STOPPED IN TO SEE A COUPLE GOOD FRIENDS

A FEMALE COMMON GOLDENEYE DUCK ON THE BAYFIELD RIVER THIS MORNING AS THE WATER REFLECTS THE BLUE SKY OVERHEAD

Our third sunny day in a row.  Washed the Jeep at the Bayfield car wash and then it was over to the cemetery to get some paws and boots on the ground for a walk.  Stopped to visit a couple good friends on the way home and welcome them back to the Bayfield area.  With shovel in hand, I spent time this afternoon moving around a few patches of driveway snow before the next bash of the cold white stuff rolls in Friday.  And that about wraps up another winter's day.........

 WITH FOUR FISHING BOATS BACK IN BAYFIELD NOW IT DEFINITELY SIGNIFIES THAT SPRING IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER

THE MOUNTAINS OF ICE ON BAYFIELD'S PIERS ARE SHRINKING DAILY

BAYFIELD'S WATER TOWER CAN BE SEEN IN THIS MORNING'S CEMETERY PHOTO....PHEEBS IS IN THE PHOTO TOO

 IT'S GREAT TO SEE AREA CREEKS FLOWING

 THIS FAVORITE ROAD OF MINE IS NOT MAINTAINED IN THE WINTER AND I WILL BE GLAD WHEN IT IS SOON OPEN AGAIN 

MORNING WALKERS IN OUR 'BAYFIELD PINES' PARK TODAY 

Al's Music Box:)) Lay Lady Lay by Bob Dylan from the album 'Nashville Skyline'.  1969

GROANER'S CORNER:((   I just got a job making plastic Draculas.  There are only two of us on the production line, so I have to make every second Count.

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Men are like a pack of Cards:
A "heart" to love them
A "diamond" to marry them
A "club" to smack them and
A "spade" to bury the body...

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A NICE SUNNY DAY

Al's Music Box:)) Brandy by Looking Glass.  From their album 'Looking Glass'.  1972

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Bubba and Earl, were driving down the road drinking a couple of bottles of Bud.  The passenger, Bubba, said, "Lookey thar up ahead, Earl, it's a po-lice roadblock! We're gonna get busted fer drinkin' these here beers!!"  "Don't worry, Bubba," Earl said.  "We'll just pull over and finish drinkin' these beers, peel off the label and stick it on our foreheads, and throw the bottles under the seat."  "What fer?" asked Bubba.  "Just let me do the talkin', OK?" said Earl.  Well, they finished their beers, threw the empty bottles under the seat, and each put a label on their forehead.  When they reached the roadblock, the sheriff said, "You boys been drinkin'?"  "No sir," Earl said. "We're on the patch."

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NOTICED A FEW MORE SIGNS OF MAYBE AN EARLY SPRING

BLUE SKIES OVER OUR SMALL AREA OF THE PLANET TODAY 

We had a mighty fine bright sunny blue sky day going on today but with wind gusts making our daytime high of 30F feel like 19F it wasn't the greatest day to be outside.   Unless one is interested in skiing or participating in winter sports.  However, I did slip out and clean some of the Jeep's windows and check the oil in both vehicles.  Interesting to note that since the Jeep's last oil change four months ago, it is hardly leaking oil anymore.  So, what's that all about.  

With morning sunshine leading the way, Pheebs and I added a few extra miles onto our Jeep ride this morning and managed to scrape together a few photos.  Due to the amount of snow in the rural fields, we didn't see any cows or horses out enjoying the sunshine.  A few Crows and that was about it.  Things should be looking better a month from now, but that's not a guarantee.  We have been known to have some nasty early April snow and ice storms from time to time.  Luckily, we live in the southernmost part of Canada.  Point Pelee is on the same latitude as northern California and Point Pelee is only 143 miles south of us.  Unfortunately, our location doesn't come with the label of Canada's warmest winter climate.  I  think the southwest area of British Columbia has dibs on that.  But, I think we have more sunshine than they do.

A SNOWMOBILE TRAIL ACROSS THE FARM FIELDS

 ROAD VEHICLES TO THE LEFT AND SNOW VEHICLES TO THE RIGHT

With bouts of fatigue bothering her, Kelly decided to head off to the Dynacare Lab in Goderich this morning to have her blood checked again with special attention being paid to her Iron and Hemo Globin counts.  She will have the results of this morning's bloodwork on her computer by noon tomorrow.  She keeps meticulous records and will be able to compare the test levels with last week's test levels as well as all previous blood test records before that.

SOON, ALL THIS GRAY WILL BE GREEN

 FOREST SHADOWS

Noticed several more signs of maybe an early Spring today.  A Grackle appeared on our bird station and that Grackle I fear is the harbinger of countless other Grackles to come that will completely overwhelm the feeder and scare all the other birds away.  I have been toying with the idea of taking the bird station down soon to discourage the Grackles from swarming in.  I would put it back up in the Fall.  'Little Red' the red squirrel and 'Chippy' the chipmunk were also in the front yard scrounging around and I heard a Crow in one of our tall pine trees also cawing about the coming Spring.  

 I THINK THIS BLACK GRACKLE IS AN EARLY SCOUT FOR THE REST OF THE FLOCK

 LITTLE RED'

Al's Music Box:)) Riders On The Storm by The Doors from the album 'L.A Woman'  1971

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Words of wisdom...

- Always wanted to be a procrastinator, but never got around to it.
- My friend has kleptomania, but when it gets bad, he takes something for it.

- Never be afraid to try something new, remember amateurs built the ark - professionals built the Titanic.
- Love is grand - divorce is a hundred grand.
- Politicians and diapers have one thing in common, they should both be changed regularly and for the same reason.
- One of life's mysteries - How can a two-pound box of candy make a person gain five pounds.

- Time may be a great healer, but it's also a lousy beautician.
- Age doesn't always bring wisdom, sometimes age comes alone.
- Life not only begins at forty, it begins to show as well.

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WHY NOT SAVE THE GAS FOR NICER WEATHER

 SUNDAY NIGHT'S MOON

After publishing Sunday's post I noticed the snow in our front yard was slightly illuminated and I knew only one thing that could cause that.  Opening our sunroom's patio door I looked up and by golly, sure enough, there was a big bright Moon shining down on us.  How rare to have a clear night sky lately.  I set my Nikon Coolpix p900 on a tripod and cracked off a few moon shots.  Also, I've been aware there have been a couple very bright Planets in the western sky so figured this was a good opportunity to see them, so Pheebs and I piled into the Jeep and headed out into the countryside about a mile east of our Park.  As soon as I stepped out onto the road there was no mistaking Venus and Jupiter in the clear, cold, and crisp night sky just as bright as they could be.  Despite the Moon's brightness, I was able to also spot the constellation Orion including the surrounding stars Betelgeuse, (Beetlejuice) Bellatrix, and Rigel.  Standing there under the night sky I thought to myself, 'if only we lived out in the country with a clear night sky overhead I know I would be encouraged to revive my astronomy hobby again'.  I have all the camera equipment for night photography but I don't have the best photo editing program to do the photos justice.  Subsequently, I lack experience in this astrophotography area too.  Oh well, I thought to myself, at least I will try to make an effort this year to get myself outside under the stars more often.  I did notice one unusual thing last night while looking at the Planets.  I could see two moonlit vapor trails in the sky.  I didn't see the blinking lights of the two jets that I assume made those trails but both trails were straight as an hour from Northeast to Southwest and about 10 degrees apart.  And both those trails would have to have been made at the exact same time judging from their consistency.  Only 10 degrees apart is too close for commercial airliners nor is it a normal route for them in this area.  I figure they were military planes and that in itself is unusual as well because we rarely ever have any kind of military aircraft overhead.  Those two planes had to have been on some kind of a mission coming from somewhere and going straightaway to somewhere else.

It was under sullen and gray drab skies that Pheebs and I headed out this morning.  At least the roads were bare and dry.  We were only gone for maybe twenty minutes and we were home again.  I couldn't drum up any interest about going any further and figured why not save the gas for nicer weather like a sunny warm Spring day.  So, aside from a few iffy Moonshots, I didn't end up with any other photos today.

A reader in my blog's comments section had a question about Al's Music Box.  "What kind of set-up do you have for your music box access? Are they all in one file or categories? All YouTubes"? All the music I have gathered over the years are in files and folders with folder titles like the 40s, the 50s, early and late 60s, 70, 80s, and 90s.  I also have folders for specific artists and interests as well such as Al's Favs, Country, Ambient, Celtic, Relaxation, Misc, Instrumentals, TV Themes, Beatles, Sons Of The Pioneers, Dan Gibson, Will Ackerman, George Winston, etc. etc.  I do have all those files backed up on external hard drives as well.  What I do when I think of a song for the Music Box is type into my Google Search Engine the name of the song and artist and then pick the best YouTube version of that song and paste the link into my blog.      

Al's Music Box:)) The Last Farewell by Roger Whittaker from the album 'New World In The Morning  1971

Ellen's Groove:)) Ellen really grooves out in this short clip and it once again shows her amazing progress on the bass guitar.  Keep in mind she is only ten years old........ March On Fire  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A couple with three children waited in line at San Francisco's Pier 41 to purchase tickets for a boat trip to Alcatraz. Others watched with varying degrees of sympathy and irritation as the young children fidgeted, whined, and punched one another. The frazzled parents reprimanded them to no avail.  Finally, they reached the ticket window. "Five tickets, please," the father said. "Two round trip, three one way."

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Top 3 situations that require witnesses:

1) Crimes
2) Accidents
3) Marriages
Need I say more?

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I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE DAY WENT

 CANADA GEESE IN THE CALM WATERS OF GODERICH'S HARBOR

Well, I don't know where the day went but it obviously went somewhere and didn't tell me.  Aside from Pheebs and I going to Goderich and back this morning and moving a little bit of wet snow around this afternoon I really don't have much to write about.  Some days I just come up short.  However, I did manage a few photos this morning...............  

 CRITTER TRACKS IN OUR FRONT YARD

 GODERICH'S ROTARY COVE HAS ITS VERY OWN ICEBERG

 GODERICH'S OUTER HARBOR AND BREAKWALL

 STILL ENOUGH ICE IN THE HARBOR FOR SEAGULLS TO REST ON

 TWO AIR LINES ON THE STERN OF THE ALGOMA GUARDIAN CHURN UP THE WATER TO PREVENT ICE FROM FORMING AROUND THE SHIP'S PROPELLER

HEADING DOWN TO THE NORTH HARBOR WITH THE ALGOMA GUARDIAN ON THE LEFT AND THE BLUE GODERICH SALT MINE STRAIGHT AHEAD AS WELL AS THE MAITLAND RIVER BELOW

 THE ALGOMA CONVEYOR AT THE SALT MINE DOCK WAS JUST GETTING UP HEAD OF STEAM PRIOR TO LEAVING PORT A FEW MINUTES LATER

SEA GULLS WERE GATHERING TO GIVE THE SHIP A BIG SEND OFF

 WE SPOTTED OLD LONESOME ON THE WAY HOME

Al's Music Box:)) A Whiter Shade Of Pale by Procol Harum from the album 'Procul Harem.

  THIS GULL IS STANDING ON A TALL LIGHT STANDARD AND IN THE BACKGROUND IS THE BRIDGE STRUCTURE OF THE ALGOMA CONVEYOR 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( When Kids Rewrite Songs::  "God bless America through the night with a light from a bulb!”  "O Susanna, don’t you cry for me for I come from Alabama with a band-aid on my knee!”  "Give us this day our deli bread!  Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the whole East Coast.”  "We shall come to Joyce’s, bringing in the cheese.”

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The Vatican has unveiled an email address for the new Pope.  In related news, the Pope has received a confidential financial offer from the President of Nigeria.

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