RETURNED TO THE SCENE OF MY FLOPASODE AND GOT MY ICICLE PICTURES:))

BLACK CAPPED CHICKADEE
My original intent for going to Goderich Monday morning was to drop around to the Maitland Valley Medical Clinic and let them relieve me of some blood but that plan was thwarted when I took my tumble and had to return home.  This morning Pheebs and I were back to Goderich whereupon I did manage to let them stick me for a blood sample.  The waiting room at the blood clinic was packed and I think I was the only one in there under a hundred years old.

JUST SOME OF THE FOLKS IN THE WAITING ROOM AT THE BLOOD CLINIC LAB IN GODERICH THIS MORNING

OPENING THURSDAY APRIL 12TH

DUE TO A FLOOD OF EMAILS ABOUT MY NEW HAT, HERE IT IS…..OKAY OKAY SO I DIDN’T GET ANY EMAILS BUT HERE’S THE HAT ANYWAY WHICH I BOUGHT AT THE RIVER LINE NATURE COMPANY IN GODERICH ONTARIO
We also returned to the scene of Monday mornings flopasode because I was determined to get those icicles photos.  Icicles were still there but the thin layer of ice was gone from the rocks and pieces of concrete.  Lake Huron was calm with no significant wave action therefore everything along the shoreline was dry.  Unfortunately with cloudy skies overhead and no sunshine I was unable to get those few icicles to sparkle.  Also, when I woke up this morning everything was A-OK from my tumble except the tip of my little finger is still discolored and a little stiff.  Other than that I have no lasting hurts going on anywhere:))

THESE FEW CLUMPS OF ICICLES ARE ABOUT ALL THAT REMAIN ALONG THE SHORE
 
HAD IT BEEN SUNNY THIS MORNING THESE ICICLES WOULD HAVE REALLY STOOD OUT

NOTICE HOW RED THE DOGWOODS ARE

SHORELINE WHERE I FELL WAS PERFECTLY DRY AND FREE  OF ICE THIS MORNING

ICICLES ARE ALONG THE SHORELINE AT UPPER RIGHT
‘Hello Beautiful’ she said glancing our way.  Well I knew it wasn’t me the lady at McDonald’s Drive-Thru was referring to but must admit I did sneak a peak her way just in case she………oh silly me!!  Pheebs just stood there on the passenger seat and smiled knowingly.  Exiting McDonalds parking lot we drove by the new Wendys which by the way will be having it’s grand opening on Thursday April 12th.  I wonder if their coffee will be as good as McDonalds and of course I’ll be interested to have a look at their Menu as well.  I haven’t been to a Wendy’s for probably 15 years.

THOUGHT THIS FISHING BOAT WAS SITTING PRETTY CLOSE TO THE WATERLINE


This past Friday when we returned from Kelly's birthday bash in Kitchener Ontario we noticed a clear plastic container on our porch with a green lid.  Inside that container were two totally yummy cupcakes topped with chocolate icing and a few tiny wrapped chocolate Easter eggs.  We right away figured it was CC&D who dropped them off but nope, wasn't them.  Okay RG&B then,  Nope, wasn't them either.  Hmmmm, could it possibly be Kayakattack on Tamarack:))))

GOLDFINCH
Ever since returning home from the south 3 weeks ago our house has smelled like rotten eggs.  Did last year too for awhile but then seemed to go away or maybe we just got used to it.  In my opinion the smell is noticeably worse this year and I am suspecting it’s our 16+ year old water heater.  

‘HEY BIG GUY YOUR SITTING ON MY SUPPER’

‘ARE YOU TALKING TO ME SQUIRT!!’

‘SHEEEESH NOW THAT REALLY RUFFLES ME UP’

‘THINK I’LL WIND MYSELF UP AND FLY MYSELF OVER TO THE BIRDBATH’

‘HEY INSTEAD OF SITTING IN THERE TAKING PICTURES HOW ABOUT GETTING OFF YOUR CAN AND PUTTING SOME WATER IN THE BIRDBATH EH’
We have been under a weather advisory for most of the day.  Heavy rains and high winds.  At the time of posting tonight it is raining hard and we have some thunder and lightning going on.  Tis the changing of seasons……………

‘YA MISTER GET OUT HERE WITH SOME WATER FOR US GUYS WILL YA’

GROANER’S CORNER:((  One day, shortly after the birth of their new baby, the mother had to go out to run some errands.  The proud papa stayed home to watch his wonderful new son.  Soon after the mother left, the baby started to cry.  The father did everything he could think of doing, but the baby wouldn't stop crying.  Finally, the dad got so worried that he decided to take the infant to the doctor.  After the doctor listened to the father relate all that he had done to get the baby to stop crying, the doctor began to examine the baby's ears, chest and then down to the diaper area.
When he undid the diaper, he found that the diaper was indeed full.  "Here's the problem", the Dr. said, "He needs to be changed!"  The father was very perplexed, "But the diaper package says it is good for up to 10 lbs.!"
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A passerby noticed a couple of city workers working along the city sidewalks. The man was quite impressed with their hard work, but he couldn't understand what they were doing.
Finally, he approached the workers and asked, "I appreciate how hard you're both working, but what the heck are you doing? It seems that one of you digs a hole, and then the other guy immediately fills it back up again.  One of the city workers explained, "The third guy who plants the trees is off sick today."
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I FAILED TO NOTICE NATURE’S WARNING SIGNS AND TOOK A ROCKY TUMBLE PARTIALLY LANDING MYSELF IN LAKE HURONS FREEZING COLD WATERS

Had myself  bit of a close call this morning when I took a tumble and horizontally landed part of myself in the icy cold waters of Lake Huron.

Pheebs and I had driven up to Goderich and parked down along the shoreline at the doggy walking area.  Pheebs was out of the Jeep checking out all the smells when I noticed some long icicles hanging from some shrubs along the water’s edge.  Between myself and those icicles was a couple steps down a sandy grass bank and maybe a 50 foot scramble over a bunch of wet rocks.  Had my new greatly griptionated hiking shoes on so I knew the wet rocks would not be a problem.  And they wouldn’t have been if the rocks would have been simply just wet.  So here’s where my usually logical brain let me down again.  It failed to compute and link three warning signs facing me.  First, the temperature was somewhere around the freezing mark and with an icy breeze off the lake it was probably below the freezing mark.  Small waves were gently breaking over the rocks and a short distance away were some groups of icicles.  Have you figured out the hazard yet??  Obviously my brain didn’t and if it did it sure as heck didn’t warn me!!

IT WAS THAT LARGE  SLIGHTLY SLANTED PIECE OF CONCRETE i STEPPED UP ONTO THEN CRASHED DOWN ON THE OTHER SIDE OF IT ONTO THOSE ROCKS JUST AHEAD OF WHERE THE WAVE IS COMING IN………HAVE YOU FIGURED OUT THE HIDDEN DANGER YET??

I didn’t get anywhere near those icicles because I was flat on my back before I even barely got started.  With my Nikon D7200 and 16-300mm lens attached and firmly gripped in my left hand I carefully made my way down the short bank, assessed the wet rocks ahead of me and stepped up on a sloping flat piece of concrete.  That piece of concrete wasn’t just wet it was coated in a thin invisible layer of ‘ICE’!!!!  ‘A-HA’  I had about half a second before impacting the rocks to twist my left hand up in a desparate attempt to save my camera.  I heard it hit the rocks and there I was partially in the cold water flat on my back staring at the sky.  To add insult to injury I heard the next wave coming and felt it coldly slosh up along my whole right side.  I immediately thought of my Samsung Smart Phone in it’s case attached to my belt on the lake side of me and figured it was done for.  I was still holding my camera tightly in my raised left hand and noticed it appeared to be dry.  Gotta get up and get oughta here before the next wave rolls in and with that thought in mind I quickly struggled my soggy self to my feet and began clambering back up the small embankment.  And I was hurting.  Pheebs, who had been exploring along the bank’s top hadn’t seen the mishap so I called her over and quickly put her in the Jeep.  It was then I noticed something was missing…..my hat!!

SLOWLY BUT SURELY THE SNOW IS GRADUALLY GOING AWAY….FOUR YEARS AGO TODAY IT WAS A RECORD BREAKING 76F HERE IN BAYFIELD

JUST IN CASE YOUR BACK YARD PICNIC TABLE IS MISSING….THIS MIGHT BE IT

I didn’t particularly want to go back down among those icy rocks again but I had no choice if I wanted to retrieve my new hat which I had just bought last week.  And, a few parts of my body were letting me know in no uncertain terms that this 73 year old guy had just came down hard on a jumble of icy rocks.  Looking over towards the spot I had fallen I did not see my hat and thought ‘oh-no’ the waves have already carried it out.  Quickly scanned the water but no sign of my hat.  The little finger on my left hand was throbbing now and I could feel I must have impacted a rock with my right knee.  I just wanted to get in the warm Jeep and sit down.  No matter, I had to find my hat so leaving my camera in the Jeep I carefully made my way the short distance  back down to where I had crashed and saw my hat lying upside down on the rocks.  Luckily it  had fallen off my head on the side away from the water.    Being extra careful where to step and with hat firmly in hand I made my way back to the Jeep.  I was now very aware of how wet and cold the back half of my body was.  My little finger felt like it had been slammed in a car door and I suddenly realized my Smart Phone was not on my belt!!

‘SAY D’YA SUPPOSE THAT TUMBLE HE TOOK THIS MORNING MIGHT HAVE KNOCKED SOME SENSE INTO HIM’??    ‘NAWWWW, I DON’T THINK SO’

When I had reached for my Smart Phone it wasn’t the familiar feel of it’s case I felt.  Instead it was the feel of my Sony point and shoot camera case.  I instantly remembered it was the camera I had put on my belt this morning and not the Smart Phone.  I quickly pulled the camera out of it’s case expecting it to be sopping wet.  It was as dry as could be despite being on the water side of the lake for about half a dozen seconds.  Okay, where’s my Smart Phone then….oh ya, I had put it in my right hand shirt pocket earlier and sure enough it was still there, and dry too.  Remembering the striking sound my camera had made when I fell I next very worriedly turned my attention to my D7200 Nikon.

BIRDS IN MOTION

EXCEPT FOR IT’S RIGHT FRONT LEG THIS LITTLE FELLOW IS IN FULL TAKE-OFF MODE

As I said, the camera was dry and had not gone into the water.  There were no visible marks, bashes, dents, bangs, or scrapes on it and the lens glass was intact and not cracked or broken.  I turned the camera off and then on again.  Everything sounded normal so I took a few photos out the window.  Auto focus worked fine, tried a few settings, auto flash worked, etc.  I knew the true test would be when I got home and had a look at the few photos I had just taken. 

Thinking about all this later I came to the conclusion it was the little finger of my left hand which cushioned the camera when it struck the ground and the sound I heard was the camera’s lens hood striking a glancing blow against a rock.  All in all I was very lucky in not damaging anything and aside from a still swollen little finger, a couple tweaks in my back, and a sizable chunk of skin off my right knee I came away from my foolish tumble in relatively good shape.  Mad at my brain though for being so careless and not warning me of the icy hazard right in front of me. 

With my overly damp wallet lying open on the dash vent  sucking in hot air Pheebs and I cut our morning drive short and headed for home.  It was time to get out of my cold wet clothes and into some warm and dry cozy feeling stuff.  I was surprised at the amount of sand in my clothes so it was into the wash machine with everything……….and that kind of wraps up another way.

PERCHED ATOP A PILE OF DIRTY ICE AND SNOW ALONG THE WATER

In conclusion….My photos downloaded fine and I could not see any problem with them or my camera.  My back tweaks are gone and the tip of my little finger on my left hand has turned purple……Oh, and there is a positive side to my silly mishap this morning.  At least it gave me something different to write tonight for a change.  ‘Yaaaay Team’:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Newest Discovery::

A new aid to rapid--almost magical--learning has made its appearance. Indications are that if it catches on all the electronic gadgets will be so much junk.  The new device is known as Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge. The makers generally call it by its initials, BOOK.
Many advantages are claimed over the old-style learning and teaching aids on which most people are brought up nowadays. It has no wires, no electric circuit to break down. No connection is needed to an electricity power point. It is made entirely without mechanical parts to go wrong or need replacement.  Anyone can use BOOK, even children, and it fits comfortably into the hands. It can be conveniently used sitting in an armchair by the fire.
So how does this revolutionary, unbelievably easy invention work? Basically BOOK consists only of a large number of paper sheets. These may run to hundreds where BOOK covers a lengthy programs of information. Each sheet bears a number in sequence, so that the sheets cannot be used in the wrong order.  To make it even easier for the user to keep the sheets in the proper order they are held firmly in place by a special locking device called a "binding".  Each sheet of paper presents the user with an information sequence in the form of symbols, which he absorbs optically for automatic registration on the brain. When one sheet has been assimilated a flick of the finger turns it over and further information is found on the other side.  By using both sides of each sheet in this way a great economy is effected, thus reducing both the size and cost of BOOK. No buttons need to be pressed to move from one sheet to another, to open or close BOOK, or to start it working.  BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it. Instantly it is ready for use. Nothing has to be connected up or switched on. The user may turn at will to any sheet, going backwards or forwards as he pleases. A sheet is provided near the beginning as a location finder for any required information sequence.  A small accessory, available at trifling extra cost, is the BOOK-mark. This enables the user to pick up his program where he left off on the previous learning session. BOOK-mark is versatile and may be used in any BOOK.  The initial cost varies with the size and subject matter. Already a vast range of BOOKs are available, covering every conceivable subject and adjusted to different levels of aptitude. One BOOK, small enough to be held in the hands, may contain an entire learning schedule.  Once purchased, BOOK requires no further upkeep cost; no batteries or wires are needed, since the motive power, thanks to an ingenious device patented by the makers, is supplied by the brain of the user.  BOOKs may be stored on handy shelves and for ease of reference the program schedule is normally indicated on the back of the binding.  Altogether the Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge seems to have great advantages with no drawbacks. We predict a big future for it.

---

A SAD MEMORY FROM 6 YEARS AGO

SOMETIMES HARD TO KNOW WHERE THE WATER MEETS THE SKY

So the snow on the ground this morning was an April Fool's day joke right??  Wrong!!  It was there alright and the ground was completely covered here in our Park but luckily it was just a light dusting which looked worse than it really was.  Fortunately we had a nice sunrise meaning we had a good chance at a clear sunny day.  And by golly that's what it turned out to be.  Pheebs and I did make it over to the Hullett Marsh with the intentions of a walk but icy winds nixed that idea and we came home again. 

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS

Sitting in front of my computer tonight trying to think of what to write about I was struck with a sadness when I recalled something that happened the night of March 31rst 2012 in Congress Arizona.  It was 6 years ago our little Cora (Motormouse) died.  It was on the eve of our return journey from our newly acquired old ranch house in Congress Arizona to our home back here in Bayfield Ontario.   I include this link tonight in memory of our little Beans.  Our Little Motormouse Has Gone To Be With Her Old Pals Max And Checkers.

TUNDRA SWANS AT THE HULLETT MARSH THIS MORNING

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A Few Passenger Aircraft Announcements::

1. "Weather at our destination is 50 degrees with some broken clouds, but we'll try to have them fixed before we arrive. Thank you, and
remember, nobody loves you, or your money, more than Southwest Airlines."

2. "Your seat cushions can be used for flotation, and, in the event of an emergency water landing, please paddle to shore and take them with you with our compliments."

3. "As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all of your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed evenly among the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses."

4. And from the pilot during his welcome message: "Delta airlines is pleased to have some of the best flight attendants in the industry. Unfortunately, none of them are on this flight!"

5. Overheard on an American Airlines flight into Amarillo, Texas, on a particularly windy and bumpy day: During the final approach, the Captain was really having to fight it. After an extremely hard landing, the Flight Attendant said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Amarillo. Please remain in your seats with your seat belts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate.

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