IT WAS 3 YEARS AGO THIS APRIL THAT WE MADE THE BIG SWITCH

IT WAS ABOUT THIS POINT IN APRIL OF 2007 WE DECIDED WE HAD TO MAKE A CHANGE (Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, New Mexico)

Another cool rainy early spring day here so not a lot going on.  It was in April of 2007 that we made the switch from a truck & fifth wheel trailer to a motorhome & no I'm not going to bash back & forth about which is better because when it comes right down to the bottom line it just depends on the personal preferences & circumstances of each & every RV'er.

A PAIR OF CARDINALS DISCUSS THE RAINY WEATHER TODAY                        

For years we had often talked about which kind of RV we would get someday if the opportunity presented itself.  Well, in late summer of 06 that opportunity did present itself & we were off on our hunt.  Back & forth we went between motorhomes & 5'vers.  So many pros & cons.  So many preferences, desires, wants, & needs.  We certainly did not want to rush into anything & make any big mistakes so with that foremost in mind...... we rushed right out & made a big mistake.

CHECKERS IS HAPPY TO BE BACK ON HER FAVORITE COUCH AGAIN

 

Actually we only had a couple of months to find something before heading off to the southwest.  Friends of ours had a really nice exceptionally clean Silverado truck & Rockwood fifth wheel for sale & we of course were knocked out by the 'Wow' factor.  A deal was struck & we brought the truck & trailer home happy as a couple little ants in a sugar bowl.  Had some doubts about the lighter truck's ability to pull the trailer in the heavy mountain regions of the southwest so traded it in for a bigger GMC truck & were soon headed off down the road for the great American Southwest.

           

FIRST TRUCK & 5VER   -   SECOND TRUCK   (click on photos to enlarge)

I think it was in Columbus New Mexico on our way home about 2 months later when it finally became apparent to us that we may have made a wrong decision.  We slowly began to realize we had not clearly thought the whole RV vehicle thing through clearly enough.  Main concern was the 3 doggy guys.  They had to ride the many long tedious miles in the small seat behind the front seats so we constantly had dog breath breathing over our shoulders for miles & miles.  I had to build a ramp before we left to get the guys in & out & they were always crowded back there too.

TEACHING THE GUYS TO USE THE RAMP:))

ROCKHOUND STATE PARK, NEW MEXICO

Had to carry a separate generator in the back of the open truck & I didn't much care for having to wrestle with that thing all the time.  Not a lot of storage space in that fifth wheel compared to the motorhome we have now either.  And, I never did care for that hooking up procedure but I did prefer the manual leveler legs on the Rockwood compared to the troublesome hydraulic levelers we have on our Damon motorhome now.  And the fact we had to drive around in a big tight suspension pick up truck when we got to where we were going didn't impress me either.  Those trucks may be fine on smooth paved roads but get them out on the bumpy back roads of the desert & the ride is like an old lumber wagon with every bump trying to eject you through the roof.  I'm sure some guys think this is really cool but I am not one of them!!!!

TRUCK WAS COMFORTABLE AS LONG AS IT WASN'T ON A ROUGH ROAD (Darby Wells road west of Ajo AZ.)

Our 28' Rockwood was also known as an ultra lite which meant it didn't have the full insulation, etc that other 5th wheels have & this was made quite apparent to us in Columbus, New Mexico when the temps dropped below freezing & it snowed for a few days.   We just could not get warm inside that thing.  I think we had pretty much made up our minds by this time & on the way home that year we ran into heavy Michigan snow storms that promptly took care of any remaining doubts in our mind.  We picked up a lot of ice & slush on the trailer & the added weight made it buck like a rodeo bronco.  I couldn't even hold a cup of coffee steady in the cab.  By the time we pulled into our driveway in Bayfield the writing was on the wall.  We had made a poor first choice & were going to have to start all over again.

   

HAD TO USE A PROPANE TORCH & UN-THAW THE HITCH TO GET THE TRAILOR OFF THE TRUCK

We spent about a month running around looking at motorhomes in the area & reading reams of info on the internet.  Thought about a bigger Class C for a bit but we had already had a couple of those & decided a motorhome was a better way for us to go.  Looked at some more rigs in London & then I remembered seeing a fellow's place in Grand Bend with 5 or 6 motorhomes for sale, so that's where we headed.

WE WERE ORIGINALLY INTERESTED IN THE CENTER RIG WITH TWIN VERTICAL WINDOWS

We were impressed right off the bat with Ron Krauter at FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE.  Ron & his wife Jan are RV'er's themselves & spend their winter's in the southwest around Parker, Arizona.  Ron is extremely knowledgeable about RV's & the whole RV  lifestyle.  Looked at some coaches but Ron said to hold on because he was heading to Florida in a couple weeks & picking up a Damon Challenger 329 that he thought would be perfect for us, and he was right.... it was:))

 

TRADING IN THE TRUCK & TRAILER FOR THE MOTORHOME

                      

DRIVING THE BIG RIG HOME TO BAYFIELD FROM GRAND BEND ON APRIL 17TH, 2007

At 33' with the Workhorse Chassis & Chevy Vortec 8.1 gasoline engine it pulls our little Santa Fe effortlessly.  If it wasn't for the rear view camera we would never know it's there.  The dogs are much happier now with all the extra room while we are moving & I love all the extra space in the big storage bins.  And, it's much more fun to drive.  Another unexpected thing I like is the fewer gasoline stops on the road.  Much bigger gas tank than the truck so we can go greater distances without refueling.  Fighting with stupid gas pumps is one of my major pet peeves by the way & I'll blog about that in another post soon.

THE RIG HAS LANDED.....HOME SWEET HOME:))

Again, this post is not meant to ruffle any feathers in the ever ongoing debate between which is the better RV to have.  Like I said, it all boils down to each individual RV'er's wants & needs.  For us at this age & stage of our RVing life a motorhome works best for us.  In the  future, who knows.......maybe a tent & sleeping bag again.  Ya right!!!!

TONIGHT'S YUMMY SUPPER....Large flake oatmeal with a smattering of 5 grains granola thrown in.  Topped off with raisins, brown sugar & banana slices.  Skim milk finished off the masterpiece:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know that when the TV repairman got married the reception was excellent or that a cardboard belt would be a waist of paper.
But, not to worry because the little old woman who lived in a shoe wasn't the sole owner - there were strings attached.   And besides, when the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U C L A.  And, just in case you think I'm getting a little to smart alecky here, just keep in mind that those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.  Ok, & don't tell anyone about the dog who  gave birth to puppies near the road and was ticketed for littering.

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

BETTER TO HAVE RAIN THAN SNOW!!

RELAXING ON A RAINY DAY

Rained all night & the computer map shows we are in for a few rainy days.  That is totally acceptable compared to a year ago today when we had.....snow!!!!

View Full Album

IT WAS A SNOWY APRIL 6TH IN 2009

Often times traveling throughout the American southwest in the past few years we have come across places that we thought would be nice to live.   New Mexico, Arizona, & California come to mind.  New Mexico is probably the most cost effective while California is the most expensive.   For RV folks like ourselves who live in the harsher winter climates of the north it only makes sense to look for a more moderate year round climate further south & New Mexico would be the logical place to begin that search.  

THE GILA FOREST IN THE MIMBRES MOUNTAINS EAST OF SILVER CITY NEW MEXICO

We have always thought an ideal situation would be to live in northern New Mexico or Arizona during the hotter summer months & then spend the winter's a few miles away in the warmer south.  We saw some really nice pine forested areas east of Silver City in the Gila Forest area a couple of years ago that we liked.  It was just one of many regions we found interesting.   A short hop, skip, & a jump, to the warmer deserts of the low country for the winter months.  It would mean no more tedious long grueling drives two thirds of the way across the country just to get where we're going.  And, much easier access to all the northern States for summer travel.  Well, easier said than done of course but it is one of those pots of interest we keep on the back burner along with our southern British Columbia ideas.  It is these simmering pots that keep me positive about the future.  I always welcome the challenge of acceptable change.

WE OFTEN CHECK REAL ESTATE PRICES IN AREAS WE LIKE  (near Hillsboro New Mexico)

Our motorhome seems lonely these days sitting outside in it's  quiet spot beside our carport.  Once again this past winter it had been our warm cozy home every single day for over 5 months.  The hub of all night & day activities.  It moved us from one spot to another, kept us dry in the rain & secure in the wind.   Warmed us up on cold nights & cooled us off on warm days.  Our rig is an integral part of the Bayfield Bunch & I can't help but feel a little sad when I see it sitting out there all alone.  No barking dogs or talking people inside.  No early morning or after supper games of toys going on with the furry guys.  The satellite radio is silent & the black television screen remains off & strapped to the wall.  No awnings flapping in the wind or the sounds of flags dancing in a stiff afternoon breeze.   It sits in it's dormant state patiently waiting.  Waiting for the first stirrings of activity in early fall.  An armful of clothes coming in, a box or two, maybe a few tins of soup into a kitchen cupboard.  It patiently awaits the return of life when we will once again breath new excitement into it's expectant waiting heart...............:))

 

RESTING UNTIL IT'S TIME TO HIT THE ROAD AGAIN

Welcome to blog follower Sheila who makes our 123rd follower.  I think we have another animal lover here:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know the only way to get holy water is to boil the hell out of it!!

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

ANOTHER FINE WEATHER DAY IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO...CANADA:))

CROCUS FLOWERS

A few people commented on my ' banana shake supper' last night.  I normally do my big 'shake' thing in the morning with all the lettuce, carrots, celery, apples, etc. etc. but last night I just had the urge for a banana shake.  It's not that I can't cook because I can, & did years ago.  It's just that I chose not to because my interest is no longer there.  Kelly once told me she wouldn't eat anything I cooked anyway:((  I have a habit of doing things a bit differently than....'the norm.'  Check out my Sept. 22/09 post in which I did a little video about my MORNING BREAKFAST ROUTINE

As many of you know, I don't place a high priority on food (ok, well maybe sometimes) & only eat the darn stuff because I have to.  For me, simpler is better.  No silly sauces (except ketchup) or spices & no fancy plate arrangements.  BGQ or no BBQ makes no differences & I preferred my hot dogs boiled, not fried, BBQ'd or cremated in a firepit.   Now don't get me wrong, Kelly's a fine cook & everything she makes tastes totally great (except I hate boring rice) but if I was on my own I wouldn't go to all that work & fuss just to feed myself.  Now, where's my peanut butter jar!! 

WE HAVE A LOT OF CURIOUS LITTLE CRITTERS AROUND OUR FRONT YARD FROG POND

Oh, & tonight's supper??  In the bottom of a fine china bowl I put in a nice selection of Post Spoon Size Shredded Wheat & Bran with a fine sprinkling of Kellogg's Special K, topped off with a generous helping of General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios.  Finally garnished this fine masterpiece nicely with a thinly sliced in banana before adding my last ingredient.....skim milk:))  And who said I don't know nothing about food preparation!!

Watched the news Sunday night about that big earthquake down in Mexico/California.  We missed that by less than a month because we were in Borrego Springs CA one month ago at this time & that was only a few hundred miles north of the earthquakes center in Mexico.  Have never experienced an earthquake so would have liked to be there to see what that felt like.  Sometimes when we are hiking in those narrow steep canyons down there I think to myself, 'this would not be a good time or place to be if there was ever an earthquake.'  We often see large boulders & sandstone walls perched precariously high above us that just a little 'shaking' would surely dislodge.

When we head for the southwest in the fall we have to turn off & unplug everything.  Phone plans & cable TV are put on hold & have to be reactivated again in the spring.  This is always a pain in the asparagus because the big companies rarely get things right & we always have to begin the usual series of phone calls to get the companies tech heads to restore the service just as it was when we left.  Why is it so hard for them to get things right!!  Today is shot for me because I have to sit around all day waiting for a tech guy to come & see why our bedroom television did not receive the cable signal when they reactivated the system a couple weeks ago.  (Cable guy came at 11:45 this morning.....I had the wires hooked up wrong again:((

I spent a big part of last night with RICK traveling all around Arizona looking for a suitable RV spot for him & Paulette.  We looked at lot of spots & the importance of a level site & a hard concrete surface were priorities for Rick.  We probably checked out about a thousand places in just a few hours from one end of Arizona to the other.  Isn't it amazing how dreams come together in the night while we are asleep.  Never know where we'll be, who we will be with, or what we will be doing.  Every night is filled with new adventures......if you can remember them:))

Noticed we have 2 new followers & one of them I recognize very well despite the pirate patch over one eye & one of those silly 'hair hats' that were so popular in Quartzsite a couple of years ago.  Kelly had picked up one of those hats & I recognize it on.......her Dad:)) Looks good on ya Frank:))  Our second new follower is HAPPY KANSAS CAMPER & his name is Steve.  He is just getting started in the RV lifestyle with his Ford truck & camper.

SUNSET AT DEER PARK LODGE

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And did you know that the ankle was an arch enemy of the heel because the heel had a sole that could neither toe the line nor keep instep.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

ALTERNATING BETWEEN YARD WORK & SNOOZES

CUTTING DOWN LAST YEAR'S DEAD BAMBOO GRASS TO MAKE WAY FOR THIS YEAR'S NEW GROWTH

Kelly was on the road to Spencerport NY this morning by 7:15.  Our late Saturday afternoon winds & rain had cleared so her journey east took place on a fine sunny Sunday morning.  Emailed from Spencerport at noon to say there were no problems at the border.  Said the young border inspector even jokingly asked if she had any Easter candy to declare for him.

She has spent most of the afternoon getting her Mother's new Win 7 computer straightened out & set up properly.  Tekky kids don't know how to do that for older folks.

ME MAKE-UM BIG SMOKE TODAY

Aside from working around outside raking & burning leaves & pine needles my whole day added up to about the square root of nothing.  Couldn't even get myself motivated enough to jump on the bike for a good old back road's tour.  Got a stack of emails here to answer so I had better darn well get myself at it.

And supper tonight was one of my specialties......2 banana's in the blender, big scoop of strawberry flavored whey powder, a dash of orange juice topped off with a big heaping glass of skim milk.  Now, who said I didn't know anything about cooking!!!!

USING A PRUNING SHEARS TO CUT THE TOUGH STOCKS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know that sometimes a committee is a group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

FINALLY GETTING A LITTLE TIRED OF BURGS & FRIES

WE ENJOY OUR PINE FOREST LIVING

We don't have any bricks in our house but we do have a few sticks so when the wind warning was issued this afternoon we weren't too concerned.  After being pummeled by the big Arizona & California winds a few months ago in our motorhome anything coming through our pine forest here just is not going to be a worry.  No flapping awnings, no rocking & rolling, & no big bad wind sounds trying to rip the windows out.  Blow you winds, blow....we're home now.  Na na na na na naaaaaaaaa:))

Had me a look back to our blog one year ago & it could be an identical blog for today.  Exact same feelings 365 days later.  BLOG....ONE YEAR AGO

Kelly's son Ben & girlfriend Bree were up from Cambridge for the week-end staying at Deer Park so tonight we all went out for supper at the Dock's in Bayfield.  Food was good but I'm thinking maybe I've reached a point in my long 65 year food journey where I'm beginning to think there is more to life than burgs & fries.  I'm thinking of finally expanding into some fine cuisine dining.  Am contemplating expanding my taste bud horizons & looking into the fine art of... hot dogs:))

EARLY MORNING CROCUS FLOWERS

And speaking of fine food......I'd like to welcome blog follower number 120.  BIG SKY CHEF is the latest reader to climb aboard the Bayfield Bunch bus.  Although the rig will be stationary for a few months I hope we can come up with something now & again to perk BSC's interest.  Hot dogs......now that should do it:))

Kelly heads off in the morning for Spencerport NY to visit her Mom & Dad for the week.  Her Dad is not well & will possibly be undergoing some surgery in a few days.  Me & the furry guys will be holding down the fort & I bought 4 extra boxes of cornflakes for myself this morning.  We'll be just fine here in the quiet pine forest.

DAFFODILS

Why is it you can't buy a couple AA batteries anymore.  Remember years ago if you needed a battery you would just get a 2 pack.  Well, they phased the 2 packers out & went to 4 packers.  So then if you needed a battery you got 3 spares whether you liked it or not.  Always bugged me about that.  Well, this morning I go to Wal-Mart because I wanted 2 fresh batteries for Kelly's camera.  Would you believe the 4 packs have now been replaced by 8 packs.  #%!!*%??\\//#   Now I've got 6 spares sitting here slowly counting down to the expiration date.  Worse yet, I saw in the middle aisle where they had what looked like 20 or 40 packs on sale.  What is this world coming to.  Who in their right mind to buy about 30 batteries just to get a couple.  Big business has sure got us little consumer guys right by the adenoids!!!! 

TINY VIOLETS IN THE GRASS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And because this is a short blog tonight I have decided to break with short joke tradition & put in a rather lengthy explanation by a few prominent people of the world as to....'why did that darn chicken cross the road!!'

Plato: For the greater good.

Martin Luther King: It had a dream.

Hamlet: Because 'tis better to suffer in the mind the slings and arrows of outrageous road maintenance than to take arms against a sea of oncoming vehicles...

Dr. Timothy Leary: Because that's the only kind of trip the Establishment would let it take.

Howard Cosell: It may very well have been one of the most astonishing events to grace the annals of history. An historic, unprecedented avian biped with the temerity to attempt such an herculean achievement formerly relegated to homo sapien pedestrians is truly a remarkable occurence.

James Tiberius Kirk: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.

Stan Laurel: I'm sorry, Ollie. It escaped when I opened the run.

Doug Hofstadter: To seek explication of the correspondence between appearance and essence through the mapping of the external road-object onto the internal road-concept.

Machiavelli: So that its subjects will view it with admiration, as a chicken which has the daring and courage to boldly cross the road, but also with fear, for whom among them has the strength to contend with such a paragon of avian virtue? In such a manner is the princely chicken's dominion maintained.

Hippocrates: Because of an excess of light pink gooey stuff in its pancreas.

H.P. Lovecraft: To futilely attempt escape from the dark powers which even then pursued it, hungering after the stuff of its soul!

Jacques Derrida: Any number of contending discourses may be discovered within the act of the chicken crossing the road, and each interpretation is equally valid as the authorial intent can never be discerned, because structuralism is DEAD, DAMMIT, DEAD!

Thomas de Torquemada: Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I'll find out.

Robert Anton Wilson: Because agents of the Ancient Illuminated Roosters of Cooperia were controlling it with their Orbital Mind-Control Lasers as part of their master plan to take over the world's egg production.

Friedrich Nietzsche: Because if you gaze too long across the Road, the Road gazes also across you.

Aleister Crowley: Because it was its True Will to do so.

Oliver North: National Security was at stake.

Sappho: For the touch of your skin, the sweetness of your lips...

J.R.R. Tolkein: The chicken, sunlight coruscating off its radiant yellow-white coat of feathers, approached the dark, sullen asphalt road and scrutinized it intently with its obsidian-black eyes. Every detail of the thoroughfare leapt into blinding focus: the rough texture of the surface, over which countless tires had worked their relentless tread through the ages; the innumerable fragments of stone embedded within the lugubrious mass, perhaps quarried from the great pits where the Sons of Man labored not far from here; the dull black asphalt itself, exuding those waves of heat which distort the sight and bring weakness to the body; the other attributes of the great highway too numerous to give name. And then it crossed it.

Malcolm X: Because it would get across that road by any means necessary.

B.F. Skinner: Because the external influences which had pervaded its sensorium from birth had caused it to develop in such a fashion that it would tend to cross roads, even while believing these actions to be of its own free will.

Carl Jung: The confluence of events in the cultural gestalt necessitated that individual chickens cross roads at this historical juncture, and therefore synchronicitously brought such occurrences into being.

Gary Gygax: Because I rolled a 64 on the "Chicken Random Behaviors" chart on page 497 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Dorothy Parker: Travel, trouble, music, art
A kiss, a frock, a rhyme
The chicken never said they fed its heart
But still they pass its time.

Karl Marx (revisited): It was a historical inevitability.

T.S. Eliot (revisited again): It's not that they cross, but that they cross like chickens.

Jean-Paul Sartre: In order to act in good faith and be true to itself, the chicken found it necessary to cross the road.

Jean-Luc Picard: To see what's out there.

Darth Vader: Because it could not resist the power of the Dark Side.

Ludwig Wittgenstein: The possibility of "crossing" was encoded into the objects "chicken" and "road", and circumstances came into being which caused the actualization of this potential occurrence.

John Constantine: Because it'd made a bollocks of things over on this side of the road and figured it'd better get out right quick.

Albert Einstein: Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends upon your frame of reference.

Gandalf: O chicken, do not meddle in the affairs of roads, for you are tasty and good with barbecue sauce.

Baldrick: It had a cunning plan. (From the Black Adder British TV Show series)

Wesley: It's terribly fashionable, I think everyone will be doing it in the future.

[begin _Princess_Bride_ section]

Fezzik: Because if it did not it would be like a toad!

Inigo: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You crossed my father's road. Prepare to die.

[end _Princess_Bride_ section]

Aristotle: To actualize its potential.

Roseanne Barr: Urrrrrp. What chicken?

George Bush: To face a kinder, gentler thousand points of headlights.

Julius Caesar: To come, to see, to conquer.

Candide: To cultivate its garden.

Bill the Cat: Oop Ack.

Buddha: If you ask this question, you deny your own chicken-nature.

Moses: Know ye that it is unclean to eat the chicken that has crossed the road, and that the chicken that crosseth the road doth so for its own preservation.

Moses: And God came down from the Heavens, and He said unto the Chicken, "Thou shalt cross the road." And, verily, the chicken crossed the road, and there was much rejoicing.

Fox Mulder: You saw it cross the road with your own eyes. How many more chickens have to cross the road before you believe it?

Joseph Conrad: Mistah Chicken, he dead.

Salvador Dali: The Fish.

Darwin: It was the logical next step after coming down from the trees.

Thomas Dequincy: Because it ran out of opium.

Rene Descartes: It had sufficient reason to believe it was dreaming anyway.

Emily Dickinson: Because it could not stop for death.

Bob Dylan: How many roads must one chicken cross?

TS Eliot: Weialala leia Wallala leialala.

TS Eliot (revisited): Do I dare to cross the road?

Epicurus: For fun.

Paul Erdos: It was forced to do so by the chicken-hole principle.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: It didn't cross the road; it transcended it.

Basil Fawlty: Oh, don't mind that chicken. It's from Barcelona.

Gerald R. Ford: It probably fell from an airplane and couldn't stop its forward momentum.

Freud: The fact that you are at all concerned that the chicken crossed the road reveals your underlying insecurity.

Sigmund Freud: The chicken obviously was female and obviously interpreted the pole on which the crosswalk sign was mounted as a phallic symbol of which she was envious, selbstverstaendlich.

Robert Frost: To cross the road less traveled by.

Zsa Zsa Gabor: It probably crossed to get a better look at my legs, which, thank goodness, are good, dahling.

Gilligan: The traffic started getting rough;
the chicken had to cross.
If not for the plumage of its peerless tail
the chicken would be lost,
the chicken would be lost!

Johann Friedrich von Goethe: The eternal hen-principle made it do it.

Ernest Hemingway: To die. In the rain.

Werner Heisenberg: We are not sure which side of the road the chicken was on, but it was moving very fast.

Adolf Hitler: It needed Lebensraum.

David Hume: Out of custom and habit.

Saddam Hussein: This was an unprovoked act of rebellion and we were quite justified in dropping 50 tons of nerve gas on it.

Lee Iacocca: It found a better car, which was on the other side of the road.

John Paul Jones: It has not yet begun to cross!

Leda: Are you sure it wasn't Zeus dressed up as a chicken? He's into that kind of thing, you know.

Jack Nicholson: 'Cause it(censored)wanted to. That's the (censored) reason.

Gottfried von Leibniz: In this best possible world, the road was made for it to cross.

Groucho Marx: Chicken? What's all this talk about chicken? Why, I had an uncle who thought he was a chicken. My aunt almost divorced him, but we needed the eggs.

Karl Marx: To escape the bourgeois middle-class struggle.

Gregor Mendel: To get various strains of roads.

John Milton: To justify the ways of God to men.

Alfred E. Neumann: What? Me worry?

Sir Isaac Newton: 1. Chickens at rest tend to stay at rest. 2. Chickens in motion tend to cross the road.

Thomas Paine: Out of common sense.

Michael Palin: Nobody expects the banished inky chicken!

Wolfgang Pauli: There already was a chicken on the other side of the road.

Pyrrho the Skeptic: What road?

Ronald Reagan: I forget.

Georg Friedrich Riemann: The answer appears in Dirichlet's lectures.

John Sununu: The Air Force was only too happy to provide the transportation, so quite understandably the chicken availed himself of the opportunity.

Mr. Scott: 'Cos ma wee transporter beam was na functioning properly. Ah canna work miracles, Captain!

William Shakespeare: I don't know why, but methinks I could rattle off a hundred-line soliloquy without much ado.

Sisyphus: Was it pushing a rock, too?

Socrates: To pick up some hemlock at the corner druggist.

The Sphinx: You tell me.

Mr. T: If you saw me coming you'd cross the road too!

Margaret Thatcher: There was no alternative.

Dylan Thomas: To not go (sic) gentle into that good night.

Henry David Thoreau: To live deliberately...and suck all the marrow out of life.

Mark Twain: The news of its crossing has been greatly exaggerated.

George Washington: Actually it crossed the Delaware with me back in 1776. But most history books don't reveal that I bunked with a birdie during the duration.

Mae West: I invited it to come up and see me sometime.

Walt Whitman: To cluck the song of itself.

William Wordsworth: To have something to recollect in tranquility.

Molly Yard: It was a hen!

Henny Youngman: Take this chicken...please.

Zeno of Elea: To prove it could never reach the other side.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

Grandpa: In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken had crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.

Colonel Sanders: I missed one?

Bill Gates: I have just released the new Chicken Office 2000, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook.

Oliver Stone: The question is not, "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Rather, it is, "Who was crossing the road at the same time, whom we overlooked in our haste to observe the chicken crossing?"

Richard M. Nixon: The chicken did not cross the road. I repeat, the chicken did NOT cross the road.

Jerry Seinfeld: Why does anyone cross a road? I mean, why doesn't anyone ever think to ask, "What the heck was this chicken doing walking around all over the place, anyway?"

ARTHUR ANDERSEN CONSULTANT: Deregulation of the chicken's side of the road was threatening its dominant market position. The chicken was faced with significant challenges to create and develop the competencies required for the newly competitive market. Andersen Consulting, in a partnering relationship with the client, helped the chicken by rethinking its physical distribution strategy and implementation processes. Using the Poultry Integration Model (PIM), Andersen helped the chicken use its skills, methodologies, knowledge, capital and experiences to align the chicken's people, processes and technology in support of its overall strategy within a Program Management framework. Andersen Consulting convened a diverse cross-spectrum of road analysts and best chickens along with Anderson consultants with deep skills in the transportation industry to engage in a two-day itinerary of meetings in order to leverage their personal knowledge capital, both tacit and explicit, and to enable them to Synergize with each other in order to achieve the implicit goals of delivering and successfully architecting and implementing an enterprise-wide value framework across the continuum of poultry cross-median processes. The meeting was held in a park-like setting, enabling and creating an environment hich was strategically based, industry-focused, and built upon a consistent, clear, and unified market message and aligned with the chicken's mission, vision, and core values. This was conducive towards the creation of a total business integration solution. Andersen Consulting helped the chicken change to become more successful.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

OUR NIGHTLY FROG SERENADE

FIGURED IF I PUT SOME LIGHTING AROUND THE POND I WOULD BE ABLE TO SEE THE LITTLE GREEN MONSTERS........NOPE!!

Late start on the blog tonight so I better type really fast if I want to get to bed before midnight.  No problem typing faster but big problem trying to get the brain to think faster.....anyone else out there with that problem??  Nawwwww, I didn't think so.

                         

The thought did occur to me this morning though that we only have 26 more weeks before we hope to be on the road again.  Ya don't suppose I've got some early signs of the 'Itch' already, do ya......Nawwwww, I didn't think so.

IT WAS A GOOD DAY FOR PUTTING OUT THE SUMMER'S LAWN ORNAMENTS

Some feedback on last night's blog about television.  It's not television that I am against, it's the programming.  I think television, like a computer, if used properly is a tremendous educational & learning device.  Both can & are abused to the limit but that is the fault of the user & not the computer or television.  If you find enjoyment in shows like Jerry Springer then the problem is yours.  If you are deceived by that gang of thieving television evangelists then the problem is yours as well, not your television.  You have the option of turning your set off.  With the exception of a couple comedy shows & some news, I always head for the history, biography, or learning channels where programming deals with reality.  I prefer that kind of learning entertainment as opposed to the common TV schlock!!  Oh, & I do have the feeling I have got myself into a bit of hot water here at home over my opinions in Thursday night's blog about night time television programming.  Remember, an opinion is not a statement of fact, it is only an opinion & in my case the opinions I express quite often differ with..........'the norm!!'

  

SUNLIGHT REFLECTING THROUGH A RED VASE ONTO THE KITCHEN WALL

As I am typing this I can  hear what sounds like a chorus of a thousand frogs in our front yard around the little pond.  Same thing last night so I went out this morning & stood quietly by the water's edge scanning for signs of little croakers.  Not a frog in sight anywhere.  Kept checking back throughout the day but not so much as one green eyeball.  By the sounds of the non stop croaking all night I can only assume they had gone back under the rocks where they obviously have nice quiet little beds during the day.  I'm sure they need all the rest they can get after a full night of hollering.  And, it is only our front yard they are in too.  I walked around a bit last night & there were no frog sounds at anybody else's place.  Little did I know when I dug that pond in about 4 years ago I was about to create such a noise problem in the neighborhood.  Well, at least nobody has complained except Kelly.  She cannot tolerate noise of any kind at night.  Myself, I kinda think they all sound really neat:))

COLTSFOOT, AN EARLY SPRING WILDFLOWER

I'm having to use 2 computers now to do the blog every night.  Noticed when we got back from the southwest & fired up our desktop computer that the monitor's color was off.  The screen has a dull green/yellow cast to it now.   I do not remember that last fall before we left.  Tried adjusting all the color settings & brightness on the monitor but to no avail.  It's fine for everything except......photos.  If I download my photos into the desktop the images will all have that color shift & by trying to compensate for that my photos will come out on the blue side.  So, I write the blog on the desktop in a form of email & then send it to hotmail.  I then fire up the new laptop, download the day's photos, & then copy & paste the hotmail blog into the new laptop's Live Writer.  I could do it all in the laptop's Live Writer but I like sitting in the sunroom at night & it's easier to type on the desktop than the laptop.  No point in spending money on a new monitor if it's just for the photos when I have the laptop option.  Yep, it all sounds kinda confusing to me too.

DESKTOP MONITOR ON RIGHT IS OFF COLOR

Record breaking temperatures yesterday & today.  Tomorrow is going to be even warmer.  We hit 76F here beside the lake.  It is not unusual for us to get a nasty snowstorm in early April so the fingers are crossed.

GOT THE POND PUMP WATERFALL UP & RUNNING TODAY

Today's religious holiday snuck up on me & that was made suddenly apparent when I drove all the way up to Goderich & Wal-Mart along with our big Zehr's grocery stores were closed.  Geeeezzzz, even our Canadian Tire Store was closed.  Now, that is a bit of serious business!!  Tim Horton's was open though so all was not lost:))))))

With this warmer weather Kelly has been very busy at DEERPARK LODGE & it will continue to be busy for her right up until the day we leave for the southwest again.  People, people, people.  Is it any wonder we head straightaway for the peace & serenity of Arizona's Sonoran desert every October.  Ummmm, how many weeks did I say it was..................................:))

WORKING ON FRIDAY NIGHT'S BLOG

GROANER'S CORNER:((   Two old guys were sitting under a tree, watching the sun go down. One says, "You know, I'm 84 years old and my body is full of aches and pains. You're about my age. How do you feel?"

The other guy says, "Oh, I feel like a newborn baby."

"Really," says the first guy.

"Yep," says the second one. "No teeth, no hair and I think I just wet my pants."

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

NICE DAY FOR A WORKING DRIVE

A RESTFUL STOPOVER IN WINGHAM, ONTARIO TODAY (don't ask me what the French writing is on the side of the van.....haven't a clue)

Have been having a few problems getting the wood splinters out from under my fingernails because I have been sitting here scratching my head trying to come up with a blog topic tonight.

As some of you know I drive a mobility van part time in our area when we are home from the southwest.  Started with the company about 6 years ago & did a lot of driving for a few years even keeping one of the vans here at home for awhile.  But, then we started going south in the winters so I was replaced by another driver.  It was only logical.  The company has kept me on as a part time driver when we are home though & I fill in for other drivers wherever needed.  We transport mainly elderly folks in wheelchairs to doctor's appointments, hospitals, medical centers, dentists, etc.  Sometimes to weddings, funerals, visits to friends, shopping, groceries, etc.  I've always liked the job so have hung in there the last few years despite the lack of worthwhile driving hours.  Think I made enough last summer to buy about 3 tanks of gas for the motorhome.  But, not to complain. 

Today I had a nice run in the one non-wheelchair van the company has & I enjoyed just getting out into the countryside for a drive.  Picked up a lady in a town north of here & drove her to a Doctor's appointment in another town 20 minutes away.  Had a one hour wait so spent that in a Tim Horton's parking lot sipping away on a Timmies.  I was back home by 3:30 this afternoon.  A drive through rural Ontario is nice at any time but to get paid for my time is always a nice bonus.  But far more important than the money is the fact of having something to do.  A purpose.  A reason to get up in the morning.  And working with elderly folks in wheelchairs is also doubly rewarding because at the end of a day you go home with a feeling that you have done something very worthwhile that day.  And, you have done it right.  And, you know it's something that a lot of other folks would rather not do.  Just one of those things.

A PAIR OF CANADA GEESE

Another nice thing about being home is not having to be subjected to night time television shows.  In the motorhome our computer desk is directly under the television.  Kelly likes her shows & I can't stand them so when doing the blog each night in the rig I have my Sony headphones on & my stored computer library tunes cranked so I can't hear the sirens & gunfire going on over my head.  At home here our television is in the living room & the computer is in the sunroom so it is much nicer for both of us.  I have a big view of our entire front yard with all it's birds, bunnies, frogs, squirrels, chipmunks, & any neighbor's driving by.  But, more than that, I am totally free of night time television shows.  Don't have to wear my earphones & keep my head down.  I have an on-line music station I listen to with continuous uninterrupted music playing through a computer stereo system.  No sirens, no victims screaming, no soap opera dramatics, no bad acting or gunfire.  Just nice soft, groovy, ambient music filling the air around me.  And the station I listen to is called,  SOMA fm   If you go there, just click on 'Groove Salad' & that's what I will be listening to.

I have complained about CNN news before with it's habit of tunnel visioning a particular news item of interest to them & repeatedly playing clips over & over & over & over.  And the seemingly never ending commercials!!  I'm convinced CNN is really an infomercial channel with a few Wolf Blitzer bites thrown in for good measure.  But, I sure would prefer CNN when we are on the road compared to the other totally stupid (IMHO) network moronic newscasts I have to endure every morning.  What multi-million dollar executive ever came up with that imbecilic idea of hauling the newscasters outside & standing them in front of a crowd of screaming, yelling, waving, & jumping up & down, people.  And by the way, I'm sure they are cued to scream, wave. & jump, upon command.  It doesn't bother Kelly at all but it drives me totally bonkers & I sit there in my chair with my hands over my ears when the cue cards go up.  Kelly likes the morning news & I would probably sooner thrust my hands into boiling water.  And I would appreciate the news better if there was just one mature newsperson at the anchor desk!!  Why does there have to be a whole 'gang' of people do the news.  That just turns the news cast into a jousting match of childish silliness with each participant trying to out-funny the next person.  Whatever happened to the maturity & no nonsense news broadcasting of the Walter Cronkite's of the world.  Two grown up newscasters I can handle but any more than that & it's kindergarten time.

Ok, that's enough out of me for today.  Those wooden splinters under my fingernails are actually smoldering now so I'd better slip outside & stick my hands in the frog pond.  Not to worry, there's no frogs in our front yard pond yet so no frogs will be harmed as the result of my little rant...............10-4!!!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And because it is Easter........

What would you get if you crossed the Easter Bunny with an overstressed person?
An Easter basket case!

What's pink, has five toes, and is carried by the Easter Bunny?
His lucky people's foot!

How does the Easter Bunny keep his fur neat?
With a hare brush!!

How did the soggy Easter Bunny dry himself?
With a hare-dryer!

Why is a bunny the luckiest animal in the world?
Because it has four rabbit’s feet!

Why was the Easter Bunny so upset?
He was having a bad hare day!

Why does Peter Cottontail hop down the bunny trail?
Because his parents wouldn't let him borrow the car!

Why did the Easter Bunny have to fire the duck?
Because he kept quacking all the eggs!

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.