AN IMPORTANT FEELING FOR ME IN THESE SENIOR YEARS

SOUTHEAST OF SEAFORTH ONTARIO

My spirits were immediately lifted early this morning when Kelly, looking out our east-facing living room window said, "I can see some pink sky through the pine trees."  Alas, our rains had ended and skies were clearing.  Even our temperatures were coming up.  We had a fine-looking day ahead of us.  

MORNING MISTS

Determined not to follow one of our usual morning Jeep ride routes we decided to change the scenery up a bit and headed down around the Seaforth area.  Had been a while since we traveled some of those roads.

PHEEBS HAS A BIRTHDAY COMING UP THIS WEEK, SHE WILL BE ELEVEN, AND SHE'S BEEN A PART OF OUR FAMILY FOR THE PAST NINE YEARS.....PHEEBS AND I HAVE BEEN TOGETHER FOR EVERY ONE OF THOSE DAYS FROM THE VERY FIRST DAY WE MET

'AW SHUCKS DAD'

Later on the way home, we stopped into the Hullett Marsh for a walk along one of the pond berms enclosing the Whistler Pool.  Not much moving around but we did hear and see a few birds.  When the weather is good this is one of the finest times of the year to be outside.  No bugs or humidity in the air and no high temperatures.  And Autumn scenery at it's very finest.

HEADING INTO THE MARSH

THIS BODY OF WATER IN THE MARSH IS CALLED WHISTLER POND

A GRUMPY OLD OGRE LIVES IN A CAVE ON THAT FAR AWAY ISLAND

CLEARING SKIES REFLECTED IN WHISTLER POND

Not sure if we'll get out with our Winnie again.  Looking ahead to next week I see a lot of rain forecast.  Generally, after our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend our weather quite often goes right into the dumpster but who knows, maybe this year we'll get a nice weather break like we did a few years ago when it stayed nice all the way into December.  We'll be keeping a close eye on our weather channel.

CLEARING SKIES OVER A GOLDEN CORNFIELD

I generally wait until after our Thanksgiving weekend before beginning the big Fall clean-up outside here.  All the summer ornaments, flower pots, and summer chairs, etc. that came out of winter storage have to all go back into storage and that is quite a juggling act every Autumn.  Pots have to be emptied of flowers, some plants dug up and relocated, pond pump out of the water, all liquids, like car cleaners, and paints, have to be moved inside the house out of freezing winter temperatures.  Outside water has to be turned off before freezing temps set in.  The rig has to winterized, and my list goes on.  I don't mind doing all that because it not only gives me something to do it is something that I still can do and that gives me a nice little simple feeling of accomplishment.  And that is an important feeling for me in these senior years.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A farmer was driving along the road with a load of fertilizer. A little boy, playing in front of his house, saw him and called, "What've you got in your truck?"  "Fertilizer," the farmer replied.  "What are you going to do with it?" asked the little boy.  "Put it on strawberries," answered the farmer.  "You ought to live here," the little boy advised him. "We put sugar and cream on ours."

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"What is your baby brother's name?"  Little Jane: "I don't know yet. We can't understand a word he says."

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Father looks hard at a teenage son, “James, you’ve been adopted.” James jumps up, “Adopted! I knew it! I want to meet my biological parents!” Father laughs, “No no, James, we are your biological parents. But you need to get packing, your adoptive ones will be here in an hour.”

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BETTER THAN NOTHING I GUESS

Thought to myself if this rain keeps up I'm going to wear out my windshield wipers.  Had 5 items on my short grocery list so Pheebs and I sloshed our way to Goderich.  After a swing down around the harbor and beach areas, we headed for Zehr's Supermarket.  Grabbed myself a small cart and whizzed around quickly finding my 5 items.  I don't like having to spend any more time in a store than I have to.  Headed for the check-out and 'Oh-Oh,' I should have checked that out first when I entered the store.  Twelve people in line ahead of me with some having carts stacked to the rafters with groceries.  That was instantly enough for my impatient self so I burned a U-turn and retraced my steps back through the store returning all 5 items to the shelves where minutes before I had got them.  Returned my cart to the front entrance and hastily exited the building and drove home.  I'll try again another day and probably go to Food Basics next time.

A LARGE SHIP AT THE GODERICH GRAIN ELEVATORS THIS MORNING

THIS SHIP IS CALLED THE FEDERAL WELLAND

RIDING HIGH OUT OF THE WATER IT IS PROBABLY HERE TO PICK UP A LOAD OF GRAIN

Didn't take a whole bunch of photos today but had enough pics left over from the last few days to carry me through.  Mary, in the ShoutBox, asked if I had changed cameras and my answer to that is yes.  Friday's photos were taken with my Nikon CoolPix P900 and Saturday's photos were taken with my Nikon D3400.

YEP, THAT'S THE JEEP PEEKING OUT UP THERE 

LAST YEAR'S CORN STALKS IN THIS YEAR'S BEAN FIELD

ROWS AND ROWS OF RIPENED BEANS

Despite a cold drizzling rain Pheebs and I did make it out for about half a walk.  Better than nothing I guess.  Chasing two squirrels off the trail she happily enjoyed our soggy walk more than I did.

LADIES IN OUR PARK HAVE DONE A SPLENDID JOB ON OUR PARK'S ENTRANCE AND THAT'S OUR MAILROOM OVER THERE

KITTY CORNER FROM THE PARK'S MAILROOM LIVE THE MILLERS AND THEY ALWAYS KEEP THINGS NICE THERE

GROANER'S CORNER:((   An atheist was spending a quiet day fishing when suddenly his boat was attacked by the Loch Ness monster. In one easy flip, the beast tossed him and his boat high into the air, then opened its mouth to swallow both.  As the man sailed head over heels, he cried out, "Oh, my God! Help me!"  At once, the ferocious attack scene froze in place. As the atheist hung in mid-air, a booming voice came down from the clouds, "I thought you didn't believe in Me!"  "Come on God, give me a break!!" the man pleaded. "Two minutes ago I didn't believe in the Loch Ness monster either!

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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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AND THERE SPINS THE MERRY-GO-ROUND OF LIFE

DARK AND COLD LAKE HURON WATERS UNDER A BROODING SKY

Pheebs and I followed the Jeep's windshield wipers around for a while on this cold and damp cloud-shrouded Saturday morning.  Managed a short walk between sprinkling showers and kept the Jeep toasty warm inside as we listened to the soothing melodic tones of Will Ackerman, George Winston, and Andreas Vollenweider.  Their sultry music fitted my morning's mood perfectly beneath an ominous sky.  I readily welcome these kinds of thought-provoking mornings whenever they happen to pass my way.

SATURDAY MORNING FISHERMEN ON BAYFIELD'S TWO PIERS

PERHAPS A LAST BOAT RIDE FOR THE SEASON

I LOVE THOUGHT-PROVOKING MOODY SKIES LIKE THIS

DO YOU SEE THE BIG EYES STARING DOWN

ON THE RIGHT SIDE IS A BIG TEDDY BEAR'S HEAD SNUFFLING ABOUT IN THE TREES ON THE HORIZON

IT WAS A GREAT DAY FOR KEEPING ONE'S EYE IN THE SKY......' EYE IN THE SKY' ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS FROM THE EARLY 80'S AND HERE'S THE LIVE VERSION OF THAT SONG

CAN YOU SEE A MAN'S PROFILE LOOKING FROM RIGHT TO LEFT

AND EVEN A PATCH OF BLUE

Home again I cranked up the fireplace in our sunroom, nestled into my big old overstuffed recliner, opened up my Kindle reader, and promptly fell asleep for a while.  I don't know when the Sun emerged from the cloud cover and tapped me on the shoulder but around 2:30 Pheebs and headed out the door and across the road past the Park's pond into the pine forest.  Nice to feel a touch of warmth still remaining in Old Sol's early October rays.  

I noticed today there weren't any sounds of nature anywhere as we walked.  No chirping birds or peeping frogs and there was nothing moving in the air either.  No flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, dragonflies, gnats, or birds of any kind.  Everything was so still, not even a slight breeze to rustle October's colorful Autumn leaves.  It is the prelude to Winter as creatures and critters begin making their yearly adjustments for the coming cold and snow.  Most, if not all our summer birds have already flown south for warmer climes.  Blue Jays, Cardinals, Black-Capped Chickadees, Mourning Doves, and some Finches and Sparrows will stay and tough out the winter.  Dark-Eyed Juncos will soon return from their Arctic haunts followed later by fleeting flocks of Snow Buntings.  In the meantime, we Snow Birding RV'ers will bide our time waiting to see if the Canada/US border will open allowing we Canucks to make a run for somewhere in the American south this winter as well.

SATURDAY MORNING WALK BETWEEN RAIN SHOWERS

I wrote a paragraph here in this space Saturday night that I re-thought about a couple hours later and decided to remove it.  It was just one of those afterthought things at the end of my post I really didn't need to write about so I deleted it, all except the last line...........

And there spins the Merry-Go-Round of life.......

GROANER'S CORNER:((    A woman walked up to a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch. "I couldn't help noticing how happy you look," she said. "What's your secret for a long happy life?"  "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day," he said. "I also drink a case of whisky a week, eat fatty foods, and never exercise."  "That's amazing," said the woman, "how old are you?"  "Twenty-six," he said.

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What do you call a woman with one leg shorter than the other?
Eileen

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A woman meant to call a record store but dialed the wrong number and got a private home instead.  "Do you have 'Eyes of Blue' and 'A Love Supreme'?" she asked.  "Well, no," answered the puzzled homeowner. "But I have a wife and eleven children."  "Is that a record?" she inquired.  "I don't think so," replied the man, "but it's as close as I want to get."

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