A VISIT WITH UNCLE HARRY....AND SOME THOUGHTS

 

It was  under gray overcast skies that we drove to Mitchell this morning to visit my Uncle Harry.  He will be turning 95 on Thursday & we wanted to drop in ahead of time to wish him a happy Birthday.  In Harry’s own words he said, “it’s the last 95th Birthday I will ever have.”  He was in good spirits but I always find it difficult to see elderly folks in the latter stages of their lives.  Harry was always an active fellow & it's sad to see him now with his whole world measured by the 4 confining walls of a tiny room.  A good friend of Harry’s will be bringing him up to our place a week from today for a Birthday supper.

  

HARRY OPENS HIS BIRTHDAY CARD & KELLY TAKES DOWN THE CHRISTMAS CARDS TO MAKE ROOM FOR MORE BIRTHDAY CARDS

HARRY HANDLES A LIVE TARANTULA THAT SOME TRAVELING ZOO FOLKS BROUGHT IN ALONG WITH SOME SNAKES & A TORTOISE FOR FOLKS TO SEE.  (took the picture off a photograph in Harry's room)

Wished I had something of interest to write about but the days are beginning to mesh together.  Our normal vibrant Spring has been a disappointment & the sadness of April is still in the air.  I am beginning to feel both the mental & physical challenges of my 66 years as my understanding of the ever changing world around me ebbs & flows.  I am beginning to sense a feeling of tiredness.

I am, like others at this stage of their lives, no matter the age, in a period of transition.  I have slipped the surly bonds of youth & traveled across a vast plane of life & learning.  I feel I now stand facing another plateau, another challenge, another day & maybe, just maybe, another adventure or two.  Maybe tomorrow the sun will shine......................

GROANER'S CORNER:((   One lazy Sunday morning the wife and I were quiet and thoughtful, sitting around the breakfast table when I said to her unexpectedly, "When I die, I want you to sell all my stuff, immediately."

"Now why would you want me to do something like that?" she asked.

"I figure a woman as fine as yourself would eventually remarry and I don't want some worthless bum using my stuff."

She looked at me intently and said: "What makes you think I'd marry another worthless bum!!"

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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.

I'M STILL TICKED OFF AT TIM HORTONS!! BUT, I STILL LIKE THEIR COFFEE

BLUE JAY 

Oh joy, another dark & dreary rain soaked day.  I’m anxious to get the new wood stain on the deck but I’m gonna need a stretch of some actual real live dry weather to do that!!

RETIRED ROD had wondered in a comment Sunday how we were making out with our ongoing Squirrels vs Bird Feeders war.  I have to tell you right up front that we were finally winning…...until this morning!!  Hadn’t had one single Squirrel on the new bird station since setting it up & securing until I walked into the sunroom this morning & saw a black Squirrel perched on top of it just as content as can be.  No Squirrels on any of the other feeders so far because I have finally managed to strategically locate them out of Squirrel reach.  I don’t dislike Squirrels at all & Sunday watched two of them playing in the front yard for a long time.  It’s just when they rip into our bird feeders that I get ticked off with them.  In fact, I don’t dislike any animals whether they be birds, bugs or crawly things.  Ok, I don’t like Mosquites!!
    
Some readers may remember a few of my posts regarding my love/hate relationship with Tim Hortons over the past few years.  Love the coffee but do not agree with their business ethics.  In a previous post, the 4th & 5th paragraphs in, TIM HORTONS.....THE DUMBING DOWN OF CANADIAN COFFEE DRINKERS!! tells you how I feel about their continuously shrinking cup sizes & how I figure that same ploy will come to America as well.  Hadn’t had myself an in-house Hortons coffee since last November until I stopped at a Hortons in Goderich a couple of weeks ago.  What a total insult it was to be handed a porcelain cup of coffee that is now bordering on the size of a tea cup.   Obviously downsized once again over the winter.  And, to add insult to injury, they have raised their prices again.  So, that’s it for me & Tim Hortons.  No more casually stopping in for an occasional coffee anymore.  This is one consumer who has had enough of being dumbed down by Canada’s largest coffee giant!!!!  And Starbucks?  Nope, none of that high priced burnt Char for this guy!!  Now, in all fairness I must admit I am not a big coffee drinker anymore anyway.  One cup at home in the morning & sometimes a second cup before noon & that’s it.  So why am I ticked?  Just the principle of the matter. 
 

L to R..... CANADIAN SMALL COFFEE - AMERICAN SMALL . CANADIAN LARGE . AMERICAN LARGE. ...... NOW, TELL ME WHY CANADIANS GET LESS COFFEE FOR MORE MONEY!!  BECAUSE WE CANADIANS HAVE BEEN DUMBED DOWN THAT'S WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Been reading some great reviews on Nikon’s new DSLR camera, the D5100.  Retired Rod has one on order.  For any camera buffs out there it might be good to have a look at the new model.  But, be aware, the camera is going to take a fair bite out of a thousand dollar bill.

Thanks to Sue over at THE MOHO AND OTHER TRAVELING TALES I was reminded this morning of something that had slipped my mind.  She talked about a photo site she has just joined called SMUG MUG.   I am familiar with Smug Mug which happens to be a great site & I have actually had an account there the past year & a half or so.   Problem is that my photo account had expired this past winter & I had not remembered to renew it.  In fact I had almost entirely forgot about my Smug Mug site.  Quickly reinstated my status & am now working on refurbishing & beginning anew my photo albums once again.  Currently working on my ‘birds’ album which can be seen at FEATHERED FRIENDS.

I am always amazed at wood carvers & how they can carve such great detail & patterns into things.  From ancient man to modern day, the wonders of carving patterns goes on, as evidenced by the following photos I took a few days ago of these mysterious carvings I found.  Could this date back centuries?  Maybe North American Indians or could these carvings have come from old Mexico.  Maybe even European.  Do the symbols denote a Master intelligence of some kind.  Could these be symbols of a past Alien culture here on Earth?  Am I seeing Alien like Spider creatures depicted on what could be an old wooden cane?

        

All possible theories I suppose & in an indirect way they may all be connected because the Masterful Carver of these wooden objects goes back to the beginning of time itself.  This work was done by none other than Mother Nature herself carving her magic into these broken Pine branches that lay on the ground after some heavy winds a couple days ago.  Probably a tiny burrowing wood insect:))

    

GROANER'S CORNER:((   Once upon a time, there was Larry the Lobster and Sam the Clam. They were the best of friends. One day, they were both killed. Larry the Lobster went to Heaven and Sam the Clam went to Hell. Larry the Lobster missed Sam the Clam so much, he asked God if he could go to Hell to visit Sam. God agreed, but he told Larry not to forget his harp.
Larry the Lobster agreed and down to Hell he went. When he found Sam the Clam, he had his own Disco in hell. Larry the Lobster had such a great time with Sam the Clam, that he lost all track of time. Larry heard the voice of God saying "Larry you must come back to Heaven now."
Larry ran as fast as he could back to Heaven. When God saw Larry, he said, "Where is your Harp?"
Larry replied, "I left my Harp in Sam Clam's Disco."

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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.

WE HAND DELIVERED OUR LAST MICROSOFT STREETS & TRIPS TODAY

MALE BALTIMORE ORIOLE

Like many other folks in this section of the country we are once again under cool gray rainy skies.  Looks like it’s going to last the whole week:((
  

NOTICE HOW THIS FEMALE ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK HAS HER RIGHT FOOT WRAPPED AROUND THE SUET FEEDER WIRE
Figured it was as good a day as any to haul our electric power washer out & get my own water flying around.  We have a 5 year old wooden deck connecting our sunroom with our porch & due to the many Pine trees overhead the deck is not subject to a lot of sunlight, therefore we have a mold build up on the pressure treated decking!!
A TOUCH OF BLUE IN THE GREEN THIS MORNING 
At Home Hardware Kelly picked up a 4 liter jug of 'Wood Shield' which is a wood restorer, cleaner & brightener.  Had to brush the solution into the wood with a long handled stiff bristle brush.  Waited 10 minutes & hosed it off with the pressure washer.  I was skeptical about the outcome but once it dried, the moss was gone.  The whole process took a couple hours this morning.  Next step is to cover the cleaned wood with a semi transparent stain.  Haven’t decided on a color yet.  Maybe Fuscia....D'ya think:))

More Baltimore Orioles & Indigo Buntings in our yard this morning so was able to get a few more photos.  I know the bird folks don’t mind all the bird photos lately but hope other people are patient with birds, birds, birds.  It's just that time of year when we have so many Spring songbirds here.

THE BLURRED OBJECT IN THE FOREGROUND IS ANOTHER BIRD FLYING THROUGH THE PHOTO I WAS TAKING OF THE ORIOLE.  MAYBE A MOURNING DOVE OR A FEMALE GROSBEAK 

We decided a month or so ago that we would rather give our 5 free copies of Microsoft’s Streets & Trips to some fellow RV’ers rather than having a contest thingy.   Many folks we know already have Microsoft Streets & Trips so we centered on a few couples we knew who didn’t.  One copy went to McNeal Arizona, others to Idaho, Montana & Vancouver Island.  The final copy we delivered today in Grand Bend, Ontario after at the local Tim Hortons coffee shop.  We had never met fellow RV’ers Linda & Ken Clark before but we had corresponded via email over the winter.  Ken & Linda, new RV’ers, purchased their 2006 39’ Winnebago late last Autumn at the same place in Grand Bend we bought our Damon Challenger 4 years ago.  Ron, at FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE had told them about the Bayfield Bunch so we had some common ground conversation right off the bat.  We all heartily agreed how truly fortunate we were to have met & bought our rigs from Ron.  Just a super great guy.
 

JEEPING OURSELVES TO GRAND BEND THIS AFTERNOON
As with any other RV couple we have met, Linda & Ken turned out to be very a friendly & easy to talk to couple.  They made their first RV trip this past winter & headed off to Florida.  Said they wanted to get a few miles under their belts before tackling the American Southwest:))  Being typical RV folks we sat & talked for 2 hours straight.  Lots of stories, comparisons & sharing of RV information.  I’m sure we will see Linda & Ken again……..somewhere down the road.

SUNDAY BRUNCH FOR TWO ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK COUPLES
Not much else new today, just more rain upon rain, after rain.  Great weather if we were a couple of ducks!!

TWO MALE INDIGO BUNTINGS IN OUR YARD THIS AFTERNOON

GROANER’S CORNER:((    A guy walks into a store with a duck on his head. The clerk says "My that's an awful looking growth you have there." The man says, "That's not a growth... that's my duck." The clerk replys, "I was talking to the duck!!"

Customer: How much is that duck?
Shopkeeper: Ten dollars.
Customer: Okay, could you please send me the bill?
Shopkeeper: I'm sorry, but you'll have to take the whole bird.
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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.