THE STORY OF HOW WE BECAME THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

 THE EYE OF THE SQUIRREL IS UPON YOU

Another dull and grey January day left me with little inspiration to get interested in things.  Pheebs and I did get out for a car ride but it was only for a drive down to the end of Bayfield River Road and back.  Winds were whipping up yesterday's new fallen snow into little white whirly gigs dancing across the white and barren-looking Siberian farm fields.

 OH HOW I HATE WINTER

I had another go this afternoon with the iPhone and despite having written instructions and some YouTube stuff, I still couldn't make much sense out of what I was trying to do.  But, I'll keep plugging away at it.  I also cleaned up a kitchen cupboard and found 13 cans of assorted Campbell soups and two large unopened Jif peanut butter jars.  Kelly loved Jif and it can be hard to find sometimes so this was her stash I found.  I'll give them to Sabra and Ben when they come to sort out things in their Mom's room.  

Imagine my surprise when I woke up Sunday morning, peered out the window, and saw that the fairies must have come in the night again and blown most of the snow out of my driveway.  There were much bigger tire tracks in the snow than earlier in the week when someone had been here and also blown out the driveway.  I have a hunch who those two good Samaritans were and I owe them both a big 'Thank You' when I see them.  

 THIS WAS THE ONLY SPLASH OF COLOR I SAW ON OUR MORNING RIDE

 THIS FARMER HAD BETTER PLOW OUT HIS DRIVEWAY SOON OR HE WON'T BE GOING TO TOWN

Someone asked me a while back where I get all those pictures for Al's Art Gallery and the answer to that is, 'Facebook'.  I stumbled upon those various types of artwork a while back when I noticed that if I clicked on a scenic nature picture, or maybe a dog, I would then receive more nature pictures and dog pics.  Pretty soon I began collecting the ones I liked and started putting them into folders to later share on my blog.  Right now I have folders entitled 'Paintings' with 1,275 pictures in it. 'Winter' with 211 pics, 'Dogs' with 316 pics, 'Cartoons' with 346 pics, Meanings with 186 pics, 'Spring' with 37 pics, and 'Christmas' which is down to 23 now from about a hundred a month ago. at this time  As of today, that is a grand total of 2,395 artistic works and growing.  Ridiculous, ya I know.  I have totally overwhelmed myself with these artistically beautiful pictures and clever sayings, but I just love them and thought readers might enjoy them too.  Some people are just so gifted and talented whether with their paintings, drawings, photos, artwork, or words.

A Blast From Our Past:)) It was 16 years ago today I wrote a post entitled, Traveling With Our Best Pals which at the time were our 3 dogs, Max, Checkers, and Cora.  It is the story of how we became 'The Bayfield Bunch'.  

Al's Music Box:)) Those Were The Days is a song composed by Boris Fomin (1900–1948) but credited to Gene Raskin, who put a new English lyric to Fomin's Russian romance song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu", with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. The song is a reminiscence of youth and romantic idealism. It also deals with tavern activities, which include drinking, singing and dancing.  The Welsh singer Mary Hopkin covered "Those Were the Days" as her debut single in 1968. Produced by Paul McCartney of the Beatles and arranged by Richard Hewson, the song became a number one hit in the UK and Canada, and also reached number two in the US on the Billboard Hot 100 behind the Beatles' "Hey Jude". The song was included on Hopkin's 1969 debut album, Post Card.   Mary Hopkin's 1968 recording, with Gene Raskin's lyrics, was a chart-topping hit in much of the Northern Hemisphere. On most recordings of the song Raskin is credited as the sole writer, even though he wrote only the later English lyrics, which are not an English translation of the Russian lyrics, and not the music.  The Raskins were international performers and had played at London's "Blue Angel" club every year, always closing their show with the song. Paul McChartney frequented the club and, being quite taken with the song, attempted unsuccessfully to get several singers and groups, including the early Moody Blues, to record it.  After the formation of the Beatles' own Apple Records label, McCartney recorded Mary Hopkin performing the song at Abbey Road Studios in London.  He said later, "I thought it was very catchy, it had something, it was a good treatment of nostalgia... (Hopkin) picked it up very easily, as if she'd known it for years." The song was eventually recorded in over twenty languages and by many different artists. The song was held out of the top Billboard Hot 100 for 3 weeks by The Beatles 'Hey Jude' The B-side of the record in the UK and the United States was a cover of Pete Seeger's 'Turn! Turn! Turn!', which had been a US number-one hit for The Byrds in 1965.  The Russian origin of the melody was accentuated by instrumentation that was unusual for a top-ten pop record, including balalaika, clarinet, hammered dulcimer, cimbalom, tenor banjo, and a children's choir, giving a klezmer feel to the song. The cimbalom was played by Gilbert Webster. Hopkin said in 2015, " I did not play guitar on 'Those Were the Days.' Paul played acoustic guitar."

 STARING IN THE SUNROOM WINDOW AT ME THIS AFTERNOON

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man sat with his wife while she sipped on her glass of wine, as she said, “I love you so much, you know. I don’t know how I could ever live without you.”

Husband: Is that you or the wine talking?
Wife: It’s me talking to the wine.

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You might be a reneck if::
- You live close enough to town to get garbage service, but don't use it because they won't come down your driveway to get it.
- You have ever removed the 3-9 zoom scope from your deer rifle to use at a KISS concert;

Your idea of a neighborhood watch program is tuning into "America's Most Wanted".
- You own more than two clappers.
- You go to Wal-Mart to people watch.
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A cheetah and a lion are racing...
The cheetah wins...
The lion says, "You a cheetah!"
The cheetah replies, "Nah, you a lion!"

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- I know a surgeon who puts organs back in upside down.  He says it’s an inside joke.

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A husband stepped on one of those penny scales that tell you your fortune and weight and dropped in a coin.  "Listen to this," he said to his wife, showing her a small, white card. "It says I'm energetic, bright, resourceful and a great person."
"Yeah," his wife nodded, "and it has your weight wrong, too."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kellys Corner

 IN OUR FIRST MOTORHOME JUST AFTER I PAINTED THE KITCHEN AND LIVING ROOM

 AT ONE OF OUR FAVORITE CRACKLE BARRELS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN MICHIGAN AND CALIFORNIA

 OH HOW WE LOVED OUR DESERT WALKS AND MOUNTAIN HIKES

Al's Art Gallery

TODAY TWO BOXES OF COFFEE FILTERS....TOMORROW THE MOON

With just one inattentive simple little tap of my finger on the mouse I instantly deleted all my 42 morning photos off my camera card.  Darn, and I think I had some nice sunrise photos too:((  What you see tonight are a few file photos from last year around this time.

I think I may have somehow dodged an Amazon bullet.  Kelly used her credit cards for most everything so I never used mine much for anything and of course that led to a big problem for me.  I'm not much for buying things online but my Kindle was set up 15 years with Kelly's name and credit card.  Of course, after she passed away that made her credit card void.  I don't know when it was a few weeks ago that I realized I was now dead in the water with getting any more Kindle books.  Had my great reading hobby suddenly come to an end.  And, what about my Kindle Library?  Would all my books be gone too?  I was at a loss about what to do, and then I remembered Kelly making online changes to the Amazon account occasionally and thought hummmm, maybe I can figure that out.  Ya right!!  So, I went to the Amazon site after amazingly finding the password.  But,I had a heck of time trying to get my name on the Amazon account with my own credit card which was but expired anyway.  At one point I got an Amazon security message saying somebody was messing with the account or something.  Well ya Jack, that was me!!  Then another message saying, the Amazon account would be terminated if the monthly 'Amazon Prime' wasn't paid.  I thought I had it straightened out so I ordered a cheap book ($1.99) to see if it worked but Amazon sent a message saying the expiry date on the credit card was no good and I should check with my bank.  I had planned to go there last week but in the meantime, another email from Amazon said my book purchase had been approved.  I quickly opened my Kindle and sure enough there it was.  The biggest piece of luck in all this was that I miraculously found the correct Amazon password to even get into the account in the first place.  I think Kelly had something to do with that.  So then, buoyed by my success I thought I'd try to purchase something online so I tried ordering some hard-to-find #1 coffee filters.  Nope, Amazon wouldn't do it.  Said somebody was messing with my account again.  Awe come on!!!!  So, back to my Amazon account I went and nervously changed a few more things and tried again for the coffee filters.  That was five days ago.  Yesterday I heard a car door slam so got up to look out the window and saw a dark mini-van exiting our driveway.  Say, you don't suppose...... I opened the front door and peeked out and by golly there was a small brown package laying on the porch.  Could it be??  Yes, it could and there inside after opening the package sat two small green and red boxes of Melita #1 coffee filters.  OMG, I did something and it worked.  Oh boy oh boy, I thought.  Now I can get me a new pair of them there green city slicker shoes, a new leather saddle for a horse I don't have, half a dozen new checkered shirts, a round trip ticket to Aruba and back, thirty-three cases of peanut butter, a snowmobile suit, and a new Subaru.  Yessireee, I'm a-cookin' now.  Today, two boxes of coffee filters....tomorrow the Moon.

A Blast From Our Past:(( I have reposted the following post three or four times over the years but it has been a while, and I have maybe gained a few readers since then so here it is again.  'Dumb And Dumber' At Hickiwan Trails, Arizona

Al's Music Box:)) True is a song by English pop band Spandau Ballet, released in April 1983 as the title track and third single from their third studio album. It was written by the band's lead guitarist and principal songwriter Gary Kemp to express his feelings for Altered Images lead singer Clare Grogan. Kemp was influenced musically by the songs of Marvin Gaye and Al Green he was listening to at the time, and lyrically by Green and the Beatles. "True" reached number one on the UK singles chart in April 1983 and made the top 10 in several other countries, including the US, where it became their first song to reach the Billboard Hot 100.  Kemp wanted to shift the sound of Spandau Ballet into soul and incorporated band member Steve Norman's newfound interest in the saxophone into his writing; the band also updated its look to suits for the song's music video and tour. "True" was recorded with most of the other tracks from the album at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas. The True album was released as its second single, "Communication", was climbing the UK Singles Chart. DJs were so enthusiastic about playing the title song that the band knew it would be their next single. The song has since become the band's signature hit. It has been covered by Paul Anka in a swing style, and used in films such as Sixteen Candles and 50 First Dates, as well as a few TV series such as Modern Family.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A businessman dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped exhausted.  His sympathetic wife was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word. "My, you look tired," she said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?"  "It was terrible," her husband said. "The computer broke down and all of us had to do our own thinking."

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- Why are some fish at the bottom of the ocean?  Because they dropped out of school!

- The more I get to know people...The more I realize why Noah let only animals on the boat.

Q: How many divorced men does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, because they never get the house!

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An guy called the airport for flight information. "How long is your flight from Los Angeles to Denver?” he asked. "Just a minute," the pleasant agent replied. "Thank You" he said and hung up.

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The newlywed wife said to her husband when he returned from work, "I have great news for you. Pretty soon, we're going to be three in this house instead of two." Her husband ran to her with a smile on his face and delight in his eyes.  He was glowing of happiness and kissing his wife when she said, "I'm glad that you feel this way since tomorrow morning, my mother moves in with us."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kellys Corner

 IN OUR EARLY ARIZONA RANCH SITTING DAYS

 HIKING IN PALM CANYON SOUTH OF QUARTZSITE ARIZONA

Al's Art Gallery