A BUSH LANE WALK AND WAXING OF THE MOTORHOME BEGINS

Spring has finally kicked into high gear and things are actually looking and feeling like Spring itself again.  Pheebs and I had hoped to do another Bayfield Trail this morning but when we got there it was closed due to ‘hunting’!!  #!!%*%##

CALM LAKE HURON WATERS FOR BAYFIELD FISHERMEN THIS MORNING

NICE TO SEE A FEW SAIL BOATS BEGINNING TO APPEAR

THIS DREDGING BARGE HAS BEEN BUSY DEEPENING THE HARBOR

I DON’T THINK THIS OLD BLISTER HAS SEEN WATER FOR A LONG TIME

SPOTTED THIS NICE LITTLE COTTAGE-HOUSE FOR SALE SOUTH OF BAYFIELD….OH GEE ONLY A MERE $700.000….OH DID I NOT MENTION IT’S LAKE FRONT

It was a short Jeep ride for Pheebs and I a few miles south of Bayfield.  Spotted us a bush lane, parked the Jeep, and took ourselves for a walk.  Lots of trilliums in the forest and how nice to be outside wandering around in a vibrantly green forest blossoming forth with new and old life.

WE WANDERED OFF DOWN THIS BUSH LANE

TRILLIUM FLOWER

MAY APPLES ABOUND ON THE FOREST FLOOR

TOWERING 12 INCH MAY APPLES MAKE FOR A SECOND FOREST CANOPY OVER THE FOREST FLOOR

STILL NO PESKY BUGS OUT YET TO RUIN ONE’S DAY

WILD DAFFODILS

<<< BEECH TREES ARE THE GREATEST FOR CARVING ONE’S INITIALS INTO

Back home again I hauled out my ladders, cleaners, waxes, buffing cloths and electric buffer.  Had it in my mind for quite awhile to clean up and wax the top of the Motorhome’s front cap above the windshield.  There was absolutely no shine left on that part of the coach’s finish.  A dozen trips up and down the ladder finally saw that job finished.  Well no point in stopping there so I went on to clean and wax the whole front end.  Maybe tomorrow or Friday I’ll have a go at the rear cap and see if I can get that all waxed up as well.  Sure makes things easier when one has an electric buffer.

PRECARIOUSLY PERCHED ATOP MY LADDER BUFFING THE FRONT CAP AVOVE THE WINDSHIELD

KELLY SNAPS A COUPLE PHOTOS WITH HER SMART PHONE ABOVE AND BELOW

<<< IT’S BEEN A COUPLE YEARS SINCE I LAST SCRUBBED THE RIG’S ROOF AND I WAS SURPRISED AT HOW CLEAN IT STILL IS

With the rig’s rear ladder now repaired I was soon up on the roof to check things out up there as well.  With the roof looking much cleaner than I expected the only thing left to clean up was the solar panels so I took care of that.  Don’t know where I’m getting all this energy from but experience tells me I had better capitalize on it while it’s here because I know it is not a permanent thing anymore.

ON OUR MORNING BUSH LANE WALK I SPOTTED SOMETHING UNUSUAL ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS FIELD

COMING CLOSER I SAW THAT IT WAS A ‘HUNTER’S BLIND’

LOOKING INSIDE THE BLIND

WHEN THE WORLD IS GETTING YOU DOWN JUST TAKE YOURSELF FOR A QUIET MORNING WALK IN A FOREST

AN OLD ROTTING STUMP >>>

Had one bag of unopened bark mulch left over from last summer which had wintered in the shed.  Wheel barrowed it around to one of our front flower beds, opened it and dug in with both hands lifting out the mulch and carefully placing it around some daffodils.  About the 5th scoop I felt a slight tinkling tickle on my arms.  Looked down and ‘OMG’ there was about a ka-zillion million tiny ants scattering about all over my arms.  They had obviously built themselves a nest in that bag of mulch and they were just pouring out in a full state of panic.  Quickly brushed them off my arms as best I could then dumped the remaining mulch into the flower bed and exited the scene.  Came back later, no sign of any ants so I spread out the mulch and all was well.  Even me.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The Iowa Wage and Hour Department claimed a man owning a small farm was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an agent to interview him.  "I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them," demanded the agent. "Well, there are my hired hands. One has been with me for four years; the other for three. I pay them each $600 a week, plus free room and board. The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $500 a month plus free room and board. Then there's the half-wit that works here about 18 hours a day. He takes home $10 a week and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every week," replied the farmer. "That's the guy I want to talk to; the half-wit," said the agent.  The farmer said, "That would be me."

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Abe and Esther are flying to Australia for a two-week vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Suddenly, over the public address system the Captain announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news. Our engines have ceased functioning and we will attempt an emergency landing. Luckily, I see an uncharted island below us and we should be able to land on the beach. However, the odds are that we may never be rescued and will have to live on the island for the rest of our lives!"  Thanks to the skill of the flight crew, the plane lands safely on the island. An hour later Abe turns to his wife and asks, "Esther, did we pay our $5,000 PBS pledge check yet?"  "No, sweetheart," she responds.  Abe, still shaken from the crash landing, then asks, "Esther, did we pay our American Express card yet?"  "Oh, no! I'm sorry. I forgot to send the check," she says.  "One last thing, Esther. Did you remember to send checks for the Visa and MasterCard this month?" he asks.  "Oh, forgive me, Abie," begged Esther, "I didn't send that one, either."  Abe grabs her and gives her the biggest kiss in 40 years.   Esther pulls away and asks, "What was that for?"  Abe answers, "Not to worry Esther they'll find us for sure now!"

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A RAINY JEEP RIDE AND ALL THE MOTORHOME’S BINS ARE NOW CLEANED

OUR FORESTS ARE QUICKLY GREENING UP

Rains, heavy at times, came in the night and stayed for most of the morning.  Had a couple options.  Leave the recently washed and shiny cleaned up Jeep in the carport or load up the Pheebs and later return home with a mud wagon.  Well seeings how we didn't go anywhere Monday it was a no brainer and we headed off to see what we could see.  Up to Goderich for coffee, harbor run, and back home by 11 with a reasonably clean Jeep despite it raining non stop all the way.  Luckily even I knew enough to stay off the mud soaked country roads today.

SURE HAD US A WET JEEP RIDE TO GODERICH THIS MORNING

NICE TO SEE THINGS LOOKING SO NEAT CLEAN AND FRESH IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

NO SIGN OF THE FARMER IN THIS MOTIONLESS TRACTOR OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A RAIN SOAKED FIELD

AT THE BEACH I STAYED IN THE JEEP WHILE PHEEBS HAD A WALK AROUND IN THE RAIN

Rains ended late morning and skies began clearing by early afternoon.  Checked my energy levels, saw that I had a few extra units to spare so started right away on cleaning the Motorhome’s bins.   Everything out of the bins, vacuum them all out thoroughly and about a third of the stuff back into the bins.  Cleaned up the 'wet bay', generator, checked the 4 solar batteries and cleaned up the electrical bin as well.  For a 15 year old Motorhome it's still in great shape and lookin good.

ALL THE RIG’S BINS ARE NOW CLEAN

HOSED DOWN OUR OUTSIDE RV MAT AND SURE HAD A LOT OF CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA DESERT DUST COME OUT OF IT

Several readers mentioned our decision a few years ago to downsize from our 2003 Damon Challenger 33' Motorhome to a smaller 2013 Chevy 23’ Sunseeker Class C.  (Our Chevy Sunseeker Link) Yes that was a mistake on our part but we then compounded that mistake with a second mistake.  We traded that smaller Class C in on a larger Class C. (Our Ford Winnebago Link) Nope that didn't work either and we ended up selling that Winnebago Access 2011 27' Class C to buy the largest RV we've ever had, our current 2003 37' Class A Triple E Commander Motorhome.  Despite making a few dollars (I think it was about two dollars and forty nine cents) we are very aware of our 2 downsizing mistakes a few years ago and it is playing a big part in our current thoughts.  Circumstances were different when we last downsized but still no matter what advantages a smaller RV might have,  a smaller living space is a smaller living space and there is simply no way around that no matter which way ya slice the bananas.

IT IS AMAZING HOW FAST OUR LANDSCAPE HAS GREENED UP IN JUST THE PAST COUPLE DAYS

JUST BEFORE POSTING TONIGHT THIS MALE BALTIMORE ORIOLE LANDED ON OUR SUET FEEDER AND I WAS ONLY ABLE TO GET TWO QUICK SHOTS OF HIM BEFORE HE WAS GONE

Another commenter mentioned about traveling in the Spring and Fall instead of Winter and we have been talking about that for awhile as well.  In the mid 80's I travelled to Canada's east coast in my Volkswagen van camper in the month of September which in my opinion along with October is the best month of the entire year to go somewhere.  By staying on the move I was able to see a fair amount of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton.  I never spent any more than two days in one place.  This type of traveling may or may not be more to our liking if we decide to do something like that.  I think our days of boon-docking in all our old familiar southwest places for a week or more are probably behind us.  I believe the bottom line for us now at this age and stage is to change things up, adjust ourselves best we can to change, and try to come up with a different and more interesting way to continue our RV travels.  Well it all looks good on paper of course but only time will tell and we'll have to wait to see what happens………….

SOME DAYS AT OUR HOUSE THERE ARE TOY TOYS EVERYWHERE

OH-OH PHEEBS IS ALL WORRIED BECAUSE MOM’S GOING SOMEWHEE IN THE CAR WITHOUT HER

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An important and very well publicized murder trial was soon to begin. In preparation for the trial, the tiresome jury selection process took place, each side hotly contesting and dismissing potential jurors.  One prospective juror, Dan O'Keefe, was called for his question session.  He was asked, "Property holder?"  Dan replied, "Yes, I am, Your Honor."  Then he was asked, "Married or single?"  Dan responded, "Married for twenty years, Your Honor." Then the judge asked, "Formed or expressed an opinion?"  Dan stated with certainty, "Not in twenty years, Your Honor."

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Seen on a bumper sticker:  "I believe in dragons, good men, and other fantasy creatures."

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One evening, while sitting around the dinner table, a little girl looked up and asked her father, "Daddy, you're the boss, right?"   Her father was very pleased by this and replied, "Yes."   Then, the little girl continued, "That's because mommy put you in charge, right?"

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FLOWER BEDS ARE COMING ALIVE AND STILL IN A QUANDRY ABOUT OUR RV FUTURE

No Jeep ride this morning, in fact the Jeep never moved all day and I never moved off the property either.  Spent my day puttering around the yard.  Moved some bird feeders around and helped Kelly re-arrange a bunch of hanging flower baskets she had brought home a few days ago.  Didn’t have any photos so slipped out into the front yard just before supper and snapped a few for tonight’s post.

OUR AZALEA PLANT IS IN BLOOM

A BUSY BUZZY BEE BUM

I know I’ve mentioned this before in a few previous posts but the subject of our future RV travels came up again recently here at home.  There was a time in our earlier years when after arriving back in Bayfield in the Spring we knew exactly when and where we would be headed in the Fall again.  It was never in doubt and we (especially me) counted the days to when we would be back on the road headed once more for our beloved destination of choice, the great American Southwest.  It was our second home and we loved it so much we even bought an Arizona house in early March of 2012.  That was great for over 4 years but we got a little bored after awhile and became restless.   Sold the house in December of 2016 .  What a great feeling to be free and back on the road again.  But it didn’t last.  We did enjoy our time boon-docking for the remainder of that winter but after returning home in late March of 2017 we both noticed a change in ourselves.  For the first time we were not counting the days until we headed south again.  We knew we would be going alright but we had trouble all last summer rallying our enthusiasm.  We did eventually head for the Southwest but something had changed in both of us.  We were there last winter of course but yet again, we really didn’t seem to be there at all.  Gone was the excitement and adventure of previous years.  Gone was the newness of everything.  There we were in all our favorite places hoping to re-do all our favorite things, and yet we just couldn’t seem to get ourselves in gear like in previous years.  I haven’t even done my annual Marshal South trek up Ghost Mountain the past two years.  The old saying ‘been there done that’ kept ringing in our ears.  We both agreed the best part of last winter for us was coming home.

So that brings us to our latest and current state of confusion and indecision.  It’s been suggested we try Mexico but we don’t have any interest in RVing around Mexico.  Not saying it isn’t a great winter destination but it’s not for us just as traveling abroad to say Europe , Australia, South America, or Alaska is.  I don’t know why that is, it just is.  Traveling in the summer is not high on our interest list either.  Maybe 20 years ago it would have been but not now.   About the only thing we’ve hammered out so far is that we both agreed if we do get away it will not be for the 5 or 6 months we used to go for.  Maybe 2 months and that’s about it.  I am not yet at the point where I want to just sit here in the cold and snow for the whole winter doing nothing!!

My heart is still in the southwest and always will be.  Have not seen anywhere else in the States that I like better for a winter destination but going back again to all the same old places doing all the same old things just doesn’t hold the same interests it once did.  The drawback of course is the weather.  We would love to see northern California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and of course more of Utah but it’s waaaaaay to cold in all those places during the months of December, January and February.  We have always been confined by the warmer weather to southern New Mexico, Arizona, and California.  Do we want to keep our 37’ Motorhome and repeat our repetitious boon-docking lifestyle of 12 years or do we downsize to a smaller more fuel efficient RV and maybe travel further afield more often to new places.  Yes, we have a lot to think about this summer………………………….

 

It is so nice to see our flower beds ‘FINALLY’ springing to life.  Always an amazing time of year when everything goes from looking so dead to looking so vibrantly alive.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  At a local coffee bar, a young woman was expounding on her idea of the perfect mate to some of her friends.  "The man I marry must be a shining light amongst company. He must be musical. Tell jokes. Sing. Entertain. And stay home at night!"  An old granny overheard and spoke up, "Girl, if that's all you want, get a TV!"

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Bill: Your wife is a lovely woman.
Bob: She’s getting old.
Bill: Well, you know, they say that women age like fine wine.
Bob: She’s aging like milk.

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As the plane was flying low over some hills near Athens, a lady asked the stewardess: "What's that stuff on those hills?"  "Just snow," replied the stewardess.   "That's what I thought," said the lady, "but this fellow in front of me said it was Greece."

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"When I saw you driving down the road, I guessed 75 at least.""You're wrong, officer, it's only my hat that makes me look that old."

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