Sunday, October 07, 2018

A LONG DAY UNDER GRAY OVERCAST SKIES

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Rains came pattering on our roof in the night while light winds occasionally flapped our stove vent.  Not quite enough to keep me awake but I was somehow aware of it. 

The day remained sullen, overcast, and cool so I again remained close to my Kindle reader, computer, recliner, and Sirius Satellite Music channels.

Never even managed to take any photos today and yes it was my Birthday but I always like to keep that under wraps and not make any fuss about it.  I am now 74.  Guess I’m just not much of a wild and crazy celebratory guy anymore.

Kelly’s sister Cathy came over  about 5:30 followed closely by Kelly’s brother and wife Leslie.  A big chicken and ribs supper was ordered by phone and picked up.  A good deal of food was eaten by all……………

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A young mother finds out she is pregnant again, and she tells the good news to anyone who will listen. One day when the woman and the boy are out shopping, a friend of the mother asks the little boy if he was excited about the new baby. "Oh, yes!" the little tyke says. And having overheard some of his parents' private conversations, he adds, "And I know what we are going to name it, too. If it's a girl we're going to call it Mary, and if it's another boy we're going to call it Quits."

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Saturday, October 06, 2018

A SLIGHTYLY BETTER DAY…..GOT SOME WINDOWS CLEANED

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KELLY’S MOM’S BACK YARD

It was 8:05 when the rains began.  A rather depressing start to the day.  Beginning to feel half civilized again but my recliner and I still remained very chummy today.

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FROM THE CREEK LOOKING BACK TOWARDS THE HOUSE

With the street being close and some cars crazily racing up and down we keep Pheebe on a leash until we are able to walk around behind the house where she can freely run.  With forethought, Kelly’s Dad years ago did not do like many folks and cut all the trees down in their backyards.  He kept the trees and with a small creek babbling through Frank’s little forest is a very peaceful place to take a short stroll and any time we’ve been visiting here.  Pheebs and I always walk back there looking for a few photos.  It will be especially pretty in a few weeks when the leaves begin to change here.

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KELLY’S DAD SPENT MANY HOURS WORKING AROUND AND SITTING BY THIS BABBLING BACKYARD BROOK

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Surprised to see the Sun pop out about mid morning and feel the temperature go up.  And here I thought I wouldn’t have to use that miserable ‘H’ word again this year but but I’ll be damned if that wretched humidity didn’t mess with my day again.  Despite the stickiness I decided to quickly take advantage of our rain spattered windows and…….clean the rig’s windows.  While I was at it I managed to clean a few of Kelly’s Mom’s house windows as well.  She can see the birds better at the feeders now from her kitchen table.

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CREEK WATERS ARE MUDDIED FROM MORNING RAINS

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DSC_3219PHEEBS PATIENTLY WAITS WHILE I TAKE A FEW PHOTOS

With her Mom’s Rav 4 Toyota Kelly slipped into town for a few groceries.  She returned with the largest Pizza box I’ve ever seen with three of the largest pizza slices ever.  Plus 3 yummy cupcakes with about a foot and a half of icing piled on top. 

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I’M NOT EXAGGERATING WHEN I SAY ONE NEEDS TWO HANDS TO LIFT THE GIANT SLICES OF PIZZA IN THIS BOX

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KELLY’S DAD WAS AN AVID GARDNER AND MUCH OF THEIR BACK YARD WAS ONCE HOME TO MANY VEGETABLES

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Radar weather map showed rains heading our way again this afternoon so I hunkered down for another long afternoon.  Luckily I have my music, my Kindle books, and my computer at my fingertips. Of all three it is my daily ever present music which keeps me on an even keel.  Take away my music and I would likely fast unravel.  I come from a family of music listener’s and enthusiasts.  My Mother, my Uncle Harry, my Aunt Jean, and me.  I grew up with music always playing in the background.  And it hasn’t changed one bit in all these 70+ years.  For me stepping into a house without music is akin to stepping into a silently cold refrigerator.  I believe music is the calming heart of any home.  The kitchen comes a distant second……………..

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GROANER’S CORNER:((  A teacher told her young class to ask their parents for a family story with a moral at the end of it, and to return the next day to tell their stories.  In the classroom the next day, Joe gave his example first, "My dad is a farmer and we have chickens. One day we were taking lots of eggs to market in a basket on the front seat of the truck when we hit a big bump in the road; the basket fell off the seat and all the eggs broke. The moral of the story is not to put all your eggs in one basket.."
"Very good," said the teacher.
Next, Mary said, "We are farmers too. We had twenty eggs waiting to hatch, but when they did we only got ten chicks. The moral of this story is not to count your chickens before they're hatched.."  "Very good," said the teacher again, very pleased with the response so far.  Next it was Barney's turn to tell his story: "My dad told me this story about my Aunt Karen.... Aunt Karen was a flight engineer in the war and her plane got hit. She had to bail out over enemy territory and all she had was a bottle of whisky, a machine gun and a machete."  "Go on," said the teacher, intrigued.  "Aunt Karen drank the whisky on the way down to prepare herself; then she landed right in the middle of a hundred enemy soldiers. She killed seventy of them with the machine gun until she ran out of bullets. Then she killed twenty more with the machete till the blade broke. And then she killed the last ten with her bare hands."  "Good heavens," said the horrified teacher, "What did your father say was the moral of that frightening story?"
"Stay away from Aunt Karen when she's been drinking..."

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Two nuns are out driving when a vampire drops onto the bonnet of their car. "Quick sister," screams one nun, "Show him your cross!" So the other nun leans out of the window and shouts, "Hey! You! Buzz off!"

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Friday, October 05, 2018

ZOMBIE DAY

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DIDN’T TAKE ANY PHOTOS TODAY BUT I DO HAVE A FEW LEFT OVER FROM THURSDAY…..SOMEWHERE ON I-90 LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON
Nice waking up this morning without that feeling we needed or wanted to be somewhere else by the end of the day.  Been missing that.
When we do get home shortly we have a big clean-up to do on the Motorhome both inside and out.  I’m hoping the day is not far off when I will absolutely not miss having to wash and clean up a great big huge Motorhome.  A smaller one might be doable.
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‘OH DEAR I HOPE MY DAD STOPS SWEARING AT THOSE OTHER DRIVERS SOON’
Thanks to Patty and Peter for pointing out a typing error in my Thursday post.  I had referred to our Motorhome’s length as 57 feet when it reality I’m sure everyone really knows I meant 37 feet.  I have since corrected the error.  Thanks P&P:))
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SNOOZING THE MILES AWAY
Kelly’s Sister Cathy along with Kelly’s brother Peter and wife Leslie dropped in for a few hours visit today which resulted in take-out food from a couple local eateries nearby.  For being 93 Kelly’s Mother is still doing reasonably well living in her own house but due to bad knee surgery a few years ago she does not get around very well anymore.
Aside from catching my laundry up I didn’t do much all day.  I am still sooooo tired and just slowly grubbed myself around in a Zombie like state.  Spent as much time as I could in my soft leather recliner just holding tightly to the arms and not moving.  Every time I pulled my favorite blankie over my head Pheebs came and pulled it off.
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GROANER’S CORNER:((  A Few Poorly Thought Out Quotes::
- "I have opinions of my own strong opinions but I don't always agree with them."- George Bush, former U.S. President"
- It is white."- George W. Bush, when asked what the White house was like by a student in East London"
- If it weren't for electricity we'd all be watching television by candlelight."- George Gobel"
- Solutions are not the answer."- Richard Nixon, former U.S. President"
- Politics give guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women. And I hope I never get into that."- Bill Clinton, former U.S. president"
- You guys line up alphabetically by height."- Bill Peterson, Florida State football coach"
- The internet is a great way to get on the net."- Bob Dole, Republican presidential candidate"
- I would say that anything that is indecent and violent on TV is a crime against humanity and they should shoot the head man responsible."- Ted Turner, Media Mogul
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Knock Knock Who's there? Ozzie! Ozzie who? Ozzie you later!
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“The neurologist wanted to propose to his girl friend, but he just didn't have the nerve.”
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Thursday, October 04, 2018

ROCHESTER NEW HAMPSHIRE TO SPENCERPORT NEW YORK:: ‘IT WAS A 10 HOUR DRIVING DAY AND ‘OH MY SHATTERED NERVES’

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We had a good Wifi connection in the Rochester New Hampshire Lowes parking lot but it wouldn’t let me open my own blog site.  Got a ‘Malware’ message and I figure that is because of all the spammers who have imbedded their money grubbing commercial crap in our comment section over the years.  And with over 3,800 posts published now it’s impossible to root out all the crummy spam.
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THIS IS MUCH OF WHAT THIS MORNINGS ROADS LOOKED LIKE ONLY WITH A LOT MORE TWISTS IN THEM
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Compared to a couple weeks ago in northern New Brunswick our weather has sure warmed up nicely.  No need to run our rear furnace any more.
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Quiet night in Lowe’s parking lot.  We had the big wheels back on the road by 7:15 a.m. headed West on highway 202.  And so began a long nerve wracking 10 hour day on the roads of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York States.  We started off in the local morning rural rush with lines of cars racing from one little town to the other on tiny narrow winding roads with dips and gullies, hills and grades.  On and on it went for 185 miles until we reached Albany New York.  On the gas, off the gas, on the brakes, off the brakes.  Confusing and conflicting directions and missed turns.  I don’t know how many construction zones and small towns with narrow streets with barely enough room to squeeze through oncoming traffic and parked cars we went through.  Wilmington Vermont on the eastern edge of the Green Mountain National Forest comes to mind.  If there was one small town there had to be a thousand.  Doing this 185 mile stretch would be challenging enough in a car let alone a great big honking 37 foot Class A Motorhome.  Boy oh boy did we ever make some mistakes on this trip and I thought if we ever make it home again I’m just gonna go in the house, flop myself into my overstuffed comfy recliner and pull a big blanket over my head for the next weeks!!

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We were never so glad to reach a 4 lane highway as we were when we climbed aboard Interstate 90, the New York State Throughway north of Albany NY about 1 p.m. earlier this afternoon.  It’s a toll road and we knew it would cost us but figured it was a small price to pay just to get off those narrow winding roads through New Hampshire, Vermont, and Eastern New York.  One of those 8% downgrades even had a ‘runaway ramp’.  But, there was an upside to today’s drive too.
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Despite today’s mainly dull and overcast skies the scenery was beautiful.  We really, really, really, liked Vermont especially and both agreed we’d like to come back some day to see it properly in all it’s splendor.  Most of my attention today was focused on the twists and turns ahead but what I did see was spectacular and had the Sun been out it would have been doubly spectacular.  I also caught glimpses of many great photos but of course was unable to stop or pull over with a large Motorhome.  The few photos I did take today were taken on the fly from the drivers seat so they’re not the best.
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We were able to make up some time on I-90 but after all the winding roads I was sooooo tired.  Neither one of us wanted to spend another night on the road so we pulled out all the stops, navigated around Rochester New York, and finally made it to Kelly’s Mom’s place in Spencerport about 5:15.  It was a big surprise for her Mom because she hadn’t expected us to roll in until sometime in November.  Well we hadn’t either but the whole trip just kinda fell apart on us so we’re anxious to get home.  Of course once we’re home I’m sure I will have a lot more to say about these past 3 weeks but for now we’ll just leave it where it is.  Yes, this trip sure highlighted the writing on the wall for us……….
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AT KELLY’S MOM’S HOUSE

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It’s great to be here in Spencerport for a few days and I’m hoping I can once again get these shattered nerves of mine back into some semblance of calm civility and routine normalcy.  Hate to admit it but I think my long distance RV traveling days are over.  And by golly this time that just might be alright too finally…………….
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GROANER’S CORNER:((  Signs of our Times::
- Your co-worker has 8 body piercings and none are visible.
- You make over $300,000 and still can't afford a house.
- You take a bus and are shocked at two people carrying on a conversation in English.
- Your child's 3rd-grade teacher has purple hair, a nose ring, and is named Breeze.
- You can't remember...is pot illegal?
- A really great parking space can totally move you to tears.
- Your car insurance costs as much as your house payment.
- Your hairdresser is straight, your plumber is gay, the woman who delivers your mail is into S & M, and your Mary Kay rep is a guy in drag.
- You can't remember...is pot illegal?
- It's barely sprinkling rain and there's a report on every news station about "STORM WATCH."
- You pass an elementary school playground and the children are all busy with their smart phones.
- It's barely sprinkling rain outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid all the weather-related accidents.
- Both you AND your dog have therapists.
- You can't remember...... is pot illegal???????
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Mary: My daughter believes in preventative medicine, doctor. Doctor: Oh, really? Mary: Yes, she tries to prevent me from making her take it!
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Wednesday, October 03, 2018

ST. STEPHEN NEW BRUNSWICK TO ROCHESTER NEW HAMPSHIRE….A GOOD DRIVING DAY WITH A FEW AUTUMN LEAVES ALONG THE WAY

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With a constant patter on the roof we knew it rained most all night.  In the morning it didn’t seem quite as cold as Tuesday.  Had the big wheels rolling by 8:40 and 7 minutes later we were at the Canada/U.S border.  The State of Maine and  and the town of Calais lay on the other side.  We crossed from St. Stephen New Brunswick to Calaise with little effort.  However it’s a very small crossing and I would not recommend anyone bringing a large Motorhome, Fifth Wheel, or Travel Trailer through here.  Only reason we were able to make the tight turn is because we didn’t have the Jeep on back.  The young girl border person was very nice and came on board to have a look around.  She was able to take 3 lemons with her when she stepped out of the coach.

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FIRST OVERNIGHTER AT A CANADIAN TIRE STORE

DSC_0004<<< IN THIS PHOTO YOU CAN SEE THE 14 INCH CRACK IN OUR TWO YEAR OLD PASSENGER SIDE WINDSHIELD

Under low overcast skies clouds sometimes hung low enough to drag themselves across the road leaving us in a fine mist at times.  But at least we did not run into any rain anywhere today for a change.  In fact we even had us nice little Sun Splash around 1:30 which tickled my left arm with it’s warmth.

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THIS WAS THE ONLY BLUE SKY WE SAW ALL DAY AND IT DIDN’T LAST LONG

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From the border in Calais we took highway #1 to #9 which in turn led us to Bangor Maine where we climbed onto Interstate 95 and followed that all the way to South of Biddeford.  Traffic on I-95 was not heavy, the road was good and we just breezed right along without any problems. 

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West off I-95 onto highway 111 we followed that to #202 which in turn led us to Rochester New Hampshire.  It’s kind of a slowpoke route.  Think It was around 3 in the afternoon when we spotted a Lowe’s hardware store in a Mall so decided to call it a day and pull in.  We have overnighted at Lowe’s stores before.  We do have a Lowe’s Wifi signal here so I will see if tonight’s post will publish.  If it doesn’t then you will know it didn’t……………

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KEEPING US ON TRACK TODAY

All in all it was a good driving day for the most part with dry roads, light traffic, and a cloud cover to block out any sharp sunlight.  Not likely we’ll reach Spencerport Thursday……but we might.  Enjoyed the colored leaves along the way  today and especially along scenic highway 9 north of Bangor Maine.

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GROANER’S CORNER:((  A man went to the Police Station wishing to speak with the burglar who had broken into his house the night before."You'll get your chance in court," said the Desk Sergeant."No, no, no!" said the man. "I want to know how he got into the house without waking my wife. I've been trying to do that for years!"

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“The electrician switched careers to become a tailor because he knew how to fix shorts.”

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Just changed my Facebook name to 'No one', so when I see stupid posts I can click like and it will say 'No one likes this'.

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