IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD NIGHT TO BUILD A SNOW FORT OR ROLL UP A SNOWMAN

After publishing Wednesday night's post I couldn't help but notice how nice our newly snow-covered front yard was looking with its pretty lights.  Donning my boots, winter jacket, and hat I slipped out the door into our magical winter wonderland.  There was a  winter's silence in the air that took me back nearly seventy years ago to a world almost long forgotten.  I remembered nights like this outside playing in the snow under the faint light of a street lamp close to our house.  Rolling a snowman, building a snow fort, or maybe making a snow angel.  With that same magic in the air on this bright winter's night, I picked up my snow shovel and set to work on my pathways.  I knew that come first light there would be a hungry whirring of wings to the birdfeeders so I cleaned all the snow off and around the feeders and topped them up. I felt like a kid again outside playing on an enchanted winter's eve and with crunchy snow underfoot. I gleefully knew it would have been a good night to build another snow fort or roll up another snowman.  It had been many years but I knew I could have done it.  Some things in life one never forgets how to do.  

 A FEW SNOWY PHOTOS ON THE WAY TO BAYFIELD

It was a Jeep ride into and around Bayfield for Pheebs and I.  With no biting cold wind in the air, we again headed for the Bayfield cemetery.  Plowed some tracks through the snow around the cemetery roads then parked the Jeep and off we went for a walk following the tracks we had just laid down.

 ALONGSIDE THE LANE LEADING INTO THE CEMETERY

 PHEEBS LIKES CHECKING UNDERNEATH THE SPRUCE TREES

When we first moved here to the Bayfield Pines back in late 2002 one of several jobs we were doing at the time was driving school bus for Murphy Bus out of Clinton.  Within a couple years, Kelly landed herself a job at Deer Park Lodge close to where we lived.  The Lodge, atop a forested bluff, overlooked the sandy shores of Lake Huron's pristine waters.  Kelly worked there for ten years with most of that time spent as the Lodge's manager.  During one of those years, the Lodge's owner thought so highly of Kelly that she approached me with an idea for a surprise birthday party for Kelly.  Kirsten, the Lodges owner even paid to fly in two of Kelly's daughters with one coming from Vancouver and the other one from Spain.   You can read about this very happy suprise birthday party here at The Happy Face Of....'Surprise.  This morning Pheebs and I took a drive through Deer Park Lodge on our way into Bayfield.

 HEADING THE BACK WAY INTO DEER PARK LODGE

THIS COTTAGE IS KNOWN AS THE HUTCH AND KELLY'S MOM AND DAD LIKED STAYING HERE  AS WELL AS KELLY'S BROTHER PETER AND WIFE LESLIE.....IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE LAKE HURON  OUT THERE BEYOND THE WHITE FENCE

ROADS WEREN'T PLOWED YET SO WE MADE OUR OWN JEEP TRACKS THROUGH THE SNOW

 MY AUNT JEAN FROM FLORIDA STAYED IN THIS ONE WHILE HERE TEN YEARS AGO

 ALL THE COSY CABINS ARE NAMED AFTER TREES

 IN A FEW MONTHS THE LODGE'S POOL WILL BE OPEN FOR ANOTHER SUMMER SEASON

HEADING OUT THE MAIN ENTRANCE FOR BAYFIELD A HALF MILE AWAY 

 ONE OF THE OLDEST COTTAGES IN BAYFIELD

 DID YOU NOTICE THE SHIP'S CAPTAIN LOOKING THROUGH HIS SPYGLASS

 IF YOU MISSED HIM HERE HE IS  AND HE'S ACTUALLY LOOKING IN THE DIRECTION OF THE LAKE 

 AND HERE'S THE BAYFIELD POLE WALKING CLUB WRAPPING UP ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL MORNING WALK DOWN TO THE HARBOR AND BACK

Home again I edited the morning's photos then it was on with my boots, hat, and coat again to slip outside and continue shoveling the rest of my paths out.  I kinda like shoveling snow because of the exercise it gives me.  It makes for easier walking when Kelly and Pheebs slip out for their morning walk too.  With today's temperatures hovering around the freezing mark making the moisture-laden snow heavy, it was exercise indeed!!

 BAYFIELD PINES RESIDENTS OUT WALKING THEIR DOGS THIS MORNING

 AND HERE'S A FAVORITE PHOTO OF MINE IN OUR PARK FROM 2020.....I DON'T KNOW WHO THE FOUR WALKING GALS WERE BUT  I THINK THAT'S LONG-TIME PARK RESIDENT GERALD ON THE LEFT WALKING SOMEONE'S DOG

 HERE'S A COLORED CLOSE-UP OF THE FOUR WALKING GALS

A few days ago marked the date Kelly's twin daughters were born.  In the photo below you can see twins Sarah and Sabra on the left with youngest daughter Rebecca in the tire, oldest son Jason at the top, and youngest son Ben standing off to the right. 

GROANER'S CORNER:((    Some great things about getting older...

Kidnappers are not very interested in you

If you've never smoked you can start now and it won't have time to hurt you.

People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

Your supply of brain cells is finally down to a manageable size.

Things you buy now won't wear out.

No one expects you to run into a burning building.

You don't need the shingles with the 30-year guarantee.

There is no need to spend money for a psychic to see your future.

There's nothing left to learn the hard way.

Your joints are more accurate than the National Weather Service.

Buying cheap tires and not rotating them makes economic sense.

No one thinks you're cheap because you don't buy half a cow to freeze.

You may never have to vacuum under the bed again.

Taking the shortest magazine subscription is economically defensible.

You don't have to bother planting perennials.

In a hostage situation, you are likely to be released first

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I was out with my young daughter and ran into a friend I'd not seen in years.  "This is Beth," I said, introducing my kid.  "And what's Beth short for?" he asked.  "Because she's only three," I answered.

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ANOTHER WINTER STORM IS/WAS UPON US

The northern edge of the Texas weather front gently rolled into our area shortly after 8 a.m. this morning bringing with it colder temperatures, icy east winds, and light snow flurries.  As the day progressed so did the intensity of the snowfall.  Update::  At the time of posting tonight, the snow has stopped and the short-lived winter storm has already moved off to the northeast leaving us with about four inches of snow on the ground:))

 OUR WINTER STORM STARTED OUT SLOWLY

 'IT'S GETTING SNOWIER DAD'

 FLURRIES BECAME HEAVIER

Undaunted, Pheebs and I slipped off out into the countryside looking for a few photos and enjoying the snowy air.  Back to Bayfield, we wrapped up our Jeep ride with a walk in the wind-sheltered Bayfield Cemetery and a stop at the Porter's Hill Wild Bird Seed Company where we picked up a couple more 20-pound bags of Delux-Mix birdseed.  For anyone in our area, be sure to drop in here and have a look at all the different types of bird seed as well as a great assortment of bird feeders and all the accessories that go along with feeding birds.  Steve, the owner is knowledgeable about all the wild and wonderful birds we have in this region of Ontario.  He saw a number of Robins a few days ago hanging out around the southeast outskirts of Bayfield.  Pheebs and I will have to slip out that way and see if we can spot a few.   

With a wind chill factor outside of 21F, I spent the rest of the day inside.  No afternoon walk.  The birds and squirrels outside our sunroom windows always keep me entertained with their antics.  There has not been a squirrel on our bird feeder now for about 6 weeks.  That seems impossible, but it's true......as I sit here with a big apprehensive Cheshire Cat grin on my face:))

 THERE IS A CABIN IN THIS PHOTO

 A CLOSER LOOK AT THE CABIN IN THE WOODS

I am really enjoying John Steinbeck's Travels With Charley in Search of America.  On his 1960 journey, he almost made it into Canada but was not encouraged to cross the Niagara Falls border point because his traveling dog companion Charley didn't have a rabies shot.  In Niagara Falls to see the massive tumbling of water, he had hoped to cross the border here and head north to Hamilton and then west to Detroit in hopes of shaving a few miles off his journey.  The Canadian border officials would have let him into Canada but explained to him that he would not be able to get back into the States without Charley's rabies shot certificate.  Rather than try to find a vet he decided to stay in the States and struck off for Erie New York with the idea of following along the southern shores of Lake Ontario, which he did.  By the way, he had nothing but praise for how the Canadian border guards treated him.  And no, they did not know they were talking to John Steinbeck, one of the most prolific, honored, and revered writers America has ever seen. (The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, Tortilla Flat, The Winter of our Discontent, and Of Mice and Men, just to name a few of his books)

 A FEW PHOTOS FROM OUR PARK BEFORE WE ROLLED OUT LAST MONDAY MORNING

Seven years ago today we were hanging out in the desert just west of Yuma Arizona.  For a change of pace this day we headed into Yuma and each caught ourselves a separate movie at the Yuma Palms Mall movie theater.  In this post I also posted the remaining photos from the last Bloggerfest we attended in Quartzsite Arizona just a few days before.  It Was A His And Hers Movie Day In Yuma Arizona. 

 WITH WEEKS OF PREDICTED FREEZING COLD WEATHER AHEAD LAKE WATER WILL LIKELY  FREEZE AGAIN FOR AS FAR OUT AS THE EYE CAN SEE

 IT WAS A SNOWY WALK IN THE CEMETERY THIS MORNING

Ellen's Groove:)) I can't remember if I posted this one before but it's a video of Ellen and her dad doing a short version of a longer version duet to come.  Short Version.  For those who don't know, Ellen's dad is a wiz on guitar and belongs to a top-notch group of players who call themselves Octavision.  Well-known and respected bassist and 5 time Grammy winner Victor Wooten is a member of this band and as a family friend has also helped Ellen out with a few bass guitar tips.  By the way, ten-year-old Ellen and her family live in Las Vegas, Nevada.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A minister told his congregation, "Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17."  The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17.  Every hand went up.  The minister smiled and said, "Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying."

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Knock Knock
Who's there?
Heaven!
Heaven who?
Heaven seen you in ages!

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How can you tell if a redneck is married?
There are chewing tobacco stains on BOTH sides of his pickup truck.

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