BOY, DID I DO SOMETHING DUMB TUESDAY NIGHT

HAD TO RELY ON A FEW OF MY FILE PHOTOS TONIGHT,,,JUST TOO HOT FOR PICTURE TAKING THE PAST FEW DAYS

Knew it was going to be another boiler cooker of a day so I was in the Jeep early & headed for Henry's Camera Store in London Ontario this morning. Wanted to be there when they opened at 10 & back to Bayfield before the heavy heat & humidity set in again.  Although I did make it back shortly after 12 I did not escape being cooked!!

At Henry’s I had some questions about my new Nikon D3100 & needed an explanation of why the 'auto focus' will not work right with my older Nikkor 18-35mm lens. I read the manual & I searched the internet but was unable to come up with a workable answer to my on-line questions. I find mechanical or technical things easier if someone shows me or explains to me why things are the way they are. Understanding something I am reading seems to be more difficult for me these days.  Also wanted a knowledgeable camera person to actually handle the camera & lens to see if there was some kind of a definite problem between the lens & the camera. And, there was.  I was relieved it wasn’t just me.

Although my aging 18-55mm lens works fine with my older D90 & D40, the contact points were probably just a tad too worn for the new D3100. Long story short....I bought a new 18-55mm lens which works perfectly with the new camera now. No more auto-focus problems. I will put my older 18-55mm lens on my D40 & use that camera as a back-up. A back-up for what I don't know but it's just there if needed. I would say 90% of all my countless thousands of photos over the last 7 years have been taken with that dependable old 18-55mm lens. It has been a true workhorse of reliability for me. Kinda sad to gently retire my old friend but I am kind of like that with objects & things which have worked out well & brought me so many fond memories over the years.

Kelly checked on-line a few days ago about the cost of installing an A/C unit in our Jeep & found it would probably run in access of $2,000. So, that's not going to happen. Maybe trade the Jeep in for a vehicle with A/C?? No Sireeeeeeeeee, not getting rid of that little Jeep any time soon. It's my fav:))

 

Well, I did just about the dumbest thing Tuesday night. Late in the afternoon I clicked on the Park Theatre site in Goderich to see what movies were playing. It was half price Tuesday & figured if there was something remotely interesting at either one of the two on site theatres I would go. One of the theatres had 'Grown Ups' playing. Knew right off that was not a movie for me. I'm not an Adam Sandler/David Spade or Chris Rock fan. With those guys in it I already new the high school level mentality would be trashy & just plain dumb. The second theatre had an animation movie playing called 'Despicable Me 2. Couldn't remember the last time I had ever seen a full length animation movie at a theatre. Decades, maybe even half a century. Decided to give 'Despicable Me 2' a try & by 7:30 last night I was in Goderich imbedded in the line up outside the theatre.

One ticket for 'Despicable Me 2' please. Walked into the lobby, up the steps & straight into the big theatre ahead of me. I always like to sit right in the center half way between the front & back seats. I am always on the early side so I am always able to find the seat I prefer. Movie didn't start for half an hour so I tinkered around with my Canon Powershot camera which I always carry with me. Sharply at 8 the lights dimmed & the up-coming movie previews began. A few minutes later we were through the previews & it was time for the main feature....'Despicable Me 2' right.........................

THIS TROPICAL LITTLE BIRD FELLOW IS MADE OUT OF WOOD & SITS ON OUR COMPUTER DESK
Wrong!!!!! For a second or two I thought a preview for ‘Grown Ups’ had popped onto the screen. But, it wasn't a preview. ‘OH NO’.........I was in the wrong theatre!!!!!!!! Quickly realized I had 2 options. Either get up immediately, embarrass myself, disrupt half a dozen people sitting on the right side of me, walk over to the other theatre, grovel around in the dark & disrupt another dozen people trying to find a seat, or.......I could just suck up my mistake, stay quietly where I was & sit through a movie I already knew was going to be crappy. Nine out of ten people would have chosen the first option. Why am I always that tenth person!!

Stayed where I was & toughed out the next hour & a forty minutes. But here was the scary part for me. The theatre was packed & from all around me came the sounds of kids & teen-agers practically rolling in the aisles with laughter. I'm sitting there thinking to myself, this is the stupidest, the dumbest, & the very much most worst movie I have ever seen in my entire life. Some people even clapped when the movie was finally over. Have I slid that far down the slippery slope of life that I have lost my sense of humor. Well, in defense of myself, no I have not lost my sense of humor. It's just not on the level anymore of cheesy site gags, crappy dialogue, mediocre actors,(except for Kevin James) & cheap potty humor.  And all that probably thrown together by some director kid fresh out of high school because that was the mentality level this movie was produced at. In my humble opinion this movie was just plain baaaaaaaaad!!  Oh, & did I mention I was again probably the oldest person sitting in the theatre??  Okay, guess I forgot that part:((
On the way out of the theatre I glanced over to the other side of the confection bar in the lobby & saw the entrance for theatre 2, where I should have been!! I was then struck by a second scary thought. It was totally by accident that I had walked into the correct theater the last two times I had come to a movie there last month. When I walked into that lobby tonight my mind did not for one mili-second think of the second theatre. And, I do not remember any kind of lighted sign indicating which movie was playing in which theatre. Oh well, worst movie of ever or not, it was just worth it to get out & do something different.  And darn good thing it was half price movie night too.  My little foible cost me all of $6 & I am wondering today if it constitutes as a ‘Senior Moment’:))

It was the photo of Timber stretched out with a leg & paw stretched across his little stuffed toy teddy bear that caught my eye over at RV SUE & HER CANINE CREW'S blog.  There is quite an ongoing story here about a man & his dog Sue met a year ago while wandering & boondocking her way around the West.  To catch up with the on-going saga of Rusty & Timber just head on over to Sue’s blog & see why Sue is excited about an email she received Tuesday.  Be sure to follow her link for the full story.  It has a happy ending but you might want to take a few tissues along with you anyway…………………..  
 
GROANER'S CORNER:(( Did you know that if a man can be properly trained he can become a dog's best friend. Yes, it's actually true......................
-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

IT’S OFFICIAL…… ‘HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR’!!

<<< TOO HOT TO GO OUTSIDE THIS AFTERNOON SO WE JUST STAYED IN & PLAYED TOYS

Knew it was imperative Pheebs & I get out this morning to blow some heavily accumulated housebound domestic dust off ourselves.   Kelly had errands to run in Goderich but I just couldn’t get myself into errands mode.  So it was into the Jeep with us & off Pheebs & I went for a short drive. It was 10 a.m. & already the heat & humidity were building.  Even with windows down the warm sticky air had us both panting in minutes. Our drive only lasted half an hour & we were soon home again & back inside.  I have no enthusiasm for hot sticky weather.

Right back in my recliner in front of the fan again & there I remained. For sure the last 5 years or so summer's have been getting hotter & the humid days have definitely been increasing in length & intensity from what I remember. And I have well over 60 years of accumulated weather memories to draw on. Wasn't until about 4 years ago that we even ever had A/C in our house. We were fine all the years before that & we had never had A/C or felt the need to have A/C in those years. When we bought our Jeep in 2010 it did not have A/C in it either & we thought, ‘no problem, not something we have to use much anyway’. We sure mis-guessed that one. Little did we know each summer thereafter would be more intense than the summer before. And nobody but nobody is going to convince me there is no such thing as global warming going on!!

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Couple folks wondered about using the generator in our rig a couple night's ago when our power went off. Had the outage continued into the next day that is what we would have done. We were told our power would be back on in a few hours, and it was. Our house stayed reasonably cool until power was restored.
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GROANER'S CORNER:(( A sheriff walks into a saloon, and shouts for everyone's attention. "Has anyone seen Brown Paper Jake?", he asks. "What's he look like?", asks one shoddy looking cowboy.
"Well", replies the Sheriff. "He wears a brown paper hat, a brown paper waistcoat, a brown paper shirt, brown paper boots, brown paper pants, and a brown paper jacket."
"So what's he wanted for?", asks the same cowboy.
"Rustlin'...", replies the Sheriff.

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

HOUSEBOUND BY THE HEAVY HUMIDITY FACTOR AGAIN

A HOT SUNDAY MORNING’S STOP AT LAKE WAWANOSH

Only sound in our house was a second hand moving on our wall mounted battery operated kitchen clock. Only light source was two candles on a kitchen counter. Our electricity went out shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday night. No storms in the area, no winds or rain. No lightning. The air was as still as a feather. Not a creature was stirring, not even the weather. We slipped outside & walked to the end of our driveway. Kind of a relief to see nobody else on the street had any electricity either. For me that is always a good thing & tells me the problem is not just our place.   And somebody else is responsible for fixing the problem. Not something we have to try & fix in our fuse box or something.

 
A FEW THINGS SPOTTED AROUND THE COUNTRYSIDE SUNDAY

Electricity is one of those common everyday things we all take for granted. And why wouldn't we, it's been around for as long as any of us can remember. But like the old Ral Donner song, 'You Don't Know What You Got Until You Lose It', it sure is instantly noticeable when it's gone alright. Your toilet only has one flush left & no water for washing hands anyway. No A/C in the heavy humidity & no point in trying to switch on a fan because that ain't gonna work anyway. Don't want to open the refrigerator door & let all the cold out. No power to put the cold back in. Can't even turn the radio on to see if the power outage is world wide. Could this be the beginning of an Alien invasion. Could they have cut power to Planet Earth. Peering nervously out the window I do not see any strange lights descending from the sky. Only a very normal looking quarter moon peering through our pine trees.

 
Remembered my laptop sitting on a table beside my recliner. Reached over & fired it up. Full charge on it’s battery so knew I could type me out a few paragraphs about this power outage at least. Nothing else to do that's for sure except sit in our darkened living room looking out the window upon a darkened world outside. Good thing I have a couple candles going in the kitchen or I wouldn't even be able to see the Pheebs. She's black just like the dark. Kelly finally put in a call to the power company & was told over 9,000 people in our area were without electricity. Said they hoped to have the power on in a couple hours. Ok, scrap that world wide Alien invasion theory. I'm now beginning to think along the lines of too many A/C's running at full tilt on a hot sultry Sunday night in the middle of July. Seems like a plausible theory to me. (found out later today a car took down a power pole in the area)

 

SUNDAY MORNING FISHING FOLKS ON LAKE WAWANOSH
Now here's my problem as I sit here in the dark with lighted battery powered laptop screen in front of me. Do I keep myself awake waiting for the power return or do I drift off to sleep only to be jarred awake when power is finally restored. Things will beep, lights will flash & the TV will start talking loudly again. Wait, the phone is ringing. It's the electric company calling to tell us the power will not be restored now until somewhere around 2 a.m. Seems when Kelly phoned the electric company we were automatically put on some kind of 'return call updates' list. Awwww nuts, now a ringing phone with power updates is going to enter the equation. Ok, going to power down the laptop to conserve battery power just in case the power company doesn't get this problem fixed & it really turns out to be an Alien space invasion I will need this last remaining bit of battery power on my computer to write about what I am seeing as I am being carried aboard the Alien spacecraft. Over & out..................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

A woman's high pitched staccato voice brought me out of a sleepy fog at 3:20 am this morning. It was the dreaded screechings of an infomercial. One quick & highly annoyed click of my finger & the TV was off. The electricity was back on. Yaaaay, no spaceships. Guess I shouldn't have gone to see the Star Trek & Superman movies last month. Obviously had me some long lasting psychological effects going on here................................
 
<<< A REFLECTION OF SELF CAUGHT IN A WINDOW

Merikay’s post LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS stirred up some familiar memories for me. On track for a full time RV life on the road Merikay has some doubts & concerns. Perfectly normal. The kind of thoughts that can keep a person awake at night. All the 'what if's'. All the pros & all the cons. Kelly & I are Snow Birds but back in 07 & 08 we did have quite a time trying to decide whether to sell our house & hit the road full time. Even went as far as putting our house up for sale briefly. The financial crash in 08 put an immediate stop to our thoughts about full timing & we were forced to step back from the brink & re-think our future. But even so, our decision to full time was not exactly unanimous. I was ready to make the leap, (at least I think I was) but Kelly not so much. It was probably a good balance for us & a balance that has not changed over the years. I am still the restless one & Kelly is still the 'stay the course' one. However If it were me, we would probably not be in Bayfield right now. Don't know where we would be but it we would not be sitting here in this humidity day after day & week after week. Just as we do not sit here in the winter's cold anymore either.

Being Canadian makes a full time RV lifestyle decision more difficult if one spends any length of time in the south. No need to get into all the extra difficulties caused by the border & all the different laws, medical plans, lengths of stays, etc. but I do have some thoughts. All the official legalities are a can of worms all in themselves. The pros & cons of each individual or couple's situation is another thing. And there are equal cons to match all the pros. We've been back & forth through them all, over & over, over. Our situation was, & still is different than most full timers simply because of our preferred RV lifestyle.

<<< I KNOW THIS THERMOMETER IS IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT BUT WE HAVE NEVER SEEN IT THIS HIGH BEFORE…5 P.M. THIS AFTERNOON

Here are a few of the biggest full time roadblocks or cons that we faced. As most readers know, we absolutely refuse to stay in RV Parks & that presents a big problem for us right off the bat in several ways. No trouble boondocking in the South-west during the winter months but a big problem boondocking here in Ontario & many other Provinces during the summer months. Sitting in a friend's or relatives driveway is not an option. Health concerns are more of a concern now than a year or two ago but it was something we had pre-thought out & falls under the 'what if' category. If we were full time in the south some winter & one of us broke a leg or suffered a severe injury or long term illness & had to immediately return to Canada, (think health plan costs) where would we go? December, January, or February, are not months to be outside in ice, snow, & frozen temperatures in a thin skinned RV. We know people this has happened too. One couple & their 2 dogs ended up spending months in a London Ontario motel while one of them battled back from a serious illness. Without some kind of home base this is a reality that can easily be glossed over with thoughts like, 'oh we're young & healthy & don't have to worry about that'. 'It's not going to happen to us'. Famous last words for some who have unfortunately found themselves in that very situation.

ALWAYS NICE TO SEE OLDER CARS OUT & ABOUT INSTEAD OF JUST STATIC DISPLAYS AT CAR SHOWS

I am guessing that if we were both Americans we probably would have gone the full time route years ago. Kelly is originally American & has dual citizenship but with me being strictly Canadian, that is where all the complications come into play.  And believe me, between the two countries, it is complicated for folks on this side of the border!!  Oh how we Canadians wished we had a warm place to go like you folks south of the border do. No wonderfully warm areas here in Canada. How nice it would be to head for warmer climates with no rules or regulations on lengths of stays. No green car requirements. No passport worries. We would be covered under our own Canadian medical plans. Everything like taxes, TV cable companies, banks, phone plans, etc would be the same. No dollar exchange to worry about. No agonizing border waits & all that stuff anyone can be subjected to crossing the Canada/U.S. border regardless of what citizenship you have. Yes, much easier for you American folks to full time without all the complications that we Canadian folks face trying to do the same thing in your warmer country……………………

 

SEEN IN GODERICH A FEW DAYS AGO I’M THINKING THIS MIGHT BE A VINTAGE MOTORCYCLE RIDE WITH GRAMMA & GRAMPA

In a nutshell......our day was horribly humid. We entered the forest this morning wielding large Samurai swords to fend off hordes of attacking insects. Neither Kelly or I left our house after 9 a.m. (until this evening when we slipped into Bayfield for ice cream:))  A/C on & fans going full tilt all day. Felt sorry for Pheebs because I know she was wanting to head out for a walk. I knew if I tried to take her out I would just turn into a big ball of sticky paste in minutes. And it is predicted to be like this all week with Tuesday being worse than today. Just goes to show how being trapped in a house by summer’s heat & humidity is just as unhealthy as being trapped in a house by winter's blustering snow & cold.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Six guys were playing poker when Smith loses $500 on a single hand, clutches his chest and drops dead at the table. Showing respect for their fallen comrade, the other five complete their playing time standing up. Roberts looks around and asks, "Now, who is going to tell his wife?" They draw straws.
Rippington, who is always a loser, picks the short one. They tell him to be discreet, be gentle, don't make a bad situation any worse than it is. "Gentlemen! Discreet? I'm the most discreet man you will ever meet. Discretion is my middle name, leave it to me."
Rippington walks over to the Smith house, knocks on the door, Smith’s wife answers, asks what he wants.
Rippington says, "Your husband just lost $500 playing cards."
She hollers, "TELL HIM TO DROP DEAD!"
Rippington says, "I'll tell him."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

PHEEBS DRAGGED ME OUT OF MY RECLINER & THREW ME IN THE JEEP

It was flying insects that once again cut our morning’s forest walk short.  No problem for either Kelly or I doing the trail, it’s just those annoying & harassing bugs that stop us now.

IT WAS A DAY OF WINDMILL FARMS IN MENNONITE COUNTRY

  

 

Published Saturday night’s post on the early side, hopped on my motorcycle & took myself for a ride through the countryside.  Needed that.

 

  

A DAY OF RED BARNS

Probably would have remained slumped in my recliner this morning if it hadn’t been for Pheebs dragging me out of it around 9:30 wanting to go for a ride in the Jeep.  It’s good for me when she does that, so off we went.  Humidity was oppressive again but we kept a stiff summer breeze flowing through the Jeep windows for nearly 4 hours.  Half a dozen brief stops, got some paws wet, & took a few photos.  Another enjoyable Jeep drive in the country………………

  

MUSCULAR WORK HORSES ON THESE FARMS

No matter the gray moody days, no matter the valleys & the lows, no matter the doubts & the fears, our best Pals are always there with wagging tails, big smiles, understanding hearts, & a knowing way of lifting our sagging Spirits.  They are just simply……..the best of ever.

LAST STOP OF THE DAY WAS McDONALD’S DRIVE-THRU IN GODERICH WHERE WE GRABBED A QUARTER POUNDER TO SHARE ON THE WAY HOME

I start many of my days with a single thought in mind. ‘I am not going to write a post tonight’. I work on that thought through the day. Nope, not gonna do it. Not today. Ninety nine point nine times out of ten I do write a post at the end of the day……… I end many of my days with a single thought in mind. ‘Tomorrow I am not going to write a post’. I go to sleep at night knowing I have a .01% chance of not writing a post tomorrow.  And so it goes………………….one day at a time.

A FIELD OF GOLDEN WHEAT

GROANER’S CORNER:(( If the world were a logical place, men would be the ones who ride horses side saddle.

-------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.