from the sky.  Kelly had spotted a nice little house on nearly an acre of property in the nearby lakeside town of Kincardine so Pheebs & were dispatched on a mission to check it out.  Real Estate photos can be very deceptive & such was the case this morning when we finally located the property.  Never even bothered getting out of the Jeep.  Just drove by, made a U turn & headed back home.  Oh well, another nice morning for a drive & it's always nice for Pheebs.  She loves her Jeep rides sitting right up in the front seat watching Ontario’s south-western rural scenery roll on by:))

ALWAYS EASY TO TELL AN AMISH/MENNONITE FARM BY THE WAY WORK HAS BEEN DONE BY HAND

  

AUTUMN APPLES ARE RIPENING & A FEW TREETOPS ARE BEGINNING TO SHOW A TOUCH OF COLOR FROM MOTHER NATURE’S PAINT BRUSH

I have especially noticed in these latter years how the passage of time has a nice way of taking off some of life's harsher edges, fills in a few of the low points & blunts some of those sharper points that occasionally crop up to disturb one's memory.  I like how that passage of time works:))  

I SOMETIMES MARVEL AT THE SIZE OF SOME FARMS IN THE AREA

 

DESPITE THREATENING RAIN CLOUDS THIS MORNING I WAS ABLE TO KEEP PHEEBERS WINDOW DOWN FOR OUR WHOLE DRIVE

Don't think there is anything that puts me into a more relaxed & mellow mood than music from the 1940's.  Big Band music if you will.  I spent the earliest years of my life with this music & it is ingrained in me.  I grew up listening to the mellow sounds, the harmonies & the instruments of the day.  Those bands & singers had a sound all their own & it is a sound that always transports me back to whole different era of my life.  An era of music when singers sang with clarity & songwriters wrote of lite happy fare.  It was 'feeling good' music in those days & it still has the same effect on me today when I hear music from that period of time.  Makes me feel good inside & brings memories of a seemingly easier way of life.  It really wasn't of course but it is how the passage of time has remembered it for me & how my mind continues to welcome the gracious favor.      

 

THEY CALL THEMSELVES ‘THE BOVINE BUNCH’

Can't say I come from a musical family but I do come from a family that enjoyed music.  My Grandfather played a screechy violin & he & his guitar playing buddy 'Cowboy' (yup that's what everybody called him) were known to show up at local parties in their day & play for beer many, many, years ago.  My Mother could sit down at the piano & play just about anything by ear.  She would listen to a record & then pick out the melody on the piano keys.  My Aunt Jean loves her classical music & my Uncle Fred was up on all the Big Band leaders.  Uncle Harry loved his music as well & in the final few years of his life he spent his time surrounded by music 24 hours a day.  His music played on even as he slept.  He told us one time if it wasn't for the ‘easy listening’ music channel on his TV he doesn't know what he would have done with his time in the nursing home.  I remember my Grandpa every once in a long while would pull his old screechy out of tune violin from the closet & sit on the edge of his bed & have a go at it.  I remember the bow strings flopping & snapping in the air as his slippered foot tapped out a tune on the bare linoleum floor.  I remember my Mother hollering up the stairs for him to 'Stop It!!'  By the way, my Grandfather being the type of craftsman & machinist he was………made his own violins. 

 

THIS WAS MY GRANDFATHER WILLIAM ‘BILL’ SCHAEFER IN HIS YOUNGER & OLDER YEARS

That violin music from my Grandfather has been passed through my Mother, my Aunt Jean, my Uncles & myself to my son Sean who has taken the music to a much higher & personal level.  He writes & produces everything himself in his own studio & plays an assortment of instruments.  Does all his own vocals, has a number of CD's out & fronts his own band called, THE WEAK NEED.  Last I heard he & another band member were on their way to Nashville in the coming weeks to do some networking.  Very proud of this fellow's musical accomplishments & prowess & it's nice to see how my Grandfather’s foot stomping violin days have amazingly come to a much higher standard of professional fruition.  And I'm sure it wouldn't be any more amazing to anyone than my Grandfather himself................:))     

 

YEP THAT’S ME IN THE YELLOW T-SHIRT WITH MY BASS GUITAR  & AMP & THAT’S ME ON SOMEBODY ELSE’S DRUMS…COULDN’T PLAY EITHER ONE BUT I COULD SURE MAKE A LOT OF NOISE…PHOTOS TAKEN IN MY REC ROOM ON RAILWAY AVENUE STRATFORD ONTARIO ABOUT 1982

MY SON SEAN THE ALL ROUND PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN… NOTICED HE POSTED THIS SAYING ON HIS FACEBOOK TODAY…IT SUMS UP THE BOTH OF US TO A T:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A recent study found the average golfer walks about 900 miles a year. Another study found golfers drink, on average, 22 gallons of alcohol a year. That means, on average, golfers get about 41 miles to the gallon.

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A customer was really hassling an airline agent at the ticket counter -- yelling and using foul language. However, the agent was polite, pleasant and smiled while the customer continued to abuse her.  When the man finally left, the next person in line said to the agent, "Does that happen often? I can't believe how nice you were to him."  The agent smiled and said, "No problem, I took care of it. He's going to Detroit. His bags are going to Bangkok."

‘MY DAD’S CAR IS NICER THAN YOUR DAD’S CAR’…..YOUNG BOYS & THEIR SIMPLE RIVALRIES

BAYFIELD BEACH

Heat & humidity rolled in overnight & for me that meant a mostly inside day with the A/C & fans going.  A wee bit of yard work was enough to sticky me up for a mid afternoon shower.  There is one thing I do like about hot days though & that is the warm nights.  When I took Pheebs for a walk after supper tonight there was just the nicest warm breeze blowing. 

OUR BACK YARD

Spent a fair bit of enjoyable time this morning with my Rand McNally Atlas & my laptop’s MapQuest, Google Search & Google Earth.  I always like plotting, planning & changing travel routes around.  And then when we get on the road we often change em all over again.  It’s just our way to travel………………………….

ARCHIVE MEMORY:: ‘My Dad’s Car Is Nicer Than Your Dad’s Car’……. I am reminded of the Chevy/Ford rivalry my friend Gary & I had going on back in 1961. His Dad had a brand spanking new 1961 black Chevy Impala & my Step-Dad had a brand spanking new 1661 black Ford Galaxy. Well, the rivalry between Chevy man Gary & Ford man Al was "on" to say the least. Never at a loss for digs at each other about who had the nicer car & which one was best we continued that Ford/Chevy rivalry for a fair few years. Down the street, Bob's Dad a spanking nearly new 1960 black Dodge Polaris but in those years the Dodges, along with their counterpart, Plymouth, were not really in the ‘cool car’ range for most of us. Chevys & Fords were the big guys & it would take the Chrysler car company many more years to get away from those cartoon-like & often laughable designs of the late 50's & early 60's to become the leading innovative Detroit design Maverick they did become in these past bunch of years.

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But, back to Gary & Al & their Chevy/Ford rivalry. Gary was a few years older than me so had his driver's license before I did. His Dad let him drive the Chevy Impala so Gary would often pick up a bunch of us guys & we'd head off to places like the Drive-In, their cottage at the lake, A&W, or just cruise around the streets of Tavistock looking cool with all the windows down on freezing cold days. It truly was a nice car with it's peppy engine, snappy red & white interior, big space age looking dash, & what seemed like acres of glass all way round. I never told Gary how much I liked the car because that just wouldn't have been a cool thing to do because after all I was a Ford man right and there was no admitting to my buddy Gary the Chevy man that his Dad actually had the nicer car. And there certainly was no room for saying a Ford was better than a Chevrolet in them there days either.  Well leastways not on our street.  Gary & I lived on the same street by the way.

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Now, fast forward about about 40 or 50 years to where I can now clearly see the folly of our spirited rivalry in those old days. It was not a case of a Ford being better than a Chevy or a Plymouth being better than a Studebaker. They were all basically the same automobile. Not one was better or worse than the other. They all had flaws in their various models & they all had their good points. Some engines were better than others, some transmissions were really good & some were not so good. Interiors varied greatly but the basic materials were all the same. Car designs changed from year to year with some models being hotter than others for awhile as fads & trends came & went. There was no good or bad, no right & no wrong. No better or no worse when it came to the Detroit cars. It simply ended up with an individuals preference. In the end it all boiled down to a much simpler rivalry between young boys defending their Dad’s cars.
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Remember that old saying, "my Dad's tougher than your Dad," Well, that's where it kind of all began I think & still continues in many ways, shapes & forms to-day. Our Government is better than your Government, Liberals are better than Conservatives, Republicans are better than Democrats, our religion is better than your religion, Macs are better than PC's, peanut butter sandwiches are better than garlic sandwiches, dogs are better than cats, Tylenol is better than aspirin, Class A motorhomes are better than 5th wheels, my Dodge truck is better than your Ford truck, black is white, Wendy's is better than McDonalds, Ontario is better than Alberta, Coke is better than Pepsi, Alaska is better than New Mexico, butterscotch ice cream is better than maple walnut, or......... my Dad's car is better than your Dad's car!! And so it was, & so it still might be.  You know, it all seems so rather silly to me now somehow............................

BAYFIELD’S INNER HARBOR
GROANER'S CORNER:(( A Few Cat & Dog Characteristics
- Dogs come when you call them.  Cats take a message and
get back to you when they are good and ready.
- Dogs look much better at the end of a leash.
- Dogs will let you give them a bath without taking out a
contract on your life.
- Dogs will bark to wake you up if the house is on fire. Cats
will quietly sneak out the back door.
- Dogs will bring you your slippers or the evening newspaper.
Cats might bring you a dead mouse.
- Dogs will play Frisbee with you all afternoon. Cats will take
a three-hour nap.
- Dogs will sit on the car seat next to you. Cats have to have
their own private box or they will not go at all.
- Dogs will greet you and lick your face when you come home
from work.  Cats will be mad that you went to work at all.
- Dogs will sit, lie down, and heel on command. Cats will smirk
and walk away.
- Dogs will tilt their heads and listen whenever you talk. Cats
will yawn and close their eyes.
- Dogs will give you unconditional love forever. Cats will make
you pay for every mistake you've ever made since the day you
were born.

A RESTLESS CASE OF ‘ANTS IN MY PANTS’ & MR. BLABBERFINGERS STRIKES AGAIN

PHEEBS & I TROMPED AROUND IN THE HULLETT MARSH THIS MORNING
I sure seem to have quite a restless case of 'ants in my pants' lately.  I just can't seem to sit long enough to stay home this past week or two.   Kelly's been helping out at Deer Park Lodge this past while & this morning she headed on over there about 9:30.  With no ongoing projects around the house it didn't interest me to just sit around doing nothing.  Ho-hum, Pheebs & I were off again.  We didn't go to far this time because our cooler weather has lessened the flying bug menace so that meant we could head on over to the swampy Hullett Marsh & do some hiking instead of just driving.  And that's what we did.  Hullett Marsh is only about a 20-25 minute drive north-east of our place.  Canada Geese, Ducks, Killdeer & Great Blue Herons were about the only things moving.  Pheebs managed to muddy herself up pretty good & I somehow managed to keep my feet dry.  Of course we took the long way back home & I stretched that drive out to over an hour.



WE SURE GOT OURSELVES INTO SOME MIGHTY LONG GRASS THIS MORNING
I have a fair bit of outside work to do before we leave in less than 4 weeks but just couldn't quite summon up enough motivation or enthusiasm this afternoon to get at it.  Convinced myself there is lots of time yet.  It is sometimes too easy for me to convince myself of things.  Oh well, I'll git er done when I needs to git er done.

AND THERE’S ANOTHER SECTION OF WIND TURBINE GOING BY
Here’s an updated version of something I wrote a few years back called ‘Quirks & Foibles.’ And we all do have our little quirks and foibles now don’t we. Here are a few of mine.  Don't like using a metal spoon to stir my coffee because of the clanking sound the spoon makes. I prefer stirring my coffee with a plastic spoon. - No matter what, I never do the sleeve buttons up on a long sleeve shirt. Can't stand that tight feeling around my wrists & the same goes for the top button on a shirt.  It is extremely rare for me to answer a ringing telephone or for that matter pick up a telephone and call somebody.  We have a Samsung cell phone which Kelly makes me carry sometimes.  We’ve had it over a year & I’ve never used it once.  Not likely I will ever get into any of that tweeting or texting stuff either.  I never tell a joke but have forwarded countless thousands of them over the years on the computer to my jokes gang a few years back.  And of course I do have my Groaners Corner.  And you all already know what I think about hot weather & humidity.  Spending hours upon hours keeping a vehicle all spotlessly shiny and sparkly doesn't interest me much anymore.  Nor does swimming.  I have carried a notebook and pen with me every day for the past 30 years. Why would I need all this smart phone stuff anyway.  Whenever I go somewhere I make it a point to arrive early and never late.  I will take the extra time and drive the extra miles just to avoid the traffic chaos of a large city.  Rare for me to wear shorts and I never wear sandals.  Can't watch any movies or television with animals because inevitably the animals end up getting hurt or mistreated somehow & it doesn’t matter if the animal is not really being hurt…..I can’t watch it!!  I avoid groups or crowds of people because I feel very uncomfortable in those situations.   I do not play cards or table games.  BBQing, cooking, politics and sports hold zero interest for me as do computer games, chat rooms & social media sites.  I gave up being a TV junkie many years ago.  Never met a donut I didn't like.  I will whack a fly with a fly swatter but if I see a fly struggling in a glass of water I will carefully fish it out & set it free.  Can’t say I’d do the same for a Mosquito.  I stack dirty dishes neatly beside the sink & never leave them in the sink.  If I'm out for a walk or a hike & see  people approaching I will disappear off the trail until they have passed rather than stopping to chat.  I much prefer to do things & go places on my own rather than with a group of people.  I wear T-shirts in cold weather to keep me warm & not in hot weather to keep me cool.  I do not believe in being intentionally rude to anyone.  I am not a perfectionist therefore I avoid doing things that have to be done perfectly.  I have a reasonably good knack for being able to see both sides of an argument so it's not hard for me to apologize from either side of the table when I'm wrong.  I obviously would not make a good politician.  When I back up I generally flip on my signal light in the direction I intend to back.  I never ever swat at a bee & I never talk about religion.  I wear hats to keep the sun out my eyes & not to look cool.  I have zero tolerance for loud & obnoxious people under the influence of alcohol.  I always wear a button up shirt as opposed to T-shirts or pull-overs & I never wear sweaters any more.  A cold glass of Skim milk is my favorite drink of all time & I don't like any kind of fish unless it has a thick crispy batter on it.  And I do not like any kind of seafood whatsoever.  No hot spices for this guy either.  Once a book worm years ago it is now difficult for me to read anything printed on paper unless the the letters are about 2 feet tall.  I always put my pants on before my shirt.  Although I hung out in bars & hotels for years I never did like the taste of beer or any of the wines & hard stuff.  I always make my bed in Congress but never in Bayfield.  What’s up with that??  And it is the bottoms of my Carrot muffins I eat first & not the top.  Yes I’ve smoked & inhaled Marijuana but it just never caught on with me.  If I don’t have a time frame or destination I sometimes intentionally try to get myself lost on our many country road drives.  I like the feeling of getting myself un-lost.  My favorite pop/soda is Root Beer & I might drink one a year.  Any kind of a salad is not my favorite thing.  I don’t like hunting & I don’t like fishing.  Intentionally killing anything other than Mosquitoes just doesn’t work for me.  I hate confrontations of any kind & have to avoid them at all costs because I have a very short fuse for that sort of thing.  My least favorite color is white & I have no idea whatsoever what my favorite color is.  Music has given me more pleasure over the years than any other thing I can think of.  I eat about 3 peanut butter & honey sandwiches every single day & consume several gallons of Cranberry/Raspberry juice every week…………Well there ya have it & yes I know I have written far more than what you really wanted to read.   It was a slow day here & like I have said many times before, they don’t call me ‘Mr. Blabberfingers’ for nothing……………………..:)) 

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A psychologist is selling a video that teaches you how to test your dog's IQ. Here's how it works:  When you spend $39.95 to see this video, it proves your dog is smarter than you.

WELL NOT YET ANYWAY BUT I’M WORKING ON IT

BESIDES THE 2 HORSES THERE IS ALSO A CAT & A DOG IN THIS PHOTO

Each morning after our morning walk I am followed by a doggy shadow.  When I stop it bumps into me & when I open a door it goes through it faster than I do.  If I sit down in my recliner it's on my lap looking at me & if I sit in our computer chair I have a paw on my leg with two big eyes staring at me.  I'm talking about the Pheebs of course.  She's such a little smarty pants & I'm afraid I have spoiled her real good.  She's waiting for me to say 2 words of course & as soon as she hears 'let's go' she just gets herself all bonkers until we are outside & into the Jeep.  And so it was again this morning as we headed out to have us a look at a piece of property for sale.

 
Although we have pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact we will probably not be moving any time soon from the place it is we are now very well at I still like to have a look at places for sale in our area.  Kelly had come across an on-line half acre property with a sizeable metal building on it north of Dungannon Ontario so for me & the Pheebster that was our destination this morning. 

We of course took a long scenic route in heading up that way.  It was 52F when we got up this morning so we had the Jeep's heater on with the windows down again.  Big fluffy white clouds in the sky.  Just another great morning to be out & about in the countryside.

Finally made our way to the property & of course it was a big bust.  Close to a noisy highway, another house right beside it, another one across the road etc. etc.  But one never knows unless one looks & I don't think we will ever close the door on the chance of stumbling across another great & affordable deal somewhere nearby some day.  Kelly & I both like our little abode here but we just wish it was on a piece of property we ourselves owned at a location we ourselves preferred to be.

Seeing how we were in the neighborhood of the areas recent flourish of mushrooming wind turbines we headed down a few gravel roads to see how the progressive construction was coming along.  Things are booming to say the least.  I think if they get all these turbines spinning at once it’s going to create enough wind power to lift Huron county right off the ground.  We could be airborne at any time & headed out across the lake.

  

Stopped at the animal farm again so Pheebs could get out & see some of her Pals.  She always manages to garner herself lots of attention as she races along the fence line.  She was nose to nose with an Ostrich but I missed the shot.   

ALL EYES ARE ON THE PHEEBS

  
We were home again shortly after noon & I noticed the temperature on our outside thermometer was 64F.  Makes for nice bug free forest walks & that is always much appreciated by this guy.

Sure is depressing watching or reading worldly news every day & I wonder why it is I am drawn to it.  A habit developed over the years I suppose, a curiosity, a feeling of wanting to be informed.  My news source is television.  I haven't read newspapers for years & reading or watching news on my computer holds no interest for me.  It's just too comfortable for me to flip back in my recliner & habitually snap on the news channels.  Too many times I come away angry at what I see going on the world.  It leaves me at times with a hopeless feeling about the future of the human race.  I suppose the easy solution is to not watch the news but Is ignorance truly bliss because if it is I have certainly not found it to be so.  Well not yet anyway but I’m working on it…………

ARCHIVE MEMORY::  From June 2009 & I call this one the OOOOOPS factor.  Last summer a pine tree jumped out from behind another pine tree & OOOOOPSED off an open rear bin door. Two summer's ago while moving the rig forward our carport must have swung on it's cement post foundation & OOOOOPSED an open screen door into a twisted pretzel. Pulling out of a campsite in Silver City New Mexico one time I nearly OOOOOPSED a whole electric post right out of the ground with the driver's side of the motorhome. I have also pulled out & OOOOOPSED a couple of electrical cables. OOOOOPSED a rear hydraulic jack in 2008 near Alamogordo New Mexico when I dropped the rig down too hard on an over extended jack. OOOOOPSED both sides of the rig with some nice desert pin striping while motoring through Cholla shrubs in the desert looking for boondocking sites near Why Arizona. Two years ago we OOOOOPSED both dual wheels on the passenger side into a ditch in Lindsay Ontario while trying to make a tight right hand turn into a darkened parking lot late one night. OOOOOPSED our satellite dish in Quartzite Arizona by not anchoring it down properly & having a big north wind slam dunk it into the desert floor.  Did that same OOOOOPS again near Bouse Arizona back in 2012.  Had a couple black tank OOOOOP'S as well.  I'm sure if I were to think about it for a bit more I could probably come up with another handful of OOOOOP's & many more near miss OOOOOP's but it's not something I like to spend a lot of thinking time on……………..if you know what I mean!! 
  

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A guy says to the bartender, "A glass of your finest Less, please."
"Less? Never heard of it."
"C'mon, sure you have."
"No, really, we don't stock it. What is it? Some kind of foreign beer?"
"I'm not sure. It was my doctor who mentioned it. He said I should drink Less."

OH HOW I MISS MY SUMMER NIGHT SKY

What a pleasant relief this morning to step outside into refreshingly cooler air.  I could immediately feel my batteries re-charging.  And cool enough to walk bug free as well. Bonus weather:))

SCHMOOZING ON THE COUCH TODAY

 

Pheebs & I actually had a destination this morning.  The Optical department in Zehrs Supermarket had a deal on for a second pair of glasses free.  Thought I'd take my recent eye test results in & get a quote on new glasses & frames.  No doubt it's a good deal but alas still too expensive for this guy.  Guess I was just in one of my penny pinching moods so figured I'd just put it off for awhile.  Maybe next summer.  It's not like my current glasses are totally wrecked or anything.  Picked up some of my favorite peanut butter while in the Supermarket & had me some bacon & eggs across the road & just up the street at A&W.  A Tim Hortons coffee & we were on our way.  Did you know Tim Hortons was once owned by Wendys as well.  Yep. it’s true. 

 

Pheebs & I decided to take the long way home so loped along just enjoying the scenery on our way back to Bayfield.  Feeling energized upon on our return I hauled out the garden hose & washed the bottom third of the Motorhome.  That included wheels.  Cleaned some windows & removed some more annoying black streaks on the rig.  Tried out some McGuire's wax for the first time on the coach & was pleased with the results.  And that was about it for my day.  Just so nice feeling Autumn’s early touch.

   

Today being the 27th it dawned on me while driving along this morning that it is exactly one month from today we will have the big wheels rolling for the South-West again.  As I type this tonight I project my thoughts ahead a month & imagine we may very well be in a Cracker Barrel or Walmart parking lot at this time 31 nights from now.  I like that projection:))

 

I really have to keep an eye on the sky each night now while putting my daily post together.  With days becoming rapidly shorter I have to be sure to get Pheebs out for a walk before it is too dark.  She doesn’t like the dark much & is even a little hesitant about twilight.  I am so looking forward to seeing the night sky again when we get ourselves back on down to the South-West.  To find myself a good view of the night sky here in summer I have to Jeep myself out of the Pine forest somewhere to a point where I have open skies.  Maybe I’m lazy but I have not had one unobstructed view of the starry night sky since the night before we left Arizona early last April.  I missed all the summer constellations again this year.  It is one of the reasons I had hoped we could someday have our own little place in the countryside where I would once again lay tipped back in my gravity chair on warm summer nights with my star chart Astronomy book open, binoculars & telescope beside me. Oh to wander through the wondrous Star fields again like I used to do at the old farmhouse years ago.  To meander with eyes wide agaze through heavenly constellations searching for our nearest Galaxy, Andromeda.  To see Antares the Scorpion's heart, Aquila the Eagle & Sagittarius the big tipped Teapot in summer’s southern sky.   And when was the last time I watched the Big Dipper’s slow & steady trek across the northern summer hemisphere.  Yes, when was that last time anyway…………………

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A very devout man who was very over weight decided to go on a diet. One of his main problems with eating was that he would stop for donuts every morning on the way to work. So to make things easier for himself, he changed his route to work to avoid the temptation of stopping. As the weeks went by he started losing a lot of weight and was receiving compliments from his friends and co-workers.  Then one morning without thinking, he accidently turned onto the road which would take him by the donut shop. At first he was going to turn around but then he thought to himself, "maybe the Lord is rewarding me for my efforts". So, he said a short prayer telling the Lord that if this was His true intention let there be an open parking place directly in front of the shop.  And sure enough, on the fifth time around the block there was an open spot right up front.