I HOPE IT WILL BE ONE OF THOSE BIG CUDDLY ONES

THE FEDERAL KUMANO DEPARTS GODERICH HARBOR AWHILE BACK

I was hard-pressed to find any photos this morning under sullen cold and gray skies so I have pulled a few pics from my files that hadn't made it into my recent posts.  A cold wind from the north kept Pheebs and I in the Jeep as we poked ourselves around a few roads east of us.  With a burst of rain in the night, the country roads were muddy so we stayed on pavement.  Guess it wouldn't matter much getting the Jeep muddied up because it already looks like a big glomp of mud going down the road.  I wouldn't be surprised if a policeman pulls me over one of these days and hands me a free teddy bear for having the scruffiest looking vehicle in Huron County.  If that happens I hope that bear will be one of those big cuddly ones.

 THIS OLD ABANDONED FARMHOUSE LOOKS LIKE IT COULD STILL HAVE SOME LIFE LEFT IN IT 

A LATE CORN HARVEST THIS PAST FALL

New Year's Eve came and went without any fanfare from the Bayfield Bunch.  Kelly had gone to bed around 10 o'clock and was sound asleep.  Well, that is until somebody in our Park started shooting off fireworks!!   I feel so sorry for the pets that many people have here in our Park.  So many of them are traumatized by all that unnecessary noise.  It's hard on the pet's owners as well because I can remember how stressed our Cora and Checkers were when guns and fireworks went off years ago, and at how stressed we became because of their stress.  It's bad enough when thunder terrorizes pets, without humans doing it to them too!!  

 HEY JUNCO, HOW'S ABOUT LEAVING SOME SEEDS FOR US CARDINAL GUYS EH'

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions anymore.  I've learned through experience that the darn things don't work anyway no matter which way I went at them years ago.  Too depressing when one doesn't live up to one's own expectations.  It's hard enough to live up to someone else's expectations let alone my own.  Gotta keep things simple these days to keep Al stabilized:))

No plans for the new year.  Things are just too unpredictable these days to try and plan anything anymore.  It seems the more worser things become, the more woresest things get.  Now how's that for some stilted grammatical optimism.  Actually, I can't complain.  Things are going along pretty good here and we're doing okay:))

 PHEEBS SURE LOVES TO HAVE HER TUMMY RUBBED ABOUT 6 DOZEN TIMES A DAY:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A passenger train is creeping along, painfully slowly. Finally, it creaks to a complete halt.  A passenger sees a conductor walking by outside.  "What's going on?" she yells out the window.  "Cow on the track!" replies the conductor.  Ten minutes later, the train resumes its slow pace. Within five minutes, however, it stops again.  The woman sees the same conductor walking by again. She leans out the window and yells, "What happened? Did we catch up with the cow again?"

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FOR THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR PHEEBS AND I WENT FOR A WALK ON THE BEACH

Upon waking we were surprised to find morning temperatures already up to 37F.  For southerners that sounds cold but for some of we northerners here that sounds like, 'let's get outside'.  With that thought in mind, Pheebs and I headed for the beach.  Into Bayfield, we went and made a right-hand turn on Howard Street and followed it a few blocks due west to where it ends in a parking lot area atop a bluff overlooking Lake Huron.  We were soon out of the Jeep and headed down a steep set of wooden stairs.  I counted the steps but by the time we got home later, I couldn't remember if there were 80 or 85 steps.

 IT'S A BUNCH OF STEEP STEPS TO THE BEACH BELOW

STEPS ARE NO PROBLEM FOR PHEEBS 

 A YEAR OR SO AGO WE COULDN'T HAVE COME DOWN HERE BECAUSE THE HIGH-LEVEL LAKE WATER WAS WAY UP TO THE BANK TOPPLING TREES

LOOKING NORTH AND THAT IS BAYFIELD'S SOUTH PIER ON THE EXTREME LEFT

 PHEEBS AND I HEAD SOUTH DOWN THE BEACH

LAKE FRONT OWNERS BUILD THESE STONE BARRIERS TO BREAK UP THE WAVE ACTION FROM ERODING THEIR BEACH 

 A ROUGH HEWN SET OF HOMEMADE STEPS LEADING DOWN TO THIS HOMEOWNER'S BEACH 

Luckily it wasn't very windy so our walk along the shoreline was doable.  I did have a pair of mitts on.  The beach along here is a mixture of sand and stones with sand making up the largest part.  Most of the colorful stones are smooth and rounded from countless years of wave action and they vary from fingernail size to about grapefruit size.  And there are countless thousands of smooth stones (maybe millions) scattered along the shoreline.  Mixed in with the sand and stones is lots of driftwood as well.

 THERE ARE SO MANY COLORFUL ROUNDED STONES HERE

 SO NICE WALKING ALONG HERE LISTENING TO THE WAVES WASH ASHORE

I THINK THIS PIECE OF DRIFTWOOD CAME FROM OUTER SPACE BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE A CURVY ALIEN WITH ITS HEAD AND FACE AT THE UPPER RIGHT AND CHECK OUT THAT BIG RIGHT ARM AND MASSIVE HAND

 AND SPEAKING OF FACES

WHAT'S LEFT OF A WEATHER AND WATERWORN PIECE OF 4X4 LUMBER

We headed south along the shoreline for about a quarter-mile snapping photos along the way and enjoying the morning strolling along beside Lake Huron.  It was nice hearing the waves gently coming in as well.

KIND OF LOOKS LIKE A LITTLE OOKPIK FACE

COULD BE A SECTION OF FISH VERTEBRATE

YOU MIGHT THINK THAT IS A YELLOW ROCK BUT IT'S NOT...IT IS WHATS LEFT OF A VERY WATER AND SAND WORN BRICK

Heading back, and about to climb the steep set of stairs back up to the Jeep I looked down and noticed the lens hood from my camera was missing.  It was the regular stock Nikon hood for my 18-300mm lens.  So, off Pheebs and I went retracing our tracks all the way down the beach a quarter mile to the point where we turned around.  Searched all the way back to the set of stairs but I didn't have any luck finding the lens hood.  Disappointed, we climbed back up those steep stairs and I had to stop four times to let the burn drain out of my legs.  Maybe the 350 pounds of beach rocks in my pockets had something to do with it.  Okay, not quite that much but I did bring back a couple colorful stones.  We were home 10 minutes later.

 I THINK I SEE THE FACE OF A MUGWHOMP HERE

PHEEBS AND I BEGIN THE LONG CLIMB UP THE STEEP BEACH STAIRS

Editing my photos later I saw the third last photo I took had a dark edge in the top left corner.  That told me the lens cap was still on but it was in the process of slowly coming off and that's why the dark corner.  I figured the lens hood had to be very close to the base of the steep wooden stairway we climbed on our way back to the Jeep.  Kelly had slipped up to Goderich for some groceries and had said before she left that when she gets back we could go down to that beach area and she would help me look for the lens hood.  I knew with 'Hawkeye' on the job we had an excellent chance of finding it.

IT WAS THE BLACK SMUDGE IN THIS PHOTO'S TOP LEFT CORNER THAT GAVE ME A CLUE AS TO WHERE TO LOOK FOR MY LENS HOOD...A FEW SECONDS AFTER TAKING THIS PHOTO I WALKED STRAIGHT AHEAD AND THE LENS HOOD, UNBEKNOWNST TO ME FELL OFF RIGHT BY THE LEFT END OF THAT YELLOWISH LOG

HERE WE SEE SEASHELLS.....OOOPS, THAT SHOULD BE 'LAKESHELLS'

Back to the end of Howard street about 2 this afternoon Kelly, Pheebs, and I went and descended the long steep stairway to the beach.  I was ahead of Kelly so I started down the beach and within maybe 50 feet of the stairs, I found the lens hood laying right about where I thought it had to be, near a piece of driftwood.  Kelly was still slowly coming down the stairs.  We took a few pictures and climbed ourselves all the way back up those steep beach stairs to the parking lot atop the bluff.  And from there we headed home.

KELLY AND PHEEBS BEGIN THEIR DESCENT DOWN THE STEEP STEPS

 YAAAAY' MY LOST LENS HOOD:))

 KELLY TAKES A PHOTO OF ME TAKING A PHOTO OF MY LENS HOOD

OKAY, LET'S HEAD FOR HOME

Well, it looks like we have come to the end of another year.  I had thought of doing a re-cap but the more I thought about it the more tired my mind got.  Happy New Year to everyone and thanks to all you folks for hanging in with me for another year.  I know it isn't easy at times so thanks again for your much-appreciated interest in the Bayfield Bunch............Al:)) 

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A frog walks into a bank. He goes to the only open teller and sees that her name is Paddy Whack. "Hey, listen," says the frog. "I really need a loan! I'm out of work, and my wife and tadpoles are at home starving! I need money so I can feed them and provide for them!"  Now Paddy feels very sorry for the poor frog and asks him if he has any collateral. He holds up a small glass elephant. Paddy is a little surprised by this and quite unsure, but she feels so sorry for the poor frog that she takes the elephant to her manager. "Mr. Manager, sir," Paddy begins "there is a frog out there who desperately needs a loan. He's out of work and he has a wife and tadpoles who are at home starving. He needs some money so he can provide for them! But all he has for collateral is this little glass elephant. What should I do?"  Well, Mr. Manager takes a good hard look at that elephant, thinks about it a little, and then replies, "It's a knick-knack, Paddy Whack, give the frog a loan!"

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What exactly is junk?  Junk is something you throw away three weeks before you need it.

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During a recent password audit, our I.T. discovered a new computer user was using the following password: MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofySacramento
When they asked why such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital.

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