PHEEBS POINTS OUT THE SHOTS & I TAKE THEM….WE’RE QUITE A TEAM

Our day dawned sunny, clear, & cool.  Nice. With Autumn's cooler nights & clear skies upon us it is a heavy wet dew on the grass we have each morning.  Makes for some mighty wet shoes & paws on our walk.  Pheebs decided to take her Ducky along this morning & we thought that was not only nice for Ducky to get out of the house for a change but very thoughtfully considerate of Pheebs to bring her best little Pal along.

Kelly headed off to Goderich on some errands so Pheebs & I busied ourselves with additional tree trimming especially in the area we park the Big EEE.  About 10 o'clock the call of the countryside was making itself heard so figured I'd load up Little Miss Smarty Pants & take us for a short drive over to the Hullett Marsh.  I was needing a few new photos for my post tonight anyway & this time of year is so pretty with natures purple & golds dominating the rural landscape.

It is not only the ever changing beauty of our area but it is the sound of early Autumn creatures which makes these days this time of year so special.  A background chorus of Crickets wherever we stop & often the busy hum of tiny unseen bees buzzing about amongst the many pretty Fall flowers. Blue Jays in the woods & Canada Geese on the Marsh ponds.  Where once we had multitudes of Monarch Butterflies just a few years ago now there are few.  We did manage to see one this morning.  A true rarity now.  No shortage of small yellow butterflies as groups of them flitted about in spiralling circles.

 

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THIS LITTLE FELLOW IS
We did do a bit of hiking but only for a short distance.  Tall grass still too wet & the morning sun too hot which in turn brought Mosquitoes out from the swamps cooling shadows.  Did try some bug spray but I might as well have sprayed water on myself for all the good it did.  No carrot muffins at Tim Hortons this morning so we had to settle for blueberry.
  

PHEEBS POINTS OUT THE SHOTS & I TAKE THEM

I carry a point & shoot camera on my belt wherever I go & if I don't have one of my DSLR's with me I will use it in a pinch.  Quite often by the time I get home I've forgotten I had even taken a picture so the errant photo sits in the camera until I stumble upon it at a later date.  Didn't have my larger camera with me on our walk this morning when I spotted a spider web in the morning light.  Took a photo with my point & shoot & actually remembered to download it to my computer later in the day.  Was surprised to find some photos I had taken back on August 18th in London Ontario.  We had stopped at a UNION BURGER for the first time & they had a neat way of letting customers know when their order was ready.  Photos below.

FRONT COUNTER AT UNION BURGER

 

EACH CUSTOMER GETS A BLACK SQUARE DEVICE & WHEN AN ORDER IS READY IT MAKES A NOISE, 6 RED LIGHTS START FLASHING & IT VIBRATES…GREAT FOR PEOPLE WHO CAN’T SEE, PEOPLE WHO CAN’T HEAR & PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO FEELINGS………..:))

AND YES THE BURGS & HAND CUT FRIES WERE AS GOOD AS THEY LOOKED

THIS MORNINGS ‘POINT & SHOOT’ SPIDER WEB

Karen over at RVING: THE USA IS OUR BIG BACKYARD has good post including pictures of how hubby Steve replaced a leaking gasket on their rear air conditioner.  For any do-it-your-selfers out there it's a good idea to keep an eye on this blog.  Steve is one of those fellows that does all his own work & he's one of those gifted guys who knows how to do things right when things need to be done right.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It appeared in The Atlanta Journal.
SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship,
ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good looking girl
who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods,
riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and
fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire.
Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your
hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home
from work, wearing only what nature gave me.
Call (xxx) xxx-xxxx and ask for Daisy.
Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society about an 8-week old Black Labrador Retriever. 

TRAVEL ROUTE CHANGES, NEW DEPARTURE DATE, & I’M BACK ON TWITTER

Our threatening Monday night storm didn't amount to much except for a menacing yellow sky & maybe a half hour's rain.  A few dim lightning flashes & the occasional roll of distant thunder.  And that was it.  No power outage.

Today was a basic repeat of Monday so no point in trying to make something interesting out of nothing.  I basically picked up all of Monday's cuttings & loaded them into our utility trailer.  Cloudy morning sunny afternoon.

A few days ago we decided to resurrect our original Canadian travel plan route for heading south at the end of the month but we have made a few changes.  Several factors fed into our decision with the 182 days in the States being the main one.  We still plan to leave at the end of September but instead of heading in a south-westerly direction straight-away for the border at Sarnia/Port Huron we have decided to head North instead.  We will probably leave Bayfield sometime during the last week of September & it will be on a week day.  We have a boat to catch:))

Our plan is to leave Bayfield maybe around noon or early to mid afternoon on whatever day we decided to leave & head up through the Bruce Peninsula to the scenic little lakeside town of TOBERMORY.  We will ‘overnight’ in the parking lot adjacent to the loading ramp of the large lake ferry CHI-CHEEMAUN.  We have already called about that & they said 'unofficially' yes we can do that.  This will place us in line to board the ferry for it's departure at 8:30 the following morning.  It's a 2 hour crossing to MANITOULIN ISLAND & we're looking forward to just totally seeing & doing something new.  I did cross on the Chi-Cheemaun one time back in the late 70's but don't remember a lot about it.  Been a long time since Kelly & I have been on any kind of boat & we’re looking forward to standing on the forward deck with the wind in our hair marvelling at the Chi-Cheemaun cutting her way through the clear cold waters of Lake Huron’s picaresque Georgian Bay.  We may or may not spend a day on Manitoulin Island before crossing a bridge to the main land where we will join the Trans Canada highway at Espanola on our way up & over Lake Superior through Sault Ste Marie, Wawa, & Thunder Bay.  Been many years since I have traveled this stretch of highway on my treks back & forth to British Columbia in the early 70's. 

 
We actually have 2 destinations in mind before we cross the border into the States in Southern Saskatchewan sometime in early October.  First we are hoping to stop in WINKLER Manitoba.  Winkler is the home of TRIPLE E RV & we would just like to stop in & see the facilities where our Triple E Commander was made.  We might be interested in having them swap out our leather Flexsteel tub chair for a recliner while there if possible.  Maybe have them explain & show us a few things about the Big EEE’s electronics.  TV, DVD, etc.  Kelly phoned them today & yes we can have a factory tour.  They also suggested Winkler’s County Park as a place to stay for the night. 

Our second planned destination will be a special one for me.  We are heading for Dog River.  Dog River doesn’t really exist but it does live on in the minds of all of us who are fans of a Canadian TV half hour sit-com called Corner Gas.  I have been watching CORNER GAS for about 4 years now.  All re-runs of course but it is my favorite situation comedy of all time.  The show was in production from 2004 to 2009 & I have probably seen all the re-runs more than once.  I guess you could call me a true fan.  Each weekday whether we are in Congress Arizona or here in Bayfield Ontario I always make it a point to be kicked back & relaxed in my recliner when Corner Gas comes on which is generally afternoons.     The show is excellently written & in this day & age the humor is refreshingly simple.  I like my humor that way & it's why I always preferred Jay Leno to David Letterman.  Letterman's humor often left me sitting there scratching my head saying, what??  I always liked the old chestnuts like Cheers, Sanford & Son, Barney Miller. & Seinfeld plus a few more but it is the down home rustic hayseed humor of Corner Gas that really works for me best.  No matter how blue I may be feeling on any given day I know if I can catch a half hour of Corner Gas I have a guaranteed half hour of whimsical feeling good.

Corner Gas was filmed in the out of the way prairie town of ROULEAU (aka Dog River) Saskatchewan . Incidentally Corner Gas is the highest rated comedy program in Canadian television history. It was the most watched comedy series in the country with an average of 1.6 million viewers per episode.  The half-hour comedy centers around the fictional small town of Dog River, Saskatchewan, and the lives of Brent LeRoy, who runs the gas station; and Lacey Burrows, who owns the coffee shop as well as the zany & colorful characters Oscar & Emma Leroy, Hank, Wanda, Karen & Davis.  The show, a true Canadian icon was filmed in the tiny town of Rouleau Saskatchewan where the tallest thing on the horizon is it's local grain elevator.  Near that elevator is where the sets & props were built & still stand today.  When the series wrapped up production on September 20th 2008 the buildings were left standing but soon began falling into disrepair.  A private entrepreneur bought the property & set about to preserve the buildings.  So that is where we are headed because I want to see where all the segments were filmed.  Want to see the actual place that has brought me so much 'feeling good' over the years.  Want to see the gas bar where Brent pumped gas & the store where Hank & Wanda hung out.  Gotta see the eatery called the Ruby where Lacey dished out coffee & Chili Cheese Dogs to the likes of Brent, Oscar & Emma along with fumbling RCMP officers Karen & Davis plus other travelers who wandered or blundered their way into the Ruby.  Am really looking forward to visiting mythical Dog River & it's comical ghosts of the past & here's something I didn't know until I went to the Corner Gas website in search of some info.  Filming of Corner Gas 'THE MOVIE’ just wrapped up this past July.  The entire cast re-united for filming of the movie which will be in theaters this coming December.  Down side for me is that I would be very surprised if the Movie makes it into theaters down in Arizona.  I will probably have to wait a few months until it comes out in a DVD.  Anyway, that is one of the reasons for our route change & because we will be entering the States later than planned we should be able to get ourselves down to the 182 allowable days south of the border:))

Rouleau Saskatchewan is located about 40 miles south-west of Regina & approximately a hundred miles north of the border crossing at Regway Saskatchewan.  From the border we will drop south into Montana & head for Custer South Dakota & the BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK area where we will hang out for a bit before heading on down into south-eastern Utah.  No idea when & for how long we will be in any of the above mentioned areas.  We always prefer to keep our options open & of course everything is always subject to change here at the Bayfield Bunch at any time.  It’s just the way we like to do things………………..:))
 
Well I’m back on Twitter again.  I remember having a Twitter account years ago & I used to Tweet my posts in 2010/11 but have not done that since April of 2011.  Maybe I just got lost in the technology & social media mash or something but Kelly re-interested me again this afternoon & helped me re-fire up my long dormant Twitter account.  Of course I don’t really understand how or why Twitter works or what benefit it would be to me but I’ll try to gather enough patience & interest together once more & see if I can make some sense of it all.  
 
GROANER'S CORNER:((  Although a bright and able man, my husband is almost completely helpless when faced with even the simplest domestic chore.  One day, in exasperation, I pointed out to him that our friend, Betty, had taught her husband Frank to cook, sew and do laundry, and that if anything ever happened to Betty, Frank would be able to care for himself.  Then I said, "What would you do if anything happened to me?"  After considering that possibility for a moment, my husband said happily, "I'd move in with Frank."
---
One day my housework-challenged husband decided to wash his sweatshirt.  Seconds after he stepped into the laundry room, he shouted to me, "What setting do I use on the washing machine?"  "It depends," I replied. "What does it say on your shirt?"  He yelled back, "University of Oklahoma."

HARDEST PART OF TODAY WAS THINKING OF A POST TITLE TONIGHT

First thing we did this morning was kick on the A/C & that pretty much set the day’s pace.  Kelly headed over to Deer Park Lodge about 10 & I surprised myself by getting into some hot weather yard work.  Could only stay outside about 20 minutes at a time before having to retreat into the house to cool off.  Was able to get some serious shrub trimming done in the front yard.  Cut down all the Bamboo grass.  That will save me a messy clean-up in the Spring.  By noon the humidity was too much & that was the end of my outside activities.  Grabbed a shower & settled into my recliner.  Found a couple documentaries on Netflix.  A great one about the early folk music scene in Greenwich Village, New York City & another informative one about legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix.  We have severe thunderstorm warnings right now & I can see a fast moving line of weather on our computer’s radar coming across the lake.  ‘Wow’ our sky has the weirdest color. Time to go before we lose our power……………………………..

GROANER'S CORNER:((    Dear Sir; To tell the weather, go to your back door and look for the dog. If the dog is at the door and he is wet, it's probably raining. But if the dog is standing there really soaking wet, it is probably raining really hard.  If the dog's fur looks like it's been rubbed the wrong way, it's probably windy.  If the dog has snow on his back, it's probably snowing.  Of course, to be able to tell the weather like this, you have to leave the dog outside all the time, especially if you expect bad weather............ Sincerely, The CAT

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"Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant."

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.

---

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.