I RELAXED SO MUCH THIS MORNING I HAD TO TAKE A SIESTA THIS AFTERNOON

JERRY & MEL, THE ROADTREKING BROTHERS (Mel, in blue, was my former Airports Anywhere boss)

To-day just kinda turned out to one of those sort of nothing days. Sunshine & warm winds with increasing humidity made for the feelings of a real summer day finally. MALE CARDINAL ON THE FEEDER

Spent most of the morning on our front porch with my camera & scope just watching the birds coming & going. For long periods of time there would be no activity & then all of a sudden it was if someone had stopped out front & unloaded a whole bus load of birds. Robins chasing robins, Cardinals chasing Blue Jays & Blue Jays chasing home runs. Lots of black capped Chickadees & a Downie Woodpecker. The Grosbeaks were back as were the Mourning Doves, Grackles, & Nuthatches. In the nearly 7 years we have lived here this was the longest time I've ever spent sitting down on our porch. Probably the longest I've sat anywhere outside on our entire property. Seems whenever I sit down for a rest I always manage to think of something or see something that needs doing so up I get & away I go. COULD THIS BE A VERY YOUNG BLUE JAY?? DOES ANYONE KNOW WHAT KIND OF BIRD THIS IS?? (no, it's not a Robin)

My relaxing morning & increasing humidity took a toll on me so had to have myself a little Siesta in the afternoon. About 4 an older beige Roadtrek van pulled into the driveway & out stepped a couple of fellas. It was Mel, my old Stratford Airports Anywhere boss from years ago. Mel & his brother Jerry from Sarnia were out on a little 4 day road trip around the area. Their ladies are not RV travelers so the brothers just took Mel's Roadtrek camper van & headed off on their own for a few days. Good for you guys!! Mel & his late wife Phyliss were RV travelers years go traveling in their Class C throughout the southwest in the winter months. Mel & Phyliss owned the Airports Anywhere company I was driving for so I used to email them from time to time with bits of local Stratford news. They used to pop into librarys to pick up their emails & Phyliss would type back about the good times they were having & the great scenery they were seeing. Many times I would be out on the infamous 401 in heavy Toronto traffic on icy roads & snowstorms thinking about the great sunny & warm days Mel & Phyliss were having in the deserts of the southwest. It was probably around this time that I began visualizing my RV dreams. Thanks Mel & Phyl:)) LANDING IN A FLURRY OF FEATHERS
BLUE JAYS

GROANER'S CORNER: A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France could result in Linoleum Blownapart.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

TO-DAY'S BLOG MARKS MY 500TH BLOG POST!!

MALE ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK

Well, if somebody had told me nearly 2 years ago that I would one day end up posting 500 blogs on the internet I would have told them they were nuts. I barely knew what a blog was let alone trying to write one. I used to sometimes write short little stories in public school & went through an embarrassing heavy duty hippy poetry phase in the late 60's (who didn't) but that was about it until the day we brought our first computer home about 12 years ago. I've always enjoyed typing, am fascinated with this new technology era, have always had a great imagination, am somewhat cautiously over opinionated, & am more comfortable communicating with people through the written word than any other form of communication so I guess it was just a natural progression for me to fall right into the blogging craze. And there ya have it......500 blogposts later & counting:)) CONE FLOWER (one of my favs)

Kelly had the day off & I didn't have any last minute calls from my mobility van job so we jumped in the van & went over to Woodstock to-day for a visit with my 93 year old Uncle Harry. One of his favorite places to eat is Wendy's so that's where we headed. It's been years since I've been in a Wendys. Haven't had a burg & fries for a couple months so I made an exception to-day. Probably be a long time before I have another burg & fries again too!!:)) AMERICAN GOLDFINCH GIVING ME THE COLD SHOULDER

My Uncle Harry is quite a pool shark & he basically beats me about 5 games to 1 everytime we play on the big billiard table in the Park Place Retirement Home where he lives, but I was finally able to turn the tables on him to-day & won 4 out of 7 games. Does this mean I'm getting better?? No, Harry's game just wasn't up to his usual standard. I made my usual amount of mistakes & Uncle Harry just made a higher number of unusual mistakes. I'm sure he'll be back in form & guning for me next time. BLACK CAP CHICK-A-DEE

I'll include a few bird photos from Sunday morning. Not the best yet but I'm kinda starting to get the hang of it a bit. For me with photography I have always found it isn't as much the finished product as it is the effort & patience involved in taking the photos in the first place. That's where the fun is:)) BROWN EYED SUSANS AGAINST A CEDAR RAIL FENCE

GROANER'S CORNER: I like European food so I decided to Russia over there because I was Hungary. After Czech'ing the menu I ordered Turkey. When I was Finnished I told the waiter 'Spain good but there is Norway I could eat another bite'.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

THUNDERBIRDS IN CLAN GREGOR SQUARE

1961 FORD THUNDERBIRD (this is like the one I blogged about a few days ago)

Looking out the window first thing this morning I wondered if the Thunderbird car rally was going to be on to-day. Heavy cloud cover overhead & it felt like rain with all the humidity in the air. We didn't get far on our walk either because of the mosquitoes & biting sand flies.

57 T-BIRD

Kelly headed off to Deerpark Lodge for the day & I set up my camera & scope near our front yard frog pond in hopes of photographing a few birds at the feeders. No easy matter but the birds have been teaching me some rare patience!! I'm used to automatic settings on cameras where everything like exposures & shutter speeds is done in fractions of seconds with no thought or input from the person behind the camera except for composition. Trying to photograph a fidgety little bird half hidden 40 feet away in a cluster of branches with a totally manual telescope attached to a camera on fully manual settings sitting atop a tri-pod not designed for telescopes in the first place is a real fine exercise in quiet prolonged patience. What a great way to wake up the brain & learn some new camera techniques, and I'm loving every minute of it. . 55 THUNDERBIRD

Headed over to Bayfield's Clan Gregor Square around 11:30 this morning & sure enough there were the Thunderbirds this time. Not as many as the Corvette show earlier in the month but I think the threatening weather had put a damper on a number of Thunderbird owners. About 50 or 60 were there & more kept rolling in for the half hour or so I was there. First stop was a black 61 T-Bird just like the one I had blogged about a few days ago in, Moonstruck By A Thunderbird. It even had the same red interior. Always figured if I would have ever had the chance to have a hobby car it would have been an early 60's cigar shaped T-bird. Stopped at a small booth for a hot dog & ended up dropping a big load of hot dog relish onto my D50 Nikon so figured it was time to pack it in & go home. To see the photos from to-day's rally just click on THUNDERBIRDS.D

2002 THUNDERBIRD

Had an amusing afternoon with Chippy our new resident Chipmunk who has claimed the pond project area for his new digs because he likes the new birdfeeder buffet. I have 2 birdfeeders on a metal shepherd's hook pole & Chippy saw that as a direct line to Al's diner. Tried some clothespins on the pole but that didn't stop him so I put some white trailer hitch grease on it. That worked for awhile & it was comical watching Chippy slip sliding on the pole. Didn't take long for the grease to dry out & Chips was back up that pole & knee deep in birdseed again. I now have more birdseed in the pond than the local birdseed store has on it's shelves. Noticed a lot of frog tadpoles in the pond a clustering around the seeds. Apparently they have found that new buffet of yummies to their liking as well. Oh great, so now I'm going to have to contend with flying frogs in another few weeks!! Undeterred I went into my little workshop & headed back out to the pond with my trusty oil can. I lubed up that birdseed pole real good then went back up on the porch to watch the shenanigans. Wasn't long & Chippy was back & this time he had brought Mrs. Chippy. Obviously a planned night out at Al's Birdseed Diner. Well, it wasn't to be because neither one of them could get up the pole. The Diner dinner was a bust & Mrs. Chippy let Mr. Chippy know it too. With a flurry of harsh shrieks & tweets she was off through the shrubbery & headed for home followed closely by a somewhat disappointed & embarrassed Mr. Chippy!!
And you know what, I could swear that little Chipmunk turned around before disappearing under a large rock.........and gave me the finger!!!!

1960 FORD THUNDERBIRD HARDTOP (complete with 2 ladies inside)

GROANER'S CORNER: I couldn't quite remember how to throw a boomerang, but eventually it came back to me.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

MY DAD'S CAR IS BETTER THAN YOUR DAD'S CAR!!

CHECKERS

WOW, did I ever get the date for Bayfield's annual Thunderbird rally screwed up. You can imagine my surprise this morning when I headed over to Clan Gregor Square expecting to see a bunch of Ford Thunderbird's parked there. Nothing but grass, trees, & some kids playing in the playground. The date for the rally is actually to-morrow, Sunday July 26th. Just as well because it's raining like nuts here right now. Sorry guys, no car pictures to-night, just more.................flowers:(( FROG POND LILIES

In keeping with the car theme I am reminded of the Chev/Ford rivalry my friend Gary & I had going on back in 1961. His Dad had a brand spanking new 1961 black Chevy Impala & my Step-Dad had a brand spanking new 1661 black Ford Galaxy. Well, the rivalry between Chev man Gary & Ford man Al was "on" to say the least. Never at a loss for digs at each other about who had the nicest car & which one was best we continued that Ford/Chev rivalry for a fair few years. Down the street, Bob's Dad a spanking nearly new 1960 black Dodge Polaris but in those years the Dodges, along with their counterpart, Plymouth, were not really in the rivalry range for most of us. Chevs & Fords were the big guys & it would take the Chrysler car company many more years to get away from those cartoon-like & often laughable designs of the late 50's & early 60's to become the leading innovative Detroit design maverick they did become in these past 20 years or so. FEMALE ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK

But, back to Gary & Al & their Chevy/Ford rivalry. Gary was a few years older than me so had his driver's license before I did. His Dad let him drive the Chevy Impala so Gary would often pick up a bunch of us guys & we'd had off to places like the Drive-In, their cottage at the lake, A&W, or just cruise around the streets of Tavistock looking cool with all the windows down on freezing cold days. It truly was a nice car with it's peppy engine, snappy red & white interior, big space age looking dash, & what seemed like acres of glass all way round. I never told Gary how much I liked the car because that just wouldn't have been a cool thing to do because, afterall, I was a Ford man right, and there was no admitting to my buddy Gary, the Chevy man, that his Dad actually had the nicer car. And there certainly was no room for saying a Ford was better than a Chevrolet in them there days either. OUR RESIDENT CLOWN.....CHIPPY

Now, fast forward about about 40 or 50 years to where I can now clearly see the folly of our spirited rivalry in those old days. It was not a case of a Ford being better than a Chev or a Plymouth being better than a Studebaker. They were all basically the same automobile. Not one was better or worse than the other. They all had flaws in their various models & they all had their good points. Some engines were better than others, some transmissions were really good & some were not so good. Interiors varied greatly but the basic materials were all the same. Car designs changed from year to year with some models being hotter than others for awhile as fads & trends came & went. There was no good or bad, no right & no wrong. No better or no worse when it came to the Detroit cars. It simply ended up with an individuals preference. In the end it all boiled down to a much simpler rivalry between young boys defending their Dads. MIGHT BE A SWEET PEA FLOWER

Remember that old saying, "my Dad's tougher than your Dad," Well, that's where it kind of all began & still continues in many psychological forms to-day. Our Government is better than your Government, Liberals are better than Conservatives, Republicans are better than Democrats, our religion is better than your religion, Macs are better than PC's, peanut butter sandwiches are better than garlic sandwiches, dogs are better than cats, tylenol is better than aspirin, Class A motorhomes are better than 5th wheels, my Dodge truck is better than your Ford truck, black is white, Wendy's is better than McDonalds, Ontario is better than Alberta, coke is better than pepsi,Alaska is better than New Mexico, butterscotch ice cream is better than maple walnut, or......... my Dad's car is better than your Dad's car!! And so it was, & so it is, & so it shall be..........forever & a day:)) ADDED A SECOND BIRD BATH TO THE POND PROJECT

GROANER'S CORNER: Can Napoleon return to his place of birth? Of Corsican.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

MOONSTRUCK BY A THUNDERBIRD

WILDFLOWERS ALONGSIDE THE ROAD ON PORTER HILL LINE

The early morning air was as still as a butterflies thoughts & a touch of humidity reminded me of our close presence to the surrounding great lakes. There was rain in the area somewhere near by so didn't figure I had better take the motorcycle out if I knew what was good for me. A few errands to run this morning so headed off to Goderich for my number one stop at Tim Hortons. On the way I spotted a host of colorful wildflowers growing alongside the road so that quickly turned out to be my first stop instead of Hortons. I always travel with a camera of some kind & this morning was no exception as I parked the van alongside the road & cracked off a few flower pictures. Despite all the human turbulence in the world it is truly a beautiful planet we live on & I was reminded of that once again as I strolled amongst the roadside flowers with my camera. A picture here, a picture there, & I was on my way. Decided to move some bird feeders into place around the pond project this afternoon in hopes of attracting some fine little feathered friends to my camera lens. I'm happy with the results I'm getting with my telescope & camera arrangement lately so I'd like to try my hand at some more feathery critters now. I have really been enjoying my new found photography interests these past few weeks & that has helped take some of the edge off this long & slightly boring summer.
By the looks of our computer weather map here we have a lot of rain headed our way to-night. Not good news for the Ford Thunderbird enthusiasts who are planning their annual get to-gether to-morrow in Bayfield's Clan Gregor Square. It's all grass there & I don't think the fellas will want to be getting their vintage Thunderbirds all muddied up. I'll grab a camera & head over that way in the morning anyway just in case the rain misses us. The early 60's cigar shaped T-Bird has always been a favorite of mine ever since I saw my first one many years ago in the village of Tavistock where I lived. I still remember when the Sommers family down the street bought a brand new jet black Ford Thunderbird. Wow, it was as sleek as a space ship. I would often see one of the older boys, Jim, driving that bird & like a moonstruck teen-ager I was totally mesmerized everytime Jim & that car cruised by. I would always stop whatever I was doing & watch for as long as I could trying to imagine what kind of heaven Jim Sommers must be in driving that long, low, sleek black Thunderbird. Back in those days, that's what dreams were made of for a young carstruck teen-age boy.................:))
GROANER'S CORNER: Skipping school to bungee jump will get you suspended.

P.S. About those stripes running in different directions on Kelly's chair project......Shhhhhhhhh:))

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

HARRY POTTER LOSES AL IN THE SHUFFLE AGAIN

TO-DAY'S DAY LILY

Rain in the night left us with an all day cloud cover & showers in surrounding areas. Figured it would be a good morning to dig up & re-locate some garden plants. We did a lot of landscaping since moving here & our flowerbeds have all totally filled in so we are always having to thin & move things. This morning it was hostas , potentillas, & a small spirea shrub. While digging out the spirea from beside our sun room I was aware of a sucking sound as it came out of the ground. The hole immediatelly began filling with water & running across the flower bed. I was at a loss as to what had happened until I reached into the water filled hole & felt a rubber hose. A garden hose!! Then I remembered I had buried that garden hose along the back of the flower bed about 6 years ago & totally forgot it was there. It runs from the tap to the other side of our sunroom where I keep the outside hose for watering. Cutting hoses & cables is commonplace for me & I'm sure I hold some kind of record with our local cable company for cutting underground cables numerous times over the years. I'm always digging & planting things & those darn cables just keep moving around all over the place on me!! THIS NICE LITTLE CHIPMUNK LIKES OUR NEW POND LOOK

I'm one of those people who always arrives at destinations on the early side & so it was last night when I pulled up in front of the movie theater in Goderich. The Harry Potter movie was starting at 8 so I was there by 7:15 in case of a line up. Luckily the line was just beginning to form so after a short wait I was in the theater & seated by 7:25. The theater steadily filled with teen-agers of which about 60% were giggling, bubbling pony tailed girls. Maybe 35% teen-age boys with backwards baseball hats & 10% with people over 20 of which I figured I may have been the oldest one in the whole place. I always get a kick out of how the seats to my immediate left & right are always the last ones to fill up. Nobody wants to sit near an old guy with a white beard who is constantly looking at his watch & muttering under his breath. And wearing a baseball cap that is actually facing straight ahead is just too much for most teen-agers anyway. Eight o'clock came & went as the theater kept filling up & it was nearly 8:15 before the movie finally started. The few of us who were considerate enough to be on time for the movie, as usual had to pay the price for those who always have to be cool & fashionably late. Ya I know Al, don't sweat the small stuff!! (doesn't it just bug ya when people tell ya that) HEY, WHO SAYS I'M A NICE LITTLE CHIPMUNK!!

The Harry Potter movie seemed very long with it's usual twists & turns & just as in the other Potter movies I was on the backstretch trying to catch up & catch on to what was happening up there on the screen all the time. The special effects were ok but I still think my first Harry Potter movie was lighter & had more neat-o magic stuff in it. All the following movies seemed to get progressively more violent & darker. KELLY UPHOLSTERING THE SEATS ON OUR KITCHEN CHAIRS

I do prefer to watch some movies in a movie theater rather than on DVD though. Can't imagine watching Lord Of The Rings for example on a home television set up. That would be like listening to Pink Floyd through a tin can speaker. I like the theater because of it's big, big, picture & big, big, sound. We have a 42" flat screen piped through our stereo but you do not get the full impact of a darkened interruption free movie theater no matter what you have. But, a lot of movies don't have big sweeping panoramics & special effects with big sound overtures & those kinds I don't mind as much on a DVD at home. But, different strokes for different folks so there ya go!!
(there's another old phrase that has thankfully gone the way of the DoDo bird)

OUR DAY LILY GARDEN

GROANER'S CORNER: Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica - where do they go? It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life. The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life. If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried. The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:
"Freeze a jolly good fellow."

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

SHORT BLOG....I'M OFF TO HOGWARTS IN SEARCH OF THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

NO, THIS IS NOT HOGWARTS, IT'S MORE LIKE..........FROGWARTS:))

Harry Potter fans out there will know where Hogwarts is but for those that don't it's located in a mountainous and secluded region in Scotland, near a wizarding village called Hogsmeade. The only way to reach Hogwarts is through a Harry Potter book or movie. To-night I plan to take the Hogwart's Express leaving platform nine & three quarters near Bayfield at 7:30 which will put me into the Goderich movie theater & Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry by 8. With any luck I shall find out the secrets of the Half-Blood Prince to-night:))

GROANER'S CORNER: Those who study the moon are optimists. They look at the bright side.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.