PHEEBS & I WERE OUT SWAMPING IT THIS MORNING & PUTTERING AROUND IN THE MOTORHOME

A short and fast moving storm rolled through our area late Monday afternoon bringing with it delightfully cooler air which chased the existing heat and humidity right out of Dodge.  Well at least for a few hours anyway.

LOOKS LIKE THE LADIES BAYFIELD POLE WALKERS WERE OUT IN FULL FORCE THIS MORNING

HEADING ON DOWN ANOTHER SCENIC COUNTRY ROAD

LOOKS LIKE FARMERS HAVE GOT THE WHEAT HARVEST IN

Taking advantage of our morning’s cool down Pheebs and I with a coffee to go from Bayfield’s Shopbike Coffee Roasters headed southeast out of town to a walking spot where Bannockburn Line dead-ends south of Centennial Road.  This dead end road runs along the east side of Kerr's Campground.  If you happen to click on the campground site and look through the photos keep an eye out for Pheebs:))

PARKED THE JEEP AND HEADED DOWN THAT ROAD TO WHERE IT ENDS AT A SWAMPY AREA…..ABOUT A HALF MILE WALK THERE AND BACK

WOULDN’T ADVISE GOING DOWN THERE WITHOUT A 4 WHEEL DRIVE VEHICLE

LOTS OF BULLRUSHES

 

We’ve never encountered another person along this rutted stretch of bush road alongside the campground but we sure did encounter a number of biting Deer Flies this morning.  No mosquitos though despite it’s swampy area at the southernmost dead end.  A nice easily accessible spot for a quiet country walk.  Once past the campground look for a parking spot alongside the road on your left.

WE VENTURED INTO THE SWAMP AND SURPRISINGLY THERE WERE NO MOSQUITOS

PHEEBS IS IN BOTH THE ABOVE AND BELOW PHOTOS

LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY HAS BEEN IN HERE MUCKING ABOUT WITH AN ATV

‘HEY DAD ARE WE LOST YET’

‘NO PHEEBS WE JUST HAVE TO MAKE A LEFT TURN AT THAT BRIGHT GREEN FERN AHEAD’

<<<<<< I THINK AN OLD TROLL LIVES UNDER THAT GNARLY PIECE OF WOOD

Wasn’t long before I could feel the heat and humidity rising again so we made our way back to the Jeep and headed for home.  What an absolutely beautiful morning it had been in the cooler air.  Soon the early morning’s coolness will extend further into the shortening days and we’ll be able to stay out longer, walk farther, and do more things comfortably.

A COUPLE MORE TROLL HOUSES

WILD CHICORY

Back home I was happy to busy myself outside organizing things to be loaded back into the Motorhome for this winter’s journey.  In the Spring each year when we return home I’m in the habit of partially unloading most of the rig’s bins in preparation for cleaning them.  Later this morning I began reloading things and what a nice feeling that gave me.  Yes, some days are just definitely better than other days. 

WHEREVER I GO MY CAMERA IS ALWAYS BY MY SIDE…..OH AND BY THE WAY I DON’T THINK THE DRIVER’S SIDE AIRBAG WORKS SO I AM IN THE HABIT OF STUFFING A BIG PILLOW IN MY SHIRT IN CASE OF A CRASH….YOU DIDN’T REALLY BELIEVE THAT DID YOU:))

AFTER I TOOK THIS PICTURE OF PHEEBS SHE ALSO TOOK A PICTURE OF ME

Just when I thought our afternoon was going to be another write off due to the rising heat and humidity an amazing thing occurred when a pleasantly chilling breeze blew into the area.  Don't think I've ever experienced a quick temperature drop like that before but oh my what a welcome relief it was:))))))))

The strike at Goderich’s Sifto Salt Mine is finally over so that means with no picket line in place a section of the north side harbor is once again open to people like myself who like to occasionally drop by looking for a few photos.

GROANER’S CORNER:))  MacAndrews was visiting his Irish cousin, O'Bannon. While there he decided to do a bit of fishing. As he sat there one afternoon, his cousin walked by.  "What are ye doing?" asked O'Bannon.  "Fishin'," said MacAndrews.  "Caught anything?"  "Ach, nae a bite,"  "What are ye usin' fer bait?"  "Worms" "Let me see it," said O'Bannon.  MacAndrews lifted the line from the water and handed it to his cousin. O'Bannon took out his flask of whiskey and dipped the worm in it. He handed it back to MacAndrews, who cast his line once more. As soon as the worm hit the water, his rod bent over double, the line screaming out.  "Have ye got a bite?" asked O'Bannon.  "No!" shouted MacAndrews, fighting with the rod, "The worm's got a salmon by the throat!"

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“What do you call a water bottle without a cap? De-cap-itated.”

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An Irishman is walking along the beach one day, and he sees a bottle laying in the sand. He picks it up and starts to brush it off, and out pops a genie.   The genie says, "Since you have freed me from the bottle, I will grant you three wishes."   The Irishman thinks for a moment and says, "I'm feeling a might thirsty, I think I'll be wishing for a pint of stout."   POOF! There is a pint of stout in his hand. He drinks it down, and starts to throw the bottle, when the genie says, "I'd look at that bottle again before I threw it if I were you." So he looks at the bottle, and it is magically filling back up with stout. The genie told him, "That is a magic bottle, and it will always fill back up after you finish it." The genie then asked, "What other two wishes can I grant for you?"   The Irishman looks at the bottle in his hand and says, "I'll be taking two more of these."

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PHEEBS & I CHASED A MORNING STORM AND I LATER SAT AND WAITING FOR ONE TO BLOW IN OFF THE LAKE

WITH THOSE SNOW CAPPED MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND COULD THIS BE COLORADO??  NOPE, THIS IS BAYFIELD’S PIONEER PARK AND THOSE ARE DARK STORM CLOUDS IN THE BACKGROUND LATE THIS AFTERNOON

Sorry for all the confusion regarding the posting of my blog Sunday night.  Still a big mystery as to what happened so my fingers are crossed that publishing tonight’s post will go alright.  Some of the dates are mixed up so here is my official Sunday post link..... Oh So That's What Richard And Al Were Up To Last Thursday Morning  Eh. And a big thanks to Kelly for finding it and the other 3 missing posts. 

PHEEBS AND I STARTED OFF CHASING A STORM THIS MORNING

ROADS WET SO WE’RE GETTING CLOSER

AHHHHH YES THERE’S THE RAIN FINALLY

When our A/C kicked on at 7 a.m. this morning I knew that was probably a pretty good indication Pheebs and I would not be out for a walk anywhere.  Kelly said Pheebs was already dragging herself along in the humidity when they were out for a walk earlier.  About 7:30 I heard the first roll of thunder coming in off the lake and a quick check of our live radar weather feed confirmed a storm cell was headed in our general direction.  Half an hour later with more cracks of thunder Pheebs and loaded ourselves into the Jeep and headed north towards Goderich in hopes of catching the storm and grabbing some photos.  Roads turned from dry to wet about half way there and by the time we reached Goodrich the storm had blown through leaving a bucket load of rain behind.  Puddles in the parking lots.  We cruised down around the harbor and despite it raining lightly I was able to get Pheebs out for a short walk close to the Jeep.  Sun popped out in a few spots and the humidity immediately went up so after a couple quick errand stops we headed back home.  It wasn't even 10 o'clock and our outside activities were already pretty much over for the day.  Absolutely hate when that happens!!  Severe thunderstorm watch was issued this afternoon.

RAIN DIDN’T SCARE OFF THESE HARDY WORKERS OR THE FOLKS BELOW SITTING IN A GAZEBO BY THE LAKE

THE CUYAHOGA WAS IN PORT THIS MORNING AND THE AFT SECTION OF THIS SHIP ALWAYS REMINDS ME OF AN OLD TRAMP STEAMER SOMEWHERE IN THE OLD CHINA SEA WITH HUMPHRY BOGART AND LAUREN BECALL ONBOARD ……. CIRCA LATE 1930’S

DESPITE A STRIKE STILL GOING ON AT THE SIFTO SALT MINE PLANT EXPANSION IS STILL CONTINUING

I HAVE A FEELING THIS MAY BE A NEW ELEVATOR SHAFT GOING DOWN INTO THE MINE

I FELL OFF THE PIER INTO THE HARBOR AND WHILE MAKING MY WAY BACK UP TO THE SURFACE I TOOK THIS PHOTO OF A TREE BRANCH HANGING OUT OVER THE WATER………OKAY, OKAY, SO THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN……IT’S REALLY SOME KIND OF GREEN PLANT GROWING OUT OF A CRACK IN THE DOCK AND BACKGROUNDED BY THE HARBOR’S DEEP BLUE WATERS

With the afternoon thunderstorm watch in mind I checked our live radar feed and saw storm cells forming up over Eastern Michigan and starting across the lake.  One appeared headed for Bayfield so I grabbed my camera and headed on over to Bayfield's Pioneer Park hoping for some ominously dark storm cloud photos.  I did get a few shots but not the big dark menacing tornado laced ones I was looking for.  Ended up coming back home after half an hour.

ZIPPING INTO BAYFIELD LATE THIS AFTERNOON I COULD SEE TALL CUMULUS CLOUDS BUILDING TO THE SOUTH

STORM CLOUDS GATHERING OVER THE LAKE TO THE WEST

WITH THE FIRST PEELS OF THUNDER BOATERS HEAD FOR SHORE

THESE TEENERS  GATHERED ON THE HULL OF AN OLD SHIPWRECK HAVING FUN OF COURSE AND COULDN’T CARE LESS ABOUT A POTENTIAL STORM ….. STORM SCHMORM WHO CARES

WHERE ONCE THE LAKE AND SKY WERE ONE I NOTICED A PENCIL THIN DARK BLUE LINE FORMING ACROSS THE HORIZON….OH-OH, MAYBE A SUNAMI WAVE??

TOOK ME A FEW MINUTES TO FIGURE OUT WHAT IT WAS

SLOWLY APROACHING LAND IT FINALLY DAWNED ON ME WHAT WAS HAPPENING

WIND ON THE WATER BLOWING IN AHEAD OF THE STORM

MINUTES BEFORE NOT A LEAF STIRRED IN THE LATE AFTERNOON’S HOT AND HUMID STILL AIR

THE WINDS SOON SWEPT IN ROLLING UP THE TALL BLUFFS RUSTLING OVERHEAD BRANCHES BEHIND ME

AND I SAW A MADCAP FUZZY HEADED WOODPECKER RACING ACROSS THE SKY HEADING SOUTH

Well I just went and did what I had set out not to do.  I did not want to write this post with a lot of photos in it in case it didn’t publish again tonight.  Well, I haven’t ever been very good at listening to myself so here goes………………..

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Jon's working at the lumberyard, pushing a tree through the buzz saw, and accidentally shears off all ten of his fingers. He goes to the emergency room.  The doctor says, "Yuck! Well, give me the fingers, and I'll see what I can do."  Jon says, "I haven't got the fingers."  The doctor says, "What do you mean, you haven't got the fingers? It's 1998. We've got microsurgery and all kinds of incredible techniques. I could have put them back on and made you like new. Why didn't you bring the fingers?"  Jon says, "Well, heck, Doc, I just couldn't seem to pick 'em up."

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A man and his wife were making their first doctor visit, the wife being pregnant with their first child.  After everything checked out, the doctor took a small stamp and stamped the wife's stomach with indelible ink.  The couple was curious about what the stamp was for, so when they got home, the husband got out his magnifying glass to try to see what it was.  In very tiny letters, the stamp said, "When you can read this without a magnifying glass, come back and see me."

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Why does the bride always wear white? Because it's good for the dishwasher to match the fridge and  stove.

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BLOG TEST

OH-OH……..It seems something has happened to my blog!!

OH, SO THAT IS WHAT AL AND RICHARD WERE UP TO

It’s a long walk from our house to our good friends Richard and Gayle's house and it took us all of 35 seconds to make the arduous flat walk journey this morning.  Now that the deal is done I can tell you they have bought themselves a 2002 32’ Georgetown Class A Motorhome.  And that’s where Richard and I were this past Thursday morning when I was a bit secretive as to what we were up to.  I didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag until it was all a done deal.  It was just the absolute right priced Motorhome for the absolute right minded people at the very absolute right time.  A big huge thank you goes out to Ron Krauter from Four Seasons Performance in Grand Bend for making this ‘great deal’ happen for Gayle and Richard.  Just a super knowledgeable and caring guy and if anyone is looking for honesty and integrity in buying an RV Ron is your guy to talk with.  We’ve known Ron over 11 years now and have never met a fairer or nicer person to do business with.  If you happen to drop in there just tell him the ‘Bayfield Bunch’ sent ya:))

IN PARKHILL ONTARIO LAST THURSDAY WE LOCATED THE MOTORHOME, JUMPED OUT OF RICHARD’S VAN LIKE A COUPLE EXCITED TEEN-AGERS AND HAD US A LOOK SEE

‘OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY’

RICHARD DROVE THE RIG TWO THIRDS OF THE WAY BACK TO GRAND BEND AND I DROVE IT THE LAST THIRD….HERE I AM IN THE RIG WITH RICHARD LEADING THE WAY

BACK AT RON’S PLACEI THINK THE BOYS ARE TALKING TURKEY HERE

RICHARD ON THE LEFT AND RON ON THE RIGHT

Needless to say there’s lots of excitement over at Gayle and Richards right now and we had ourselves a long coffee break with them in their Georgie Motorhome this morning.  Kelly hadn’t seen the rig so a tour was in order.  I had seen and driven the coach part way when Richard and I picked it up in Parkhill Ontario Thursday and brought it back to Ron’s place in Grand Bend.  Their Georgetown is almost identical to our Triple E Commander in graphics and color.  Richard and Gayle are not new to RVing having had a couple Class C RV’s years ago as well as a new Monaco.  They are so much looking forward to the freedom of the open road again.

RICHARD ROLLS INTO THE PARK WITH THE BIG GEORGETOWN FRIDAY NIGHT

BACKS IT INTO THEIR DRIVEWAY

AND IT’S HOME:))

Not wanting to spend any time outside due to the heat today I used my indoor time constructively on the computer to geographically travel myself to a number of places we have never been but will be traveling too in a couple months.   Checking ahead along our route for State Parks, Passport America Parks, Points of Interest, scenic bi-ways, etc, I have started computer files on South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and northern California.  Checked out average temperatures for September and October in various areas along the way and I was happy to read they consider it the ‘off season’ out there.  Hopefully less people and traffic.  Last time we traveled through South Dakota four years ago from north to south we did see Mount Rushmore but missed the Badlands and other area attractions.  Stayed at a nice little RV Park in Sturgis for a couple days but Kelly was feeling sick and I wasn't feeling much better so we pulled up stakes, pointed the rig’s nose south, put the pedal to the metal, and headed straight for our house in Congress which we had at that time.  We plan to travel differently this year from recent years in that we hope to make more use of RV and State Parks along the way.  Less Walmarts.  And because most of our travels will be through areas we have never been we hope to spend more time sightseeing along the way like we did in our earlier RV travels. When we reach Oregon we plan to do the coastal route from north to south down into California.  In hindsight I wished we had thought to do this trip last winter then this year do Idaho and Oregon's interior.  Oh well, maybe if this winter goes alright we could think of that next year.  And there I go getting waaaaaaay ahead of myself again..…….:))

HOSTA FLOWER

 

WATER SPIDERS

TWO OF OUR THREE POND FISH

DESPITE OUR AREAS DRYNESS WE HAVE MUSHROOMS GROWING NEAR THE FROG POND

Another hot day coming up Monday so Pheebs and I will have to get out early if we’re going to get a walk in.  She doesn’t like this kind of hot weather any better than I do.  I think it’s supposed to cool off a bit Tuesday.  If I was an American citizen I probably would have pulled up stakes a long time ago and maybe moved to northern New Mexico somewhere for the summers and spent the winters RVing in Arizona and California.

ONE OF OUR FRONT YARD’S NEON FROG MONSTERS

GROANER’S CORNER:(( If you are from the northern states and planning on visiting or moving to the south, there are a few things you should know that will help you adapt to the difference in life styles:
1. If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel-drive pickup truck with a 12-pack of beer and a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
2. Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store. Do not buy food at this store.
3. Remember: "Y'all" is singular, "All y'all" is plural, and "All y'alls'" is plural possessive.
4. Get used to hearing "You ain't from around here, are ya?"
5. You may hear a Southerner say "Oughta!" to a dog or child. This is short for "Y'all oughta not do that!" and is the equivalent of saying "No!"
6. Don't be worried about not understanding what people are saying; they can't understand you, either.
7. The first Southern expression to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective "big ol'," as in "big ol' truck " or "big ol' boy." Most Northerners begin their new Southern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it.
8. The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.
9. Be advised that "He needed killin'" is a valid defense here.
10. If you hear a Southerner exclaim "Hey, y'all, watch this," stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say.
11. If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there.
12. When you come upon a person driving 15 mph down the middle of the road, remember that most folks here learn to drive on a John Deere, and that this is the proper speed and position for that vehicle.

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Little Johnny's new baby brother was screaming up a storm.Johnny asked his mom, “Where’d he come from?”“He came from heaven, Johnny.”“Wow! I can see why they threw him out!”