HOW NICE TO SEE THE COLOR BLUE

It sometimes takes a bit of bad to make one really appreciate the good when it finally comes along.  And so were my thoughts this morning when I first looked out the window and saw....sunshine:))  Pheebs and I weren't long in getting ourselves out the door to take full advantage of that sunlight while it lasted.  Good thing we did because by late morning, skies had once again clouded over.

  NICE ONCE AGAIN TO SEE SUNSHINE BRIGHTENING THINGS UP

A FEW POLE WALKERS CHECKING OUT A PIECE OF DRIFTWOOD ON BAYFIELD'S BEACH

 I SAW A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT WALKING THIS MORNING

A swing through Bayfield and we were soon out into the countryside south of Bayfield heading east along Pavillion Road.  It had probably been over a month since we last traveled this favorite route of ours.  And we even managed a walk along the way.  Despite the crisp temperature being only 35F the wonderful sunshine led us on.  Luckily, there was no wind to drive the temps even lower.  It sure looked and felt like an early Spring day.

 COUNTRY ROADS WERE BARE EXCEPT IN SHADED SPOTS LIKE THIS WHERE THEY WERE STILL ICY

 NICE TO SEE SOME SHADOWS IN THE FOREST

 SNOWDRIFTS??

NOPE, JUST BALES OF STRAW WRAPPED IN WHITE PLASTIC

 HEADING OFF ON A  SUNNY MORNING WALK

 TRACTOR TIRE TRACKS TURNING WEST INTO A BUSH LANE

 SO NICE FINALLY SEEING BLUE MORNING SKIES AGAIN

 LOOKING EAST ALONG THE FARM LANE I SEE A LONG PATCH OF ICE

 HEADING BACK TO THE JEEP ENJOYING THE BLUE SKIES AND SUNSHINE ALL THE WAY

With a solid cloud cover overhead by noon, the morning's brief sunny magic soon rolled into history taking its place on the nice side of my memory.  

 A FARM DAD OUT STACKING UP BROKEN TREE LIMBS WITH HIS BEST TWO LITTLE HELPERS

  THESE ALMOST BUDDING WILLOWS MAY BE THINKING ITS SPRING

 IT WAS THE CLOUD PATTERNS HERE THAT CAUGHT MY ATTENTION

By afternoon it was back into my books I went and off out into the Universe I again traveled searching for answers.  Did you know that 'thought is faster than the speed of light'.  I didn't know it either, but I know it now:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A woman took her dog to the vet. She said, "I think my dog is dead". The doctor laid the dog on the table and reached down and took a cat out of a box. The cat walked all over the dog and the dog didn't move. "Yes, your dog is dead," says the doctor.  "How much do I owe you?" the lady asks.  "$345," says the doctor.  "$345!!?" the lady asks.  "Yes. $45 for the office visit and $300 for the cat scan."

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My favorite exercise is a cross between a lunge and a crunch.  It’s called lunch.

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I work in a busy office, and when a computer goes down it causes quite an inconvenience. Recently one of our computers not only crashed, but it also made a noise that sounded like a heart monitor.  "This computer has flat-lined," a co-worker called out with mock horror.  "Does anyone here know how to do mouse-to-mouse?"

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WHEN NORMAL WAS SO REFRESHINGLY NORMAL

 AND THIS ABOUT SUMS UP MY AFTERNOONS

We woke up to snow on the ground again this morning but with rising temps, a lot of it was gone by the end of the day.  It's been a different kind of a winter season so far with small amounts of snow followed by melting.  That process keeps repeating itself.  Luckily, there were no big winds today but it felt cold and damp outside anyway.  More like late March or November days.

 IT'S VERY RARE TO SEE FREE RANGING CHICKENS BUT I SAW THESE FREE RANGERS OUT FREERANGING THEMSELVES ALL OVER THE PLACE

It had been nearly a week since Pheebs and I took a drive up to Goderich and I almost needed my GPS to tell me how to get there.  Well, not really, but the thought did enter my mind.  A gas stop, coffee to go at McDonalds and down to the south harbor we went.  The bank restoration work has finished up for now so with nobody there Pheebs and I took a muddy walk along the shoreline for a short distance.  They have been doing a good job at shoring up the eroded bank in that area.  A stop at Zehr's supermarket netted me a few groceries and before heading home we slipped through A&W and scooped us a $2.19 Buddy Burger.

FOR SOME FARMERS THE LAND IS STILL WORKABLE

 PHEEBS AND I SURE GOT OURSELVES MUDDIED UP WALKING ALONG HERE

THEY ARE DOING A GREAT JOB REBUILDING THE ERODED SHORELINE WITH TONS AND TONES OF ROCKS

 THIS SMALL BRIDGE ALONG THE WAY WILL HAVE TO BE EITHER REPAIRED OR REPLACED.

 AND I'M GLAD THIS LARGE MARBLE ROCK WASN'T DAMAGED BY ALL THE NEARBY RUMBLING MACHINERY MONSTERS MASHING AROUND CLOSE BY

The last time we were in Goderich a week ago I saw something odd on one of the streets.  A young boy walking along the sidewalk.  Well, what's so odd about that?  There wasn't anything unusual about this boy, no fancy colored clothes or bizarre Iroquois haircut to catch my attention.  Just a normal boy walking down the street.  But here's the odd thing that occurred to me.  When was the last time I saw any young people outside walking down the street whether by themselves, in a group, or just hanging out somewhere on a street corner or wherever.  I drew a blank on that question.  How different nowadays to when I was that young lad's age.  We small-town kids in Tavistock Ontario were always outside going somewhere or hanging around uptown.  We all had bicycles and we all used them.  It would seem unusual for someone driving through our town not to see some kids outside somewhere along the way whether walking, playing, hanging out, or tooling around on their bikes.  My oh my how things have changed.  It was not how this young boy I saw looked, how he was walking, what he was wearing, or what he might have been carrying.  What caught my eye was the simple fact of seeing something as unusual as a young person 'outside'.  To me, it was a page out of my yesteryear.  You know, when normal was so refreshingly normal..............

GROANER'S CORNER:((   The Reverend Francis Norton woke up Sunday morning and realizing it was an exceptionally beautiful and sunny early spring day, decided he just had to play golf.  So... he told the Associate Pastor that he was feeling sick and convinced him to say Mass for him that day. As soon as the Associate Pastor left the room, Father Norton headed out of town to a golf course about forty miles away. This way he knew he wouldn't accidentally meet anyone he knew from his parish.  Setting up on the first tee, he was alone. After all, it was Sunday morning and everyone else was in church!  At about this time, Saint Peter leaned over to the Lord while looking down from the heavens and exclaimed, "You're not going to let him get away with this, are you?"  The Lord sighed, and said, "No, I guess not." Just then Father Norton hit the ball and it shot straight towards the pin, dropping just short of it, rolled up and fell into the hole. It WAS A 420 YARD HOLE IN ONE!  St. Peter was astonished. He looked at the Lord and asked, "Why did you let him do that?"  The Lord smiled and replied, "Who's he going to tell?"

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P.S. Thanks to Jeff's comment for letting me know my Tuesday night Borrego Springs link didn't work.  I was able to fix it and at least a couple interested people were able to look at it.

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A LOOK BACK TO OUR BORREGO SPRINGS CALIFORNIA SLOT CANYON HIKE

 LOOKING SOUTH ALONG BAYFIELD'S BEACH....WITH HIGH LAKE LEVELS TWO SUMMERS AGO MOST OF THIS BEACH WAS UNDERWATER

A recent rock slide has closed the slot canyon in Buttes Pass near Borrego Springs, California.  Kelly and I along with a friend of ours hiked this slot canyon back on December 23rd of 2007.  The fellow with the straw hat in many of the photos is Butch, our friend and guide.   Butch is a native Californian.  You can read about our tight-fitting clamber that day here at The Borrego Slot Canyon Hike.  There are only 3 photos of that hike in the blog post and I had put the rest in a photo album.  That photo album was lost when Google made some major changes years ago so I have once again gathered together the photos of that day and put them in a new album here at Blog Canyon Slot Canyon Hike if anyone is interested.  It's been a long time since I last put a photo album together and I had quite a time with myself today trying to remember how to do it.  And try as I did I just couldn't figure out how to caption each of the photos but I was able to add some text.  

 BUTCH, KELLY AND AL

 THIS WAS A MOST AMAZING HIKE

JUST ONE OF MANY TIGHT SQUEEZES ON THIS HIKE

We had a few dapples of sunshine earlier this morning and heavy on the word 'few'.  Roads were bare and dry with most of our recent snowfall gone.  A short drive into Bayfield where Pheebs and I got ourselves out for a cemetery walk.  And that pretty much sums up the day.  My afternoons have blended into being all the same and that's winter for us now here in this cold climate.  Oh, how I long for those good old days in the southwest walking the desert floor every day, rock scrambling, jeeping along rough and tumble mountain and desert roads, changing locations every few weeks, revisiting old haunts, and exploring new areas we had never been to before.  Quite a contrast to our now sedentary winter's lifestyle in Bayfield.  Oh well, it is what it is.  Maybe next winter if we can pull off a minor miracle, we can saddle up and head ourselves south once again:))

 OUR WINTER WALKING SPOT AT THE BAYFIELD CEMETERY

GROANER'S CORNER:((  This guy was watching TV as his wife was out cutting the grass during the hot summer. He finally worked up the energy to go out and ask his wife what was for supper.  Well, his missus was quite irritated about him sitting in the air-conditioned house all day while she did all the work, so she scolded him. "I can't believe you're asking me about supper right now! Imagine I'm out of town, go inside and figure dinner out yourself."  So he went back into the house and fixed himself a big steak, with potatoes, garlic bread, and a tall glass of iced tea.  The wife finally walked in about the time he was finishing up and asked him, "You fixed something to eat? So where is mine?"  "Huh? I thought you were out of town."

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To maintain an open mind is extremely difficult but it is the only way to search for ultimate knowledge.  

I AM GETTING THERE AND I AM LEARNING

Snow came in the night and slicked up this morning's roads.  Kelly was glad she made the right travel decision yesterday and didn't have to drive home today.  Pheebs and I ventured out for a while and put a couple country roads behind us.  Not the nicest of mornings with gray overcast skies, cold winds, occasional snow in the air, and semi-slippery roads.  We were soon home again.

 A GAGGLE OF CANADA GEESE ON A FARM POND

 A SUDDEN BURST OF COLOR ON A DRAB GREY DAY

 HEADING HOME ALONG A SNOWY COUNTRY ROAD

Our front yard was aflutter with birds again this afternoon along with nearly a half dozen squirrels bounding about up and down the trees,  Occasionally I will see a dark blur go by the sunroom window in a vertical dive heading for the ground as another squirrel makes a jump for the hanging bird feeder.....and misses.  Those little rascals just never give up.

Most of the afternoon was again spent in my sunroom recliner reading.  What I am reading, and have been reading for a while now is so interesting to me and especially the last three Delores Cannon books.  Keepers Of The Garden, Between Death And Life, and the book I am currently reading, The Convoluted Universe-book one.  There are four.  These books can be a very challenging read but I am getting there and I am learning.  

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A retired sailor purchased a computer and began to learn all about computing. Being a sailor, he was used to addressing his ships as "She" or "Her". But was unsure what was proper for computers.  To solve his dilemma, he set up two groups of computer experts: one group was male, and the other group was female.  The group of women reported that computers should be referred to as "HE" because:

1. In order to get their attention you have to turn them on. 

2. They have a lot of data but are still clueless. 

3. They are supposed to help you solve problems but half the time they are the problem. 

4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have had a newer and better model.  

The group of men reported that computers should be referred to as "SHE" because:

1. No one but the creator understands their logic. 

2. The native language they use to talk to other computers is incomprehensible to anyone else. 

3. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval. 

4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

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