A BIG DAY COMING UP FOR KELLY THIS WEEK

With a heavily overcast morning going on and roads still wet with yesterday's rain, I didn't want to take the recently washed Subaru out so Pheebs and I piled into the Jeep.  It was a nice sultry morning walk with a few peeps of sunlight trying to pierce through the heavy gray cloud cover.  Recent rains have really spurred on the growth of crops in our area.

 CORN'S UP ABOUT THREE FEET ALREADY

 BEANS ARE UP ABOUT TEN INCHES AND THAT IS ABOUT AS HIGH AS THEY WILL GET

Instead of wheeling around and heading back home, we decided to wander a few gravely back country roads in search of a few photos.  The reception on my XM-Sirius satellite radio was coming in extra clear so with our front windows down and a touch of heat on Pheebs and leisurely cruised along about 15mph thoroughly enjoying the moody morning.

 THIS IS A TYPICAL COUNTRY ROAD IN OUR AREA

 AN RV PARK?? NOPE, JUST A FARMER'S HOBBY OUT BEHIND HIS BARN

 A BIG OLD YELLOW EARTH MOVING MONSTER

With clearing skies this afternoon and an abundance of sunshine, Pheebs and I took ourselves for an afternoon walk around the Park's pond and along a couple of forest roadways here in the Park.  And we walked the small section of the old Pine Tree Trail that wasn't needlessly destroyed by the precious owner a couple years ago.

Talking to my Aunt Jean Friday night, she is still happily doing fine in her new digs at the Sunnyside Villa in Sarasota, Florida.  I asked her if she had any regrets about moving and she said 'no'.  With her health slowly declining she feels she made the move just in time.  At 96 she still drives and twice this past week she was out bombing around in the chaotic Sarasota traffic. Once to get her hair cut and once to visit a close friend in the hospital. 

 AN ABANDONED FARMHOUSE

 SOME PARTS OF OUR COUNTRYSIDE LOOK LIKE THE PRAIRIES

 THIS DAIRY FARMER FOUND A GOOD USE FOR ONE OF HIS OLD MILK CANS...IT IS NOW A MAILBOX

Kelly's plasmapheresis treatment for Monday has been rescheduled for later in the week.  Kelly was alright with that and in her own words said, "I am going to need all the strength I can muster for this coming Wednesday".  About a month ago an envelope from the London Health Sciences Centre arrived in the mail stating that Kelly's presence is required to be at University Hospital Wednesday morning July 12th at 8 a.m.  At that time and for the next half dozen hours she will be meeting with a 'Liver Transplant Committee.  This important first meeting will determine whether Kelly is eligible for a liver transplant.  She will have a number of appointments with committee members to see if she is strong enough to not only survive the surgery but to see if she has the endurance and stamina for the recovery period.  They will also want to know if she has help and infrastructure in place at home for her recovery.  Her day this coming Wednesday will look like this.....8 a.m.-'Echocardiogram'....9:30 a.m.- meet with 'Social Worker.'....11a.m.-meet with 'Liver Transplant Coordinator'....12 p.m.- meet with 'Dietician'....1 p.m.-meet with 'Hepatologist' followed by blood work at the hospital lab....1:30 p.m.-meet with 'Surgeon'.  Both Kelly's daughters Sabra and Rebecca will be accompanying Kelly throughout all these appointments starting with the Social Worker.  After Wednesday's meeting, the committee will then take two weeks to assess their findings and let Kelly know by phone if she has been accepted for a liver transplant or not.  If she is accepted she will then undergo another meeting at some point to assess her physical strength, etc.  Whatever the committee decides after Wednesday's meeting will be a turning point in Kelly's future health care.  Pheebs and I will be driving her to that early Wednesday appointment and her daughters will be bringing her home Wednesday afternoon.  It's going to be a long tiring day for Kelly............      

 PROBABLY THE TRACKS OF A LARGE CROP-SPRAYING MACHINE

Al's Music Box:)) Mah-na Mah-na by the Sesame Street Trio.  Okay folks, try to stop this one from rattling around in your head for the rest of the day:))

A QUIET FARM POND

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A college student challenged a senior citizen, saying it was impossible for their generation to understand his.  You grew up in a different world, the student said.  Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, nuclear energy, and computers.  Taking advantage of a pause in the student's litany, the geezer said,  You're right. We didn't have those things when we were young so we invented them!"

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Heckling in the courtroom had constantly interrupted the trial, and the judge had had enough.  The next person who interrupts this proceeding will be thrown out of my court! he said severely, at which the defendant yelled, Hooray!

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I was driving my father and grandfather down a rough country road. My inexperience in handling Grandpa's four-wheel-drive vehicle made for a particularly bouncy ride.  Embarrassed, I offered a lame excuse, “The sun shadows through the trees make it hard for me to see all the potholes.”  “Don't worry,” Grandpa said. “You're gettin' most of ‘em.”

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THANKS TO MY INATTENTIVE MEMORY

 A HYDRANGEA BUSH IN GODERICH THIS MORNING

It was back to Goderich for Pheebs and I after our walk this morning.  Thanks to my inattentive memory I had forgotten to pick up a batch of new Verio test strips for my diabetic One Touch 'prick your finger' system.  I don't normally track my sugar levels but with a telephone appointment coming up with my diabetic lady, I know she will be asking me for sugar level numbers.  She will also require my blood pressure numbers as well.  Just all a part of this aging thing I guess. 

 A LARGE LAKE FREIGHTER BACKS INTO GODERICH'S HARBOR PAST THE OUTER BREAK WALL

THERE ARE THREE ALGOMA SHIPS IN THIS PHOTO...LEFT SIDE ALGOMA INTREPID CENTER ALGOMA INNOVATOR AND TO THE RIGHT IS THE ALGOMA SAULT

THE ALGOMA SAULT IS DOCKED AT THE GODERICH GRAIN TERMINAL

 QUIET REFLECTION

 WITH PHEEBS WINDOW DOWN AND THE SUBARU'S SUNROOF OPEN IT MAKES FOR QUITE A BREEZE

Al's Music Box:)) A Beautiful Morning by The Rascals from the album 'Time Piece: The Rascals' Greatest Hits.  1968

 THIS MOURNING DOVE IN OUR FRONT YARD ENJOYS THURSDAY EVENING'S SUNSET

GROANER'S CORNER:(( We spend the first twelve months of our children's lives teaching them to walk and talk, and the next twenty-four years telling them to sit down and shut up!

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- Knock Knock  Who's there?  Datsun!  Datsun who?  Datsun old joke!

- Knock Knock  Who's there?  Deduct!  Deduct who?  Donald Deduct!

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The Early Computer Days of Dr. Seuss:: 

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port, and the bus is interrupted as a very last resort, and the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort, then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash, and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash, and your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash, then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house, says the network is connected to the button on your mouse, but your packets want to tunnel on another protocol, that's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall.

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse, then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang, 'cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!  

When the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disk, and the microcode instructions cause unnecessary risk, then you have to flash your memory and you'll want to RAM your ROM. Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom!

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'OUCH' 'OUCHY' 'OUCHERS' 'OH CRAP' AND #!!%&**!#%:((

KIND OF A LAZY LLAMA MORNING

Oh my, what a beautifully cool and sunny 66F humidity-free morning it was.  Big smiles on my part and it looks like this great weather is going to hang around for a while.  Can you spell R.E.L.I.E.F:))

 WHEN YOU SEE THE FENCING IN THIS PHOTO YOU WILL UNDERSTAND ALL THE RETOUCHING I HAD TO DO TO ELIMINATE THOSE WIRES IN THE FIRST PHOTO

 THIS CROP MIGHT BE EITHER  CANOLA OR WILD MUSTARD OR MAYBE NEITHER

Just me in the Subaru earlier today heading to Goderich's Maitland Valley Medical Center. (Dynacare Lab)  Yesterday it was Kelly there for blood work and this morning it was me there for blood work.  It's part of my semi-annual diabetes check-up.  Currently, I am at the pre-diabetic stage which is much better than the Type 2 diabetes stage I was at three years ago.  I had to give up a whole lotta carrot muffins to get myself out of that Type 2 phase.  From the Dynacare Lab, I took a swing down around the harbor before heading home.  Snapped a few shoreline pics along the way.

THE ALGOMA CONVEYER DOCKED AT THE GODERICH SALT MINE

 ALWAYS NICE TO SEE SENIORS OUT AND ABOUT ON THE BOARDWALK

AND IT'S A WIDE BOARDWALK TOO

 THIS AMERICAN CATAMARAN HAS BEEN ANCHORED OFFSHORE FOR A WHILE NOW 

 MAYBE HE'S WAITING FOR SOME WIND

 'HELLO IS THIS THE WIND STORE'??

 'WHADDYA MEAN YOU CAN'T DELIVER ANY WIND TO MY LOCATION!!'

Home again and feeling energized because of the marvelously cooler weather I hauled out the garden hose, a bucket of soapy water, and washed the Subaru.  While in Goderich I had picked up a couple leather seat covers at the Canadian Tire Store for Subie and with Kelly's help, we got them installed.  Why we didn't do that late last September when we bought the car I don't know.  Not only will these seat covers protect the nice Subaru seats but will go a long way in making it much easier to deal with doggy fur which always got stuck in the seat fabric.  I managed to get our grass cut this afternoon as well.  However, with all that twisting, turning, and bending, somewhere between the lawn mowing and seat cover installation I have aggravated my right hip to the point where my sole vocabulary at the moment is 'ouch' 'ouchy' 'ouchers' 'oh crap' and #!!%&**!#%:((     

 OUR HEAD HANDY PERSON TIGHTENS UP A STRAP

 THIS SHOULD BE MUCH EASIER TO KEEP CLEAN

 PHEEBS FAVORITE SPOT IS READY TO GO

Al's Music Box:)) Tequila Sunrise by The Eagles from their live concert in Melbourne Australia in 2004.  The Eagles have just announced their final farewell tour entitled The Long Goodbye.  Original members Don Henley, Timothy B Schmit, and Joe Walsh along with Vince Gill and the late Glen Fry's son Decon Frey will make up the band.  Also, Steely Dan will be performing with the group as a special guest.  Click on The Long Goodbye link for concert dates and locations.  Kelly and I saw the Eagles perform in Toronto back in the mid-nineties.

 OH DEM DARN WIRES!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A woman said to her friend, “I don't know what to do. My husband is such a mess maker that you can't imagine. He doesn't put anything in its place, I am always going around the house organizing things.”  The friend says, “Take a tip from me. The first week after we were married I told my husband firmly, ‘Every glass and plate that you take, wash when you are done and put back in its place.'”  The first woman asked, “Did it help?”  Her friend said, “I don't know. I haven't seen him since.”

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- I find the most unmotivated people live in Lackawanna, New York.

- There are two types of people in this world:  People who love chocolate and liars.

- Why did the chocolate chip cookie cry? Because his mom was a wafer too long!

- What did the M&M go to college?  Because he wanted to be a Smarty.

- Why is a Toblerone triangular?  So it fits in the box.

- A seven-year-old is sitting on a park bench eating a chocolate bar. The man sitting next to him looks over and says, “Eating that many chocolate bars are bad for you.”  The boy looks over and responds, “My great-grandfather lived to be 105.” The man replies, “And he ate that much chocolate?” “No,” says the boy. “But he knew how to mind his own business.”

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MY BLOG STILL HAS A FEW GLITCHES IN IT FROM A COUPLE WEEKS AGO

 ONE OF ONLY TWO PHOTOS I TOOK TODAY AND I THINK THESE FLOWERS ALONGSIDE THE ROAD ARE CALLED FIELD BINDWEED

We were startled by a sudden noise on our steel roof this morning around 7 a.m.  It lasted less than ten seconds and was gone.  Checking our live radar weather map we saw it was a small rain cell that had strayed across Lake Huron from a much larger storm front covering most of the State of Michigan.  Those brief raindrops on our roof must have been large and traveling fast to set up such a clamor.  Well hey, at least we knew it wasn't Santa Claus.     

 OUR NEIGHBOR MONICA'S COLORFUL BIRDBATH TAKEN WEDNESDAY

 STANDING UNDER MONICA'S SUMMER MAGNOLIA TREE

Kelly headed off to Goderich's Maitland Valley Health Center for bloodwork.  Pheebs and I jeeped out to our country walking spot and got a half mile in before my arthritic hip began biting me.  While walking, I could hear the faint rumblings of thunder to the west out over Lake Huron.  I figured that Michigan storm was headed our way.  And, it was.  

Home again, skies became so dark by 10 a.m. that our outside lights came on.  A big chunk of that Michigan storm rolled in across Lake Huron and dumped a welcome four hours of gentle rain on area farm crops.  By tonight temperatures have finally dropped and we are in for cooler and less humid days ahead.  Now for me, that's worth a big 'Yahouie Louie':)) 

 YES IT DID GET DARK OUTSIDE AROUND 10 O'CLOCK THIS MORNING

As some of you may have noticed, there are still some glitches with my blog from a couple weeks ago that Kelly continues to work on.  For some of you, everything is tickity-boo again and for others, they are still having problems either accessing my blog or having it re-new in their feed services.  Kelly continues to chase down these errant problems.     

 ANOTHER COUPLE OF PICS FROM WEDNESDAY

Al's Music Box:)) Send In The Clowns by Judy Collins from the album 'Judith'.  1975

 AN ANT IN A STELLA D'ORO DAYLILY FLOWER

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A nursery school teacher was delivering a station wagon full of kids home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children began discussing the dog's duties.  "They use him to keep crowds back," said one youngster.  "No," said another. "He's just for good luck."  A third child brought the argument to a close with this comment: "They use the dogs," she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrants."

- It was the middle of the night. Suddenly there was a loud rapping on the doctor’s door, followed by a groan. The doctor angrily thrust his head out of the window. “WELL?” he shouted.  “No,” moaned the man. “Sick.”

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