OK, SO HERE’S MY PLAN

It has been the culmination of reader feedback on my blog that finally switched on a light bulb in my head this morning.   In particular was this comment in my Shout Box which in part said, 'Do you have any unusual or interesting landmarks or buildings in your area you could share’.  I know this has been suggested before by folks but for whatever reason this morning my brain latched on to those few words.  From the moment I read that comment there was a creaking & grinding of gears in my brain as rusted wheels slowly began turning.  I remembered other comments & emails I've received & slowly I became aware my mind was actually beginning to formulate an idea.  Alas, a plan began coming together.  Encouraging readers have been right all along.  Here I am with some great camera gear, a desire to write, several modes of reliable transportation, & all kinds of time on my hands.  What a great combination of assets for anyone to have if used correctly.  And therein lies the key.

ALWAYS LOTS OF CURIOUS THINGS TO SEE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE & THAT IS WHY I PREFER TO SPEND TIME THERE…THIS PHOTO IS FROM AN EXOTIC ANIMAL FARM JUST A FEW MILES SOUTH OF DUNGANNON ONTARIO AT THE INTERSECTION OF HAWKINS ROAD & MILL LINE (PHEEBS FAVORITE STOP) >>>

The simple crux of my problem finally dawned on me this morning.  The reason I have 'nothing' days is simply because a lot of the time I have 'nothing' planned.  Back in the working days one wakes up in the morning with a purpose & a destination.  It's called a job.  As much as we retired folks may have complained about the working world over the years it does have it's merits & one of those merits is structure.  Waking up in the morning with no plans for the day, no focus, & no purpose, may sound wonderful to someone still grinding along in the 24/7 workforce and of course it is wonderful.....to a point.  However for some of us waking up without some kind of planned structure or purpose for the day is like a ship setting sail without a rudder.  Too often we drift aimlessly through the day at the mercy of winds, waves, & running tides.   We leave harbor but with no course plotted & no destination predetermined we never reach wherever we didn’t know we were going in the first place anyway.  In reality we are adrift & lost at sea.  In retirement being lost at sea for days, weeks, or months on end cannot be a healthy thing either mentally or physically.  We are in for stormy days for sure.  Ask me, I know about it…………….

So here's my plan.  Yes there are interesting landmarks & buildings in our area.  There are things going on, there are stories to be told, photos to be taken, & events to be attended.  In other words there are things to do.  Just as in our working days one has to have some kind of structure, a destination, a purpose.  ‘One has to organize their own day' because it is no longer organized for them.  And that organization begins for me by planning & organizing my time better.  Noticed in the 2015 Goderich Visitor's Guide they have a calendar of upcoming events.  Some car shows & by golly even an air show later this month featuring the Canadian Snowbird acrobatic team.  Been a long time since I've seen those fellas perform.  Once a big air show fan years ago this is something I would enjoy.  Something to write about, something to photograph.  Something constructive to do.  A purpose, a focus, & it all hinges on me getting myself organized.  And that is my plan:))

Our Saturday morning dawned bright & sunny so Pheebs & I headed for the countryside looking for a few photos.  Brown fields are turning greener as crops grow taller.  Rolled along stopping at a few of our favorite spots along the way.  At one point high atop a hill on Golf Course Line northeast of Goderich I could see the true scope of wind turbine encroachment across the countryside in that area.  I was totally surprised at how many wind turbines I was able to count from where I was standing.  My eyes counted 126 turbines & I know sharper eyes could have counted even more on the distant horizon.  And I understand there are hundreds more to come.  Maybe even thousands……………… 

NOT ALL OF THE WIDE HORIZON IS VISIBLE IN THIS PHOTO BUT I COUNTED 126 WIND TURBINES FROM THIS SPOT

 

OUR AREAS WIND TURBINES FOLLOW ALONG LAKE HURON’S SHORES CATCHING PREVAILING NORTHWEST WINDS SWEEPING IN OFF THE LAKE

It was nearly 1 p.m. before we made it home today & the rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in my recliner thinking about how to better manage my time & get myself organized now that I said I would…………………………Oh Dear:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  When U Black, U Black
When I was born, I was BLACK ,
When I grew up, I was BLACK ,
When I went in the sun, I stayed BLACK,
When I got cold, I was BLACK ,
When I was scared, I was BLACK ,
When I was sick, I was BLACK ,
And when I die, I'll still be BLACK .
              NOW, You 'white' folks....
When you're born, you're PINK,
When you grow-up, you're WHITE ,
When you go in the sun, you get RED,
When you're cold, you turn BLUE,
When you're scared, you're YELLOW,
When you get sick, you're GREEN
When you bruise, you turn PURPLE ,
And when you die, you look GRAY.
So who y'all be callin'
COLORED Folks?

BY THE TIME I GET TO TOMORROW I HAVE ALREADY FORGOTTEN ABOUT TODAY

Aside from Pheebs & I heading to Goderich for a few things this morning there hasn't been much of anything happening today again.  A drive down around the town's north harbor & home through scenic Ben Miller pretty well sums up our short a.m. tour.  With a heavy cloud cover prevailing I simply couldn't drum up any photo enthusiasm.  A couple pictures along the water's edge & we were soon home again.

Our annual yellow pine pollen menace is upon us for another year coating everything with a fine talcum like powdery dust.  Will probably last for 3 or 4 days with clouds of wispy pollen visibly moving slowly wisp like through our surrounding pine trees.  Next week I will be cleaning vehicles all over again.  Inside & out!!

A few more Facebook 'Friend Requests' have come in so just a reminder to readers again that I do not accept 'friend requests'.  I have been hacked twice accepting requests so I put a stop to that.  I do not accept 'Linked-In' requests either for similar reasons.  Nothing personal, it's just a security issue.  Aside from using Facebook to publish my post each night & recently posting a few sunset photos to a couple Goderich sites I am not a Facebooker.

PHEEBS AT THE BEACH THIS WEEK

I find myself some nights sitting here at my keyboard in a rather frustrating frame of mind.  I am wanting to write something for the simple reason I enjoy writing but the frustration sets in when I can’t seem to think of anything to write about.  So easy to write of a day’s events when a day actually has events. It’s these kind of low key nothing days which throws the proverbial Monkey wrench into my writing enjoyment.  Some will say, ‘well don’t write every day & just try writing something a couple times a week’.  Well that’s all well & good for folks with a steel trap mind which securely seals in all the details of days gone by.  By the time I get to tomorrow I have already forgotten about today.  Well Okay maybe not quite that severe but to go back a day or two or more & write about something just seems like old news to me & even I am not interested in trying to revive it or frustrate myself further by attempting to recall details that are already fast fading out of my mind’s reach.  Well there ya go, I managed to eke out one more paragraph tonight from an otherwise ‘not much going on’ day…………………….:)) 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( The Monday Afternoon Club, an organization of city women, met and decided that this month's outing was to be at a dairy farm. Most of them had lived in the city all their lives, and had never seen such a place.

The day came for the trip, and the ladies filed into the rented bus which whisked them off to their destination. On the way, they watched out the windows as the city squalor turned into lovely, unpolluted countryside.

After they arrived, they were greeted by the farmer who invited them to look him up should they have any questions. Myrtle, after looking about, and being amazed by what she saw, stepped into a building and viewed something she thought was quite remarkable.

She saw the farmer walk by and hailed him -- he sauntered in.

"Sir," she inquired, "Why doesn't this cow have any horns?"

The farmer cocked his head for a moment, then began in a patient tone: "Well, ma'am, cattle can do a powerful lot of damage with horns. Sometimes we keep'em trimmed down with a hacksaw. Other times we can fix up the young'uns by puttin' a couple drops of acid where their horns would grow in, and that stops 'em cold. Still, there are some breeds of cattle that never grow horns. But the reason this cow don't have no horns, ma'am, is 'cause it's a horse."

TOOK OUR NEIGHBORS FOR A SPIN IN THE BIG EEE THIS MORNING

AN ANCIENT MAYAN CANOE PERHAPS…NO, JUST A PIECE OF LAKE HURON DRIFTWOOD

Neighbor's Barb & Don have been talking about an RV lifestyle way of life for the past year or so & like all folks contemplating a big change they have a lot questions.  Like Kelly & I when first starting out 9 years ago one of the first big decisions they are working on is what kind of an RV to buy.   There are a number of factors which feed into that decision none of which I'm going to mention tonight because the pros & cons of RV types are many & it all boils down to what kind of an RV set up is best suited to a person's needs & wants.  We had heard Don & Barb were leaning towards a Motorhome.  Like Kelly & I years ago they knew very little about Class A's, had never ridden in one & had never driven one.  Seeing an opportunity for them to broaden their knowledge base I sent them an email a couple days ago wondering if they would like to go for a ride in our rig.  Yes they were interested so we picked them up this morning at 9:30.  They only live about a hundred yards from us.

A FEW PHOTOS FROM ONE OF OUR EVENING PHEEBER DRIVES AROUND BAYFIELD

FISHING ALONG THE BANKS OF THE BAYFIELD RIVER

<<< LIKED THIS PAINTING I SAW ON A GARDEN SHED

Needed to pick up a bit of fuel anyway so we headed up to Goderich with Don in the passenger seat & the ladies in back.  I enjoyed Don's enthusiasm & welcomed his questions about handling a 37’ Motorhome.  It took me back to September of 2006 when Kelly & I were excited about our decision to pursue an RV Snowbird lifestyle as well.  Wished we would have known someone with a Class A Motorhome at that time but we didn't.  We did know a couple with a truck & fifth wheel for sale though & that is what we decided on & headed off for the great American Southwest.  Like I said I'm not going to get into the pros & cons & endless debate of what's better, a truck towing a fifth wheel or a Motorhome towing a toad.  Let's just say our nice truck & fifth wheel wasn't quite the right set up for us & we traded the combo in on a Class A Motorhome in early 2007.

HOUSE ISN’T FINISHED YET BUT YOU CAN SEE THE ANXIOUS COUPLE ALREADY SITTING ON THEIR NOT YET QUITE FINISHED PORCH

LILACS ARE STILL IN BLOOM
I had never ridden in or drove a Class A Motorhome until the day we took a 33' Damon Challenger for a test drive in Grand Bend Ontario.  Fell in love with the way it handled right away plus a bunch of other things & we ended up buying this 2003 rig that very same day from Ron at Four Seasons Performance & we kept that Damon for 5 years.

HOW’S THIS FOR A NICE WASHROOM ON THE BEACH AT BAYFIELD’S DEER PARK LODGE

ALWAYS NICE PIECES OF DRIFTWOOD TO BE FOUND ON THE BEACH & I THINK THE ONE BELOW LOOKS LIKE A POOCH

<<< AND THE WASHROOM IS JUST AS NICE INSIDE
After our Goderich fuel stop this morning Barb, Don, Kelly & I made our way through town heading north on highway 21.  With lots more to talk about & having worked ourselves up an appetite we pulled into a little eatery alongside the highway near the airport called, ‘Flippin Eggs’.  This little place near the east end of the airports main runway used to be called 'The Spitfire' with a big sign on the roof shaped like a WW2 British Spitfire fighter plane.  Didn't take us long to demolish our breakfast & we did end up sitting a spell with lots to talk about.  You all know how well conversation flows when RV folks with like minded interests get together.

PHOTO TAKEN WITH KELLY’S BLACKBERRY…SEEINGS HOW WE ARE ALL GETTING OLDER MAYBE IT’S JUST AS WELL IT’S BLURRY (THANKS FOR BREAKFAST GUYS)
Walking out to the rig I handed Don the keys.  Figured it was a good opportunity for him to get his RV feet wet.  Driving something the size of a large Motorhome can be intimidating at first & even more intimidating if your on a dealer's lot & have to launch out into heavy traffic on streets you may not be familiar with.  I had already figured out a good route beforehand just in case Don decided to get behind the wheel.  Don made the right decision & we were off down a wide highway with light traffic.  A right hand turn onto an even quieter highway & the rest was history.  Like me 9 years ago Don was immediately impressed with the smooth ride & surprising ease of driving a big honkin Motorhome.  All those fears & preconceived doubts of driving something that large just vanished out the window in the first few miles & I think that probably happens with just about everybody who straps themselves into Class A for the first time.  With directions from Al in the navigator's seat Don motored us through southern Ontario’s beautiful countryside & had no problems driving us all safely back to our Park & right up the street where we live.  We even made it underneath a questionably low railway bridge along the way as well.  Always fun to throw in a little extra excitement eh:))

I THINK DON HAS ER UP TO ABOUT 140 MPH HERE
No idea which way Don & Barb's RV plans will head but at least tonight they will go to bed with some of their questions answered & a much better understanding into what so many of us know to be a great RV lifestyle whether a Snow Bird or a Full Timer.  And they even have a few Motorhome miles under their belts now as well:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A woman was sipping on a glass of wine, while sitting on the patio with her husband, and she said, "I love you so much, I don't know how I could ever live without you."  Her husband asked, "Is that you, or the wine talking?"
She replied, "It's me .............. talking to the wine."

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- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

A FEW WORDS A FEW PHOTOS

A fine sunny 72 degree day energized me into continuing with my Motorhome cleaning.  This morning it was storage bins, inside glass, & a good dusting of the front driver & passenger area.  Nice to see things sparkly again.

I really don't have anything to write about tonight so I will leave you with just a few words & a few photos I took when Pheebs & I slipped over to Deer Park Lodge’s sandy beach Tuesday night.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A schoolteacher was taking her first golfing lesson.  "Is the word spelled p-u-t or p-u-t-t?" she asked the instructor.  "P-u-t-t is correct," he replied. "Put means to place a thing where you want it. Putt means merely a vain attempt to do the same thing."

A BIG ‘YAAAAAAAY’ TO THE PEOPLE WHO GOT LIVE WRITER UP & RUNNING AGAIN:)))))))

SEEN ALONG THE ROAD TODAY

How nice to turn on the computer this morning & read that Microsoft's Live Writer problem has been solved & LW is once again working.  A lot of happy smiling Live Writer faces out here today.  Don't know who or how the problem was resolved but a big 'yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay' to the people responsible for the fix.  Not thinking a solution to the problem would be found it is time's like this that I am happy to have been proven wrong with my prediction. 

MOM & THE KIDS IN A BIG HURRY TO GET AWAY FROM AN APPROACHING JEEP LIBERATOR
With cool temperatures rising & sunlight pouring through our Park's tall pine trees I couldn't resist the urge for a good old fashioned gravel run this morning so it didn't take long for Pheebs & I too get Libby's wheels rolling.  Couldn't even remember the last time we & had been out on a back roads run.  Must have been 3 or 4 days ago at least.

ALTHOUGH I HAVE NEVER EVEN SO MUCH AS SAT IN A KAYAK I ALWAYS THINK OF KAYAKING WHENEVER I COME TO THE HULLETT MARSH

LIFE IS A TWO WAY HIGHWAY IN THE MARSH

PLACID MARSH WATERS WITH NARY A RIPPLE

We didn't cover a lot of miles today.  Feeling our morning's air a tad on the cool side I figured the mosquitoes & biting flies would not be airborne until at least mid to late morning so with a coffee & carrot muffin to go from Clinton’s Tim Hortons Pheebs & I headed straightaway for the Hullett Marsh just a short 10 minutes away.  With no humidity in the air it was what I would call a perfect morning to be outside doing anything one's little heart desired.  For Pheebs & I it was a walk to an old forgotten iron bridge hidden deeply away in the marsh.  Country roads had once traversed the area of the Hullet Marsh & a couple old overhead iron bridges still remain hidden away with long ago waterways still flowing under them.  Only tranquil bird songs wafting on wisps of a quiet June morning's pristine country air.

 

PHOTO TAKEN FROM ATOP THE OLD IRON BRIDGE LOOKING SOUTH…I THINK THIS WOULD BE A NICE PADDLE WAY

A ONE TIME BUSY COUNTRY ROAD TRAVELS THIS WAY NO MORE

 

With today's sunshine charging my batteries I was able to spend some more time cleaning the outside of our Motorhome.  Using a product called Mirage 2000 which I had picked up at Bayfield's Stormrunner RV Sales & Service last summer I was able to remove a lot of water spotting from the rig's last wash job a few weeks ago.  It also removed some black streaking as well as leaving behind a nice shine.  Cleaned all the outside glass too.  Kelly busied herself with a bunch of interior cleaning so the rig is just about ready to go somewhere & get dirty all over again just so we can spend more hours cleaning it once more.  Seems to be a never ending carousel of cleaning with these big mobile Dinosaur Monsters.

MY REFLECTION IN THE BROWN PAINT AT THE REAR OF OUR COACH >>>

Last year a man was purposely shot dead by another man somewhere in the Hullett Marsh & this morning I was surprised to stumble on a what appeared to be a recently erected wooden cross with a plaque on it.  I don't know if the case has gone to trial yet but it would be interesting to see what the motive for murder was.  The shooter, an acquaintance of the victim has been in custody since shortly after the shooting last September.  Hullett Marsh Shooting September 2014.  The cross stands near a parking area where the group of avid horse riders & dog trainers had embarked on a day’s ride before one of them was shot.

 

My post tonight is once again coming to you from my Live Writer writing platform & I'm so happy I can size & place photos more creatively again.  I will miss Blogger's faster publishing speed of course but it is the way it is.  I'm thankful to Blogger for being there when Live Writer went down & it's nice knowing Blogger will still be there as a back up if Live Writer hits another roadblock sometime in the future.  Again, good stuff & a big 2 thumbs up for the Google/Microsoft techie folks who readily resolved this dilemma for so many of us loyal Live Writer fans out here.  You know maybe there is a shred of hope left for humanity after all……………………….:))

In my Monday post I spoke about the passing of a fellow RV Blogger named Wayne Scott.  Wayne’s wife has written an informative, personal, & heart warming tribute to her dear husband & you can read her fine tribute here at Bon Voyage, Captain.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( There was a man driving down the road behind an 18 wheeler, at every stoplight the trucker would get out of the cab, run back and bang on the trailer door. After seeing this at several intersections in a row the motorist followed him until he pulled into a parking lot.  When they both had come to a stop the truck driver once again jumped out and started banging on the trailer door. The motorist went up to him and said, "I don't mean to be nosey but why do you keep banging on that door?"  To which the trucker replied, "Sorry, can't talk now, I have 20 tons of canaries and a 10 ton load limit, I have to keep half of them in the air at all times!!"

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- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.