UNCLE HARRY ROLLS IN FOR SOME RHUBARB CUSTARD PIE

I was in my recliner with my laptop on my lap & the television tuned to CNN this morning.  They were talking about the ‘end of the world.’  Kelly was on our desktop computer in the sunroom.  It was 6:57 when our electricity suddenly went out.   Kelly hollered to me that the ‘end of the world’ had started.  And, indeed it had.  Anytime one loses their internet connection, it is the end of the world for sure.  We went out on our porch, drank our coffee & turned on our emergency radio.  We heard the siren go off in Bayfield a couple miles away & figured that must be the big Tsunami coming in off Lake Huron.  At 7:09 we knew ‘the end of the world’ was over when our electricity came back on & the internet was up & running again.  Whewww, close call!!  The gullibility of human beings never ceases to amaze me.

CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THIS IS BUT IT GROWS IN ONE OF OUR FLOWERBEDS EACH YEAR

It's a big holiday week-end here in Canada & probably one of our biggest.  Queen Victoria's Birthday has morphed into the May 24th week-end, or more commonly referred to by the young folks as the big 2-4 week-end.  It's the time of year when people pour out of the town's & cities & head for their favorite summer haunts like Bayfield for the first big outing of the season.  Cottages are opened  & aired out, boats are slipped into the water, shops & stores are open & the liquor & beer stores do a booming business.  It's the week-end to shake off those long winter blues for a lot of folks & party, party, party.

BAYFIELD'S LITTLE INN 

Bayfield years ago was a picturesque little fishing village high atop sandy cliffs overlooking mighty Lake Huron.  It's like being at a village by the sea.  Many trendy shops & restaurants now with people streaming in from miles around.  Yachts & Sailboats dock in the harbor as travelers hike up the hill into town.  Bayfield is a bee hive of activity during the summer months & it is this week-end that kicks it all off. 

BAYFIELD'S TRAFFIC CAN BE PRETTY CONGESTED DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS & PARKING IS AT A PREMIUM 

Kelly & I have learned its a good week-end to stay off the roads & out of the town.  We get our groceries well ahead of time & make sure we do not have to go into Bayfield for anything.  Cars & people everywhere.  We are fortunate to live just a couple miles away in our hidden little Pine forest.  You can see my Smug Mug album of Bayfield right here by clicking BAYFIELD.

 

My Uncle Harry was due to come over to our place this coming Tuesday for supper but after checking the long range weather forecast this morning we could see our area is going to end up like the underwater world of Jacques Cousteau next week.  It was a nice sunny morning here so we called Harry's friend Grace & wondered if they could come today.  A quick check with Harry & the Nursing Care Facility cleared him for take off.  Grace & Harry landed in our driveway about 2:20 p.m. this afternoon.

RELAXING ON OUR FRONT PORCH THIS AFTERNOON  

For 95 years old, Harry does pretty well but has lost most of the mobility in his legs.  We were able to get him up the 3 steps onto our porch OK & we all sat outside for about an hour.  Nice for him to hear & see the many birds coming & going from the feeders a short distance away.  Had ourselves a nice visit & Harry's appetite came alive once again for supper.  We finished everything off with rhubarb custard pie baked this morning at the Mennonite bakery just south of Bayfield.

STRETCHED OUT IN MY BIG RECLINER....IT'S THE 18mm LENS ON MY CAMERA THAT GIVES HARRY THE APPEARANCE OF HAVING LONG PAUL BUNYAN LEGS:))

Harry & Grace headed headed out just before 6 p.m.  All & all, a nice afternoon with my last remaining Uncle.  Thanks for bringing him up Grace:))

MY COOL UNCLE HARRY WAVES A BIG GOODBYE AS THEY HEAD FOR MITCHELL, ONTARIO

Looks like we have rain moving in overnight so that squashes my plans for digging up some more trees in the morning.  Could be a bit of a drab day by the looks of things.

GROANER'S CORNER:((   I rear ended a car this morning....The driver got out of the other car, and he was a DWARF!! 
He looked up at me and said; "I am NOT Happy!"
So I said, "Well, which one are you then?"
That's how the fight started........honest.

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

A BIKE RIDE & ANOTHER GARDEN PROJECT

RRRRIBIT.....IT'S ME AGAIN
Had ourselves a fine looking morning so it didn’t take me long to line up some gardening projects.  I had been using water from our front yard frog pond to water my newly planted trees so the pond needed topping up.  Ran the garden hose over & got that underway.  While trimming up a few branches on a poplar tree I remembered it was one month ago today Checkers died.  That kind of threw me off & I wasn’t able to keep myself focused on my gardening project.  Put my gardening tools down, walked over to the motorcycle, fired it up & took myself for a ride out into the countryside.  No destination, just needed to get my mind off things.

 
ANOTHER FIRST FOR OUR FRONT YARD....PINE SISKIN 
Forty five minutes later I was southeast of Bayfield in Exeter Ontario sitting at a picnic table outside of McDonald’s having a cup of coffee when a thought suddenly occurred to me.  I had left the garden hose running in the frog pond!!  Finished up my coffee & headed back home.  Reminded me of the time a couple years ago when I started up the Motor Home one morning, got busy with a few things & then decided to head out for a ride on the motorcycle.  When I returned home 5 hours later…….the Motor Home was still running!!

SOMEBODY GOT A NEW TOY TODAY:))
When I dug in the frog pond about 5 years ago I had made a spillway in case the pond ever overflowed & I was relieved to see the overflow had worked & directed the water into the flowerbed & not the neighbor’s living room down the street.

YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF THE MUSICAL GROUP '3 DOG NIGHT' BUT HAVE YOU HEARD OF AL'S 'TWO FROG MORNING.' 
I was able to get myself back into gardening mode for the rest of the day & ended up transplanting a lot of small plants & ground covers to new areas.  As I said before we have a lot of shade here because of all the Pine trees & that makes for a lot of mold & mushroomy growing things.  Below is a couple rotting Pine stumps.  One stump has a Pine tree & a small Cedar tree just beginning to grow out of it.  I will plant the whole stump later & let the trees grow.  The small round pink things on the stump are a type of fungus as is the brown thing that looks like somebody's ear.
 
One of our long time readers sent an update status link on the CHIRICAHUA FIRE & for some of us who have been to Fort Rucker in Rucker Canyon, she in part said, “The Old Fort Rucker area is going to be the back-fire line the forest service is going to use to stop one area of advancing fire."  I have walked the silent & hidden grounds of Old Fort Rucker & the Mary Kidder Rak homestead 3 times now & I was able to give fellow blogger KAREN & her husband directions to it's hideaway location just a few months ago.  It is a place of little known history.  Geronimo was here, as were others who played their parts in the making of the old West.  What a shame it would be to lose these grounds of tranquil beauty & what a loss it would be to lose the few remaining buildings of authentic history.
 
THIS WAS ONE OF MY AFTERNOON PROJECTS...THE NEW FLOWERBED AREA HAD BEEN GRASS BUT MOLD HAD TAKEN OVER SO I DUG IT UP.....THE RED & YELLOW FLOWERS ARE ARTIFICIAL:))  
I know some of my posts of late have run through a gamut of emotions so just wanted to say thanks to readers for hanging in there.  Some folks wear their feelings on their sleeves but I wear my feelings in my posts.  I can't hide sadness nor do I want to present happiness when it is not present.  So what you read here in my posts is me, not somebody I am pretending to be...........10-4:))

NOW, HOW'S THAT FOR A NICE FROGGY SMILE:))
GROANER'S CORNER:((  And just in case you didn't know.........   
- The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
- The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
- Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples!
- Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
- The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
- Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
- Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it.
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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.

THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS ARE ON FIRE!!

GAZING INTO OUR BLUE GAZING BALL 

I was happy to see that it had rained all night because I knew that would be beneficial for my newly planted trees.  Right on Q this morning the sun’s rays came filtering through the Pines.  Warm sunny days at this time of year are pure feeling good Spring Tonic days.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR FOR THIS PAIR OF MOURNING DOVES:)) 

But, it was not to last.  By 9 a.m. the cloud cover had moved in again & chased the sun out of town for the rest of the day.  Fired up my paint brush & repainted the utility trailer tailgate.  Why I had put that black paint on it last summer I have no idea.  Must have been one of those notorious teen age moments that some of us older folks are sometimes susceptible too.
  
Ground was too wet from the all night rain so I didn’t dig up any more trees today.  I’ll see how dry things are in the morning.  So nice to see everything turning green & watching the various flowers & shrubs coming into bloom finally.

 

WATCHING THE BIRDS & CATCHING A FEW RAYS  
In the past few years we have spent a fair bit of our winter months in Cochise County's Sulphur Springs Valley down in the southeast corner of Arizona.  Many readers will be familiar with my many posts about our hikes & drives in the Chiricahua Mountains bordering New Mexico.  I have written & photographed the beautiful areas we have traveled through in & around Portal, The Chiricahua Monument, Old Fort Rucker, etc.  Another one of our favorite areas to be.  Well, that area is ON FIRE right now & has been for the past 12 days.    To date, over 33,000 acres have burned.  It is now the largest recorded fire in Chiricahua history.  You can see my blogs about our great times in the Chiricahua Mountains over the past few years here....

ECHO CANYON TRAIL

NATURAL BRIDGE TRAIL

RHYOLITE TRAIL

LAND OF STANDING ROCKS

UP & OVER THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

RELAXING DRIVE TO PORTAL & CAVE CREEK

SEARCHING FOR FORT RUCKER IN THE CHIRICAHUAS

A RETURN TO OLD FORT RUCKER IN THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

ANOTHER FINE DAY IN THE CHIRICAHUA'S RUCKER CANYON

THROUGH THE CHIRICAHUAS ON LESLIE, RUCKER & TEX CANYON ROADS

JEEPING WITH JEANIE & RAY IN THE CHIRICAHUAS

Friends Rosanna & Carol from THE PAWS & HOOVES RANCH just west of the Chiricahua Mountains near Sunizona said in Facebook they could see the fires cresting the mountain ridges a couple days ago.

LOOKING TOWARDS PORTAL ARIZONA FROM ATOP THE CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS

      

IT IS EASY TO SEE HOW DIFFICULT IT WOULD BE TO FIGHT A FOREST FIRE IN THIS AREA & I AM SO GLAD WE MADE THIS PARTICULAR SCENIC DRIVE  WHEN WE DID A COUPLE YEARS AGO.  WHAT A TRAGIC LOSS TO THIS WHOLE AREA A FIRE OF THIS MAGNITUDE WILL BE..........................   

And a big welcome to Lynne who comes in as our 276th blog Follower.  Glad to have you along Lynne & I'm really not as cranky as I look.....sometimes:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  Only In America!!

1. Only in America......can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

2. Only in America......are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

3. Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

4. Only in America......do people order double cheese burgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

5. Only in America......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

6. Only in America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

7. Only in America......do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

8. Only in America......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

9. Only in America.....do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

10. Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

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EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.

A CONSTRUCTIVELY BUSY DAY WITH SOME TREE PLANTING THROWN IN

WHAT.....YOU WERE MAYBE EXPECTING ANOTHER BIRD PHOTO!!

How nice to open the door to warm air this morning.  That was enough to haul me out of the house right quick in full blown constructive yard work mode.

First on my list before getting to the gardens was the Motor Home washroom.  It was in need of a good clean up so I got right at it.  I’m a good little cleaner if I put my mind to it.  Next came the lawn & I had that mowed in no time with our good old fashioned quiet push mower.  After that it was our battery powered weed whacker.  Finishing up with the whacker it was time to put a new edge on more flower beds.
I did the bulk of landscaping on our place the first 4 years we lived here but the last 4 years my interest waned & I kinda lost interest in the property.  They were 4 years of indecision because we went through a period of trying to decide what we wanted to do.  I was gung-ho on Full Timing 4 years ago & felt we should sell our house & hit the road.   We did put it up for sale in August of 08 but a couple months later the bottom fell out of the financial market & we, like many others, got hit pretty hard.   That immediately changed the playing field for us & we had to back off & reconsider our RVing plans.    Anyone following our blog knows the merry-go-round we have been on.   Anyway, long story short…..now that we have decided to keep our house & stay right where we are I have become re-interested in our property again.

WE ARE SLOWLY GETTING A LITTLE GREENER EACH DAY:)) 
Hooked up the utility trailer this afternoon & headed for the large forest we have here in the Park.   Dug up 6 Pine trees & 2 Cedars.  And yes, I had permission to do that!!!!  Ron, the Park's maintenance guy brought me another 10 foot Pine in the bucket of the machine he was operating nearby.  Planted a total of 9 trees around the house today & over the next few days I will dig up & plant more trees.  Figure if we’re going to stay here I may as well get cracking on redoing & continuing our landscaping.  We also have some other projects in the works around the house as well.

TOMORROW I INTEND TO REPAINT THAT SILLY CAMOUFLAGE IDEA ON THE TAILGATE.....WHAT WAS I THINKING!!  
Now, about my blog last night in which I expressed some honest feelings & concerns about this age & stage of life I am at.  A lot I could say about this but what’s the point.  I did publish one comment, then later deleted it.  When I saw the words ‘moaning & complaining’ show up I couldn't help but take that as a veiled nod in my direction & I just thought to myself, the hell with it, most folks understood exactly what I was talking about & a few people just didn’t get it.  Some people talk about their feelings & some people deny their feelings.   So be it.  Whatever works for ya!!   And, that’s all I have to say about that.  And here you thought I was going to get into one of my loooooooooooooong explanations again.  Well, even I am pleasantly surprised.  Maybe I'm finally learning something here eh:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((    An Old Italian man lived alone in the country. He wanted to dig his tomato garden, but it was very hard work as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament.
Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty badly because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me.
Love, Dad
A few days later he received a letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where I buried the bodies.
Love, Vinnie
At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son.
Dear Dad,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you, Vinnie
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EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
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OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.

A VISIT WITH UNCLE HARRY....AND SOME THOUGHTS

 

It was  under gray overcast skies that we drove to Mitchell this morning to visit my Uncle Harry.  He will be turning 95 on Thursday & we wanted to drop in ahead of time to wish him a happy Birthday.  In Harry’s own words he said, “it’s the last 95th Birthday I will ever have.”  He was in good spirits but I always find it difficult to see elderly folks in the latter stages of their lives.  Harry was always an active fellow & it's sad to see him now with his whole world measured by the 4 confining walls of a tiny room.  A good friend of Harry’s will be bringing him up to our place a week from today for a Birthday supper.

  

HARRY OPENS HIS BIRTHDAY CARD & KELLY TAKES DOWN THE CHRISTMAS CARDS TO MAKE ROOM FOR MORE BIRTHDAY CARDS

HARRY HANDLES A LIVE TARANTULA THAT SOME TRAVELING ZOO FOLKS BROUGHT IN ALONG WITH SOME SNAKES & A TORTOISE FOR FOLKS TO SEE.  (took the picture off a photograph in Harry's room)

Wished I had something of interest to write about but the days are beginning to mesh together.  Our normal vibrant Spring has been a disappointment & the sadness of April is still in the air.  I am beginning to feel both the mental & physical challenges of my 66 years as my understanding of the ever changing world around me ebbs & flows.  I am beginning to sense a feeling of tiredness.

I am, like others at this stage of their lives, no matter the age, in a period of transition.  I have slipped the surly bonds of youth & traveled across a vast plane of life & learning.  I feel I now stand facing another plateau, another challenge, another day & maybe, just maybe, another adventure or two.  Maybe tomorrow the sun will shine......................

GROANER'S CORNER:((   One lazy Sunday morning the wife and I were quiet and thoughtful, sitting around the breakfast table when I said to her unexpectedly, "When I die, I want you to sell all my stuff, immediately."

"Now why would you want me to do something like that?" she asked.

"I figure a woman as fine as yourself would eventually remarry and I don't want some worthless bum using my stuff."

She looked at me intently and said: "What makes you think I'd marry another worthless bum!!"

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EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
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OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.