A CANADA DAY PARADE RIGHT HERE IN OUR BAYFIELD PINES PARK:))

Sunshine beaming through our living room window heralded the start of another day and not only the beginning of a new week, but the beginning of a new month as well.  I like new beginnings sometimes.  We are kinda like right now 'unofficially' halfway through summer.

 OUR BACK YARD PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS IS IN BLOOM

With such a nice-looking morning going on, Pheebs and I headed on over to the south end of the Hullett Marsh northeast of Clinton.   Hadn't been to this particular area for probably a year or more.  With the cooler morning air, I figured maybe the mosquitos in the swampy area would be subdued.  I figured right but I had forgotten about the biting Deer Flies.  Luckily for me, I had a long-sleeve shirt over my short-sleeve shirt, or else those miserable things would have sawed my arms off.

 A GREAT MORNING FOR A WALK IN THE MARSH

What impressed me most about our morning walk was that I didn't have a speck of pain or discomfort in my legs, and especially my right leg which had been acting up a bit about a month or so ago.  I was able to walk perfectly normal this morning which was not something I could do a year ago at this time nearly 8 months before my right hip replacement.  If I didn't know I had a hip replacement last February, I wouldn't even know I had a hip replacement last February.

Pheebs did really well on our walk and busied herself smelling everything along the trail.  At one point she came running past me so fast she almost blew my hat off.  But I also noticed she was very glad to get back to the car.  I gave her a big drink before we headed off along a few dusty country roads with front windows down and the moonroof wide open.  With cooler air and a nice breeze, it had been a perfect weather morning for a walk in the Hullett Marsh.     

 I WAS GLAD THEY HAD MOWED THE GRASS ALONG THIS DYKE BUT I STILL ENDED UP WITH WET SQUISHY TOES IN MY RUNNING SHOES FROM THE NIGHT'S HEAVY ON THE GRASS

ALL THOSE BITS OF WHITE ARE FROM A RECENT LARGE HATCHING OF TURTLE EGGS AND I'M GUESSING MAYBE SNAPPING TURTLES

 TIME TO HEAD BACK TO THE CAR WHICH IS SOMEWHERE WAY UP THERE AT THE TOP RIGHT

BACK AT THE CAR

 A BIG DRINK OF WATER FOR THE PHEEBS

 FOR OBVIOUS REASONS WE HAD TO GO SLOW LEAVING THE MARSH

 DOING THE 'TURKEY TROT'

Home again and with morning temperatures on the cool side I figured it would be a good time to get some car cleaning done so out came the necessary vacuum cleaner to start things off.  I sure wish someone would invent a noiseless vacuum cleaner.  Maybe put mufflers on the darn things or something.  And, while they're at it, make it cordless too.  As a matter of fact, I'd like to see everything that has a cord.....cordless!!  Tangled electrical cords, ropes, and garden hoses drive me bonkers. 

 AREA CORN FIELDS CREEPING OVER HILL AND DALE SEEM TO GO ON FOREVER

 OH THE SMELL OF NEW MOWN HAY

 AND THERE'S THE FELLA DOING ALL THE MOWING

 THIS IS WHAT THE FIELDS LOOK LIKE AFTER THE GRASS HAS BEEN CUT, BALED, AND HAULED AWAY

With this great weather and Canada Day happening at the same time, it was a perfect set-up for our Park's very own 2 p.m. annual drive-by Canada Day parade.  Thanks to all the jovial and enthusiastic Park residents for taking the time and making the effort to doll up their Hotrods and take a spin around the Park.  Nothing like seeing Seniors doing wheelies and donuts and getting those carts up on two wheels going speedily around the corners:))

 KELLY AND OUR GOOD NEIGHBOR MONICA AT THE END OF OUR DRIVEWAY WAITING FOR THE PARK'S CANADA DAY PARADE TO GO ROLLING BY

AND BY GOLLY WITH HORNS BLOWING, SIRENS WAILING, AND FOLKS HOOTING AND HOLLERING, HERE THEY COME NOW

 OKAY LADIES, THE PARADES OVER.....WHAT NOW??

A Blast From Our Past:)) Back in 2009 I decided to try my hand at designing a logo for 'The Bayfield Bunch'.  Here are my two posts about that.  In the first post, you can see my design and in the second post, you can see my slightly revised design after I asked readers for their suggestions.  Having A Whirl At Creating A Logo and Fixed Kelly's Hair And Squared Off My Hat.

 AND DOWN THE ROAD A BIT HOW ABOUT THESE FOLKS NOT MOVED IN YET BUT THEY HAVE THEIR CANADA DAY FLAG PROUDLY FLYING ANYAY:))

Al's Music Box:)) It's Not Unusual is a song written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, first recorded by a then-unknown Tom Jones, after it had first been offered to Sandie Shaw.  He intended it as a demo for her, but when she heard it she was so impressed with his delivery that she recommended he sing it instead.  The musical arranger was Les Reed. Although the guitarist has been cited as Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Reed has said the only guitarist was Joe Moretti, who also played on 'Shakin' All Over' and 'Brand New Cadillac'.  Page lists the session in his online discography.  Drums were played by Scottish percussionist Andy White, who had previously drummed on a Beatles recording session, or possibly by Ronnie Verrell.  Alan Grahame has also said he was involved.  According to Jones's regular drummer, Chris Slade, there were four attempts with different drummers, him included, in order to get one with the right 'feel'. Though he was certain that his take was not chosen, he was unable to confirm which one of the others did make the final recording. Jones's group, 'Tom Jones and the Squires', were missing their regular keyboard player for the session, so Slade (a future member of Manfred Mann's Earth Band, AC/DC, and The Firm with JimmyPage and Paul Rogers) ran across the street to the "La Giaconda" coffee house and recruited the then-unknown Reginald Dwight (who later adopted the stage name Elton John) for the one-day recording session.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A wandering monk walked barefoot everywhere he went, to the point that the soles of his feet eventually became quite thick and leathery. And because he ate very little, he gradually became very frail. Several days often passed between opportunities to brush his teeth, so he usually had bad breath. Therefore, throughout the region, he came to be known as the super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.

----------------------------------------

Husband: "Honey, why do you usually answer me back with a question when I ask you a question?"
Wife: "Is that what I do?"

----------------------------------------

"Doctor, Doctor, You've got to help me - I just can't stop my hands shaking!"  "Do you drink a lot?"  "Not really - I spill most of it!"

-----------------------------------------
Husband: Babe, after work I had an accident. Sabrina took me to the hospital. After various tests, they said I was in a bad state with cervical dislocation, and multiple facial injuries. Also, they will have to amputate my right leg.

Wife: Who is Sabrina?

---------------------------------

===========================

WE ARE A GENERATION THAT WILL NEVER COME BACK

EAT EM WHILE THEY'RE WARM SHE SAID AND EAT EM WHILE THEY'RE WARM I DID

 A GROWING STACK OF BEST-EVER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Not a good long weekend for area campers, boaters, and tourists.  Especially felt sorry for all the tenters out there waking up to low 50's temps and a cold drizzle in the air this morning.  I remember mornings like this when camping decades ago and they were not fun!!  Sleeping in one's clothes on the ground in a cold tent only to wake up and find out it's raining, the firewood is soaked, the matches are soggy and you are out of fuel for your Coleman stove and tent heater if you even had one.  And somebody has already ate all your peanut butter sandwiches.  Now, to make that scenario even worse, try waking up with a hangover from the night before as well.  No, I don't miss those kinds of days at all.......It was a short ride into Bayfield for Pheebs and I this morning with Subie's heater on and the windshield wipers keeping a cold rainy drizzle off the windshield.  We didn't stay out long and I was glad to get back home again, fry myself up a cup of coffee, and micro-wave myself up a relish, mustard, and ketchup hot dog for breakfast.  With my tube steak and coffee in hand I quickly retreated to our cozy sunroom where I fired up our Vermont Casting gas stove to take the damp chill out of the air.  Tipped back in my recliner with kindle book in hand and let my mind wander me off to Prince Edward Island where Lucy Maude Montgomery's warm descriptive laid back style of writing once again soothed my troubles and danced my imagination around the Island.  There was no going back outside again today and that was that.  And, I was quite okay with it too.  

 IT WAS A COLD, WINDY, AND BLEAK LOOKING SUNDAY MORNING AT BAYFIELD'S BEACH

 IDLE BOATS WERE BOBBING AT THEIR MOORINGS

I THINK I SEE THE CAPTAIN OF THE BONNIE LEE SITTING IN THERE PLOTTING A COURSE FOR WARMER WATERS

 LOOKS LIKE THIS LOCAL FARMER HAS TRADED HIS TRACTOR IN FOR A BOAT

 QUITE AN ARRAY OF SOLAR PANELS ON THIS BOAT WHICH ALSO ACTS AS A SUN SHADE AND RAIN COVER

 NO RAIN COVER ON THIS BOAT SO I THINK THE CAPTAIN IS GOING TO END UP WITH SOGGY SHORTS WHEN HE SITS DOWN AT THE WHEEL

I haven't seen hide-nor-hair of the black and white cat I chased out of our yard last week after I saw it ambush and kill a chipmunk.  I think my 'chicken wire, milk crate, and old plastic flower pots' defense system is working.  I have hung the birdfeeder back up and I did see a chipmunk scurrying around our yard today.

Kelly took a hankerin' to bake up a batch of the best-ever chocolate chip cookies this afternoon.  They were barely out of the oven when I snuck away with 50 of them under my shirt when she wasn't looking.  Okay, not that many but I sure grabbed up my fair share when she said, 'Eat em while they're warm.  So, eat them while they were warm I did.  All 50.....er, at least 4 of them:))  

 KELLY HAS THE MOST GOOD COOKIE BRAINS IN OUR FAMILY

 WORKING ON A THIRD BATCH

THESE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES HAVE A VERY HIGH 'YUMMY' FACTOR

I recently finished two more books by Prince Edward Island's author Lucy Maude Montgomery.  Thoroughly enjoyed them both.  The Blue Castle and Jane of Lantern Hill.  I am currently reading another one of her books entitled, The Complete 'Pat Of Silver Bush' Series which consists of two books. 

Ellen's Groove:)) Ellen and her dad team up for a progressive Metal Jam.  I was surprised to see Ellen using her 'small' bass.

 BEANFIELD IN A VALLEY

 NOTHING UP IN THIS FIELD YET, MAYBE TOMORROW

 AMAZING HOW FARMERS CAN GET THEIR FIELDS ABOUT AS SMOOTH AS BILLIARD BALLS

Al's Music Box:)) That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be is a song performed by Carly Simon, and the lead single from her self-titled debut album Carly Simon (1971). Her friend and frequent collaborator Jacob Brackman wrote the lyrics and Simon wrote the music. The song earned Simon a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards in 1972, where she also won Best New Artist.  It is an art song with a semiclassical melody in the style of Gabriel Faure', and Elektra staffers were worried the single was too emotionally complex to be released as Simon's first single. With subject matter that includes "the parents' bad marriage; the friends' unhappy lives; the boyfriend's enthusiasm for marriage but controlling nature; the woman's initial resistance and ultimate capitulation."  The success of the song propelled Simon into the limelight.  In July 1971, the single reached No. 1 in Boston (WRKO), Burlington, Vermont (WDOT), New Haven (WNHC) and Rochester, New York (WSAY).  No music video existed for this song, although a filmed performance was produced for an episode of the early 1970s PDS series The Great American Dream Machine.

 THIS YOUNG GRACKLE HASN'T GROWN OUT ITS ADULT COLORS YET

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A hungry lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something to eat. He came across two men. One was sitting under a tree reading a book; the other was typing away on his typewriter. The lion quickly pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him. Even the king of the jungle knows that readers digest and writers cramp.

--------------------------------------

- It only takes one slowly walking person in the grocery store to destroy the illusion that I am a nice person.

- Bought a head of lettuce from a small grocery store called Mamas and Papas.  Can't eat it because all the leaves are brown.

- An Irish Text:  Mary, I'm just having one more pint with the lads.  If I'm not home in 20 minutes, read this text again.

- Teacher told me not to worry about spelling because in the future there will be auto-correct for which I will be eternally grapefruit.

---------------------------------

==============================

WIPER BLADES ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE WINDSHIELD

 "HEY LOOK, THERE'S PHEEBS"

Despite the dark and gloomy rain-soaked earlier part of the morning, I was greatly brightened by reader's emails and comments when I opened my blog.  And for that, I gratefully say thank you to everyone for your kind words, thoughts, and encouragement.  At this age and stage of life, every little needed boost is so helpful and important.  And, so much appreciated......

STORMY SKIES OVER A WHEAT FIELD TO THE EAST THIS MORNING

 EVEN STORMIER SKIES OVER ANOTHER WHEAT FIELD TO THE WEST

 AND WE EVEN SPOTTED 'OLD LONESOME' ON OUR WAY TO GODERICH

 HMMMM, I WONDER WHAT LITTLE DICKENS PUT THIS ON OUR SUBARU??  ANY GUESSES:)) I'LL GIVE YOU A HINT....IT WASN'T ME AND IT WASN'T PHEEBS

Pheebs and I in the rain, splashed ourselves all the way to Goderich earlier today.  Every time I tried to put Pheebs window down for her she got a snoot full of rainwater.  She didn't seem to mind that much but Subie wasn't happy about getting her interior wet so up went the window.  Hey, at least I was smart enough not to open the moonroof.  Had I done that I would have had to put on a rain coat and I didn't have one in the car anyway.  By the time we left Goderich about forty minutes later, the rain had quit and sunshine began breaking through the cloud cover.  Temperatures were up so we had our front windows down.  So much better than Friday morning when it was cool and I had the heater going in the car.  We didn't receive any more rain today but the humidity sure came stampeding back.  

I must say that I do like driving the Subaru more than the Jeep these days.  It's the quietness of the ride, the smoothness of the ride, and the quality of the car's sound system.   The better gas mileage is a big plus and of course, I like that big rectangular hole in the roof that I can open and allow sunshine and warm breezes to come tumbling in.  At highway speeds, if I open that moonroof it instantly creates a whirlwind inside the car with flying dust, food debris, and doggy fur swirling everywhere.  So thick at times my visibility is impaired and I have to quickly turn on the windshield wipers to see where I'm going.  However, each time I do this I quickly realize the wiper blades are on the wrong side of the windshield for inside whirlwinds.  Oh my, the frazzles of life eh.  And, did you really think we get whirlwinds of that magnitude going on inside the car??:))

 A NICE SMATTERING OF DAYLILIES ALONG THE WAY

 HOW NICE TO SEE BROWN-EYED SUSANS AGAIN

With the day's humidity ramping up it was a slow walk for Pheebs and I around the Park's pond.  As soon as we got back I had to plant myself right in front of my big fan and crank it up to restore myself to some semblance of dry civility.       

 A SATURDAY MORNING CLUSTER OF COWS

Al's Music Box:)) That'll Be The Day is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widespread success. Holly's producer, Norman Petty, was credited as a co-writer, although he did not contribute to the composition.  The 1957 recording was certified gold (for over a million US sales) by the Recording Industry Association of America. (RIAA) in 1969. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. It was placed in the National Recording Registry, a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States", in 2005.  In June 1956, Holly along with his older brother Larry as well as Allison and Sonny Curtis went to see the film The Searchers, starring John Wayne, in which Wayne repeatedly used the phrase "that'll be the day". This line of dialogue inspired the young musicians.  The song was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes for Decca Records at Bradley Studios in Nashville, on July 22, 1956. Decca, displeased with Holly's previous two singles, did not issue recordings from this session. After the song was re-recorded by the Crickets in 1957 and became a hit, Decca released the original recording as a single on September 2, 1957, with "Rock Around with Ollie Vee" as the B-side. It was also the title track of the 1958 album That'll Be the Day. Despite Holly's newfound stardom, the single did not chart.  Holly's contract with Decca prohibited him from re-recording any of the songs recorded in the 1956 Nashville sessions for five years, even if Decca never released them. To evade this restriction, the producer Norman Petty credited the Crickets as the artist on his re-recording of "That'll Be the Day" for Brunswick Records.   Brunswick was a subsidiary of Decca. Once the cat was out of the bag, Decca re-signed Holly to another of its subsidiaries, Coral Records, so he ended up with two recording contracts. Recordings with the Crickets were to be issued by Brunswick, and the recordings under Holly's name were to be on Coral, although the Crickets played on several of them.  The second recording of the song was made on February 25, 1957, seven months after the first, at the Norman Petty studios in Clovis, New Mexico, and issued by Brunswick on July 27, 1957.  This version is on the debut album by the Crickets, The 'Chirping' Crickets, issued on November 27, 1957. The recording was made with everyone performing and without additional overdubs. The B-side of the record, "I'm Looking for Someone to Love" was recorded at the same session with the same backup singers.  The Brunswick recording of "That'll Be the Day" is considered a classic of rock and roll. It was ranked number 39 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( After watching me read War and Peace, my son asked me,  “Dad, why is your book so thick?”  I said, “Well, it’s a long story.”

-----------------------------------------

- A book fell on my head.
I can only blame my shelf.

Q: What do you call 2,000 mockingbirds?
A: Two kilo mockingbird.

Q: Why was the library so tall?
A: Because it had a lot of stories.

- I’ve written a book about falling down a staircase.  It’s a step-by-step guide.

- Have you heard about Waldo? He went abroad and found himself.

- Did you hear about the author in jail?  They put him in the writer’s block.  Couldn’t get past his first sentence.

A not-so-bright guy was at home watching TV with his friends when he heard a noise. He ran out just in time to see a thief drive off in his car.  "Did you see his face?" his friends asked when he came back inside.  "No, but it's okay I got the license plate number!"

-----------------------------------

=============================