Tuesday, October 19, 2010

A LONG 6 HOUR WAIT IN A MECHANIC'S LUNCH ROOM:((

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WORKHORSE BRAKE RECALL BEING DONE AT 'CARRIER TRUCKS' IN SARNIA, ONTARIO

Mighty dark this morning at 5:30 when I fired up the rig & got the big wheels rolling for my 'brake recall' appointment in Sarnia.  Aside from a pesky couple of construction zones it was a pretty quiet drive.  Was nice having somewhere to go for a change with the Motor Home & I was at my destination,  the Carrier Truck Center, about 7:20.
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AND, THIS IS WHERE I SPENT 6 HOURS TODAY!!

They took the rig in at exactly 7:30 & sent me off to the mechanic's lunch room to wait for what would turn out to be a very long 6 hours.  Good news side of things was that I had brought my laptop but the bad news side was that I could not access the internet!!  However, I did have 2 things going for me.  Had oodles & oodles of hours filled with my favorite music in the laptop plus a whole host of photos from as far back as 2001 that needed editing.   Back in those days I did not have the Picasa Editing program so I ended up editing over 700 photos today.  It had been a job I have been putting off for years.  Had I hooked into an internet connection I probably would not have got that long overdo job done.
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AT ONE POINT I SAW THEM BACKING THE RIG OUT THE DOOR

At precisely noon all the mechanic's came rumbling into the lunch room & both the micro-wave & toaster ovens were on overtime.  The room filled with many aromas from homemade spaghetti to pepperoni pizza's & something that smelled like it might have come from the dark side of Russia somewhere.  The mechanics only had a half hour for lunch so there was little talking, just a lot of silverware doing battle with plastic food containers & some very fast slurping & burping.  In what seemed like only a few minutes there was a shuffling of chairs & the mechanic gang rumbled back out of the lunchroom, down the stairs & back out into the garage.  That was good by me because I figured the sooner they got back to work, the sooner I would get out of there & the sooner those food smells would leave the room.  I had a banana for breakfast & that was it for me until I popped into a Subway on my way home later in the afternoon. 

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THAT IS A BLADE OFF ONE OF THOSE BIG WIND TURBINES

At 1:25 one of those same mechanics came back up the steps, stuck his head in the door & said, 'your ready to go sir."  And boy I didn't waste any time packing up my laptop, signing off on the recall paperwork, (no charge) jumping into the Motor Home & pointing the nose for home.  Same construction zones, same delays but I was home before 4.  Nice to finally have that 'brake recall' worry behind us.  The confusion with this Workhorse recall has been rolling around the industry for the past couple of  years or more & it is only lately that they have got things together enough to now effectively begin the correct brake repair work.
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Tom Bosley, who played Mr. C, the Father figure in Happy Days has died & just a few days ago Barbara Billingsley, the TV Mom on Leave It To Beaver passed away.  Our favorite old TV characters are slowly moving on.  Remember when television was entertaining & when it was enjoyable to sit down & watch those light hearted shows.  I watch very little television anymore.  What a rude insult it is to even turn on a television set these days!!!!

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Here's a bit of news in the world of Verizon if you happen to be a Verizon customer, which we are.  We briefly considered this new Mifi thing but after a few phone calls to Verizon have decided to stay with our UMB 175 card & go with the Cradlepoint router idea.  If we switch to Mifi it renders our UMB card useless & we like the fact our UMB card does not require electricity to operate.  Plus, we bought the card outright 3 years ago so no contract!!  And, with the UMB Air Card we can freely take the laptop outside anywhere without being tethered to anything.  Now, I hope I just got all that techy stuff right!!

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WANDERING WILLY has found his way down into Utah already & it looks like he's got his sites set on Bryce Canyon.   And, Ivan from ROADTRIP 2010 is criss crossing & zig zagging all over Vancouver Island this week with his sites set on no particular place at all:))

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I KNOW IT'S A WOODPECKER BUT NOT SURE WHAT KIND

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A young boy asks his Dad, "What is the difference between confident and confidential.  Dad says, "You are my son, I'm confident about that.  Your friend over there, is also my son, that's confidential!"

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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/

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

Monday, October 18, 2010

HOW MANY OF YOU OLD FELLERS OUT THERE STILL HAVE YOUR TEDDY BEAR...........I DO:))

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HAVE ALWAYS LIKED THE ARCHITECTURE OF OLD CHURCH'S

Sunday turned out to be a very long day both mentally & physically.  By the time I got home Sunday night I had put in 15 hours with the mobility van.  All day my mind kept returning to the tragic news about fellow RVing
bloggers, MARGIE & BRUCE.  It was a day of quiet reflection & it was a day I will remember for a very long time.
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My Sunday travels took me through 3 small Ontario towns I had never seen before.  Teeswater, Formosa & Belmore.  I had a 2 hour wait in Formosa while a lady I had transported there attended a large Community Center turkey dinner.  I was invited to stay but by the looks of all the cars in the parking lot I could never have entered that building with so many people in it.  I had spotted what appeared to be a large stone Church perched high atop a hill while approaching Formosa earlier & knew there would be a parking lot there, so that is where I headed to spend my wait time.  I had
brought my cameras with me so ended up taking a few pics of the architecturally beautiful old stone Church.  I like old buildings like that & always marvel at the pride of craftsmanship that went into those large works of art many years ago.  This Church dated back to 1876.

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A QUIET PLACE TO SPEND A COUPLE HOURS

I had taken our newer laptop computer with me Sunday & it was the first time I used the new version of Live Writer to do a blog post.  I still prefer the older LW format but I managed to figure it out OK & I guess the sooner I get using it in a few weeks the more I will get used to it.

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October 19th for the past 31 years has always marked a very special day for me.  It marked an abrupt turning point in my life & I blogged about that sudden change of direction a year ago.  You can read my post here...A TURNING POINT IN MY LIFE

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Looks like our nice Autumn weather will continue to hold for a few more days which is a bonus.  Noticed Sunday that a lot of the
Autumn leaves are beginning to come off the trees along the forest lines in the country.  We will soon be into the cold, wet, & drab gray days of early winter.  I have always considered November to be the most depressing month of the year.  Big winds come in across the Great Lakes making for exceptionally foul weather.  Some of you may remember Gordon Lightfoot's song, 'The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald' & remember the line, 'With the Gales of November remembered.'  For the rest of the lyrics to that song go here....WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD

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I will be off early Tuesday morning for Sarnia Ontario to have brake recall work done on the Motor Home.  This is the Workhorse site telling about that recall in case you have a Workhorse Chassis...WORKHORSE RECALL NOTICE & the CARRIER TRUCK CENTER in Sarnia is doing the work.  Said they have 8 coaches lined up to eventually do & ours will be the first.  I'm a little apprehensive about that because the service manager said they have never done this kind of recall before.

And we welcome our latest blog supporter, Ellen.  Nice to have you aboard:))

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How many of you fellas still have your Teddy Bears out there?  I do:))  As a little boy I hung out with my 3 favorite Pals  Nancy, Panda Bear, & Punkin Head.  Nancy was a small doll with a blue dress & Panda was a big pink & white bear.  Punkin was the head honcho.  Nancy & Panda are long gone now but I still have my Punkin Head.  Punkin stayed in my bedroom at my Mother's house long after I was gone out into the world.  At some point he was moved from the house out to an old green barn we had behind our place where he stayed for a countless number of years in quiet seclusion.  In 2004 the task of emptying my Mother's huge house became a big job set aside for Kelly & I.  The barn had to be cleaned out as well & that is where I found my old Pal, Punkin Head.  He was a little worse for wear than I remembered him as a kid, but then again age hasn't really treated any of us too kindly has it:((  I brought him home that day & he has resided on the top shelf of my bedroom closet ever since, warm & safe.  Today, while rooting through some things to take south I spotted my little Pal just sitting back relaxing.  I brought him down from the shelf & as we sat on the edge of my bed we shared some old memories.  We sure were the best of Pals those oh so many, many, years ago & we are still the best of Pals to this very day:))

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GROANER'S CORNER:((  A guy says to his friend, "Guess how many coins I have in my pocket."  The friends says, "If I guess right, will you give me one of them?"  The first guys says, "If you guess right, I'll give you both of them!"

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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/

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

Sunday, October 17, 2010

WE HAVE JUST TRAGICALLY LOST TWO OF OUR RV’ING BLOGGER FRIENDS

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It was about 5:30 this morning when I read Rick’s blog about the tragedy that has struck down our fellow RV & Blogger friends, MARGIE & BRUCE.  That was about 6 hours ago & as I sit here in a Cyber CafĂ© in Wingham Ontario I am still in a state of shock & disbelief.  All morning my mind has been returning to Margie’s posts over the past year & both her & Bruce’s emails.  I am remembering her positive attitude with life.  I am remembering many of her writings & her ability to speak her mind when needed.  Many of her post’s were educational as she took us from place to place.  Her writings were filled with hope & the absolute joy they were having as full time RVing blogger folks.  It was easy to see their love of life through her photos & daily posts.  Margie & Bruce’s dedication to their Grandchildren was especially evident this past summer. 

We never met Margie & Bruce but one doesn’t have to meet someone to miss them.  Our tight knit little blogging community out here is like family.  We have our differences & we have our minor squabbles from time to time but it is nevertheless, family.  I feel much closer to my friends here on the blog than I do to many people I actually know here at home.  Margie & Bruce were instrumental in keeping this family together through her writings.  And for that I will always be grateful to them.

Margie was generally the first commenter on my blog many nights & I would always look for her.   I am going to miss that.  And, I am going to miss reading Bruce & Margie’s Full Time Journey every day.

My heart goes out to the family & little dog, Annie.  It will be a new day’s dawning now for all of them.  A page has been turned, a chapter ended, but the book of Margie & Bruce’s life will live on through her many writings & photos.  We will always remember you.  Take care & keep that big rig rolling in search of new sunrises & sunsets.  Take care guys……… Al & The Bayfield Bunch

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Saturday, October 16, 2010

A WEE HIKE ALONG THE BAYFIELD RIVER

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SATURDAY MORNING FISHING ALONG THE BANKS OF THE BAYFIELD RIVER

While traveling, we'll stop in an area for awhile & do as many hikes & day trips we can while there.  Sometimes the locals tell us we know & see more of their area than they ever do.  Well, the same thing happens to us right here in Bayfield too.  This morning we went for a 45 minute hike on Bayfield's Sawmill trail which begins about a mile from our place.  Part of the trail follows the Bayfield River.  Guests at Deer Park Lodge this summer told about it, but Kelly & I had never been on the trail.  So, it works both ways.  There are other new trails close by we haven't been on either. 

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When I looked at my mobility van schedule for Sunday & had to go & get into my recliner right away for an immediate rest.  I will leave the house Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. & not return until nearly 10 p.m. Sunday night.  Now, that is going to be a loooooong day!!

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HIKING THE SAWMILL TRAIL

Our handy man, Bruce came by today & installed a new window blind in the Motor Home, fixed a loose mirror on a closet door & repaired two broken drawers.  I helped by handing him his drill once.

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"COME ON DAD, LET'S GET THIS CIRCUS ON THE ROAD"

And, a Blackberry phone observation....All our mobility vans are equipped with Blackberries for communication & it was obvious at our 'driver's meeting Thursday night that the majority (if not all) of the drivers do not like them....me included.  I had to make a phone call a week ago & had to use my pen tip to find & press the teeny tiny numbers which I had to totally strain my eyeballs to see.  Had it been in dim light I would have been totally beat.  From the experience I've had with those things on the job, I know now I would never ever waste my money on buying one.

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When you think of Autumn in these parts you think of Autumn leaves, but not so here in our Park.  It's Autumn needles.  Pine needles that is, & every year at this time zillions of them fall from the trees & have to be raked up, so that's what took up a bunch of my time today......except when I handed Bruce the drill once.

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RAKING UP A KA-ZILLION PINE NEEDLES IN OUR FRONT YARD

We had a call from Carrier Trucks in Sarnia Ontario telling us the parts were in for our Motor Home's brake recall.  I will be rolling out of here about 5:30 Tuesday morning with the rig heading for Sarnia.  It's about an hour & half drive.

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I was a bit long winded with Friday's post so I'll make up for that by keeping this one shorter.  Don't want anyone out there suffering from reader's exhaustion......10-4:))

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GROANER'S CORNER:((

Did you ever wonder why there are no dead penguins on the ice in Antarctica- where do they go?

Wonder no more!!!

It is a known fact that the penguin is a very ritualistic bird which lives an extremely ordered and complex life.

The penguin is very committed to its family and will mate for life, as well as maintaining a form of compassionate contact with its offspring throughout its life.

If a penguin is found dead on the ice surface, other members of the family and social circle have been known to dig holes in the ice, using their vestigial wings and beaks, until the hole is deep enough for the dead bird to be rolled into and buried.

The male penguins then gather in a circle around the fresh grave and sing:

"Freeze a Jolly Good Fellow."

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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/

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

Friday, October 15, 2010

LOOKING BACK ON A SCHOOL BUS STORY:))

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MAX, CHECKERS & I WERE BEING WATCHED ON THE TRAIL THIS MORNING

No mobility van drives so it turned out to be a day of home & Motor Home puttering.  Just a lot of small things again.  Packing this here & moving that there.  Dusted off both my cowboy hats this afternoon & put them in the rig.  Can't wear big cowboy hats around these parts or people would point & stare figuring I had escaped from a correctional center or something.  Standard head gear is a baseball hat here in the northern latitudes but down south.......Hi Yo Silver, it's cowboy hats all the way:)))))

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TOOK THIS UFO PHOTO AT SUNSET LAST WEEK WEST OF EXETER, ONTARIO.

And here's something I never thought about.

ME & MY DOG had a post Thursday regarding publishing posts, editing, re-editing etc. I sure hope this isn't happening with my posts but maybe it is because I am in the habit of re-publishing my blog if & when I find errors in it. Nobody has ever brought it to my attention yet, but........

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SEEN IN GODERICH ONTARIO......SELF EXPLANATORY  (tonight's photos are a mish mosh of pics)DSC_8507 

Now, time for a little backtracking.  I should have explained in Thursday night's blog that the fellow who's air line I stepped on was just fine.  I had picked him up at home & transported him to the hospital for an appointment.  People who have home oxygen are well instructed on the care & use of their equipment so when the oxygen hose was abruptly pulled out the fellow just simply re-inserted it & I helped put the 'over the ears' holding line back on.  He wasn't bothered by it all & I think the only one feeling bad was me for not noticing the long plastic & transparent oxygen hose trailing out from behind the wheelchair.  Good thing it wasn't an IV line eh!!

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I THINK THIS FORGOTTEN LITTLE CORVETTE HAS SEEN THE LAST OF IT'S LIFE ON THE ROAD

And to backtrack a little further to my Boondocking post, I was talking about refilling the fresh water tank while out in the desert.  RETIRED ROD suggests....."There are also some 40 or 50 gallon bladders available that you can put in the back of your truck to bring fresh water out to your site.  Some folks will take a RV water pump and rig it up so they can pump the water directly into their rig's tank.  Plug the water pump into the cigarette lighter socket and off load the entire tank!  Most folks go to town at least every other day, so running out of water shouldn't happen!" 

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GYPSY was wondering if we needed the generator on while Boondocking to run the A/C & my answer to this is, 'yes.'  In the 4 years we have had the Motor Home we probably wouldn't even have 3 hour's running time on either of our A/C's.  Hot humid days are not a problem in the Southwest during the winter.  Our windows & doors are always open so it's rare for us to use A/C 

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ONE OF EXETER'S WHITE SQUIRRELS...(only had my small point & shoot with me)

And a note regarding the AM 740 ZOOMER RADIO   site.  When you open the site just look to the top right for a large round gray button that will say, 'On the Air.'  Click that & you should be able to hear the station.   The Zoomer's club is on the site as well but you do not have to join that to hear Zoomer radio.  I should also mention in regards to my 'photo organization' blog that my main confusion is in trying to organize my photos into my Smug Mug site.  I always categorize my photos by month & year taken.  I don't break them down into categories like flowers, sunsets, family, etc.  All the pics I take in 'September 2010' are in a folder by the same name.  Someone asked about photo storage in web albums & yes, Picasa has their own web albums which I have been using since I started all this.  Just type in Picasa Web Albums to Google & you will find the site.  My Picasa Web Albums are here.....  BAYFIELD BUNCH'S PICASA WEB ALBUMS  I hope that catches me up on some of the questions.  I still have some emails to send regarding others.

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AWWWW NUTS, I RAN INTO A SNOW DRIFT WITH THE MOBILITY VAN IN HENSALL ONTARIO THURSDAY!!

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SNOW FROM THE REFRIGERATION UNIT IN THE ARENA:))

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On my way home from Exeter Thursday I followed along behind a school bus for awhile.  Watching the little kids get off at one stop I was reminded of my school bus driving days & the time a public school principal from the East Wawanosh Public School in Belgrave Ontario had to come out the bus & give me a scolding.  Before I had my own school bus run in this area I would often fill in on routes where other drivers were off on medical leaves, etc.  It was late March 2005 when I took over a bus route from an older lady who finally retired driving the same school bus route since Abe Lincoln was a small boy.  I was told she ran a totally strict bus with absolutely no Tom Foolery or shenanigans going on.  It was a quiet bus & it was a disciplined bus.  The crew was made up of about 30 small children & 5 young teenagers.  By the time I put on my Captain's hat & slid into the driver's seat I had no idea what I was in for.

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THIS WAS MY 'KIDS' SCHOOL BUS  

It was the one & only time in my entire life I had ever interacted with or been responsible for a group of children.  Never happened before & has never happened since.  I was a fish out of water & had no idea what to do except drive the bus & that's what I did for those first few quiet days.  The thought did occur to me that, how is it possible to have so many kids together without any noise.  The first few days I would say 'good morning' to the kids getting on the bus but few of them had much of a response.  I think it was about the third day when a little girl sitting directly behind me finally spoke.  She asked me who I was.  (guess I hadn't told them)  Well, with that simple little question, the ice was broken.  I basically operate with a kid's imagination at the best of times anyway so I answered her with marvelous great story of some kind.  Well, that did it.  There was laughter coming from behind me.  More questions & more zany answers.  Pretty soon the questions were zanier than the answers, the stage was set, & for the next 3 months or so anybody could have heard our bus coming from a country mile away.  It was a bus filled with laughter, kibitzing & kids just being kids.  And there was me, right in the middle of it, the biggest kid of them all.  And then.....the hammer came down:((

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DIFFERENT BUS ROUTE BUT YEP, THAT'S ME IN THE SHADOW THERE ALIGHT

I was parked in front of the school one fine spring afternoon waiting for the kids to come piling out & onto the bus.  Checked my passenger mirror & saw the young lady principal coming along the sidewalk.  She swung up into the bus with a friendly "Hello Al."  The next words out of her mouth were, "I've had complaints about what is going on aboard your bus!!" but it was the next thing she said that totally floored me.  She said the complaints were placed by the 5 teen-agers on the bus!!  She explained how those 5 teens had been riding this same bus since the day they started school way back when.  For all those years they were not allowed out of their seats, no loud voices, no acting up & no having the kind of fun kids like to have.  Anybody who has ever watched Southpark & seen the school bus driver, Miss Crabtree, will understand.  Those teens on my bus were totally resentful at what all the kids were getting away with now & having the fun they were never allowed to have.  They were resentful of the noise, the laughter, & the freedom.

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A FEW VIEWS FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT....is it any wonder we like to go south!!

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(click pics to enlarge) 

The principal was very good about it all & just asked me to quiet things down on the bus a bit & get a handle on the circus like atmosphere.  I told her 'no problem' & she headed on back into the school.  The only thing that saved me from her having to come out & talk to me about the rowdy bus problem was the fact it was only a short time until the end of the school year because you know what......right up until the last day of school, anybody could have still heard us coming a good country mile away:)))))))))

BELOW IS SOME OF MY MOTLEY CREW ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (click to enlarge)

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THIS IS THE LITTLE GIRL WHO BROKE THE ICE & THAT'S 'NOISY NICK' WHO GAVE ME THE HARDEST TIME OF THE WHOLE BUNCH!!

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Say, have I blogged about the time I got called up on the carpet because of a snowball fight on my school bus.  Or the time police called the bus company about one of there unmarked cars being mooned by teenagers riding in the back of a school bus.  Yep, that was my bus alright & I was in trouble over that one too:((  And have I shown you pics of the time 'Snoopy' rode the school bus:)) 

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OH, & ABOUT THAT UFO PHOTO EARLIER....IT WAS JUST A CLOUD ANOMALY:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  I urgently needed a few days off work, but, I knew the Boss would not allow me to take a leave.  I thought that maybe if I acted 'Crazy' then he would tell me to take a few days off.  So I hung upside-down on the ceiling and made funny noises. My co-worker (who's blonde) asked me what I was doing.  I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb so that the Boss would think I was 'Crazy' and give me a few days off.  A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked, 'What in the name of good GOD are you doing?'  I told him I was a light bulb.  He said, 'You are clearly stressed out.' Go home and recuperate for a couple of days.'  I jumped down and walked out of the office...  When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her, '..And where do you think you're going?!'

She said, 'I'm going home, too. I can't work in the dark.

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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/

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