COLD DAMP DAY BUT WE DID MANAGE A SHORT DRIVE DOWN AROUND BAYFIELD’S HARBOR

BAYFIELD HARBOR NORTH SIDE FISH DOCK

No hint of movement in our pine trees, not a sway not even a shiver.  Our morning's air stood perfectly still wrapping itself around the Park's tall unmoving pines in a clinging mist.  Checking Grand Bend's beach cams we couldn't even see the beach.  A heavy fog sat upon the land & I knew it probably wasn't a great morning for a photo tour.  So we went anyway although we didn’t go far.

SAILBOATS IN DRYDOCK WAITING PATIENTLY TO GET THEIR HULLS WET IN A FEW WEEKS

TOP HALF OF THAT CENTER FISHERMAN IS DRESSED FOR WINTER WHILE THE BOTTOM HALF IS DRESSED FOR SUMMER……I WAS DEFINITELY DRESSED FOR WINTER THIS A.M.

LOOKS LIKE IT’S GOING TO BE AWHILE BEFORE ANYONE GETS DOWN TO BAYFIELD’S BEACH OR OUT ONTO THE PIER

A GENTLE MIST IN THE AIR

Finding it difficult to get myself cranked up on a cold sunless fog shrouded morning we just slipped into Bayfield & took us for a drive down around the harbor, had us a short leg stretch at Pioneer Park, then through the town we went & back home again.  Definitely not one of our longer Jeep rides.  Here beside Lake Huron’s cold Winter waters it always takes longer each Spring to warm up than even just a few miles inland.  Lazed around in the house staying away from the day’s cold & damp & as temperatures hovered around the mid 40’s I just kind of hovered around my recliner.  And colder tomorrow:((

BAYFIELD’S FOGGY HARBOR ENTRANCE

NOT EVEN A HORIZON LINE ON THE LAKE TODAY

PIONEER PARK’S EMPTY BENCHES AWAIT THIS YEARS SUNSET WATCHERS

SO NICE TO FINALLY SEE SOME DAFFODILS

I’M GUESSING THIS LITTLE FELLOW IN OUR FRONT YARD MIGHT BE A RED BELLIED WOODPECKER

 

Aside from the above 2 paragraphs I can’t really think of anything else to write about.  Despite it being cold we did end the day under sunny skies.  Maybe with Libby’s heater cranked up in the morning Pheebs & I can get out for a bit.  Maybe take my new lens over to the Hullett Marsh & see if we can spot us some Polar Bears & Penguins……………….

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A manager at Wal-Mart had the task of hiring someone to fill a job opening. After sorting through a stack of resumes he found four people who were equally qualified. He decided to call the four in and ask them only one question. Their answer would determine which of them would get the job.  The day came and as the four sat around the conference room table, the interviewer asked, 'What is the fastest thing you know of?'

The first man replied, 'A THOUGHT.' It just pops into your head. There's no warning.  'That's very good!' replied the interviewer. 'And, now you sir?', he asked the second man.  'Hmmm...let me see 'A blink! It comes and goes and you don't know that it ever happened. A BLINK is the fastest thing I know of.  'Excellent!' said the interviewer. 'The blink of an eye, that's a very popular cliché for speed.' He then turned to the third man, who was contemplating his reply.

'Well, out at my dad's ranch, you step out of the house and on the wall there's a light switch. When you flip that switch, way out across the pasture the light on the barn comes on in less than an instant. 'Yep, TURNING ON A LIGHT is the fastest thing I can think of'.  The interviewer was very impressed with the third answer and thought he had found his man. 'It's hard to beat the speed of light,' he said.

Turning to BUBBA, the fourth and final man, the interviewer posed the same question.  Old Bubba replied, 'After hearing the previous three answers, it's obvious to me that the fastest thing known is DIARRHEA.'  'WHAT!?' said the interviewer, stunned by the response.  'Oh sure', said BUBBA. 'You see, the other day I wasn't feeling so good, and I ran for the bathroom, but before I could THINK, BLINK, or TURN ON THE LIGHT, I had already messed my pants.'

BUBBA is now the new greeter at a Wal-Mart near you!

A RAINY DAY TRIP TO LONDON FINALLY SOLVES MY CAMERA LENS PROBLEM:))

HEY IS THAT DONALD THE TRUMP OVER THERE!!

I mentioned a post or two ago I wouldn’t be talking any more about my camera lens dilemma.  Well that was until today that is.  I had no idea when I woke up this morning I would be bringing a brand spanking new AF-S Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 G lens home today.  Eating breakfast this morning Kelly had the Canadian Tire flyer in hand & said she was headed to Goderich & was there anything I needed.  I jokingly said, “no not in less they sell Nikkor camera lenses.  Well they don’t of course but Kelly asked, “so what are you going to do about that” meaning my camera lens problem.  With that thought rattling around in my head along with bobm’s comment on my Monday post which said, “My advice with respect to the lens dilemma: Life is short, don't compromise. :-)” I asked myself the same question, ‘just what are you going to do about that Al’.  Then I started formulating a plan.

A FEW FARM HOUSES ON A RAIN SOAKED DAY

Packed up my newer Sigma lens along with one of my 18-55mm lenses (I had 2 of them) as well as my seldom used 55-200mm lens & headed for Henry’s Camera Store in London Ontario.  Took along my older Nikkor 70-300 lens with the shaking & rattling problems just in case it might have been worth something as a trade-in.  (It wasn’t)  They allowed me a fair trade-in price on the Sigma & Nikkor 18-55 lens but the Nikkor 55-200 was toast as was my favorite old 70-300.  The 55-200 lens must have got wet at some point & condensation had formed inside the lens leaving spots.  That would explain why I wasn’t happy with the photos I took with it Wednesday.  The 70-300’s stabilizer was worn out & they said neither lens was worth fixing.  So that was it, I sprung for a new lens which is the same lens as my old favorite one only brand new.

HENRY’S CAMERA STORE NEAR MASONVILLE MALL LONDON ONTARIO

BOUGHT MY NEW 70-300 LENS FROM THE FELLOW IN THE BLUE SHIRT & THAT’S ALL MY STUFF CLUTTERING UP THE COUNTER…..NOTICE THE BLACK VIGNETTING ON THE CORNERS, I WAS TRYING OUT A LENS HOOD FOR MY  18-55 LENS

Rained all the way to London & back but I didn’t mind.  Beats sitting in the house on an overcast rainy day & I was back home in less than 3 hours.  Didn’t take Pheebs with me because she had gone with Kelly to Goderich earlier.  That little doggie sure gets around.

 

FIRST FEW SHOTS THROUGH THE SUNROOM WINDOW WITH NEW LENS 

I saw Sam’s latest post was entitled Not Good News & when I read it I understood why.  Donna’s breathing difficulties have taken a turn for the worse.  Sam & Donna are part of the old group of RV Bloggers I remember from my early blogging days.  We are sending our thoughts to you Donna.  And Sandie in her post a few days ago had an update on Retired Rod which read, “Rod is improving and his family is taking really good care of him. He’s had a couple of weeks of chemo and some radiation”……… So there ya go Biker Boy we’re still all thinkin about ya out here:))  And it’s not often one looks forward to an upcoming surgery but over at Donna's house she is definitely looking forward to it.  And who wouldn’t be with ‘Sturgeon the Surgeon’ doing the slicing & dicing.  To clear this one up & to know what a parathyroid tumor has to do with it you will have to stop by Donna’s latest post.  And what’s this about ‘Cave’ people riding trains to & from Chicago eh??

SO NICE TO HAVE A LENS THAT DOESN’T SHAKE & VIBRATE ANYMORE

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE: "Doctor, I have an ear ache."
2000 B.C. - "Here, eat this root."
1000 B.C. - "That root is heathen, say this prayer."
1850 A.D. - "That prayer is superstition, drink this potion."
1940 A.D. - "That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill."
1985 A.D. - "That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic."
2000 A.D. - "That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!"

"The doctor said he would have me on my feet in two weeks."  "And did he?"  "Yes, I had to sell my car to pay the bill."

"Doctor, are you sure I'm suffering from pneumonia? I heard once about a doctor treating someone with pneumonia and finally he died of typhus."  "Don't worry, it won't happen to me. If I treat someone with pneumonia he will die of pneumonia."

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!!

I WAS SURPRISED TO FIND MY FAVORITE ‘SPIDER WEB BRIDGE’ NORTH OF ST. MARYS ONTARIO MISSING TODAY

Don't leave home without what you are wondering.  Well for me this morning it was leaving home without an SD card in my DSLR camera.  Luckily I always travel with several DSLR’s but it did take 3 or 4 missed photo opportunities before the light came on in my mind that the problem I was having was the direct result of having no SD card in my camera.  Simply speaking, no SD card = no pictures.  I had left it lying beside our desk top computer after uploading Tuesday's photos.  Pheebs & I were too far from home to turn around & go back so I spent the next couple hours juggling cameras & lenses around in the front seat.  Years ago that was the normal way of doing things until I realized for my kind of sometimes faster paced photo interests & opportunities it was much easier to carry 2 DSLR cameras each one having a different lens & each one programmed for a different ISO setting.

ABOUT ALL I HAVE IN THE WAY OF PHOTOS TONIGHT ARE ‘DRIVE-BY’ FARM HOUSES

So having said that you know Pheebs & I were out again this morning.  Weather people are calling for rain Thursday so figured we had better get out while we could today.  Our travels took us South-east of Bayfield along country roads through an area we had not been too yet this year.  Mainly just a bunch of farm house photos again & we did grab ourselves a Tuna Sub in Mitchell Ontario on our way home.

CONCENTRATION

I’M GOING TO HAVE TO GET THIS LITTLE GIRL SOME RUBBER BOOTS

MIGHTY HUNTER ON THE TRAIL OF A BUG

Other than the 2 above paragraphs I’m afraid I really can’t think of much more to write about tonight.  It took me long enough just thinking up those two paragraphs & here I sit thinking to myself, how many times or different ways can I write about Pheebs & I going out for morning rides in the Jeep.  How many times can I make puttering around in the yard interesting enough for anyone to read.  How many photos of Pheebs, Canada Geese, country roads, trees, barns, houses, & flowers etc can I take & have much of it not be boringly repetitive to readers.

SOME FARMERS JUST HAVE MORE EQUIPMENT THAN OTHERS IT SEEMS

Just thoughts rattling around in my head again tonight folks & sometimes those rattling's find their way to my keyboard.  Kind of like Tuesday night when I mentioned how happier & content I am when I’m just tootin around by myself & not with a group of people.  I don’t think the Guest in our Shout Box quite understood what I was getting at but my thanks to our good friend Bev way out there in that Idaho place who did. 

In my blog over the years I touch on things from time to time which aren’t always talked about freely here in Blogland.  Sometimes it’s depression, sometimes my thoughts on being an introvert, maybe a rant here or there from time to time I’ve written a few posts with my thoughts on what makes a successful blog.  Sometimes I get myself into a bit of hot water with my musings & other times I receive surprising emails from fellow RV Bloggers expressing their thoughts on what I have written about.  I think the main thing I have learned from some of the things I’ve written over the years is simply that whatever I write about I quickly find out I am not alone in my thoughts & opinions.  Readers would be surprised how many other folks step out of the closet saying they too think & feel the same way.   And many of these folks are people we know living a seemingly very sociable life.  The only difference between those folks & Kelly & I is that we have purposely & publicaly withdrawn ourselves from the social line-up so to speak.   It has nothing to do with not liking people as much as it has everything to do about just hanging out by ourselves with no commitments, restrictions, or obligations.  It’s our comfort zone & we like it here.

I should mention something that I have mentioned before in a few posts just to keep the record straight.  Because I am the writer of this blog & because it is my thoughts, feelings, & opinions which I express in this blog it does not mean all those thoughts, feelings, & opinions are totally mine from time to time.  Often as not they are shared.  Because I am the blog’s author I write in terms of I & me & not we.  And I do that for obvious reasons & can assure you many of my I & me references also mean we.  Not all perhaps, but many.  And if the truth be known sometimes it is more we than me………….:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((

1. You might be an introvert if you enjoyed timeout as a child.
2. You might be an introvert if you shop at 1:00 am in the 24-hour grocery store to avoid seeing people.
3. You might be an introvert if you rearrange the name cards at a dinner table so you don’t have to sit next to people you don’t know.
4. You might be an introvert if you like to have an extroverted friend with you so he can carry on the conversations you want to avoid.
5. You might be an introvert if your favorite game is solitaire.
6. You might be an introvert if your favorite number is one.
7. You might be an introvert if you take plenty of reading material on airplanes to avoid talking to people.
8. You might be an introvert if you smile when you see the “Do Not Talk” sign in the library.
9. You might be an introvert if you try to convince family members that you are really okay staying at home for a week of vacation.
10. You might be an introvert if you avoid buying new clothes so people won’t comment to you about them.
11. You might be an introvert if you can’t understand what’s so bad about solitary confinement.
12. You might be an introvert if you enjoy talking to yourself more than anyone else.
13. You might be an introvert if the word “meeting” causes you to become mildly to violently nauseous.
14. You might be an introvert if you work in your garden at night with a headlamp to avoid conversations with neighbors.
15. You might be an introvert if you think social media is the greatest invention in 200 years because you can communicate without being around people.
16. You might be an introvert if your favorite room in the house is the bathroom because you know you can be alone there.

Of course all of these are me & how many of you guessed number 15 is my favorite.  And let me just emphasize again…….it is not that I don’t like most people, it’s just that I am not comfortable around most people.  It’s not you folks, it’s me:))