IT'S BEEN A LONG DAY WITHOUT WATER AND A PICTURE PERFECT MORNING

A little bit of a different routine around our house first thing this morning.  We're sure not used to having an overnight guest but Ella was no problem.  She's very quiet and not disruptive at all.  

Pheebs and I headed out to our walking spot and from there it was on into Clinton where I picked up a decaf coffee to go.  Our travels took us over to the Hullet Marsh where I figured we would do a second morning walk.  Well, I hadn't figured on the swarms of mosquitos and we had to quickly cut our walk short and make a run for the Jeep.    

 IT WAS A NICE MORNING AT THE HULLETT MARSH

 A PRICKLY THISTLE

 WE DIDN'T MEAN TO STAMPEDE THIS HERD OF CANADA GEESE.....BUT WE DID

I had naturally left the jeep's front windows down so I think we had the majority of the Hullett Marsh's mosquitos in the car with us.  I had to hastily wind the back windows down, turn the A/C on (to freeze them out) and crank the blower up full blast.  We then quickly wheeled the Jeep around and speeded down the dirt road setting up whipping cross-wind vortices inside the car to blow all the miserable mosquitos out all the opened windows.  It worked, but I almost blew my hat out the window as well and we almost blew all the fur off the Pheebs.

 IT WAS HERE WHERE THE MOSQUITOS REALLY SWARMED US

 A PHOTO TAKEN IN THE DRIVER'S SIDE MIRROR AT THE MARSH

 WE HAD TO DRIVE LIKE THE DICKENS DOWN THIS ROAD TO BLOW ALL THE MOSQUITOS OUT

 SKIES WERE SO PRETTY THIS MORNING

 A PILE OF FERTILIZER WAITING TO BE SPREAD UPON THE FIELD

 THIS FARMER HASN'T FINISHED HIS WHEAT HARVEST YET

TIS A PRETTY COUNTRYSIDE WE LIVE IN

 IT'S BEEN A FEW YEARS SINCE I LAST TOOK A FEW PICTURES OF THIS OLD CAR

It was a beautifully scenic morning to be out and about in the countryside and especially so with the billowing white cumulous clouds lazily wandering their way across the big blue sky.  We are so fortunate to live where we do right here only a mile from the sparkling blue waters of Lake Huron.

 IT WAS A MORNING OF BLUE SKIES AND WHITE FLUFFY CLOUDS

Home again, I was hoping to hook up the utility trailer and haul a bunch of accumulated yard waste to the Park's recycle area but I ran out of energy.  Ella, Rebecca, and Kelly headed off into Bayfield to do some browsing around in the shops and grab a bite to eat at the Woodland Drive-In.  For Ricardo, it was a working day with his computer back at the Ashwood Inn.  It's an international fiber optics company Ricardo works for and has traveled extensively with.  He will be working with their branch in Spain.

 AT THE WOODLAWN DRIVE-IN THIS AFTERNOON

Today, London's Health Sciences Center Liver Transplant team met to decide Kelly's future regarding a possible liver transplant.  We now anxiously await their decision which will come in a phone call sometime in the next two weeks.  At the time of posting this tonight, we still do not have any water:((  And thanks to everyone for your kind words a few posts ago:))

 YOU CAN SEE PHEEBS IN THE SIDE VIEW MIRROR ENJOYING THE SCENERY

Al's Music Box:)) Mandolin Rain by Bruce Hornsby and the Range from the album 'The Way It Is'.  1986

 CAN YOU SEE THE LARGE MAN IN THE CLOUDS LOOKING UP TO THE RIGHT

GROANER'S CORNER:((While sports fishing off the Florida coast, a tourist capsized his boat. He could swim, but his fear of alligators kept him clinging to the overturned craft.  Spotting an old beachcomber standing on the shore, the tourist shouted, "are there any gators around here?!"  "Naw," the man hollered back, "Ain't been any for years!"  Feeling safe, the tourist started swimming toward the shore. About halfway there he asked the guy, "How'd you get rid of the gators?"  "We didn't do nothin'," the beachcomber said. "The sharks got 'em."

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I’m really excited for the amateur autopsy club I just joined...Wednesday is open Mike night!
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OUR COMPANY ARRIVED TODAY

 I WAS TEMPTED TO WALK OVER AND ASK ONE OF THOSE HORSES IF I COULD BORROW THEIR FACE MASK FOR WHEN I'M OUT IN OUR FRONT YARD WITH ALL THE MOSQUITOS

Up to Goderich and back this morning for Pheebs and I.  Very thankful for the cooler air.  Home again I was able to dodge the mosquitos long enough to finish up a couple small outside jobs.

 WALKERS STOPPING FOR A REST ALONG THE BOARDWALK

MOST BEACHGOERS PREFER FULL SUN

WHILE OTHERS PREFER THE SHADE

I'M GUESSING THIS FELLOW IS AN INLANDER WHO HAS TAKEN HIS BIKE FOR A NICE SUNDAY MORNING RIDE TO THE LAKE

Our company, Kelly's daughter with her husband Ricardo and daughter Ella, rolled in about 6:45 p.m.  I'll have to get used to not referring to Ella as 'little Ella' anymore because she is growing up so fast.  They will be here for a couple nights.  Rebecca and Ricardo are staying at the nearby Ashwood Inn while Ella will stay with us for the two nights.  This will be the last visit with them for possibly a long time.  They are moving to Spain in a few weeks.

Finished the latest book in my quest for knowledgeable information regarding NDE's. (Near Death Experiences)  All I can say about this book is 'another fascinating, mind-expanding, and uplifting read.  Showing Us The Way Home: The Gift of Near-Death Experiences by Dr. Joanne Coyle.

Al's Music Box:)) Nature Boy by Nat King Cole from the album 'The Nat King Cole Story'.  1948

 PHEEBS FAVORITE PLACE IN OUR SUNROOM BESIDE MY RECLINER

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Time for some pun wouldn't you say.......

What do you call a country where everyone drives a red car?  A red carnation.
Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.
A pessimist's blood type is always b-negative.
A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.
A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
Every morning is the dawn of a new error.
Sea captains don't like crew cuts.
A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.
A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.
Reading while sunbathing makes you well, red.
A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.
Dijon vu - the same mustard as before.
When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.
What's the definition of a will? (Come on, it's a dead giveaway!)
A backwards poet writes inverse.
In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism, your count votes.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist, will you get repossessed?
Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft, and I'll show you a flat minor.
If a clock is hungry does it go back four seconds?
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Every calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted. It t'aint yours and it t'aint mine.
He had a photographic memory that was never developed.
The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.
When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.
Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
Acupuncture is a jab well done.
Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? He wanted to transcend dental medication.
Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.
Without geometry, life is pointless.
When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination.
He often broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

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IT MAINLY HAS TO DO WITH ALL OF YOU FOLKS

It was thunder, lightning, and bouts of heavy clattering rain on our steel roof that rousted us out of our slumber in dawn's early hour this morning.  The rain ended half a dozen hours later and by noon we had a few slivers of sunlight penetrating through the heavy cloud cover.  Skies later cleared.  That thunderstorm also brought cooler air in behind it and I considered that a huge bonus.  I could have almost used a light jacket over my short-sleeved shirt on our jeep ride.

OVERNIGHT RAINS LEFT WATER IN SOME FIELDS

CORN STALKS ARE GROWING THEIR CORN COBS

 TASSLES ON THE SIX AND SEVEN-FOOT CORN STALKS

Earlier, while it was still raining Pheebs and I took the Jeep out figuring it needed a good rain wash.  That worked okay for the top half of the jeep but a few gravel roads kinda muddied up the bottom half a wee bit.

 THESE COWS DIDN'T SEEM TO MIND THE RAIN

 AND BY GOLLY THAT LOOKS LIKE A CONJOINED COW OUT THERE:))

With all the recent rain Huron County has received, the countryside is looking very lush in its many shades of green.  Even junglesque in some places.

A LUSH FARM LANE COMPLETE WITH SOME WILD APPLE TREES

 A SOGGY APPLE ORCHARD

 I THINK THESE BEANS REALLY ENJOYED THE OVERNIGHT RAIN BECAUSE I COULD HEAR A LOT OF GIGGLING GOING ON OUT THERE

The biggest problem we are having at home regarding being outside right now is mosquitos.  This hot and humid weather lately coupled with recent rains has brought the mosquitos out in droves.  Tried taking Pheebs for a walk around the Park's pond a couple evenings ago and we had to cut it short and get ourselves back inside.  Even a short walk out to fill the birdfeeders and my arms are flailing like windmills trying to ward off those miserable mosquitos.  If I ever make it to the other side someday one of my first questions to the Powers That Be will be, 'Why the Mosquitos'!!!!!! 

APPLES NESTLED IN WITH A VARIEGATED RED OAK TREE

RAINDROPS ON THE BERRIES

A word of thanks once again to all my readers.  I don't exactly know how this blog of mine has kept on going for all these years except to say I feel it mainly has to do with all of you folks:))      

Al's Music Box:)) Old Man by Neil Young from the album 'Harvest'.  1972  We saw Neil Young in concert at Toronto's CNE stadium one time back in either late 1993 or the summer of 94. 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( This is a true story of the late Irish author Brendan Behan who one night collapsed in a diabetic coma in a Dublin street. It was at a time when he was at the height of his drunken notoriety and passers-by naturally thought he was dead drunk. They took him to the nearby surgery of one of Dublin's most fashionable and respected doctors. The doctor decided to take a cardiograph and, somewhat nervous of his patient, thought to humor him. He explained the workings of the cardiograph needle as it registered the faint heartbeats of the very sick and semiconscious Brendan.  "That needle there is writing down your pulses, Mr. Behan, and I suppose, in its own way, it is probably the most important thing you have ever written." To which Behan weakly replied: "Aye, and it's straight from me heart, too."

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Two drunks are walking along. One drunk says to the other, "What a beautiful night. Look at that moon!"  The other drunk stops and looks at his drunk friend. "You are wrong. That's not the moon; that's the sun!"  Both continued arguing for a while when they came upon another drunk walking along. So they stopped him and said, "Sir, could you please help settle our argument? Tell us what that shining thing is up in the sky that is so bright. Is it the moon or the sun?"  The third drunk looked up at the sky and then looked at them and said, "Sorry, I don't live around here."

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