AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL....FOR THE BIRDS!!

THE EYES OF THE GRACKLE ARE UPON ME!! (Kinda reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's movie, The Birds......click to enlarge & see the intense stare)

No humidity so we have a mighty fine sunny day going on in the pine forest. Temperatures really dropped last night so it was a good morning for doing some outside things. DOWNIE WOODPECKER FOUND HIMSELF A GRUB

On our walk this morning I came across a perfectly good bird feeder in the recycling area here in the park. Made of wood it is designed to hold Niger seed for finches so I brought it home & that set up the work pattern for the morning. Re-located some feeding stations & added some more things around the pond. All in all, a nice kind of puttering around morning. NORTHERN RED BREASTED NUTHATCH

The feathered air traffic is getting quite heavy at times in our front yard now with many take-offs & landings & I'm fearing a mid air collision. Some flights make a straight in approach while others fly a zig-zag pattern before landing. There have been a few near misses on the runway feeders. Smaller Cessna-like Nuthatch's & Sparrows taxiing on the branches before lift-off are nearly bowled over by air turbulence from larger 747 jumbo Grackles, Robins, & Red Winged Blackbirds coming in on final approach. There are occasional hang gliding Monarch butterflies in the mix as well & our two birdbaths are popular with some of the flights even ending up in the drink. I'm going to have to send an email off to Sesame Street & see if they will let Big Bird come to Bayfield for a few weeks to do Air Traffic Control out here in our front yard. I've got some splints & bandages on the porch just in case we have to dispatch a medi-vac team to a feathery crash site as well. TIGER LILY

As if there wasn't enough air traffic congestion already I'm contemplating adding a hummingbird feeder to the mix shortly which will really ratchet up the action with fast moving ruby throated mini-choppers hovering for air space. Things are really humming along here so to speak. CHIPPING SPARROW

I have also made some other observations since getting into this little front yard bird project a few weeks ago. The birds are getting tamer & I've actually been within a few feet of the feeders & some of the smaller birds have not flown off in a big panic. Another nice benefit is the constant tweet & chitter of many bird songs in our yard. Even in the house now we can hear the chorus of Cardinals, Blue Jays, Goldfinches, Sparrows, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Grosbeaks, Red Wing Blackbirds, Morning Doves, & an occasional Oriole. (I would really like to get a photo of an Oriole) THE GRACKLE LAUCHES HIS ATTACK!!

A mobility van run to Mitchell Ontario was about all that happened this afternoon & I was back home before 6. The birds were waiting for me. And a big hello to my old doggy pals Pearce & Gleeson on the ranch down there in Arizona. Thanks for the email guys & too bad about the heat & lack of rain this summer. Max, Checkers, & the little Motormouse are wagging their tails really fast right now trying to send you down some of this nice cool Canadian air:)) MAX SAYS HELLO TO THE ARIZONA RANCH GANG ON BEHALF OF OF THE BAYFIELD BUNCH GANG UP HERE IN ONTARIO, CANADA.

GROANER'S CORNER: She's happy to make a pair of pants for you, or at least sew its seams.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

REMEMBERING CB RADIOS

THAT RAINBOW CAME DOWN & LIT UP A DISTANT ELECTRICAL TOWER (Click to enlarge)

Last night was one of those blogs that rolled off my keyboard & ended up later giving me a hard time about the thoughts I had put into it. When I re-read it this morning I didn't feel right about what I said regarding fellow RVers traveling lifestyles & inferring that doing the same old thing all the time was boring or unexciting. I'm sure there are many types of adventurers out there who would find our type of travel not to their preference either. We are all different people traveling the road of life with many varied destinations & stops along the way. Wherever we are on that road & whatever stage we are at we generally feel it is the best place for us at the time. Interests change, eras come & go, new challenges are met & old ones are left by the roadside. It's a good thing we are all different or we would be a planet of robotic drones without spark, fire, or that special kind of thunder that individually makes us who we are. To-day Kelly & I embrace the adventurous spirit within us for as long as we can make it last. There fast approaches a time when interests & circumstances will change & we'll move on to a new era of forced winters in Canada again or maybe just taking the shorter route to Florida & happily lazing the days away in an RV Park remembering the good old days & waiting for the early bird specials. One thing is certain though, despite me repeatedly using the phrase 'same old' in last night's blog, nothing ever remains the 'same' & the word 'old' only applies to dinosaurs, left over pizzas & aging hippies!! Interesting post on the RV NET this morning about the use & abuse of CB (Civilian Band) radios. Many RVers have them in their rigs including us. I remember getting my first CB radio in 1975 when most of the channels were alive with all kinds of colorful chatter. The CB craze was in full swing & it seemed like everyone & their dog had a CB. A lot of guys on CB's were trying to sound like truckers with lots of phony southern drawls, big 10-4's at the ends of sentences, loads of swearing & tall tales. Remember C.W. McCall's popular trucker song, Convoy. And did you know that was not his real NAME. Anyway, fast forward 32 years to when I decided to put a CB radio in our motorhome. I honestly felt I had a defective radio because all the channels were silent. The non stop chatter from the mid 70's was gone & there was not much of anything left but dead air. Times have sure changed in CB-Ville. I leave the radio on channel 19 now while traveling & the only other people on there seem to be the truckers. Sometimes their conversations are interesting & sometimes they are just plain rude. In the 3 years I have had the radio I have never had occasion to use it. Idle chatter isn't my thing but I do like to have the radio present for traffic congestion & emergencies, etc. And who knows, maybe someday I'll just grab that old mike & let loose with a big, Hey little Buddy how's it goin........10-4:)) MOTORMOUSE IN THE LAUNDRY BASKET

It's now July & we have entered the dog days of summer. If your wondering where that phrase came from just hop on over to JENNY'S blog & she'll tell ya all about it. RICK, on the other hand blogged about his favorite RV accessories he wouldn't leave home without. I, in turn left a comment on Rick's blog about something Max, Checkers, me, & the Motormouse wouldn't leave home without either:)) WORKING ON A LITTLE WALLPAPER TRIM IN THE BATHROOM.....YES, WE DO LIKE TO MAKE THINGS COLORFUL IN KEEPING WITH OUR SOUTHWEST THEME:))

Did a Twitter Tweetdeck update to-day & it really messed around with my Facebook account & website. Took me awhile to get things straightened out but everything appears to be back as it was & no Tweetfaces were harmed in the process. Sun is shining, computer stereo is rocking with ambient tunes, I'm in the same chair at the same time of day with the same coffee cup typing on the same keys using the same cranium I work with every night. I have on the same track pants, flannel shirt, & brown socks, I had on last night. Same, same, same, so everything is somewhat basically the same as usual. Now if that isn't routine excitement for an aging RV hippy type guy........then what the heck is huh........:)) Adios Amigos A TOUCH OF DUTCH JUST DOWN THE ROAD FROM OUR PLACE ABOUT HALF A MILE

TO-DAY'S HUMOR: A blind man with a guide dog enters a Wal-mart & begins swinging the dog around over his head by it's collar. The store manager rushes up yelling, "stop, what are doing!!!! The blind man answers, "just looking around."

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BETWEEN A DRAGGY TUESDAY & A SLUMPY THURSDAY

OUR RESIDENT HOCKEY WHISTLE FROG AIRING UP TO BLAST HIS HOCKEY WHISTLE

If yesterday was a productively busy day then to-day was the total opposite. Aside from doing some painting in the motorhome it was just simply a dull gray morning followed by a duller gray afternoon.

It's Canada's Birthday to-day but just doesn't feel quite right when the day falls in the middle of the week. July 1rst generally means a lively long week-end, not a dull gray Wednesday buried somewhere between a draggy Tuesday & slumpy Thursday. Well, Happy Birthday anyway Canada!!

COPPER COLORED SPOOL OF THREAD CENTER FOREGROUND IS THE THREAD THAT WENT INTO OUR CAPS & VEST YESTERDAY

Not as many frogs in our little pond this year as others. Sounded pretty lively back in the early spring but then they kind of faded away. Right now we have a mating pair of hockey whistle frogs making quite a racket every night. They are a kind of very camoflauged tree frog that come to ground for a couple of weeks in late spring or early summer. I call them hockey whistle frogs because they sound just like a hockey referee blowing on his hockey whistle full tilt in an acoustically noisy sports arena. WAITING FOR THE SUNSET IN BAYFIELD'S PIONEER PARK

Thanks to everyone again for the constructive & positive feed back on the Bayfield Bunch logo. By the sounds of things we may be seeing some more creative logo efforts popping up in some fellow RV'ers blogs soon. The Paint program is in everyone's Windows operating system & it's free. Press, Start-All Programs-Accessories-Paint. Head on in there, take your patience with you, trot out your creative side, & have some fun:)) Oh, & take some old rags with you in case you get paint all over you & the keyboard. I did!!SOME GREENERY ALONG THE TRAIL

On our RV card logo (don't like to use the words "business cards" because we're not a business) we put, TheBayfieldBunch.com & on the back of the photo vest we put, BayfieldBunch.com because we found that either one typed into Google brings up the same result except one asks...Did you mean the Bayfield Bunch but it's the same result. The word "The" on the card looks better there but we figured just Bayfield Bunch was better on the vest without the word "The." At least it all sounds good in theory.............................sorta:))

TO-DAY'S HUMOR: A six year old goes to the hospital with her grandmother to visit her Grandpa. When they get to the hospital, she runs ahead of her Grandma and bursts into her Grandpa's room... "Grandpa, Grandpa," she says excitedly, "as soon as Grandma comes into the room, make a noise like a frog!" "What?" said her Grandpa. "Make a noise like a frog because Grandma said that as soon as you croak, we're all going to Disney Land!!!"

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HAVING A WHIRL AT CREATING A LOGO

The rains began sometime in the night & continued on & off for most of the morning. Our dog walk was rained out as was any other outside activities. In all Microsoft operating systems is a program called Paint. I had never paid much attention to it over the years but on this rainy Sunday morning it was about to get my undivided attention for an hour or so.

I'd had it in the back of my mind for quite awhile to try my hand at designing a Bayfield Bunch logo. Just a little something we could put on a piece of paper or card to exchange with fellow RV'ers on the road. It would save having to scramble for a pen & piece of paper to scrawl email addresses or websites on.

Started out by going to Clip-Art sites on the internet & trying to find drawings of cactus, trees, a motorhome, etc. Found some pictures but couldn't quite figure out how to join & size them together so gave up after a bit & decided to have a go at drawing the stuff myself. It was at this time I remembered Microsoft's Paint program so with mouse in hand & a bunch of uncharacteristic patience I set about figuring out the programs tools, brushes, lines, pointers, pencil markers, colors, erasers, text & whatever else it had in it's little bag of tricks. Logo at the top of blog is a first draft. Any suggestions for changes.??

Haven't figured out how I'm going to get this logo onto paper yet when it's done but Kelly has a lot more experience with printer programs & formats so maybe she can figure out the workings of our seldom used printer & come up with something. Regardless, it was kind of a fun way to spend an hour or so on a dull gray & rainy Sunday morning.........................:))

TO-DAY'S PUN: An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

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