I LIKE HOW SHE PAINTS PICTURES IN MY MIND WITH HER WRITING

     HAVING NOT TAKEN ANY PHOTOS AGAIN TODAY, I HAD TO ZIP OUT INTO THE FRONT YARD LATE THIS AFTERNOON TO SEE WHAT i COULD FIND

Deciding to strike off in a different direction Tuesday evening, I turned left out of the Park and headed on into Bayfield, hoping to snag a few sunset shots before rolling out into the twilight countryside southeast of Bayfield.  But it wasn't to be.  I did get one sunset shot a few seconds after leaving the Park, but by the time I reached Bayfield, smoky skies and clouds had totally obscured the sun, and that was that.  Stopped at the Bayfield Garage for gas and then proceeded to the south end of Bayfield to grab myself a Tim Hortons coffee to go.  I forgot they closed at eight.  Discouraged, I turned around and headed for home.  

 THE ONLY SUNSET SHOT I GOT WAS THIS ONE FROM NEAR OUR PARK'S ENTRANCE

 FROM THE BAYFIELD GARAGE I SPOTTED THIS NEAT OLDER TRUCK

I'm guessing it's the smoke from the western wildfires that has been over us these past few days, causing a noticeable haze, especially in the morning and evening skies.  And so it was on my morning walk.  It gave the day a sultry feel.  I felt sad to see all the colorful flowers along the west side of my walking road, mowed down.  The township mows many of the country road ditches each year, and I fully expect the east side of the road will probably be mowed today.  I am already missing my many little flower friends along the way......Home again, I took the E-Bikes and bike carrier off the car.  I'm getting better at it each time I load or unload the bikes.  But the bikes aren't getting any lighter.  I just have to be grateful that I am still able to lift the bikes up and down off the carrier.  However, the days of running faster than a speeding bullet and leaping over tall buildings in a single bound are now a thing of the past for me, as well as many others.....A quiet day today, and I enjoyed my time spent on my front porch again.  I finished re-reading the second book, 'Anne of Avonlea' in the 'Anne of Green Gables' series last week, and I am currently re-reading the third book now, 'Anne of The Island'.  I find author Lucy Maude Montgomery's writing style so relaxing and I like how she paints pictures in my mind with her writing.  These books are a true welcome oasis in this ever-maddening and steadily disgusting decay of what might have been at one time, a relatively decent society. 

After heading back home Tuesday night, I snapped on my YouTube channel, watched a couple of NDE episodes, and eventually floated off to La La Land.  I like La La Land because it is where my dreams whisk me away on many traveling adventures and where I again reunite with old friends.  Many times, I or we are traveling in large RV vehicles and getting ourselves into all kinds of dilemmas, with the one prominent dilemma being lost in big cities with not a lot of room to maneuver the big vehicle around.  In reality, Kelly and I have been there and done that more than once over our RV travelling years.  Oh, how I miss those adventurous days now, with only my shakey memory and my thankfully documented blog to hold all those many memorable times together.  But in my nightly dreams, I am still on the road with Kelly, Max, Checkers, little Cora, and Pheebs.  And many times it is my good buddy Richard I see as we cruise around with our coffee and muffins in hand, getting into one kind of a scrape or another.  I wonder why it is with dreams that so many things always seem to go sideways.  However, it is always something at the end of each day I look forward to, crazy happenings or not, and as sleep slowly overtakes me, I am soon on the road again with all my old, long-ago, and recently departed adventuress friends and aquaintences..................... 

Al's Music Box:: The Twelfth Of Never by Johnny Mathis.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A girl was given a tea set for her second birthday. It became one of her favorite toys, and when her mother went away for a few weeks to care for her sick aunt, the toddler loved to take her father a little cup of tea, which was just water, while he was engrossed watching the news on TV. He sipped each "cup of tea" he was brought and lavished generous praise on the taste, leaving the little girl immensely proud. Eventually the mother returned home, and the father couldn't wait to show her how his little princess had been looking after him. On cue, the girl took him his "cup of tea" and he sipped it before praising it to the heavens. The mother watched him drink it and said: "Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?"

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

A Christian farmer spent the day in the city.
In a restaurant for his noon meal, he sat near a group of young men.  After he bowed his head to give thanks for his food, one of the young men thought he would embarrass the old gentleman. "Hey, farmer, does everyone do that out where you live?"
The old man calmly replied, "No, son, the pigs don't!"

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

The pretty lady at the Department of Organ Donations recommended to me that I sign up to be an organ donor....That's when I realized she was a girl after my own heart!

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

A guy is sitting on the couch. From the kitchen he hears, "Babe.... can you help me?" He goes to the kitchen. "What are you doing?" She says, "I'm trying to do this jigsaw puzzle." "What's it supposed to be?" he asks.  She picks up the box. "A Rooster."
"Honey," he says. "Just put the cornflakes back in the box....."

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

According to the Knight-Ridder News Service, the inscription on the metal bands used by the U.S. Department of the Interior to tag migratory birds has been changed. The bands used to bear the address of the Washington Biological Survey, abbreviated, "Wash. Biol. Surv." until the agency received the following letter from an Arkansas camper:  "Dear Sirs: While camping last week I shot one of your birds and I think it was a crow. I followed the cooking instructions on the leg tag and I want to tell you it was horrible."

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

Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery

AND NO, I DID NOT GET MY DRIVER'S LICENSE IN A CORNFLAKES BOX

 MY BUDDY RICHARD WOULD HAVE KNOWN THE MAKE, MODEL, AND YEAR OF THIS CAR

I think it was a combination of clouds and smoke from the western wildfires that blotted out Monday evening's sun.  On the way out to my walking road, I could see the sun in my rear-view mirror as a big reddish-orange ball about 10 degrees up off the horizon.  When I made the left turn onto my gravel road and looked west, the sun had already totally disappeared.  So, no sunset.  Later, coffee to go in Clinton, a stop at my night sky place where I sat for a while listening to the sounds of crickets in the night.  A sure sign that the summer season is rapidly moving on.  It is generally mid-August when I sense the change in the air, and it's the sound of those many crickets that plays a big part in that change.  I love the sound of crickets at night.  I was home before ten o'clock............ I didn't take any photos today until late afternoon, and every photo I did take, except three were drive-by photos along Goderich's shoreline road. 

A SILVERY LOOKING LAKE HURON AGAINST WHAT I THINK MIGHT HAVE BEEN A SMOKY SKY

An earlier start this morning because I had a 9:30 appointment with my optometrist in Clinton.  It wasn't a regular eye appointment this time; it was an appointment for Dr. Weaver to check the status of the cataracts in my eyes.  It was this appointment that would decide if I am ready for cataract surgery.  Had my fingers crossed that I would be because my sight has been in a steady decline, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to put my blog together because I have to use a magnifying glass to read a lot of smaller print I come across, etc.  My left eye is compromised more than my right eye.  After examining my eyes, Dr. Weaver again told me the same thing he told me six months ago. 'I can't understand how you can still see as well as you do with the state of your cataracts'.  He said he would refer me to the cataract surgeon from Stratford anyway, but cautioned that I may not be accepted because this fellow is very strict about 'the numbers'.  The earliest I can get an appointment with this surgeon is sometime between six and eight months from now.  And, as I said, I could be turned down at that time.  So, with my magnifying glass on a table beside me, I'll just have to muddle my way along until this winter or maybe next Spring or Summer sometime.  It is what it is........... Following my appointment, I zipped back to the Park and picked up neighbor Monica for a ten-thirty eye appointment at the same place I just had mine, and with the same optometrist, Dr. Weaver.  Luckily, I was able to get her there with about two minutes to spare.

Headed for Goderich's 360 Bikes n Boards late this afternoon with the E-Bikes on the car.  The bike mechanic there comes in around 4:30, so I wanted to be there to get a few things looked at on our bikes.  Woody's bike had a slow leak in the front tire, so he put a new tube in.  The seat also needed to be put on correctly.  I had put it on incorrectly a couple of months ago.  The rear light needed new batteries, and that was done as well.  Basically, he did a tune-up service on both bikes.  My bike has a low howl in the back wheel, but it's perfectly rideable.  They will try to get me a new wheel, but it has to come from China, and parts have not been moving readily.  Can't say enough about how nice the mechanic guy was, plus all the staff there at 360.  A great bunch of people, and it's not their fault that there is a parts problem with the particular models of bikes we have.  While in Goderich, I was also able to get my driver's license renewed.  And no, I did not get my driver's license in a cornflakes box. (an old high school saying)  

 AT 360'S BACK DOOR WITH THE BIKES

 THAT'S WOODSY'S BIKE ON THE MECHANICIC STAND

 PEOPLE ENJOYING SOME SUMMER WEATHER AT THE BEACH

 I THINK THIS SEAGULL STANDING ON A SWING SET IS KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON THAT UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT OUT THERE OVER LAKE HURON

AND I EVEN GOT A QUICK SNAP OF A MERMAID SITTING ON A ROCK

 ALWAYS NICE TO SEE FAMILIES ENJOYING THEIR DAY

Al's Music Box:: Walkin After Midnight by Patsy Cline.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Once upon a time, the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert. Congress said,"Someone  may steal from it at night." So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job. Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?" So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies. Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?" So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One to do the studies and one to write the reports. Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?" So they created the following positions: a timekeeper and a payroll officer, then hired two people. Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?" So they created an administrative section and hired three people: an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary. Then Congress said, "We have had this operating for one year, and we are $18,000 over budget. We must cut back overall cost." So they laid off the night watchman.

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

Sign on company bulletin board: “This firm requires no physical-fitness program. Everyone gets enough exercise jumping to conclusions, flying of the handle, running down the boss, flogging dead horses, knifing friends in the back, dodging responsibility, and pushing their luck.”

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

A farmer was driving along the road with a load of fertilizer. A little boy, playing in front of his house, saw him and called, "What've you got in your truck?" "Fertilizer," the farmer replied.
"What are you going to do with it?" asked the little boy. "Put it on strawberries," answered the farmer. "You ought to live here," the little boy advised him. "We put sugar and cream on ours."

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

Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Al's Art Gallery