ALL THE BEST TO EVERYONE FOR THE NEW YEAR

I am out of words tonight so I will leave you with a few of today's photos....................

 A FOGGY MORNING IN GODERICH

GROANER'S CORNER:((  "A PRIEST, PLEASE!" the dying man says again lying in the street after being struck by a car.  Out of the crowd steps a little old Jewish man of at least eighty years of age. "Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I'm not a priest. I'm not even a Catholic. But for fifty years now I've been living behind St. Mary's Catholic Church on Third Avenue, and every Friday night I listen to the Catholic litany. Maybe I can be of some comfort to this man."The policeman agrees and brings the octogenarian over to where the dying man lay. He kneels down, leans over the injured man, and says in a solemn voice:"B - 4. I - 19. N - 38. G - 54. O - 72."

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IT'S LOOKING A BIT LIKE EARLY SPRING AROUND HERE

No sunshine this morning but we woke up to 53F temperatures with light rain falling.  Looking out our living room window I was surprised at how much snow had melted overnight. The only small piles of white were where I had previously shoveled the snow into piles.  On our morning Jeep ride, I noticed all the farm fields were completely devoid of snow and the only piles of snow left were where it had accumulated along tree and fence lines in the form of deep drifts.  And to think it was less than a week ago that we had the worst winter snowstorm in decades.  It's looking a bit like early Spring around here with temperature records broken today for this date.

 QUITE A CONTRAST TO JUST A WEEK AGO AT THIS TIME

 THIS IS WHAT OUR DRIVE THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE LOOKED LIKE THIS MORNING

 THERE IS STILL SNOW ON THE FOREST FLOORS AND ALONG THE CREEKS

Despite another poor night Kelly was feeling better this morning and insisted on driving herself to Goderich for her Nurse Practitioner appointment. 

 KELLY EXITING THE DYNACARE BLOOD LAB EARLY THURSDAY AFTERNOON

Finished my Rocket Boys book Thursday night and I have to say what a great book this was.  So much so that I have already downloaded Homar J. Hickam Jr's follow-up book Don't Blow Yourself Up.  That second book title comes from the first book, Rocket Boys when his Mother kept saying to him when he was a boy, 'Don't Blow Yourself Up'.  I absolutely love these non-fiction autobiographical books.  I recommend 'Rocket Boys' to anyone.  It was one of those books that the closer I got to the end, the more I didn't want it to end. 

Ellen's Groove:)) In this last video of the year, Ellen and her Dad are promoting Mark Bass guitar amps.  Ellen plays a little diddy at the end of the video so if you are not interested in the amps just skip ahead.  Ellen Plays Bass

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A little boy had been pawing over the stock of greeting cards at a stationery store.  After a few minutes, the clerk became curious and asked, "Just what is it you're looking for, sonny? Birthday greeting? Message to a sick friend? Anniversary congratulations to your mom and dad?"  The boy shook his head, "No."  "Then what kind of card is it that you want?" asked the clerk.  The boy answered wistfully, "Got anything in the line of blank report cards?"

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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, it 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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PHEEBS AND I WILL BE ON STANDBY

'Holy gee-wilikers,' we had sunshine on the eastern horizon for the second day in a row.  It only lasted until about noon but at least we had us a mighty fine sunny morning.  Pheebs and I weren't long in getting out the door and heading off for destinations unknown.

 SO NICE TO SEE BIG BLUE SKIES EARLIER TODAY

As it turned out we made our way toward Clinton then turned off on the Bannockburn Line.  The Bannockburn Conservation is down that way but the parking lot was all snowed in so we slowly rolled on by snapping a few pics along the way.

A SNOWMOBILE TRAIL HEADS OFF INTO THE FOREST

Home again around 10:30 I puttered around outside doing half a dozen nothings.  Moved some more melting snow around just because I could I guess.  I double-checked the Subaru to see if it had a radiator and it does.  A comment in our comment section threw me for a loop when it said the Subaru had an air-cooled engine.  I think that is more of a Volkswagen thing on some models maybe.  All the VW Beetles I drove years ago for sure had air-cooled engines.

 CREEKS ARE WAKING UP

 NICE TO SEE SNOW MELTING OFF THE CEDAR AND PINE BOUGHS

Kelly had a 1:30 appointment at the Dynacare Blood lab in Goderich today but wasn't feeling well enough to drive there so it was Pheebs and I to the rescue.  We drove Miss Kelly to the lab and back.  Friday she has an appointment with her Nurse Practitioner in Goderich so Pheebs and I will be on standby in case she needs another ride.  

 THIS IS THE LARGEST SNOWDRIFT I HAVE COME ACROSS SO FAR SINCE THE STORM

 THIS MACHINE WAS MOVING SNOW FROM ONE SIDE OF THE ROAD TO THE OTHER

 OOOOOO THAT FEELS SO GOOD

Not much else going on for the rest of the day and despite the cloud cover, it was nice to see snow melting for the second day in a row.  Rain is predicted Friday and that's okay.  It sure beats last week at this time when we had that big nasty winter storm bearing down on us.

 JUST GOTTA LOVE THAT BIG BLUE SKY:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  The devil meets a newcomer at the gate and says, "Alright, you have died and come to hell. You will spend eternity here, but you get to choose how to spend it. You may choose one of these three doorways. Once you choose a door, you may not change it. So let's get started."  The devil opens Door One. The guy looks in and sees a couple of people standing on their heads on a Concrete floor. The guy says, "No way, let's move on."  The devil opens Door Two. The guy sees a few more people standing on their heads on a Wood floor. The guy says, "No way, let's move on."  The devil opens Door Three. The guy sees a bunch of people standing knee-deep in cow manure drinking coffee. The guy says, "Great, this is the one I will choose." The devil says, "OK, wait right here, I will get you some coffee."  The guy settles in with his coffee thinking that this isn't so bad. What's the big deal?  After about 10 minutes a voice comes over the loudspeaker saying, "Coffee break's over. Back on your heads!"

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