THERE ARE 27 TRAFFIC LIGHTS BETWEEN OUR HOUSE AND LONDON'S VICTORIA HOSPITAL

Before heading off to London this morning Pheebs and I earlier this morning did a wee driveabout around Bayfield and then a walkabout in Bayfield's cemetery.  A sunny cool morning with early temps at 53F and that was quite alright with me.

 A QUIET MORNING ON THE BAYFIELD RIVER

 ALL THESE SAILBOATS ARE FOR SALE

 IF THIS 'SLOWPOKE' FELLA DOESN'T HURRY UP AND GET INTO THE WATER THE SUMMER WILL BE OVER

 SATURDAY MORNING FISHERMEN ON BAYFIELD'S SOUTH PIER

 A RELAXING SUNNY SATURDAY MORNING AT THE COFFEE SHOP ON BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET

At 10:45 we were all in the white car heading for London's Victoria Hospital.  Dropped Kelly off at 12:10 for her plasmapheresis treatment.  Minutes later Pheebs and I were out of the car and walking in the Westminster Ponds Nature Area.  Luckily, temps were at 73F under sunny skies and I didn't feel any uncomfortable humidity in the air.  We walked the trail along the north side of Walkers Pond again.  I remember walking this trail back in the Spring for the first time when there were no leaves on the trees yet.  I thought to myself back then how nice this area must look in the summertime.  Now I know and I'm already looking forward to walking this trail in the Fall when all the leaves will be at their colored best.

 WE'RE ON THE TRAIL AGAIN

 NICE TO SEE THE LILY PAD FLOWERS ON WALKER'S POND

I DON'T KNOW IF THESE ARE MUSHROOMS OR FUNGI....MAYBE MUSHFUNGI OR FUNGIROOMS

 ON OUR WAY BACK TO THE CAR

Back to the car and with very few bugs in the air I was able to get the lawn chair out of the car and do my reading in the shade of a big old maple tree.  Pheebs stretched out and had a big snooze in the grass.  Pheebs will be turning 14 years old next month.  What a marvelous little monkey she is.

 RELAXING WHILE WAITING FOR THE PHONE TO RING

 NO, I HAVE NOT FALLEN ASLEEP HERE

 BUT MAYBE PHEEBS HAS

 SOMETHING GOING ON WITH THE AMBULANCE HERE BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS

 ON THE HELI-PAD AT VICTORIA HOSPITAL CREW MEMBERS OF THE AIR AMBULANCE CATCH A BREATHER

My cell phone rang at 2:15 and Kelly was ready to go so we picked her up and headed for home.  I counted the traffic lights today between our house and London's Victoria Hospital.  There are 27 lights with 24 of them being within London's city limits.  Well hey, at least we don't have any fender-bending roundabouts. 

 A QUIET SCENIC DRIVE HOME

We will be back to London again in a couple days when Kelly has her Monday morning physio meeting at University Hospital.  Sunday we are hoping for a very restful day for her.  She was really knocked out by the time we got home today.  She hasn't been feeling the best these past few days.  

Talked to my Aunt Jean Friday night and she had a quiet week with the exception of being out twice with her Toyota flying around in the Sarasota Florida traffic chaos.  I think at the facility she lives at now she should conduct Senior driving classes where she could teach her fellow residents how to aggressively drive fast, and fearlessly cut through bumper-to-bumper traffic.

 BY THE TIME I GOT MY CAMERA FLASH TURNED ON PHEEBS HAD ALREADY DUCKED OUT OF THE PICTURE

Al's Music Box:)) Crazy by Patsy Cline from the album 'Patsy Cline Showcase'.  1961

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A guy walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. He said, "shingles." So she took down his name, address, and medical insurance number and told him to have a seat.  Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked him what he had. He said, "shingles." So she took down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told him to wait in the examining room.  A half-hour later, a nurse came in and asked him what he had. He said, "shingles." She gave him a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, told him to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.  An hour later the doctor came in and asked him what he had. He said, "shingles." The doctor said, "Where?" He said, "Outside in the truck. Where do you want them?"

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At the cocktail party, one woman said to another, "Aren't you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?"  The other replied, "It makes sense, don't you think? After all, I married the wrong man."

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IT WAS A 'TYPICALLY ME' THING TO DO

 HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHAT THE SUBARU LOGO MEANS?

We have a little Wren with a nest in our Basswood tree right outside our south-facing living room window. How nice it is to hear her out there tweetering first thing in the morning.  In fact, she pleasantly tweets away out there for most of the day.  

WE HAD OURSELVES A BIG SKY MORNING

FARMERS WILL SOON BE BALING UP ALL THIS STRAW LEFT OVER FROM THE WHEAT HARVEST

Another fine summer's morn and it is these kinds of mornings I miss so much during the long horrid cold periods of winter.  Even if one never went out of the house I would much prefer to look out the window and see lush green as opposed to that gray depressing blank white.  Try stepping out the door with shorts and a short sleeve shirt on in January.  Ya, that ain't gonna work!!

 A MIGHTY FINE SUMMER MORNING AT OUR COUNTRY ROAD WALKING SPOT

A small amendment to something in my Thursday post.  Regarding my Kindle Reader, I had said my last book had 1,602 pages but I had misread that.  I saw later that it had in fact 1,298.  I have since made the change to my post.  

 THERE ARE ALWAYS THINGS TO SEE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

IT'S A PRETTY TIME OF THE SEASON FOR DITCH FLOWERS

It had probably been a day or two since I had last done one of my 'typically me' things and I think my brain picked up on that.  Not missing a beat, it immediately began putting together my next scenario by suggesting this morning that I put on a clean pair of pants and a shirt.  Well, I thought that was alright, but unbeknownst to me the stage was set.  A couple hours later my brain dropped a little thought bomb into my mind suggesting it might be a good morning to haul out the pressure washer and clean up a bunch of dirty patio stones.  Checking my resources I found my energy levels were in the green, my hip was feeling okay, and I was in the right frame of mind for doing something like that.  So, no problem.  I could have sworn I heard a little chuckle somewhere in my head.  Out the door, I went and hooked up the power washer, hit the on switch, and triggered the sprayer.  If you're familiar with patio stones you know they have sand or dirt between the adjoining stones.  Now, that's all fine of course until you blast into that dirt with a high-velocity power washer instantly transforming that dry dirt into flying blowback mud.  Oh my, how instantly I heard my brain go from a series of sneaky chuckles to full-blown roaring laughter.   Within a split second, I had mud and water splattered on my clean pants and shirt as well as my arms, face, glasses, and hair.  But hey, it could have been worse.  At least my brain kindly thought to tell me to at least take off my new Merril shoes and put on my rubber duck boots.  Now that's what I call a caring mind eh.  So, did I go in and change my clothes?  Nope, I simply carried on making an even bigger wetter, and muddier mess of myself.  Yes, it was a 'typically me' thing to do.         

 WELL AT LEAST I HOSED THE MUD OFF MY SHOES BEFORE GOING INTO THE HOUSE

 IF YOU LOOK CLOSE YOU CAN SEE FLECKS OF MUD ON MY FACE, GLASSES, AND IN MY HAIR

Al's Music Box:)) Thank God I'm A Country Boy by John Denver from the album 'Back Home Again'.  1975  And, a memory of the late Tony Bennett.  I Left My Heart In San Francisco

GROANER'S CORNER:((  "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said the teacher.  The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant."  The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what pregnant means?" she asked.  "Sure," said the young boy, confidently. "Means carrying a child."

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A sad-faced Doug walked into a flower shop early one morning.  The clerk was ready to take his order for a funeral piece, based on the look on Doug's face, but soon realized his assumption was wrong as Doug asked for a basket of flowers sent to his wife for their anniversary.  "And what day will that be?" the clerk asked.  Glumly he replied, "Yesterday".

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THEY WOULD FOR SURE DANCE AROUND UPSIDE DOWN MAKING BIG GOOFY FACES AT ME

The Subaru was due for a wash and a vacuuming so as soon as Pheebs and I returned from our walk this morning, I got right at it.  Although tempted to go to the carwash instead and wash the car in about 4 minutes as opposed to hand washing which would take me nearly an hour I managed to convince myself I needed the exercise and the $3 I would save at the carwash would buy me almost two cups of coffee somewhere down the road.  Sometimes I like my way of thinking and other times....not so much.  Well, as it turned out....it was one of those 'not so much' times.  Washing the Subaru by hand turned out to be not the right decision.  By the time I was finished with all the twisting, turning, bending, and stretching involved in washing the car, I could hardly put any pressure on my right leg because of the pain in my right hip.  I should have known better but I took the chance that this time it might be alright.  It wasn't.  I don't learn so good sometimes and I have a feeling it may be a very long time before I am able to comfortably wash a vehicle again:((

 ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL SUMMER'S MORN FOR A RELAXING DRIVE THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE

CANADA GEESE GLEANING A RECENTLY HARVESTED WHEAT OR BARLEY FIELD

I sometimes learn things from my blog readers and here is an example of that.  In yesterday's post, I mentioned that my Kindle reader gives me an hour count instead of a page count.  In other words, it tells me how long it will take to read the book instead of telling me how many pages it has.  Thanks to long-time reader Gumo who commented on that post and said 'If you tap on the time left on your Kindle it will give you pages left or page number'.  I tried it and he is right.  When I tapped my recent 27-hour book it told me it had 1,298 pages.  Now, keep in mind that I have only had that Kindle for 9 years so hey, I can't learn everything overnight eh:))  

Kelly's grandson Keenan McGrath is a young hockey player doing very well in the Kitchener, Guelph, and Cambridge minor leagues.  He recently signed with the Ayr Centennials for the 2023-2024 season.  His mother Sabra is the one who went with Kelly to her London Medical meeting a week ago.  Here is a short video at the signing of Keenan with his mom and dad, Sabra and Dereck.  Keenan McGrath 

HARVEST TIME IS A BUSY TIME FOR AREA FARMERS

THIS COMBINES WIDE 'GRAIN HEAD' WHICH GOES ON THE FRONT HERE IS BEING CARRIED ON A TRAILER IN THE PHOTO BELOW

When Pheebs and I set out this morning I was determined not to take so many photos because I still have photos left over from the previous few days I wanted to post.  However, as quite often happens, I overloaded myself again.  The only solution to this is not to take my camera with me every day but leaving the house without a camera in my hand scares the ba-jeebers out of me.  I've been doing this for years now and I know if I ever left my camera at home, that would be the day a big UFO would come down and land on the road right in front of me, and for sure the little Martian guys would all come filing out and knowing I didn't have my camera with me, would for sure dance around upside down making big goofy faces at me.      

 THE BUZZARD TREE

 A MONSTER BLACK BEETLE DESCEND UPON ME

Al's Music Box:)) Yesterdays Gone by Chad & Jeremy from the album 'Yesterdays Gone'.  1964  I've always considered 1964 one of the best ever years in music.  So many new and upcoming bands with so many great songs.  What a great summer that was and I was all of 20 years old.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An old country preacher had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young men, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it.  One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table three objects: a Bible, a silver dollar, and a bottle of whisky.  "I'll just hide behind the door," the old preacher said to himself, "and when he comes home from school this afternoon, I'll see which object he picks up. If it's the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be! If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a businessman, and that would be okay, too. But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunkard, and, Lord, what a shame that would be."  The old man waited anxiously and soon heard his son's footsteps as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room. He tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects! on the table. With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them.  Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped it into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink.  "Lord have mercy," the old man whispered, "he's gonna be a Congressman!"

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