FROM LEFT TO RIGHT......OR WAS IT RIGHT TO LEFT

A LOT OF BOATS FOR SALE THIS YEAR

Well, our predicted rainy weather never happened to-day & we ended up with lots of sunshine & clear skies. SOMETIMES THE NAME SAYS IT ALL

Nearly embarrassed myself this morning by taking one of the mobility vans I drive to the local service station for gas when it was...........already full of gas. I don't know why auto manufacturers do this but it seems they always have to be changing things & can't seem to leave good things as they are. The vans I have been driving over the past 5 years have the same gas gauges where the needle goes from full on the left to empty on the right. This morning & had the newest company van which I had never driven before. Checked the gas gauge before leaving town & to my dismay it was nearly on the empty mark. I said a few choice words under my breath for the previous driver leaving the van with hardly any gas from the day before. This meant I was going to have to detour over to the local gas station which was probably going to make me late in picking up my wheelchair person in another town nearby. I was about 3 blocks from the gas station when I glanced at the gas gauge again & noticed something odd. The symbols seemed backwards. On closer scrutiny I realized this gas gauge was reversed from the other older vans in that the indicator needle on the gauge went from full on the right to empty on the left. Completely opposite to the other GMC vans. Hastily made a few turns & I was back on track for my morning pick-up but not before switching my ongoing choice words for the previous driver to the engineering department & GMC. Why oh why oh why would they take a perfectly acceptable & readable gas gauge of many years & reverse it's needle direction. What engineering genius at some CEO level woke up one morning & in his totally bored & overpaid lifestyle said, "oh ho-hum I think I'll make that little gas needle in the new GMC vans go the other way now & maybe some dummy will think he's nearly out of gas...ha ha ha" AMIDST THE HULLS

We in Canada have our big summer kick off week-end coming up starting to-morrow. Queen Victoria's birthday is always celebrated around May 21rst. In Canada we call it the big 2-4 week-end. A case of 24 beers is commonly referred to as a 2-4 so the beer & the week-end go hand in hand. It's early this year but that won't stop the hordes of people flocking to the beaches for the big party. The town of Grand Bend on Lake Huron is about 20 minutes south of us & has always been notorious for wild parties, thousands of teen-agers, bikers, & lots of bare flesh on the beach. My first recollections of partying there started as early as 1962. It was the place to go & the place to be on the big 2-4 week-end. It still is!! I actually got to stay in the Bend one night for free many years ago courtesy of the local Provincial Police Department. Myself & about 5 other revelers were thrown into the "drunk tank" one Saturday night. Believe me, that was not a nice place to be thrown into for the night. The following morning we were unceremoniously herded into the back of a police van (minus our belts & shoelaces) & driven about an hour south to Sarnia where we were locked up in the Sarnia County Jail for a few days. Standard procedure back then if you were picked up in Grand Bend on any alcohol related offence. That County Jail was not a nice place to be locked up in. My Dad had to drive down from Stratford Ontario 3 days later & bail me out. I think the charge was being drunk in a public place or something & a month or so later I had to return to Grand Bend & pay a hefty fine. You would think I would have been smart enough to clue into my drinking lifestyle after that but oh no not me. I had to go on banging my head on the ground for another 10 rough years before finally admitting I had a problem with alcohol. But, that's another whole story for another time:)) WASN'T ICARUS THE GUY FROM GREEK MYTHOLOGY WHO FLEW TO CLOSE TO THE SUN

I had started out in the previous paragraph with the intention of mentioning how the Grand Bend Beach area right now is undergoing a massive reconstruction program but somehow ended up with the Sarnia County Jail story. Amazing how the mind is so adept at misleading itself....................!! LAKE HURON'S WAVES ON DEERPARK'S BEACH

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FROM ROYALTY TO RIFF RAFF....BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!

AND THIS IS BASICALLY HOW YOU PULL A COTTAGE TO IT'S NEW LOCATION

Our grass is to the point where it needs it's first mowing of the year. Instead of firing up the lawnmower a few weeks ago to check & see if it was in working order after it's long winter hibernation I waited until yesterday to frustrate myself. Well, as usual I got off to a bad start by immediately breaking the cable that runs up to the handle's shut off bar & that was that. Mower wouldn't start no how. Need a new chain for the saw so figured I might as well get the mower fixed & get a new chain put on the chainsaw all at the same time. Couldn't help but notice the hourly shop rate on the wall of the place I took the saw & mower this morning. Something very close to $80 an hour. Are there not any decent business scruples left in the world. Whatever happened to the common sense fairness of the 1950's. ALL JACKED UP & READY TO RUMBLE

Retired Rod http://retiredrod.blogspot.com/ had an interesting statement in his blog a couple of days ago about the repair shop he took his motor scooter too..........
"I stopped by the shop on Saturday and asked about it (the Scooter) but they didn't seem too concerned. Bring it by next week. They think I am an old duffer that doesn't know enough to even start the bike, let alone ride the thing. I have no business bothering them, because I am so stupid. But they seem to be able to take my money all right. They were friendly before they sold me the bike."
It was the line, "they were friendly before they sold me the bike" that really caught my attention. This is something I have run into many times & have really noticed it more these past few years. Probably has something to do with my old duffer status too. We've had occasion to buy some vehicles lately & how we went from Royalty to Riff Raff in the stroke of a pen is truly amazing. Two years ago we went through the process of buying a used vehicle & the sales staff at the dealership was all over us with schmoozy niceties. You would have thought the young fellow we inked the deal with was going to be our best friend for life. That obviously came to an abrupt end the moment we drove off the lot because I met that same fellow a year later in another business & he could barely give me the time of day. I said, "Hi there, we bought a great little car from you last year." He didn't even acknowledge I was a fellow human being & went about his non talkative business of fixing a bicycle tire I had brought in. So much for schmoozy niceties!! Yesireeeee, royalty to riff raff.....boom, boom, boom,:((

And while I'm on a roll with schmoozy niceties, here is another mystery of life I've never understood. How is that whenever you walk onto a car lot & pick out a vehicle to buy, that vehicle is priced as high as pure gold. Let's say you paid $12,000 for the car, drove it around the block twice, had a Tim Horton's coffee & drove it back onto the parking lot. You tell a salesman you would like to trade your car in on a new one. He would tell you that your vehicle, which incidentally was priced as pure gold 30 minutes before is now worth the price of dirt at $1,200 tops.......according to his blue book of course, or red book, or whatever color his wingy auto book is.
Yes, I have exaggerated this little scenario but I think you get my drift!!!!

ONE OF OUR LOCAL BOYS OUT SPREADING A LITTLE GOOD CHEER ON HIS FIELDS

Rainy day coming up to-morrow so maybe I can get to work putting another photo album to-gether from a bunch of pics I've taken over the past 6 or 7 weeks. I will try to find out the names of flowers that I have previously used in the blogs too. My Picasa Photo editing program has been giving me trouble lately so maybe I'll try re-installing it. If you never hear from me again you will know the re-installation did not go well & I have been mortally Picasarized. NOPE, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS LITTLE CUTIE IS EITHER BUT IT'S IN ONE OF OUR FLOWERBEDS

And someone in responding to yesterday's blog wondered what a scruffle was & if it could be something harmful to the dogs. I like to think of a scruffle as a couple of big warm huggy snuzzles with some lovingly slurpy smooches thrown in between. The furry guys love em............and so do I:))

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SCRUFFLES IN THE OLD FOREST ONION PATCH

TRILLIUMS ON THE FOREST FLOOR

Due to some man made erosion problems at Deerpark Lodge one of the cottages has to moved a distance of 10 feet. That process started yesterday, is continuing to-day & should be finished up to-morrow. I have been there periodically with my camera photographing the move. Document pictures are needed for the electricity dis-connect, new propane lines, sewer connect, as well as the blocking & jacking of the building, etc. etc. Three young fellows are doing the job & I have been impressed with their professionalism, patience, & attention to detail. They work well as a team scurrying underneath the building attaching lines, constructing wooden platforms, fitting hydraulic jacks into place, wedging heavy metal beams in where needed, & just generally doing a fine job. But, here's the question. Where did these young fellers learn how to do all this precision work?? One would expect to see older men or at least one older boss man type guy. But no, these are all young fellows. The guys don't look like each other so I don't think it's a family affair where maybe they were all brought up in the business or something. I suppose I could just walk up & ask, "hey, where the heck did you guys learn how to do all this stuff!!" But, I don't like to be nosey so I'll just stick with the picture taking & be my usual quiet self & remain in a fog of mystery forever as to how these guys got so gul darned smart:)) CHECKERS SHOULD BE WORKING FOR A LOGGING COMPANY

Rick & Paulette are an RVing couple who have been on the road awhile but have just started a new travel blog. Rick had left a note in our shout box so I followed up his link. You can find them at http://rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.com/ Maybe drop by & say hello:)) THE DOGGIES MOST FAVORITE SWIMMING HOLE

Clear cold night meant a heavy wet dew on the grass this morning. Our little Motormouse doesn't like to get her paws wet so steadfastly refused to come for a walk. Kelly wanted to head into work early so it was just me & two of my most bestest big furry pals, Max & Checkers for our morning walk. We have to walk along the edge of a small pond on the way to the forest & this time of year there are generally Canadian Geese on the water. Canada Geese on the water means Canada Geese poop on the shore. And Checkers just loves goose poop. I have to keep swooshing her along or she would just vacuum up every tasty little morsel she came across. They say that sort of thing isn't harmful to dogs because of their different digestive systems but it stills seems disgusting to me. But, I suppose if Checkers could talk she would tell me my daily morning habit of milk & lettuce would sound pretty disgusting to her too. CAN YOU FIND CHECKERS IN THIS PHOTO??

The hard wood forest floor is carpeted with Trilliums & Mayapples this time of year & the onion smell close to the ground in some areas is an onion like plant called a Leek. Leeks are edible but I've never tried one.
Buds & leaves are bursting forth on the trees while numerous song birds are busy flitting among the branches building nests & beginning their families. Walking along a narrow path atop a ridge I could hear the watery sounds of the Bayfield River below making it's way over a rocky river bed to Lake Huron. The air was fresh, the sun was bright, & all seemed right with the world.
A QUIET FOREST PATH THIS MORNING

Although Max, Checkers, & myself are all bothered with arthritis it is these kinds of mornings that bring out the pup in all of us. Checkers was scrambling up & down the bank & hauling huge sticks along the forest trail. Max was busy scurrying in amongst the Trilliums & Mayapples sniffing out whatever he could find & I was busy crawling around on all fours in the onion leeks taking photos on the forest floor. Checkers would invariably haul a huge log through the brush & deposit it right on top of the subject I was trying to photograph. But, no matter, there's always lots of things to photograph & only one Checkers to have a big scruffle with. I rolled her around in the onion patch so that I wasn't the only one going back with a strong smell on their hyde. If I could have got a hold of Max I would have rolled him through the patch to but he was having no part of it.
A CARPET OF MAYAPPLESUMBRELLA LIKE MAYAPPLE LEAVES THERE IS ACTUALLY A TINY APPLE UNDER THOSE UMBRELLA LEAVES

Checkers got the last laugh on me though because on the way back we stopped at their favorite swimming hole where a small creek meanders through the bush. Checkers was into the water right away with Max right behind her. I could see the onion smell drifting downstream & knew right away I was going to be the only one going home smelling a big fried onion sandwich to-day................:((

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SHE ENTERED THROUGH A WINDOW ON TINY SILENT WINGS

I think we must have had a welcome visitor during the night. I sleep right next to the computer & had left a window at the foot of my bed slightly ajar. I never heard or saw a thing in the darkness. Not even the soft flutter of her wings or the radiant glow that would have enveloped her. In fact I never suspected a thing until we turned on the computer this morning......and it was working perfectly. How could that have happened!! Just last night it had been giving me such a hard time with it's agonizing slowness. And yet this morning websites were opening right up & emails were flying in like crazy. There was only one logical explanation. Tinkerbell.com the good computer fairy from the east had flown through our open window last night, sprinkled a pinch of magic wiffle dust on our computer & made everything right again. It is not often that happens but when it does it sure restores my faith in fairys. Yes Santa there is a Tinkerbell:))

Cold gray morning with some drizzle in the air but I hooked up the utility trailer & headed on over to Deerpark Lodge anyway. Leaves to be raked, a swimming pool area to be cleaned, photos to be taken, & some small scrub trees to be cut down. I was working on the last small tree when my saw became wedged & I broke the chain off so that was the end of my tree cutting for the rest of the day. Just as well because it was on the side of steep hill & the branches & vines were beating me up & tiring me out pretty good. Luckily before leaving the house this morning I had stuck a wad of gum on the bottom of my foot to plug the hole where all my energy had been draining out lately so I was able to put in a reasonably good day & was able to work right through from 9 to 4 before coming home & doing my usual 180 double back flip into the recliner.

Deerpark Lodge http://www.deerparklodge.com/ is perched high atop a bluff overlooking Lake Huron & is a very scenic place to work if you like the outdoors. I don't mind going over & helping out in the spring & fall because no one is there yet & the grounds are very quiet & peaceful. But during the summer months the place is a real bee hive of activity. It's family oriented so there are a lot of kids flying around upside down all over the place. Needless to say I am very seldom there during the months of June, July, & August.

Kelly manages the Lodge & for any of you people out there who work with the public you know how absolutely frustrating that can be. Not an envious task but from the time we get home in the spring until the time we head for the southwest again in the fall she just goes full tilt doing the absolute best for the guests she possibly can. She has the patience of a Saint, the understanding only a Mother of 5 could have, the determination of an ant moving a mountain up a hill, & the steely resolve of a Texas Judge to keep everything functioning smoothly despite adverse conditions at times. She's quite an amazing little person & when we got married years ago I sure got the best part of the deal:)) THIS WAY TO THE BEACH

To-morrow will be a general repeat of to-day so as long as I keep that wad of gum stuck on the bottom of my foot I should be able to pack in another 6 or 7 hours of some good old physical work..........................just like the old days:)) (well sort of)

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MOTHER'S DAY & COMPUTER WOES

KELLY WITH ONE OF HER TWIN DAUGHTERS......SABRA

It was a cloudy & cold morning as Kelly headed for Cambridge to spend Mother's day with 3 of her 5 children. A daughter in Vancouver & another in Spain could only wish their Mom well from afar. KELLY'S YOUNGEST SON, BEN

I stayed home with the furry guys & did battle with the computer for the day. Our connection problem comes & goes as the cable signal strength seems seems to fade in & out. Sometimes websites will open & other times they take forever. And sometimes they won't open at all. Cleaned up all the wiring under the computer desk in the morning making sure all plugs were tight & wires not pinched anywhere. Even tried out a different router to see if that would help out the remote lap top computer. Did a couple system restores & half a dozen other things but to no avail. The connection remained sporadic. I was in an amazingly patient mood throughout all this so no equipment ended up getting damaged & I myself remained un-injured. About 2:30 the cable guy showed up with a new modem. He was pre-convinced it was a modem problem so installed an updated modem, quickly checked his companies website, declared the problem solved, & headed out the door. (it was Mother's Day & he was probably anxious to get home) I was not as convinced about the modem fix so immediately sat down at the computer & tried some websites......#*!!^%#:?*%$ The problem was not fixed!!!! The connection was still weak, ebbing & flowing like a proverbial tide. So, to-morrow it's another phone call to the cable company to trouble shoot this thing further. I don't have to tell you how frustrated we are!! KELLY'S OLDEST SON, JASON ON THE LEFT. MISSING ARE SABRA'S TWIN, SARAH IN VANCOUVER & KELLY'S YOUNGEST DAUGHTER, REBECCA IN SPAIN.

To-morrow will be another grounds clean-up day at Deerpark Lodge. Some small trees to come down & a cabin is being re-located by movers so I'll be busy documenting that with my camera. Some major re-construction projects going on there & everything has to be photographed. That kind of photography is easy stuff & no stress. I tried doing some weddings many years ago & absolutely hated it. Thought maybe portrait photography was in my cards but it didn't take me long to figure out that I just was not a people photographer. Turned my camera to-wards Mother Nature & she welcomed me with open arms......................:))

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THANK YOU.....MUCH APPRECIATED:))

SOME SHENANIGANS IN A NEIGHBOR'S YARD

It's been one of those up & down weather days. Pouring rain, blue skies, gray skies, sunshine, & fog. Temps have dropped so it's turning out be an inside day. We hadn't gone far on our morning before a clap of thunder sent Checkers & the Motormouse scurrying back to the house with Max, Kelly, & myself in close pursuit as the sky opened up with a deluge of water.

Want to say thank-you to the folks who sent us some really nice comments & emails about our blog this past week. Your words go a long way for me because I am my own worst critic & often question whether some of my blogs are too silly, too boring, or too opinionated. I try to make them interesting by varying the subject matter as well as the photos. I try NOT to make the blog predictable with the same routine day after day. I enjoy blogging & photography so it's nice to receive feedback from people with their thoughts & suggestions on how to make our website better. I'm sure most other bloggers feel much the same about their blogs. Thanks folks....much appreciated:))
Kelly's daughter in Spain came across an interesting & informative RV Travel blogsite recently & sent us the link this morning. This southern Ontario couple travels the American southwest & has actually been written up in the New York Times. I'm sure some of you folks are already familiar with frugal-rv-travel http://www.frugal-rv-travel.com/ Looks like a great site & we are looking forward to picking up some good tips. And co-incidentally, these fellow snowbirds only live a couple hours drive from us.

We have been having some kind of connection problem for the past few hours & suspecting a modem problem. The Tekky guy is coming early to-morrow afternoon to swap out the modem & do some additional trouble shooting. I'm going to try & upload this blog to the web so we'll see what happens.............
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A FEW PICS OF TADOUSSAC'S REAR END:))

GODERICH HARBOR WITH GRAIN ELEVATORS ON LEFT & THE EMPTY LAKE FREIGHTER TADOUSSAC ON RIGHT

A couple days ago I had a few errands to run so slipped up to the town of Goderich Ontario which is about a 20 drive north of Bayfield. Cloudy day & not great for photos but I took a swing down around the harbor & grabbed a few pics of a large lake freighter anchored there. It was sitting high in the water so was probably awaiting a load of grain or salt. Goderich is known for it's large underground salt mine stretching for miles out under Lake Huron. Kelly & I were lucky enough to get onto one of the last public tours of that mine about 12 years ago. Sorry, didn't take a camera with me that day. Goderich is a unique place & I hope to slip up there in early June & do a little photo shoot along the lake & around the harbor...........WONDER IF IT WAS POPEYE WHO SLUNG THE ANCHOR & CHAIN OVER HIS SHOULDER & SWAM IT TO THIS PILE OF ROCKS Goderich: http://www.goderich.ca/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goderich,_Ontario
http://www.goderich.worldweb.com/ SALT MINE BUILDINGS ARE ON THE HORIZON

A nice warm sunny day here & everything is really greening up fast. By June we will be into one of the nicest months of the year. Our yard is at it's best in June with everything looking very tropical. I sometimes get to looking a little tropical myself in June.......................................:)) ONE OF THE HARBOR TUGS RESTING UP FOR ANOTHER BUSY SEASON

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