To-day's blog photos are for our southern non-winter friends. Took these pictures 3 years ago in Bayfield's Pioneer Sunset Park overlooking frozen Lake Huron. We obviously didn't make it south that winter:((Up until 1974 I hadn't driven anything much bigger than an ordinary sized car. Most of my vehicles had been Volkswagon beetles & small sports cars. That all changed one sunny day in Vernon, British Columbia. 
It was a Monday morning & the local employment center had sent me over to a store called Bennett's Furniture & Appliances. The helper on their local delivery truck had just been terminated the previous Friday & they needed a new Swamper. (the helper person on a 2 man delivery truck) The stores truck was commonly referred to as a Ford Cabover & had a hydraulic lift on the back. To me it was a large truck because I had to climb up & into it & the whole thing reminded me of a big boxy looking dinosaur because it was all painted green. 
I met the driver who went by the name of Garth. He showed me around & we were soon working to-gether loading the back of the truck with the morning's deliveries. Some furniture pieces & a couple of appliances I think. I also became aware of Garth's discontent with the store as we headed out with our load. All morning long Garth went on with his concerns, complaints, rants, & ravings. Seems his previous swamper was also his best friend & Garth was unhappy that the store had let him go. We finished up the morning's deliveries & headed back to the store. Garth threaded the large truck up an alley & maneuvered it around until he was able to back into the loading dock. I wondered at the time how he was able to move such a large truck around in such a small space. Little did I know that I was about to find out........... real quick. With a flurry of unkind words about Bennett's he tossed me the keys, opened his door, & with the words, "I quit" he was gone & I never did see the guy again. 
The head sales fellow was my immediate boss in the store had the nickname of Sparky & as I walked back into the store with the news about the driver quitting I soon found out why he was called Sparky. Sparks flew alright!!!! He was a very hyper man & I caught the brunt of his fireworks about the driver quitting. He thrust a pile of bills in my hand & told me to get out there & start loading the truck with the afternoon's deliveries while he called manpower to get another fellow sent over. I assumed he was hiring another driver........but no, he hired a new swamper. Suddenly, I was the new driver!! 
There was no point in telling Sparky I had never driven a truck or anything bigger than a car before because he would have squashed me into the floor like a bug. In fact I was to learn there was no telling Sparky anything, ever!! So with that in mind I climbed up into the driver's side of the big stake truck & just sat there looking around at the vastness of mechanical space around me. Had never seen a gearshift lever that long before or a steering wheel that big. There were buttons & switches here & there that were definitely foreign. The road seemed a long way down & the far corner of the windshield seemed an acre away. Before I could get myself too scared or talk myself out of it, the passenger door opened & a young fellow hauled himself up into the cab with a big friendly, "Hi, my name's Frank & I'm your new Swamper." New Swamper?? Hell, it was only a few hours before that I was the new Swamper:(( 
Not wanting to let on to Frank that I had never driven a truck before I tried to look as professional as I could, but as soon as I ground the truck into some sort of forward gear & lurched away from the loading dock, the cat was out of the bag & Frank new what was up. Between the two of us we wiggled our way around & out the alley to the busy main street without breaking off any of the outside rearview mirrors or taking down any buildings. I do remember scaring the beejeebers out of some pedestrians though as we bumbled out of the alley. Managed to make our way up & down the streets of Vernon that afternoon, lurching in & out of driveways & around some of the local treacherous steep drop off roads in the Valley outside of town. By day's end though we had successfully completed all our deliveries without incident & returned the truck to the store........unscathed:)) No pats on the back from Sparky though......he was too busy snarling about the morning's deliveries already!!
I got onto that large truck pretty quickly & with Frank being a good swamper we went on to work well to-gether over the next little while. We did have a few incidents though where we dropped a brand new kitchen stove down a flight of outside stairs on Christmas Eve one day & another time when Frank jumped out of the truck as I slid helplessly backwards down an ice slicked laneway with a steep drop-off on one side. But, in the long run we did OK & never put so much as a scratch on that big old dinosaur of a truck (well, none that we admitted to anyway) despite it's intimidating size to a little Volkswagon beetle driver from a small town in Ontario..........................:)) 
It was a Monday morning & the local employment center had sent me over to a store called Bennett's Furniture & Appliances. The helper on their local delivery truck had just been terminated the previous Friday & they needed a new Swamper. (the helper person on a 2 man delivery truck) The stores truck was commonly referred to as a Ford Cabover & had a hydraulic lift on the back. To me it was a large truck because I had to climb up & into it & the whole thing reminded me of a big boxy looking dinosaur because it was all painted green. I met the driver who went by the name of Garth. He showed me around & we were soon working to-gether loading the back of the truck with the morning's deliveries. Some furniture pieces & a couple of appliances I think. I also became aware of Garth's discontent with the store as we headed out with our load. All morning long Garth went on with his concerns, complaints, rants, & ravings. Seems his previous swamper was also his best friend & Garth was unhappy that the store had let him go. We finished up the morning's deliveries & headed back to the store. Garth threaded the large truck up an alley & maneuvered it around until he was able to back into the loading dock. I wondered at the time how he was able to move such a large truck around in such a small space. Little did I know that I was about to find out........... real quick. With a flurry of unkind words about Bennett's he tossed me the keys, opened his door, & with the words, "I quit" he was gone & I never did see the guy again. The head sales fellow was my immediate boss in the store had the nickname of Sparky & as I walked back into the store with the news about the driver quitting I soon found out why he was called Sparky. Sparks flew alright!!!! He was a very hyper man & I caught the brunt of his fireworks about the driver quitting. He thrust a pile of bills in my hand & told me to get out there & start loading the truck with the afternoon's deliveries while he called manpower to get another fellow sent over. I assumed he was hiring another driver........but no, he hired a new swamper. Suddenly, I was the new driver!! There was no point in telling Sparky I had never driven a truck or anything bigger than a car before because he would have squashed me into the floor like a bug. In fact I was to learn there was no telling Sparky anything, ever!! So with that in mind I climbed up into the driver's side of the big stake truck & just sat there looking around at the vastness of mechanical space around me. Had never seen a gearshift lever that long before or a steering wheel that big. There were buttons & switches here & there that were definitely foreign. The road seemed a long way down & the far corner of the windshield seemed an acre away. Before I could get myself too scared or talk myself out of it, the passenger door opened & a young fellow hauled himself up into the cab with a big friendly, "Hi, my name's Frank & I'm your new Swamper." New Swamper?? Hell, it was only a few hours before that I was the new Swamper:(( Not wanting to let on to Frank that I had never driven a truck before I tried to look as professional as I could, but as soon as I ground the truck into some sort of forward gear & lurched away from the loading dock, the cat was out of the bag & Frank new what was up. Between the two of us we wiggled our way around & out the alley to the busy main street without breaking off any of the outside rearview mirrors or taking down any buildings. I do remember scaring the beejeebers out of some pedestrians though as we bumbled out of the alley. Managed to make our way up & down the streets of Vernon that afternoon, lurching in & out of driveways & around some of the local treacherous steep drop off roads in the Valley outside of town. By day's end though we had successfully completed all our deliveries without incident & returned the truck to the store........unscathed:)) No pats on the back from Sparky though......he was too busy snarling about the morning's deliveries already!!I got onto that large truck pretty quickly & with Frank being a good swamper we went on to work well to-gether over the next little while. We did have a few incidents though where we dropped a brand new kitchen stove down a flight of outside stairs on Christmas Eve one day & another time when Frank jumped out of the truck as I slid helplessly backwards down an ice slicked laneway with a steep drop-off on one side. But, in the long run we did OK & never put so much as a scratch on that big old dinosaur of a truck (well, none that we admitted to anyway) despite it's intimidating size to a little Volkswagon beetle driver from a small town in Ontario..........................:)) OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
KELLY' S GETTING THE FRONT PORCH WHIPPED INTO SHAPE FOR THE COMING SUMMER
ONE OF OUR LILAC TREES
A BLOOMING LILAC
ME & MY PALS NEAR HICKIWAN TRAILS RV PARK IN WHY ARIZONA
TRYING TO GET A FAMILY PICTURE USING THE CAMERA'S SELF TIMER
STAYING WARM IN OUR 5TH WHEEL TRAILER AT PANCHO VILLA STATE PARK IN COLUMBUS NEW MEXICO
THE BUMS ARE ALL PILED ON MY BED IN THE 5TH WHEEL TRAILER
MOTORMOUSE WENT TO TOWN WITH MOM & THE BIG GUYS ARE MISSING HER
HAVING AN EARLY MORNING GAME OF STICKS IN QUARTZITE, ARIZONA
THE GUYS ARE LOADED UP IN OUR GMC TRUCK AFEW YEARS AGO & READY TO ROLL....ROCKHOUND STATE PARK, NEW MEXICO
THE 3 AMIGOS NEAR CARLSBAD CAVERNS, NEW MEXICO
Another friend of ours absolutely hated computers but finally decided to give it a whirl 3 years ago. Problem was he started out on a used computer that was infested with many problems. While we were in New Mexico two winters ago we received an email from his daughter saying he had finally had enough & had taken the computer outside, threw it in the firepit, dumped gasoline on it & burnt it up!! Well, normally you would figure that was the end of the story but a year ago his interest began to get the better of him again. We & others convinced him to have another go at it & finally after much deliberation he picked himself up another computer running Windows XP. He was off again & did much better this time because the computer wasn't full of bugs. I was able to help him out & it wasn't long before we had the Picasa Photo Program going full tilt. His interest has been renewed because he likes Kayaking so can now take his digital camera along, shoot away to his heart's content, & then return home & download all his own Kayak upside down soggy water pictures. Now, that's a long way from the firepit ceremony he performed just a year before that!! I like success stories & I enjoy helping older folks learn new computer skills. It just opens up their world so much & I love to feel the excitement they experience as their new world begins to unfold for them right in front of their eyes:)) 
A FOGGY SPRING MORNING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
FROSTY MORNING WALKS LATELY
NOW, HOW AM I GOING TO GET THIS ROPE AROUND THAT STEERING WHEEL OVER THERE (Nov. 08 file photo)
WORKING ON THE PHOTO FILES THIS MORNING
BAYFIELD'S SNUG LITTLE HARBOR......... AUGUST 2008
FILE PHOTO OF THE FIRST TIME WE HOOKED UP THE CAR TO THE MOTORHOME