ME & QUEEN ELIZABETH (repeat)

A STORMY LAKE HURON

I've got a bit of a blog jam going on again so I'm going to reach back into my little sack of musty blogs & dust off a post I wrote about a year ago. I'm not sure but I may have posted it once since then too.........sorry for the repetition if I did:((

I think it was sometime in the mid fifties & I was probably ten years old or so when I first saw the Queen of England. It was a fleeting glimpse as she & the Prince of Whales passed by in an open car on William Street, Stratford Ontario Canada. But, I was sure she saw me. Afterall, I was a young 10 year old boy with a big imagination so why wouldn't she have seen me. The roadside was jammed with throngs of cheering people as far as I could see & the Queen of England had just become my friend. It would be another 45 years or so before the Queen & I would lay eyes on each other again.

Canadians will recall some of these next names.............
I remember seeing our then Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker when I was a small boy in public school. He stopped in the village of Tavistock Ontario where I grew up & gave a speech by the town's water fountain. I related this story to a friend of mine from Tavy & he said, well don't you remember Pierre Elliott Trudeau coming through town a few weeks later doing the same thing. Alas, I didn't.

In 1967/68 I was a doorman/car jockey at a then posh Tower Hill apartment building at the corners of St. Clair & Spadina Ave in Toronto. The president of the Canadian Cancer Society lived there & one night held a big entertainment function. Myself & another fellow doorman were at the big front glass doors as the limousines rolled up. We smartly stood at attention & swung open the doors for Princess Margaret & Lord Snowden. I remember how she glowed as she walked by with all her jewels on & how handsome Lord Snowden looked. Later that evening 4 of us had to move a heavy piano from a hallway into the suite where the party was going on because pianist Peter Duchin was playing. There was a Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player there that night as well but not sure who it was. Might have been Carl Brewer. MAX & CHECKERS LOVE SWIMMING IN THE LAKE

Sat at a table next to Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot in a little Halifax coffee house back in 1966. I was in the Navy at the time. His career was just in the process of revving up & he was playing there. I remember their table was pretty "lively!!" Saw him once more after that in concert at The Center In the Square in Kitchener, Ontario. I think it was sometime in the eighties.
Saw rompin Ronnie Hawkins at the Stratford Coliseum in the early 60's when he was a really wild & crazy guy. Some members of his band went on to form, "The Band" who in later years backed Bob Dylan.

While living in Stratford Ontario back in the 90's I drove for a company called, The Stratford Airporter taking people to & from Pearson International Airport in Toronto. I drove singer & harpist Loreena McKennit several times as well as another lady from a Canadian group called, Farmer's Daughter. Actors from the Stratford Shakespearian Festival frequently traveled as well. Bill Needles, Martha Henry & Rod Beattie were a few of the travelers. Rod Beattie later became well known for his Wingfield Farm series.Saw Johnny Cash & June Carter at Toronto's Ontario Place as well as Tina Turner & Cindy Lauper. Been to concerts in Toronto by, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, The Eagles, & Neil Young. Saw Roberta Flack on stage at the Festival theater in Stratford. Listened to Moe Kaufman playing, The Swinging Sheppard Blues in Stratford's Knox Church as well.

Back in the 70's & 80's there was a well known stage actress at the festival in Stratford by the name of Pat Galloway. Before moving to Bayfield in 02 I did a lot of grounds work for Pat & her husband Barnhard at their home near St. Marys Ontario. Really, really nice down to earth people. Fellow stage actors William Hutt, Douglas Chamberlain & Douglas Campbell would sometimes be there. In Pat's heyday we heard that there were some pretty lively parties on their estate with various in town Hollywood actors popping in. Oh yes, about me & Queen Elizabeth & our second meeting. I think it might have been in the summer of 1998. The Queen was in Stratford again & I heard she would be heading off to Woodstock, Ontario in early afternoon. I knew that I may never see her again so I hopped on my motorcycle & headed over to a spot out in the country along highway 59 just a few miles north of Hickson Ontario. Nice open spot & no throngs of people this time. Finally, the normal traffic going by ended. No cars at all. Waited & waited & then one car went by & few minutes another one followed a few minutes later by another one. This went on for about 5 minutes. Had I missed her?? Then I saw the convoy of cars coming fast. First one, two or three & then there she was & she was sitting by the back window on my side of the road. Light blue outfit with a matching blue hat. I was standing beside my motorcycle as I waved. No mistaking it this time, she looked right at me, but alas, there was no recognition in her eyes from 45 years before. Whoooooooosh, the car was by in seconds & she was gone.....................

And that was my little story of me & Queen Elizabeth:))

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A TOUGH TWO WHEEL DECISION

2002 HONDA SHADOW AERO 1100

I came across a ladies blog to-day & her June 9th entry caught my interest right away. She talks about something we animal lovers don't like to think about yet we know the day comes for all of us in dealing with the loss of a pet. Her site is called Nodin's Nest & it looks informative.......http://nodinsnest.blogspot.com/

In about 10 days summer will be officially upon us. Wished I could say we have had a lovely spring here in southwestern Ontario but it has been cool, cold, cloudy & damp. Fingers are crossed for a pleasantly warm summer.

Gas prices are on the rise again just like last year at this time so I imagine a lot of fellow RV snowbirds are beginning to get a little nervous about this upcoming winter's plans again. In this day & age making any kind of medium or long range plans about anything is like trying to figure out when mosquitoes will someday harass the first astronaught to play golf on the far side of Saturn's rings.

I have been wrestling with a decision for quite awhile now that keeps me flip flopping back & forth but lately I've been doing more flipping than flopping. My logical mind tells me that it doesn't make a lot of practical sense to keep something that is costing me about $45 a month for 12 months of the year when I am only able to use it comfortably for about 3 of those months and for at least 4 months of the year it cannot be used at all whatsoever. It is not an essential thing & I have actually been using it less & less every year. Of course I am talking about my motorcycle. Aside from the first couple of rides in the spring of every year the excitement & thrill of the ride has kind of gone out of it for me. There are so many other practical areas where insurance costs, license fees, & maintenance monies could be used. This is my third motorcycle & when it's gone I'm not under any illusion that there will be a fourth motorcycle in my life. What makes the decision harder is the fact that this motorcycle is a Honda which just about puts it at the top of the motorcycle quality list. A beautiful bike in tip top shape & a real joy to ride. But...............:((

My new eating habits are going very well & I'll be posting a weight on Monday morning. I have already noticed my legs are beginning to feel better & maybe, just maybe, I'll begin fitting into some of my other pants again in a few weeks. It would be great to get out of the same old fat guys clothes I've been wearing these past bunch of months. Looking for my Discman in a drawer the other day I came across some brand new underwear I had bought a year ago. Before re-checking the size I had opened the package only to discover they were too small. Stores don't like taking free-wheeling underwear back so I was stuck with them, or would they would have been stuck on me if I had tried to wear them. Figured at the time I might someday shrink into them. Hmmmmm, dya suppose there could come a time when a new underware celebration day will be in my future................................:))

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TAVISTOCK-SMALL TOWN SATURDAY NIGHT.....50 YEARS AGO!!

DAISY

In last night's blog I forgot to add a couple of links for, "The Sons Of The Pioneers."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sons_of_the_Pioneers
http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/sons_of_the_pioneers/bio.jhtml
To-morrow I'll continue my country CD theme with another favorite western singer of mine........Marty Robbins.

I was also reminded last night of another time in another place where western music was popular but I didn't like it because it was a time in my life when I considered it hick music & it reminded me of farm kids!! I was around 14 years old & figured Buddy Holly was a whole lot cooler than Hank Williams any day. Afterall, I lived in a small town which to me was almost a big city anyway & that country music stuff was for the local hayseed farmers & their tumble down barns out there in the country.

It was back in the late 50's & very early 60's that I was living in the little farming community village of Tavistock, Ontario Canada & times were a whole lot different from the way they are now. Especially on Saturday nights because that's when the farm guys rolled into town. Kind of like the old west when the cattlemen would ride into town on a Saturday night, hit the saloons & shoot up the bars.

Tavistock at the time had a population of around 1200 people with 3 grocery stores, a drug store that the grayhound bus even stopped at, 4 gas stations, couple hardware stores, a bank, 2 butcher shops, 2 bakeshops, a clothing store, a local newspaper, plus an assortment of other little shops & stores. The local restaurant & hang out was called Joe's Place & the 2 big booming hotels were called the Arlington & the Oxford. It was the Arlington & the Oxford that mainly contributed to the exciting & wild side of the Saturday nights.

It was a different world then with different ideals, ideas, morals, & ways of doing things. By late Saturday afternoon the local farmers, having finished up in the fields & barns, climbed into the tub for the Saturday night special, shined up their best boots, & slipped into their best jeans. With a clean shirt & some extra bucks in their pockets they loaded up the wife & kids in the car & headed into town for groceries, a stop at the hardware store, ice cream at Joes & a few beers at the Oxford. CLOVER

Saturday nights were alive with people on the streets. Cars lined the curbs on both sides. Groups of people standing on sidewalks talking & laughing. Like I said, it was a different world. Joe's Place was the hub for everyone from kids to grandparents. A large squared off horsehoe lunch counter with about 20 stools made for standing room only. Two bowling alleys in the back were action packed with thundering bowling balls & flying pins. Four pool tables in an adjoining room were never vacant with all available chairs on the sideline filled. Hank Williams, Hank Snow, & Eddie Arnold boomed out of the old jukebox at Pappa Joes. Tavistock on a Saturday night was alive....................and then came the entertainment.

It was the young farm guys with their Dad's car or their own jazzed up set of wheels that really livened things up. These were hard working kids who had spent the week out on the land in the hot sun, planting, ploughing, digging, tending cattle, up at the crack of dawn doing chores & just getting themselves wound up tighter than hot snare drum at a Gene Kruppa concert. By the time Saturday night rolled around these guys were headed for town......... & boy were they ever!!

It was usually the shrill sound of squealing car tires that first brought heads around to the fact that another night of action was underway. Late 40's & early 50's flat head Fords were popular as were the Chevy's & Dodges. Fender skirts, moons, wheel spinners, dice on the mirrors, whatever these farm kids could fancy up their cars with they did. Patsy Cline, Johnny Horton & Marty Robbins boomed out of their big single bass dash speaker car radios. The beer was in the trunk, the girls were in the passenger seats, & the cars were layin rubber up & down the main street. Like so many other small towns on a Saturday night in those days, Tavistock was alive!!

I was too young for a driver's license then & alcohol was hardly even a thought in my mind yet as I watched all the shenanigans from the sidelines. Four main roads & a street all converged in the center of town so all the cars racing around had to pass through that intersection over & over. On the south side of the street on one corner was an old store called Pepplars that had long since gone out of business. This was a favorite spot for my young friends & myself to sit & watch the goings on. From here we could keep an eye on both hotels & instantly spot the fights as they broke out later in the evening. Occassionally one of us would walk up the street to Joes Place to bring some pop back for everybody but I hated doing that because of the farm guys hanging around the doorway at Pappa Joes.

I was afraid of these guys because some of them were always spoiling for a fight. They were bigger, stronger, & older. With a few beers or a quick coke under their belts they were looking to make a name for themselves by pounding out some of the sissy town kids. I got pushed around a few times & knocked to the sidewalk once so I had a real dis-like for these farm guys & their dorky hayseed country music but I sure envied them roaring around town in their souped up cars. With big rumbling duel exhausts, windshield visors, wide whitewall tires, sexy looking girls, cigarettes in their mouths, sunglasses & long red scarves on the mirrors, these guys were cool. And seemingly no fear of authority whatsoever. They were the Blums, the Zehrs, Ramsyers, Rubys, the Benders, Baechlers, the Schmidts, & many more. They were our farming community. They were our young Saturday night buckaroos.

??

And the only authority in town at the time was an aging retired police officer with a single car & flashing red light. His name was Peter Grant but we all called him Peter Gunn. He was a good man & did his best to rein in the young bucks but there were just too many for him. By the time he got to where the squealing tires were, another fight had broken out in one of the hotels & by the time he got that under control in one hotel parking lot there were squealing tires & dust flying at the other hotel.

Yep, it was Saturday night in a small Ontario town about 50 years ago & I was there as Jim Reeves, Frankie Laine, & Johnny Cash laid down the treasury of memories that I would learn to love so much......................... many, many, years later:))

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MUSIC......MY ALL TIME FAVORITE THING:))

AZALEA FLOWER

Well, I'm sitting in the same place as I was last night at this time staring out the same window. My fingers are resting on the keyboard revved up & ready to go but the thought patterns just haven't come down from command central telling them just what to rev about or where to go. Last night's dripping rain has been replaced with rays of evening sunlight filtering down through the pine trees & my desk's timepiece has moved a full 24 hours ahead. Oh dear.....could another blog jam be upon me:(( PHLOX IN THE PINES

I may have blogged about this before but let me say a few words again about one of my favorite all time favorite loves....Music:)) There is not one single solitary thing in my entire life that has brought me more continuous pleasure than listening to music. I was reminded of that again this morning when I decided to put to-gether some new music CD's from my extensive Winamp media library. It's a library I began about 10 years ago when I downloaded my first tune from the internet. THIS & THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS WERE TAKEN IN THE AREA THAT "GHOST RIDERS" WAS WRITTEN ABOUT

The library has grown over the years to encompass the Big Band Era & all the popular music from the 50's right into the 90's. I have broken the music down into categories such as Rock & Roll, Blues, Old Country, Relaxation, Folk, & my current favorite over the past 8 years or so.....ambient. I even have a folder of favorite TV themes from long ago & add to that some old radio programs as well. It's quite a mixed bag of music but you won't find any opera, hip hop, religious, or rap, on my computer. HEADING WEST TO-WARDS DOUGLAS, ARIZONA

This morning I decided to re-do some old country CD's that I like to take along to the southwest in the winter. When we think of Roy Rogers we think of his Palomino horse trigger & his rootin tootin television show back in the 50's but Roy sang with a group called, "The Sons Of The Pioneers." I came across their music years ago when I first caught the southwest bug. To date I have 51 of their songs here on file. It's not only the cowboy stories of the old west but it's the harmonies in the voices that I find so hauntingly beautiful. Best version of, "Oh Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie" I've ever heard & it's one of my favs. In recent years I have also become a Hank Williams Sr fan so I was busy putting a CD to-gether with a bunch of Hank's tunes this morning as well. What makes these CD's especially meaningful for me is our winter trips through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, & California. To drive through & camp in the very areas & settings these songs were written about is something I always look forward too. In this world of harsh realities it is one of the few fanciful escapes I can relate to. Last winter we drove down a road through an area in southeastern Arizona where years later on June 5th, 1948 Stan Jones wrote the country classic, "Ghost Riders In The Sky." Words & pictures plus how Stan Jones was inspired to write that song can be found here............ http://deenotes.homestead.com/ghost.html Looking forward to returning to this area in October & November. Well, look at that..............for not having anything to say an hour ago it looks like command central finally managed to rev up the fingers enough to put a few paragraphs to-gether again & send another blog winging it's way to wherever these blogs wing their way to.................................:))

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A FELLOW BLOGGER LOOKS BACK ON HIS FIRST MONTH

MAYBE IF MY DAD LOSES ENOUGH WEIGHT WE CAN SHARE THE CHAIR:))

Well, here goes. It's Monday morning & my first weigh-in is 213 pounds. My plan is to do a weigh-in every Monday morning so we'll see how it goes. From the comments I've received it looks like this weight thingy is a common problem with other RV bloggers as well so maybe we can all work to-gether, drop the tonnage, & take a big load off good old Mother Earth.

Sitting here to-night trying to think of something to blog about I am reminded of another blogger's post which I read this morning. Rick is a new blogger & has been been at it for just one month now. You can read his thoughts on his first month here............
http://rickpaulettervjournal.blogspot.com/

Maybe it was our grey rainy day but it just seems like there is a lot of doom & gloom on the horizon again. (as if it ever left) I'm probably overloading myself with waaaaay too much television news these days so I had better button myself up before I dribble my attitude all over the keyboard again. No point in sitting here any longer staring blankly out the window watching the rain drip off the roof.....maybe something interesting will happen to-morrow..................Toodles:))

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IT'S A SEEMINGLY NEVER ENDING BATTLE!!

JUNE IS THE MONTH FOR PHLOX

WEIGHT!! If you have it you understand the problem & if you don't, consider yourself very, very, fortunate. HOPE MY DAD DOESN'T SEE ME SITTING HERE IN HIS CHAIR

I was always a skinny rib protruding teen-ager. Went into the navy back in the mid 60's at 135 pounds & came out a few years later at about 150. From there the weight war began & I have won & lost many battles ever since. Up & down like a roller coaster with the ups always lasting a lot longer than the downs. YEP, LOOKS LIKE A FROG POND AHEAD ALRIGHT

My Dad was a very heavy fellow yet his two brothers were smaller skinny guys & their Dad was not a big guy so I suspect my problem is inherited from my Dad. Bad eating habits!!!! My Dad had a physically active job with the Stratford Parks Department for many years so I don't think lack of exercise was the culprit. I used to tease my Dad about his weight sometimes & that has now come full circle back to bite me. Wherever your are........sorry Dad.

THESE FELLERS WERE SURE CROAKIN UP A STORM THIS MORNING

Last summer after a yearly medical check-up & looking every bit like the heavy side of Abbot & Costello I decided it was time to dump the weight again. Did really well for about 5 months. Changed my eating habits by getting rid of the peanut butter & honey, stopped eating all fried foods, cut the sweets by about 90% & overall just got a whole lot smarter about my eating habits. Wasn't long & the depleted energy levels began to come up, legs & knees became less tired & achy, the spring in my walk returned & I soon began feeling much better both mentally & physically.

By the middle of November I had lost 12 pounds which put me in the high 190's. Not good enough though & figured I still had about 20 pounds to go. No problem since we were about to head out for the southwest in the motorhome so was counting on the rigors of the road to keep that weight loss in a nose dive. Felt confident enough to buy myself one little itsy bitsy teensy weensy insignificant jar of peanut butter before we left. Well, you know what happened!!

A TINY VIOLET ALONG THE TRAIL

So here I now sit nearly 7 months later wallowing in my chair at nearly 215 pounds feeling every little bit like Jabba the Hut. That might be alright if I was 8 feet tall but at 5' 9" I have placed myself in harm's way once again. So....................to-morrow it begins anew as I gather the troops to-gether to once again do battle with my old arch enemy..........WEIGHT!! Figured if I posted my weight problem to the blog I might be able to embarrass myself enough to stick with it this time & you all know how many times I have embarrassed myself here on the blog over the past couple of years!! Wish me luck & NO cookies please..................:))

Spotted this on my Tweet Deck this morning...... If You Tube, Twitter, & Facebook merge the new site will be known as, "You Twit Face."

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IN OUR HOUSE I AM NOT THE TV REMOTE CONTROLL BOSS!!

Kelly made it home late this morning from her Mom & Dad's place in Spencerport New York OK. Her Dad's health is deteriorating rapidly & she said her departure this morning was very, very, sad. Said the only question asked at the border was whether she had any earth or plant material. She was also the only vehicle there so it pays to start your days early if you have any border crossing to do. I always hate those border crossings because I feel guilty. Nothing to feel guilty about but I just feel that way anyway. I'm aware that I always roll up to the gate with a big stupid look on my face like the cat that just swallowed a canary bird. When the border guard asks me where I'm from I'm always worried I'll blurt out Afghanistan or Iraq or something. Nerves can do that to people you know. I also have a bad habit of blurting out the truth at wrong moments too. When they ask how much money I have with me I'm libel to tell him I've got 36 cents in my left pants pocket & 2 Canadian Tire coupons in the glove compartment. Nerves can do that to people you know!! My planned photo excursion to the Grand Bend beach this afternoon didn't come off. I had taken a lady to Grand Bend in the mobility van to attend a wedding ceremony but when I headed down to have a look at the new beach complex there was just too much traffic & congestion & it looked like they are charging to park on the beach now too. I should have remembered what the Bend is like on a week-end in the summer. I sure enjoyed watching some great TV shows this past week while Kelly was away because in our house I am not the remote control boss. In fact I'm not even the television boss. I asked Kelly once if I could be television boss for a week & she said absolutely not!! She guards that TV remote with the tenacity of a bulldog. And she operates it like a super hyper computer tech kid on stellar steroids. She flies through those programming channels & menu buttons with the speed of light. Info screens flash before my eyes in staccato bursts leaving my glasses melted to the frames. I don't know how she can do all that stuff so fast & still understand what it is that she is doing so fast. On rare occasions where I have the TV remote in my hands it's all I can do just to switch from one channel to the next without having to worry about how I got there. How come women are always so darn smart anyway............... All of to-day's blog photos are on the 25 mile Ajo Mountain loop drive in the Organ Pipe National Monument south of Why, Arizona near the Mexican border. We have done this drive & hiked in these mountains 3 separate times so far & I'm looking forward to the day when we'll be back there for hike number 4:))

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SEEING WITH A PHOTOGRAPHER'S EYE

WHITE SANDS....ALAMOGORDO, NEW MEXICO

If you have a keen interest in photography you may see things a little differently than other people. FISHING ON MITRY LAKE.....YUMA, ARIZONA

I first noticed that years ago in the old 35mm film days when I developed an interest in photography. It didn't happen right away but after a few years I began to notice things that I had never paid much attention to before. I think it is just something that slowly works it's way into the subconscious mind. I became aware of colors & shapes & how they interacted with the environment. Maybe it's how an old fencepost leans into it's background or how the rusted color of an old hubcap stands out against the graying fender of an aging derelict car in an overgrown junk yard. Maybe it's big billowing cloud formations on a bright sunny day. Gathering storms take on a new beauty if you have a photographic eye. Bird formations overhead take on meaningful shapes & a cactus bloom backlit by the morning sun suddenly becomes an object of wonder. Long shadows stretch across landscapes as gentle winds ripple across resting ponds. It's a world of beauty we live in & we just have to open our eyes & minds to see. An interest in photography will greatly enhance that world for you. Let it become an unending source of inspiration as you scan the vistas around you in a subconscious or deliberate search for nature's bounties. AJO MOUNTAIN RANGE....ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT, ARIZONA

Some folks are able to take their photographic skills to a higher level than the rest of us & a fellow comes to mind that we met 2 years ago while boondocking near Why, Arizona. He is one of those dedicated photographers who is up before the sun most mornings & out there in the landscape with his equipment & photographic eye waiting for those first sleepy shades of sunlight to spill soft hues of pastel colors into the morning shadows. His name is Gordon Wolford & you can find his fine photographer's eye here.......... http://www.pbase.com/merriwolf/root Gordon also has his own website at....http://www.gordonwolford.com/home.htm & Gordon's wife Sandra chronicles their daily RV adventures here...... http://srmerrikinblog.blogspot.com/

GRAND CANYON'S NORTH RIM.....ARIZONA

Well, better go charge up my cameras because I'm off to Grand Bend to-morrow with the mobility van & while I have a 2 hour stop-over there maybe I can take my photographer's eye down to the new beach complex they are constructing & see what I can find...............................:))IN THE DEVIL'S GARDEN AT ARCHES NATIONAL PARK.......MOAB, UTAH

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GOTTA GET RID OF ALL DIS STUFF!!!!

I noticed last night when I was looking at our Feedjit Live Traffic Feed (bottom right of our blog) that someone in California had clicked on a photo I took a couple of years ago while hiking in Palm Canyon near Borrego Springs CA. Kelly & I were moving along a trail with our guide friend Butch when we heard some rocks tumble down up on a steep mountainside off to our right. Butch spotted mountain goats right away but I didn't see them at first. I zoomed in with my Nikon telephoto lens & snapped a picture of the area where Butch was pointing. When we got back to the rig later I downloaded my pictures & was able to enlarge the one above. It wasn't until then that I saw all the goats. So far I have counted 15 goats in this photo. There may be more in the picture that I haven't seen. (just had a problem with this picture enlarging big enough!!) I spent the morning in a frustrating attempt to clean up & organize one of our two garden sheds. We have accumulated soooooooo much STUFF over the years that it is just plain ridiculous. We not only have a ton of STUFF in our garden sheds but we've got STUFF in the house, under the house, in the carport storage area, up in the rafters, in a cartop carrier & just about every other place you can think of. I know we are not alone in this problem but that didn't help my attitude as I picked away at this & tried sorting that this morning. Nobody to blame but ourselves for dragging things home from thrift stores, garage sales, & discount stores over the years. Just too many bargains that couldn't be missed....ya right!! Add STUFF to that from my late Mother's house & my Uncles house when he moved into an assisted living facility. We have a brand new set of ladies downhill skis & boots that have never seen snow for example. Been hanging on to that STUFF for about 12 years now in case we take up skiing again. No, that isn't going to happen!! I've got about 40 open end wrenches of all sizes & shapes. Haven't had to use a wrench for anything in years but the brain says better keep them cause you just might need them.....I got one word for you brain......baloney!! Furnace filters for a furnace we don't even have. And light bulbs!! Got more light bulbs here than the whole city of Las Vegas has. And how about those old paint cans that have been sitting here for years freezing up & drying out every winter. A man just never knows when he might need a dab of paint you know.........baloney!! And would you believe we have STUFF that we don't even know we have. I know that when STUFF is moved......there is gonna be more STUFF behind it!! And more STUFF behind that!!!! And how did all these priceless little treasures we dragged home over the years slowly turn into STUFF. Well, the little treasures didn't change but we sure did. I think RVing has brought our heads around over the last couple of years & shown us the folly of our ways. When we are on the road traveling we get along just fine with whatever we have. With the limited space of an RV we have to tune ourselves into a different mindset. Less is better & we travel very light & lean. Many times while on the road we have remarked how silly it seems to have all that STUFF at home that we very rarely ever use. We always vow to take care of that problem as soon as we get home.....ya right!! Now, in defense of ourselves let me say this because there has been some definite progress on our part this past year. We are no longer dragging junk home. I have stopped reading the Canadian Tire Flyers searching for bargoons on things we may or may not need. Kelly isn't frequenting the scratch & dent stores anymore & she has curtailed her thrift store purchases to just about zero. I'm not in the garden centers anymore loading up on flowers, shrubs, & plants either. Basically we have that part of our new "light & lean" plan under control. We have stopped the flow of STUFF coming in. It is now up to us to implement step 2 which is getting all this existing STUFF going out. Say, anybody need a dozen screw drivers.............

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GUESS WE'RE JUST KIND OF AN ODD COUPLE

A LONE SEAGULL WINGS IT'S WAY ALONG THE BEACH TO-DAY

We were just heading out the driveway on our daily walk a couple weeks ago when our friend & neighbor Gayle came walking across the road with an envelope in her hand. As she approached us she said, "happy anniversary." For a few seconds neither Kelly or I knew what she meant & I figure the puzzled looks on our faces prompted Gayle to say, "it's your wedding anniversary isn't it?" Well, she was right & if it hadn't been for Gayle reminding us we would have blown right past the date again for another year. Needless to say we were both pretty red faced as we opened Gayles lovely hand made anniversary card. It is one of many she has remembered for us over the years. DEERPARK'S VOLLEYBALL COURTS AWAIT THE SUMMER'S GUESTS

I think most normal people remember birthdays, anniversaries, & special occasions but then again Kelly & I haven't been like most people. We're kind of an odd couple of sorts as far as mainstream goes. We did exchange cards & things when we first met but eventually got away from that figuring why spend money on expensive cards that only end up in a drawer or on a shelf collecting dust anyway. Besides, the Coutts-Hallmark card company was already a multi-million dollar enterprise so why give them any more money when we could use it ourselves!! Flowers never made a lot of sense to either one of us either. They were expensive one day & stone dead two days later. And besides, what a waste of a beautiful flower's life. We don't do gifts for Christmas or birthdays either. We just consider them ordinary days. Our monies are integrated & anything we buy like a TV, vehicle, toaster, garden rake, or whatever is considered a sharing gift. Well, something like that anyway. The concept works for us ok but probably not for a lot of people.

DEERPARK LODGE IS GETTING A NEW SET OF STAIRS TO THE BEACH THIS YEAR

Before we met, Kelly had led a very busy social & family life & never had a lot of time for herself. I came from a slightly less social life but was already beginning to tire of it so the timing was perfect for us to meet. Kelly had had enough of the social scene & I was feeling the same so after a couple of years going out to-gether we found ourselves an old abandoned farm house way out in the country with lots of wide open spaces & no social commitments. We just kind of happily disappeared from everything & everybody:)) I THINK THERE'S ENOUGH ROOM ON THAT LANDING FOR AN ICE CREAM SHOPPE

We worked hard on that old 2 story brick house to make it livable & ended up quietly staying there for nearly 7 years. I think it was this period of time that changed both of us forever. We knew there was no going back to city living for either one of us. Why drive to big noisy traffic congested cities to do things we weren't really interested in doing in the first place anyway. Our interests in social events just kind of faded away. Figured it made a whole lot of sense to do the things we wanted to do instead of what other people wanted us to do. As I mentioned before, both of us had spent many years doing the social thing & by the time we met we were both way overdue for a huge change in our lives. Fortunately we had the same interests, dreams, & desires. The old abandoned farm house & life in the country was only the beginning for us & it was here that the basis for our future RV dreams began to take shape. The stage was set for our many tranquil boondocking adventures ahead......................:))

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PLEASE, NO MORE RICE!!

OUR PRICKLY PEAR GARDEN

Blogging is so much easier when a person has interesting things to blog about & it is one of the big advantages of being out on the road traveling. New sights & sounds almost daily. New excitements & challenges. Seems the mind is much more alive too. These home routines become just that......routines. Not much to write about some days. A JUNE VISITOR IN OUR PRICKLY PEAR PATCH

Oh there are some pretty good rants I could get into but everytime I do that I feel kind of guilty for a couple days so don't ever ask me about......TV Evangelists!!!! FLOWERS AROUND THE FROG POND

Kelly will be in Spencerport New York for a couple more days so me & the guys are doing fine. I get to eat all the peanut butter sandwiches & bowls of Cheerios I want. I'm not one much for cooking. Oh I can cook stuff alright but I just choose not to. Seems like a lot of uninteresting work or something. Kelly does all the cooking because she enjoys it plus we kind of eat different things. And besides, she's a great cook. She likes that leafy green stuff & rice, etc. Had to finally tell her a few weeks ago........please, no more rice for me, I can't take it anymore. I have been trying to like rice ever since she made me start eating the darn stuff a few years ago. The only rice I ever met that I liked was rice pudding. I was raised on potatoes thank you very much. And I've never understood the connection between men & barbecuing. Why is that such a man's thing anyway. It's not like those slabs of meat on the grill are armed & dangerous or something. Kelly does a fine job on the barby. I wouldn't even know how to turn it on!! Guess I'm just not a food person. If we didn't have to eat to stay alive I probably wouldn't bother with it in the first place. No matter what place we go to when we're traveling I generally get the same thing. A burg & fries.....amen. LOTS OF JUNE GREENERY

It is now June which is the nicest month of the year as far as everything looking so lush & green. When we first moved here nearly 7 years ago there was no landscaping on this property & things looked pretty drab. I set out to grow a jungle around our place & it is now all coming to fruition. So nice to finally be enclosed by Mother Nature's greenery. But, it's almost a full time job for me now just keeping my very jungle from swallowing us up every 5 months of the year. But if ya got to get swallowed up....................it's a nice way to go:)) IRIS FLOWERS

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A FOLLOW UP TO LAST NIGHT'S BLOG

Rained all day so that put the damper on my gardening activities real quick. Even the 3 furry Amigos didn't want to go far this morning. Just ended up being one of those days for alternating between the computer & the television. Just as well though because I pulled a muscle in my right leg yesterday moving rocks around so to-day was a healing day.

Once again there was nothing to blog about to-day but I do have a follow up blog to last night's re-blog about my coffee cup. Shortly after posting that blog in September of 08 I had a visit from an old friend & co-worker. After she left, I wrote the following blog..................

Phone rang around noon this past Thursday & it was my old former Town & Country Boss, Marie, saying she was headed out our way & would I be home for a few minutes. "Sure," I said, "Come on over." Marie had been the very busy, dedicated, & very efficient dispatcher co-coordinator person at the company where I am still a part time mobility van driver. I used to be a full time driver there until we started going south for the winters & am now just part time in the spring, summer, & fall. Marie had been a great boss for the past 4 & a half years & we worked well to-gether. About 3 years ago Kelly & I gave Marie a big "Teamwork" coffee mug for Christmas & it always sat on her busy desk between daily coffee runs to the office's coffee machine. Back in the spring of this year Marie left Town & Country but we have kept in touch since then & it was nice of her to drop in. She has followed our Bayfield Bunch blog adventures over the past year & read the blog about me losing my old best coffee cup buddy a few weeks ago.

Before leaving last Thursday Marie reached into her purse & pulled out a very familiar looking coffee mug. It was the "Teamwork" mug Kelly & I had given her for Christmas years ago. She said, "and here's your newest best buddy." What a sweet thought from such a sweet person. I noticed a folded piece of paper in the mug but didn't open it until after Marie had left. I couldn't take a chance on getting all emotional you know, just in case there was something nice written on that piece of paper. We men have a bad habit of keeping up macho appearances sometimes & I'm sure no exception. Well, there was something nice written on that note & I have decided to share those thoughts...............Thanks Marie & I never even thought to give you a big hug:((

You can click the last 2 pics to enlarge them..........

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