A BLACK SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY MAKES MY DAY

OUR FRONT YARD LILIES

Had to ride the Motorcycle in my pyjamas this morning.  About 6 a.m. I clicked on our live weather radar map & saw we had a band of rain coming in over the lake heading straight for us.  My motorcycle was sitting outside so I had to quickly hustle out, fire it up & ride the short distance into the protection of the carport.  And, wouldn't you know it, aside from a few scattered drops, the rain came ashore to the north & totally missed us anyway.  Needless to say, I scrapped my Sunday morning bike ride plans because of cooler temps & overcast gray threatening skies.

SPOTTED THIS BLACK SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY IN THE DAY LILY

Needed a few photos for tonight’s post so I slipped out into the front yard with my D90 & spotted a couple of white Lilies.  While taking a few photos I happened to glance at an orange Day Lily just to my left.  In the flower of that orange Lily rested a motionless Black Swallowtail Butterfly.  I quickly took a couple photos & it never moved.  Noticed it’s right wing appeared to be caught on the Lily stamens.  Gently touched the Butterfly & it flickered to life, but try as it may it could not free itself.  Carefully slipped my pen underneath him/her & softly lifted the Swallowtail free of the stamens.  It weakly fluttered & landed on my pants.  Another photo while it gained some strength & then it lifted off, flew a short distance & came down on the road.  Oh dear, can’t leave the little fellow on the road so I was able to gently coax him onto my finger.  Slowly lifted my hand high into the air & from there he was able to flutter up, gain a bit of altitude & strength, & land comfortably in a Sumac tree.  Wished the little guy all the best & with a smile on my face slowly headed back into the house.  That little 5 minute incident just picked up my whole day:)))))))))))))

I COULD SEE THIS LITTLE FELLOWS WING WAS CAUGHT IN THE LILY STAMENS

Enjoyed talking about our Arizona house on our quiet forest walk this morning.  I knew once we arrived back in Canada this past Spring that after awhile our recently acquired property & house would gradually fade from our memories & we would begin to question our house buying decision of last March.  I see that as a normal reaction & concern considering we were only able to spend about 3 weeks there nearly 3 months ago.  I know that in the fall we will be chomping at the bit to get ourselves back down to Congress Arizona again & pick up right where we left off at the end of March.  In fact, I got myself so geared up this afternoon I rolled my Google Earth plane out of the hanger & flew myself right down to our digs on Ghost Town Road.  Spent some enjoyable time flying over our house & property and around the neighborhood.  Flew over our two old boondocking sites just south of the Escapee's North Ranch too.  Awww yes, all the pleasant memories we had made in such a short time just came a rolling right back in.  And no, you do not need a pilot’s license to fly the Google Earth plane over populated areas:))

   

 

I know we will be excited & happy to have our creative house project once again under way.   Kinda looking forward to having another go at finishing up those colorful but pesky kitchen cabinets:))  And I am so looking forward to interspersing our house project with side trips to surrounding areas like Sedona & maybe a swing down through Darby Wells to Cochise County.  Perhaps a trip up to see some folks near Placerville California.  And hopefully my annual trek up Ghost Mountain to spend a little quiet time at the Marshal South homestead.  Borrego Springs is only a short 300 mile half day's drive from us.  We can be in Yuma in 4 hours at only 223 miles.  Quartzsite is less than a hundred miles west & Darby Wells is less than 150 miles away.  We can be in the beautiful red rock area of Sedona Arizona in only 3 hours.  And if we want to stand transfixed by the vastness of the Grand Canyon, we can be there in about 4 hours as well.  And, just in case we're feeling we need a shoot-out in Tombstone Arizona, a Bisbee fix, or a drop-in to see Jeanie & Ray at the Ranch, we can easily be down into that neck of the wood's in a day's drive of under 300 miles.  Yep, I think we picked us a darn good location for a home base in America's great Southwest alright & I will be sooooooooooooooooooooooo glad to get out of here & back on the road  heading west again.  We have work to do & I will be very happy to get back at it again.............10-4:))

THE SWALLOWTAIL LANDS ON MY JEANS

Welcoming KEN PRATT to our Blog Followers list today.  Thanks for your interest Ken:))

Know what really bugs me.......lawn mowers, gasoline weed whackers, & leaf blowers on Sundays.  Can't we humanoids agree to be respectful enough of our fellow neighbors to at least have 'ONE' quiet day a week!!  We have a neighbor who I am absolutely convinced has some kind of strange obsession with his leaf blower.....scary!!

THE SWALLOWTAIL IS IN MOTION BUT NEEDED A LITTLE HELP TO GET AIRBORNE

And before I forget, just want to say thank you to all the readers & fellow Bloggers for your thoughtful emails since I chose to drop our comment section last week.  No regrets:))

SAFELY MADE IT UP ONTO A SUMAC LEAF…….BE WELL MY LITTLE FRIEND:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And here is the Obituary for Common Sense:  Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since
his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

• Knowing when to come in out of the rain
• Why the early bird gets the worm
• Life isn't always fair
• and maybe it was my fault

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers:

1. I Know My Rights
2. I Want It Now
3. Someone Else Is To Blame
4. I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
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- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

OUR SOMETIMES CHANGING BLOG ROLL

PHEEBS WITH HER LITTLE PAL, FROGGY
Well, I sure felt lost Friday night.  No, not in the darkness of night where Pheebs & I were walking, but in the night sky above when we reached the clearing.  Been awhile since I have spent any length of quality time under the stars so I have a lot of re-familiarizing to do.  Oh, I recognized Scorpios, Libra, Cassiopeia, & the Big Dipper alright but it is all the lesser known constellations, stars, & star clusters I once knew that have slipped my aging mind.  Going to have to blow some dust off my old star charts & sweep some of those accumulated cob webs out of my mind.  Pheebs did fine & had fun scampering the croaking frogs into the pond:))
---
Pheebs & I started off the day by loading up a bunch of branches into the utility trailer & hauling them off to the Park’s recycle area.  Then it was off to Home Hardware in Goderich looking for a coiled garden hose they have (but didn’t have any) on sale.  Stuffing white, green or fluorescent pink garden hoses into RV bins has always been a complete PITA for as long as I can remember.  They never fold or roll up the way you want them & on cold mornings they are like trying to bend iron pipes.  And, they are real space gobblers as well.  I figure those coiled hoses have to be the cat’s meow for sure.  We’ll see.  Rather than blowing by McDonald’s again we decided to roll through the drive thru just like the Motormouse & I used to do a year ago & pick ourselves up a couple Burritos.  Well, it wasn’t long before we were tussling around in the front seat like a couple Seagulls fighting over a French Fry in a parking lot.  Just like Motor, Pheebs does like Burritos.  Me?  Not so much.
 
WE HAD SO MANY BRANCHES LOADED IN THE UTILITY TRAILER WE COULD HARDLY FIND THE JEEP   
Karen & Steve over at SMALL HOUSE...BIG BACK YARD just had a close call when the front driver's side tire blew out on their toad.  Had they not had a tire monitoring system on the dash of the Motorhome that gave them an instant warning, things could very easily have ended badly.  An all consuming fire is sometimes the devastating result.  A couple years ago I was seriously thinking of a tire monitoring system for the rig & toad but we had just spent a lot of dollars on all new tires for the Motorhome & Jeep so we were feeling the financial crunch.  After reading Karen's post I have it back on our list again.  At least get our Jeep protected for starters.   Scary stuff.
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Mike has a bit of a touchy topic going over at PHANNIE AND MAE that I am sure folks will find very interesting so you might want to slip on over & have a look…….:))

Did myself up a couple loads of laundry today & am happy to say all that yukky brown Hospital disinfectant stuff washed right out of my white & gray checked shirt.  Of course I’m not one to sillify myself about separating colors & stuff so my nice white looking checkered shirt is now a nice overall Battleship Gray.  Groovy:))  And I did forego the DEER PARK LODGE wedding on the beach today so no Saturday night wedding photos.  Today’s wedding was the last one for the year. 
---
Our Blog Roll in the right hand column of my blog has always been a bit of a concern for me.  In an attempt to keep the number of Blogs to a manageable level I have occasionally been in the habit of adding some new Blogs & taking some away.  My reasoning is that if I include every blog I come across or read, the list would be so long it would simply defeat the purpose of featuring & drawing attention to a few of our favorite Bloggers.  So, I have always tried to keep the list respectfully short.  But, here’s my dilemma……who goes & who stays & how do I decide.   First & foremost, I always feel bad if & when I remove somebody from the role.  Fault me if you will, but It’s just the way I am.  
---
In the 5 years this Blog has been up & running I have only ever had to remove one fellow Blogger & that was simply because I lost respect for the Blogger’s personality.  Other blogs I have removed for several other reasons, non of which were personality related.  Some folks just don’t blog a whole lot so after awhile I took them off.  There are a lot of nice folks I took off simply because we just didn’t have a whole lot of the same interests.  If I am going to read a blog, I have to be ‘genuinely interested’ in what the blogger is blogging about.  And, I must admit, I do not read all the blogs on our blog role on a daily basis anymore.  Kind of defeats the purpose for having some of them on there doesn’t it………………….  

NICE TO SEE OUR SUMMER LILIES IN BLOOM AGAIN
In closing, let me say I also have a tendency to concentrate more on folks who travel the same western areas of the United States we do.   In the last while I have tried to include more RVers who are closer to the boondocking style of RVing we prefer too.  But, no matter which way I slice it, I always feel bad about dropping a blog.   I once tried two blog roles in an effort to somehow include everybody, but the idea really didn’t work.  But I did try….………...

AND, A LITTLE SMOOCH FOR FROGGY
GROANER’S CORNER:((   Work vs. Prison
IN PRISON…You spend the majority of your time in an 8×10 cell.
AT WORK….You spend most of your time in a 6×8 cubicle.
IN PRISON…You get three meals a day.
AT WORK….You only get a break for 1 meal and you have to pay for it.
IN PRISON…You get time off for good behaviour.
AT WORK….You get rewarded for good behaviour with more work.
IN PRISON…A guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK….You must carry around a security card and unlock and open all the doors yourself.
IN PRISON…You can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK….You get fired for watching TV and playing games.
IN PRISON…You get your own toilet.
AT WORK….You have to share.
IN PRISON…They allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK….You cannot even speak to your family and friends.
IN PRISON…All expenses are paid by taxpayers with no work required.
AT WORK….You get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.
IN PRISON…You spend most of your life looking through bars from the inside wanting to get out.
AT WORK….You spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.
IN PRISON…There are wardens who are often sadistic.
AT WORK….They are called supervisors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

WARM SUMMER NIGHTS & STARRY SKIES…THE WAY WE WERE

A FEW PHOTOS AROUND THE PARK POND THIS AFTERNOON

A blustery weather front traveled through our area late Thursday afternoon & early evening leaving us with a large mass of refreshingly cooler air.  The rains & hail skipped around us so we were OK but did hear of some damage south of us.  Sunrise brought us a mighty fine clear looking & feeling good day.

I AM GUESSING THIS IS A ‘NORTHERN CRESCENT’ BUTTERFLY

Spent most of my morning on the end of my pruning shears, weed whacker, & Swede saw.  Lot of scrub trees & branches needed to be cleared back from a neighbor's house plus our own yard was in need of some trimming as well.  Didn't take me long to burn up my allotted number of Senior energy units for the day, but managed, with a couple snoozy breaks to get most everything done.  I'll haul it all away in the morning when it's cooler.  And, some of you vintage car buffs might like to check out Geogypsy’s VINTAGE CARS AT THE GRAND CANYON.

 

DEER PARK LODGE  has the last of it's 3 summer beach weddings Saturday.  Unlike the other weddings, this one is a late afternoon affair with about 80 guests.  Not sure if I will make it over to this one.  I kind of enjoy standing in the background snapping off some fun candid photos.  For MY TAKE ON CANDID PHOTOGRAPHY just click the colored link.

I BELIEVE THIS DRAGONFLY IS CALLED A ‘WIDOW SKIMMER’ 

Have had a few comments & questions about my Hummingbird header photo so here’s a little technical info on that particular picture.  The close up of the Hummingbird was done with my tri-pod mounted Nikon D40 DSLR camera coupled with my 700mm telescope lens.  1/640th of a second shutter speed.  Manual focus with no aperture setting available.  With that lens I have to guess at the exposures.  ISO 800.  I had noticed this Hummer returning to the same flower a few times earlier so I set up my camera, pre-focused & determined the correct exposure by firing 3 or 4 test shots on the flower itself & then waited for the Hummer to fly into the frame.  All's I had to do then was hit the button.  Trying to follow the Hummer around in flight is just about impossible.  Kinda like trying to photograph Bats in flight at night.   I haven't been successful at that one yet.

 

HERE ARE 3 MORE HUMMER PICS PLUS THE TELESCOPE-LENS I USE

And, while on topic I may as well answer another photo question.  A reader says, "Your pics are soft and very warm to the eye. How do you do that”?  Well, there are a number of contributing factors.  Time of day is the big one with early morning & evening light being much softer than the harsh contrasts of a sunny high noon day.  However, the Hummingbird photo was done on a bright, but tree filtered sunny afternoon.  There was shade in the front yard but it wasn't too dark so the lighting was on the soft side with many flowers & plants diffusing any direct sunlight.  By using a telephoto lens the depth of field is very narrow, meaning everything in front of & behind the Hummer is going to be out of focus giving the background a soft fuzzy look.  Those orange splotches you see in the background are 'out of focus' day lilies.   And, I always ‘tweak’ some my camera settings.  Also want to mention photo editing here as well.  Any photo editing program is all important to the finished photo product with it's many tools for softening, tinting, cropping, coloring correcting, retouching, & sharpening, etc.  Many 'throw away' photos can be saved by creatively using such programs as Picasa 3.9.  If you don't have it.....go get it.  It's free & it's easy to use:))  PICASA PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM  It's the only photo program I edit my pictures with:)) 

It is the warm nights I like best about the hot days & a walk on a warm summer's night under a full canopy of stars had been one of my favorite all time things to do. And, I have been missing that. A walk at night was something Max & did for years. Even through the winter months I would dress warmly & we would head out the farm lane & down the country road where we lived at the time. Did this for years & it was on these starry nights I began to grow my interest in Astronomy. Bought myself a good Astronomy book complete with star charts. What an enjoyable time I had on those warm summer nights about a dozen years ago teaching myself the night sky. Wasn't long before & I knew where most of the Constellations, Planets & many of the stars were. On our nightly walks I would often point out to Max many of the star patterns overhead such as Orion, Scorpios, Draco, Sagittarius, Hercules, & Pegasus, just to name a few.   Max wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the night sky as I was & had a tendency to keep his head down exploring along the roadside ditches & edges of the fields. But, no matter our individual interests, we were just a couple happy guys to be out for an enchanting walk in a night time world so much different from the light of day we lived our waking hours in. When Max died a little over a year ago our long standing traditional night walk was broken & I just slipped into kind of a nightly lethargic computer routine. Starting tonight I hope to reverse that & begin introducing Pheebs to the wonderful night sky just as I did Max, oh so many years ago when he was about Pheebs age. The wonderful night sky I have been missing for way too long……….. back in the days of the way we were.

 

GROANER’S CORNER:((

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

WELL, I SURVIVED MY STENT REMOVAL TODAY

  
IN KEEPING WITH LAST NIGHT’S SNOW THEME IN OUR CURRENT HEAT WAVE, I HAVE INTERSPERSED TONIGHT’S POST WITH SOME COOLING PHOTOS FROM OUR ARIZONA HOUSE THIS PAST MARCH
Yikes, looks like I had myself spinning out of control in Wednesday's post when I was talking about my reversal of decision on air conditioning.  Seems I did a whirly-gig turn & my 360 degree spin put me right back in the position of poo pooing A/C.  Luckily, GORDON from over there near that Ottawa town somewhere spotted my pirouette & informed me a 180 degree turn was indeed the one I was looking for to send me off in an opposite direction.  I thank you Sir for getting me straightened out on that:))

And CRACKER BARREL, one of our favorite eating stops while on the road, has once again found it’s way into our lives.  Some may remember a year ago when a certain Cracker Barrel box was dropped off at DEER PARK LODGE with our names on it.  Inside that box was a Camera Birdhouse.  A few days ago a second box from Cracker Barrel was dropped off addressed to Kelly & I once again.  This time a Radio Birdhouse.  So, how are these Birdhouses making their way across the border from the States to our house.    Well, none other than their own personal couriers Ron and Jan Krauter.   Ron is the personable fellow who owns & operates FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE where we traded in our truck and fifth wheel for a Motor Home back in the Spring of 07.  Ron knew of my interest in photography so when he spied a Birdhouse Cam a year ago at a Cracker Barrel, he picked it up.  Ron & Jan have also hit on the fact I enjoy music as well so I’m guessing this week’s Radio Birdhouse has a significant connection to my musical ear.  Thanks a lot guys, much appreciated by the Bayfield Bunch & all our front yard Bird Pals:))

    

YAY RON & JAN…WE THANK YOU, THE BIRDS THANK YOU, & CRACKER BARREL THANKS YOU AS WELL:))
Sure was another cooker today as I headed myself off to the Stratford General Hospital about an hour east of Bayfield.  Totally enjoyable drive as I absorbed myself in the surrounding scenery in an attempt to ward off any thoughts about the procedure ahead.  My check in time was 9:45 so of course I was there at 9:30.  Never know when somebody ahead of me might chicken out & I could get in sooner.  Anytime I go to places like that my main mission is to just get things over with as quickly as possible & get the heck out of there again.

Stopped in at the Hospital lobby snack bar & had myself a Tuna sandwich before checking in.  Boy, did I ever regret that a little while later.  Nothing wrong with the sandwich but after sitting in a waiting room for nearly an hour with remnants of a Tuna sandwich hanging around in my mouth & no water to wash it down with, I was nearly needing a clothespin to put on my nose to keep my breath from knocking me out.
 
THIS TUNA SANDWICH CAME BACK TO HAUNT ME ABOUT HALF AN HOUR LATER, WHAT WAS I THINKING!! 
The nurse lady took me in right away & led to the locker room.  She gave me a yellow card with a number on it & I therefore became number 35 in the great hospital scheme of things.  With instructions to step into a cubicle & remove all my clothing from the waist down she explained the dreaded blue hospital gown & gave me a towel to spit on.  What!!!!  I was sure that is what she said but I could not figure out why I would need a towel to spit on.  What was it about this upcoming stent removal procedure they had not told me about.  Decided to leave my shirt on....which I later regretted.  Placed the towel over my arm & headed for the waiting room.  Three elderly Gals were already there as I sashayed by with one arm wrapped around behind me like noodle trying to hold the open back together.  Summoned up my cheeriest but somewhat embarrassed 'Good Morning.'   Whenever I enter a room I generally head for the furthest & darkest corner there is.  This morning was no exception.  I wasn't exactly in the mood for talking over medical procedures with these ladies.  Placed my 'spitting towel' on a little table & proceeded to sit down.  Oh Oh, I was right away in trouble.

TODAY I WAS PATIENT #35 & HERE YOU SEE MY WAITING BLUE HOSPITAL GOWN & SPITTING TOWEL:((
"That towel is to sit on young man"!!  Oh Geeeezzzzz, now it all made sense.  The Nurse Lady had said the towel was to sit on, not spit on.  And yes, it did make sanitary sense.  Well, I had to quickly explain my fopa & could tell by their chuckles of understanding I had gotten myself off the hook.  Well, at least for now.  The waiting room was very silent & I immediately noticed the absence of music coming from the ceiling.  And no 2 year old tattered issues of Ladies Home Journal scattered about on any of the tables.  In fact, the room was dimly lit & I assume the purpose is to keep waiting patients in a quiet, reflective & subdued mood.  Worked for me.  One by one the Ladies were called away never to return.  But, soon enough their chairs were filled with 3 old duffers looking a lot like myself.  Gray hair, glasses, balding & everyone of them shaking uncontrollably.  Well OK, maybe not the last one but those 3 guys nearly had me shaking uncontrollably.  No sooner had they all filtered in before all the medical tales of woe began.  Didn't seem to matter how gruesome one guys medical procedure was, the next guy could hardly wait for the first guy to take a breath so he could get started on his even more grotesque tail of medical gruesomeness.  You know what a bunch of men can be like when they get together.  This went on for about 15 minutes & just about the time I was figuring on climbing out the adjoining hall window & shinnying down the drain pipe, a nurse came in & called out. "35".  Awwwww nuts!!  Total time in that waiting room by the was just under an hour.

I was led into a small room where I apparently signed my life away & then was led down the hall to a much bigger & brighter room.  I knew the jig was up now because there in the center of the room was that dreaded 'operating type table.'  And there just on the other side against the wall with his back to me, stood Doc Robot himself.  Even with his green Martian garb on I recognized his slim stern features.  He stood silently in front of some kind of computer screen with colored lights or something.  Shades of the movie Dr. Frankenstein raced through my head.  But, no time for thinking.  The Nurse lady was talking to me a mile a minute as she got me positioned on the bed.  I think that is intentional to keep one's mind off what lies ahead.  Then it was up with my blue hospital gown as she completely doused me in that icky sticky brown disinfectant liquid.  This was certainly a very awkward & weird position for a grown man to be in.  Doc Robot, with his back to me was still at his machine.  Suddenly, with nary a word he whirled around like a gunfighter at the OK Corral & commenced the procedure, & he certainly didn't waste any words on me except to say something about numbing.  I won't get to graphic here but from the time he went fishing for that stent to the time he zinged it out of me was probably about 30 seconds.  In that thirty seconds I had a couple face scrunches, a few fist clenches & a couple, "Oh Dears".  The pain was not as bad as I had been anticipating but there were some short sharp bites along the way.  I would have to describe the whole procedure as being more uncomfortable than anything else.  Sharpest pain came when he locked that needle nose pliers onto the end of the stent & ripped er out in less than a heartbeat.  And that was it.


Thirty seconds after that stent was out, my feet were on the floor & the Nurse was pointing me out the door.  Boy, was I a mess with all that yukky disinfectant stuff running down my legs.  And, I noticed right away it was all over the tail of my shirt as well.  I waddled out of the room & ducked walked my way down the hall back to the lockers.  Kinda gave the 3 guys in the waiting room a na-nana-nana- na on the way by too.  I would say from the time I entered that procedure room to the time I walked out of that procedure room was no more than 5 minutes.  That Doc Robot is sure quick on the draw alright & he did actually say to me as I was heading out the door, "see you at the Clinton Hospital in about a month to see how your doing."  So that was it, never had a chance to ask any questions at all.  This certainly was a stent removal process only.......nothing more, nothing less.  No chit chatting with this fellow. 

OF COURSE THIS IS ABOUT A WEEK & HALF BEFORE WE HAD THE HOUSE STUCCOED
Hustled myself right out of that Hospital just as fast as my wee short legs would carry me & headed for the parking lot.  The crushing heat was oppressive.  With no A/C in the Jeep I just wanted to get home quick as I could.  Fast stop at a Sobeys supermarket for some Cranberry Juice & bananas & I was westbound out of town into the country toot sweet.

About half way home I spotted a small object in the center of the road & as I went by I saw it was a Painted Turtle.  No immediate traffic so I quickly got on the brakes, stopped & backed up to where the turtle was.  The pavement was hot from the beating sun & I knew this little fellow was going to be in some serious trouble very shortly.  Picked him up & put him on the floor of the passenger side.  I knew there was a creek a couple miles up the road so that's where we headed.  He was a rambunctious little guy because by the time I reached that creek he had already climbed over my 2 Cranberry Juice bottles, across my 3 bananas & up the side of the passenger seat to sit there quizzically staring at me.  I quickly pulled over, opened the passenger door, picked the fellow up & took him down the bank to the creek.  I think he was one very happy little Turtle when I slipped him into the cooling waters of that quiet little country stream.  Made my day:)) 

 
HE SURE WAS A FORLORN & LONELY LITTLE TURTLE IN THE CENTER OF THE ROAD UNTIL I WAS ABLE TO DROP HIM OFF AT HIS DIGS JUST UP THE ROAD:))

THANKS MR. STRANGER >>>
GROANER'S CORNER:(( "I say, madam, why do you want to get a divorce?"  "My husband treats me like a dog."  "Does he mistreat you? does he hit you?"  "No, he wants me to be faithful to him."


And, what do you get when you cross a dog with a phone?  A golden receiver of course!  And, what is more amazing than a talking dog?  Would you believe........a spelling bee.  Ok, that's enough of that.  Alright, one more.  What kind of dog does a mad scientist have?  A Laboratory Retriever:))
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

THANKS FOR PUTTING A BIG SMILE ON MY FACE:))

FIGURED WITH ALL THIS HEAT & HUMIDITY I WOULD TRY COOLING MYSELF OFF WITH A FEW OF MY OLD WINTER PHOTOS

Well, it's that time again.  The rig was needing it's routine monthly run around the big country block so Pheebs & I took care of that job first thing this morning.  It was time to freshen up the old gas with a hundred dollars of new stuff so we headed up to Goderich.  A good opportunity to give the dash air a run & get the flat spots on the long sitting tires, round again.  Also a good opportunity to have our rusty tailpipes looked at.  Fellow at the Auto Pro muffler shop says the mufflers & pipes forward to the engine look fine but both tailpipes from the mufflers back are rusted out & need replacing.  Problem is, he doesn't have the pipe bending equipment to bend 3' pipes.  Looks like we are going to have to take the rig to London Ontario where they have a bigger facility for bending pipes & working on Motorhomes.

 

AWWWWW NUTS, THERE GOES ANOTHER STEP STOOL…AUTO PRO TECH CHECKS THE TAILPIPES

The heat & humidity sure did another number on us again today.  Kelly had to go over to Deer Park Lodge so Pheebe & I stayed in the house & stuck pretty close to the A/C.  Wasn't too many years ago when I poo pooed A/C but I sure have done a 360 on those thoughts alright.  No A/C in the Jeep....oooops.  We are not far from the shady forest but as soon as we set foot in there we are ambushed by the summer's biting bugs & fly's.  Oh well, in less than 2 months the air will soon change as we begin our slow, gradual, & welcome transition into the beautifully magical months of September & October.  My fav's:))

  

AS PRETTY AS WINTER CAN BE I DON’T MISS IT ONE LITTLE BIT

In a previous post I mentioned a secondary medical problem I had been experiencing since late last summer.  It definitely ramped up over the winter & by the time we got home from the southwest I was constantly running to the washroom.  Frequent urination can be an early indication of prostrate cancer.  Mentioned this to Doc Robot before the Kidney Stone procedure & he suggested we wait until the Kidney Stone problem was resolved because there was a possible chance they could be related.  I am almost confident now they were because I noticed an immediate change following the procedure & am now back to normal with my washroom routines.  I will tell Doc Robot in the morning & we'll see what he decides from there.  My stent removal is scheduled for around 10:30 a.m. so not to worry if you should happen to hear some strange muffled hollering sounds coming from up around Canada way.

THE TURN IN TO OUR PARK IS JUST UP THERE ON THE LEFT

        

Had a great big smile on my face all day & it was put there by the emails I received this morning in support of my dropping our comment section.  The emails from understanding readers & fellow Bloggers confirmed what I had been thinking all along.  Just want to say thanks to all you folks for reassuring me I wasn't the only one standing alone whistling in the dark with my thoughts.  You go guys & thanks again for being the honest trustworthy friends you are:)))))))))))   

I SURE DON’T MISS THESE FREEZING COLD SLIPPERY SNOW BLOWN ROADS…OUR PARK IS IN THE TREE LINE JUST ABOUT WHERE THE SUN IS TOUCHING DOWN

GROANER'S CORNER:((  And, here are a few recession updates:  1. Ali Baba and the forty thieves are now Ali Baba and the thirty thieves. Ten were laid off.
2. Batman and Robin are now Batman and Pedro. Batman fired Robin.... and hired Pedro because Pedro was willing to work twice the hours at the same rate
3. Iron man now "air-pooling" with Superman to save fuel costs.
4. Dow Jones is re-branded as "Down Jones".

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- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right  now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com