SOME OF LIFE’S MOMENTS ARE JUST BETTER THAN OTHERS

Tuesday's rain brought in much cooler temperatures overnight followed by a nice breeze.  I knew the upside of that weather shift would be a 'no fly' mosquito morning.   With that happy thought in mind Pheebs & I were out the door early & off to the Hullett-Marsh a short 20 minutes away.  Just a beautiful morning for walking & how nice to feel a gentle mid summer wind rustling through tall stands of umbrella like Maple trees .  Hullett-Marsh was alive with wildlife & at one point I stood quietly listening to the sounds of many busy little birds all about me.  Some of life’s moments are just better than others...............

GROANER'S CORNER:)) The tax adviser had just read the story of Cinderella to his four-year-old daughter for the first time. The little girl was fascinated by the story, especially the part where the pumpkin turns into a golden coach.  Suddenly she piped up, "Daddy, when the pumpkin turned into a golden coach, would that be classed as income or a long-term capital gain?"

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There was a man who computed his taxes for 1998 and found that he owed $3,407. He packaged up his payment and included this letter:

Dear IRS:

Enclosed is my 1998 Tax Return & payment. Please take note of the attached article from the USA Today newspaper. In the article, you will see that the Pentagon is paying $171.50 for hammers and NASA has paid $600.00 for a toilet seat.

Please find enclosed four toilet seats (value $2,400) and six hammers (value $1,029).

This brings my total payment to $3,429.00. Please note the overpayment of $22.00 and apply it to the 'Presidential Election Fund', as noted on my return. Might I suggest you to send the above mentioned fund a '1.5 inch screw'. (See attached article -HUD paid $22.00 for a 1.5 inch Phillips Head Screw.)

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.

Sincerely,
Tax Payer

ANOTHER RV BLOGGING COUPLE HANGS UP THE KEYS

I was surprised Monday night to read of John & Judy’s decision to hang up the keys after 6 years of full timing.  John & Judy of course are from the RV Blog RV LIFE ON WHEELS.  We met these fine folks a couple times at the Clark Dry Lake Bed just outside of Borrego Springs California.  They dropped by to see us on their motorcycle & we dropped by their camp a short time later.  In his final post John writes about their decision to come in off the road…………..

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A man with a swollen foot goes to the doctor. After a careful examination, the doctor hands the man a pill big enough to choke a horse.
"I'll be right back with some water," the doctor tells him.
The doctor has been gone a while and the man loses patience. He hobbles out to the drinking fountain, forces the pill down his throat and gobbles down water until the pill clears his throat. He hobbles back into the examining room.
Just then the doctor comes back with a bucket of warm water. "Ok, after the tablet dissolves, soak that foot for about 20 minutes."

NOW WHY WOULD A GROWN MAN BE WRITING ABOUT ‘TICKLES’:))

JUST ANOTHER FINE MORNING IN SOUTH-WESTERN ONTARIO’S HURON COUNTY

Started my day off with a haircut on our back porch.  I just couldn't take those long hair tickles anymore.  Yes, this grown man has used the word 'tickles'.  Lately while driving with the Jeep windows down or sitting at our desktop computer with a cooling pedestal fan behind me blowing in my direction my hair was constantly blowing around to the front side of my head where my face resides.  Air was flicking the ends of my hair onto my face & it was like having a herd of tiny little spiders walking around on my skin.  Tickles!!  Who would have thought eh.  I was forever having to rub my face in an attempt to un-tickle myself.  Luckily for me ever since meeting Kelly just 2 weeks short of 22 years ago I have never had to go to a barber shop again so for me it was an outside fresh air haircut this morning.  Bonus.  Last haircut I had was about 4 months ago in Congress so looks like my next one will be back in Arizona again sometime this winter:))

I sure don’t miss barber shops & barbers with all their unending questions.  What’s your name, where do you work, where are you from, what color socks do ya have on today????  Anytime I would get a haircut years ago I always treated it is a mild head massage & would close my eyes to absorb myself in the hopefully quiet rapture.  But oh no, some of those Barbers couldn’t button themselves up if their life depended on it.  So what kinda car ya got, who’s gonna win the Stanley Cup this year, are ya married, how many kids ya got, what’s their names, are they in school yet, & say you didn’t tell me what color socks ya got on…#%@&**!!

THESE HORSES CAME RIGHT UP TO THE FENCE TO SEE PHEEBS

Pheebs reminded me this morning of a rain prediction forecast for Tuesday & followed me around relentlessly until I gave in & grabbed my cameras, tossed my hat on, loaded the little Darlin into the Jeep & off down the road we went in the direction of Goderich.  Few things to pick up at Wal-Mart then back out of town heading for the nearest back country road to wherever.  Beautiful morning with all Libby's windows down.  Again the pleasing fragrance of new mown hay permeated the morning air taking me back to many pleasant childhood memories.  A few more barn photos along the way & I began to notice something.  One of the biggest crops in this area is corn & the corn is quickly growing taller by the day.  I slowly became aware this morning many barns were beginning to gradually disappear behind tall growing corn stalks.  Made a mental note to myself to remember the best time for photographing old barns or buildings in the countryside is from April to about the end of June before the corn gets too high.  Would you believe we snagged ourselves another 63 Barns this morning.  You don’t suppose I’ve got myself an ‘Old Barns’ phobia going on now do ya.  I will upload them to my ‘Old Barns’ photo album Tuesday sometime.

A HAYING FARMER PULLING AN UNSEEN GRASS CUTTER WITH HIS SHINY BLUE TRACTOR

OH GEE I WONDER WHY THESE SHEEP PHOTOS WOULD REMIND ME OF JUDY

Humidity built up quickly again so it was back to our nice cool house we went pulling into the driveway about 12:30.  With higher humidity comes an abundance of stinging, biting, & swarming insects so the rest of our day was spent comfortably cool inside.  And I do mean comfortably A/C cool:)) 

TOWNSHIP TRACTOR/MOWER AHEAD CUTTING LONG GRASS ALONGSIDE A COUNTRY ROAD…YES THEY EVEN MOW THE DITCHES AROUND HERE

SPOTTED THIS WHITE TAIL DEER UP THE ROAD

And I see Ivan is still keeping himself busy up there in the wilds of Northern Alberta for another summer.  Climbing up & down ‘fire watch’ towers & riding around in helicopters.  From his fire tower he even managed to spot & call in a new fire.  He is sharing his new remote posting with a herd of Groundhogs which in turn is keeping Hailey busy as well.  Might want to drop around & see Ivan’s latest selfie from high atop his solitary tower outpost.  He’s getting pretty handy with his home made mop handle ‘selfie stick’.

Phoned Aunt Jean Saturday night to see how she was making out with her recent move.  She was in good spirits & happy the dust has settled & her life is returning to an organized normal.  She even has a T-time for Tuesday morning at an area golf course.  Having just turned 88 a couple days ago she is determined not to let her age slow her down but is also realistic about the challenges ahead of her.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Taxiing down the tarmac, the jetliner abruptly stopped and returned to the gate. After waiting about an hour, it finally took off. A concerned passenger asked the flight attendant what had happened. "The pilot was bothered by a noise he heard in the engine," said the attendant. "It took us an hour to find another pilot!"

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I have a dog that talks in its sleep. One day a visitor was astonished to hear the dog bellow, "My name is Christopher Columbus! I am seven hundred years old! I own America! I married Marilyn Monroe!"  When the visitor asked what was going on, I replied, "Don't worry about it. It's better to just let sleeping dogs lie."

TODAY SOME PEOPLE GOT WET, SOME JUMPED OUT OF AN AIRPLANE & THE WINDMILL DIDN’T GO ROUND & ROUND

Spent a couple hours standing in the hot sun over at the WINDMILL LAKE WAKE & ECO PARK this afternoon waiting for some people to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft high overhead.  The Wake Board Park is less than a mile from our place & as part of Bayfield's Wind & Water week-end it was the jump zone for few skydivers from the GRAND BEND SPORT PARACHUTING CENTER located just east of Grand Bend.  The exact time of the jump wasn't known except it was to happen sometime between 1 & 3 this afternoon.  I headed on over around 12:30 & walked around the grounds taking a few photos of the large Windmill & a couple water soaked fellows on their Wakeboards.

The original attraction on these many acres of scenic property years ago was a large Dutch Windmill.  The windmill is still there but is unfortunately in a sad state of disrepair although I was encouraged to see an older fella working away at something inside the Mill this afternoon.  Once a popular tourist attraction in the area I do seem to recall it once housed a gift shop & tour buses dropped people off for guided tours.  I pulled this off the internet......{Located just outside of Bayfield in Huron County, "This full size windmill is styled after an actual mill in the Netherlands called "The Arend." Folmar Windmill has the capability to be used as a sawmill and a grist mill."  Years ago this windmill was used as a saw mill to cut logs for a heritage boat being rebuilt in nearby Goderich}

While taking a few photos at the wakeboard pond I saw someone waving at the far end & they had a black dog with them.  Well I'd recognize those two Desperados anywhere & sure enough it was Kelly & Pheebs.  They had driven over in the Sunbird.   It was about 1:30 & we heard the Jumpers would be overhead about 2:15.  Kelly decided to wait in the air conditioned car with Pheebs while I walked back into the Park to await the drone of an airplane & sure enough about 2:10 I heard then saw the jump plane overhead circling to gain altitude.   Four jumpers finally exited the plane at what I think I heard someone say 6,500 feet.  Didn't take the Jumpers long to reach the ground & they soon swooped in overhead one at a time landing in a designated grassy area just a short distance away from where I & others stood.  They all landed on their feet with no stumbles or tumbles.  A few high fives, some hugs, & lots of big smiles wrapped up another successful jump.  After being out in that hot sun for hours I wasn't long in getting myself right back home again.  On with the A/C & into my recliner I went.  And that was about it for another day.

WHILE WAITING FOR THE JUMPERS THIS OLDER COUPLE HAD NO PROBLEMS PUTTING IN SOME IPAD TIME 

 

Although I did open a Google+ account years ago I quickly found out it simply was not my cup of tea.  Not being interested in another social media site & also finding it hard to understand I never went any further with it.  My feelings towards Google+ haven't changed but when Google+ plus came on board & basically took over a bunch of stuff it really messed up my whole photo program.  Problem was probably not with Google but with my inability to understand it all.  The word 'Share' always put me off but it was an accidental click on that word in my Picasa photo editing program Saturday that suddenly switched on a light for me regarding photo albums.  Finally a breakthrough.  Much easier to arrange photos in my Picasa program & then go straight to a Google album with them rather than having to upload them to a separate program like Flickr & then have to organize then re-organize the photos & upload them to an album that way.  If I can keep my whole photo process within Google it eliminates a bunch of steps for.  Any way I can make things simper for myself is a good thing.  Well that's the way it seems right now anyway so I'll continue to click my way around the Google album feature & see how I make out with whatever else I can learn.

WINDMILL WINDOWS

  

WINDMILLS BLADES NEED REPAIR

THIS IS THE HUB WHERE ALL 4 WIND MILL BLADES ARE ATTACHED

THE WAKEBOARD PARK ALSO HAS CANOE & PADDLE BOARDS TO RENT

I did update my 'Old Barn' photos this morning & have them also now in a Google album which can be found here, OLD BARNS UPDATE.  Newest barn photos are at the beginning.   I plan to also pull all my 'Bayfield Homes' photos into one single album as well.  Also 'Bayfield's Heritage Main Street', 'Van Egmond House', 'Goderich Air Show', etc. etc.  By creating albums I hope to cut down on 'too many' photos in my posts & offer a link to additional album photos as an option.

SKY DIVERS POSE FOR SOME PICTURES & THAT IS THE PARK’S OWNER AT FAR RIGHT

Tonight’s Live Writer album is additional photos I took today of the Wave Boarders, the Windmill, & the Sky Divers.  Be sure to check the album for additional airborne wake boarders:))

A Windmill, Some Wake Boarders, & A Few Sky Divers VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

GROANER'S CORNER:(( ‘Taxpayer’s Lament’

Tax his cow, Tax his goat;
Tax his pants, Tax his coat;
Tax his crop, Tax his work;
Tax his ties, Tax his shirt;
Tax his chew, Tax his smoke;
Teach him taxing is no joke.

Tax his tractor, Tax his mule;
Tell him, Taxing is the rule;
Tax his oil, Tax his gas;
Tax his notes, Tax his cash;
Tax him good and let him know,
That after taxes, he has no dough.

If he hollers, Tax him more;
Tax him till he's good and sore;
Tax his coffin, Tax his grave;
Tax the sod in which he's laid.

Put these words upon his tomb,
"Taxes drove him to his doom."
After he's gone, we won't relax.
We'll still collect inheritance tax.

A NICE FRIDAY NIGHT ON BAYFIELD’S SUNSET PIER

After publishing Friday night's post early I decided to head on down to the Bayfield Harbor.  Knowing there would be a lot of people around I thought it best to leave Pheebs at home.   Walked out to the end of the pier taking a few photos along the way.  Bayfield's Wind & Water week-end was underway & they were kicking it off with a lighted flotilla of 6 or 7 sailboats.  It was a warm night with a couple dozen people on the pier besides myself.  Nice to watch Friday's sun slowly sink into the placid waters of Lake Huron while sailboats with colored lights spread along railings & rigging formed a wide circle as they repeatedly passed by the end of the pier.  The darker it got the greater they looked.  Some boats had flashing lights, some had horns blowing & some had music playing.  I especially liked hearing Bob Dylan's 'Lay Lady Lay' wafting softly across the water.  it was a nice night & I enjoyed being outside doing something different for a change.

While in the process of putting together a Flickr album of my Friday night Bayfield Wind & Water photos I un-expectantly stumbled across how to make an album using Google+.  Well at least I think I have & if I have this may be one of the major missing pieces of this whole Google photo puzzle I have been struggling to figure out for so long.  I am cautiously optimistic that I just might be on to something here.  I have uploaded my Friday night photos into a Google album & if it works it can be found at BAYFIELD'S FRIDAY NIGHT WIND & WATER.  If this link doesn’t work I’d appreciate folks letting me know…………….{When album is opened photos can be viewed by scrolling down.  Click on any photo to enlarge it.  To see each photo singly against a black background just click the first photo twice & click the arrows at bottom to go forward or backwards.  Also in this mode you can view all the photos in a slideshow by first clicking the word 'More' at the top.  When menu drops down click 'Slideshow'}

 
Another one of those weather perfect Saturday mornings.  Kelly headed off to Goderich so Pheebs & I decided to take ourselves for a little drive around our rural neighborhood.  Heavens to Murgatroyds we wouldn’t want to be sitting here by ourselves now would we.  Snagged us another 23 barn photos in the process plus a carrot muffin & a coffee.  With humidity building we made it a point not to stay out too long & soon headed home to the refreshingly coolness of the house.  Busied myself editing photos & before long another fine Saturday had slipped away into my life's 7 decade history book.

It's a nice feeling knowing we are now past the halfway point before our return once again to the great American South-West sometime around the end of October.  Just think fellow Snow Birders in another 3 weeks it will be August already & by the middle of August our weather here in southern Ontario will shift slightly giving us the very earliest indications of our approaching Autumn.  I will be soooooo glad to see our air free of Mosquitos again.  This has been the absolute worst summer of ever for those damn miserable things.  Yesireeeee, definitely looking forward to that upcoming season change again:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Hanging in the hallway at the High School are the basketball team pictures from the past 40 years. A player in the center of the front row in each picture holds a basketball identifying the year -- "62-63," "63-64," "64-65," etc.  One day I spotted a freshman looking curiously at the photos. Turning to me, he said, "Isn't it strange how the teams always lost by one point?"

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A rolled up newspaper can be an effective training tool when used properly. For instance, use the rolled-up newspaper if your dog chews up something inappropriate or has a housebreaking accident. Bring the dog over to the destroyed object (or mess), then take the rolled-up newspaper... and hit yourself over the head as you repeat the phrase,
"I FORGOT TO WATCH MY DOG, I FORGOT TO WATCH MY DOG!"