KELLY HEADS FOR SPENCERPORT NY WHILE PHEEBS & AL HEAD FOR LONDON ONTARIO

HEY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S GOT NOTHING OVER ON SOUTHERN ONTARIO WHEN IT COMES TO CABBAGES…..YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE A NEW CABBAGE PATCH DOLL BEING BORN HERE

Overnight rains quit around 8 this morning & Kelly was on her way to Spencerport New York one hour later under partially clearing skies.  Looked like she might be in for clear sailing all the way but turns out some rain caught up with her near Woodstock.  She plans to be back next Wednesday or Thursday & I think that will be just about the longest we have been apart in about 22 years.  Oh Dear, now I'm going to have to make my own morning coffee.  That is if I make it all.  Hardly seems worthwhile when I only drink half a cup anyway.  We'll see how I feel about that in the morning.

JUST ABOUT READY TO GO THIS MORNING

 

OH-OH THINK SHE MAY HAVE FORGOT SOMETHING……YES SHE DID, HER IPOD

NEITHER ONE OF US SAW PHEEBS QUIETLY SNEAK INTO THE BACK SEAT & IT WAS LUCKY KELLY SPOTTED HER JUST BEFORE HEADING OUT

BYE BYE SEE YOU NEXT WEEK

My first dilemma popped up minutes after Kelly left when I thought to myself, 'well what am I going to do all day now'.  Everything's too wet outside to do anything plus it's still  uncomfortably humid so our only recourse is to fire up the Jeep & go see if we can find us some interesting photos for the day.  Sitting around the house doing basically the square root of nothing was not an option & besides I saw a few rays of sunshine poking through the trees.

SPOTTED THIS ON THE BACK OF A PICK-UP TRUCK THIS MORNING……….YEP IT SAYS IT ALL & I GOTTA GET ME ONE OF THOSE STICKERS

Undecided where to go we just headed out of the forest in the direction of Bayfield.  So much for those few rays of sun I had just seen.  Clouds were looking ominous & sure enough minutes later cruising Bayfield's main street down came the rain & that was the end of that & headed back home.  Preparing to be stuck inside all day I checked our email.  Monday I had dashed off an email to HENRY'S CAMERA SHOP in London about the vibration in my 70-300mm Nikkor lens & checking the email I saw they had replied saying, 'bring the lens to the store & they would have a look at it'.  WALLA....Pheebs & I had our destination for the day & minutes later we were in the Jeep headed for London Ontario.

NOTICED SOME AREA BEAN FIELDS ARE READY FOR HARVESTING

Rain had ended & skies began slowly clearing after all as we made the hour's drive to the North end of London.  Couldn't believe how hot & humid it was there compared to Bayfield.  Didn't take the fellow at Henry's long to determine that yes the lens should definitely be sent to Nikon for repairs.  I figured that was the best thing to do until I was told 2 things.  First, Nikon charges a flat fee of $250 to look at the lens.  If the lens can be fixed for less than that then that is the charge but as the clerk told me it could very well be over the $250 fee in which case I would have to pay the $250 plus repair.  A new 70-300 lens can be head for $526.00.  Well now what to do?  I asked how long it would take to repair the lens & was told it could be anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks.  WHAT!!!!  Didn’t want to take the chance of heading for Arizona in 6 weeks without my favorite lens.  Well that was that & I made the decision right then & there to just hang on to my lens & keep using it until it becomes unusable which could be tomorrow or 6 months from tomorrow or maybe not ever but that is highly unlikely.   Took a bunch of barn photos on the way home with it & it shuddered maybe 10 out of 50 shots.  Turns out all photos taken with it still remained sharp but just in case I do have my 50-200mm lens warming up in the bull pen.

HADN’T DRIVEN TOO FAR BEFORE NOTICING THE BEAN HARVEST IS ALREADY UNDERWAY IN SOME FIELDS

Sure was glad to get out of London & back into the countryside.  Picked up a Horton coffee & muffin in Lucan & under clear sunny skies we ambled our way along a bunch of country roads back to Bayfield adding another batch of barns to my files along the way.  A few leg stretching stops & with our A/C on full blast we were back home somewhere around 2 p.m.

SPOTTED A COUPLE CROP DUSTING PLANES IN OUR TRAVELS

ANYTIME I SEE AN AIRPLANE I ALWAYS CONSIDER THAT A BONUS …..HAVE ALWAYS HAD A FASCINATION FOR THEM

Liked this post on frugal-rv-travel.com by Cheri in New Braunfels Texas entitled, ‘Not what I expected’.  What I especially liked was Cheri’s honesty in talking about something that simply didn’t turn out to be what she expected.  She could have chosen not to write about it or glossed it over putting a ‘happy face spin’ on it all but she didn’t do that.  She talked about her thoughts & feelings & I always appreciate when someone is honest enough with themselves to write about how they really feel.  ‘Tell me your days aren’t perfect & I will understand & be your friend’.

 

REMEMBER THAT BROKEN WIND TURBINE BLADE LAST MONTH…..IT’S ALL FIXED UP NOW

LOTS OF INFRA-STRUCTURE GOING UNDER GROUND IN THESE HERE PARTS

Ok what was for supper on our first home alone night.  Well nothing really, when by myself I have a tendency to nibble my way through the day.  Some cold Pizza, some cold chicken fingers, a peanut butter & honey sandwich, bowl of porridge this morning, a bran muffin & a cold hotdog wiener along the way.  See, I’m no slouch in the kitchen eh:))

Kelly made it to Spencerport OK.  Here’s a couple travel reports she sent today……’St Catherines Ontario 11:50 for coffee. ‏ Missed the other Tim Hortons ): traffic ok so far. Half hour of rain Woodstock area”…………..Arrived, 6 hrs. incld. 3 stops.  ($17.75 gas at Smokin Joes) thank goodness for A/C.  Border very easy..... 4 cars ahead of me..... all he asked was..."what was the purpose of your trip to Canada?   I just said oh I live there .

GROANER’S CORNER:))  One of tonight’s groaners comes in the form of a reader’s comment on my Monday night post.  Craig says……….Your barn pictures are wonderful.  Do you have any castles in Ontario, or perhaps immigrant nobility from Europe? If so, you could take some pictures of such/their properties, and intermix them with your barn pictures. Then you could call the resulting collection "Barns and Noble" :-)

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My friend, the manager of a grocery store, nabbed a shoplifter in the act. He was escorting the suspect to the office in the front of the store (near the cash registers), when the shoplifter broke from his grip and tried to run.  After a scuffle, my friend pinned him against the wall and looked up to see a number of surprised customers staring at him.  "Everything's fine, folks," he reassured them. "This guy just tried to go through the express line with more than ten items."

BACK TO THE HULLETT-MARSH, A TUNA SUB, WAITING FOR A STORM, & LOTS OF RAIN TONIGHT

With our 5 day weather forecast calling for lots of rain this week Pheebs was anxious to head out for a Jeep ride this morning.  Of course I never have to be coaxed when it comes to a country cruise so we were in the Jeep heading for the HULLETT-MARSH well before 9 a.m.  Noticed a normally blocked road unblocked so we headed ourselves about half a mile in to where it ended at an old iron bridge.  Had ourselves a walk from there hoping to see some wildlife but only a Great Blue Heron about a quarter mile away was close enough for a single long range photo.

With another heat advisory out today our morning heated up fast so our walk was again cut short as we retreated back to the Jeep.  As long as we were moving with the windows down this morning we were alright up to about 11 a.m. when we were forced to crank the windows up & kick on the A/C.  Goderich was on our return route so we stopped into Subway for a Tuna sub.   Think it's been over a month since Pheebs & I last split a Sub.  We were home shortly after noon & spent the rest of the day inside out of the heat.  Temps are due to begin dropping Tuesday & be down into the mid 60's by Wednesday.  Bonus:)) 

A YELLOWING BEAN FIELD & A BLUE JAY ALONG THE WAY

Scrambled myself up another selection of barn photos this morning & have already uploaded them to my OLD BARNS, A FEW NEWER ONES, & SOME SHEDS ALONG THE WAY.  Think that brings me up to somewhere around 800 barns now.

 

THE HULLETT-MARSH IS MADE UP OF A SERIES OF BERMS/DYKES WITH LARGE BODIES OF SHALLOW MARSHLAND BETWEEN THEM…..TOPS OF THE BERMS ACT AS A NATURAL PLATFORM FOR PHOTOGRAPHING WILDLIFE OUT IN THE SURROUNDING WETLANDS

A MOWER WAS RECENTLY PURCHASED TO MOW THE TOPS OF THESE BERMS MAKING FOR EXCELLENT WALKING & HIKING…..PROBABLY BICYCLING AS WELL FOR THOSE SO INCLINED

JUST REMEMBERED SOMEONE INQUIRING AS TO WHERE THE ROADS LEADING INTO THE HIKING AREAS WERE SO WILL WORK ON THAT INFO OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS

ONE OF TWO OLD IRON BRIDGES IN THE HULLETT MARSH

YOU CAN EVEN SEE THE SHADOW COWBOY STANDING ON THE BRIDGE SPANNING ONE OF HULLETT’S WATERWAYS

I'm a little worried about my favorite Nikkor 75-300mm lens.  Up until a few days ago it has worked flawlessly.  Bought this lens new slightly over 5 years ago but it has developed an occasionally noisy shudder/vibration when trying to auto focus.  Sometimes just a manual turn of the zooming section will cause it to shudder.  I suspect a focusing motor problem.  Guess I had better dash off an email to Henry's Camera Center in London.  I do have a back-up 55-200mm Nikkor lens but it's just not the same as my favorite 75 to 300 lens.

 

THIS ONCE WORKING WINDMILL IS LOCATED ABOUT A MILE EAST OF OUR PLACE AT THE WINDMILL LAKE WAKE & ECO PARK WHERE I TOOK SATURDAYS WAKEBOARDING PHOTOS

Liked Kevin & Ruth's post titled, 'Photo editing, and how we do it'.  I am in total agreement with their thoughts on the importance of photo editing & in part left this comment....."Unless one is planning to make a living selling their photos one does not need an expensive complicated photo program.   For anyone taking any kind of photos a photo editing program is not only a must but it is the photographers best friend. I think for most of us we try to put our best foot forward by taking pride in what we photograph & what we write. Just as I would not publish foul language in my post I would also not publish crappy photos. I think we not only owe that to ourselves but we owe that to all the fine folks reading our blogs as well".

I’LL BET SHE’S THINKING “I HOPE DAD STOPS AT THE SUB SHOP TODAY

YEP HERE WE ARE SHARING A TUNA SUB AN HOUR LATER:))

In my recliner with laptop on lap about 4 this afternoon I heard the rumble of thunder.  Looked out the window & the sun was shining.  Oh-Oh!!  A quick look at our ‘real time Exeter radar showed a sharp band of thunderstorms heading across the lake & the North-eastern point of that band had already reached Goderich.  Not wanting to miss out on some great storm photos like I did a couple months ago I grabbed my cameras & headed for Bayfield’s Pioneer Park overlooking Lake Huron.  Lots of picnickers & nobody seemed too concerned about the darkening skies & rumbles of thunder.  I could see the storm was veering north towards Goderich & after maybe 20 minutes our skies turned a blank white & started to rain.  And that’s all there was to that.  Darn!!

THIS WAS ABOUT AS DARK AS IT GOT WITH GODERICH BEING WAY OFF TO THE RIGHT UP THE LAKE ABOUT 13 MILES

LOOKING NORTH UP THE SHORE TOWARDS GODERICH WHERE THE THUNDER WAS COMING FROM

 

A SAILBOAT SCURRIES FOR SAFE HARBOR 

Weather permitting Kelly thinks she will head for Spencerport in the morning.  Right now at 7 p.m. it’s raining like nuts here in Bayfield so we’ll see what the morning brings.  She was busy tonight giving me a lesson on how the toaster oven worked & 112 other things husbands home alone are supposed to know about.  Like I said before, I’ve got my Cheerios, Peanut Butter & Honey so no worries.  Oh & I do my own laundry all the time anyway:))

THOUGHT THIS WAS KINDA CUTE TODAY

Well here we are at September 7th already & Labor Day is once again behind us for another year.  In the morning Kids will be trooping back to school & school buses will again be plying rural roads picking up young students. A month from now our forests will be ablaze with fiery Autumn colors & our Canadian Thanksgiving will be hard upon us.  For Kelly & I right now it is the early beginning of hustle time as we begin to ramp things up for our southern departure in 6 weeks.  A few Doctor appointments to get out of the way, some garage appointments for vehicles & a couple other dozen things as we make our way through the lists.  And here's the best part, it all happens during my very much most favorite time of the entire year.  Autumn has always been a time of magic in this little Boy’s heart:))

Here is a Live Writer album of a few school bus shelters I have been collecting along the way.  With rain overnight they may be a welcome shelter for many a wee tot waiting for that big yellow school bus coming down the road.  Notice the window in this one so kids can watch for the bus on stormy winter days.  And did you know both Kelly & I once drove those big yellow school buses for a few years.  Yep it’s true………………:))

COUNTRY KID'S SCHOOL BUS SHELTERS VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I recommend viewing the photos in the slideshow format.  Open the album then double click the first photo.  Screen appears with photo enlarged against a black background.  Move your mouse around a bit & look to the top left corner to where it says ‘Play slide show’.  Click on that & away you go:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( I was ill and my husband volunteered to go to the supermarket for me. I sent him off with a carefully numbered list of seven items.  He returned shortly, very proud of himself, and proceeded to unpack the grocery bags. He had one bag of sugar, two cartons of eggs, three hams, four boxes of detergent, five boxes of crackers, six eggplants, and seven green peppers.

WRAPPING UP OUR HOLIDAY WEEK-END AS THE FAMILIES HEAD HOME

SATURDAY NIGHT SUPPER AT THE DOCK’S RESTAURANT  (OK THAT’S IT I’M GONNA GO GET A PERMANENT SMILE TATTOOED ON MY FACE)

A little bit of a mix-up in dinner reservations at the Docks Saturday night had Kelly & I there about 30 minutes before the rest of the gang made it so it kind of turned out to be an eventual 2 hours sitting on a hard wooden chair in a very noisy atmosphere.  Being a long week-end the place was packed & being a Saturday night I think people were a little louder & animated than usual.  Not my kind of atmosphere anymore but everyone enjoyed themselves & I think everybody liked their meals including me.

THE DOCKS RESTAURANT

 

OUTDOOR PATIO OVERLOOKS THE HARBOR

 

 

ALWAYS A BUSY PLACE

  

BOTH PICS SLIGHTLY OUT OF FOCUS BUT I PUT THEM IN ANYWAY

GOOD PLAN….NEXT TIME WE GO OUT TO EAT SOMEWHERE I’M GONNA TAKE MY LAPTOP TOO

 

UPON LEAVING THE DOCKS LITTLE ELLA DECIDED TO GIVE US HER VERSION OF THE THE MACARENA

 

AND A BIT OF KIBITZING OVER IN THE McGRATH CAMP AS WELL

Following our time at the Docks we all slipped over to the ASHWOOD where the boys had a swim in the salt water pool.  Derek had bought half a dozen cup cakes for 9 people so it turned out to be quite a tussle to see who got what.  In the end it was survival of the fattest so you know I got my share of the cupcakes.

NICE INDOOR SALTWATER POOL AT THE ASHWOOD INN

Sunday morning dawned hot, humid, & sunny.  The gang headed out for breakfast at RENEGADES RESTAURANT but I opted out of that one staying home with Pheebs enjoying some welcome peace & quite.  Besides I had already made myself a big bowl of porridge:))

KELLY GIVES ELLA A FEW TIPS ON MOTORHOME DRIVING AS PHEEBS LOOKS AT KELLY THINKING ‘HEY WAIT A MINUTE’

ELLA CHECKS OUT THE HORN…..’WONK WONK’

HOW DID YOU SAY I BACK THIS THING UP AGAIN??

OK BOYS & GIRLS TAKE YOUR SEATS & FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS PLEASE

HANG ON  FOLKS HERE WE GO…………………..

Before heading to the beach then home Sabra, Derek, Keenan, & Langdon dropped around to have a look at the 128 pic slide show I had put together for them of their wakeboard adventures Saturday.  Rebecca, Ricardo, & little Ella after spending some time at the Deer Park Lodge beach brought Ella over later while they themselves headed into Bayfield to browse some shops & take a drive around to see all the cozy homes tucked & nestled away in their own unique settings.  Bayfield still retains it’s old fishing village charm. 

THAT LITTLE ELLA SURE IS A CUTIE PATOOTIE

It was nice to see everyone & get caught up on everything.  They are very busy & active families & it really makes Kelly & I appreciate our overall quiet lifestyle hidden away here in our countryside forest close to the ever beautiful shores of Lake Huron…………………

GROANER’S CORNER:(( I was waiting on some customers at the shoe store where I work when I was interrupted by a very determined woman. Pointing to a sneaker made by Reebok, she asked, "Do you have this in a Nike?"

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A man walks into a shoe store and tries on a pair of shoes.  "How do they feel?" asks the sales clerk.  "Well ...they feel a bit tight," replies the man.  The assistant promptly bends down and has a look at the shoes and the mans feet. "Try pulling the tongue out," offers the clerk.  Theyth sthill feelth a bith tighth," he replied