SUPERMAN’S LOIS LANE WAS PACKING A NIKON CAMERA:))

Tuesdays are half price nights at the movie theater in Goderich.  It was a spur of the moment decision for me last night to head out & see the new Superman movie.  I don’t know what it is in movies that I am looking for at age 68 but needless to say I did not find it again with the Superman movie.   I am probably just going to the wrong types of movies.  I won’t bother telling you what I thought about the movie but let’s just say if I thought the Star Trek movie I saw a few weeks ago was way over done with fiery explosions, loooooong drawn out Hollywood fight scenes, & people carrying guns the size of train cars, then I had obviously not seen the new Superman movie yet.  And then there is all the noise.  And obviously being the oldest humanoid in the theatre why would my single opinion matter or carry any weight anyway.    Did notice one thing though….Lois Lane was packing a Nikon camera.  And, there is also & always a very positive side to movie night….it breaks up my frightfully normal night time routine.  And I like when that happens:))  

HEY,,,,NOT IN OUR FRONT YARD EH!!

WHO US??

Kelly had the last few loose ends to tie up with Uncle Harry’s estate this morning so she headed off to Clinton.  Facing either my recliner, the television, or the computer again, Little Tootely Two Toots & I quickly loaded ourselves into the Jeep & hit the trail.  At the risk of sounding dreadfully repetitive again let’s just say we had ourselves an enjoyable few hours in the countryside.  Both our pit stops resulted in a couple short walks as well & a good time was had by all.

 

THIS IS ONE OF OUR FAVORITE PIT STOP PHOTO OP SPOTS

Question from Chris in our Shout Box inquiring if we have ever used a supplemental brake system in our toad while towing.  Quick answer to that is, no.  When we bought our 03 33’Damon Challenger in April of 07 I figured for sure we would have to have a braking system for our toad at the time which was an 03 Hyundai Santa Fe.  Ron, the extremely knowledgeable fellow we bought the Motorhome from said no, we did not need a brake system for our set up.  What!!  Ron’s business is buying & selling Motorhomes & each one he buys whether in Canada or the United States he picks up himself.  He has more towing experience in his little finger than I will ever have so I took him at his word.  And he was right.  Even with a few ‘emergency’ stops over the years I have never ever felt the need for brakes on the toad.  Ron could easily have sold us an expensive brake system at the time but he didn’t.  Have always had great respect for Ron’s expertise at FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE ever since.  Both our Damon 33’ Class A & 23’ Chevy Sunseeker Class C towed our our 06 Jeep Wrangler just fine as well with no brake system.  I know some States have laws requiring toads to have brakes but I don’t know what States they are & have never heard of anyone being charged with no toad brakes.

 

REMEMBER ME TELLING YOU ABOUT DIRT ON MY NIKON D-40’S SENSOR IN TUESDAY’S POST…TOP PHOTO IS THE UNEDITED VERSION & PHOTO BELOW IS THE EDITED VERSION USING GOOGLE’S FREE PICASA 3.9 PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM

 

One of the great benefits of being an older guy with gray hair & a white beard is that no one sits beside me at a movie theater.  And especially so if they see an old guy hanging off the end of a cane.  I always have lots of room with both seats on either side of me empty.  Love it.  Leg wasn’t bothering me but I knew after sitting in the theater basically motionless for over 2 hours I could be in trouble when I stood up.  Taking my cane was just a precaution.  As it was, I didn’t need it.  Okay, maybe a couple times when I had to poke some baseball caps off the two young guys sitting in front of me.  Did they notice?  Not a chance, they were too engrossed in the movie & probably just thought it was flying debris from everything getting blown up on the screen.  Am I serious?  Nawwwww:))

 

And another thing I was reminded of again last night.  I never ever feel lonely or alone hanging out with myself.  Never that is until I encounter a group of people.  Kind of a strange thing but have noticed it for many years now.  If I walk into a room full of people I will immediately clam up, become uncomfortable, & look for the nearest out of the way corner.   I try to fade myself into the background somewhere.  Standing in the line up for the movie I was aware of all the young folks around me chattering away about their iPods, iPads, Blackberry’s, school, or whatever.  Felt like I was standing by myself on the surface of the Moon.  Couldn’t wait to get into the theater, find my favorite center screen seat, & slink down into obscurity.  Also observed at the end of the movie after exiting my seat how many people were shuffling slowly up the aisles with their faces bent forwardly down staring intently at their glowing palms.  In those palms were tiny screens all lit up as people seemed to be panicking for phone messages & texts they may have missed during the movie.  And OMG what if one of the Kids had missed a Tweet.  Ah, tis a different world we now live in.  I kinda prefer the Moon idea thank you very much.  Beam me up Scotty, I’m ready to get out of here……………….

GROANER’S CORNER:((     A guy dies and is sent to Hell. Satan meets him, shows him doors to three rooms, and says he must choose one to spend eternity in. In the first room, people are standing in crap up to their necks. The guy says "no, let me see the next room." In the second room, people are standing with crap up to their noses. Guy says no again. Finally, Satan opens the door to the third room. People are standing with crap up to their knees, drinking coffee and eating Danish pastries. The guy says, "I pick this room." Satan says okay and starts to leave, and the guy wades in and starts pouring some coffee. On the way out Satan yells, "O.K., coffee break's over. Everyone back on your heads!"    

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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.

WE DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER GETTING OUT OF THE JEEP

Due to health concerns more than anything else since we’ve been home from the southwest we haven’t actively been looking for or even thinking much about houses or properties for sale in our area.  However Kelly did happen to spot one on-line Monday about an hour’s drive northeast of us.  Had a look on Google Earth & it seemed like it was privately located with lots of natural forest nearby.  More with a desire to just get out & go somewhere for a change this morning we hopped in the Jeep about 9 & headed out to have a look see.  Pheebs too.

  

PURPLE MARTINS

We knew the area this ‘For Sale’ house was located in was out of our area of interest but it was just nice to get out for a drive in the countryside anyway.  Found the house & property just south of Belmore Ontario.  We didn’t even bother getting out of the Jeep.  Neighbors on both sides, on a highway, & hardly a forest in site.  Worse yet, it backed on to a seasonal campground.  We just made a U-turn & headed home.  The trip soaked up about 2 & a half hours for us & we were fine with that.  We were just happy to be out & about on a sunny Tuesday morning.

 

RIVER STOP ON OUR WAY HOME TODAY

George from OUR AWESOME TRAVELS was a bit confused when I made reference about my preference for lots of green foliage around our house here in Bayfield.  Having complained many times about not not being able to see the night sky here at our digs in Bayfield I should explain it is not our planted foliage around the house which blocks out the starry night sky, it is the tall Pine trees that block out the night sky.  And the Pine trees were here long before we were. 

GOT ANOTHER WINDMILL FOR YA MIKE & HOPE YOUR DOING OK >>>

At our house in Congress we have a much bigger piece of property & there are really no tall trees to block the night sky.  If we were living there full time & we were there to do all the watering in the summertime we would for sure have already planted us a mass of green foliage around our outside perimeter.  Neighbor’s houses there are not visible in front or behind us but both neighbors are visible on either side of us.  That is why I planted over a hundred tall growing Cacti along the fence lines before we left.  Want to build up a thick green belt.  Of course with the 90 - 100 degree temps going on down there these days I suspect all those Cacti are probably long dead by now anyway.  Even Cacti like a bit of water.  For me the perfect place to have a house would look a lot like many of the places we have boondocked over the years.  Slightly elevated with sweeping vistas all around, clear skies from horizon to horizon.  Nice stand of trees close by for shade & lots of low profile greenery.

 

 

HEY BUTTON IT UP OUT THERE YOU GUYS, I’M SITTING ON SOME EGGS OVER HERE!!

Gay & Joe from GOOD-TIMES-ROLLIN asked about keeping a camera clean.  Tough one when one lives in dusty areas like the South-West.  Keep in mind I’m talking about DSLR’s here. (Digital Single Lens Reflex)  Dust on a lens is not big deal & can easily be dealt with using a soft haired blower brush.  Dust inside the camera is another story.  Dust on the mirror is the lesser of two interior problems.  In the 35mm days it was relatively easy to take the lens off the camera, invert it & gently brush the mirror with a few light puffs of air to clean it.  Problem with doing that now in the digital age is these minute dust particles on the mirror can easily be dislodged & then find their way in behind the mirror & settle on the sensors.  That is the problem I have with my Nikon D40.  I made the mistake a few years back of flipping my mirror up out of the way thinking I could simply blow the dust off the sensors.  HUGE MISTAKE!!  And I made the same mistake twice by doing it a second time in hopes of correcting the first time.  I only made the problem much worse.  If I take a blank picture of the sky with my D40 it looks like somebody backed up a gravel truck & emptied the whole load inside my camera.  I have to retouch just about every photo I take with that camera now & if it was not for Picasa’s ‘Re-touch’ tool I would not be able to use my D40 for most of those telephoto shots you see.  Now, having said all that I know there is a kit you can buy for cleaning DSLR sensors.  I looked at it on-line, read the instructions & decided, with my pathetic mechanical track record & lack of patience it was not something for me.  I could send my camera back to Nikon & have the sensor professionally cleaned but it’s hugely expensive.  I would sooner put that kind of money towards a newer refurbished Nikon D-3100 body.  There are lots of sites on the internet to explain & help with ideas for cleaning DSLR sensors.  This is just one of them……….CLEANING YOUR DSLR SENSOR.

 

GROANER’S CORNER:((   Two campers are walking through the woods when a huge brown bear suddenly appears in the clearing about 50 feet in front of them. The bear sees the campers and begins to head toward them. The first guys drops his backpack, digs out a pair of sneakers, and frantically begins to put them on. The second guys says, "What are you doing? Sneakers won’t help you outrun that bear." "I don't need to outrun the bear," the first guy says. "I just need to outrun you."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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.

‘YAAAAAAAY’, FORD JUST ANNOUNCED IT’S GOING BACK TO ‘KNOBS’

Wasn't until this morning I realized not all my Walmart merchandise came home with me Sunday. Two 7 Watt light bulbs & a projection night light did not make the journey. A trip back to Walmart was in order this morning. Not only did little Pheeber Buns climb aboard but the 'Big Boss' hopped into the Jeep as well. Seems she had a few things to pick up in Walmart too. With a big bright sunny morning going for us we all headed up to Goderich. One quick stop at Walmart & one quick stop at the Zehr's Supermarket next door & we were making our way through the construction zone near McDonalds. A few 'eats' to go & we were back in Bayfield about an hour after we left.  A few candid beach pics below.

“WITH THIS RING I THEE WED”

“NOW WE WILL LIVE HAPPILY FOREVER AFTER OVER THERE”

“ABOARD THAT OLD SHIPWRECK”

Again, not much going on here. Kelly read for awhile & laid down for a bit. I trimmed down a tall young tree in the front yard that had sprouted up on our lawn a few years ago. Rather than cut the whole tree down I cut it off at the 6' level. That should allow suckers to grow out of the top & give us a ball of thicker foliage in the ensuing years. I am always working on ways to thicken up our surrounding jungle. As I have said many times before, when we look out any window we like to see the wonders of Mother Nature & not neighbor's houses, sheds, garages, or cars driving by. All the extra foliage also helps to deaden the sounds of lawn mowers, leaf blowers, & what ever else people can find to do with those small annoying miserable gasoline engines.

 

A BIT OF OVERDUE TREE TRIMMING THIS AFTERNOON 

Cheryl Ann over at DEEP CANYON noticed my camera bag in Sunday’s post. Wondered what make it was. Bought that Cullmann bag new in 1986. But here's the odd part. Last time I can remember ever carrying a camera in it was probably 3 winters ago when I popped into a Monday afternoon camera group gathering in Elfrida, Arizona. Only things I carry in that bag now are my camera manuals, some lens filters I never use, a table top tri-pod I might have used once in 5 years, a spare 200mm lens, a rarely used 2X Teleconverter, & some lens cleaning stuff. So why wouldn't I carry my camera in my camera bag? Well, I wrote about that in a post this past February. A FEW PHOTO TIPS ON A QUIET SATURDAY.  Keep in mind some of these tips are my own opinion & not to be confused with the probable norm.

MY RARELY USED CAMERA BAG BUT I DO KEEP IT HANDY JUST IN CASE & YES I CAN ACTUALLY FIT BOTH MY DSLR’S PLUS ACCOMPANYING LENSES IN THERE IF NEED BE

Yaaaaay, the Ford Motor Company announced they are going to return to the knobs technology for their vehicles infotainment systems.  FORD KNOBS  Here's hoping other auto manufacturer's wise up & follow suit. Again, 'newer technology is not always better technology' & I am encouraged to see a glimmer of good old fashioned logic & common sense finally appearing somewhere.  In the words of Jack Nerad, executive editorial director for Kelley Blue Book, "When it comes to performing simple tasks, such as adjusting the volume of the radio, its best to stick to what works and what people are familiar with, and in this case, nothing beats a knob."   

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Two campers are hiking in the woods when one is bitten on the rear end by a rattlesnake. "I’ll go into town for a doctor," the other says. He runs ten miles to a small town and finds the town’s only doctor, who is delivering a baby. "I can’t leave," the doctor says. ‘But here’s what to do. Take a knife, cut a little X where the bite is, suck out the poison and spit it on the ground." The guy runs back to his friend, who is in agony. ‘What did the doctor say?" the victim asks. "He says you’re gonna die."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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.

FATHER’S DAY……A CONFUSION OF FEELINGS

THIS EVENING’S BAYFIELD BEACH

Started our day off with heavy fog & rain.  No morning trail walk.  Not a good way for AL to start the day.  And the weather map showed rain lasting for most of the morning.  Kelly slipped over to DEER PARK LODGE.  Again, sitting around the house was not an option for me.  Despite the heavy rain, Wiggly Buns & I took off in the Jeep.  Had a Tim Hortons coffee shop card in my pocket so that was our first stop.  Our neighbor has some nice solar lights in her garden that we liked so my main mission this morning was to head into Walmart & have a look at those garden lights.  Two jugs of Cranberry juice, some yogurt, a small bag of birdseed, & I was back out of the store in less than 10 minutes.  Had a nagging feeling I had forgot something. 

A RAINY MORNING’S DRIVE TO GODERICH

 

A FOG SHROUDED LAKE HURON ALONGSIDE THE DOG WALKING AREA

Rain was beginning to let up so Pheebs & I took a cruise down along the beach.  Noticed there were no cars at the dog walking area so we stopped for a quiet uninterrupted walk along the shoreline.  Bonus.  Because of the gloomy weather I had not brought my Nikons along but did have my Canon Powershot point & shoot on my belt.  Tonight’s foggy beach pics were taken with the Canon.  Knew the country roads would be a muddy mess & with the clouds sitting on the ground we just slipped on through the fog & headed back home.  And that nagging feeling I had forgot something……………yep, totally forgot to look at the solar garden lights!!  And speaking of neighbors, a big thanks to whoever went out of their way to take their riding lawn mower along the narrow path we had through the tall wet grass alongside the Goose pond.  Makes for much easier walking now.  We much appreciate that & our shoes & pants will stay much dryer now. 

 

SOLITARY LIFEGUARD TOWER AT THE BEACH

THIS IS PHEEBERS FAVORITE RIDING SPOT IN THE JEEP BECAUSE SHE CAN LAY DOWN & WATCH OUT THE WINDOW…CAMERA GEAR UNDERNEATH

Fog lifted around noon & by 2 we were under welcome sunny skies.  Kelly was home by 3 but had to lie down for awhile.  Energy levels are better than a week ago & the hacking cough she had for so long is finally gone but she is still bothered by pains in her chest & shortness of breath.  We are hoping her latest echocardiogram is going to pin point something which will enable her to start on a recovery program of some kind. 

I AM GUESSING THIS FELLOW AS A GREEN BACKED HERON…ALONGSIDE THE GOOSE POND THIS AFTERNOON

 

I don’t know why my left foot is bigger than my right foot but it is.  Last two pairs of shoes I had seemed to have a smaller left shoe.  Or more likely, I have a bigger left foot.  It’s a recent development & never had that problem before.  Don’t think it’s connected with my leg/hip problem because that is my right leg.  Wondered if anyone else has encountered this.

<<< KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON PHEEBS & I

Father’s Day is always kind of a lost day for me.  My Mother & Dad were divorced when I was a small child but I still very well remember the difficult & turbulent times.  I would see my Dad from time to time over the years & I always liked him.  He was a humorous guy & always willing to help me with anything he could whenever he could.  Probably saw more of my Dad in the last 9 months of his life than all the times I had seen him in the preceding 48 years.  My first ever memory of my Dad was a motorcycle coming down the road in the small village of Tavistock Ontario.  It slowed & pulled over to where I was standing.  It was my Dad & it was the late 40’s.  I too am a Father, yet I never experienced being a Father.  It is an important part of my life that I missed.  Saw my Son the day he was born & once after that about a week later.  Never saw him again for about 18 years.  Came home one day back in 92 to a voice mail on my answering machine which said, “Hi, my name is Sean & I think you might be my Dad”.  I was.  It’s a long story & a story with no end.  Father’s Day has always been a confusion of lost feelings for me…………………………..  

A THUNDERSTORM PASSING JUST SOUTH OF BAYFIELD TONIGHT

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Two guys, one old, one young, are pushing their carts around Wal-Mart when they collide.  The old guy says to the young guy, "Sorry about that. I'm looking for my wife, and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." The young guy says, "That's OK, it's a coincidence. I'm looking for my wife, too...I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate."  The old guy says, "Well, maybe I can help you find her...what does she look like?"  The young guy says, "Well, she is 27 yrs. old, tall, with red hair, blue eyes, is buxom...wearing no bra, long legs, and is wearing short shorts.  What does your wife look like?' To which the old guy says, "Doesn't matter, --- let's go look for yours."

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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.