THE BIG ‘HOWDY DOODY’ WAVE:))

A FAMILY FISHING DAY
I figured this morning it might be a good idea for me & my keyboard to put a fair bit of distance between us for awhile. Saddled up my Motorcycle & headed for the hills. Well, for whatever little hills we have around here anyway.

Don't know why it is that I can't seem to remember to check my fuel gauge on the bike before heading out. Maybe it's because I don't have a fuel gauge. I always set the odometer to zero after fueling up & when the mileage gets up to a certain point I know my tank is getting empty. Last two times out I have blissfully been on my way to nowhere in particular when I remembered to check the mileage.  Both times I was nearly out of fuel. This morning, a quick calculation with my between the ears GPS system told me the closest fuel stop was all the way back to Bayfield from whence I had just come.  U-turn!!  Made it back to the gas station OK but it bugged me that my slow leisurely trip to nowhere had quickly led me back to somewhere.....the gas station!! I re-launched my journey & spent a few quiet hours wandering the back roads of our beautiful rural & agricultural countryside. I needed that.

Lots of bikes on the road this morning so that meant lots of waves. You may or may not have noticed that when motorcycles meet on the road a customary 'cool' wave is exchanged. Same thing with Jeep owners. There is quite a hierarchy of motorcycle waves of course & being new to the sport a bunch of years ago I had to learn the embarrassing way on how to 'properly' exchange that 'cool' hand gesture. Of course being as new as I was I always gave the oncoming biker a great big smiley Howdy Doody wave with my arm way up on in the air flappin like it was on the end of a puppet string. Kinda like, "hey there big Buddy biker guy, I got a big bike too, see." Took me awhile to realize the guys coming the other way were not responding with the big Howdy wave. They just seemed to casually slip there hand off the handlebar, drop their arm a bit & spread a couple fingers as they rolled on by. Well, at least some of them did. After seeing my big Howdy wave coming down the road most of them just put their heads down in disbelief & rolled on by.  Especially the Harley guys.  The few that did give me a glance probably figured I looked like Howdy Doody too.  Took me awhile to clue in on that but I think I got er down pat now. I hear the Harley driver's have a special wave but I don't know what it is. I do know what it isn't though. It's not the big Howdy wave that's for sure. And, do you know how I can tell a new biker coming the other way? Yep, I see that big Howdy Doody wave coming down the road about a mile away.......10-4:))

The summer months find most Snow Birds at home waiting patiently for their upcoming Autumn & Winter departure dates to warm sunny southern locales. Many of the Full Time folks hang out in the cooler climates of the Northern States or Canada. The folks over at TRAVELS WITH KEVIN & RUTH have been spending their time on the east coast of Canada & have just slipped down into the state of Maine. Most RV blogs I read center around Americas Southwest & Northwest States as well as the Southeast but not often do we hear from people traveling in the Northeast States or Eastern Canada.
Ever thought about cooling your Phannie? Well, the folks over at PHANNIE & MAY sure did & it took them a third A/C unit to do it too. When you get there, Mike will tell you how & why that happened:))


A bit of nervous excitement going on over at Merikay's place these days as her & hubby are looking at buying an RV. A couple days ago she wrote about the FEELINGS OF BEING BOTH SCARED & EXCITED. Oh how I remember those RV shopping days alright. Nothing like some good old nervous excitement to keep you awake half the night that's for sure. It's a big step, a lot of money & a huge decision with an unknown future.  Welcome to Planet Earth:))

And, it's not too late to climb aboard the MOHO YUKON EXPRESS with the gals heading north up the Alaska highway. Check out Sue's great header photo as she kicks her new Nikon D5100 into high gear:))

Not sure what to think about this new Google+ social network I am seeing popping up here & there. We are getting friend requests to join people's ‘circle of friends’ or something & I'm not sure what that is all about. I did have a look at the new Google site but had difficulty understanding the concept. What is it, what does it do? I need someone to give me the 'simple Seniors version’. Seems it might be along the lines of Facebook & Twitter. I'm no great fan of either one of those so am wondering if I really need another social friends network. I rarely use the two I have & it's a chore trying to be socially friendly when deluged with all those game requests, group joining's or sending flowers to a flock of lost Rhinosaucerus's up in Aklavik. Saw something about 'video chat' & that scared me a bit. I'm just not a 'chatter' whether it be on camera or off. I am going to hold on to the Google friends requests I have received until I somehow better understand just exactly what Google+ is & what it does.


I have received some excellent suggestions on how to improve our blog site so have been busy doing some slicing & dicing. I had a lot of stuff on our side bar that wasn't necessary & slowed down the site loading process so some of that is now gone. Next to go may be our Blog Followers list & if I can't figure out a way to condense our Blog Role on the right it may go as well as soon as I can figure out an alternative way to keep up on fellow RV'ers blogs. I don't mind adding people to the list but then I feel bad about having to take some folks off because of the list getting waaaaaaay too long. Google Reader has been suggested but I tried that once & couldn't seem to get a handle on it. I think I better have a look at that again.

Saw another slightly lighter 'Template' on the Travel section of Blogger's dashboard I kind of liked but have to admit I am a bit leery of changing templates. I'm not as fast on my feet around the computer anymore & I'm a bit concerned about loosing what I already have. I changed some of the text colors today (or at least I think I did….but maybe not) in hopes that may make the blog more easily readable. Changed the font style as well. Any feedback would be welcome. I’m publishing this post on the Win 7 laptop tonight so if it doesn’t look any different from before when I publish it then it’s back to the drawing board for Al in the morning.  By the way, just because I am a man doesn't make me too proud to ask for help & take suggestions you know. Well, except I might not ask for directions if I was lost.................:))


GROANER'S CORNER:(( Just a few signs you might be Trailer Trash......
-Your wife's hairdo was once ruined by a ceiling fan.
-You've been married three times and still have the same in-laws.
-You think loading a dishwasher means getting your wife drunk.
-You think Dom Perignon is a Mafia boss.
- If a tornado hits your home and causes $10,000 dollars worth of improvements.
--------------------------------------------------------------
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.

'JUST FOR TODAY'.....MY RESPONSE TO ANONYMOUS COMMENTERS:))

CANYON DE CHELLY'S SPIDER ROCK............ARIZONA:))
I have foregone a lot of photos tonight because this is a long post. 
It was obvious right from the time I climbed out of bed this morning that we were in for another hot one.  I knew the Bayfield Burrito Bums would have to be on the road early to run a few errands in Goderich so off me & the furry Kid went about 9. (yes, yes I know it's supposed to be 'the furry Kid & I')  Picked up some 15 amp fuses for the Motor Home, a power bar along with some groceries & a gas fill up led us right to McDonalds.  It was another lightning hit & run mission through the take-out line & we were soon southbound for home happily munching down our Burrito.  Well, little Cora was doing more happy munching than me of course, not being a big Burrito fan.

I am going to cut right to the chase tonight & address some of the issues over my last two blog posts.  Someone asked why I bothered to respond to Max's comment in regards to  'writing about myself so much.'  I felt Max did not have an accurate overview of my blog.   I tried to explain to him publicly that yes, there is a lot of me in the blog & here is why that is.  Other Blogger's will understand but for people not familiar with the Blogging concept I can see where wrong impressions can be gathered. 

In the same theme of not understanding the blog concept I soon received another Anonymous comment saying this,  "Have you ever heard the phrase ‘self praise is no praise’? You should try it sometime!  Thanks for the comment Mary.  It was the word 'Praise' that bothered me most about this one.  Praise is not one of the front line words in my vocabulary so to make sure I totally understood the meaning of the word I scrambled off to Google for an explanation.  I think to apply that Praise phrase to my Max explanation was incorrect, too heavy & over the top.  Mary, I just don't think you understood my explanation to Max.  Nothing to do with praise of myself as you & that phrase allude too.

The next comment I wish to address is this one....
Commenter says:  "It sounds to me like what you are saying is ‘I want to dish it out’ but ‘I can’t take it’. Very similar to ‘having my cake and eating it too’. Neither of these will work. If you can’t accept criticism, it’s pointless starting a new blog because the criticism’s will just be transferred here and as a previous commenter already stated you’ll be known as a hypocrite. Maybe you could just answer the question as to why you’re so angry?"    long time blog follower.
AL says:  Yes, long time blog follower, that is exactly what I was honest enough to say & I make no bones about my thin skin.  You are correct in what you say.  It is true that I can dish it out far better than I can take it.  No point in me trying to hide that.  If the truth be known I think most people are probably the same way but some hide it better while others wouldn't admit it if it fell on them.  You are right about it being pointless to start a second blog & put my name on it because the feedback would spill over into this blog.   That's why I have so far not done that or figured out a way to do that.  That frustration leads into the word 'anger.' you mentioned.  I won't pull any punches here either.  Dam right I'm angry, aren't you, aren't a whole lot of people on this planet right now.  If your not, you should be!!  I am not a member of the Ostrich society with my head stuck in the sand!!  To deny there is a lot of bad stuff going on in this world is a sure fire way to obtain a free Ostrich membership.  Dam right I'm angry when I see the gullibility, the deception, the lies, the thievery & sheer stupidity going on all around us daily.  It angers me what the religions of the world get away with, the treacherous governments of the world, the dictators, the greed, the senseless killings, the politics of starving countries, the totally out of control drug problems rampant everywhere, the ineptitude, the big company scams & on & on it goes.  The list is endless, unless of course one has their head stuck in the seemingly safe security of hard packed sand where their tiny world is wondrously wonderful, falsely secure & all ticky boo pretty & nice!!  What drug problem you ask....get your !!#%&*% head out of the sand!!!!  Dam right I'm angry & you should be too!!  Despite my anger I do thank you for your comment.  I feel it was justifiable constructive criticism.
I will attempt to address the following commenter's remarks paragraph by paragraph. 
Commenter says:  "I barely read your blog to be honest, and it is entirely as a result of the design. I would suggest going minimal. If you are using wordpress, there are many minimal themes. There is also themforest.net which has nice cheap themes that are simple to implement."
AL says:  I know you are trying to be helpful here but I am satisfied with my blog at it's current Blogger home.  If the design bothers you that much I suggest you NOT read it in it's present design form.'   You may already be doing that with that RSS stuff or whatever which I don't really understand.  I designed my blog with the tools available at Blogger.  Maybe not as professional looking as a well designed website but I put my blog site together with the following reasons in mind.  First, there is more to my blog site than just words.  My site is a combination of photography, writing & my creative interest in color & design. (as limited as it may be)  I did not want my blog looking like a standard newspaper article with black printing on a white background.  One of my hobbies is photography & one of the best backgrounds for digital photos is a black background.  Photos on a white background do not carry the same punch.  I enjoy writing so in order to write on a black background I had to chose a color & so on & so on.  You may notice my printing is a tad larger than other blogs too & that is to make it easier to read for older tired eyes.  A fellow Blogger once described my site as something that looked like a Kindergarten project.  So be it.   It's my blog & shows that I at least have a creative imagination.  I am comfortable with Google's Blogger format, know my way around the neighborhood & prefer to make whatever changes I am able to make within that format................................
Commenter says: "I think the point I am trying to make is that you mentioned you wanted to change up the blog as a way to make it more interesting to you. I disagree with that. The look and feel of a blog is not really relevant in comparison to other more important aspects of the blog."
AL says:  I could not disagree with you more!!  Of course the look & feel of a blog is relevant.  I do not understand where you are coming from with a statement like that.  What more important aspects of the blog?  It is all important to me.  All of it!!  The writing, the photography, the design & yes, the Kindergarten colors too:)) 
Commenter says:   "What will make the blog interesting, and keep you interested in writing is the actual writing, and has very little to do with the design."
AL says:  Again, couldn't disagree with you more.  It's the combination of my writing, photography & travel hobbies that pull it altogether & make it interesting for not only me but others as well.  I don't base that on my own theory, I base that on the thousands of favorable & positive comments from readers of my blog over the years. (no Mary, I am not Praising myself here)  My blog does not stand on it's writing alone, nor it's photography.  It is a combined effort with each complimenting the other.
Commenter says:   "It sounds to me like you know this deep down inside, as you mentioned that you wanted to start a second blog and say what you really want to say. I suggest you do so. I also suggest you don't start a second one. I few things can result... One would be that people will read the "dirty" blog, realize they don't agree with you, and stop reading both. Others will read the "dirty" blog, decide they do agree with you, find the "clean" one, determine that is disingenuous or at the very least, that you are playing both sides and stop reading. In the end, you will maintain two blogs, which is a pain in the butt, lose readers because they don't respect you etc."
AL says:  I agree with you here & feel that your insight is right.  Just want to clear up the word, 'dirty' though.  Nothing to do with sex.
Commenter says:   "So far, I have subscribed to 50 RSS feeds, and to be honest, I am pretty tired of looking at pictures of flowers all the time. There is a pretty heavy slant on those who are overly religious, overly republican, and in general, not much like me." 
AL says:  I am not understanding your 'heavy slant' reasoning.  Are you referring to me or the people on my blog roll as being over religious.  You may get that feeling from some folks but you will definitely not get that feeling from me.   Your reference to overly Republican falls totally on deaf ears here.  I am not politically oriented whatsoever & I simply throw a single blanket over all politicians.  Republicans Reshmublicans!!  Democrats Kabooblymats!!  Liberals Schamiberlas & Conservatives Gablurbatives!!  All the same type of people, all cut from the same cloth, same deceptions, same lies, same, same, same regardless of who is in power.  When oh when will people ever wake up to that.  Nothing like politics or greed for money to bring out the absolute worst in otherwise good people!!  I know these statements won't win me any friends but think about it people.  Just stop & think about it!! 
Commenter says:   "So if you come out of the closet so to speak, you end up building a framework of content on your site that leads others to like minded blogs. It is a win win and I hope you go for it."
AL says:  Well dear commenter you just may have successfully, but temporarily, hauled me out of the closet a bit here alright & whether it results in a solid framework or a shaky house of cards remains to be seen.  I've got my money on the card house for now.
Commenter says:  "You can't please all the people all the time, but you certainly can gain the respect of all the people all the time if you staunchly stick to your own idea of what you care about."
AL says:  Let's hope that is the case & I do thank you for your 'constructive criticism.'
And now, to the last commenter.  This is a tough one to respond too but I do believe it needs a response.
Commenter says:  "One change I recommend you make to improve your mood is to remove the continuing references to your past dogs. You loved them, now they are gone and you need to move on. When you burn your hand in the flames it will only get better when you stop putting your hand back in the flames. Putting the rest of us through it will not help your blog readership. I for one can't help but respond by thinking oh my god he's got his dogs pictures in here again.
AL says:  First, I asked for constructive criticism & this is what this commenter has given me.  The commenter is simply stating what he thinks.  However, I feel this comment is a good example of how NOT to write a comment unless you are an insensitive person who doesn't care about how another person feels because if you did care you would not write something like this in the manner it is written.  It reminds me of a time in school years ago when the assignment may have been, 'write a paragraph to someone who has lost a couple members of the family telling them why you don't like them occasionally talking about or showing photos of them.'   Had this commenter's paragraph been handed in I would hope the teacher would have handed it right back with the instructions to rewrite it showing some understanding, compassion & caring.  None of that came across in the commenter's comment except for three words......"You loved them."  The commenter got his/her point across alright but it was not done in the sensitive manner it could have been done. No, I am not angry, but I am disappointed & I suppose if I really thought about it more, maybe I would feel sorry for this person's lack of feelings & understanding regarding the loss of our two beloved dogs.  Will I post more photos of Max & Checkers?  Darn right I will & you can count on it:))
Now, to sum up................. 
Some may wonder why I would take the time to respond to the above 'Anonymous' commenter's.  Well, they took the time to respond to me asking for constructive criticism & I didn't feel their comments dropped below my line of 'Sarcastic, Rude, Condescending or Demeaning.'  They had some good suggestions along with what I think were some misconceptions about me or my blog.  All's I did was try to answer them in a mature way that reflects how I feel.  Despite my elusive hermit like ways I do care what people think & I do care about what people say.  No Mary, I am not Praising myself here, just telling you what I think & how I feel.
I know this post is way over budget again but I do have a few more things to say before wrapping this all up & moving on.  I think this has been an interesting & rippling couple of blog days here in the otherwise placid waters of Blog Land.  Judging from mine & other people's posts & comments I feel we have stirred things up a bit, broached some thought provoking issues & expressed some ideas & concerns.  A few other bloggers have expressed their feelings on all this & it was interesting to read the comments on their posts.   I feel Donna K from TRAVELS IN THERAPY sums up her post very nicely on behalf of many Blogging folks out here in RV Blog Land.
Still lots more to say about all this but let's save that for another day, another time:))
  
GROANER'S CORNER:((  A few Hippopotamus Truths.............
What do you call an insincere hippo?
A hippocrite.
How can you get a hippo to do whatever you want?
Try hipponotism.
How do hippos commute?
In a hippopotabus.
What did the hippo get when he started exercising every day?
Hippopotamuscles.
How do you vaccinate a hippo?
With a hippodermic needle.
Where should you bury a dead hippo?
In a hippocrypt.
What happens to hippos who get too cold?
They get hippothermia.
What do you call a hippo who thinks he's sick?
A hippochondriac.
Ok, ok, ok............that's enough of that!!
---------------------------------------------------------------
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.

WELL, I SURE DID GET AN EARFUL TODAY:))

DUE TO THE HOT HUMID WEATHER LATELY  EACH OF TONIGHT'S PHOTOS  HAS A SMATTERING OF COOL SNOW IN IT......PHOTOS WERE TAKEN THIS PAST MARCH WHEN WE VISITED CANYON DE CHELLY IN THE NORTHEAST AREA OF ARIZONA 

Ooooosh, it was another one of those stand still & sweat kind of days.  Humidity levels are up again & the main objective of the day was to stay cool.  We decided it was a good morning to slip down to the Ritz Villa care facility & visit my Uncle Harry this morning.  He is doing reasonably well despite his age but is still on medication for pain in his lower back.  His spirits were good & he was mentally alert.  I think Uncle Harry is going to live to be 110:))

 

Some of you folks spotted the error I made with that 5th wheel right away in Thursday night's post.  Yes, it was the front leveling jacks that I had not fully retracted.  Don't know why I didn't see & understand that danger at the time, but I didn't:((

Can you imagine the shock of opening up your mail & finding out the tags for your Motor Home had gone up 78% over the past year.  Yep, happened to the MTNAIRE TRAVLERS alright!!

 

Lizzie Jack comes in as our latest Blog Follower & we here at the Bayfield Bunch say, welcome to our travels LJ & nice to have you aboard.``

I appreciate & thank everyone for their comments on last night's post.  All comments are helpful in giving me new food for thought & direction & yes, I did pick up some ideas from the comments.  I am trying some new things with our blog roll idea on the side bar so you may notice things shifting around there over the next little while.  I have some things duplicated right now but I will get that straightened out & once I know what I'm doing I will let you know what I am doing.  The Shout Box will stay & I am still adamant about not cluttering our site up with advertising.  Someone commented about the blogs background color appearing different but I haven't made any changes & it still appears black to me here.   Somebody else mentioned about the Bad Nick link being broken so I hope I now have that fixed.  Somebody commented they didn't like Bad Nick but I will let Bad Nick deal with that one.  Remember, I am just trying to add some thought provoking alternative thinking here.  Like I've said before, I enjoy creative change & am always open to new ideas.  Sometimes I get things right & sometimes I do not.

Max in Virginia left me a comment that actually put a smile on my face this morning.  Max said. "One new idea might be to quit writing so much about yourself."  Well Max, I actually am inclined to agree with you.  However, the problem I have here is that I am one of the main characters in this cast of characters at the Bayfield Bunch.  I am the guy who writes my blog, so yes the opinions, ideas, thoughts, humor & everything else you see all comes from me.  I often use myself as a foil for humor.  Better that I talk about my own foibles, criticize my own mistakes & lament about my own current modes & moods than yours or somebody else's.

KELLY CHATTING IT UP WITH SOME OTHER FROSTY SIGHTSEERS

I don't know how many other blogs you read Max but if you have read my blog for any length of time you will see that I try to vary my content every day.  Rare for me to write a blog entirely about myself & you will not see a blog coming from my keyboard that details my every waking moment day after day after day.  What you will see is a blog with varying topics & subject matter not only from paragraph to paragraph many times but from day to day as well.  In fact, my posts have of a habit of jumping all over the place from one topic to another occasionally.  And yes, sometimes those topics include me.  On my site you will frequently find links to other Blogger's sites because of interesting things I think they have written.  You will find my thoughts & links to new Bloggers as I try to cast some exposure their way.  New Blog Followers are welcomed & old friends remembered.  When traveling I try to bring photographs & descriptive comments & feelings to readers about the beautiful & sometimes not so beautiful things & places we see.  And, to do all this every day Max ,requires a whole lot of me in the blog.

THE STONE WALL TO THE RIGHT OF CENTER IN THE TOP PHOTO IS THE WALL KELLY IS STANDING BESIDE IN THE BOTTOM PHOTO   

My blog is different than some in that I do not write my blog like a detached magazine article.  I write from a first person point of view & tell you what I think & how I feel about what I see.  Not just what I do!!  I know my blog at times may come across as me talking about myself, which is true, but it is my way of conveying my thoughts in a matter I feel comfortable with.  So, to sum things up Max, let me just say that I understand & agree to some degree with your comment & I can see your point of view.  Thanks for taking the time to say what you think.

As a last word on all this for today let me just say I intend on answering a few more Anonymous comments over the next few days.  This may come as a surprise to some readers but I did not take the 'Anonymous' comments about Thursday night's post in a negative way.  However, I do get very upset with rude, sarcastic, demeaning & condescending types of people & their comments who try intentionally & deliberately to be hurtful.  That happened last winter but I didn't take any of today's 'Anonymous' comments that way.  In fact I felt one was a good example of constructive criticism & the other one brought up some very good bones of contention.  One last Anonymous comment came in tonight that set me back in my chair a bit but I will have something to say about that one as well.  Sometimes constructive criticism, even though it is given with good intentions, can step right up & smack a feller right in the face.  In Thursday night's post I asked for ideas, suggestions & constructive criticism & today I got an earful & that is exactly what I was looking for.  I thank you all for your input.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Evidence has been found that William Tell and his family were avid bowlers. However, all the league records were unfortunately destroyed in a fire. Thus we'll never know for whom the Tells bowled.

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