NO HEAD SHAKING STUFF IN TONIGHT'S BLOG:))

MOM, DAD, & THE KIDS AT THE BEACH TODAY (Painted Turtles)

First thing this morning the Ophthalmologist office phoned to cancel my appointment for today.  The eye Doctor guy was sick so my appointment was rescheduled for next Thursday at noon.

LITTLE MOTORMOUSE DOESN'T LIKE TO GET HER PAWS WET IN THE EARLY MORNING GRASS

Spent a couple hours over at Deer Park Lodge again this morning trimming shrubs & clearing some brush.  It was the first time I had ever used a gasoline powered weed whacker.  It sure makes my little electric one here at home look like a wimpy bowl of soupy porridge.  Luckily a lawn cutting guy was there & was able to show me how to start the darn thing or I would still be there trying to figure that out.  Had a short mobility van run this afternoon & that was about it for the day.  I have a busy day on Friday with the company mini-van so that should keep me out of trouble for the whole day.  Might be a good idea to take the laptop & get caught up on some emails between stops.

IT'S NOT OFTEN WE MEET ANYONE ON THE TRAIL

I thought KAREN IN THE WOODS had a particularly interesting blog post today on 'Rustic RV Camping.'  Maybe not everybody's cup of RV tea but Karen explains why they enjoy camping with their Class A in rustic RV Parks deep in the wilds of the Wisconsin woods.  She knows that some folks won't understand why they would do that......but I know why:))

SPOTTED THIS GREEN HERON BY THE WATER'S EDGE THIS MORNING

For all you truck & fifth wheel jockeys out there you might want to check out HOMER & LUCILLE'S post on their new Pull-Rite Super Glide hitch and Fifth Wheel Airborne pin box  This sounds like quite a space age hitch they have just had installed in their Dodge 3500 dually.  Comes with a bit of a Space Age price tag too but Mike sounds mighty happy with it's performance.

                                 

THE HERON TAKES FLIGHT, LANDS AMIDST THE TURTLES, & THEN TAKES FLIGHT AGAIN UP INTO A PINE TREE (click to enlarge)

I am way behind on my email responses again so Wilf, Nellie, Phil, & a few  of you other folks who have emailed in questions, I have your emails rounded up here on my desktop now & will be answering them very shortly.  I enjoy corresponding with people but my biggest problem is remembering to do it so I have to figure out some kind of fool proof system here so that I do not forget people.  I know I have forgotten emails in the past.  I know what is like to send someone an email & not have it answered:((

Janie & John over at FLAMINGO ON A STICK have an interesting post on their transition from house to apartment to RV.  It will be of particular interest for folks in the various stages of 'downsizing' before hitting the road full time.

<<<< SPOTTED MY FIRST WILD STRAWBERRY TODAY

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

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

WE ARE A MINORITY ON OUR OWN BLOG

THAT IS A SALT WATER POOL AT DEER PARK.....I cut those Cherry tree limbs off a week ago & Kelly stuck a couple birdhouses on them:))

Again I am short of photos so quickly cracked off a few shots at Deer Park Lodge where Kelly works.  I was there today trimming a lot of overgrown shrubs etc.  The rest of the pics are from my photo files.

NOTICE THE LADDER ON THE LEFT WHICH I FORGOT TO MOVE OUT OF THE PICTURE (plus the garden hose).....I HAD STOOD ON THAT LADDER TO TAKE THE TOP BIRDHOUSE/POOL PHOTO FOR THE POST

Grand Bend Ontario is a small village on the shores of Lake Huron about 20 minutes south of us here in Bayfield.  On the Southside of the river in 'the Bend' is the Grand Bend Yacht Club with it's dockside buildings & moorings.  One of those buildings is a taller replica light house.  In the winter time that lighthouse acts like a beacon for us although we may be up to 3,000 miles away in the Arizona or California desert.  With a few magical clicks of our computer mouse we are able to instantly check on the weather back home with an actual bird's eye visual view of the Grand Bend harbor area.  And how is that possible??

On the top floor of that light house, inside & out of the weather behind a window, sits a live webcam mounted on a tri-pod.  This cam takes a photo once every minute 24/7.  From the warm comfort of our Motor Home in a windblown desert location we can see how much snow is on the ground or ice in the river at any time.  Are they having a snow storm or is it a bright sunny day back home.  Sometimes we see people & cars on the screen.  Maybe even a sea gull or two sitting on a post by the river.   We can even see a partial sunset out over the lake some evenings.  In the springtime when we check the camera I particularly watch to see when the ice breaks up in the river because once the ice is gone we know it's time to start planning our journey home.  Here you can see the live view from that GRAND BEND WEB CAM

  (click to enlarge) 

Be sure to read LAURIE'S POST about their visit to the Memorial crash site of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania a few days ago.  The fourth plane hijacked on September 11th, 2001.

I think it was TRAVELS WITH EMMA who had a question a couple days ago about how I decide which camera lens to take with me when I head out the door.  Our morning walk takes us through a pine forest with a few open spaces here & there.  Anything moving is likely to be small & of the wildlife nature.  That lends itself to a telephoto lens so that is generally what I carry.  I have been trying for the past couple of years to get a picture of a flying Kingfisher near the pond so every morning I have my camera & telephoto lens locked & loaded as I approach the pond but so far he has just been too fast & elusive for me.  For hiking I carry two cameras with 2 separate lenses that covers all the basis from 18mm wide angle right up to 300mm telephoto.

<<<< FILE PIC WITH MY 2 CAMS & OLDER 55-200MM LENS (June 2009)

While reading a few blogs this morning I came across some folks talking about blog followers & how some followers come & some drop away for whatever reasons.  As human beings we are all so vastly different yet so much the same with our many varied interests, preferences, & ideas.  As RV folks we all have a common bond in our love of travel & an alternative lifestyle different from what is considered 'the norm' by the majority of house people.  Full Timers of course are way out there on the leading edge & we Snow Birders are not far behind with our winters in the south.   Week-end RV campers bring up the rear with shorter get-aways whenever they can.   Within the RV lifestyle are many mini lifestyles as well & quite awhile ago something occurred to me about our blog which concerned our, 'blogs we follow' list in the right hand column.'  I realized we are in a minority of our own, even right here in our own blog.

JUST ONE OF THE MANY COLORFUL LITTLE SHOPS ALONG BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET

As anyone knows who has followed The Bayfield Bunch for any length of time, we do not fit 'the norm.'  (and we are quite happy with that) Not only at home here but in the RV world as well.  And I emphasize the word 'we' when I am talking about all of this by the way.  The vast majority of RV folks are RV Park people which means they prefer nice level concrete sites with full hook-ups & all the comfy amenities like pools, spas, & shopping malls.  We prefer to boondock in out of the way quiet places & enjoy the natural world around us.  A lot of folks like to go from point A to point B & stay there for the  whole winter.  Three weeks in any one place is plenty long enough for me!!  Most east coast folks prefer Florida, Georgia, & Texas but our preference is New Mexico, Arizona, & California.  RV people are an extremely sociable lot with constant visiting & socializing.  We as a rule prefer to hang out by ourselves & avoid all that pressure.  We like to hike & go places by ourselves & not in groups.  We are not 'food' people & heading out on restaurant excursions in search of fine foods is not up our alley.   Seems most of the folks love to have the 'Grands' come for a visit.  I'm still trying to figure out what the heck a 'Grand' is.  Got a fair few religious speaking folks on our list too & once again we find ourselves in a minority.  Most RV people are animal lovers though so we definitely made the normalcy grade there but it's no wonder I get myself into hot water sometimes on the blog here when I express my thoughts & opinions from time to time.  (like tonight for example) As I said before, in an odd sort of way, we are a minority on our own blog............................

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And did you know that very bad decisions generally make for very good stories:))

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

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

AN EMAIL & PHOTOS FROM A LOUISIANA RV COUPLE

A few blogs ago I posted about the mobility van I drive part time & included some pics of how the ramp system worked.  A couple days ago I received an email from an RV couple in southwest Louisiana who read that post.  I thought their email & pics would be of interest to other RV'ers & especially folks in similar situations.  I emailed Vickie & Ronnie back to ask permission to use their email & photos in an upcoming blog post.  This is that post & this is their email:))

Hi Al & Kelly.........I enjoy reading your blog and passing the link on to others.  It was interesting to see you describe how your work van lift works. So many people have no idea what it is like.  We, however have some experience in a similar lift we had installed in our Keystone Raptor Toy Hauler.  Ronnie has been in a wheelchair since 1988 as a result of a spinal cord injury. We live in SW Louisiana and travel when we can.  We just returned from a two week trip thru Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas.  Anyway, I thought you might like to see our rig setup. 

 

The first three photos were taken during the installation of the lift.  We didn't watch while they cut a huge hole in the side of our trailer.

             

Second two is Ronnie on the lift the first time. I know he's facing the wrong way, but he prefers to face the way he's headed.

 

Last pic is where we're enjoying our time, camping & fishing by a river.  We're proud of our ramp refitted Keystone Raptor and it get lots of stares when we pull into a campground.  Ronnie gets out of the truck on his seat lift and into his wheelchair, then people watch to see how he's gonna get up in that big trailer.  We just smile and wave!  The company that installed the lift in our 2009 Keystone Raptor Toy Hauler, got all the specs/blueprints from Keystone, because it is a Toy Hauler with a reinforced garage area in the back, & very little additional reinforcement was necessary. Before we had the lift installed we used an ATV winch mounted to the floor and would winch him in his chair up and down the back ramp door, it was sometimes very steep and dangerous when raining, now we have the perfect set up......

Last I read, MIKE & PAT were having themselves quite a time over there in Custer South Dakota with a troublesome water well dilemma.  Looked like some possible underground problems after arriving at their summer residence recently.  Well, Mike thought, we'll just use our 5th wheel water resources for the time being until we get the well situation straightened out.  "Oh Oh".......more trouble!!  Anybody got an extra few jugs of water to spare...............

Our friend Ron from FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE in Grand Bend Ontario has offered to put my motorcycle on his website if I decide for sure to sell it.  The hard words there are, 'decide for sure.'  The bike still had a lot of fine pine pollen on it from a couple weeks ago so if the bike is going to be sold I wanted to get it cleaned up.  Can't sell a bike with pine pollen all over it ya know!!  Slipped up to the Goderich car wash this morning & gave the bike a good washing & a coat of spray wax.  They have a clear water rinse there so no water or chemical spots are left on anything either.  When I backed it out of the bay all sparkling & shiny I thought to myself, "Geeeezzzzz, I can't sell this bike!!"  Drove over to Tim Horton's for a coffee & sat there for a bit thinking what I should do.  At this age & stage of the game if I sell the bike I'm not likely to ever have another one.  At least not as nice as this one.  It's a Honda Shadow Aero 1100 & it's a quality bike.  So, here I am sitting on the proverbial fence again.  What to do, what to do:((  I'm beginning to lean towards the idea of keeping the bike now in case we do not find a Jeep Wrangler.  Jeep decision first, motorcycle decision second.....ya, that's it.  Ok, that's my plan as of right now.  Well, until at least supper time anyway:))

DECISIONS, DECISIONS:((

Thanks to everyone for your concerns & comments about our little owl yesterday.  But, there may be a calming spiritual side to the story.  Our Colorado RV friend Rene from LIVE-WORK-DREAM left a comment on Kelly's Facebook this morning which read...."Ooooh, how sad. You guys are great for trying to save her. But you know what? We saw an owl today for the first time on our property. Maybe it was your owl's spirit being set free? Nice to imagine."

 GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

A man walked out to the street and caught a taxi just going by.   He got into the taxi, and the cabbie said, "Perfect timing.   You're just like "Brian!
Passenger:
"Who?"
Cabbie:
"Brian Sullivan.  He's a guy who did everything right all the time.  Like my coming along when you needed a cab, things happen like that to Brian Sullivan, every single time."
Passenger:
"There are always a few clouds over everybody."
Cabbie:
"Not Brian Sullivan.   He was a terrific athlete.   He could have won the Grand Slam at tennis.   He could golf with the pros.   He sang like an opera baritone and danced like a Broadway star and you should have heard him play the piano.  He was an amazing guy."
Passenger:
"Sounds like he was something really special."
Cabbie:
"There's more.   He had a memory like a computer.   He remembered everybody's birthday.   He knew all about wine, which foods to order and which fork to eat them with.   He could fix anything.   Not like me.   I change a fuse, and the whole street blacks out.   But Brian Sullivan, he could do everything right."
Passenger:
"Wow. Some guy then."
Cabbie:
"He always knew the quickest way to go in traffic and avoid traffic jams.   Not like me, I always seem to get stuck in them. But Brian, he never made a mistake, and he really knew how to treat a woman and make her feel good.   He would never answer her back even if she was in the wrong; and his clothing was always immaculate, shoes highly polished too.   He was the perfect man!   He never made a mistake.   No one could ever measure up to Brian Sullivan."
Passenger:
"An amazing fellow.   How did you meet him?"
Cabbie:
"Well, I never actually met Brian.   He died.   I'm married to his bloody widow!!!!"

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

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

OUR MONDAY MORNING MISSION OF MERCY

TRYING TO HELP

As soon as we had the doggy guys fed this morning we headed for the pond area where we had seen the Great Horned Owl Sunday morning.  Our neighbor came out saying the crows had been harassing the owl & that this was the 4th day she had seen it on the ground at the far end of the pond.  She had tried to call the MNR (Ministry of National Resources) but had no luck.  Had we known the owl had been on the ground that long we may have tried putting a sheet over it yesterday, bringing it home & finding help for it much sooner.

THIS WAS THE VERY FIRST PHOTO I TOOK OF THE LITTLE OWL SUNDAY MORNING WHEN WE FIRST SPOTTED IT

Walking quickly now & rounding the first corner of the pond I looked to the far end hoping to see the owl but he was not there.  Upon approaching a line of pine trees I saw a crumpled pile of feathers on the ground laying motionless in the grass.  The owl never moved when we approached & I was sure he was dead.  Max walked over & began to sniff the owl & suddenly there was movement as the owl lifted it's head slowly & opened it's big eyes staring at Max.  It was alive, but just barely, & it was too weak to move.  With the recent knowledge that it had been here 4 days I assumed it was dying of starvation.  Our first thought was to try & get some food in him so we raced home & brought back some Tuna.  We found out later this is not the right thing to do.  I sat down beside him & tried to get a small chunk of Tuna in his/her beak but to no avail.  We talked softly to the owl petting him very lightly trying to decide what to do.  Just 24 hours before the little fellow didn't want our help, but this morning the little guy needed our help.

We knew we could not leave him there in that condition so I carefully picked him up & carried him home.  He didn't try to fight or bite me and he was able to sit quietly in my arms with his eyes open looking ahead.  I brought him into the kitchen thinking I could maybe get a little Tuna juice into him with an eye dropper.  He tried to eat & at one point put his beak on my finger but didn't have the strength to bite.  But, he was still strong enough to at least hold his head up & partially keep his eyes open.  There was no movement in his wings, legs, or feet.   Meanwhile, Kelly was working feverishly on the computer & phone trying to find out what we should do & where we could take him. 

A computer site said to keep the owl calm by putting it in a small box with a blanket & place the box in a quiet dark place.  I didn't attempt to feed it anything more because the site also said not to do that.  Rounded up a box  & carefully placed him in it & put the box in our workshop shed outside.  It took Kelly half a dozen phone calls around the Province before she was finally directed to a facility west of London Ontario that could help us.  The people at SALTHAVEN Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Center asked some questions about the owl's condition over the phone & then said to bring the owl to their facility if we could.  Didn't take us long to make the right decision.

Fifteen minutes after the phone call we were on the road headed for the town of Mount Brydges Ontario about an hour & half drive south of our place.  I didn't have much hope for the poor little fellow in the box behind my seat because he could hardly move & I fully expected he would die before we got there.  Kelly checked him once & got a slight movement but the second time she checked about a half hour later there was no movement.  I pulled over to the side of the road & gently reached in the box to lift him up & see if his head drooped.  He had felt warm when I carried him from the pond area but now he felt cold.  He gave a slight shake so I knew he was still alive & we quickly continued on our mission. 

KELLY'S CHECKING TO SEE IF THE LITTLE GUY IS STILL ALIVE ON OUR WAY TO MOUNT BRIDGES

By the time we were west of London we were in unfamiliar territory & Kelly had to haul out a map to navigate us through a series of left & right highway turns before finally making it to the town of Mount Brydges. With the directions SALTHAVEN had given Kelly over the phone we quickly found the facility.  Staff came to the van immediately as I set the box on the grass beside the van. They began assessing the poor little guy's condition.  It did not look good.  They checked for wing damage etc & quickly got a heating pad under him.  His eyes were open at times & he moved his head in the direction the help was coming from but for the most part he was barely able to respond.  The girls placed him in a carrier taking him inside to begin the process of intravenously getting fluids into him.  We had done all we could & it was now in the hands of the animal rescue staff.  We gave them some more details on where we had found the owl plus our name, phone number, & email address.  It was at this point where they explained about the complex eating & digesting process of owls & how it was important not to try to feed them no matter what.  Of course I immediately felt bad for trying to get the little guy to eat some Tuna.

We left the rescue center & decided to take a different way home.  We were both feeling a bit stressed & in need of a coffee.  Decided to head west on highway 402 & then north up through the little town of Forest where we knew a Tim Horton's existed.  This is the same Tim Horton's that we always first stop at upon returning from the American Southwest every spring.  While motoring through the town of Forest, Kelly spotted a Chrysler/Jeep dealer so we popped in but they didn't have any used Bayfield Bunch Wranglers on the lot for us.  We were back in Bayfield by 1:30 & stopped at Deer Park Lodge to see if Kelly had missed anything by not being there this morning.  Fortunately everything was fine & we were home a few minutes later.

My Uncle Harry's health is deteriorating rapidly & an email was waiting for us from his good friend Grace with some grave concerns.  Kelly was again immediately on the phone & in touch with Harry's care personnel people with inquiries, instructions, & changes.  We feel we quickly have to get him to a nursing home facility for additional care.  That whole process was started about a month ago but now we are thinking time is of the essence.

All & all, despite the sadness & concern over the Great Horned Owl, this was a good day.  No time for my idle mind to grumble about itself.  We were in a position to be of help to an animal in distress & it was just great going somewhere & doing something together just like when we are traveling.  We motored down some new roads, saw some new towns, & briefly met a small group of volunteer people dedicated to the love & care of injured animals.

Late this afternoon we received the following email from Salthaven.......

Hi Kelly & Al 
Unfortunately this little guy died just a few short hours after you got him to us.
Thank you for taking the time to care.
____________________________
Brian C. Salt
Director of Wildlife Rehabilitation
Salthaven Wildlife Rehabilitation & Education Centre Inc.
P.O. Box 601 Mount Brydges ON. Canada, N0L 1W0
See how you can help: www.salthaven.org
B/N 85386 3546 RR0001

Out of respect for our little owl there will be no groaner's corner tonight.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

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

A QUIET MORNING ENCOUNTER WITH A GREAT HORNED OWL......ON THE GROUND

  

Saw an object on the trail ahead this morning that looked out of place to me.  As I approached there was a slight movement & I began to suspect a raccoon or large cat.  At the point where whatever it was should have bolted into the tall grass near the trail, it didn't.  As I cautiously drew closer I saw tufted ears & a large head with piercing eyes.  An owl!!  And what was an owl doing on the ground.  A couple steps closer & it spread it's wings & hopped back about 10 feet but did not try to lift itself into the air.  We did not approach any closer because we did not want to traumatize it in case it was injured.  Took some 300mm photos (new lens) & retreated from the area.  I know nothing about owls & don't know how large young owls coming out of a nest might be.  Could this have been a young fledgling owl.  It did not look injured.  Later, according to my bird book, I figured this was a Great Horned Owl.

The day remained cloudy & on the cool side.  Touch of fog & drizzle in the morning air.  Kelly spent a few hours at Deer Park Lodge helping with a new website under construction & I stayed in catching up on computer things at home.  I am beginning to think it is maybe not such a good idea for me to be reading other people's full timing blogs.  It just seems to make my 'at home frustrations' harder to handle.  I see the photos people are taking, I read their travel adventures, I understand only to well where they are, what they are seeing, & most of all......I know how the traveling folks are feeling about the lifestyle they are living.  I know that it is a far healthier lifestyle both mentally & physically they live too.  I also understand that at the age of 65+ time is slowly slipping away on me & like so many other countless people out there the time will come when an expected or unexpected bump in the night will occur & forever end any further traveling days.  I am finding it very difficult to be a totally happy camper these days & no, this is not pessimistic or negative thinking.....it is just a realistic reaction to a realistic situation by a realistic thinking person!!   There, that's my Sunday gripe for today & I am feeling much better now thank you very much...............10-4!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Got in a fight with my wife last night and it was totally my fault.  She asked me what was on the TV and I said: "dust."  The rest of the night didn't go too well after that.  And did you know there are 293 ways to make change for a dollar. And while your figuring all that out consider this....There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.  And don't say AL didn't tell ya so!!

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

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

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

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

AWWW NUTS, HAD TO TONE DOWN A DARN GOOD RANT

SEEMS EVERY TIME I GO OUT IN OUR BACKYARD I GET LOST IN THE JUNGLE (that is our burning barrel in the background)

Am having a miserable time publishing the blog again tonight.  Have backtracked & pulled out all the links & pics but still won't go.  Am now going to copy & paste into a new draft & if that doesn't work I'll have to start all over with blogger.  I suspect one of the enclosed links must have been bad so I just went back & re-did them all.   Here goes..................

======================================

Noticed in RICK'S blog this morning that while reading BRUCE & MARGIE'S blog he was surprised to see they had run into a helpful fellow RV repair guy by the name of Phil.  Same fellow Rick came across in Quartzsite a couple years ago.  In reading the comments in Rick's blog I noticed other RV folks have encountered the same fellow & spoke highly of him.  It is so nice to have people like that out there who can share their time & expertise to help fellow RVers with all sorts of RV & RV related problems.  MIKE commented that in his 15 years of full timing he has met dozens of Phil's across the United States & my comment in Rick's blog was simply that, "Being mechanically talented like Phil has it's own personal rewards. Not only is he able to repair things & make people feel good but it must be a nice feeling inside at the end of the day to know that something he has done has been of help to someone else. I envy those people with the patience, know-how & personality to do things like that. Two thumbs up for Phil & all the good people out there like him."

MAMA ROBIN & HER 3 YOUNG ROBINETTES IN OUR CARPORT

Have you ever walked into your RV's washroom & was surprised by a wet floor??  Check out Robert & Chris's blog, LITTLE TRAVEL NOTEBOOK & see how they tackled a leaking toilet problem & saved themselves a bunch of money.  And, Speedy over at SOMEWHERE IN TIME is having a problem with his jack stand gears on his 5th wheel.  A mobile tech guy determined it wasn't the jack's motor so will return with parts next week to fix the gear dilemma.  Meanwhile, Speedy & Sherri are grounded!!  Not all Park volunteer jobs work out for folks & I came across a blog this morning where the DISCOVERY TRAVELERS, Karon & her husband, decided it was time to pull the pin on a job & head on down the road.  Came across a good article about Mountain Driving a Heavy RV on RV NEWS & REVIEWS Lots of interesting & entertaining stuff out here on the internet folks & it's always a good idea to check other people's blogs to see what tips you can pick up & what they are up to. 

 

OUR FRONT YARD HOSTAS GROW VERY LARGE HERE

We have a wooden deck outside connecting our sunroom with the front porch. This deck is shaded by a Sunburst Locust tree & we have a mildew problem with it every year.  Last year I pressure washed the mildew off but didn't think that was the best way to do it because the piercing jet stream of water is too hard on the wood.  Decided to slip up to Home Hardware this morning & pick up something that could be put on that mold to loosen & dissolve it.  The clerk guy handed me a 4L jug of something called, 'Natura-Mildew Off.'  I have a terrible trusting nature & my alarm bell should have gone off right away when I noticed the price of this stuff had been marked down from $15.99 to $11.47.  To make a long story short I went home & applied this to the deck as per instructions.  Nothing happened.  This stuff never even put the slightest dent in that mildew problem.  I even scrubbed with a bristle brush & it would not remove the mildew.  I  then proceeded into the house to type up a big long huge rant about my frustrations.  It got kind of nasty but later I noticed the deck boards had lightened a bit & some of the mold had disappeared so I had to go back inside & rewrite my rant to make it less nasty.  I will leave it at that but I will include the last line of the original rant to give you an idea about how upset I was about this product....."Welcome to Planet Earth extra terrestrial space travelers........but let me warn you....................beware of the humans!!!!"

   

HAVE ALWAYS KIND OF LIKED THAT IVY COVERED ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN LOOK

Now, although I may still be in a slightly sour mood over this mold remover fiasco today I do not want to end the post on a negative note, so let me just say once again how grateful I am to all the folks out there who take the time each day to either leave comments or email the Bayfield Bunch.  Much appreciate each & everyone & would you believe I have saved all those comments from the past couple of years in a special folder.  One of these days when I am feeling really, really, blue I am going to open that folder & count them all:))  And to the folks who email inquiries in...... if I haven't emailed you back about a specific question you asked, just email me again with a gentle reminder to get my can in gear!!  Thanks for dropping by folks............................10-4:))

 

GOOD LUCK FINDING THE BAYFIELD BUNCH IN THE GREEN MAZE!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A police recruit was asked during the exam, "What would you do if you had to arrest your own mother?" He answered, "Call for backup."

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

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