GREAT TO HAVE KELLY HOME AGAIN:))

NO, THAT'S NOT A PICTURE OF KELLY......IT'S A HORSE!!

An absolutely beautiful morning & the cooler 63F temp meant no bugs, flies or mosquitoes in the forest.  There is a calming & soothing magic that begins along forest trails at this time of year.  There was a feeling of peacefulness as Max, Checkers & I made our way through the still morning air of the crisp & dampened pine woods.  We just took our time along the trail taking in the sights, sounds & smells around us.  Well, Max & Checkers took in more of the smells than I did.  I still can't smell too much right now but hopefully that will resolve itself soon & I can once again be down on the trail with the guys, sniffing my way right alongside them.

NICE QUIET MORNING DRIVE

Needed a few groceries today so hauled my carcass out of the house later, threw it in the Jeep & took myself on a long round about slow country drive through our rural neighborhood slowly savoring all of nature's wonders around me.  We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful land.

 

Despite feeling a little pooky by mid morning, I did muster up some reserves & gave the Jeep a good washing.  I was surprised to find a huge load of hardened mud underneath between the skid plate & the floor.  I was able to crawl underneath & loosen it up with a metal power bar.  By the time I was finished I had a third of a wheelbarrow loaded with mud.  The garden hose with nozzle on the 'Jet' setting took care of the rest.  That mud was ram packed in there about 6 weeks ago when we took that little 'bush tour' with the Jeep guy one night after supper.  I hadn't realized the mud had been there all this time.  It made me think again about why anyone in their right mind would take a perfectly good vehicle & deliberately run it through sink holes in a swampy bush.  So, in other words, 'what the heck was I thinking!!!!'

THIS IS THE BEST TIME OF YEAR FOR FINDING SPIDER WEBS

Kelly made it home from Spencerport NY about 1:30 this afternoon.  That is always an absolutely grueling drive through heavy Hamilton/Toronto traffic.  The situation with her Dad is very dire & grim.  Half way home she stopped to phone her Mother & see how her Dad was doing.  Shortly after she had left this morning he was taken by ambulance to an emergency Hospice center.  He will not likely return home again.  Kelly had an extremely stressful week to say the least & was so happy to get home to our quiet little forested oasis where we specialize in peace & quiet.

I have been pouring a lot of thought into this whole blog thing again & am on the verge of making some very definite changes.  I don't think I can put it off any longer if I want this blog to survive.  I have not felt comfortable with some of my content for quite awhile. There are a lot of new & fresh RV related blog sites appearing almost daily out here in blog land & I've noticed some of them really seem to be taking off quickly garnering a fast following with many comment responses.  Most of them are good blogs I guess but a few just leave me sitting here scratching my head & wondering about their content.  I have read them over & over asking myself, how did these blog's get so popular?  It sure has me taking a long hard look at my own efforts here with regards to improving my posts.

I know there are readers out there who think I shouldn't change a thing & would like me to keep the blog content as it is.  Maybe I can still do that but I have to get a whole lot smarter about how to do it if this blog is to continue.  Rants & opinions have their place & for the most part I do enjoy writing them but I sometimes go waaaaay overboard & end up shooting too many holes through the bottom of my own canoe.  For awhile now it seems the paddling has been getting harder for me & I feel my blog is becoming too heavy with opinions, too heavy with long rants & too heavy with just too much mud stuff!!  That wasn't my intent when I started out nearly 3 years ago & I feel I have lost a fair slice of my original focus. And I'm sure I have also lost a fair slice of readers as well, although the numbers show the opposite.

Anyway, amongst all this gnashing of teeth & wringing of hands I was totally surprised & heartened this afternoon when I noticed we had picked up 3 new blog Supporters all at once.  I would first like to offer a big thank-you to, ME AND MY DOG  Much appreciated, my new friend.  The name, LUVGLASS   rang a bell for me & I remembered briefly seeing that name on Twitter a couple years ago.  And, as it turns out, we were actually in email contact with this person 4 years ago in regards to a Cobb Cooker.  I see we have some mutual friends & I actually did receive a couple nice emails from these folks not too long ago.  Thanks guys.  Martha & Terry over at the GYPSY LIFE JOURNAL round out our new trio of Followers.  Thanks to all you good folks for climbing aboard as blog supporters.....you folks surely made my day:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Read this following email message carefully.  Maybe read it a second time.........

Did I like nut another to it send do to better anything  have doesn't that person a like this reading time sweet your took you since.

Were you able to make any sense out of it.........No?  OK, try reading it backwards then:))

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.

(Now read it backwards)

AN AFTERNOON CAMPFIRE

A QUIET & RELAXING BACKYARD CAMPFIRE THIS AFTERNOON

It was the best sleep I have had in years & years & years.  After downing my little Dimetapp codeine cocktail last night I went to bed shortly after 10.  Despite a short pit stop somewhere in the pre-dawn hours I slept right through to morning.  If I hadn't lost the keys to the Jeep I might even still be sleeping but in my dream world I was in the middle of a busy big city intersection trying to find my keys while cars all around were honking uncontrollably.  No wonder I woke up with a start at 5:30 this morning.  What a huge bonus it was to have actually had a good night's sleep for a change.  Made me feel like a new person this morning.

My energy lasted long enough this morning to get the doggy guys all the way around the pine trail, get the grass cut, pull some weeds & repair an electrical cord in the carport.  By early afternoon I was back in my recliner.  I have one anti-biotic pill left for Saturday so hopefully that will be the magic bullet that turns this thing around.

For readers who sometimes send in questions to bloggers & maybe do not receive a reply, be sure to read RICK'S POST this morning on, 'why.' 

If you are Motorcycle person living in the northern latitudes & would like to take your bike south with you in the winter check out RV LIFE ON WHEELS posts over the last few days to see how they are going to do it.

For all you diesel drivers out there you might want to read RETIRED ROD'S POST today & see what he has found out about the new mandatory 'Urea' technology being added by manufacturer's to their newer diesel engine truck models.  And yes, it is going to cost you money!!

Rene over at LIVE-WORK-DREAM expresses some heart felt thoughts about the realities of full timing & their new found friends in the mountains of Colorado.

Have been having some strange happenings on my side bar over the past couple weeks with things mysteriously disappearing.  This morning I noticed KAREN IN THE WOODS had vanished off our 'Blogs We Follow' list.  I have re-added Karen & I see where they are just getting into the fine points of, 'Toad Towing' for the first time.

JERRY & SUZY may be in California at the moment but big winds tore into their Escapee Park back in Benson Arizona this week doing some damage to their place & others!!

Kelly has had a difficult week in Spencerport & will be returning home tomorrow afternoon.  One day to rest up & then it's back to her very busy Deer Park Lodge job.  The latter part of August has turned out to be kind of difficult for us but at least we are heading into the all round best time of the year.  Did you realize Christmas Day is only 4 months from yesterday.  I wonder where we will all be by then................................

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Old age is when former classmates are so gray, wrinkled and bald, they don't even recognize you anymore.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.

BETTER DAYS AHEAD.....I HOPE

EARLY SIGNS OF AUTUMN ARE UPON US

At the risk of sounding like an old broken record again I'll just say that it hasn't been the best of days.  Seems this viral thing lets me win a few & then grabs me by the britches & slams me to the ground again.  I was very encouraged by Tuesday mornings energy levels but after a rocky night again I have spent the majority of my day in the recliner somewhere between the History channels 'Tank Battles' & Al's Snoozeland.  Not much of an appetite but I did whoop up a big bowl of oatmeal this morning.  We'll see who win's tomorrow's battle......Al, or the Bug!!

And it was 10 years ago today that I worked my last day for the Stratford Airport.  That marked the end of my years there.  It also marked the end of the many hundreds of thousands of miles I spent in the madness & chaos of Canada's infamous 401 super highway.   Known for having the heaviest traffic in all of Canada, I fought my way in & out of Pearson International Airport day after day running the gauntlet of endless heavy truck traffic & frenzied drivers.  Always under heavy stress to get all my passengers to the Airport on time to catch their various flights to destinations all over the world.  Blinding winter storms day & night & punching through heavy morning fog.  Rain, sleet, freezing rain, no matter.  People had to make their flights on time or lose expensive vacations.  Business men could not afford to miss meetings in Dallas, Vancouver, Atlanta or London England.  It was an extremely stressful job but I loved it then.  I was very good at the job knowing all the shortcuts to the Airport.   And I knew the traffic patterns like the back of my hand.  I knew what other drivers were thinking & going to do before they did it & I could slip through heavy traffic like a ghost in the night.  In the nearly 13 years I worked that job off & on I do not recall ever having any of my passengers miss their flights.  It was a crazy time back then & so different from the relaxed lifestyle I live now.  To this very day I still avoid driving through major cities or heavy traffic areas............. 

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A young blonde girl in her late teens, wanting to earn some extra money for the summer, decided to hire herself out as a "handy woman" and started canvassing a nearby well-to-do neighborhood. She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had any odd jobs for her to do.   

"Well, I guess I could use somebody to paint the porch" he said. "How much will you charge me?"Delighted, the girl quickly responded, "How about $50?"  The man agreed and told her that the paint and brushes and everything she would need were in the garage. The man's wife, hearing the conversation, said to her husband, "Does she realize that our porch goes ALL the way around the house?" 

"That's a bit cynical, isn't it?" he responded.  The wife replied, "You're right. I guess I'm starting to believe all those dumb blonde jokes." A few hours later the blonde came to the door to collect her money. "You're finished already??" the startled husband asked.  

"Yes," the blonde replied, "and I even had paint left over so I gave it two coats."   Impressed, the man reached into his pocket for the $50 and handed it to her along with a $10 tip.. "Thank you," the blonde said,

"And, by the way, it's not a Porch, it's a Lexus."

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.

FEELING BETTER, BUT NOT TO WORRY....I WON'T BE LOSING MY GRUMPINESS!!

PIONEER PARK'S STAIRWAY TO THE BEACH

What a welcome bonus it was to wake up this morning in the exact same place I had gone to bed last night.  That could only mean one thing.....I had finally had myself a decent night's sleep thanks to the codeine in the Dimetapp medicine I took last night.  Am definitely feeling a bit better today & will hopefully be totally out of this thing by the time my anti-biotic program ends in another 9 days. 

Sleep has been a problem for me this past 7 or 8 years & it was one of the things discussed with my NP yesterday.  She has already scheduled me back to the Medical Center next week for blood tests regarding cholesterol etc, followed by another consultation on Sept 13th to work on my sleep disorder problem amongst other things........ Now, I think that's just about enough about all this medical stuff for awhile.  It seems my posts have become focused on this health issue over the past week & a half & I think it's time I moved myself forward.

Had the doggy guys on the trail this morning by 7:15 & when we got back I decided it was time I spent a little extra effort & fixed myself up a fine breakfast for a change.  Right from scratch I toasted myself up a nice stack of Eggo Waffles.  It sure pays off to go the extra mile for oneself once & awhile.  I can be quite a little creative food connoisseur when I want to be you know.

BAYFIELD'S MAIN BEACH CAN BE SEEN AT TOP CENTER

For lunch I squeaked myself into town & picked up a 6" Tuna sub (turning out to be quite a foody blog eh) to go & headed for Bayfield's quiet Pioneer Park which overlooks Lake Huron.  Ate two thirds of the sub & saved the rest for my furry Pals back home.  Took a few pics, drove down to the harbor, took a few more & headed back home.  It was sooooo nice to get out of the house for an hour & do something different for a change.  Am looking forward to getting the bike out for a spin again soon too.  Also realized today that I had better get scrambling on the Motor Home's preparation for this coming winter's travels.  A long list of things to be attended to & I don't want to get myself caught in a last minute crunch thing. 

A TRIO OF GUYS IN PERPETUAL MOTION:))

Noticed we have a couple new Bayfield Bunch followers on our list so would like to welcome heyduke50 aboard along with MARGIE & ROGER down there in Florida.  I do try & keep a variety of interesting posts going folks so hopefully you will find something from time to time that may perk your interest.

A CALM DAY ANCHORED JUST OFF BAYFIELD'S BEACH

And RETIRED ROD left a comment on yesterday's post that left me a bit concerned for a few seconds.  In it he say's, "And lets hope the pills get your wits back about you, and you finally get over the stuff. We need you railing on something soon. Can't have all these yes mam posts, they are not the Al we know.".......... Well, if a solution is found to my nearly decade long lack of sleep problem in the coming weeks, will this mean I may run the risk of losing my......grumpiness!! Could more sleep possibly be the end of my realistic thinking & maybe push me over the edge into that unrealistic group of positive thinkers I am always so careful to avoid.  Could it put my Cursmudgeon status into question.  Would it mean one less person in the world to objectively look at the negative side of things hoping to maintain some kind of balance with the smiley face gang on the other end of the teeter totter.  Well Rod, I can tell you this, sick or not, sleep or no sleep, I yam who I yam & that probably isn't going to change.   I will always see things as they realistically are & not as the world's do gooder's & scam artists would have us think & believe they are.  Not to worry my friend:))

THE 'BOYS' HEADING BACK FROM THE BEACH

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And remember, Never explain yourself to anyone  because the person who likes you doesn't need to hear it and the person who dislikes you won't believe you anyway.....And for sure you know your getting older when you & your teeth don't sleep together anymore!!

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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 CALL TO THE MEDICAL CLINIC TODAY RESULTS IN.....ANTI-BIOTICS!!

AN 09 SUNRISE AT THE RANCH LAST DECEMBER (no current pics so these are from the Ranch we stay at near Douglas Az.)

By 8 o'clock this morning my fingers were busy on our desktop telephone dialing the number of the Goderich Medical Center.  Enough was enough!!  Had been optimistic yesterday about feeling a bit better but by 10 last night the coughing fits had started again & I had another miserable night.  Tuesday will mark the 11th day I have been dealing with this!!

DAILY SAND HILL CRANES

They fitted me into an early afternoon appointment with my Nurse Practitioner.  I have actually had a Doctor for the past 3 years but have never met him.  As I said before I haven't had any medical issues serious enough to see my real Doctor about. The way it is done here is a different way of doing things in the medical world.  Everyone is assigned a Nurse Practitioner (NP) who is a fully qualified registered Nurse.  It is the NP that you see when making an appointment.  She determines if your case is serious enough to require an actual Doctor.  I think it's a great idea because it saves our Doctors having to spend precious hours of their days dealing with things like sniffles, colds, bumps, scratches, sprained ankles, bee stings, prescription renewals & people overdosing on peanut butter sandwiches.  I have a great NP lady & she did consult with the Doctor this afternoon on one of the prescriptions I was prescribed.  I have now started on anti-biotics & am looking forward to a better night with a second codeine based prescription.  We'll see what the next few days bring.

OUR SPOT AT THE ARIZONA RANCH FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS

Needless to say I do not have a lot to blog about tonight & the highlight of my whole day was Jeeping myself to & from Goderich this afternoon.  What a greatly simple little vehicle this Jeep is & it is precisely that which I find attractive about it.  A whole lot less stuff to go wrong with it.  No computer this & that.  The Jeep is a very easy vehicle to keep clean because there simply isn't any massive surfaces & the whole outside of the vehicle is easily reachable by hand.  The engine compartment is as I remember them years ago.  Lots of room & everything is readily accessible & easily worked on.  You would be lucky to land a fly in today's SUV engine compartments.  And, I am beginning to understand why Jeep Wranglers are referred to as toys.  What a nice piece of luck to end up at this stage of the game with something that is not only sort of practical & useful, but a fun thing to play with every time I get behind the wheel.  Almost like being a kid again.  And y'know, at nearly 66 what's so gol darn bad about that!!  There will be readers who will shake their heads & not understand...........but I do:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know......

-A bartender is just a pharmacist with a limited inventory. 

-A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.

-A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

-A closed mouth gathers no foot.

-A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.

KELLY MAKES IT TO SPENCERPORT

FRONT YARD FLOWERS

It was 8:10 a.m. with heavy overcast sky's this morning when Kelly backed the Santa Fe out the driveway & began her 5 (turned out out be 6) hour trek east on her saddened sojourn to Spencerport, NY.  Depending on her Dad's condition she hopes to remain until Friday.

THREE BOTTLES OF WATER, CARS LOADED & SHE'S OFF..........

I'll be chief cook & bottle washer for the week & we will all be fine here despite the usual worried looks I am getting from some furry little faces.

NICE TO SEE PEOPLE'S CREATIVITY WITH NATURE

After 8 basically sleepness nights I was able to stitch together, in three different segments, a total of 5 hours sleeping time last night.  The line has been blurred all week as to just what has been causing what in regards to my condition.  The 'bug' I have or the deprivation l of sleep I have experienced.  I do feel better today & the eye problems, headaches, & lethargy that have been dogging me have lifted.  If I can get a few more hours sleep tonight & just might finally be on the road to recovery.....again.

I took the 2 big furry guys for a walk this morning around 11 & we were able to do the complete Pine Forest trail.  Took us an hour but we moved along slowly because I had my clippers with me & worked a bit at clearing back overhanging branches & wild raspberry plants.  Max & Checkers love moving along slower because it gives them lots of time to explore all the wondrous smells along the trail.  And now that Checkers just came home all spiffed up from the Groomers a few days ago she was able to get herself into a patch of burrs this morning & get looking like her old self again!!

MY TRAIL GROOMING HELPERS THIS MORNING

All RV folks at one time or another have to make the transition from driving an ordinary sized car to something much bigger.  Some of those transitions were probably done slowly & calmly.  My transition from a small vehicle to a larger vehicle came rather suddenly.  FROM A VW BEETLE TO A BIG SQUARE GREEN DINOSAUR.

ALONG THE MORNING TRAIL           >>>

GROANER'S CORNER:((  When the doctors were told to contribute to the construction of a new wing at a hospital:

The allergists voted to scratch it.
The dermatologists preferred no rash moves.
The gastroenterologists had a gut feeling about it.
The micro-surgeons were thinking along the same vein.
The neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve.
The obstetricians stated they were laboring under a misconception.
The ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted.
The orthopedists issued a joint resolution.
The parasitologists said, "Well, if you encyst".
The pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!"
The pediatricians said, "Grow up".
The proctologists said, "We are in arrears".
The psychiatrists thought it was madness.
The surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.
The radiologists could see right through it.
The internists thought it was a hard pill to swallow.
The plastic surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter".
The podiatrists thought it was a big step forward.
The D.O.s thought they were being manipulated.
The urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water.
The anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas.
The cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.
And the otologists were deaf to the idea.

Obviously the hospital's new wing never got built!!

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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 SHORT BLOG TONIGHT

BUZZARDS ON A BARN ROOF  (A hasty Canon A720 shot from the Jeep:))

Well, I don't know how I did this but it seems I may have missed someone on our Followers List.  Noticed them today & when I clicked on their site it did not look familiar.  Then, I remembered a note coming in from somebody by the name of MeowMomma a few days ago asking me a technical question.  I forwarded it to Rick right away because I knew he would be able to answer the question for this lady far better than I could.  (which he did)  So, with apologies to the good folks over at CATHOUSE ADVENTURES I will include their link here.  Looks to me like some great photography talent in this family & you might want to stop by & check out their site.  Welcome aboard folks:))

Blog is short tonight.  I seem to be still running into a few problems with this darn respiratory thing so I'm just going to take myself off the computer early & maybe by tomorrow night I will be back in my chair pounding the keys again.

Kelly heads off to Spencerport New York first thing in the morning to see her Mom & Dad.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A man asked an American Indian what was his wife's name.  He replied, "She called 5 horses."  The man said, "that's an unusual name for your wife....what does it mean?"  The Indian answered, "It's an old Indian name."  "It mean.....NAG, NAG, NAG, NAG, NAG!!"

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.

GREAT WEATHER......WISHED I COULD BE A PART OF IT:((

RURAL SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO, CANADA

All the photos I have used this past week for the blog are file photos.  As soon as I get feeling better I'll be out working on some new stuff:))  Some of today's pics were taken here at home.

MANY AREA FARMERS NOW MOW THE DITCHES ALONG COUNTRY ROADS

For any of you folks out there using or have questions about Picasa, Live Writer, Blogger, Wifi, Air Cards & Broadband Routers you will want to hop over to RICK'S blog because he has just put all his tips & techniques into a free downloadable PDF file.  Many of us have relied on Rick to bail us out from time to time with various computer questions & problems.  I had saved some of his tips from time to time but of course can't remember where I saved them too.  (it's the age thing!!)  Now, we can all access Rick's tips & techniques in a well organized book form.  He has brought everything together with chapters, topics, illustrations & pictures & can now be freely downloaded to one convenient spot on the computer.  And it will be printable as well:))  Thanks Rick.....you are one smart Dude alright:)) 

WELCOMING CHECKERS HOME FROM THE SPA ON THURSDAY

Our waning summer days are transitioning seamlessly now into some of the most beautiful early Autumn weather I have seen for awhile.  Despite not being able to be outside & be a part of it this past week I have been watching if from our sunroom.  Cooler days followed by cooler nights are gently setting the stage for Autumns splendor beginning in September.  I was able to take Max & Checkers for a short walk around the pond this afternoon & that was encouraging.  None of us moved to fast but it sure was nice to get the legs moving & be outside for a walk again.

This morning I was feeling I needed to accomplish something.  This laying around sick all week is enough to get a feller down so I fired up the Motor Home & took it for it's monthly 10 mile cruise through the countryside.  All systems were go & it ran like top.

WARMING UP THE RIG THIS MORNING FOR IT'S MONTHLY SPIN

Kelly's Dad has started Hospice Care today & Kelly is going to head for Spencerport first thing Sunday morning.  She phoned today & her Dad was pretty happy she is coming down for a few days to see him.  I heard her say on the phone, "hang on Dad, I'm on my way."

<<< A COUPLE PALS SHARING THE COUCH

Don't forget to check out RICK'S TIPS & TECHNIQUES

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Home computers are the perfect thing for women who don't feel that men provide them with enough frustration.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.

NEVER MADE IT OUT OF MY PJ'S TODAY

It was one week ago tonight that I first noticed the telltale signs of something medically amiss in my body.  I do feel I have made a bit of progress today.  Nose has cleared up a bit, the coughing is less & not as severe as a few days ago.  My voice level has come up a bit & hopefully within a few days I will be back to yelling at myself again.  My eyes sealed up yesterday but that has cleared up as well.  Remember as kid how some mornings you would wake up & your eyes were stuck closed with a crusty solution of crud.  Happened to me yesterday & persisted all day.  Gone now.  And thankfully the sore throat has not returned.  That was the most painful & worst part of this whole thing followed closely by the uncontrollable coughing. 

 

Managed to put together about 3 hours of sleep last night plus a couple more this morning & that has been a big help.  Kelly brought home some more medicines today that I am sure were specifically designed to gag a Walrus.  Took a big swig of Robittuson something & nearly wrenched up my slippers.  Popped an unflavored extra strength 'Fisherman's Friend' & popped it right back out again.  You would think if we can put a man on the moon we should at least be able to make medicine taste better.  That technology hasn't changed one bit since I was a kid.  At least the stuff Kelly brought home from the health food store was palpable.

I am typing this tonight in my PJ's.  I never even got out of the darn things all day & if I spend any more time in my recliner Kelly is going to have to call a moving company to have the chair & me taken to the hospital whereupon me & my best Pal will have to surgically separated.

I think if I can stitch a few more hours of sleep together tonight I might have a chance of getting ahead of this thing.  I was even able to get one of my Soy Shakes down this afternoon for the first time so for sure that has sent fresh troops into battle.  Also on the positive side, I have lost 5 pounds.   Any loss of weight for me is a good thing.  And, a big thanks to everyone who has sent in suggestions & remedies.  Even the one about sticking my head up an elephan...........well, guess they were only trying to help. 

Hasn't been anything in this post about RVing so let me leave you with this fine day from our travels in Arizona back on December 13th of 09...........TODAY WE FOUND THE CORNONADO CAVE.

GROANER'S CORNER:(  As we Seniors age we become more valuable in many ways.  We have............

Silver in our Hair

Gold in our Teeth

Stones in our Kidneys

Sugar in our Blood.

Lead in our Butt

Iron in our Arteries

And an inexhaustible supply of portable Natural Gas.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.

STILL DOING BATTLE WITH THIS MISERABLE RESPIRATORY THING!!!!

SOME EARLY SIGNS OF AUTUMN

I will be so glad to make it through a blog without having to mention this miserable respiratory problem I am having right now.  It has dominated my days this past week & after another totally rotten night I have been curled up in my recliner for most of the day.  I thought when the sore throat cleared up yesterday I was on my to recovery.  Not so!!  It seems respiratory stuff is worse at night & I hardly got any sleep again because of the constant coughing.  If I have another bad one tonight I will have to make an appointment with my own Doctor tomorrow morning for a second opinion about what is going on here!!

I don't have a lot of energy to put a post together tonight so I dug something up from my archives.  I have posted it a few times before & here it is again because this is a 'heads up' post for other RV drivers out there.  I call it,  AWWWW NUTS...WE'RE GONNA NEED A TOW TRUCK!!!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Out of the mouths of Babes comes....WHAT DO  MOST PEOPLE DO ON A  DATE?
-Dates are  for having fun, and people  should use them to get to know each other. Even boys  have something to say if you listen long enough.     --  Lynnette, age  8

-On  the first date, they just tell each other lies and that  usually gets them interested enough to go for a second  date.  
--  Martin, age  10

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.

THE BEGINNING & THE END OF RV'ing DAYS

BAYFIELD'S LITTLE INN

It was about 11 o'clock this morning when I noticed the first positive change in my miserable ongoing 'virus' condition.  It was as if someone had finally turned off the chainsaw in my throat & for the first time in over 4 days I was able to swallow without it feeling like my throat was being torn out.  I still have about half a dump truck load of gravel in my lungs but at least the painful throat problem has finally eased off.  I have no idea how long it will take for the lungs to clear themselves so I'm still hacking up a lot of gravel.  Head & nose still stuffed, but one thing at a time.  Have had very little sleep during this whole ordeal but feel confidant that if I can get a few solid hours of back to back sleep time under my belt I'll be well on my way to recovering from whatever it was that has wrestled me to the ground these past few days.  As I said before, it's rare for me to get sick & I certainly do not want to have to go through this again.  These past 4 & half days have totally knocked the stuffing's out of me.  I have a continuous sinus drainage problem which I'm sure made things worse & that should really be fixed some day but the thoughts of somebody getting up my nose with crowbar & a garden hose has prevented me from having that looked after & corrected. 

So, is it time for me to re-considered my mobility van job & the hazardous places it takes me?  As much as I like this part time job I will be giving this some very serious thought over the next few days.

JERRY had a good post in this morning as he & Suzy face some difficult 'end of days' RV decisions.  Is it time to hang up the RV keys?  We see many posts & read articles from & about people starting out in the RV Lifestyle but very few posts about people coming in off the road.  When starting out excitement builds as retirements are planned, futures are discussed, houses are put on the market & belongings are sold.  Excitement really begins to peak when folks are actually out looking at new & used rigs as future homes.  Travel Trailers, Class C's, Motor Homes or 5th Wheels.  A flurry of life altering decisions can be made in mere moments or after years of careful planning as the anticipation & excitement of 'hitting the road' finally begins to take shape turning people's long held dreams into reality.  It is, 'the beginning of RV days' & little thought is ever given at the time to the other end of that spectrum....'the end of RV days.'

A LATE SUMMER NIGHT'S ICE CREAM STOP

I have seen very few articles or posts written about the twilight RV years when people face the inevitable realities of their wondrous lifestyle coming to an end.  Just as the topic of aging & death are often skirted around in the busy excitement of life, so is the topic amongst RV'ers regarding when they will be faced with, 'hanging up the keys.'  We all have an entrance plan of sorts but I think few of us have a solid exit plan. 

Four years ago Kelly & I were very gung-ho on fulltiming.  Especially me & I still am, but with some mellowing.  We laid down a bit of groundwork for fulltiming but of course being a couple of, 'sometimes too logical,' people we kept coming up with nagging questions for ourselves.  The stock market ker-fuffle back in 08/09 knocked us for a loop of course & we began to take a harder look at an RV exit strategy if we were to go full time.  I think most RV folks plan to permanently settle in an RV Park one day when they come off the road.  The ESCAPEE CLUB has Parks specially designed for this purpose.  An excellent exit strategy for the majority of RV people.  However, the key word there is 'majority.'  Neither Kelly or I are 'people' people so that puts us into a minority think mode & our decisions & conclusions are generally arrived at from a slightly different angle than most folks.  Come to think of it, we are in the minority mode for a lot of life's popularly held beliefs........but, that's another whole can of worms for another kind of day.

Now, back to the topic at hand......Kelly & realized right from the start that we are not in the majority & someday retiring off the road to an RV Park would never work for us.  So, what were the alternatives?  To buy another house some day is not financially realistic & moving into an apartment wasn't going to work for us either.  We are not as flexible as other RV'ers when it comes to making concessions, living by rules, or having to interact with neighbors & social functions.  It was something we really didn't want to consider in the excitement of our beginning RV days, but consider it we had to. 

We are very fortunate to live in the country we do & have the things we have.  Yes, I would much sooner have a little place out in the countryside but for us right now we have got it pretty darn nice spot right where we are.  We did come close to selling our place 3 years ago but in hindsight now I guess I am kinda glad we didn't.  By staying here we do not have to worry about an RV exit plan some day or being forced into an RV Park or some small apartment somewhere.  Canada has excellent medical coverage & in our area we have all the amenities anyone could ever ask for.  Our lot gives us privacy & hiking trails through pine & maple forests just footsteps away.  No major cities & no major traffic.  Yes, it bugs me to no end having to sit here for 6 or 7 months of the year but I'm hoping we can make some changes to that some day soon.

FISHING THE BAYFIELD RIVER FROM THE PIER

So, in conclusion I would have to say that we are not only living our RV entrance plan but we are already living our RV exit plan as well.  Our 'end of days' is already established.  I am still 'bugged' about not being on the road fulltime but am finally managing to gather together more days of being content with where we are & our lifestyle just the way it is.  The thoughts of having to live out our final days in an RV Park was just not an option for either one of us so I guess we will just stay right where we are for now & continue our Snow Birding for as long as we can.  Besides, it took me a long time to get our 'outside jungle' grown up all around us so we may as well enjoy the privacy of that while we can. That's our plan anyway & I'll stick to that just as long as Kelly lets me.......10-4

WE LIVE ABOUT HALF MILE ON THE FAR SIDE OF THAT COMMUNICATION TOWER TO THE LEFT OF TOP CENTER

And thanks to our newest blog follower Brenda for climbing aboard & riding along with, The Bayfield Bunch:))

SUNDOWN ON BAYFIELD'S PORT

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Everyone has a photographic memory.  Some. . . like me . . . just don't have any film.
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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"

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.