I NEARLY MADE A VERY STUPID AND TOTALLY AVOIDABLE MISTAKE

 CRITTERS IN OUR FRONT YARD THIS AFTERNOON

With gusting 30mph winds dropping our high 30's temps into the low 30F range under cloudy skies it wasn't the best morning to be outside.  And as luck would have it there was no need to be outside.  Richard's turn to drive and he picked me up at 9 a.m.  Our coffee travels took us over around the Goderich, Ben Miller, and Clinton areas.  Despite overcast skies, it was nice to see sweeping Huron County farm fields completely free of snow once more.  Home by about 11:20 I never ventured outside again except to take some birdseed out.  Winds were just too strong and too cold.

 GRACKLES DOMINATING OUR BIRD FEEDER STATION

 BLACK SQUIRREL

 RED BELLIED WOODPECKER AND AN AMERICAN GOLDFINCH

Spent my afternoon curled up in my sunroom recliner beside the fireplace reading.  Just finished Deadlock In Korea: Canadians At War 1950-1953 by author Ted Barris.  So little is known about this almost forgotten Korean War and especially from the Canadian Perspective.  Long before Viet Nam veterans were shunned after coming home, so to were the Korean Veterans.  Particularly sad here in Canada where so many know so little about another important and almost forgotten aspect of Canadian history.  From Korea's war history, I have once again journeyed off into the unknown with a book by Harvard Medical School's, Professor John E Mack.  Passport To The Cosmos.  I'm curiously looking forward to where this book may take me.  If I can understand what it is all about that is.

 RED SQUIRREL

 GOLDFINCH

 I THINK SOMEBODY IS GETTING A LITTLE SLEEPY HERE

I nearly made a very stupid mistake a few days ago.  Still having some problems with my right eye I carry a small plastic bottle of Visine eye drops in the Jeep's second coffee cup holder.  I also carry a small plastic bottle of hand sanitizer in the same location.  Well, I guess you know where this is going.......  Ambling along a quiet country road, I reached for the Visine to give myself a shot in the corner of my bothersome eye.  Tipped up the plastic container and gave it a squeeze but nothing came out.  I was about to give it a second stronger squeeze when I suddenly realized I had the hand sanitizer container tipped up and not the Visine.  Close call.  Needless to say, the Purell hand sanitizer and Visine eye drops do not share the same location anymore!!

 JUNCO

It was eleven years ago today we traveled one of the greatest scenic drives in Arizona.  The Apache Trail  And there is a photo of a bridge in this post that has similarities to Bayfield's new bridge when it is completed.

 WE HEADED OFF DOWN THAT WINDING DIRT ROAD INTO THE FAR VALLEY BELOW

Ten years ago today we were hiking in Nevada's Valley Of Fire

GROANER'S CORNER:((   Did you ever wonder...

When someone asks you, 'A penny for your thoughts,' and you put your two cents worth in, what happens to the other penny?

Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It's just stale bread to begin with!  

When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?

Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a race car not called a racist?

Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?

'I am' is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that 'I do' is the longest sentence?

Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as '4's?'

Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in the universe, you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint, you will have to touch it to be sure?

If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?

Do Lipton Tea employees take coffee breaks?

What hair color do they put on the drivers licenses of bald men?

I was thinking how people seem to read the Bible more as they get older, then it dawned on me . . . they're cramming for their final exam.

What do you say to comfort an English teacher?  They’re, there, their.

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WARMER SPRING WEATHER ON OUR DOORSTEP

 SIGNS OF SPRING AT OUR HOUSE

With our temperatures on the rise, it is once again beginning to feel like Spring.  And that of course had me happily outside on the end of my yard work tools.  Cleaned most of the glass in the Motorhome, raked out some muddy ruts in the driveway, chopped up some ice and snow to hasten its melt, raked up some more yard debris, and began hauling out some summer lawn stuff from our wood storage shed.  I'm always anxious to get our two sheds straightened up after critters have seen fit to spend the entire winter re-arranging everything inside to fit their furry little lifestyles.

 IT WAS A GOOD DAY FOR CLEANING SCOOTER'S GLASS

 OUR SUMMER DECK STUFF IS BEGINNING TO APPEAR

 MY LITTLE CONTRIBUTION TO HELPING THE SNOW MELT FASTER

 WE'RE NOT GOLFERS BUT WE DO KEEP A SMALL SUPPLY OF GOLF BALLS HANDY

 SO NICE TO SEE GREEN IN OUR FRONT YARD AGAIN

 YEP, EARLY SPRING IS BEGINNING TO BUST OUT ALL OVER

 IN THIS FRONT YARD MAGNOLIA BUD I SEE A FRIZZY HEADED ALIEN FACE LOOKING OVER ITS RIGHT SHOULDER

With another sunny day helping to dry up all the mud it made for easier walking this afternoon for Pheebs and I.  Small patches of snow here and there in the forest will probably be all gone in the next couple of days.  So glad it's the middle of March and not the middle of November.  It is always such a great feeling each year at this time to have the depressingly miserable winter behind us with warmer Spring weather on our doorstep.

 OUR PINE TREE TRAIL IS FINALLY FREE OF SNOW

 A FEW PATCHES OF SNOW IN THE FOREST

 THIS LAST PATCH OF SNOW SHOULD BE ALL GONE IN A COUPLE DAYS

GROANER'S CORNER:((   You might be a Redneck if...

- One of the options on your truck is a spitoon.
- The Halloween pumpkin on your front porch has more teeth than your spouse.
- You let your twelve-year-old daughter smoke at the dinner table in front of her kids.  

- You've been married three times and still have the same in-laws.
- You think a woman who is "out of your league" bowls on a different night.
- Jack Daniels makes your list of "Most Admired People."
- You wonder how service stations keep their restrooms so clean.
- Anyone in your family ever died right after saying, "Hey, y'all watch this."
- You've got more than one brother named 'Darryl.'

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IT'S A VERY CHEAP WAY TO TRAVEL WITHOUT EVER LEAVING HOME

Until this winter, afternoon siestas were not the norm for me.  Yet now they seem to have become a necessity.  Sometimes those naps are planned and sometimes they just sneak up on me while I'm in my comfy recliner innocently reading.  Either way, I like them and even look forward to them now.  It's a very cheap way to travel without ever leaving home.  My dreams take me to not only exotic places but to great lands of complete confusement where I am able to fly upside down and see many old friends who have long ago departed this Earth.  And many who have yet to make the trip.  I am often driving around or piloting some kind of impossible vehicle and trying to maneuver it around in places it never fits or is not intended to go.  The vehicle and I most often have some kind of unimaginable dilemma going on.  Me more than the vehicle usually.  Walking or running seems all but impossible and especially so when being chased by any kind of creature or herds of wandering Wobblygongs.  I seem to find myself so many times in past situations throughout my life trying to cope with things all over again.  The emotional turmoil is so real and so familiar.  I go back and try to change things and make them better.  I try to right the wrongs.  Always so many sorrys to say.  Long ago friends appear out of nowhere, smiling, and try to help.  Always so good to see them again. Always so many good times to laugh and forget to remember about.  Always so many places to go and always so much confusion to take me there.  Not much makes sense in my world of dreams but I like to be a part of them anyway just to partake in my own distractions.  After all, what are dreams for.  Where else can I have afternoon tea with Alice in Wonderland, wave magical wands with Harry Potter, or whimsically flit about the skies with the likes of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell.  Or is that morning coffee with Peter and a night flight to the Moon with Alice.  No, Alice Kramden is already there but no matter, whatever it is I will continue to partake in my own minds befuddled disarray and puzzlements. Who is Harry Tinkerbell??  And I will happily journey to that other discombobulated world we all carry with us right here inside our very own minds.  In a matter of hours, I will once again board the ever-present afternoon flight to that bewilderedly crazy land of mystic and hope to be back once again long before I realize I had ever even left.  'All aboard':))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( What did the second hand say to the minute hand? I think I'm lost because I keep going around in circles.

-------------------------

Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?

A: No.

Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.

Q: Did you check for breathing?

A: No.

Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No.

Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.

Q: But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?
A: Yes, it is possible that this Government official could have been alive.

===================

CROCUS FLOWERS ARE BLOOMING

 A COUPLE CHUNKS OF SNOW AND A COUPLE CROCUS FLOWERS

Lots of sunshine but icy cold air again today.  I hear tell we have a warm-up on the way so hopefully it will roll in sooner than later.  Slipped into Clinton's Albert Street Denture Clinic first thing this morning and came home with my new clackers.  They certainly do fit better than my old ones and I'm very pleased with the results.

 A FEW CROCUS FLOWERS IN OUR BACK YARD

A spin around the countryside with Pheebs netted me a few photos and we were home by 10:30.  Spent a little time outside puttering with some yardwork and that was about it for my day.  

 WITH ALL THE ICE ON THE LAKE THIS FISHERMAN IS THINKING MAYBE HE CAN CATCH SOME ARCTIC CHAR

 THE BAYFIELD RIVER HAS BEEN FREE OF ICE FOR ABOUT A WEEK NOW

 BUNDLED UP BAYFIELD POLE WALKERS

 A CHILLY COFFEE KLATCH OUTSIDE BAYFIELD'S DOWNTOWN SHOPBIKE COFFEE ROASTERS

 ANOTHER OUTDOOR COFFEE BUNCH OUTSIDE CLINTON'S TIM HORTONS COFFEE SHOP A COUPLE WEEKS AGO

 CAME ACROSS FEW ICY SPOTS THIS MORNING

 I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE A GROUP OF POLL WALKERS ON THIS COUNTRY ROAD

 STILL PATCHES OF ICE IN THE FORESTS

 MY FAVORITE PLACE TO BE ON COLD WINTER DAYS AND YES THOSE ARE MY FEET IN THE BOTTOM OF THE PICTURE

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Confucius Say: "Man who drive like hell bound to get there."

Confucius Say: "Man who live in glass house should change clothes in basement."

- Confucius Say: "Women who put detergent on top shelf, jump for Joy!"

- Confucius Say: "Never argue with fool...he may be doing the same thing."
- Confucius Say: "Best time to buy new mattress, at first sign of spring."
- Confucius Say: "Adults are just wrinkled kids who owe money."
- Confucius Say: "An old grave digger is called an Elderberry."
- Confucius Say: "People who have gift of gab, not know how to wrap it up."
- Confucius Say: "Time flies like arrow. Fruit flies like bananas."
- Confucius Say: "A man who sits on tack gets point and will surely rise."

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