A SOGGY SATURDAY CLEAN-UP

Due to Google’s Blogger site shut down a few days ago I decided to forego writing a post on Friday & preferred to just let things catch up with today.   Looks like my recent posts survived the Blogger breakdown without any damage.  Comments are all intact with the exception of Wednesday where there is only one comment left out of maybe a dozen.  My big worry when things went asunder a few days ago was that hackers had penetrated the Google Blog network & possibly destroyed everyone’s blog site.  I have a habit of always thinking worst case scenarios you know:((
  

HAD FORGOT TO ADD THE SECOND PHOTO TO THE CANADA GOOSE SPLASH DOWN LAST WEEK  
Ok, a quick look at Friday before I get into Saturday.  Our Friday was a basic recap of Thursday as we both busied ourselves around the house with various projects.  Kelly picked up some summer flowers at a local nursery & planted all our outside planters.  I ripped the old carpet off our front porch.  We plan to begin some refurbishing to our front porch & adjoining wood deck shortly.

MALE CARDINAL 
With Kelly’s words today, “there’s a blue bird in the front yard,” I carefully creeped around the corner of the house with my 300mm lens & cracked off two quick pics of a blue 'Indigo Bunting.'   That reminded me of something I had blogged about a couple days ago that I should clarify.  When I said I only take ‘one shot’ of everything I should not have referred to that in general terms.  Landscape scenes I generally do one shot & maybe shift my position or angle slightly for a second shot.  Nervous flittering birds or skitterish animals are a different story.  If I spot a bird I generally try to get the first shot off as fast as I can because the bird may only be there long enough for one quick shot.  After that first shot I will then refocus & recompose the second shot quickly for another photo & if the bird is still there I may try to refine a third & fourth photo.   In the case of the Indigo Bunting my first shot was slightly blurred but my second shot about  4 seconds later was better.  The Bunting took flight about a half second after the shot.   It is rare for me to use a ‘Burst’ type mode although I did do that for the male Oriole dust up last week.

INDIGO BUNTING 
Kelly will officially start off her busy season at Deer Park Lodge this Monday & that will put her in high gear right on up into the Fall at which point she will be well deserving of a long quiet rest in the peaceful deserts of the American Southwest again for the winter.
  
GYPSY is on the road heading from West to East this time with her dog Lady, her 350 Ford dually & a tent.  Might want to check out her progress & see how she is doing.  Last time I checked she was somewhere in Nevada.  And, RETIRED ROD ended up having to tear part of his dash apart in their fairly new Tiffin Allegro Bay Motor Home in search of a possible wiring problem concerning his hydraulic jacks & troublesome console instruments.  I don’t know where these guys get all the patience & know how to do this kinda stuff.
 

AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES 
Woke up to the sound of a gentle rain this morning & it turned out to be an all day soggy Saturday.   But that’s OK because it was a mild 63F.  The recent warmer air & rains have really began popping buds out on area trees.  So nice to see all the greenery coming back again for another season.  Yahooie Louie:))
       
We are fortunate to have a nice 2 vehicle carport & on rainy days it is a great place to work on rainy day projects.  Today I was able to reorganize a lot of stuff I had taken out of the Motor Home bins.  With the type of boon docking RVing we prefer, a lot of dusty roads are sometimes traveled & that desert dust occasionally has a way of finding it’s way into the storage bins.  When we return to Canada in the Spring those bins & the things in those bins are in general need of a good cleaning & reorganizing.  It was a good rainy day project for me today:))
 

SAND CHERRY BLOSSOMS 
GROANER’S CORNER:((  Smith goes to see his supervisor in the front office. "Boss," he says, "we're doing some heavy house-cleaning at home tomorrow, and my wife needs me to help with the attic and the garage, moving and hauling stuff."
"We're short-handed, Smith" the boss replies. "I can't give you the day off."

"Thanks, boss," says Smith "I knew I could count on you!"

-------------------------------------------------------------EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.

SO NICE TO HAVE KELLY HOME:))

DOWNY WOODPECKER ON OUR BIRDBATH

NOTE:  Due to technical difficulties at Googles Blogger Site, I & countless thousands of others have not been able to publish our blogs since late Thursday on May 12th.  As soon as the problem is fixed I will hit the 'Publish' button.  Following post is from Thursday.....................  

Have to tell you again how nice it is to have Kelly home after an absence of two weeks.  I could feel my spirits lifting as soon as I heard the car door in the driveway Wednesday.  It was so reassuring to have the very heart of the Bayfield Bunch home.  The little Motormouse was just about jumping out of her fur because Mom brought her a squeaker toy all the way from New York State:))

It has been a difficult few weeks but with Kelly here now I can see some light at the end of the long dreary tunnel.  Today was definitely a feeling better day & I spent most of it working in the flower gardens.  It was just knowing Kelly was close by that made all the difference.  She is just the very much most bestest little person of ever:))

SURE IS NICE HAVING THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE  HOME 

Today while digging up & transplanting a lot of ground covers around our place I was reminded of Kelly's Dad who passed away last year in August.  Frank was a fellow who loved spending time in his gardens & even in his final months he would struggle outside with his walker & make his way slowly down the back yard to his beloved gardens & try to do whatever he could.  Kelly said there were times when he would fall & lay on the ground until he had enough strength to pull himself back up to his walker again.  I was reminded of Frank today because Kelly brought home his garden tools Wednesday & it was those tools I worked with today in the garden.  Frank was a very caring, friendly & hard working person & Kelly takes right after him.  I wrote this TRIBUTE TO FRANK when he passed away on August 29th, 2010.

FRANK'S GARDENING TOOLS....I THINK HE USED THE SLEDGE HAMMER TO BEAT BACK THE WEEDS:))

Donna K from TRAVELS IN THERAPY has written a couple of very informative & thought provoking posts that everyone should read whether you are an RV’er or not.  She deals with a subject that is avoided by many & yet is crucial to absolutely everyone.  Check out Donna’s PART 1 & PART 2 of Exit Strategy????

 

Has anyone else been having problems with the Blogger website today?  Seems to be something going on over there at the house of Google!!

    
JOE & NANCY had themselves a tour of the Monaco Motor Coach plant in Coborg, Oregon recently.  They were impressed with the talented ladies working on the creative paint schemes on the coaches.

 
Brady at BEHIND BARS - MOTORCYCLES & LIFE has joined the Bayfield Bunch as our latest blog supporter.  Thanks for dropping by Brady.  Much appreciated:))

OUR TREE FROGS ARE BACK & THESE ARE THE FELLOW'S  I CALL 'HOCKEY WHISTLE' FROGS BECAUSE OF THE LOUD NOISE THEY MAKE ALL NIGHT.  THEY DRIVE KELLY BONKERS!! 

It has been a struggle some nights putting the blog together over the past 3 weeks but it has also been a help in keeping my mind of the sadness in my heart.  I have fallen way behind in my email correspondence with folks as well but with Kelly home now I feel my interest & enthusiasm coming back & am hoping to be back up to speed with myself very soon:)) 

GROANER’S CORNER:((   After being away on business, Clarence McDougal thought it would be nice to bring his wife a little gift. "How about some perfume?" he asked the cosmetics clerk.
She showed him a bottle costing $50.00. "That is a bit much," said Clarence.

So the clerk returned with a smaller bottle for $30.00. "That's still quite a bit," Clarence groused.

Growing annoyed, the cosmetics clerk brought out a tiny $15.00 bottle. "What I mean," said Clarence, "is I would like to see something really cheap."

So the clerk walked to a nearby shelf picked something up, returned to the counter & handed Mr. McDougal a mirror.

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EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.

YAAAAAAAAAAAY, KELLY'S HOME:))

PRIMROSE 

Our warmest morning of the year so far & I was able to step outside in just a short sleeve shirt this morning.  About time!!

A MAGNOLIA BLOSSOM IN NEIGHBOR MONICA'S YARD

Kelly arrived home about 12:30 today so Motormouse & I were a couple happy guys.  This past two week stretch was the longest Kelly & I have been apart since we met back in the summer of 93.  Nice to have the remaining members of Bayfield Bunch back together again.

MY TECHNICAL ADVISOR

Kelly's Mother is doing much better than she had been just a short week or two ago.  She is able to get around with the aid of a walker & the pain she had for so many years in her knee is totally gone.  She is off the heavy pain pills & even the pain of surgery has lifted.  Days, weeks, & maybe a few months of physiotherapy ahead but all & all for a lady of 86 years she has turned the corner & is well on the road to recovery.  Kelly said it was a teary goodbye this morning after a close two week oneness helping her Mom through the difficult times.

ROADSIDE TULIPS 

Had a few questions come in about my Nikon D90 post Tuesday night.  In that post I mentioned my desire to make some improvements to my photography.  Haven’t been satisfied with the clarity of many photos.  They are just not as sharp as they could be so that is one area I intend on taking the time to make improvements in.  And, I would like to kick the creative end of things around a bit more as well.  Always room for improvement you know:))
   

BUMBLE BEE IN OUR AZALEA BUSH 

Some folks have asked if I use a 'Burst Mode' when shooting.  It is a term I am not familiar with but assume it means taking maybe half a dozen pics of an object in quick order.  My answer to that is, no.  I come from the old 35mm film days where you tried to make every shot count because of film & developing costs.  I know that isn't the case now but some old habits are hard to break.  I generally just shoot one frame of something & that’s it.  I also do not bracket my shots.  I can set my camera to take 3 pictures of each subject with one being a correct exposure, one under exposed & one over exposed.  Main reason for not doing this is that I can make those same slight corrections later in my Picasa photo program if needed.

AND WE EVEN HAVE TRILLIUMS IN OUR FLOWER BEDS 

Most of my telephoto bird shots have been taken with my older Nikon D40 which by the way happens to be a great camera.  Both my 18-55mm & 70-300mm lens are Nikkor & my 700mm lens is actually a celestial telescope which I can mount to either one of my Nikon cameras.  I also have 2 Canon Powershot cameras which I have also tweaked for best results.  All these cameras are capable of excellent photos.  It’s just the operator himself who needs to get up to speed with a bit of tweaking now:))

The photos of the Scarlet Tanager were taken while it sat on a branch of our ?? Magnolia tree.  The blossoming tree in the photo of the 2 Orioles together was a Fuji Cherry.  All photos were in our front yard.

WE HAVE MANY DIFFERENT COLORED PRIMROSE FLOWERS SCATTERED ABOUT IN OUR FRONT YARD

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And did you know that grass is just a flower bed in waiting.

A toddler was found chewing on a slug.
After the initial surge of disgust the parent said, "Well . . . What does it taste like?"
"Worms," was the reply.

Why are husbands like lawn mowers?
They are difficult to get started, emit foul smells and don't work half the time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.