TIME TO FRESHEN UP THE BACK YARD

CHECKERS, OUR VERY MUCH MOST BEST BIGGEST GIRL

Kelly has had a very busy week in Spencerport NY helping her Mother deal with the failing health of her Father.  She has extended her stay a few days in order to assist further until additional help can be brought into the home.  I do not think I have ever seen a human being who has had to endure so much bad health for so long.

"D'YA MIND, I'M TRYING TO TAKE A BATH!!!!  (Blue Jay)

Can't remember who it was but somebody a few days ago had a question about types of photo files that should be used with photo programs, etc.  This is a technical area I know next to nothing about.  I am a bit familiar with the common JPEG file format though because I think that is the popular one most people use.  The inquiry was about a TIF file.  A photography friend of mine in Elfrida Arizona just happened to do a post about all that last week.  Ray is a technical guy who understands the inner workings of computer things & at the Photo Group I attended there this past winter he was quite adamant about 'saving your original photos.....untouched!!!!'  Check out RAY'S BLOG.  The TIF info is about two thirds of the way down.

MOURNING DOVE......THEY KEEP THE FALLEN SEEDS ON THE GROUND PICKED UP

Been waiting for some warmer temps to take the bike for a run.  Just a little on the cool side yet & I'm not into 'cold riding' on a motorcycle anymore.  Been there, done that.  No more of that nonsense thank you very much!!

 

CARDINALS LIKE THE NEARBY CEDAR TREES

Our back yard has been looking a little tired the past couple of years.  Re-did one area last summer & today I started pulling apart another section.  Some old fencing came down, a lot of rocks were moved & the power washer took care of a lot of moss on paving stones,  Quite a mess out there right now but I enjoy making gardening & landscaping changes so I will be back at it in the morning again.

                       

WORK BEGINS ON REVAMPING THE BACK YARD

Just noticed a question in our shout box.  No, Donna we do not have any bears here in this part of southwestern Ontario aside from a very rare occasion when one might wander down from further north.  Not likely to end up where we are though.  Too much open farm land around & too many people moving about in the area.

MOMMA GOOSE IS ALL BUT INVISIBLE ON HER NEST THIS MORNING

I must really get started on the motorhome clean up soon as well.  Still a lot of road grime on it from our trip home nearly a month ago.  I never wash it while we are traveling because it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to do that when we are up & down gravely back roads & across dusty desert floors most of the time.   We don't hang out in RV Parks so don't have to worry about keeping up appearances with the neighbors all precisely lined up in their very picture perfect shiny rig rows.

WE HAVE TOO MANY GRACKLES AND THEY ARE THE BULLIES IN THE BIRDYARD

GROANER'S CORNER:((  When Mr.. Wilkins answered the door late in the evening one day after he'd lost his wife scuba diving, he was greeted by two grim-faced policemen. "We're sorry to call on you at this hour, Mr. Wilkens, but we have some information about your wife."
"Well...tell me!" he demanded.
The policeman said, "We have some bad news, some pretty good news, and some really great news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Fearing the worse, Mr. Wilkins said, "Give me the bad news first."
So the policeman said, "I'm sorry to tell you sir, but we found your wife's body this morning in San Francisco Bay."
"OH MY GOD!," said Mr. Wilkens, overcome by emotion. Then, remembering what the policeman had said, he asked, "What's the good news?"
"Well," said the policeman, "When we pulled her up she had two five-pound lobsters and a dozen good size Dungeoness crabs on her."
"Huh?" he said, not understanding. "So, what's the great news?"
The policeman smiled, licked his chops, and said, "We're going to pull her up again tomorrow morning."

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.

A QUIET SUNDAY WITH MY ANIMAL PALS

WELL, JUST COLOR ME PRETTY THEN:))

Sometimes blog postings roll off the keyboard just as smooth as anything.  Other times it is a struggle right from the first word to the last.  Most blogs I write come easy to me but this one tonight has just been a struggle every word of the way.  By the time I would get 3 paragraphs done I would be back changing or erasing the first two.

Before I stumbled across this blog thing a few years ago I used to keep in touch with folks via email.  I was always busy typing & sending emails to friends & family members.  Literally hundreds & probably thousands of emails over the years.

HEY, THAT ORANGE PEELING WAS FOR THE BIRDS!!

Emailing has been a nice way to stay in touch with folks & as I've said before, my favorite form of communication.  So, why then has my email writing dropped off so much in recent years.

                  

REFLECTIONS

Well, I guess the reason for that lies right here in the blog.  As any fellow blogger knows, it takes time to put these things together & if your doing it on a daily basis like some of us do, it doesn't always allow a lot of free time at the end of the day for working on individual emails.  But, I do have an excuse.

PAIR OF COW BIRDS ON A RAINY DAY

Isn't a blog really a kind of email anyway.  For friends & family who may be wondering how you are doing, all they have to do is click on the blog anytime & they are right up to date with where you are, how your feeling, & what your doing.  And, isn't that generally what emails & letter writings are all about.  If I want to know what some of our friends are up to all I have to do is click on their blog.  No need to bug them with a phone call or send an email they may feel obligated to respond to.

 

LIVING IN A PINE FOREST

This whole computer age came along at just about the right time for me & the blogging thing fell right into my lap.  I was fortunate in that I just happened to have some old seldom used rusty tools lying around that I was able to pick up, dust off, sharpen up a bit, & apply to the blogging world.  For anyone with a good imagination, sense of humor, and little bit of time on their hands, blogging is a great platform to exercise one's creative thoughts & opinions.  It is also a great way to reach out & do things for others.

ON THE MORNING TRAIL

From the many kind comments & emails I receive it is comforting for me to know that my writings & photos bring enjoyment to people out there who may not be able to travel anymore or folks who are looking forward to just beginning their travels.  I consider myself very fortunate to have the opportunity of sharing our travels, my photography, & my writings.  And thanks to everyone for giving me that opportunity:))

PURPLE FINCH TAKES A FLYING LEAP OFF THE FEEDER

A few days ago I posted a photo of a bird & wondered what kind it was.  Judy from TRAVELS WITH EMMA responded & identified the rosy colored little fellow as a Purple Finch.  I should have known that because we have lots of them all summer at the feeders but this little critter just looked more crimson than normal.  Probably had his best spring colors on.

ANYBODY SEE WHICH WAY THAT PUDDYTAT WENT!!

And for any of you do it yourselfers out there with an interest in solar power for your RV be sure to drop in to RV'ING - SMALL HOUSE....BIG BACK YARD & check out Steve's Part 1 & 2 of his solar installation on their rig.  How can some people have so many darn smarts & some of us have so very darn little.  I wonder why I always have so much trouble hammering screws into boards anyway.......................:))

 

DOGGIE IN THE POND

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A director is screen testing Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger for a new film about classic composers. Not having figured out who to give which part to, he asks Sly who he would like to be.
Stallone says "I like Mozart. I want to be Mozart"
So the Director says, "Very well, you can be Mozart" Then he turns to Arnie and says "Arnie, who would you like to play ?"
And Arnie says "Ah'll be Bach!"

(if your not up on your Arnold Schwarzencrapper movies, this groaner won't mean a hill of beans to you.....AL)

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.

KIND OF A FRONT YARD BIRD DAY

Seven Golden Finches, a Downy Woodpecker, 6 Red Wing Blackbirds, 2 Mourning Doves, 1 Cardinal, about a dozen Black Capped Chickadees, a smattering of Nuthatches, a Blue Jay & about a dozen Juncos are what I am looking at right now in our front yard while sitting at the computer in our sunroom.  Rearranged & replenished the bird feeders this afternoon & we pretty much have a full house for supper tonight.  

I have a feeling I missed the highlight of the afternoon though when a black squirrel must have ended up in the frog pond.  I had hung up some bird suet in a small metal cage over top the pond because black the squirrels were totally devastating the suet pacs where I had previously had them hanging.  I used last years binder twine to hang the suet which in hindsight turned out to be a good thing.  About half an hour later hanging the suet pac I noticed the suet cage was no longer hanging on the end of the twine.  Upon further investigation I saw the suet cage was at the bottom of the frog pond.  Ahaaaa, only one conclusion here.  The pesky black squirrel whom I had noticed an hour before at the suet cage had obviously climbed up my old dead pond tree structure & made a flying leap out onto the suet cage.......... & plummeted, cage & all, right down into the frog pond when the old rotted twine had broke.   Have not seen any of the black squirrels since.  Guess word got around pretty quick about the cold Saturday night bath!!

In last night's blog I probably didn't make it clear enough about the difference between the blogs theme & the photos.  The pictures were taken here in Bayfield where we live.  Earlier in the day I had taken a drive east of Bayfield to my old home town of Tavistock about 50 miles inland.  The photos & blog theme were two different places.

Have had several comments & inquiries about the black & white photo with the yellow daffodils in Friday's blog.  Let me first say that there is no rocket science to do that & anyone can have the same results with just a few clicks of the mouse in their PICASA 3.6 PHOTO PROGRAM.   Picasa 3.6 is a free download from Google & one of the easiest photo program's you will ever use.  I think most of my fellow bloggers are using Picasa.  When you have the program open just look for the word 'Effects.'  Click that & look for the picture square that says, 'Focal B&W.  That's all there is to it.  Just click that & you will see how easy it is to do that color highlighting stuff.  Try clicking on the other squares as well & you will be well on your way to improving your already great photos.  And don't worry, you can't wreck anything because everything is redo able as you go along.  I did a post about some Picasa features last August which you can read here at,  TWO THUMBS UP FOR PICASA. 

 
And, while on the topic of photos I would just like to add again that I see a lot of good photos on other blogs that with just a little bit of TLC in Picasa's photo program, could become great photos.  Photography is a two stage process & In the old film days you only had control over half that process which was the taking of the photo.  Your film went away & magically came back as prints because somebody else did all that.  Sometimes it was done right & sometimes it was not.  Thankfully, nowadays we don't have to trust our photos to an unknown source.  We have total control over our efforts.  Sometimes pictures taken with cameras are just so-so depending on many variables.  Now, with just a few clicks here & a few clicks there you can have that so-so photo looking just as good as you actually saw it.  And, you do not have to be a rocket scientist to do that.  Just take a little time & get to know your photo program.........  All my photos are done using Picasa:))

                                                                        

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A Mother pigeon & her baby were flying a long distance back to the barn when the baby pigeon said, "I can't make it; I'll get too tired." His mother said, "Don't worry; I'll tie a piece of string to one of your legs and the other end to mine."
The baby started to cry.
"What's wrong?" said the mother.
"I don't want to be pigeon towed!"

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

THE OLD HOME TOWN BRINGS ON A REFLECTIVE MOOD

BAYFIELD'S PIONEER PARK OVERLOOKS THE REMAINS OF AN OLD LAKE HURON SHIPWRECK IN THE BACKGROUND

Woke up to a cold gray morning with the thermometer dipping below the freezing mark.  Didn't take long for my mood to match the weather & I knew the early stages of 'cabin fever' were beginning to inch their way into my mind. 

EVEN THE DAFFODILS WERE TOO COLD TO OPEN TODAY

Took the 2 big furry guys out for a short hike & could tell they weren't really into walking this morning.  An icy wind coming in off the lake turned us around & headed us back home.

BOATS AWAIT WARMER WEEK-ENDS ALONG THE BAYFIELD RIVER

Threw the camera bag & a couple cameras in my little blue mini-van, cranked up the heat & a few radio tunes.  Rolled out of our park about 8:45 a.m. with no particular place to go.  The heavy dark cloud patterns looked like a winter's sky laden with snow & there was no hint of sun anywhere.  Picked up a few back roads & headed east across the dull & overcast landscape.  I don't even think the birds were flying this morning.

BAYFIELD'S TWIN PIERS TO THE RIGHT

By 10 a.m. I had reached the outskirts of my old home town of Tavistock, Ontario.  Last time I was down around that way was two years ago on a sunny summer afternoon on my motorcycle.   There is a Tim Horton's in Tavy & it was time for my second coffee of the day anyway so I slipped into town & through the drive-thru.  Parking lot was full.

Don't know about anybody else but for me it's always a strange kind of feeling going back to 'the old home town.'  So many memories everywhere & so many emotions connected with those memories.  It's rarely ever a happy time for me when I drive around the streets past what used to be the elementary school or down to the old baseball park.  Probably a third of the kids I grew up with are gone now.  My imagination can still see them though on their bicycles, in what's left of the old schoolyard, on the street corners,  & hanging out at all the old favorite places.  I can see their faces & I can hear their voices.  And I can remember the good times.  And I can remember the bad times.

                  

PONTOON DOCKS STACKED ON THE BEACH AWAITING THEIR SUMMER SPOTS ALONG THE  BAYFIELD RIVER'S EDGE

Stopped at a cemetery to visit some old friends & family members.   More memories, more emotions.

I never stay long in the old home town anymore.  A passing nod to a house here, a smile at a street corner there, & then it is time to leave & let the heavy doors of time slowly close behind me until someday I pass this way again..............  Someday.

WOODEN STEPS LEADING FROM BAYFIELD'S PIONEER PARK TO THE BEACH & PIERS BELOW

It was a quiet meandering drive back to Bayfield with my mind in reflective thought.  Snow flakes were in the air & I saw a few brief sun splashes far off on the western horizon.  It was one month ago today we left Borrego Springs California on the first leg of our journey home.  It seems like a hundred years ago....................

  

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Very early one morning two birds are sitting at the side of a large puddle of oil. They see a worm on the other side. So ... the one flies over and the other one swims through the oil.  Which one gets to the worm first................... The one who swam, of course, because "Da oily boid gets da woim."

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.

WELL, IT SOUNDED GOOD IN THEORY

WE HAVE LOTS OF PERIWINKLE HERE

We are into our third straight day of rain but that's ok this time of year because it will really spur on the spring growth of buds, leaves, & flowers.  Good start for greening up all the grass as well.  Keeps the frog pond full of water & the bird baths overflowing so all is well in the front yard.  Lots of bird action out there already this year.

SPRING RAINS ARE GREENING THINGS UP

In Karen's blog today,  SMALL HOUSE-BIG BACK YARD,  she talks about RV storage bins & how they have them utilized.  She adds photos & captions showing how their motorhome's storage space is organized.  I have found that storage space & traveling is a good example of theory & practical applications.  The trick is in keeping your theory practical.  Coming from a 5th wheel to a motorhome we were overwhelmed by all the extra storage space available to us.  Seemed like acres & acres of room to lose every imaginable thing you could think of.  I could see right off the bat that the rig had a far bigger capacity for storing things than my brain did.  I knew there was no possible way I was going to ever remember where everything was. 

FRONT YARD MALE CARDINAL >>>

In my younger days I had worked for a few stores like Eatons & Sears in warehouse capacities so knew the importance of inventory, labeling, & organization.  Figured I would put that knowledge to use.

First thing I did was to get some of those small sticky-back numbers & starting from the first bin on the passenger side I gave each bin a number from 1 to 13.  Thirteen was the bin closest to the front on the driver's side.  I then got myself a 3 ring binder & began recording everything I put into each bin.  I even inventoried the toolbox so I knew what was inside without having to open it.  I was pretty pleased with myself for being so orderly & my system worked flawlessly............ for about a week!!

                          
Everything looked well & good sitting at home in the driveway but within a week or two of traveling my whole inventory was pretty much upside down.  Didn't take me long to forget about making changes to the inventory book as I rearranged things.   Going from a nice neatly organized  stationary bin arrangement in the driveway to the reality of the road with it's many last minute overnight stops, weekly campsites, & monthly stays, it was inevitable I would forget to record the dozens & dozens of changes along the way.  I was already behind the 8 ball after the first week & despite my efforts at trying to update my changes I just fell further & further behind until I finally didn't even know where my inventory book was anymore.  So much for my logical theory!!

  

AM WONDERING WHAT KIND OF BIRD THIS IS

For full timers this isn't as great a problem because they live with their stuff each & every day but for us snow birders it's kinda difficult with that long 5 & 6 month dry stretch in between travels.  Just when I'm getting my head wrapped around to knowing where things are while traveling it's time to head home in the spring again.  Six months later when it's time to hit the road once more I'm lucky if I can remember where I've even left the motorhome!! 

 

(click pics to enlarge)

And, one last thought about storage.  That first year with the motorhome we jammed anything & everything into the rig's bins we could think of.  And why did we do that?  Because the space was there & we felt we had to fill it with something.  I am still mentally inclined that way & have to keep telling myself, "no, you do not have to do that!!"   This past year heading south we probably had a good 25% of our storage space empty with nearly the same numbers !!back.   We're getting better:))

And what did Al have for supper tonight......you really don't want to know........10-4!!

HEY, WASSUP OVER THERE

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6 a.m. While his coffee pot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG). He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA).  After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB. At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decided to relax for a while. He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in.....AMERICA!!

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.