AND ITS SWEEPING THE COUNTRY AT A FRIGHTENING PACE

Beautiful looking sunny day but it was a strong icy east wind blowing that knocked the stuffings out of our mid 50's temperatures.  With all our surrounding trees blocking the wind I was okay this afternoon being outside putting away summer yard things but it was cold along the lakeshore in Goderich this morning.

PHEEBS AND I TOOK A DRIVE AROUND OUR PARK'S YARD WASTE RECYCLING AREA FIRST THING THIS MORNING

FINALLY OUT OF THE PARK AND HEADED EAST OUT OF THE DARK FOREST INTO THE SUN

Despite it being a Thanksgiving Sunday morning roads were quiet as we headed north to Goderich enjoying October's scenery all the way.  One really has to appreciate these short Autumn days while forests and hillsides are ablaze with color. A month from now all this spectacular scenery will be gone and replaced with a dull, gray, cold, and damp depressing landscape.  No colorful shrubs and flowers.  No leaves on the trees, no warm sunshine in the air.  Okay, I better get off this subject before I find myself in the dumpster.

A FARMER HAULS A COUPLE GRAIN WAGONS LOADED WITH BEANS

The usual McDonald's coffee to go and down to the harbor we went expecting Rotary Cove road to be closed due to more ongoing shore restoration.  However, the road was open so we slowly drove along the lakeshore checking the current work project. 

A NEWER SECTION OF THE BOARDWALK 

WORK ON THE BOARDWALK IS PROGRESSING WELL

LOOKS LIKE MORE LARGE BOULDERS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT IN TO REINFORCE THE SHORELINE

DROVE OVER TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE HARBOR

GODERICH HARBOR RESTAURANT

THE COAST GUARD VESSEL CAPE DISCOVERY WILL SOON BE LEAVING GODERICH'S HARBOR FOR IT'S WINTER WINTER STORAGE BIRTH SOMEWHERE UP ON GEORGIAN BAY I THINK

WITH THIS MORNING'S ICY EAST WIND THOSE GUYS HAVE GOT TO BE COLD OUT THERE IN THE GODERICH HARBOR

Tried unsuccessfully to talk myself into a forest walk out of the wind somewhere but just couldn't get my mind wrapped around the idea and ended up heading back home taking in Autumn's beautiful scenery along the way.

GORGEOUS SCENERY IS EVERYWHERE THIS TIME OF YEAR

Our good neighbor Monica a few days ago called over and said she would like to take us out for Thanksgiving dinner.  Of course with this Covid thing going on that is easier said than done these days so rather than going to The Docks for a sit-down Monica ordered up 3 take-out dinners which Kelly and I picked up and brought back to Monicas late this afternoon.  We sat down to our turkey dinner about 4:30 and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and gravy is one of my all-time favorite meals.  A big thank you to Monica:))I wonder why in these turbulent times so many people are so gullible.  Not something I should care about I suppose.  But I do.  A Google search tells me 'Gullibility is a failure of social intelligence in which a person is easily tricked or manipulated into an ill-advised course of action. It is closely related to credulity, which is the tendency to believe unlikely propositions that are unsupported by evidence'.  And its sweeping the country at a frightening pace.

GROANER'S CORNER:((    A fourth-grade teacher was giving her pupils a lesson in logic.  "Here is the situation," she said. "A man is standing up in a boat in the middle of a river, fishing. He loses his balance, falls in, and begins splashing and yelling for help. His wife hears the commotion, knows he can't swim, and runs down to the bank. Why do you think she ran to the bank?"    A girl raised her hand and asked, "To withdraw all his money from his savings account?"

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While shopping in a food store, two nuns happened to pass by the beer, wine, and liquor section. One asked the other if she would like a beer.  The second nun answered that, indeed, it would be very nice to have one, but that she would feel uncomfortable purchasing it.  The first nun replied that she would handle it without a problem. She picked up a six-pack and took it to the cashier. The cashier was surprised, so the nun said, This is for washing our hair.  Without blinking an eye, the cashier reached under the counter and put a package of pretzel sticks in the bag with the beer.  The curlers are on me.

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I MISS LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR WINTER TRAVELS TO THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

Our wanderings south of Bayfield this morning led us through Zurich Ontario to a walking area east of town.  It's mainly forested with a couple wide and well-maintained trails.  

UNDER A THICKENING CLOUD COVER WE HEADED INTO THE OLD FOREST BUT SOON VEERED OFF ONTO A BRIGHTER SIDE TRAIL BELOW

NOTICE ALL THE OPENING MILKWEED PODS ON THE LEFT

DID YOU SEE THE LITTLE WHITE GOOSE BOTTOM RIGHT

THIS IS A NICE WELL MAINTAINED GRASS TRAIL ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE FOREST

THIS MAY HAVE BEEN A BALTIMORE ORIOLE NEST

BOTH THE FOREST AND THIS OPEN AREA TRAIL ARE LOOP TRAILS AND TOGETHER COULD BE WALKED IN ABOUT HALF AN HOUR

WE EVEN SAW A HARMLESS LITTLE GARTER SNAKE

I'm sure many folks wonder how, in our Great Lakes area, sailboats are lifted out of the water in preparation for the coming winter freeze-up each year.  In his latest post entitled Lifting Boats, the Furry Gnome north of us up there on the shores of Georgian Bay shows through his camera lens how that is done.  He watches as a former sailboat conversion minus its mast is carefully lifted out of the water.  In the Bayfield harbor this morning I noticed a similar boat only this one is still a sailboat complete with its mast.

THIS SAILBOAT IS STILL A SAILBOAT

It was yet another in a series of fantabulous early Autumn days and especially first thing this morning with warm temperatures playing hide and seek with the sunshine.  Cloudy this afternoon with a few sprinkles of rain and cooler temps but still a reasonably nice day for early October.   And how nice this morning to ride around with both our front windows down and no heater on.  There will not be many, if any days left this year that we can still do that.  

I SUSPECT THIS SAILBOAT WITH ITS MAST ALREADY DOWN AND LASHED TO THE BOAT WILL BE SET ON A BOAT TRAILER AND DRIVEN AWAY SOMEWHERE

AFTER THE BOATS ARE OUT OF THE WATER ALL THESE DOCKS HAVE TO BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WATER AS WELL

THIS LOVELY AREA IS JUST A MILE EAST OF OUR PLACE

Our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is fast upon us now and marks the unofficial end to our summer season.  With few exceptions, we now enter the least desirable time of year as Old Man Winter in his unfailing ways steadily plods his frigid way towards us.  I don't see any hope of the Canada-U.S. border opening so it looks like we've got another long cold winter ahead of us.  Not looking forward to that at all.  Not even a little bit.  Oh how I miss looking forward to our wondrous travels to the Great American Southwest............

WE LIVE IN THAT FOREST ON THE LEFT

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A widower who never paid any attention to his wife while she was alive now found himself missing her desperately. He went to a psychic to see if he could contact his late wife. The psychic went into a trance. A strange breeze wafted through the darkened room, and suddenly, the man heard the unmistakable voice of his dearly departed wife. "Honey!" he cried. "Is that you?" "Yes, my husband." "Are you happy?" "Yes, my husband." "Happier than you were with me?" "Yes, my husband." "Then Heaven must be an amazing place!" "I'm not in Heaven, dear.

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A guy is walking down the street with his friend. He says to his friend, "I'm a walking economy."  His friend replies, "How's that?"
"It's like this -- my hair line is in recession, my stomach is a victim of inflation, and the combination of these factors is putting me into a deep depression."

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