AL'S MUSIC BOX....A TRIBUTE TO GORDON LIGHTFOOT

 DESPITE THE COLD WET WEATHER ONE OF OUR FUSCIA PLANTS IS IN BLOOM

A cold rainy morning but hey at least it wasn't the dreaded snow weather forecasters had alluded to.  Our weather is due to begin 'smartening up' in a few days and I am very much looking forward to that.  

 LITTLE RED IN OUR FRONT YARD LATE THIS AFTERNOON

 AND HERE'S THAT BALTIMORE ORIOLE I MENTIONED YESTERDAY

Pheebs and I took a drive into Bayfield and back this morning.  Work is moving along well on the village's main street.  Sidewalks are now done on the west side.  

 BAYFIELD'S NEW SIDEWALKS ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE STREET

I WONDER WHAT WISEGUY AT THE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY'S HEAD OFFICE WAS THINKING WHEN HE HAD THIS PINK OUTHOUSE  DELIVERED TO THE JOBSITE FOR THE BURLY CONSTRUCTION CREW.....YA DON'T SUPPOSE THE BOYS WOULD BE TOO EMBARRASSED TO USE IT DO YA:))

 AND HERE'S THE FAVORITE CONSTRUCTION WORKER GUY OF THE DAY BRINGING BACK TIM HORTON COFFEES FOR THE REST OF THE CREW

 HEY GARY B. OUT THERE IN THAT SALTFORD PLACE, HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENING ON YOUR FORMER BAYFIELD PROPERTY

I had an appointment with my Urologist at the Clinton Hospital early this afternoon.  My PSA number (prostate cancer) came in at 0.06  Both Dr. Bukala and I were pleased with that number which is the best one to date.  My three previous numbers had been 0.08.  My next PSA check-up will be in one year.

 A WET DRIVE TO CLINTON AND BACK THIS AFTERNOON AND YES THERE WERE FLECKS OF SNOW IN THE AIR

 WAITING FOR MY PSA NUMBER NEWS

Al's Music Box:)) A tribute tonight to Canada's own Gordon Lightfoot who passed away yesterday.  The first time I saw Gordon was in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia.  It was 1966 when a hometown Navy buddy of mine Len (Tex) Croft and I popped into a small bar/coffee house.  I recall the bar was noisy and the table making the most noise just a few tables away from us was Gordon Lightfoot and his band members.  Gordon wasn't that well known at that time, at least not to Len and I so I don't think we paid too much attention to him singing because I have no memory of him and the band on stage.  I just remember their noisy table.  I suppose it's possible Len and I left the bar before they played.  Of course, Len and I were also drinking and carrying on as well and that may have had something to do with my memory loss over the years.  Now, fast forward to some time in the early eighties when I next saw Gordon Lightfoot.  My good friend, Jim Hagarty, (Stratford) was a Gordon Lightfoot fan so when Gordon came to Kitchener Ontario to do a concert at the Centre In The Square, Jim and I were there.  It was a great concert and Gordon did all his most well-known songs.  He had come a long way from that noisy little coffee house bar in downtown Halifax all those years before.  I think I have three Gordon Lightfoot albums in my collection somewhere.  He was a true original who wrote and played all his own material.  His music has been covered by many artists such as Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte, Peter Paul and Mary, Ann Murry, Sarah Mclachlan, Bob Dylan, Marty Robbins, and Glen Campbell.  He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame in 1986 by his good friend Bob Dylan.  Dylan called Gordon Lightfoot 'a rare talent' and said that his fellow singer died without ever having made a bad song.  Dylan also said that when he heard a Gordon Lightfoot song he wished “it would last forever”.  Here are a few of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot songs........If You Could Read My Mind.....Early Morning Rain.....Ribbon Of Darkness.....Sundown.....I'm Not Sayin.....Canadian Railroad Trilogy.....Carefree Highway.....The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.....Beautiful.....Did She Mention My Name.....For Lovin Me.....and of course my two personal favorites, Pussy Willows, Cattails, and Song For A Winter's Night.

There is also a fine documentary about Gordon Lightfoot and here is a trailer for that documentary....If You Could Read My Mind.  I have watched this documentary twice and despite Gordon's mild demeanor, he lived a troubled life at the height of his career with his broken marriages and struggles with alcohol addiction.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A fire started on some grasslands near a farm. The county fire department was called to put out the fire. The fire was more than the county fire department could handle. Someone suggested that a nearby volunteer bunch be called. Despite some doubt that the volunteer outfit would be of any assistance, the call was made.  The volunteers arrived in a dilapidated old fire truck. They rumbled straight towards the fire, drove right into the middle of the flames and stopped! The firemen jumped off the truck and frantically started spraying water in all directions. Soon they had snuffed out the center of the fire, breaking the blaze into two easily-controlled parts.  Watching all this, the farmer was so impressed with the volunteer fire department's work and was so grateful that his farm had been spared, that right there on the spot he presented the volunteers with a check for $1,000. A local news reporter asked the volunteer fire captain what the department planned to do with the funds.  "That ought to be obvious," he responded, wiping ashes off his coat. "The first thing we're gonna do is get the brakes fixed on our fire truck!"

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Matt: "It's times like this that I wish I'd listened to what my Dad always said."  Jake: "What did he say?"  "I don't know, I wasn't listening."

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GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

WORST SPRING OF EVER

 THIS MORNING'S SPRING COLORS WERE LOOKING MORE LIKE AUTUMN'S COLORS

A cold grey day with a chance of snow Tuesday.  Kitchener, seventy-five miles East of us had hail today.  I think I will just chalk this one up as the worst Spring of ever!!  Saw a Baltimore Oriole in our front yard this afternoon.

 NO THIS IS NOT THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE

Al's Music Box:)) Ventura Highway by America from the album 'Homecoming'.  1972

GROANER'S CORNER:((Heard On Noahs Ark::

10. "Did anyone think about bringing a couple of umbrellas?"

9. "Hey, there are more than two flies in here!"

8. "Wasn't someone supposed to put two shovels on board?"

7. "OK, who's the wise guy who brought the mosquitoes on board?"

6. "Help! I need some Pepto for the elephants, QUICK!"

5. "Don't Make Me Pull This Ark Over And Come Back There!"

4. "No Dino, you cannot eat the Pig!"

3. "And whatever you do, DO NOT pull this plug out."

2. "Nice Doggie!"

AND THE NUMBER ONE THING OVERHEARD ON NOAH'S ARK.....

1. "Are We There Yet?"

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KELLY IS FEELING BETTER

Surprisingly, we had a wee touch of sunshine this morning and not too much rain all day.  In fact, we ended the day under sunny skies.  I didn't take any Tylenol Saturday to see how my hip would feel today.  Aside from a few tweaks and twinges I had no pain on our walk this morning or this afternoon and my leg and hip have been fine all day.  I will continue to take the Glucosamine and Chondroitin as suggested.  Kelly is feeling better and had her fifth good night's sleep in a row. 

 IT WAS A SQUISHY SQUSHY WALK ON THIS MUDDY GRAVEL ROAD THIS MORNING

 COLOR IS BEGINNING TO APPEAR IN THE TREE TOPS ALONG THE ROADSIDE FORESTS

 FOREST GROUND COVERS ARE GREENING UP

 THE FOREST FLOOR

'S

I SPOTTED THIS PROFILE OF AN ELUSIVE WOODEN SWAMP GATOR'S HEAD LOOKING LEFT

 YES, I WOULD SAY SPRING IS WELL UNDER WAY AT A NEIGHBORING FARM

Al's Music Box:))   A double whammy tonight!!  Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin from the album 'Led Zeppelin IV'.  1971 And don't miss this superb tribute to the members of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven by the band Heart.  Stairway To Heaven Kennedy Center Tribute

GROANER'S CORNER:( There was a tradesman, a painter named Jack, who was very interested in making a dollar where he could. So he often would thin down his paint to make it go a wee bit further. As it happened, he got away with this for some time. Eventually the local church decided to do a big restoration project. Jack put in a painting bid and, because his price was so competitive, he got the job. And so he started, erecting the trestles and putting up the planks, and buying the paint and thinning it down with turpentine.Jack was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly done, when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder. The sky opened and the rain poured down, washing the thin paint from all over the church and knocking Jack off the scaffold to land on the lawn. Jack was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty, so he fell on his knees and cried, "Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?" And from the thunder, a mighty Voice spoke, "Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!"

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What do you call it when your mother's sisters all gather at a funeral to avenge your death?  Vigil Aunties

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What's the difference between a rock guitarist and a jazz guitarist? The rock guitarist plays 3 chords for 1,000 people while the jazz guitarist plays 1,000 chords for 3 people.

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WENT OUT FOR A LATE LUNCH

 SHADES OF OLD BAYFIELD

A grey rainy day.  Kelly's youngest son Ben, drove over from Cambridge today for a visit.  Nice to see him.  We all went out for a late lunch at Renegades in Bayfield...........

Al's Music Box:)) Just Came Back by Colin James from the album 'Sudden Stop'.  1990  Okay you Rockers, strap in but don't let the first 48 seconds of this one fool you.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Scientists at Rolls Royce built a gun specifically to launch dead chickens at the windshields of airliners and military jets all traveling at maximum velocity. The idea was to simulate the frequent incidents of collisions with airborne fowl to test the strength of the windshields.  American engineers heard about the gun and were eager to test it on the windshields of their new high-speed trains. Arrangements were made, and a gun was sent to the American engineers.  When the gun was fired, the engineers stood shocked as the chicken hurled out of the barrel, crashed into the shatterproof shield, smashed it to smithereens, blasted through the control console, snapped the engineer's backrest in two and embedded itself in the back wall of the cabin like an arrow shot from a bow..  The horrified engineers sent Rolls Royce the disastrous results of the experiment, along with the designs of the windshield and begged the British scientists for suggestions.  Rolls Royce responded with a one-line memo:  Defrost the chicken.

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- What did the dancer feel after a week of non-stop rehearsals?  The agony of de-feet.

- What do you call dancing by the sink?
Tap dancing.
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I NEVER SUSPECTED I WAS THAT TIRED

 IN OUR PARK'S HARDWOOD FOREST THIS MORNING LOOKING FOR TRILLIUMS

The cloudy gray morning didn't leave me with much inspiration earlier today.  It was an hour's ride through the countryside for Pheebs and I with a stop at Richard and Gayles to see how they were doing.  All was okay there as Richard brewed up some coffee.  Kelly had her fourth good night's sleep so her days are feeling a tad better.  An intermittent light rain front finally reached us just before noon and we've been a wee bit on the wet side ever since.

 LOCAL FARMERS ARE BUSY ON THEIR LAND PREPARING FIELDS FOR PLANTING NEXT MONTH

 A LONE SHEEP AND HORSE WERE THE ONLY ANIMALS WE SAW ON OUR JEEP RIDE

 A PATCH OF WILD DAFFODILS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

 IN OUR PARK'S FOREST I DIDN'T FIND THE MULTITUDE OF TRILLIUMS I HAD SEEN IN PREVIOUS YEARS

I don't have an afternoon siesta every afternoon and when I do it's maybe twenty to forty minutes.  I slipped into my sunroom recliner with my Kindle book in hand this afternoon and glanced at the clock.  It was 12:45.  The next time I looked at that clock it was 3:45 and my book was still open on my chest on the same page I had opened it three hours previously.  I knew I had felt unusually tired this morning when Pheebs and I were out for our Jeep ride, but I never suspected I was that tired.  I guess maybe it was the last couple of weeks catching up with me..........

 I SEE A LITTLE FACE ASLEEP HERE IN A PILE OF LEAVES AT THE BASE OF A PINE TREE IN OUR PARK

Al's Music Box:)) Ferry Cross The Mersey by Gerry And The Pacemakers from the album 'Ferry Cross The Mersey'.  1964

 A FARMER'S CABIN IN THE WOODS AWAITS THE FAMILIES HAPPY SUMMER ACTIVITIES

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Tom is applying for a job as a signalman for the local railroad and is told to meet the inspector at the signal box.  The inspector decides to give Tom a pop quiz, asking: "What would you do if you realized that two trains were heading towards each other on the same track?"  Tom says: "I would switch one train to another track."  "What if the lever broke?" asks the inspector.  "Then I'd run down to the tracks and use the manual lever down there," answers Tom.  "What if that had been struck by lightning?" challenges the inspector.  "Then," Tom continued, "I'd run back up here and use the phone to call the next signal box."  "What if the phone was busy?"  "In that case," Tom argued, "I'd run to the street level and use the public phone near the station."  "What if that had been vandalized?"  "Oh well," said Tom, "in that case I would run into town and get my Uncle Leo.  This puzzled the inspector, so he asked "Why would you do that?"  "Because my Uncle Leo has never seen a big train wreck."

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AND THAT PRETTY WELL TOOK CARE OF ANOTHER DAY

I LOVE WATCHING THE CHIPMUNKS SCURRYING ABOUT IN OUR FRONT YARD 

Just me in the Subaru under sunny blue skies this morning heading to Goderich's Alexandra Marine Hospital for a few hip X-rays. I was in and out of there in about 15 minutes with 3 of those minutes spent on the table for two X-rays.  Home again, I switched into the Jeep, loaded up Pheebs and we headed out to our country road spot for a brisk morning walk.  Home for a second time, I hauled out my vehicle cleaning stuff and spent about an hour cleaning Subie.  With our running back and forth to London these past few weeks it had gotten a little dirty both inside and out.  An afternoon walk with Pheebs around the Park pond and that pretty well took care of another day..............

 WE HAVE PRIMROSE BLOOMING

 OUR HOSTAS ARE SPIKING UP THROUGH THE GROUND

 GARDEN LIGHTS

 A LONE BURGUNDY TRILLIUM IN OUR FRONT YARD

Al's Music Box:)) Run For The Roses by Dan Fogelberg from the album 'The Innocent Age'.  1980

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Health inspector: "I'm afraid you have too many roaches in here."  Restaurant owner: "How many am I allowed?"

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A mother takes her son to a psychiatrist and says, “Doctor, I'd like you to evaluate my 13-year-old son.”  “He's suffering from a transient psychosis with an intermittent rage disorder, punctuated by episodic radical mood swings, but his prognosis is good for full recovery.”  “How can you say all that without even meeting him?”  “Didn't you say he was 13?”

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