SUNSHINE AND RAIN PLUS RAIN AND SUNSHINE

RAINDROP ON A BASSWOOD LEAF IN OUR DRIVEWAY THIS AFTERNOON

Well, once again all the credit goes to Kelly's steadfast dogged determination to get to the heart of my blog's not publishing problem.  She just never gives up and you wouldn't believe the number of websites and help forums she was in and out of these past few days.  Even two tech phone calls to another country that must have been even further away than India.  When the problem occurred Thursday night I was ready to throw in the sponge five minutes later.  But not Kelly, she worked on that problem for the next three days even getting up earlier, going to bed later, and missing supper Sunday night.  Thursday night it was as if someone walked in the door and upset a thousand-piece jig-saw puzzle on the floor.  By Sunday night, Kelly had all those scattered puzzle pieces picked up and back in place.  Basically speaking, she traced the problem down to a technical security issue existing between Google, Blogger, and our host server Ionos.  Kelly had to obtain an on-line security certificate thingy.  This is the simplest way I can explain the very complicated and confusing problem we had.  So, as it is now, we plan to stay with Blogger and carry on.  It really wasn't their fault like I originally thought it was..........    

 IT'S SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND KELLY IS ON THE PHONE WITH SOMEBODY IN INDIA ABOUT OUR BLOG PROBLEM...WHEN SHE HUNG UP SHE SAID 'WELL THAT GUY WASN'T MUCH HELP'

Sunday night we knew we were in for a band of heavy thunderstorms rolling in from the southwest.  Except, it never happened.  We got about 86 drops of rain Sunday evening along with a few distant peels of thunder and that was it.  The storm was a no-starter.  Unless of course it rained in the night and we didn't hear it.  It had been nearly a month since Pheebs and I last took ourselves for a walk in the Bayfield Cemetery.  Under cloudy skies and warming temperatures, we headed there straight away this morning and exercised our legs.  Weather wise, I would call it a near-perfect start to this early summer day.

 COLORS ALWAYS CATCH MY ATTENTION AND THERE OFTEN IS LOTS OF COLORS IN A CEMETERY

 AND SOME COLORS NEED WATERING

All three of us in Subie again today as we rolled out of our driveway shortly before 11 a.m. heading for London's Victoria Hospital.  Ten minutes after starting out we ran into our first band of hard rain.  One minute we would have the windshield wipers going full tilt and then drive out of the rain with wee patches of blue skies overhead and dry roads ahead.  Minutes later another band of drenching rain.  This pattern continued all the way to London.  We dropped Kelly off at the hospital at 12:15 for her weekly plasmapheresis treatment.

 WE PROBABLY DROVE THROUGH HALF A DOZEN RAIN BANDS ON THE WAY TO LONDON TODAY

 SOMETIMES THE ROADS WERE PERFECTLY DRY

 SOMETIMES WE EVEN SAW PATCHES OF BLUE SKY

Five minutes after dropping Kelly off Pheebs and I were out of the car at the Westminster Ponds area behind London's Parkwood Hospital.  Knowing the trails would be muddy I figured we'd stay on the wet grass and walk the perimeter of the double ball diamond there.  Well, we didn't get far before I felt the first sprinkles of rain.  We had to beat a hasty retreat back to the car.

 HEADING FOR THE BALL DIAMOND I HAPPENED TO LOOK BACK AND SAW THIS LARGE DARK CLOUD APPROACHING

IT WAS HERE WHILE PHEEBS WAS CHECKING OUT THE PITCHERS MOUND THAT I FELT THE FIRST DROPS OF RAIN

WITH RAINDROPS IN THE WATER PUDDLE, PHEEBS AND I MAKE A HASTY RETREAT FOR THE CAR

 WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO SNAG OUR FAVORITE SPOT TODAY

Spent about half an hour reading when I noticed the rainy drizzle had stopped.  Out of the car we went for another attempt at a walk.  Luck was with us and the rain held off until we were back to the car.

 THIS  OLD FIREPLACE IS ONE OF THREE THAT REMAINS OF WHAT ONCE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A NICE LOUNGE AREA IN A BUILDING HERE....CHECK OUT THE OLD PHOTO BELOW WITH VETERANS SITTING AROUND IN FRONT OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN THIS VERY SAME FIREPLACE

 CRUMBLING STEPS WERE ONCE TRODDEN BY MANY VETERANS AND STAFF YEARS AGO AS THEY ENTERED AND EXITED AN OLD BUILDING HERE

 BY THE LOOKS OF THESE WINDOW CASEMENTS I'M GUESSING THESE BUILDINGS HAD BASEMENTS

 TWO OF THREE OLD FIREPLACES CAN BE SEEN HERE AND WHERE YOU SEE GREEN PLANTS WAS ONCE WOODEN FLOORS AND ROOMS

 STEPS LEADING TO NOWHERE

 PHEEBS CHECKS OUT SOME BUGS BESIDE THE VETERAN'S BENCH

 'COME ON BUGS, TIME TO HEAD BACK TO THE CAR'

 WE STAYED OFF THE MUDDY TRAILS

 SPOTTED THIS MAN AND HIS DOG

 'HEY DAD, DON'T FORGET THE STICK'

My cell phone rang about 2:30 with Kelly on the other end saying she was ready to be picked up.  Minutes later, with our windshield wipers going Pheebs and I were at the hospital, picked up Kelly, and away we went.  The last time we were ever at a Burger King was probably in the States during our RV travels four or five years ago.  I always liked Burger King's whoppers so shortly after leaving the hospital we stopped at a Burger King along the way and whopperized ourselves.  I remember when we had our house in Congress Arizona, Pheebs and I on our morning drives would sometimes slide on down to Wickenburg and get ourselves whopperized.  Following Burger King this afternoon our next stop was a Tim Hortons for a couple coffees to go.  It was the worst Tim Hortons coffee I've ever had.  In our travels back and forth to London we have stopped at a number of Tim Hortons along the way and we both agree that Tim Hortons coffee standards are slipping.  I don't know why that is, but it is definitely happening.  Our drive home this afternoon was a repeat of our earlier drive to London.  Short periods of heavy rain, dry roads, bursts of sunshine, and then more rain again.  We arrived home around 4:30 under warm sunny skies.

ON OUR WAY TO PICK UP KELLY

 RAIN OR SHINE SHE'S LOOKING FINE:))

 AT BURGER KING

 THE WEATHER WAS VERY UNSETTLED ALL THE WAY HOME

I would like to thank everyone for your patience and understanding as we struggled through this recent blog dilemma we unexpectedly ran into.  Thank you for your cares, concerns, comments, and kind words.  And thank you for your inspiration and encouragement.  I sometimes stumble over myself and lose confidence in my blog but it is always you readers who pull me out of that funk and keep me going.  And, I thank you for that:))     

 MILKWEED FLOWERS

 MOURNING DOVE

Al's Music Box:)) Imagine by John Lennon from the album 'Imagine'.  1971

 SOME FLOWERS ALONG THE WAY TODAY

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A foursome approached the sixteenth tee. The straight fairway ran along a road and bike path fenced off on the left. The first golfer teed of and hooked the ball into that direction. But the ball went over the fence and bounced off the bike path onto the road, where it hit the tire of a moving bus and was knocked back on to the fairway. As they all stood in silent amazement, one man finally asked him, “How on earth did you do that?” He shrugged his shoulders and said, “You have to know the bus schedule.”

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- What do you call an encyclopedia in the fridge?  Cold, hard facts.

- What do you get if you cross a stereo and a fridge?  Very cool music.

- How can you tell if there is an elephant in your fridge?  There are footprints in the butter.

- Why did the man throw the contents of his fridge out of the window?  He wanted to see the butterfly.

- Did you hear the one about the ice cube’s great escape from the freezer?  You could say it was a well-thawed-out plan.

- Is your refrigerator running?  Mine too. See you at the refrigerator race tomorrow.

- How come the fridge is always emotionally stable?  Because it knows how to chill.

- What do you call something that runs but never gets anywhere?  A fridge.

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A little kid asks his father, "Daddy, is God a man or a woman?"
"Both son. God is both."
After awhile the kid comes again and asks, "Daddy, is God black or white?"
"Both son, both."
"Daddy, does God love children?"
"Yes son, he loves all children."
The child returns a few minutes later and says, "Daddy, is Michael Jackson God?"

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SUNDAY POST.........IF IT PUBLISHES

A FLOWERPOT ARRANGEMENT IN ONE OF OUR PARK'S ENTRANCEWAY FLOWER BEDS THIS MORNING

This is my Sunday post......As readers may have noticed, we are still having problems with the blog.  Kelly did get it up and running early Saturday afternoon but there was still a glitch with the blog's IP address, or something.  Attempting to fix that Saturday night, the blog took another tumble and readers were once again getting error messages, etc.  First thing this morning Kelly was at it yet again trying to figure out a solution.  A number of fellow Bloggers have suggested switching from the troublesome older 'Blogger' platform to a different and newer up-to-date one called WordPress. My biggest fear is losing all my Archives and I've heard people have had a lot of trouble with that transfer stuff.  But, after watching Kelly struggle for hours and hours these past couple of days with this Blogger problem I am now thinking I have 3 options.  It's either to keep fighting with this aging Blogger, go through the aggravation of trying to set up a whole new blogging platform like WordPress, or just finally give up my blogging hobby and call it a day.  After all, I've been doing this for 17 years now.  With only one photo taken today I came across a few very old poor quality photos of the Bayfield Bunch before we even knew we would be known in the RV community as the Bayfield Bunch one day.  A last minute update at 8 p.m. Kelly thinks she has finally tracked down the problem.  If so, I will explain tomorrow what it was.  You can catch-up my Thursday, Friday, and Saturday posts by scrolling to the bottom this post and look for the words Older Posts and click on that.  I am cautiously optimistic 'we might be' okay now....... 

 

THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN IN THE LATE 90'S AT THE OLD WEENIE ROAST RANCH AND THAT IS OUR NUMBER 1 BOY, MAX

 THIS YAMAHA VIRAGO 750 WAS THE SECOND OF MY THREE MOTORCYCLES

MY FAVORITE PHOTO OF MAX TAKEN NEAR OUR PARK'S POND ON A MORNING WALK PROBABLY IN LATE 2002

 WINTERTIME AT OUR HOUSE PROBABLY AROUND 2007

 THE ORIGINAL BAYFIELD BUNCH   CHECKERS, AL, MAX, KELLY, AND CORA

 CORA AND MAX

 OUR GIRL 'CHECKERS'

 SNUGGLING ON THE COUCH WITH MAX AND CORA

 MAX AND CHECKERS 

 KELLY, CORA, AND CHECKERS HANGING OUT IN OUR NEW SUNROOM MAYBE AROUND 2008

 NOW HOW'S THAT FOR A SMILEY FACE

 AL AND HIS CELESTRON TELESCOPE

 I'M THINKING THIS MIGHT HAVE BEEN TAKEN AT THE PINERY PROVINCIAL PARK ONE OF OUR FAVORITE GO-TO SPOTS WHEN WE FIRST MET

Al's Music Box:)) Taxi by Harry Chapin from the album 'Heads & Tales'.  1972

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the motor of a Harley motorcycle when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop.  The surgeon was there, waiting for the service manager to come and take a look at his bike.  The mechanic shouted across the garage, "Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?"  The surgeon a bit surprised, walked over to the mechanic working on the motorcycle. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked, "So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take valves out, fix 'em, put 'em back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big bucks, when you and I are doing basically the same work?"  The surgeon paused, smiled and leaned over, and whispered to the mechanic..."Try doing it with the engine running."

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Joe said, "Know what, Charlie? I killed 5 flies yesterday, 3 males and 2 females."  "How could you tell them apart, Joe? asked Charlie.  "Joe replied, "It was easy. The 3 males were sitting on a case of beer, and the 2 females were on the phone."

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