WHEN WHITE ROOSTER’S IN RED CIRCLES NAILED TO TREES MEANT ‘FLYING THE NEWSPAPERS’

ANOTHER FINE MORNING FOR A DRIVE THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE…A TYPICAL OLD FARMHOUSE

When I saw the first rays of sunrise this morning tickling the tops of our Pine trees my spirits were lifted knowing it would not be another gray day. We both made it around the morning trail but my hip was sore by the time we returned. Knew that left me 3 options & all of them involved sitting down. Spending any more time in my recliner in front of the mind numbing television was out. Sitting at the computer in the sunroom was not going to work either. My computer interests seem to be dwindling. Again, it was option 3 that appealed to me & by 8:20 this morning the little Belly Swamper & I were comfortably seated in the Jeep & headed out the driveway. Kelly was resting up before heading over to Deer Park for a few hours.

Seems our preference of 'eats' determines our direction of travel. Clinton's Tim Horton's felt appealing this morning so that headed us off in a South-Easterly direction. Beautiful morning for a country roads drive. Huge puffy white & gray clouds dominated overhead giving the sky an overpowering mood. Love seeing skies like that. It is the ever changing clouds that set the tone for any day's majesty.

<<< TWO UFO’S LANDED IN A FIELD BESIDE US & I WAS ABLE TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO ONE & SEE AN OPEN SIDE HATCH…NOTICE THE TOP HATCH & LADDER FOR ALIENS TO CLIMB DOWN…………:))

Our wandering travels took us down well known roads. I drove school bus on some of the them a few years back in the early nineties one of my many part time jobs had me out on those very roads delivering rural newspapers.  It was a Rooster nailed to a tree that reminded me of that today.   Don't recall that delivery job paying much but I was doing something I enjoyed doing & for me that was & still is priority. Had myself a white Mazda pick-up truck at the time. Started my run about one o'clock every afternoon except Sunday. It was the Stratford Beacon Herald I was delivering & I may have had a about 250 newspapers to deliver. Each newspaper was wrapped in a red plastic sleeve to protect if from the weather. Papers were stacked in bins. Loaded the bins in the back of my truck & started out with a couple of additional bins of papers dumped in the cab on the floor & seat beside me. With both windows down I headed off out into the country for a run that took about 3 hours. And that meant doing some hustling to get it done in that time. Throwing a newspaper from a speeding vehicle on a loose gravely country road is not something for everybody & it was a skill learned by a lot of practical experience. Each one of those papers had to find their target which was the farm's laneway. Missing a driveway & having the paper slide down into a grassy or snow filled ditch was not acceptable. And one had to gauge the wind factor many days too. We called throwing those newspapers, 'flying the papers'. On the left side of the road on windy days I threw the papers low almost slapping them on the road as they skidded on up into the driveways. Throwing a plastic sleeved paper too high & the wind could catch it & blow it back on the road behind me or off into the ditch or field. And of course one had to throw the paper slightly before the driveway so it would skid it's way to the target. Same thing for laneways on the right side of the road but a trickier throw. Some guys used the left arm over the roof method but I preferred the passenger window throw.  Using my right arm I had to zing that paper out the open passenger window without taking off my side view mirror. My Mazda was a standard floor shift as well so it was a very tricky bit of business keeping the whole operation running smoothly & not ending up in the ditch down side up. Slippery newspapers stacked on the floor, front seat, & dash. One hand on the steering wheel, radio blasting, one arm flying newspapers out the windows & all the while shifting gears for slow downs & watching for Roosters on trees, fence posts, or mail boxes. Roosters??

AND NO I DID NOT DO THIS WITH THE JEEP…………….

Even for the seasoned drivers it could be difficult to remember 2 or 3 hundred farm lanes & who received a Stratford Beacon-Herald & who didn't. And then there were the miles & miles of country roads with countless dozens of turns & in some cases, U-turns. Well that's where the Roosters came in. Every Beacon-Herald subscriber had a square metal plate with a white Rooster in a red circle visibly attached to something near the end of their driveway. A driver upon seeing the Rooster knew to throw a newspaper into that farm lane. These same Rooster signs were also affixed to trees or posts at corners telling the driver whether he had to turn right or left onto another country road. If the Rooster's legs were pointed right that meant a right hand turn. Left meant left. An upside down Rooster with legs pointed to the sky on somebody's mailbox or fence post meant that was the last subscriber on that road & a U-turn was in order. So, one had to be on their toes & paying attention at all times. One missed driveway always meant one angry Beacon-Herald subscriber phoning in to the newspaper office at the end of the day. Luckily, I had a better memory back in those days & it didn’t take me long to get onto my route. Have always had a good sense of direction & geographical things have a habit of sticking in my mind. For someone like myself who always preferred working alone this was a great job. Out in the beautiful countryside every day surrounded by a beautiful scenery. What more could one ask for.  And then there were the rainy days!!

  

LEFT PHOTO THE ROOSTER’S LEGS ARE POINTING RIGHT SO THAT MEANS THE DRIVER TURNS RIGHT AT THIS INTERSECTION…ROOSTER’S LEGS POINTING DOWN MEANS THIS FARM IS A BEACON-HERALD SUBSCRIBER & REQUIRES A NEWSPAPER

 

 

Rain was always a challenge. Forty & fifty miles an hour on loose gravel roads winging papers out the windows was tricky enough but add rain to the mixture & it gets a little more challenging. Windshield wipers going, puddles of water on the road, rain blowing in both open windows, arms soaked & plastic sleeved wet newspapers sliding around in the cab sure kept a fellow on his toes. And then came Winter!!

LOVE’S YA PHEEBS,,,,,I LOVE’S YA TOO DAD

 

Imagine temperatures down around & well below freezing. Nobody in their right mind is going to drive down the road with both front windows wide open, except rural newspaper delivery people that is. No way around it. Windows have to be down in order to 'fly those newspapers'. You can have your floor heater on full tilt but it doesn't matter. That constant freezing blast of frigid air whipping in both windows cancelled out whatever paltry little wisps of warm air there was trying to get out of the heater. I wore a full body snowmobile type suit, woolly mitts, & a heavy ski mask toque on the worst of those days. And there was still no staying warm. And then there was the freezing rain days, ice covered roads, snow drifts & snow storms with their blinding white outs.  Try throwing a plastic encased newspaper into a slippery ice & snow covered driveway & it could end up in the next county before it got stopped.  But that's the way it was & still is for many of those drivers out their doing their daily rural newspaper routes. It was a fast paced exciting job that required a lot of sharp driving skills each day & I just loved the challenge of that. If Bayfield had a newspaper big enough requiring a route driver to 'fly their papers' into area farm laneways I would be the first guy on their doorstep applying for the job. I would just love to go out & fly me some papers again..........:))

 

INTERESTING STONEWORK AT THE END OF THIS FARM LANE

Kelly’s new Granddaughter's name is Ella Gail & her second name is Grandma Kelly’s real name.  Kelly is not sure when she was nicknamed Kelly but she thinks it was high school.  Her real name is Gail & it was the name originally picked out by her Father.  Gail (aka Kelly) was pleased her daughter Rebecca chose the name Ella Gail for her new daughter:))   

GROANER'S CORNER:((

A guy walks in for his interview.
The interviewer asks, "What's the first thing you notice about me?"

The guy responds, "Why, You don't have any ears."

Interviewer: "Get out! Send in the next guy."

2nd guy walks in for his interview.

The interviewer asks, "What's the first thing you notice about me?"

The guy responds, "Why, You don't have any ears."

Interviewer: "Get out! Send in the next guy."

This guy on the way out says to the 3rd guy "What ever you do, don't say anything about his not having any ears - He'll kick you right out."

3rd guy walks in for his interview.

The interviewer asks, "What's the first thing you notice about me?"

The guy looks at the interviewer intently for a few seconds and responds, "Why, you wear contact lenses don't you."

The interviewer says, "That's impressive that you're so observant. How could you tell I wear contact lenses?"

3rd guy "Because you don't have any damn ears to hang glasses on."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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 pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

A RATHER GLOOMY RESTLESS DAY

Had ourselves what I would call a cold & gloomy overcast day.  Not the kind of Friday one is looking for at this time of year here at the beach.  Well, we don’t live right on the beach but we are only about a mile or so from it.  In beach country, week-ends of warm sunshine are so much looked forward to at this time of year.  Always disappointing for everyone when the week-end weather goes into the crapper.

 

REFLECTIONS OF OUR KITCHEN IN WINNIE’S WINDSHIELD & A LIVING ROOM LAMP AHEAD OF THE JEEP

Called Aunt Jean down there in that Sarasota Florida place this afternoon & she's doing Okay. Finally got rid of her old television & picked herself up a nice 32" flat screen. Also been thinking about updating her old stereo system as well. And despite Thursday's Hurricane passing through north of Sarasota she was out walking. Said she really had to hold on to her umbrella tight in the gusting winds.

A couple questions in Thursdays comment section. GAY & JOE asked: 'Speaking of Pheebs and the desert...does she ever get prickly pear pricklies in her feet and legs? Short answer to that is, yes. The longer answer is yes, but not nearly as many prickles as she used to get. Kelly & I were amazed at how fast Pheebs learned what would & could hurt her & how to avoid those things. In March of 2012 while on a morning desert walk in Congress Arizona she chased a Rabbit right through a patch of Cholla Cactus & ended up with stickers in all 4 paws. She couldn't even walk. Luckily we managed to get all the stickers out & that was a turning point for Pheebs. She learned from that. It's rare now for her to get any stickers even though she still races through the desert cactus. If she gets any at all they are usually those small miserable & hard to see Goathead stickers. They are the ones that stick to the bottom of shoes & then get tracked into the house whereupon the little buggers detach themselves in bath mats waiting to ambush unsuspecting bare human feet!! RIGGS asked: 'does Pheebs get her's plain'? That question is in reference to our occasional McDONALDS or TIM HORTONS breakfast stops on our Jeep drives. Pheebs & I generally share a sausage & egg breakfast sandwich. I give her a few small pieces of sausage & egg, but no bun. And I don't share the carrot muffin because I don't think that is healthy for her. Not healthy for me either but what the heck. And of course the coffee is all mine too:))

MUSKRAT SWIMMING ACROSS THE GOOSE POND THIS MORNING

Been about 2 months now that we have been back from the South-West & I am having quite a time keeping a lid on my restless self.  Been doing pretty good so far & have kept my grumbling to a minimum but gloomy days can really get to me sometimes.  Today was one of those days………………………………    

GROANER’S CORNER:((  One day a lady went into a fishing shop to buy her husband a fishing pole for his birthday.   She picked up a really nice looking pole and asked the salesman how much it was. The sales man says, "I am blind but if you give me the pole I can tell how much it is by the weight."  So the lady gives him the pole and he says, "That pole is worth $45." She was amazed at how cheap that was.  So then she picked up another really nice pole, hands it to the man and he says, "This pole is worth $55." she decided that was also really cheap.  And then she picks the nicest looking pole in the place and handed it to the man and he says, "This pole is our best and it is $70." she told him that she would take it.   As she was getting the fishing pole all rung up, she had to pass some gas really really badly. She decided since the man was blind that it really wouldn't matter if she passed the gas in front of him so she just let it loose.  All of a sudden the man says, "It all comes up to $90."  Confused the lady says to him, "But you said the fishing pole was only $70."  He said, "It is. Its $70 for the fishing pole and $20 for the duck call."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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 pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

AN ECHOCARDIOGRAM FOR KELLY & ANOTHER JEEP JAUNT FOR ME & THE FABULOUS PHEEBS PLUS A FEW WORDS ABOUT….MY CANE

BLACK SWALLOWTAIL

 

MONARCH & TIGER SWALLOWTAIL

Kelly had an ECHOCARDIOGRAM scheduled for 8:50 this morning so she was out the door early & headed for the Goderich hospital. Similar to an Ultra-Sound the test is no big deal & didn't require the two of us to be there. Her health continues to improve a wee bit each day. Not out of the woods by any means but we're hopeful we'll get to the bottom of this soon.

When I told Pheebs there was a 70% chance of rain this afternoon she suggested we get ourselves out for a little Jeep ride this morning.   Loaded up the little Rumble Buns & off we went. Needed some peanut butter anyway & the only place I can get the 'natural' peanut butter I like is at Zehr's Supermarket in Goderich. Of course that meant a quick stop at McDonalds as well before heading out of town. Touched base with a couple favorite spots in the countryside & had us a couple pit stops with one being beside a pond. One good thing about Pheebs not liking water is no muddy, wet, smelly, Pheebster inside the Jeepster:))

 

OUR COUNTRY ROAD DRIVES SOMETIMES LEAD THROUGH THICK SWAMPS, DARK FORESTS, & WIDE OPEN SPACES

Something else Pheebs is not fond of is night time. She always seems a little apprehensive of the dark for some reason so I don't insist we do a night walk after dark. I've written many posts in the past with references to night walks Max & I took years ago. Every night we would head out under the stars down a lone dusty country road when we lived in the old farm house. We continued those nightly walks after we moved to Bayfield right up not too long before Max died a couple years ago. Wasn't the same as our starry night walks at the farm but nevertheless we did get out for a short walk most nights. I miss those night walks so much. During the winter in Congress Arizona last year Pheebs & I did slip out every night but we stayed on our fenced in property. Pheebs seemed fine with that & with the number of Coyotes & Javalinas close by in the night I was comfortable to just stay right on our securely fenced in property as well. Unlike our digs here in Bayfield we have no tall trees on our Congress property so we always had a clear view of the starry night sky from horizon to horizon. I really miss that.................

GOLDFINCHES AWAIT THEIR TURN AT THE ALREADY FULL FEEDER

Watching Pheebs gallivanting down the trail this afternoon I couldn't help but think how much she is like Max, Checkers, & the Motormouse all rolled into one. She has Max's devotion, Checkers determination, & little Motor's humor. All three of the original furry Bayfield Bunch seem to be in the Pheebs. How truly fortunate we were to find her nearly 2 years ago.

OH SAVE ME DAD, MOM’S TRYING TO CLIP MY NAILS AGAIN

  

YOU JUST GOTS TO SAVE ME DAD

OOOOOOOOOH WOE IS ME

It's funny how tunes stick in your head for years & years & keep coming back when you do certain things. Whenever out riding my motorcycle it is Johnny Horton's 'Honky-Tonk Man' that comes belting out of me while cruising down the road. For years & still today another song always comes to mind whenever out walking or hiking. To my best recollection it was a Scottish song learned many years ago in public school & it is called, 'THE BONNIE BANKS OF LOCH LOMOND'.  <<< You Tube link.  It is these 4 lines below from the chorus I remember & it is these 4 lines I often sing to myself walking along. And the more Scottish brogue I can spin into it the better it sounds to me.  ’O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak the low road, An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye;  But me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'. These are the only words I can remember to the song so I do a lot of filling in with Doodely Doos, Tweedely Dums, & Ooogely Boos. Lyrics to the song are on the web but there are too many words for me to remember.  Besides, it's those 4 lines in the chorus that puts the extra zip into my step. Of course I sing it much faster than the above You Tube fellow but he sings it much better than I do.  And I’m sure the wildlife around here would attest to that fact too:))

CLOSED UP LILY PAD FLOWERS AWAITING THE EMBRACE OF WARMER WEATHER

My Nurse Practitioner suggested last week that I carry a cane with me. Said some people won't because they feel there is a stigma attached to that. Fortunately I am not some of those people & have never felt that way about carrying my cane with me. I began using a cane as early as last November in Arizona after pains began in my upper right leg around the end of August. Not every day mind you, just when the pain occasionally flared up to a point where I couldn't put downward pressure on my right leg. The cane enabled me to get around easier & lessened the soreness.   Over the months the pain has become more frequent & now I carry the cane with me wherever I go. The pain may not be with me every day but my cane is. And I have no problem going into Walmart or the grocery store or coffee shop carrying my cane. In fact a rather strange thing has occurred over these past 7 months & maybe some other folks using a cane may understand what i am about to say here.

HERE I AM, CANE IN HAND ON A BAD HIP DAY EARLY LAST NOVEMBER WITH MY GOOD FRIEND,THE SARGE…OF COURSE YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE HE IS TRYING TO TIP ME OVER:))  CONGRESS ARIZONA

My cane has become my best Buddy in more ways than one & if I leave the house without it I feel like I am missing something. Seems I even kind of walk funny without it now. The other day I had to get down on the ground with my camera to take a Mushroom photo. How easy it was to get back up with the aide of my best Buddy. While out walking it is easy for me to flick small branches off the trail, maybe poke at something on the ground I'd rather not pick up or bend some grass back out of the way to see what's underneath. How great to have a long pointer along to point out a bird in a tree or turtle in the pond. I can twirl it around like Bat Masterson & I can walk with a gate akin to a fine Englishman on the Moors of Scotland. Low branches can easily be pushed aside & a clod of upturned earth can readily be tamped down. And the cane also gives me the confidence to ward off a whole charging herd of crazed Grizzly Bears if a herd should suddenly appear that is. If & when I do get my hip repaired I will have to get used to venturing out without my best supportive Buddy again & that is going to take a little getting used to. Especially if I were to unexpectedly encounter a flock of speeding Giraffes.............

 
GROANER'S CORNER:))  There was a man who had worked all of his life and had saved all of his money. He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything, and just before he died, he said to his wife, "Now listen, when I die, I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I wanna take my money to the afterlife."  So he got his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him.

Well, one day he died. He was stretched out in the casket, the wife was sitting there in black next to her closest friend. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said "Wait just a minute!" she had a shoe box with her, she came over with the box and placed it in the casket.  Then the undertakers locked the casket down and rolled it away.  Her friend said, "I hope you weren't crazy enough to put all that money in the casket."

She said, "Yes, I promised. I'm a good Christian, I can't lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him."  "You mean to tell me you put every cent of his money in the casket with him?"  "I sure did, " said the wife. "I got it all together, put it into my account and I wrote him a check."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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 pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

IN THE CHILL LOUNGE WITH GROOVE SALAD AT THE SPA:))

Things seemed a bit more normal around our house today. Kelly & Pheebs slipped out to the library & picked up a few things at the Mennonite store south of Bayfield. I later had a close encounter with half a chocolate cup cake Kelly brought home.  She busied herself in the kitchen & I later heard the vacuum cleaner going. I was active outside cleaning the interiors of both the Santa Fe & the Jeep.  Our day was more like days of yore.  Found 2 jugs of Cranberry juice tucked down behind the driver's seat in the Jeep. No problem except they were in a Safeway grocery bag. We don't have a Safeway store anywhere near us here. Only Safeway store we shop at is located in Congress Arizona. Yep, hauled a couple full jugs of Crankberry juice 2300 miles all the way home with us a couple months ago.

THIS IS THE PATCH OF PHLOX WHERE THE TIGER SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY PHOTOS WERE TAKEN A COUPLE DAYS AGO

 
Other than Kelly's trip into Bayfield it turned out to be a stay at home day for both of us. Guess a stay at home day is better than a kick in the pants day. As long as it doesn't stretch into a 3 or 4 days at home stretch that is. Maybe someday I will just break down & enjoy sitting around the house day after endless day. But Geeeeezzzzz, despite me complaining about my age sometimes, I'm not that darn old yet.

OUR IRIS FLOWERS ARE IN BLOOM

It is very rare for me to see any kind of television commercial I like.  Even rarer still to mention one in my post.  Maybe you have seen it on TV lately.  It is by the makers of Omega watches & it is done with style, imagination, creativity & class.  OMEGA COAXIAL  I like the narration & I like the music. 

I figure an unexpected 2 hour snooze in the middle of the afternoon today must have done me some brain damage. I'm just sitting here in front of the computer tonight with a blank stare on my face wondering where the afternoon went & what I am going to write about.  Wait a minute, just thought of something……….I did spend some time today in the ‘Chill Lounge'’ with ‘Groove Salad’ at ‘The Spa’.  Translated that means while in my recliner I listened to our East Link’s Cable TV ambient music channel which is called ‘The Chill Lounge’.  Here in the sun room my computer is currently on the ‘Groove Salad’ channel from SOMA FM.   While cleaning the vehicles today I listened to my favorite new age music at the Spa on channel 68 at SiriusXM satellite radio.  Yep, if it wasn’t for my daily music fix every day I don’t figure there would be much reason for a feller to even wake up in the morning.  In the last year of his life my Uncle Harry would tell us “if it wasn’t for the music I don’t know what I would do”.  Harry loved his music as well & his cable TV channel provided him with music in his room 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  And in the last couple years of his life when most everything near & dear to Uncle Harry was gone he spent the majority of his time in his recliner enjoying his music.

POND REFLECTION

And late breaking news tonight……..Kelly just received a phone call from her youngest daughter Rebecca in Waterloo Ontario saying she had given birth to a fine healthy 6.4 pound baby daughter at 4:30 this afternoon.  It was a classic text book at home birth & happened so fast there was no time to reach the hospital.  Rebecca’s husband Ricardo & three mid-wives were in attendance.  Everyone is doing fine & Kelly said Rebecca sounded pretty excitedly calm on the phone a few minutes ago.  That sure picked up Kelly’s spirits & I could tell she was mighty happy at the news .  This makes 7 Grandchildren for Kelly now:))   

 

A GRAND BEND SUNSET SHOWING THE PIER & LIGHT BEACON TOWER

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Adam was walking around the Garden of Eden feeling very lonely, so God asked Adam, "What is wrong with you?"

Adam said, "Lord, I don't have anyone to talk to."

God said, "Then I will give you a companion, and she will be called a 'woman'. This person will cook for you and wash your clothes, she will always agree with every decision you make. She will bear your children and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them. She will not nag you, and will always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement. She will never have a headache, and will freely give 'love' and compassion whenever needed. She will never question your behaviour or the company you keep. She will support you and understand that you have important decisions to make throughout your life and don't have time for nonsense..."

Adam asked God, "What will this woman cost?"

God said, "An arm and a leg..."

Adam said, "What can I get for just a rib?"

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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 pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.