RESUMING MY MORNING YUKKY-YUMMY SHAKES.....MINI-STYLE

 THE AUSABLE RIVER AT THE McNAUGHTON-MORRISON TRAIL IN EXETER ONTARIO LATE THIS MORNING

A snowy drive into Bayfield this morning for Pheebs and I.  Had a couple things to pick up at Bayfield's Foodland and then it was over to the Porter's Hill Wild Bird Seed Company for 60 pounds of birdseed. (3 bags)  Hopefully, that will last until the end of the week, but more realistically to the end of March maybe.  We do have a hungry crew of Critters here.  

WARMING UP THE SUBARU IN OUR DRIVEWAY

A SNOWY ROAD LEADING TO BAYFIELD

 THE SHORE ICE ALONG BAYFIELD'S BEACH IS FROZEN OUT AS FAR AS ONE CAN SEE

 DEFINITELY A SNOWY MORNING

 A NEIGHBOR'S BENCH IN OUR PARK

Twas a snowy morning drive to Exeter and back for all three of us in the Subaru earlier today.  But, at least it was something different to do and someplace different to go for a change.  Every little bit helps at this dreary time of year.  Although snowing heavily at times at least it wasn't windy so the drive to Exeter was doable.  Not quite as quick as we usually go, but we got there anyway and dropped Kelly off in time for her 11:40 a.m. appointment.

 HERE COMES THE BOSS NOW

HEADING SOUTH ON PARR LINE TO EXETER

 FARMER'S WERE BUSY ALONG THE WAY PLOWING OUT THEIR LANEWAYS

Knowing it wouldn't be a long appointment, Pheebs and I slipped over to the McNaughton-Morrison Trail for a short shuffle in the snow before returning to the dental office parking lot.  We didn't have to wait long and Kelly was done.  She is now finely fitted with a lower partial plate that blends right in with her regular teeth.  Cue the flashy smile again:))  

From the Dentist's Office, we stopped at Exeter's A&W for two Buddy Burgers and two coffees to go.  The question has been asked again why we don't go through the drive-thru or why don't I go in to get the stuff.  Kelly doesn't like going through the drive-thru and prefers to go in herself to sometimes use the washroom, peruse the menu, and always check to make sure the coffee is fresh, the baking is not a day old, and the veggies for the sandwiches is not wilted.  She knows if she sends me in I'm likely to come back out with two cups of hot water and a donut I found on the floor........Not snowing as heavily on the way home and we pulled into our driveway about 1:30  Nice to have another appointment scratched off our sometimes lengthy list.

 PHEEBS IS TOTALLY FOCUSED ON THE A&W DOOR WAITING FOR MOM TO COME OUT WITH THE SNACKS

 'i THINK I SEE HER DAD'

 AND, HERE IS  MOM NOW:)))))

 ONE OF SEVERAL SNOWPLOWS WE SAW ON THE WAY HOME

 A FARMER CHECKS THE SNOWBLOWER ATTACHED TO HIS TRACTOR

Over the years I have posted many times about my Sounds Yukky-Tastes Yummy morning shakes.  I've been mixing these up and drinking them for about 25 years now, but not continuously.  I might drink them for 8 or 9 months or maybe a year and then switch to hot dogs for another half year or more.  This morning I started my morning shakes again (after a hiatus of about 9 months), but with a slight difference this time.  When Kelly's daughter Rebecca, husband Ricardo, and daughter Ella moved to Spain last Fall they couldn't take everything with them so Ricardo gave me his Magic Bullet Juice Blender.  Previously, I had been making my shakes in a big full-size regular blender and of course, as often as not, the volume of my shakes were generally too big but I drank them anyway.  With this Magic Bullet machine, it is like a mini-blender and is perfect for me.  So, after thinking about it for a while I decided a couple days ago to once again resume my 'yukky-yummy' shakes.  Here are the ingredients I have started off with this time.  Subject to change of course.  1 half scoop of vanilla Whey powder, a big dash of cinnamon, a few pinches of Quaker Oats, a healthy dollop of Vanilla low-fat Yogurt, 1 small apple, and a handful of mixed veggies.  Add to this one-third orange juice and top up with skim milk.  Ya I know.....sounds yukky but believe me, it tastes yummy:))

 I'M USING PACKAGED VEGGIES THIS TIME INSTEAD OF DRAGGING HOME BIG BUNCHES OF ROMAINE LETTUCE AND CELERY STOCKS

 YESIREEE, SOUNDS YUKKY BUT TO ME IT SURE TASTES YUMMY

Regarding our weather, I hesitate to call it a warming trend but at least we are slowly heading in the upward direction on the thermometer again and may even reach the freezing mark by next Tuesday.  Oh 'Wowzers'.  Snowing heavily again this afternoon but hey what the heck....at least I don't have to shovel our 5-car-sized driveway anymorne.  Weather permitting, we will head to Goderich Friday morning to see what we can find in the way of medical aids.  Lots of planning and organizing in these next three weeks.  Busy times and I see that as a good thing, especially at this time of year with its back-to-back seemingly long gray depressing days. 

Al's Music Box:((  Time Passages is a song by British singer-songwriter Al Stewart, released as a single in 1978. It was produced by Alan Parsons and is the title track of Stewart's 1978 album release. The familiar final line to the chorus is, "Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight".  The song describes the singer planning a trip home in late December (presumably for Christmas) and his nostalgic memories of the past.

 SEEN IN OUR PARK THIS MORNING

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Sign on the company bulletin board: “This firm requires no physical fitness program. Everyone gets enough exercise jumping to conclusions, flying off the handle, running down the boss, flogging dead horses, knifing friends in the back, dodging responsibility, and pushing their luck.”

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- “When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always found them.” 

- “If you are not yelling at your kids, you are not spending enough time with them.” 

 - “When your children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.” 

 - “If dogs could talk, it would take a lot of fun out of owning one.” 

- I hate it when I think I am buying organic vegetables and when I get home they're just regular donuts.

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TURN ME INTO A GREEN LEAF OR SOMETHING

 MORNING WALK

Being a sunny morning, Pheebs and I did get out for another walk and this time it was again at the Bayfield Cemetery.  Despite slippery ice under a skiff of fluffy snow, we walked the perimeter road without mishap.  Home again, and being my usual impatient self waiting for Mother Nature to begin melting a quarter-inch of fluffy snow, I fired up my snow shovel and dusted off my paths.  Solid ice underneath but I'll let the Mother of all Nature take care of that in her own good time.  I'm predicting we could get rid of a lot of ice and snow this coming week. 

 THE CEMETERY IS A NICE PLACE TO WALK WITH ALL IT'S BIG PINE TREES

 PHEEBS IS GOOD AT USING THE DOGGY STEPS NOW

It was an impulse thought I had Thursday morning while walking by Walmart's vegetable counter in Goderich.  Why not ramp up my morning shakes with some additional veggies.  What harm could it do I thought to myself.  Turn me into a green leaf or something.  So, with that thought in mind, I picked up a package of Brussel Sprouts and another package of Broccoli.  Along with my shakes other veggie ingredients of Romaine Lettuce, Celery, and Spinach, plus an apple, oatmeal, cinnamon, vanilla-flavored whey powder and skim milk it's quite a power drink I will have going on each morning.  Now, couple that with my morning vitamin pills of cod liver oil, wild salmon, and vitamins D&C I may very well soon have to break out my Superman suit.  I have been drinking these morning shakes on and off since about 1998.   Fifteen years ago I made a short video of me building one of them.  Ingredients were a bit different then but it's basically the same shake I make now.  Sounds Yukky-Tastes Yummy   After looking at this video, I'm thinking I am way overdue to make a new one.

 ALWAYS WITH HER NOSE TO THE GROUND CHECKING THE SMELLS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Some things to ponder as we age …………………

The inventor of the treadmill died at the age of 54 😳

The inventor of gymnastics died at the age of 57 😳

The world bodybuilding champion died at the age of 41 😳

The best soccer player in the world, Maradona, died at the age of 60 😔

And then …

KFC inventor died at 94 😊

Inventor of Nutella brand died at the age of 88 😊

Cigarette maker Winston died at the age of 102 😜

The inventor of opium died at the age of 116 in an earthquake 😜

Hennessy cognac, Irish inventor died at 98 😊

How did doctors come to the conclusion that exercise prolongs life?

The rabbit is always jumping, but it lives for only 2 years.

The turtle that doesn’t exercise at all, lives 400 years.

So …

Have a drink ..

Take a nap …

And if you wake up, have bacon and eggs.

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USING PAPER TOWELS TO CLEAN UP MY MESS

 OH DEAR, I HOPE THIS FELLA ISN'T THINKING OF JUMPING OFF THE BAYFIELD PIER

So who knew that spinach comes in frozen cubes.  Well, certainly not this guy but thanks to a good friend in Stratford I found that out when she left a Facebook comment about my Yummy-Yuck morning shakes.  I have been using spinach leaves.  As soon as I use up my pile of Popeye spinach I'll be heading off to Walmart to see if I can find me any of them there icy cubes.  And in a comment on my Monday post, a reader wondered about sugar in the orange juice I use.  The brand I buy is called 'Simply Orange' and it has a label on it saying 'No Sugar Added'.  Now we all know how deceiving labels like that can be but here's something interesting.  Up until a couple years ago, I'd be lucky if I drank two small glasses of orange juice a year.  And that's no exaggeration.  Now, I'm not sure exactly when and why it was that I glommed onto orange juice but it's my second favorite drink after skim milk. I easily drink a couple small glasses of orange juice a day now and I'm still maintaining my weight.  In fact, one of my favorite smoothie drinks is simply mixing orange juice and skim milk.  One-third milk and two-thirds orange juice.  Ya, Ya, I know....sounds yukky but guess what....it tastes yummy.  Well, at least to me it does.  However, I only drank one-third of my shake this morning.  And why is that you might ask?  Well, two-thirds of my shake ended up on the kitchen floor.  I had just poured my ingredients out of the blender into my plastic glass when I decided to move my one-cup coffee maker back into its place.  I did that and as I moved back my right elbow hit and tipped over my full veggie shake glass on the counter.  Quickly uprighting the glass with a sliver of my concoction left in the bottom, I promptly took my hand and scooped it along the countertop funneling what was left of my shake off the edge of the counter into my near-empty glass.  By doing that I retrieved a third of my shake. Well, I at least figured that was better than nothing.  I then used up a number of paper towels cleaning up the vomit-looking mess on the floor.  And that was how I sorta kinda started my day.  From that point on the Gremlins had me on the run. 

 OH GEEEZZZZ, NOW IT NOT ONLY SOUNDS YUKKY IT EVEN LOOKS YUKKY TOO

I could hear the wind roaring through our tall pine trees even before we had pulled back the living room curtains.  The wind made it sound very cold outside and if it were not for Pheebs pushing me out the door on days like this I would be tempted to just sink back even deeper into my recliner and just stay there for the rest of the day.  However, I am fortunate enough each and every day to have a furry little inspiration to get me up and on my way.

A FEW MORE CHRISTMASY FRONT PORCH DECORATIONS ALONG THE WAY THIS MORNING

Skies darkened enough this morning that our outside timer switched all our Christmas lights on.  Temperature today was 28F with a 15F wind chill factor and that did not make for a very enthusiastic outing.  We did slip into Bayfield for a drive down around the harbor, through the village, and then home again. 

 THIS MORNINGS' COLD WINTERY WEATHER DOESN'T SEEM TO BE BOTHERING THIS GUY

 DECISIONS DECISIONS 

 OH OH THERE HE GOES

 HE DISAPPEARED IN THE  ROUGH WAVES

 IT WAS ABOUT HERE WHEN I THOUGHT I MIGHT HAVE TO MAKE MY FIRST 911 CALL OF EVER.....BUT THEN.....I SAW A DARK SPECK AND ITS ALMOST DEAD CENTER IN THIS PHOTO

AND BY GOLLY THERE HE IS

 I GUESS HE'S GOING TO BE OKAY NOW:))

 I NOTICED THIS MORNING THEY HAVE PAINTED THE YELLOW CENTER LINE ON THE APPROACHES TO THE NEW BAYFIELD BRIDGE AS WELL AS ACROSS THE BRIDGE ITSELF....THOSE ORANGE TARPS ALONG THE SIDES OF THE BRIDGE PROBABLY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE BRIDGES RAILINGS

Okay, so how many of us are going to rush outside at the end of the day today to soak up that extra couple minutes of daylight as we finally begin our slow swing into winter's ever-lengthening days:))  Oh-Oh, but then they start getting shorter again two-thirds of the way through June:((   Now how's that for some up and down thinking a few days before Christmas eh.

 THESE GUYS SURE ARE KEEPING ME ON MY TOES

GROANER'S CORNER:((  It's almost 2022, I've been around several decades and I'm wore out, and I still have so many unanswered questions!!!! I haven’t found out who let the dogs out...where’s the beef...how to get to Sesame Street... why Dora doesn’t just use Google Maps...Why do all flavors of fruit loops taste exactly the same, or how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop......why eggs are packaged in a flimsy carton, but batteries are secured in plastic that’s tough as nails...what does the fox say... why “abbreviated” is such a long word; or why is there a D in ‘fridge’ but not in refrigerator... why lemon juice is made with artificial flavor yet dish-washing liquid is made with real lemons... why they sterilize the needle for lethal injections... and, why do you have to “put your two cents in” but it’s only a “penny for your thoughts” where’s that extra penny going to... why does The Alphabet Song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star have the same tune... why did you just try to sing those two previous songs... and just what exactly is Victoria’s secret? and where is Waldo?... Can you hear me now?...and do you really think I am this witty?? ... I actually got this from a friend, who stole it from her brother’s girlfriend’s, uncle’s cousin who lived next door to an old class mate’s mailman.

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