INSIDE MY MIND, AT THE RIVER, WEIRD LOVE & SPACE COWBOY:))

IT JUST ISN'T ALL BIRDS & FLOWERS WE HAVE IN OUR FRONT YARD:))

A sudden & unexpected rain shower had me scrambling around outside in my pajamas this morning putting up Jeep windows & quickly closing shed doors, etc. It was a short heavy rain but at least I got to do my running around in a new pair of Rockports. I’m sure I was quite a sight with my blue top, red bottoms & brown shoes. All wet I might add!!

Little Cora follows me around so close now in the mornings that she practically rides around on my shoes. She knows there is a good chance of going for a ride in the Jeep with a snack at the other end. This morning turned out to be no exception & sure enough, wasn’t long & me & the Motor were splitting a Tuna sub at our local Subway shop in town. And for sure, tomorrow morning that little Mouse will be riding around on my shoes again:))

I went through a time warp this afternoon. Am currently reading the book, ‘Letter To A Christian Nation.’ Sat down at 1:10 with my book & minutes later woke up at 4 in the afternoon. Now, how did that happen!!

Some long time readers may remember the tragic deaths of fellow RV Blogger's Bruce & Margie last October.  Had an email this morning from Karyn at Wild Blue Yonder saying the young fellow driving the car which killed Bruce & Margie while out walking, has been arrested again!!  You can read why at this link....ARRESTED AGAIN!!

For any full time RV’ers there was a point in their lives when serious decisions had to be made & large steps taken. A transition from sticks & bricks living to a mobile lifestyle had to be waded through & many problems carefully navigated through. Check out Cathy’s thoughts on all that at, IT'S UP TO YOU.

Noticed Canadian Tire had Black & Decker cordless drills on sale for $34.95 on Friday. That’s down from the usual $99. My present Jobmate drill is 8 years old & the battery is feeling it’s age. A drill is not something I use a lot but it sure is handy when I do need it. Not made for a contractor but works fine for a little guy like me at home or in the rig.  I liked the fact that the battery is totally interchangeable with the new weed whacker/grass trimmer I bought about a month ago. That gives me a total of 3 batteries & 2 chargers now. Love the new trimmer by the way & use it to cut our small grass areas instead of the mower. Isn’t it nice when you purchase something that turns out to be a ‘right on’ decision:))

Mentioned in Friday night’s post about downloading some tunes but didn’t mention the name of the tunes. Commenter Susy C was going to have a look at the groups. From GROOVE ARMADA I downloaded AT THE RIVER (Live Version) & INSIDE MY MIND (BLUE SKIES)  'At The River' is based on Patti Page's 'Old Cape Cod' but is an entirely different take on that song although you do here Patti Page repeating the line, "If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air
Quaint little villages here and there."  It was the trombone coming in that really hooked me on this one.   'Inside My Mind' is based on Irving Berlin's old standard, 'Blue Skies.'  It is the man's clear tenor voice repeating the words, "Blue Skies Smiling at Me, Nothing But Blue Skies Do I See" that give me the chills in this tune.  These two songs are not versions of the old standards, they just use some of the phrases of the old songs in a very pleasing, innovative & interesting sort of way.  I just love the huge amounts of talent that goes into ambient music.

From Moodorama I downloaded SPACE COWBOY.  This is a real tow tapper that grabbed my attention right from the beginning with it's totally excellent rhythmic beat.  The almost slow motion drone of a man's deep voice caught me by surprise because it is so different.  Loved it.  And then the chorus of AahAahaAha's kicked in & that totally nailed this whole song for me.  Also downloaded Moodorama's low & slow WEIRD LOVE.  I just liked this one because I found it pleasant & relaxing.  I should also add here that if you do not have a good sound system with your computer you will not appreciate the full sound quality of any of this music.  All of the above tunes are based on heavy electronic bass & drums which I happen to love.  Unfortunately, with just computer speakers you will not get the full impact of the bass oriented instruments.  Our computer sound here is run through an Altec Lansing stereo system complete with sub woofer so I can really get this old sunroom rocking if I want to:))

Remember years ago if we wanted to listen to a groups music we either had to just buy the album & take our chances or go to a record store, select a record & then go into a little booth to listen to it. Sure glad that Dinosaur age is over. So nice to preview a group’s music from the comfort of one’s own home with just a few clicks of a mouse here & there. I’m kind of thinking of recommending one piece of music at the end of each post everyday & including my thoughts on why I like it.  Kind of like Groaner's Corner.  We’ll see………..

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

A new teacher was trying to make use
of her psychology courses. She started her class by saying, “Everyone who thinks they're stupid, stand up!”
After a few seconds, Little Larry
stood up. The teacher said, “Do you think you're stupid, Larry?”
“No, ma'am, but I hate to see you
standing there all by yourself!”

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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.

THAT'S OK BECAUSE I KINDA LIKE IT THAT WAY:))

OUR FIRST PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS BLOOM OF THE SUMMER TODAY 

Going to bed at midnight & getting up again at 4 a.m. is definitely not conducive to an energy filled day. I don’t know what is so important that I think I have to stay up every night to catch Jay Leno’s monologue at 11:35. I think it must be an old habit from the Johnny Carson days. Miss that guy.

WE HAVE LOTS OF FUNGUS GROWTH THIS YEAR 
Downloaded some music from ITunes a few days ago so that was another first. At .99 cents a tune I think that is pretty good compared to what we used to have to pay for a 45rpm or an album years ago. I probably have somewhere around 6 or 8 hundred pieces of music here that I have downloaded from free sites like Limewire & Audio Galaxy over the years. Not likely anyone out there has heard of the two musical groups I downloaded the tunes from…Moodorama & Groove Armada:))

I HEARD THIS NORTHERN FLICKER LONG BEFORE I SAW HIM THIS MORNING
Here we are July 1rst already & that is nearly the half way point to winter travels if we can get away in mid October this year. I sure hope the coming 3 months will be smoother than the past 3 months. It has been a very difficult period of time this year.

A FRONT YARD DAY LILY 
Not a lot happening today so I have reached back into my mind & blown the dust off a few more blogging thoughts that have a habit of running through my head on slow days. Some bloggers will understand what I am talking about & some of course will think I have my head in the old proverbial bucket of water again. Here goes………………..

BIRDVILLE....I CAN SEE ALL THESE FROM THE COMFORT OF MY RECLINER...UPSIDE DOWN FLOWER POT AT BOTTOM RIGHT HAS A LIGHT IN IT & SOFTLY CASTS A NIGHTLY GLOW ON THE PATH BELOW 
The very nature of blogging itself sometimes can put we bloggers in situations of disadvantage. In the world of 'before blogging,' the playing field was much leveler as we all went along our various paths of life meeting & interacting with people here & there. For the most part, people we met didn’t know any more about us than we of them. We were all basically on the same level. Enter the dawn of blogging & for many of us that level playing field quickly changed.

A JOLLY JUMP-UP FLOWER...NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH A BUTTERFLY  
Some of us have a habit of putting our whole lives on line complete with all kinds of opinions, theories, thoughts & feelings. In effect, we daily put ourselves at quite a disadvantage in the overall grand scheme of things. The majority of our readers are complete & unknown strangers. Would we walk up to a total stranger on the street in some unknown city, town or country & proceed to tell them where we live, how many kids or animals we have & the names & ages of those animals & kids.  Would we pull out photos of our loved ones & show them. Would we tell them the makes & models of all our vehicles & where we keep them parked. Would we tell them the cost of vehicle repair bills or how much it costs to heat our home for a month. What about telling a stranger your religious or political views or what hockey team you cheer for. Now there's a dangerous one for sure. How about telling a stranger about how angry or sad you are at the moment or how about telling them where you were last night, who you were with & what you did with whatever to whom. How about telling a stranger where you are going today, for what reason you are going there & for how long you will be staying at the said destination. I wonder how many of us would, or could walk up to a complete stranger & do that.  Well, in fact some of us do that to hundreds if not thousands of strangers just about every day.  Holy vulnerability Batman!!

THIS ONE'S FOR YOU JUDY:)) 
Well, I know I for one couldn't & wouldn't walk up to a stranger & tell them anything about myself whatsoever. Nothing, zero, zip zilch!! Probably wouldn’t even get a ‘Hello’ out of me. But, for 5 years & over 1200 blogging posts now I have been doing just that…….but not in person. And, I think many others like myself have been doing basically the same thing.

HOLLY 
I sometimes have moments when I just quietly give my head a slow shake & think to myself....why do I do this every night!! Why do we bloggers put ourselves at risk by revealing so many personal thoughts & feelings or plans & ideas about ourselves. An opinion here, a rant there.  And then there are the occasional embarrassments.  What is it that compels some of us to blog our thoughts out over the world wide web anyway!!

OUR STELLA DORA LILIES ARE IN BLOOM 
Well, I don’t think there is any one overall general answer to that question. I’m sure each one of us have our own reasons & motives. I have blogged about mine many times in the past & at the risk of sounding boringly repetitive I will try to be brief here on why I enjoy doing this so much.  Well, much of the time anyway.
For the most part the key word here is, ‘enjoy.’ I enjoy writing, photography & traveling. Each one of these things is a hobby & when you combine 3 enjoyable hobbies with the ease of today’s blogging technology you end up with the inevitable option of becoming a busy blogger. What a great way to share traveling experiences & info. How better to show this great land than with photographs. And how much nicer to see & do all this than in an RV. And, as an added bonus for people like myself with quieter personalities, it is a perfect vehicle & safer way of expressing ourselves.  And, if you feel you have something to say....what a great way & opportunity to just get out here & say it. 

I started blogging back in September of 2006 with the express purpose of centering the blog around traveling. That is still the focal point of my blog today but being Snow Birds, the traveling part of this blog generally only lasts 5 or 6 months. So, what to do with the rest of the time.

The first couple years I basically didn’t blog during the time we were home but by the third year the writing bug had thoroughly established itself in my blood & I was totally hooked as a daily blogger. Problem was, not traveling, what was there to write about every day, every day, every day. And, more important, what was there to write about that would be interesting enough for people to read. To this day that still remains a daily challenge.  Lots more could be said about all this but I think that is about enough out of me for another night.  Gotta go get a little doze in before Leno's monologue anyway.
   
Oh, and one final thought for the day before my pen runs out of ink here. Not all, but some of we bloggers are kind of a strange brew of Turkeys. Some of us maybe a tad stranger than others. But you know what, that's OK because I kinda like it that way......10-4:))

 
GROANER’S CORNER:(( 

People born before 1946 were called The Silent generation..
- People born between 1946 and 1964 are called The Baby Boomers.
- People born between 1965 and 1979 are called Generation X, .
- And people born between 1980 and 2010 are called Generation Y ,
Why do we call the last group Generation Y?
Y should I get a job?
Y should I leave home and find my own place?
Y should I get a car when I can borrow yours?
Y should I clean my room?
Y should I wash and iron my own clothes?
Y should I buy any food?
But a cartoonist explained it very eloquently below...

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
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.

MOTORMOUSE HELPS ME LOOK FOR GOLD IN MY SHOES

RIGHT FROM AN EARLY AGE I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A ROOTIN TOOTIN COWBOY 

I was short on photos tonight & besides I wanted to do something different for a change.  Just before the sun was down I grabbed an old photo album, took some photos outside & found a sunny patch in the driveway to copy them.  Some of tonight's pics are from way back in the 40's:))

BUT EVEN ROOTIN TOOTIN COWBOYS GOTTA GET A BATH SOMETIMES

I was a gritten my teeth & a bitin my lip this morning.  My nerves were a steeled to what I knew I had to do.  I had been a puttin it off for too darn long now.  I loaded the little Motormouse in the Jeep & off we went.....to the shoe store!!

EVEN AT AN EARLY AGE I WAS HANGING AROUND FLOWER GARDENS 

Despite my best efforts with a hot glue gun earlier in the week to fix the bottom of my old blown out running shoes, it just didn't work.  Within a day the rubber slats on the bottom of my runners were a slappin on the ground again.  The writing was on the wall....Baby needed new shoes.  Figured I'd stop for a few groceries on the way to the shoe store just to see if I could talk myself out of the whole darn crazy idea.

HERE I AM WITH ONE OF MY FAITHFULL BLOG READERS....IT'S MY COUSIN NORMA FROM WATERLOO ONTARIO WHO DAILY, ALONG WITH HER HUSBAND JIM,  READS OUR BLOG 

Hadn't figured on it being the long week-end so the grocery store was packed tight with people & out of control shopping carts everywhere.  I have no patience for people abandoning their carts in the middle of aisles while they go squeeze the lettuce a half dozen times two aisles away.  I always try to find me a cart with with a built in battering ram on the front.  I am never rude to people but I am not exactly walking up & down the aisles with a big happy grinning Cheshire cat happy face hanging on my skull either!!  And don't get ahead of me in the 'Express 8 Items Or Less' check out line with your 9 items or I will be grumbling out loud about you all the way home!!

THAT'S MY UNCLE HARRY ON THE LEFT & MY DAD ON THE RIGHT...HARRY WAS IN THE ARMY STATIONED IN ENGLAND DURING THE WAR & MY DAD WAS IN THE AIR FORCE STATIONED IN YARMOUTH NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA 

My time in & out of Werth's shoe store in Goderich was probably less than 5 minutes.  My needs were simple.......find a pair of shoes that I could slip in & out of easy enough.  Size 10 & brown!!  Rockports have been good to my feet over the years so that's right where I headed while the little Motormouse waited in the Jeep.  Try em on, walk around the chair 3 times.  Good enough, now lets pay for em & get the heck out of here.  I almost didn't make it past the counter.  The cashier rang up the price & I nearly crumpled to the floor.  Geeezzz, did they use pure gold soles in these things or something.  I weak kneed myself to the Jeep & grumbled my troubles to the Motormouse all the way to McDonalds.  I could tell she was quite taken aback by the price as well, at least until we got into the drive thru line & she realized it was Burrito time.  How fast your best friend can desert you when there is food in the immediate future.  We Burritoed ourselves all the way home with me still grumbling out load about the price of the 'golden slippers!!'

WITH THE PRICE OF MY NEW SHOES I GRABBED THE MAGNIFYING GLASS WHEN I GOT HOME TO SEE IF I COULD FIND OUT JUST WHERE ALL THE GOLD IN THEM MUST BE

  

MOTORMOUSE HELPS OUT WITH A CLOSE SCRUTINY AS WELL

"DON'T SEE ANY GOLD IN THESE HERE SHOES DAD, I THINK YA GOT RIPPED" 

Got myself a window cleaning buzz on today & did the interior glass of the Motorhome & the sunroom. Relocated & fixed up a birdhouse with some good old duct tape, whacked the heck out of some pesky weeds & installed a new hose nozzle on the garden hose. Now, how’s that for an action Jackson productive day eh:))

THAT'S MY AUNT JEAN ON THE BACK OF MY DAD'S MOTORCYCLE...YOU CAN SEE WHERE MY MOTORCYCLE INTEREST COMES FROM & TO THIS VERY DAY WHENEVER I SMELL A CIGAR I STILL THINK OF MY DAD ...MY AUNT JEAN NOW LIVES IN SARASOTA, FLORIDA 

No sign of that Squirrel on the bird station today so that tells me he is hiding in the shrubs watching me watching for him.  No doubt as soon as I turn my back he is on top of that feeder faster than a speeding bullet.

MERIKAY'S POST this morning deals with her thoughts & ideas for purchasing a future RV at some point in their future.  I sure can remember those exciting days alright & I sure can remember all the mistakes we made.  Took us 5 RV's to finally end up with what worked best for us.  Two Class C's, 1 Travel Trailer, 1 Fifth Wheel Trailer & finally our Motorhome.  I could see us downsizing some day to a smaller Class C maybe. 

 

NOVEMBER 2006 ON OUR WAY TO THE SOUTHWEST IN OUR GMC TRUCK & FIFTH WHEEL...THIS WAS OUR FIRST NIGHT OUT & i WAS ALREADY BUSY WORKING AT THE PICNIC TABLE ON MY BLOG FOR THE NIGHT  

We have had our gas powered 2003 33' Damon Challenger just over 4 years now & we are quite satisfied with it.  We are not 'brand loyal' people so we didn't go looking for any specific type or floor plan.  We saw a rig that looked compatible for our wants & needs so that is what we got.  Could have been Winnebago, a Georgy Boy, a Bonanzarama or a Hooligan Bay, no matter just as long as it was a good solid rig.

With a fair few Snow Birding miles under our belts now we do have a better idea of what we would look for in another rig if the opportunity ever presented itself.  That is not likely to happen.  It's only natural for most folks to want a bigger stronger rig.  A 40 foot diesel pusher would be nice alright....but would it be a good fit for the Bayfield Bunch?  Lots of pros for sure but it is the cons we have to be practical about so here are a few thoughts on the subject.

DIDN'T TAKE ME LONG TO GET SOME PAINT ON THOSE WHITE WALLS 

Hypothetically speaking,  our next rig would have far more kitchen counter space, roll out pantry shelves, bigger refrigerator & hot water tank.  Bigger holding tanks & a shower stall instead of those tiny cramped little tub affairs.  A back up camera that can be moved around from the driver's seat, pull out bins or doors that open sideways & not upwards.  A surround sound stereo system.  Maybe double pane glass for better installation, maybe an in dash GPS & some kind of easy pull out computer desk for the front passenger seat person to work at.  A bigger fresh water tank too.  I see the world in color so I would like the rig to be either painted or detailed.  Anything but white!!  No white on the inside either, just soft pastel colors throughout with nice lighting thank you very much.

Am I a dreamer?  Of course I am, aren't we all.  If we weren't, we wouldn't be RV'ers:))

AS A KID I WAS A TOTAL BOOKWORM & TOOK MY SOUTHWEST COWBOY HISTORY VERY SERIOUSLY...NOTE THE PLAID SHIRT COMPLETE WITH A POCKET...SOME HABITS JUST DON'T CHANGE MUCH OVER THE YEARS:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Some good old Cowboy sayings.......

His family tree was a shrub.

He was so ugly he had to sneak up on a dipper to get a drink of water.

She's so ugly, she could back a buzzard off a gut-wagon.

He was ugly as a burnt boot.

There was once an old-time cowhand who ordered some toilet paper from a mail-order catalog. They wrote back and requested that he look in his catalog to give them the exact order number. He answered 'em right back and told them that if he had their catalog, he sure wouldn't need the toilet paper.

---------------------------------------------------------------
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.