JUST ME IN THE SUBARU TO DOWNTOWN LONDON AND BACK

A sliver of sunlight at sunrise and that was it for the day.  But, that was okay because at least it was above freezing and it wasn't raining, snowing, or blowing.  It was a drive into Bayfield this morning for Pheebs with a couple of stops thrown in at Foodland for apples.  Our second stop was at the Porters Hill Wild Bird Seed Company for a couple 20-pound bags of birdseed.  And yes, all of our birds are back at the feeders again:))

With a few ongoing camera issues, I hopped into the Subaru this afternoon and drove over to downtown London's Camera Canada store.  I had never been there before.  Nice store and I found them very helpful.  It was a great drive there and back with most of the way under sunny skies.  And yes, I even had the sunroof open for a few miles.  Why?? Because I could.  And I'm sure I was much warmer than the four motorcyclists I saw go by on their Harleygators.  

A Blast From Our Past:: It was January 31st, 2012 and we were boondocked at the infamous Slab City (The Slabs) near Nyland, California.  We were here to see Solar Mike and have a solar problem looked at on our 2002 Damon Challenger Class A Motorhome. I Think I Could Easily Become A Slabber Some Day           

 THAT'S OUR RIG AND JEEP OUT THERE....OVER THE YEARS WE WERE PROBABLY HERE A HALF DOZEN TIMES FOR SOLAR INSTALLATIONS, ETC

 HEADING SOUTH ON CLARENCE STREET IN DOWNTOWN LONDON THIS AFTERNOON

Al's Music Box:(( Big Iron is a country ballad written and performed by Marty Robbins, originally released as an album track on Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs in September 1959, then as a single in February 1960 with the song "Saddle Tramp" as the B-side single. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.  It tells the story of an Arizona Ranger's duel with a 24-year-old outlaw named Texas Red in the "town of Agua Fria." The townspeople predict the death of the ranger; an unconcerned Texas Red having already killed "one and nineteen" men, but at the moment they meet, the ranger kills Texas Red with the "big iron on his hip." The ranger's draw was so swift, that Texas Red had not even "cleared leather," killing the outlaw in one shot.  

GROANER'S CORNER:((  An American businessman goes to Japan on a business trip. He hates Japanese food, so he asks the concierge at his hotel if there is any place where he can get a pizza.  The concierge tells him he will call for delivery to his room and takes his order.  Thirty minutes later, the delivery guy shows up. The businessman takes the pizza and starts sneezing uncontrollably.  He asks the delivery man, What the heck did you put on this pizza?  The delivery man bows deeply and says, Just what you ordered -- pepper only.

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- To the person who stole my glasses.  I will find you, I have contacts.

- “To be old and wise, you need to first be young and stupid.”

- “Somedays you eat salad and work out. Somedays you have cupcakes and pizza. It’s called balance.

- “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

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FIRMING UP A FEW WINNEBAGO RENOVATION PLANS

MOVED THE RIG'S FRONT END INTO THE SHADE SO I COULD WASH AND WAX THE CAB

Well, I sure had myself in a great big huge ker-fuffle Sunday night seconds after publishing my blog and only seeing part  of my post go public.  What I didn't see were the words 'Read More' at the bottom left.  I thought that 'Read More' was an option and had seen it on a few other people's posts but I myself had not chose that option.  It was Kelly who noticed those two words and peeled me off the ceiling.  I was convinced I had totally lost about 90% of my post.  I suspect I may have accidentally clicked on an icon called a 'jump break line' and that's what did it.  I have long time Blogger and RV friend Donna B McNicol to thank for cluing me in on that.  But also, I think there may be shenanigans going on with Google again because I later noticed my 'new' Blogger Dashboard had 'partially' reverted back to the old Dashboard and I had nothing to do with that.  The dashboard I have now is a combination of old and new Blogger.  I like it and hope they keep it.  No more changes please, it's hard on us older folks!!

I ENDED THE DAY WITH ONLY 4 PHOTOS....THAT MUST BE SOME KIND OF RECORD FOR ME

I welcomed the lower 63F temperature this morning.  Didn't even mind it being cloudy as Pheebs and I cruised around the countryside not far from home.  This coolness is only a short reprieve before the miserableness returns in a few days.

AND YES I USED MEGUIRES WAX

We fired up the rig shortly before 10 and headed a short distance over to Richard and Gayle's place to show them the Winniegator.  Being RV'ers themselves and being a very knowledgeable vehicle person I always welcome Richard's thoughts, ideas, and opinions.  With his engineering mind he always has ideas on how to improve things and his work and craftsmanship is second to none.  By the time we left three and a half hours later we had lots of ideas and a solid plan worked out.  More about that as we move forward with the renovations:))  Oh, and a couple reader's questions to be answered.....Doug in a comment a few days ago wondered if we would be heading to Solar Mike's in Slab City California to have another solar system installed and the answer to that is 'probably not'.  Doris in a comment asked what I used to wash the rig's roof Sunday.  A simple answer here, bucket of water with dish soap added.  Used a good long handled scrub brush too.

TOMORROW (COOL WEATHER PERMITTING) I WILL BEGIN THE CLEAN-UP ON THE FIBREGLASS COACH PART OF THE RV

Groaner's Corner:((  Probabilities::

- Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you.

- Just when you get going, someone injects a dose of reality with a large needle.
- Just when you get really good at something, you don't need to do it anymore.
- Just when you think you've won the rat race, along come faster rats.  

- Knowledge based on external evidence is unreliable.
- Laziness is the mother of nine inventions out of ten.
- Leakproof seals will.
- Learn to be sincere. Even if you have to fake it.
- Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
- Leftover nuts never match leftover bolts.

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ENERGIZED BY THIS MORNING’S BLUE SKIES AND SUNSHINE

AUTUMNS GOLDEN GLOW IS IN THE AIR

And yes we remembered to turn our clocks back last night.  Stepping out with Pheebs shortly after 5 a.m. this morning I was encouraged to see a myriad of twinkling diamonds peeking through the needled green limbs of our tall pine trees.  It was a most welcome start to a soon to be clear sunny day for a change.  Well half a day anyway.

Bolstered by this morning’s sunrise Pheebs and I headed east over to the Hullett Marsh but once again there were too many hunters banging away so walking anywhere was not an option.  I am so grateful I did not grow up with an interest in hunting.

I STILL THINK AUTUMN BRINGS OUT THE VERY BEST RIGHT HERE ON OUR OWN LITTLE STREET

Wandered around half a dozen country roads on the way home taking a few pics along the way.  It was so nice to see blue skies and sunshine and I tried to take in as much of it as I could while it lasted which as it turned out wasn’t long.

WIND AND RAIN HAS BROUGHT DOWN A LOT OF LEAVES THESE PAST FEW DAYS

 

We were back home by 10 and being both mentally and physically energized by the morning’s sun I got myself right into some yard work.  Had brought home a clump of straw to put in the center of the front yard frog pond.  It will provide shelter for a few of the frogs I didn’t catch for release in the Parks larger pond.  The frogs now have a place to burrow into the mud and sand under the straw.  I had put a generous helping of sand in the same spot back in late September.  Also repositioned the pump to keep a section of the pond’s surface water moving through the winter.  I then rigged up a cover for two thirds of the pond that should protect the 3 Goldfish in there too.  Both Kelly and I worked away at trimming back and cutting out old leaves and stalks in the flower beds.  Always a good feeling to accomplish something that needs accomplishing.

IN THE PROCESS OF COVERING UP MOST OF OUR FRONT YARD POND FOR THE WINTER

NO THOSE ARE NOT REAL FROGS

Unfortunately our nice day didn’t stick around and by mid afternoon we were once again back under a heavy cloud cover with cold damp temperatures.  Rain predicted for the next 3 days.

 

We did talk over various ideas of different ways to return to the Southwest a couple days ago but none of the ideas we discussed gained any altitude.  Maybe rent a house in Ajo or someplace for a month and drive the Jeep down.  Nawww, that didn’t light our fire.  Fly down??  Nope, no interest in doing that and besides we would never put Pheebs into a crate in the belly of an airplane.  Get ourselves a smaller RV and mainly stay in RV Parks.  The smaller RV remains a possible option for us but RV Parks do not!! 

Neither one of us has changed our minds about RV Parks since our first couple months on the road back in the Fall of 2006.  On our way to the Southwest that year we stayed in maybe half a dozen RV Parks along the way and we weren’t long in deciding that if that was the way we had to travel then we might as well pack in the whole RV thing.  Fortunately we had an option and after switching from a truck and 5th wheel in the Spring of 2007 to a Motorhome we didn’t waste any time in the Fall of 07 getting ourselves to California’s Slab City where we had a solar system installed at The Sun Works by Solar Mike himself.  And from that day on we never looked back as we stepped into the wonderful world of boondocking freedom.  If you type the word ‘boondocking’ into the Search bar at the top of my blogs right hand column you will get a whole host of posts I’ve written over these past dozen years with paragraphs here and there about my thoughts on boondocking as well as photos of our many boondocking sites especially in Arizona and California……………………….

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A man suffered a serious heart attack and had bypass surgery. He awakened to find himself in the care of nuns at a Catholic hospital. As he was recovering, a nun asked how he was going to pay the bill. He replied, in a raspy voice, "No health insurance." The nun asked if he had money in the bank. He replied, "No money in the bank." The nun asked, "Do you have a relative who could help you?"He said, "Just a spinster sister, who is a nun." The nun, slightly perturbed, said, "Nuns are not spinsters! Nuns are married to God." The patient replied, "Then send the bill to my brother-in-law."

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Q. Why is it so hard for women to find men that are sensitive, caring, and good-looking? A. Because those men already have boyfriends.

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Because our new refrigerator was taller than our old one, I told my wife I'd have to cut away part of an overhanging cabinet to make it fit.  Not wanting to mess it up, I called a local radio home-fix-it program for advice.  I was in the middle of getting the instructions when my wife burst into the room.'You won't believe this,' she said, 'but there's a guy on the radio with the same problem!'

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NICE MORNING FOR A WALK IN THE FOREST

Jeep’s been getting a wee bit noisier so figured Pheebs and I would stop into a muffler shop in Goderich and have it checked out.  Even before we reached Goderich I felt a Grinch pinch in my wallet and decided to put it off until the Jeep reaches about the same decibel level as a Harley.  I did however make an appointment at ‘Canadian Tire’ to have it undercoated later this week.  Checked on-line to see which rust proofing company has the best reviews and decided on Corrosion Free Zone which happens to be at Canadian Tire.  With the heavy salting of winter roads here in snow country vehicles need all the protection from the metal eating salt they can get.  Road salt just absolutely reeks havoc on vehicles where roads are heavily salted.  Jeep goes in Wednesday afternoon. 

WE SLIPPED THROUGH THE PICTURESQUE MAITLAND VALLEY CEMETERY ON OUR WAY TO A TRAIL HEAD

Been awhile since Pheebs and I have walked a forest trail in the area so we didn’t waste any time driving ourselves out to the far end of Goderich’s Maitland Valley Cemetery where a trailhead begins near the Maitland River.  My legs have basically turned to mush this past month so it felt good to get them out walking again this morning.

 

THAT’S QUITE THE LITTLE BRIDGE DOWN THERE

WE HAD A CLOSE CALL WHEN THIS BLACK FIREWOOD LIZARD SUDDENLY LEAPED OUT AT US:))

So nice to see sunshine and blue skies today.  With weather being as it has been lately it is a real treat indeed to see open blue skies overhead. 

 

Despite the beautiful Autumn day I couldn’t seem to rustle up the energy to get myself outside and tackle a number of things on my ‘to-do’ list.  Must have worn myself out on our walk this morning.  Oh well there is still time left with a few nice days ahead before winter sets in.  I remember last November as being absolutely beautiful which was so unnatural for the usually cold, sullen, and gray wet days November is so well known for.

A CLUSTER OF MUSHROOMS ALONGSIDE THE TRAIL

Ever wonder why things go wrong at the most inopportune times!!  Well I was wondering about that last Friday afternoon when Dee and Mike were here to look at our Motorhome.  I wanted to show Mike how easily the top part of our rig’s dash lifts up making all the instruments like speedometer, radio, and back-up camera etc. conveniently accessible.  Nope, nosireeee would that dash lift up for me!!  Later after coffee and apple fritters we decided to take the rig for a drive.  Never since we’ve had the Motorhome has either of the two slides ever failed to come in or go out.  Yup, the living room slide stopped halfway in and we had no power to bring it any further.  Well, this one was explainable because it was my fault.  With a number of cloudy days behind us I should have fired up the generator to charge up the solar batteries but of course my mind was not smart enough to remind me of that Friday morning.  Add to that the fact I had left all the bin lights on for about 4 hours plus a table lamp inside.  Even the engine battery was down.  Had to fire up the generator for a few minutes to charge the batteries enough to start the coach and also bring the slide all the way in.  Embarrassing.   So then we go for a drive and after a few minutes Dee says, ‘what’s that red light on the dash’??  I look down and sure enough the engine light is on.  ‘WHAT!!  I couldn’t believe it.  I was about ready to throw myself out the window.  The engine icon light wasn’t flashing so I knew it wasn’t serious.  But still!!  Mike drove back and the light stayed on so I’ll have to run it into the Bayfield Garage and see what that is all about.  Maybe they can explain why the ‘ABS’ light is sometimes on as well.  But talk about frustrating!!  Just when one is trying to put their best foot forward their shoe falls off.  Despite those embarrassing flukes Dee and Mike were still interested in the coach.

A LOCAL READER SENT THIS IN VIA EMAIL TODAY SO MAYBE PHEEBS AND I WILL DRIVE UP AROUND THAT WAY IN THE MORNING AND HAVE US A LOOK FOR THIS FELLER

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A man decided to paint the toilet while his wife was away. His wife came home sooner than he expected, used the toilet, and got the seat stuck to her rear. She was understandably distraught about this and asked her husband to drive her to the doctor. She put a large overcoat on to cover the seat before they went. When they got to the doctor's office, the man lifted his wife's coat to show him their predicament.The man asked, "Doctor, have you ever seen anything like this before?"  "Well, yes," the doctor replied, "but never framed."

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A man awoke one evening to discover prowlers in his storage shed. He immediately called 911, gave his address, to report the prowlers and possible burglary. The operator at the other end said "Are they in your house?" He said they were not, only in his storage shed in back of the house. The operator said there were no cars available at that time. He thanked the operator, hung up the phone and counted to 30 and called again. "I just called you about prowlers in my storage shed. Well you do not have to worry, as I just shot them all dead!" Within seconds there were 3 police cars, an ambulance and fire engine at the scene. After capturing the prowlers red-handed, the policeman asked the caller, "I thought you said you had shot them all!" The man answered, "I thought you said there were no police available!"

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