AND DOWN I WENT WITH A THUD

Another fine summer's evening as I slipped out to my walking road. On the east side there is a row of white plastic-wrapped straw bales that have been there for over a year now.  There are maybe a dozen bales laid end to end running parallel with my walking road at the edge of a farmer's field.  About in the middle of that line of bales is a tall brown, spindly plant stalk maybe five or six feet tall.  It's been there well over a year now and once had yellow flowers on it.  I pass it every time I walk up the road and back.  Never knew what it was, so last night, knowing how to identify plants with my iPhone now, I decided to wade down into the tall grass ditch and make my way over to the plant.  The ditch was much deeper than I thought, and the tall, thick grass hid that.  With effort, up a short, steep bank, I was shakily able to get close enough to this tall, spindly, spikey brown thing.  My phone identified it as a biannual plant called Mullein and this one was obviously at the end of its second year, with only a bunch of small seed pods on it.  I took the picture and stepped back, forgetting the deep ditch behind me, and down I went with a thud, ka-boom, flat on my back in the tall four-foot grass.  I knew within seconds that I was okay because nothing hurt and all parts of me seemed to still be working okay.  Into my mind right away popped that saying, 'I've fallen, and I can't get up'.  But, I knew I could get up, and if I couldn't, I still had my phone in my hand if I needed to call for help.  With a rare chuckle popping out of me, I set about disentangling myself from the long grass and hoisting myself back up onto my feet.  I turned to the Mullein plant and said, 'Well, Mr. Mullein, that was quite an adventure.'  A minute later, I was back up on the road and on my merry way.  And, I'm sure I heard a little chuckle as well out of that tall Mullein plant behind me.  Ten minutes later, I picked up a coffee to go at Clinton's Tim Hortons and headed west through the countryside to my night sky spot on Tower Hill Line.  The big pinky-looking full Moon was already up off the horizon when I first spotted it.  Reaching my spot, I could right away see fireworks on the darkening horizon in the direction of Bayfield.  This display was more prominent than the two I had seen in the same direction the night before.  I stood leaning back against the front of the car, taking in the beautiful summer's night and all its fine scenery laid out in front of me.  The Moon, and the winking red lights of numerous wind turbines on the far distant horizon.  The lights of Clinton to my left, and the fireworks and tall communication tower between Bayfield and our Park winking its red lights at me as well.  I thought again last night on my way home, how really fortunate I am to have come this far and lasted this long after such a troubled life........... 

ON MY WAY TO MY WALKING ROAD SUNDAY EVENING I SAW THIS SINGLE PATH LEADING INTO A WHEAT FIELD....ODD I THOUGHT

WITH SUNDAY EVENINGS HEAVY CLOUD COVER TO THE EAST, I DIDN'T THINK I WAS GOING TO SEE A FULL MOON

 THE SAME CLOUD COVER OVER AN ALFALFA FIELD ON THE EAST SIDE OF MY WALKING ROAD

FINISHING MY WALK, THE SUNSET WAS BEGINNING TO TAKE SHAPE IN THE WEST

 LATER, WITH COFFEE IN HAND, I TOOK A COUPLE MORE SUNSET PICS

 THIS WAS MY FIRST SIGHTING OF THE FULL MOON

THE MOON PARTIALLY OBSCURED BY SOME CLOUD COVER

 A CLEAR SKY FULL MOON

Twas a warm summer breeze out of the east this morning as I made my way along my walking road, stopping to look at the flattened grass where I took my tumble the night before.  Didn't feel like going home after my walk, so I cruised a few country roads east and southeast of Bayfield before swinging north and coming into Bayfield itself.  I was there for a reason.  About a week ago, the Subaru began making noises, and I could tell those noises were coming from somewhere under the car.  A slight rattling sound when stepping on the gas and click/knock sound sometimes when stepping on the gas or backing off the gas.  A knock when I would start the wheels moving sometimes.  I suspect a brake problem so I popped into the Bayfield Garage.  The car goes in next Monday morning for repairs to whatever it is.  And, it probably ain't gonna be a cheap fix. The rest of the day just kinda floated away on me, and here I am again about to publish yet another Bayfield Bunch blog.  This post will be number 6,532.  It's no wonder they call me Mr. Blabberfingers.............

 MY MORNING DRIVE TOOK ME BY SOME SMALL CREEKS ALONG THE BANNOCKBURN LINE

I FIND IT UNUSUAL TO SEE SO MANY TURKEY VULTURES ON THE GROUND AND ALL IN ONE SPOT

Sometimes, I drift away and become lost in all the memories I find in my blog archives.  It happened to me today when I casually slipped back a couple of years to see what we were doing back then.  Kelly had just received some good news at London's University Hospital so we were on the upbeat.  I came across a post I wrote back in June of 2024 and it tells how we evolved from 'The Dreamweavers' to 'The Bayfield Bunch' years ago.  You can find this short story at the end of that post entitled, From The Dreamweavers To The Bayfield Bunch  

 A CLUSTER OF FLOWERS IN A WHEATFIELD

Al's Music Box:: Devoted To You by The Everly Brothers.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A young man watched as an elderly couple sat down to lunch at McDonald's. He noticed that they had ordered just one meal, and an extra drink cup. As he watched, the old gentleman carefully divided the hamburger in half, then counted out the fries, one for him, one for her, etc, until each had exactly half. Then the old man poured half of the soft drink into the extra cup and set that in front of his wife. The old man then began to eat, but his wife just sat watching him. The young man felt sorry for them and asked "I'm sorry to intrude, but would you allow me to purchase another meal for your wife so that you don't have to split your food?" The old gentleman said, "Oh, no, thank you. But you see, we've been married a long time, and everything has always been shared, 50/50." The young man said, "Wow! That's commendable." He then turned to the wife and asked, "Aren't you going to eat your share?" The wife replied "Not yet. It's his turn to use the teeth."

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- What’s the difference between a turkey and a chicken? Chickens celebrate Thanksgiving.

- Why did the turkey stand on stilts?
Because nobody eats flamingoes for Thanksgiving dinner.
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A patient was waiting nervously in the examination room of a famous specialist.

"So who did you see before coming to me?" asked the doctor. "My General Practitioner."
"Your GP?" scoffed the doctor. "What a waste of time. Tell me, what sort of useless advice did he give you?" "He told me to come and see you."
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This guy was watching TV as his wife was out cutting the grass during the hot summer. He finally worked up the energy to go out and ask his wife what was for supper. Well, his missus was quite irritated about him sitting in the air-conditioned house all day while she did all the work, so she scolded him. "I can't believe you're asking me about supper right now! Imagine I'm out of town, go inside and figure dinner out yourself." So he went back in the house and fixed himself a big steak, with potatoes, garlic bread, and a tall glass of iced tea. The wife finally walked in about the time he was finishing up and asked him, "You fixed something to eat? So where is mine?" "Huh? I thought you were out of town."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery