SOMETIMES I WISH WE HAD DONE THINGS A BIT DIFFERENTLY

 DESPITE TODAY'S ICY COLD AIR IT WAS A MIGHTY FINE LOOKING MORNING

It is so nice to see sunny sky sunrises through our pine trees these last bunch of mornings.  Up to now, sunrises have been scarce this winter.

Bit of an adjustment first thing with the over night time change but Pheebs and I soon had ourselves together and it was off we went with our Jeep travels taking us over around the Hullett Marsh area.

 WITH THEIR FACES IN THEIR BREAKFAST

With icy winds blowing hard there was no point in even thinking about going for a walk anywhere so we just enjoyed the passing scenery from the warm comfort of the Jeep.  So nice to see fields of good old dirt again.  Only time we stopped is when I saw a few flocks of Tundra Swans in the air winging their way northward overhead.

 HEY WHERE DID THESE CANADA GEESE COME FROM

Sunshine, blue skies, and big white fluffy clouds sure made for a nice morning's Jeep ride, and it's always so nice being out in the peaceful countryside.  Oh how I often wish now we had done a few things a little differently years ago and found ourselves a nice quiet country property with our closest neighbors being only the sights and sounds of Mother Nature herself all around us.  Forest trails along a meandering stream and open night skies where I could sit out under the stars again with my astronomy books and telescope, wandering myself around the heavens on warm summer nights enjoying the majesty of all the constellations and mysteries along the way.    

I liked my good buddy Jim's latest Facebook post so I am including it here tonight.  I thought he did a great job on this one which I'm sure a lot of folks at this later stage of life can identify with.  It's about an era where the passage of time can dictate a number of difficult decisions.  Like selling your house where you have enjoyed living and gathering together so many treasured memories for oh so many years.  Here then is Jim's post.................... 

Our Very Real Estate

House prices in our town are going through the roof. (What? Should I have written going out the garage door?)

We have a nice home. Someone floats a figure which it is possible we could get by selling it. It is a tempting thought.

But it doesn’t take long for some reality to cast a shadow over the idea. Because if we were to put our patch of ground and the buildings on it up for sale, those would not be the only things we would be selling.

To begin with, of course, we’d be selling 36 years of memories. A few parties now and then. Two kids growing up from babies to young adults. All the friends they brought home over the years. All the friends we have had over. Family events large and small.

We’d be selling our neighbours. The ones across the street with the fancy heated swimming pool who made it available to us all the time our kids were growing up. The neighbour who has a key to our house and who minds our pets on the rare occasion we are away for a day or two. One time we were in Ireland for a week. Our doggy slept with our neighbour in his bed. He brought the pup back to our place for two hours a day so he would remember where his home was. The neighbour who plows the snow out of our driveway to help us old folks out. The young couple next door who paid for a new board fence between our properties as the old one we had put up many years ago had seen better days. The neighbour we drove to the hospital after her dog bit her hand when her husband was away. The widow up the street who calls us now and then to fix something that’s gone wrong.

We’d be selling the old street we live on with sidewalks on both sides where people young and old walk, bike, roller blade and jog all day long. We’d be selling our chance to become King of Albert Street where we have gone from 44th longest owner out of 44 homeowners in 1985 to fifth or sixth in line to the throne today, almost all of the others having moved away or died.

We’d be selling the ten or so restaurants and three variety stores just a few minutes walk from our place, along with the fifteen minute walk to the malls and the same distance from downtown. We be selling our fifteen minute stroll to some of the finest live theatres anywhere.

We’d be selling our double lot where we built big skating rinks for ten years and where our kids had lots of room to play. We’d be selling our four big maple trees, one big birch and one blue spruce that was given to us as a wedding present and which is home now to blue jays and cardinals.

We’d be selling our pet cemetery at the back of our lot, where fourteen critters - two cats, nine gerbils, two hamsters and a pet mouse - sleep. We'd be selling the three rabbits who live in our yard, one of which has become my best buddy and who comes hopping up to me when I call it.

We’d be selling a house full of music - pianos, guitars, flutes and harmonicas - where, like the birds in the trees outside our windows, we have sung out our hearts with joy, and sometimes sadness, over the years.

We’d be selling the treehouse my daughter and I built and the shed my son and I erected. As well as the world’s best inukshuk I assembled from flat stones lying around. The flower and vegetable gardens, our squirrels George and Scrounger and their nameless cousins.

We would sell all this and more for the chance to sit in a small condo or apartment where we would spend our days alone counting the coins in our pot of gold, because, as wealthy as our property might have seemed to have made us, we still could not afford to go buy another home of equal value with our windfall.

How easy it would be to put up a sign.

And how hard to never look back.

So the price might keep going up and the temptation will come and go and while the future is never certain, why would we sell our dream when our dream has finally come true?

When we bought this place, a popular saying came to light around the same time: Bloom where you are planted.

So, we’re planted and we’re blooming ...

And we’re not for sale.

©2021 Jim Hagarty .......... You can find many more of Jim's finely crafted musings on Facebook. <<<< Just click the colored Facebook link.

"GROANER'S CORNER:(( I just finished my portrait of you. It's a good likeness, don't you think?" "Well ... it probably looks better from a distance." "There, I told you it looked like you!"

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Waiter! Bring me a crocodile sandwich . . . and make it snappy!

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"How the diet going?"  "Not good, I had eggs for breakfast."  "Scrambled?"  "No, chocolate."

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THIS SEDENTARY WINTER HAS NOT BEEN GOOD FOR MY LEGS

 GRACKLES

Hadn't had our Class C Motorhome (Scooter) out of the driveway since late last year sometime and I've been patiently waiting for the ice in our driveway to thin out so I could take it for a short run.  With just a bit of the frozen stuff left, Pheebs and I ventured out this afternoon and I'm happy to say the rig ran like a charm.  Started right up and all the tires are fine.

 YES, I HAVE HAPPILY STARTED OUR SPRING CLEAN-UP ALREADY

Now that most of our snow is gone the bird traffic at our feeder's has dropped off.  Our feathered friends are once again finding their natural nutrients in nature.  However, I do think the Grackle gang has scared some of the smaller birds away but at least the Gracks are only temporary visitors and will move on in another week or so.  Winter's bird feeding had left quite a mess under our feeders so I spent time today raking up all the left-over shells and sunflower husks scattered about on the ground.  Also raked a couple foot-paths.  All the snow is gone on our walking route but now the problem is mud and with the big mashing tree cutting and excavating machines grinding around in the muck, access to our trails is a quagmire.  Pheebs and I did get out for an afternoon walk these past couple of days but they were limited and short.  After this sedentary winter, I really need to get these legs of mine moving again or I am going to be in trouble.    

 IT WAS QUITE A MESS I HAVE ALREADY CLEANED UP UNDER OUR BIRD FEEDERS

We have probably had more sunshine in the past 4 days than we've had in the past 4 months.  A welcome treat indeed as we patiently await Springs warmer air.

 GOLDFINCH

 BLUE JAY

 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

 MALE CARDINAL

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served. When little Logan received his plate, he started eating right away.  "Logan, wait until we say our prayer," his mother reminded him.  "I don't have to," the little boy replied.  "Of course you do," his mother insisted, "we say a prayer before eating at our house."  "That's at our house," Logan explained, "but this is Grandma's house and she knows how to cook."

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TUNDRA SWANS

 TUNDRA SWANS

 TUNDRA SWANS AND CANADA GEESE

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A man goes to see the Rabbi. "Rabbi, something terrible is happening and I have to talk to you about it."  The Rabbi asked, "What's wrong?"  The man replied, "My wife is poisoning me."  The Rabbi, very surprised by this, asks, "How can that be?"  The man then pleads, "I'm telling you, I'm certain she's poisoning me, what should I do?"  The Rabbi then offers, "Tell you what. Let me talk to her, I'll see what I can find out and I'll let you know."  A week later the Rabbi calls the man and says, "Well, I spoke to your wife. I spoke to her on the phone for three hours. You want my advice?"  The man anxiously says, "Yes."  "Take the poison," says the Rabbi.

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