I HEARD A WOMAN’S NEARBY SOFT VOICE ASK, “WHICH IS BETTER, 1 OR 2”

A RAY OF SUNLIGHT TOUCHES DOWN IN THE FOREST TODAY

It was 10 a.m. this morning & I was seated in a rather stiff high backed black chair.  I wasn’t at home & the chair reminded me of something one might find in a cheaper SUV but I knew I wasn’t in a cheaper SUV.  My upper body was tilted forward with my chin resting in what appeared to be some kind of chin rest.  My forehead was leaning into a curved metal bar which amazingly enough fit my head contour rather well.  I could hear fine but I couldn’t see to well.  My peripheral vision was black & it was like I was looking down some kind of long dark tunnel with a kind of light at the end.  My vision was fuzzy but I was able to make out what looked like a line of black letters on a white background.  I was able to make out a capital B, a V, maybe an S & I think I saw a W.  Heard a click, the letters immediately became blurrier & I heard a woman’s nearby soft voice ask, “which is better 1 or 2”.  Heard myself answer in an equally soft voice, “2”.  What the big darn heck was going on here anyway!!

WE HAD OURSELVES A COLD CLOUDY MORNING

AND THIS IS WHAT THAT SAME STRETCH OF TRACKS LOOKED LIKE A WEEK AGO WITH A TRAIN COMING

Well, I was at the Huron Optometric Center in Goderich of course having my eyes tested.  As usual I thought my eyes were in worse shape than they were & was assured my eyes were actually in pretty good shape.  No cataract problems & no signs of any bad news eye stuff.  They’re just simply out of focus & that’s why I have to wear glasses.  Well I guess I can’t argue with that & just have to accept the fact I’m not 18 anymore & eye glasses will remain an integral part of my face anchored there by my ears sitting atop my nose forever.  Damn!!!!

Had myself another A&W $4.99 breakfast coupon so before heading home this morning I piled into A&W to load myself up with some bacon & eggs, toast, home fries & coffee.  Again, it was a good breakfast & hit the spot.  In fact it held me all the way to suppertime.

HEY WHAT’S THAT LITTLE PATCH OF BLUE UP THERE,,,,,COULD IT BE COULD IT BE:))

Our heavy morning cloud cover gave way to clear blue sunny skies by early afternoon but with an icy cold wind sweeping in across the lake from the Northwest again nothing melted today & it was just too plum cold to go outside to do anything constructive.  Pheebs & I did make it out for a short afternoon walk but I had to bundle myself up real good.  There is a hopeful possibility we might make it over the 60F mark by Friday.  I’m not holding my breath………

BY GOLLY WE DID INDEED HAVE US SOME SUNSHINE THIS AFTERNOON

EVEN THESE VIOLETS WERE HAPPY TO SEE SUNSHINE TODAY

STILL A FEW PATCHES OF SNOW AROUND

My fingers are crossed for a sunny morning.  Pheebs is suffering from a case of cabin fever & I’m not too far behind her.  Been about 3 days since we’ve last been out & about & we’re both in need of some back roads traveling time.  Last summer I enjoyed taking photos of old barns on our travels & awhile back someone mentioned about taking some old farm house photos so maybe I can make a little project out of that idea in the coming months.  ‘Have Camera Will Travel’:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Two cowboys come upon an Indian lying on his stomach with his ear to the ground.  One of the cowboys stops and says to the other, "You see that Indian?" "Yeah," says the other cowboy. "Look,"   says the first one, "he's listening to the ground.  He can hear things for miles in any direction."  Just then the Indian looks up.  "Covered wagon," he says, "about two miles away.  Have two horses, one brown, one white.  Man, woman, child, household effects in wagon."  "Incredible!" says the cowboy to his friend.  "This Indian knows how far away they are, how many horses, what color they are, who is in the wagon, and what is in the wagon.   Amazing!"  The Indian looks up and says, "Ran over me about half hour ago."

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- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

- Tomorrows are always a great opportunity to do something different from today....AL.

"A writer is a writer not because they write well & easily, because they have amazing talent, or because everything they do is golden.  A writer is a writer because, even when there is no hope, even when nothing they do shows any sign of promise, they keep on writing anyway"...... Author Unknown

ONE BIG FAMILY OF LIKE MINDED PEOPLE

NICE TO SEE A FEW SIGNS OF SPRING HAPPENING AGAIN

Rained most all night & we woke up to pine trees wrapped in a gentle fog.  Temps were above freezing but the dampness made it feel cold.  Early afternoon saw us up over 40F.  Heat wave.  First sun splash at 1:38 p.m. but not many more after that.

MOSS

Our mobile home here in Bayfield is nearly 35 years old & we’ve noticed since being back our Coleman electric furnace has become noticeably nosier & doesn’t seem to be putting out the heat well anymore.  Every  time the blower comes on we have to turn the TV volume up.  With those 2 reasons in mind plus the fact we here in Southern Ontario have the highest electric rates in all of Canada we are seriously considering having that old electric furnace replaced with a new gas one.  Had a fellow out this afternoon to have a look at our set up & get back to us with a price.  We always worry about that older Coleman furnace conking out when we are down south in the winter.

A ROBIN FLYING LOW ACROSS THE GROUND

Received an email from Barney author of ‘Old Fat Man Adventures yesterday saying, “I have stopped publishing and stopped the blog”.  I feel sad that he has stopped blogging.  I’ve always thought of my fellow Bloggers as one big family of like minded people even though I do not read all the blogs on my sidebar on a daily basis.  Some of we blogging folks are closer to some others than others but still there is a kind of kinship with everyone whether we read their posts or not.  Barney, thank you for your kind words in the email & we here at the Bayfield Bunch wish you all the best.  Take care my friend.  On the same note has anyone heard how Retired Rod is doing??

ON A WALK THIS AFTERNOON PHEEBS CHECKS THE TRAIL AHEAD

Ivan & Hailey have made it back to Alberta but not before taking some nice photos along the California’s coastline.  Ivan flies a drone & I’ve always liked his aerial photos.  In a couple weeks he will be back on Alberta’s fire lines wiling away his days in tall fire watch towers scanning forested horizons for tell tale signs of smoke.  And he even gets to go for a few on the job helicopter rides as well.  Nice.

HAPPY TO SEE SNOW MELTING OFF OUR PINE TREE TRAIL AGAIN

GROANER’S CORNER:(( An Afghanistan diplomat visiting the US for the first time was being wined and dined by the State Department.   The diplomat was not used to the salt in American foods (French fries,   cheeses,   salami,   anchovies, etc.) and was constantly sending his manservant Abdul to fetch him a glass of water.  Time and again, Abdul would scamper off and return with a glass of water,   but then came the time when he returned empty handed.  "Abdul, you son of an ugly camel,   where is my water?" demanded the diplomat. "A thousand pardons, O Illustrious One,"   stammered the wretched Abdul, "But a man is sitting on the well!"

WE SURE ARE HOPING THIS IS WINTER’S LAST GASP!!

Dead battery in the Jeep this morning after El-Forgetzerville forgot to turn off the Sirius Satellite radio again.  That’s twice in 3 weeks.  Libby’s nose was close to Big EEE’s nose so using jumper cables I was able to get it started.  Pheebs & I took a quick spin around the country block to charge it up again.

Had a late morning coffee with friends & fellow Canadian RV Bloggers Caron & Chris at their new to them home right here in our 5 Seasons Park.  After full-timing for 5 years they decided it would be wise to get themselves a home base & after reading my blog for a number of years decided to come have a look at our 5 Seasons Park.  Like us over 13 years ago they liked what they saw & lucked out buying one of the nicest homes in the Park.  Again like us they are sure happy now to have a nice home to come to come home to in the Spring:))  You can find Chris & Caron at Travels With CC And Dixie.

TURNED OUT TO BE A PRETTY LAZY SUNDAY AROUND OUR HOUSE TODAY

Waited all day for the predicted snow storm to roll through & it arrived at precisely 4 p.m.  Wasn’t much to it though, just a little bit of snowin & a little bit of blowin but the damp wind chill factor sure made it feel cold outside.  Temps hovered around the 29F mark. 

WE ARE SURE HOPING THIS IS WINTER INTO SPRING’S LAST GASP

It’s Maple Syrup time in our neck of the woods & Stu from Seasons in the Valley has some great photos of a modern maple syrup operation a few hours northeast of where we live.  Titled the Kemble Maple Syrup Tour he will also be posting photos from 5 other smaller maple syrup operations as well so you might want to drop by & see how ‘real’ maple syrup is made.  Or as I sometimes call it, Maple Surple:))

AND YES IT IS JUST AS COLD AS IT LOOKS

FINGERS ARE CROSSED WE WON’T GET ANY MORE SNOW THAN THIS OVERNIGHT

A few months ago in Congress we had the pleasure of meeting an enjoyable single RV Gal by the name of Rhonda who at the time had just newly set out in her Winnebago Motorhome touring around the South-West.  She told us at the time she was working at putting a travel blog together & happily she did just that & you can now follow her travels now at Me the Toad and the Road. (catchy title)  You can also find Rhonda on our sidebar now as well.

DESPITE OLD MAN WINTER HANGING ON WE HAVE OPTIMISTICALLY BEGUN PUTTING OUT SOME OF OUR SUMMER FURNITURE

GROANER’S CORNER:(( According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington recently was faced with a unique problem.  A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom.  That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints.  Every night, the maintenance man would remove them and the next day, the girls would put them back.  Finally the principal decided that something had to be done.  She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man....She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night.  To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required.  He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.  Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.  There are teachers, and then there are educators.………….

YA YA I KNOW I GET TOO SOON OLD & TOO LATE SMART

A SMALL FLOATING IN AIR BIRD FEEDER OUTSIDE OUR SUN ROOM WINDOW

Armed with a $4.99 A&W coupon for a bacon, egg, toast, & coffee breakfast Pheebs & I headed off to Exeter this morning under partially sunny but brutally cold windy skies.  Must say it was a good breakfast for that price & surprisingly the coffee was good as well.  Think that was the first time I had ever tried A&W coffee & how nice to see they don’t skimp on the size of their porcelain cups unlike another certain popular chain here in Canada!!  Another reason for slipping over to Exeter was to see what kind of better front seat covers I might find for Libby at the Canadian Tire store.  I bought cheaper ones less than a year ago & already I’ve thrown one out & the second one is on it’s way.    Ya Ya I know I get too soon old & too late smart……….

LOTS OF WATER FLOWING THROUGH COUNTRY CREEKS THESE DAYS

What few sunny breaks we had soon pretty much disappeared altogether & with the biting cold wind & snow in the air I really couldn’t get myself enthused about taking many photos or getting myself revved up about the day.  I think Pheebs was feeling about the same way.  We just kind of looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders & headed for home with a 5 minutes stop at the Bayfield Car Wash to get little Libby the Swamp Pig looking like her pretty self again.  

THIS ROAD THROUGH THE HAY SWAMP IS GENERALLY CLOSED FOR THE WINTER BUT WE SLIPPED THROUGH IT ANYWAY

IN ANOTHER COUPLE MONTHS THIS SWAMP WILL BE ALIVE WITH LUSH GREEN & A BA-ZILLION MILLION MOSQUITOES

We are hoping beyond hope that by maybe Monday sometime this miserable spate of nasty winter weather will begin to turn around.  We haven’t felt warm since we left Arizona 3 weeks ago.  Predictions for a an early warmer than usual Spring in these parts were sure waaaaaay off their mark.  I think this is the coldest Spring for this extended period of time I can remember.  It’s not unusual to get a few last gasps of winter in early April but this is just ridiculous.  We’re sure looking forward to some ‘feeling good’ warm air again.

BY GOLLY I’M THINKING THIS FINE LOOKING PLACE JUST MIGHT BE AFFORDABLE:))

A FEW FARMERS OUT & ABOUT THIS MORNING WITH ONE FELLOW ACTUALLY DOING SOME PLOWING

At time of publishing tonight winds have greatly diminished & we have a few snow flurries lazily drifting down through our surrounding pine trees.  A quick check of our areas ‘real time’ radar shows more bands of lake effect snow forming up out over open water & headed our way.  It’s a common occurrence living this close to Lake Huron.

Just a word of thanks to everyone again for all your kind words over the years……………

YEP. THE PESKY BIRD SEED EATING SQUIRRELS ARE BACK FOR ANOTHER YEAR

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A fellow in Maine with a little too much to drink under his belt decides to go ice fishing.  He finds a spot on the ice and begins to drill when a voice booms out, "There are no fish under that ice"!Shaken, the man moves down the pond and begins to drill again.  Once more, the booming voice says, "There are no fish under that ice!"  The fellow looks around, sees no one, heads further down, and begins to drill once more.  Again he hears the booming voice call out, "I said there are no fish under that ice!" Looking around,   and then up at the sky, the fellow calls back, "Is that you, God?"  The voice replies, "No!  This is the rink manager!"

“OH COME ON MABEL JUNIOR’S NOT LOOKIN”

As long as it doesn’t have anything to do with plumbing I actually don’t mind the sound of dripping sometimes & dripping is what it was doing this afternoon as periods of sunshine brought our temps a few degrees above freezing.  Spring’s warming sun dug into the snow & although slow we did have some melting going on.

“OH COME ON MABLE JUNIOR’S JUNIOR’S NOT LOOKIN”

“OH REALLY”

Pheebs & I had headed out earlier this morning enticed by a few sunny breaks in our cloud cover.  Gravel roads were still froze as we made our way around looking for a few photos.  Cloudy days for me are not too inspiring but we did manage an occasional picture here & there.  As the morning worn on we had a few more sun splashes & country roads soon turned to mud catching us far from any pavement.  By the time we made it back home around noon the Jeep looked like a Swamp Pig.

Looks like a Raccoon got into our wooden shed over the winter & had itself a blast wrecking stuff.  Quite a mess in there so started on a clean-up by first hauling out all our summer yard ornaments & stuff.  Normally the snow is all gone when I set things back out in the yard but today I just set things out in the snow where they usually go.  Even managed to dig out some porch & deck furniture.

ICE SKATING SEA GULL STYLE

A question in the Shout Box asks why our Park is called the 5 Seasons when in fact there are only 4 seasons to each year.  Spring, Summer, Autumn, & Winter.  That’s a good question to which I have no answer…..except maybe this one.  Our Park is geared to folks 55+ so maybe that 5th Season simply means everyone living here is ‘seasoned’ with some folks even being………….‘well seasoned’:))

SOME COUNTRY ROADS STILL HAVE A BIT OF ICE & SNOW ON THEM

Here’s another example of a conflicted aging mind.  Someone in the Shout Box suggested I should have got myself a cart to carry that heavy bag of birdseed out of the TSC store Thursday.  I did think of doing that but the 18 year old in me said ‘phooey’ what’s the big deal about carrying out an 800 pound bag of birdseed.  Well it’s the same conflicted 71 year old mind that tells me to get a cart every time I go into Walmart even if I come back out 5 minutes later with nothing more than a package of gum.  It’s quite a tussle I have with this mind of mine most days now.

CORN STUBBLE LEFT OVER FROM LAST FALL’S HARVEST

A question in our comment section in regards to my Thursday post mentioning Goderich’s Sifto Salt Mine asks, “ Just curious, how is the salt you referred to used? Industrial; human consumption; i.e. table salt; road salt? Are there salt caverns and have you ever been inside one”?  The Sifto Salt Mine in Goderich is the largest in the world & here is short informative You Tube video which answers all those questions except the last one.  And the answer to the last question is ‘yes’ Kelly & I were fortunate enough to tour the Goderich Salt Mine back in the late 90’s one time & I can tell you it is ‘HUGE’ down in that mine which runs way out under Lake Huron.  It looks just like the above You Tube video & here’s another link for more underground mine pictures, Link.  It’s like a bustling little town down there with big truck traffic coming & going.  Can’t remember if photos were allowed or not but I was in a ‘photographic dry spell’ in those days & wasn’t in the habit of taking photos of anything anyway.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Bubba was bragging to his boss one day, "You know,   I know everyone there is to know.  Just name someone,   anyone, and I know them." Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff,  "OK,   Bubba how about Tom Cruise?" "Sure, yes, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it." So Bubba and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door, and sure enough, Tom Cruise, shouts, "Bubba!  Great to see you!  You and your friend come right in and join me for lunch!" Although impressed, Bubba's boss is still skeptical. After they leave Cruise's house,   he tells Bubba that he thinks Bubba's knowing Cruise was just lucky. "No, no, just name anyone else," Bubba says "President Obama," his boss quickly retorts."Yes," Bubba says, "I know him,   let's fly out to Washington." And off they go.  At the White House, Obama spots Bubba on the tour and motions him and his boss over,   saying, "Bubba, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let's have a cup of coffee first and catch up."  Well, the boss is very shaken by now, but still not totally convinced.   After they leave the White house grounds, he expresses his doubts to Bubba, who again implores him to name anyone else.  "The Pope," his boss replies.  "Sure!" says Bubba.  "My folks are from Poland, and I've known the Pope a long time."  So off they fly to Rome.   Bubba and his boss are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Bubba says,  "This will never work.  I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people.   Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope."  And he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican.  Sure enough, half an hour later Bubba emerges with the Pope on the balcony.   But by the time Bubba returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics.  Working his way to his boss' side, Bubba asks him, "What happened?"  His boss looks up and says, "I was doing fine until you and the Pope came out on the balcony and the man next to me said, "Who's that on the balcony with Bubba?"