WEATHER SHAPED UP NICELY TO BRING FOLKS A MIGHTY FINE MOTHER’S DAY IN OUR AREA

MAMA GOOSE GLIDES IN ON FINAL APPROACH FOR A LANDING ON THE POND THIS MORNING

Weatherwise here in South-Western Ontario I would say it was just about as perfect a Mother’s Day anyone could hope for.  Light breeze, sunny skies & about 70 degrees.  With the type of weather we have been having this was definitely a fortunate day for everyone.  Kelly took the Jeep & headed for Cambridge about 9:30 to see her family.

KELLY WITH YOUNGEST DAUGHTER REBECCA & GRANDDAUGHTER ELLA

 

OLDEST TWIN DAUGHTER SABRA & SON JASON WITH GRANDSON REEVE

SABRA’S BOYS & KELLY’S GRANDSONS LANGDON & KEENAN

  

YOUNGEST SON BEN & GRANDSON DARION – KELLY & REBECCA – REEVE

BEN, KELLY, REBECCA, SABRA, JASON…4 OF KELLY CHILDREN WITH THE 5TH SARAH IN VANCOUVER

I was very relieved this morning when I woke up to find out my turbulent tummy troubles had abated sometime in the night.  But I wasn’t quite out of the woods yet & the best word I can describe my feeling for the majority of the day is ‘woozy.’  Noticed someone in the Shout Box had mentioned flu going around but I hadn’t thought of that.  It’s possible I had a touch of it but I’m not sure.  I spent most of the day in my recliner.  Went out & walked around a few times trying to talk myself into doing some yard work or taking my motorcycle for a ride but no go.  Thanks to ROKU & a months free trial version of NETFLIX I was able to find some music documentaries to watch on the Popcorn movie channel.  With my love of music I have always been interested in bands & singers, etc.  Watched 2 out of a couple dozen with the first being about the solo careers & lives of Paul McCartney & John Lennon after the Beatles broke up.  Second was about the mild mannered & awkwardly shy great innovative guitar player Jimi Hendrix.

WITH RECENT WARMER DAYS OUR FORREST FLOOR & TREE CANOPY ARE BEGINNING TO GREEN UP NICELY

By 3 o’clock I was beginning to feel a better so Pheebs & I headed out for a quiet forest walk.  Needed some photos for tonight’s post.  We sure have it nice here with Mother Nature right at our door.  We both agreed driving home from Arizona a month ago that we had just maybe back off trying to find a house & property for sale in the country around here.  Prices are way out of our reach for what we would like & after all we do have it pretty comfy here.  Maybe not our first choice but for sure it is our second choice.  Been here 11 & a half years now & that is a record for me living in one place that long since leaving home nearly 50 years ago.  Guess I have had that Hitch-Itch thing going on pretty much all my life.  

MAMA & POPPA GOOSE PADDLING THROUGH THE REFLECTION OF AN OLD BARN SILO

Turns out our Triple E Motorhome at the truck garage in Cambridge was only a short distance from where Kelly was at her daughter Sabra’s house today so when Kelly left there this afternoon she swung around by the big garage & sure enough there it was, the Big EEE it’s very self.  I figure the hubcaps are inside the Motorhome.  I’m hoping we’ll have the rig home sometime this week…  Say, wonder if we could paint out all that white with a nice South-West burnt orange or maybe a deep cactus green camouflage color………….:))

 

YEP, LOOKS LIKE A TRUCK GARAGE ALRIGHT

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The lawyer stood before the judge only to hear that court would be adjourned for the day and he would have to return the next day. "What for?" the lawyer yelled at the judge.  The judge, equally irked by a tedious day and the lawyer's rude treatment, roared, "Fifty dollars....contempt of court. That's why!" Upon noticing the lawyer was checking his wallet, the judge relented. "That's all right. You don't have to pay the fine right now." The lawyer replied, "I'm just seeing if I have enough money to say three more words."

IT WAS A ‘NO BRAINER’ THIS MORNING

NICE TO SEE OUR ORIOLES BACK AGAIN

It’s true, with sunny blue skies overhead it was truly a no brainer as Pheebs & I didn’t waste any time in getting ourselves into the Jeep & out into the countryside.  I was definitely needing a break from from the daily house routine & Motorhome thinking.  And I’m sure Kelly was needing a break from me too.  I try to be considerate of those things.  Besides, after washing the Jeep a few days ago I’ve been constantly blinded by it’s shininess.  It was time to slip ourselves on down some dusty country roads & get that shine problem taken care of.

 

MARSH MARIGOLDS & DANDELIONS ARE ALWAYS A SURE SIGN OF SPRING

Not one of our longer back road drives again but we did manage to wander ourselves around for a couple hours.  Couldn’t seem to get myself in full photo mode but did manage to get a smattering of pictures.  Hardwood trees & forests are still barren of leaves so Spring’s just not prettying itself up out there too fast.  A chilly wind kept our roadside stops short & to a minimum.

 

THESE ARE UNDERWATER LILY PADS GROWING TO THE POND’S SURFACE WHERE THEY WILL SOON BE GREEN WITH FROGS SITTING ON THEM (not our pond)

I laid low all afternoon, just not feeling up to snuff these past few days but I’m sure whatever it is will pass.  Generally does.  Sunday being Mothers Day Kelly is off to Cambridge to spend some time with 4 of her 5 children.  Fifth one is in Vancouver B.C.  Pheebs & I will hang out at home & if the temps come up enough I might just slide out for a ride on my bike.  Maybe that will help cure whatever it is that has been ailing me.  My intestines have kinda been squooshing around like an old Maytag washer………………. 

  

MAPLE TREE BUDS BEGINNING TO LEAF OUT

NORMALLY BY THIS TIME OF YEAR THAT BUSH LINE WOULD BE A NICE SHADE OF MID SPRING GREEN

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A businessman dragged himself home and barely made it to his chair before he dropped, exhausted. His sympathetic wife was right there with a tall cool drink and a comforting word. "My, you look tired," she said. "You must have had a hard day today. What happened to make you so exhausted?" "It was terrible," her husband said, "The company computers broke down and all of us had to do our own thinking."

SO DISAPPOINTED:((

We were so disappointed this afternoon again to find out we may not have the Motorhome until next week some time now.  Don took it to a large truck repair facility in Cambridge for it’s safety inspection.  Of course trucks are priority there not Motorhomes.  Motorhome was supposed to have been done (manifold leak) this morning but garage said they had 2 emergency truck repairs come in.  Motorhome was bumped to the end of the line so we are pretty discouraged.  It’s anybody’s guess when we’ll finally take possession of it & I suppose that will depend on how many truck repair priorities there are ahead of the Motorhome Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, or…….  It’s not that we need the rig because we are planning to go somewhere it’s just the whole principle of the thing…………….I saw this saying on another Blogger’s post a couple days ago.  It is attributed to Sylvia Plath.  ‘If you expect nothing from anybody you are never disappointed’.  Think I am going to get that saying permanently tattooed on my arm where I can be reminded of it daily…………………………………….

I carry an on-board Jukebox in my head & at any given time I have a line up of tunes playing.  That Jukebox set my toes a tappin on the floorboards of my Motorcycle this morning as I took myself for a nice quiet cruise through our rural countryside.  Temperatures are warm enough now to be comfortable.  No layers of cumbersome clothing trying to stay warm for this guy anymore.  That takes the fun out of it for me.  Been there done that.  South-Western Ontario is a great place to have a bike simply because of the abundance of great paved or hard packed rural roads.  Roads going to & from anywhere anyone wants to go.  Towns & cities can be easily avoided & avoid them I do.   I’m a lone rider preferring to ride the back roads just enjoying all Mother Nature has to offer.  I go at my own speed, turn where & when I want or stop when I want.  I am my own leader, I am my own follower.  And I sometimes have a couple cameras slung round my neck & shoulder.  I’m not into long butt-busting rides.  We have enough points of natural interest in our area to hold my attention & make any ride relaxingly enjoyable.  No interest in riding with groups of people.  Guess that kind of goes hand in hand with no interest in hiking with groups of people or traveling in any kind an RV caravans etc.  I’ve always been happiest doing things on my own & I get along just fine most times doing that.

It was so nice this morning I was able to do our morning walk in a short sleeve shirt.  What a welcome change from this cold & wet miserable Spring we have been having.  Even the bird’s were extra happy & how nice to have our forest tree tops filled with a chorus of happily chirping little birds.  Some we recognized right off & some we didn’t.  I guessing our Spring is at least 2 if not 3 weeks behind where it normally is.  Looking at photos from the past couple years we had all kinds of flowers & blooms out by now & trees were green & well on their way to leafing out.  Many of our trees do not even have buds on them yet.  Looks more like the third week of a normal April.

ANOTHER BAYFIELD SUNSET

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The Winter Break was over and the teacher was asking the class about their vacations. She turned to little Johnny and asked what he did over the break.
"We visited my grandmother in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania," he replied.
"That sounds like an excellent vocabulary word," the teacher said. "Can you tell the class how you spell 'Punxsutawney'?"  Little Johnny thought about it and said, "You know, come to think of it, we went to Ohio

---

Our Lamaze class included a tour of the paediatric wing of the hospital. When a new baby was brought into the nursery, all the women tried to guess its weight, but the guy standing next to me was the only male to venture a number.  "Looks like 9 pounds," he offered confidently.  "This must not be your first," I said.  "Oh, yes," he said. "It's my first."
"Then how would you know the weight of a baby?" I asked. He shrugged. "I'm a fisherman."

‘MAYBE’ FRIDAY AFTERNOON…………..

DON’T ASK & I WON’T TELL
Don’t know if it was the sound of distant thunder out over the lake or a cold little doggy nose on my face this morning but my digital clock said 5:25 a.m. & that meant it was time to get up anyway.  Heavy rains had gone south of us but we were left with a heavy overcast.  Gloomed myself around the house for a couple hours & watched some mindless morning television.   Suddenly something appeared on the carpet in front me.  It was a Sun splash & that immediately dispelled my gloomy mood.  I was out the door with vacuum cleaner in hand.  Surprised at how much the temperatures had come up as I soon busied myself vacuuming out the Jeep, but not before Kelly had to come out & unplug the vacuums hose.  Seems I had sucked up about 3.8 tons of pea gravel when I set our indoor vacuum down in the driveway…..& turned it on.  Followed that little fiasco by washing the Jeep & cleaning the windows.  I got through that Okay.  The warm high 70’s temperatures & sunshine just felt soooooo good today.   Like I said in my Tuesday post…..I am powered by the Sun:))

SPLASH DOWN
Needless to say we have been sticking close to our phone & keeping an eye on our email waiting for either to advise us the Triple E Commander is done & ready for us to come pick up.  Triple E owner Don did send us an email Wednesday night saying the rig was still at the garage & they were awaiting a gasket for the exhaust manifold.  I’m thinking the exhaust manifold is the the part that bolts onto the engine & gathers the exhaust gases sending them out through the muffler system.  This ‘waiting’ is sure wearing on us.  I know it shouldn’t be but it is.  (Update::) Email from Don tonight saying the rig may be ready to go Friday afternoon.  We have our fingers crossed the garage doesn’t run into any problems installing the manifold gasket in the morning.  Weather’s looking iffy in the later afternoon but no matter.  I don’t care if we have a snowstorm going on, if we can bring the Big EEE home tomorrow then by gum that’s just what we are going to do….10-4!!

COULD IT BE POSSIBLE WE MAY BE BRINGING THE BIG EEE HOME SOMETIME FRIDAY AFTERNOON??
Often my very much most favorite time of day is simply going to bed.  The sometimes heavy yolk of daily decision making, problem solving, socializing, (not that I do a lot of that anymore) & just plain handling the rigors of a normal day kinda feels a little overwhelming.  Days that were once a breeze to get through seem somehow a tad more difficult now.  No doubt a subtle aging change of sorts going on.  But night time is always the same as I sally forth on my Ship of Dreams to far away places meeting most unusual creatures & seeing old long lost friends.  My Ship takes me to magic places filled with unexpected happenings.  I often seem to get myself into some of the most bizarre situations yet somehow by morning I have managed to extract my weary self from whatever adventures it was I had found myself in during those dark & sometimes long nocturnal hours.  And if I have not managed to get myself out of whatever it was I had got myself into there is always the fail-safe mechanism of waking to mornings early light or a happy little doggies cold nose in my face to begin another day of decision making, problem solving, & all those daily rigors which fortunately lead me back to bed again at the end of the day to once more climb aboard my Ship of Dreams:))

OUR MIGHTY LAKE HURON
GROANER’S CORNER:((  Here it is, the secret chart used by bachelors worldwide, because they don't have wives who can recognize on sight (and sometimes before) when the Big Mac has become one with the special sauce.
FREEZER FOODS:
ICE CREAM - If you can't tell the difference between your ice cubes and your ice cream, it's time to throw BOTH out.
FROZEN FOODS - Frozen foods that have become an integral part of the defrosting problem in your freezer compartment will probably be spoiled (or wrecked anyway) by the time you pry them out with a kitchen knife.
IN THE FRIDGE:
EGGS - When something starts pecking its way out of the shell, the egg is probably past its prime.
DAIRY PRODUCTS - Milk is spoiled when it starts to look like yogurt. Yogurt is spoiled when it starts to look like cottage cheese. Cottage cheese is spoiled when it starts to look like regular cheese. Regular cheese is nothing but spoiled milk anyway -- if you can dig down and still find something non-green, bon appetite!.
MEAT - If opening the refrigerator door causes stray animals from a three-block radius to congregate outside your house, toss the meat.
LETTUCE – Head lettuce is spoiled when you can't get it off the bottom of the vegetable crisper without Comet and a brillo pad. Romaine lettuce is spoiled when it turns liquid. Endive never spoils, but you will never eat it anyway.
MAYONNAISE: If it makes you violently ill after you eat it, the mayonnaise is spoiled. Permanently.
CARROTS - A carrot you can tie a clove hitch in is no longer fresh.
CHIP DIP - If you can take it out of its container and bounce it on the floor, it has gone bad.
UNMARKED ITEMS: You know it is well beyond prime when you're tempted to discard the Tupperware along with the food. Generally speaking, Tupperware containers should not burp when you open them. If the original can you put it away in has finally lost it's label, it's probably done.
EMPTY CONTAINERS: Putting empty containers back into the refrigerator is a fine old trick, but it only works if you live with someone else.
ON THE SHELF:
CANNED GOODS - Any canned goods that have become the size or shape of a softball should be disposed of ... Very carefully.
WINE - Should not be confused with salad dressing.
POTATOES - Fresh potatoes do not have roots, branches, or dense, leafy undergrowth.
THE GAG TEST - Anything that makes you gag is spoiled (except for leftovers from what you cooked for yourself last night).
GENERAL RULE OF THUMB: - Most food cannot be kept longer than the average life span of a hamster. Keep a hamster in your refrigerator to gauge this.
BREAD: Sesame seeds and Poppy seeds are the only officially acceptable "spots" that should be seen on the surface of any loaf of bread. Fuzzy and hairy looking white or green growth areas are good indications that your bread has turned into a pharmaceutical laboratory experiment. You may wish to discard it at this time, depending on your interest in pharmaceuticals.
CEREAL: It is generally a good rule of thumb that cereal should be discarded when it is two years or longer beyond the expiration date, or when it will no longer fall out of the box by itself.
FLOUR: Flour is spoiled when it wiggles, or things fly out when you open it.
PRETZELS: Normally eternal, pretzels may be discarded if they can no longer be picked up without falling apart. Otherwise, there's nothing to stop you from eating a pretzel that the Pharaoh put down only 4000 years ago.
RAISINS: Raisins should not usually be harder than your teeth.
SALT: It never spoils. However, if you can't chip off reasonable amounts from the block, maybe another box is in order, as fresh salt usually pours.
SPICES: Most spices cannot die, they just fade away. They will be fine on your shelf, forever. Put them in your will.
VINEGAR: If your grandmother made it, it is probably still good.
EXPIRATION DATES: This is not a marketing ploy to encourage you to throw away perfectly good food so that you'll spend more on groceries. Even dry foods older than you are may be ready to replace. Perhaps you'd benefit by having a calendar in your kitchen.

NOT MUCH GOING ON

AND YES WE HAVE REAL FROGS BACK IN OUR FRONT YARD FROG POND AGAIN

With the threat of incoming rain looming on the distant southwest horizon we hooked up our utility trailer this morning & hustled our buns down to Ron's FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE.  Ron had switched out our loveseat from the Winnebago so we were needing to pick it up & bring it on back home.  We beat the rain no problem & were soon right back in Bayfield again.  Moved our old Naughahyde couch to the sunroom & set our loveseat back up in the living room from whence it had started out nearly a year ago.  Pheebs was happy to see her favorite comfy loveseat back home again.

PHEEBS WASN’T THE ONLY ONE HAPPY TO SEE THE LOVESEAT BACK IN OUR LIVING ROOM AGAIN

We are down to one driveable 4 wheel vehicle for now.  Kelly noticed the clutch slipping badly in our 03 Hyundai Santa Fe 5 speed stick shift a few days ago so it is parked until the Bayfield Garage can have a look at it next week.  I’m guessing it’s probably going to be a costly repair.  No thoughts on replacing our Santa Fe, it has been a great little car for us since we bought it used back in 07 I think.  It has not been driven on salt corrosive winter roads for the past 7 years & that has preserved the body & kept the mileage down.  We hauled that little silver Santa Fe to the South-West & back for a few years before we had the Jeep.

DESPITE OUR COLD WET SPRING MANY FLOWERS ARE OUT INCLUDING DAFFODILS, CROCUS, PERIWINKLE, & TINY VIOLETS

A small manifold exhaust leak was detected during the Triple EEE’s safety inspection Tuesday & that is currently being repaired.

A GREAT BLUE HERON LIFTS OFF THE PARK’S POND THIS AFTERNOON

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A boy was taking care of his baby sister while his parents went to town shopping. He decided to go fishing so he took her with him.  "I'll never do that again!" he told his mother that evening. "I didn't catch a thing!"  "Oh, next time I'm sure she'll be quiet and not scare the fish away," his mother said. The boy said, "It wasn't that. She ate all the bait."

IT’S TRUE, I AM DEFINITELY POWERED BY THE SUN

There is no doubt about it.  I am a solar powered person to the core & it was the sun which both mentally & physically had me working on my backyard project this morning plus up on a ladder trimming some Mulberry trees.  Even had myself motoring down the road on my motorcycle at one point & had Pheebs out for a second walk this afternoon.

 I've never had any kind of warm riding gear for my motorcycle but no matter.  With a full trickle charged battery I managed to rumble my bike back to life.  Surrounded by 44F cold air but under sunny skies I took the bike for it's annual seasonal run down to the eastern end of Bayfield's River Road & back.  Maybe only about 3 miles round trip but it was enough to spread that big Spring grin across my face & had me belting out out a few bars of Johnny Horton's 'Honkey Tonk Man.'  I may have frightened a few chickens along the way with my twangy guitar renditions between vocals but no matter, it was just great getting out there again roaring, no humming (Honda's hum, Harley's roar) down the road with a pair of extra fuzzy over sized ear muffs & my warm furry wind resistant shoes on.  Bike purred along just fine & so did I. Took me a few minutes to bring my hands up to a liveable human temperature when I got back but a small price to pay for getting a little of this past winter's dust & dirt blowed off myself......in a nice way:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  My 12-year-old daughter asked me, "Mom, do you have a baby picture of yourself? I need it for a school project."
I gave her one without thinking to ask what the project was. A few days later I was in her classroom for a parent-teacher meeting when I noticed my face pinned to a mural the students had created.
The title of their project was "The oldest thing in my house."

HAD MYSELF A CONFUSING MORNING

<<< HOW NICE TO SEE RED BREASTED GROSBEAKS BACK AGAIN

Yes indeed, I did have myself a confusing morning.  The confusion did not come from the outside in rather it came from the inside out.  Had it in my mind to buy a new Shop-Vac so loaded up the little Bugsy Buns & off we went.  Couldn’t seen to decide whether to go to the Canadian Tire Store or TSC. (Tractor Supply Company)  Waffled with that somewhat simple decision all the way to Goderich & somehow ended up at Canadian Tire.  Found the Shop-Vacs, checked the price & immediately went into one of my ‘cheap-skate’ modes.  Wrestled with myself for a few minutes then headed off to the other end of town to check out TSC.  (Tractor Supply Store)  Cheapest one they had was twice the price of the Canadian Tire Vac but had more power & was of better quality.  No matter, I wasn’t in the mood to spend that kind of money on a simple Shop-Vac.  McDonalds is right near TSC so Pheebs & I headed on over there but I couldn’t decide on the Drive-Thru or walk in.  Walked in, stood in line, looked at the prices, & hauled myself right back out of there again much to the disappointment of an anxiously waiting little dog.  Back to Canadian Tire I went but could not get myself to make a decision on the Vac.  Walked around a few isles in a stew thinking about it.  I’m not normally indecisive like that but by golly this morning I sure was.  Bought a bag of Peat Moss & 3 bags of Top Soil instead & figured I’d better get myself on home right quick.  Knew I needed another bag of grass seed but couldn’t part with the money.  Jeep’s gas tank was down to half & I knew I needed gas for a trip to Cambridge shortly but I went home with a half empty tank anyway.  Somewhere in all that muddled indecisiveness I managed to tear a sizeable hole in a five dollar bill after leaving Canadian Tire when I slipped through a Tim Hortons Drive-thru for a coffee & sausage breakfast muffin.  I would no doubt have Scrooged myself past Tim Hortons had I not had a smiling little doggy sitting beside me with her paw on my arm reminding me it was breakfast time Dad.  When we got home I decided it was best I just go sit in my recliner & stare at the wall for awhile fending off any more of that darn decision making stuff which just might happen to come my way………………………………………………

Despite starting the day off under sunny skies our weather went right back into the dumpster again.  Cloudy, damp, & cold.  Spent a few hours this afternoon familiarizing myself with ROKU & so far I am really liking what I am seeing.  Checking Roku’s music channels I found the very same SOMA FM program we have been using on our desktop computer.  I wasn’t long in adding my favorite channel, GROOVE SALAD.  That was a bonus find.  Groove Salad is described as, ‘A nicely chilled plate of ambient/downtempo beats and grooves.  Downtempo and chillout electronica featuring artists such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, Fila Brazila, Dhzian and Kamien, Afterlife, Zero Seven, Nightmares On Wax, Shantel, Groove Armada and artists on Pork Recordings, Waveform Records and Cafe del Mar recordings’.  We now have Groove Salad booming from both ends of the house.  Grrrrrrooooooooovy:))

JUST KEEP YOUR DISTANCE OVER THERE DUCKY GIRL

Annie at Annie and the Fur Kids is at this moment thinking seriously of downsizing from her late nineties Class A 38.5’ Fleetwood Bounder to a smaller early 80’s 26’Class C Mobile Traveler.  Changing rigs for whatever reason can be a difficult decision for anyone & Annie is appealing to anyone for their thoughts, opinions, & suggestions.  In her post Annie talks about why her decision to downsize.

Email from Don tonight saying the Big EEE was e-tested today (emission tested) & the rig goes in tomorrow (Tuesday) for it’s safety inspection.  Barring any unforeseen problems & weather permitting it’s possible we could bring the rig home Wednesday.  

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Aviation 101

Take-off's are optional. Landings are mandatory.

If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger, if you pull the stick back they get smaller. (Unless you keep pulling the stick back -- then they get bigger again)

Flying is not dangerous; crashing is dangerous.

It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here.

The propeller is just a big fan in the front of the plane to keep the pilot cool. Want proof? Make it stop; then watch the pilot break out into a sweat.

Speed is life, altitude is life insurance. No one has ever collided with the sky.

It's best to keep the pointed end going forward as much as possible.

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

Every one already knows the definition of a 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. But very few know the definition of a 'great' landing. It's one after which you can use the airplane another time.

The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival.

Always remember you fly an airplane with your head, not your hands. Never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.

You know you've landed with the wheels up when it takes full power to taxi.

Those who hoot with the owls by night should not fly with the eagles by day.

A helicopter is a collection of rotating parts going round and round and reciprocating parts going up and down - all of them trying to become random in motion. Helicopters can't really fly - they're just so ugly that the earth immediately repels them.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.

Trust your captain .... but keep your seat belt securely fastened.

Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.

Aviation is not so much a profession as it is a disease.

There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

The only thing worse than a captain who never flew as copilot is a copilot who once was a captain.

Be nice to your first officer, he may be your captain at your next airline.

It's easy to make a small fortune in aviation. You start with a large fortune.

A fool and his money are soon flying more airplane than he can handle.

Remember, you're always a student in an airplane.

Keep looking around; there's always something you've missed.

Try to keep the number of your landings equal to the number of your take-offs.

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.

There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold, pilots!

Gravity never loses -- the best you can hope for is a draw!

You start out flying with a bag of luck and a bag of experience, the trick is to get your bag of experience full before your bag of luck is empty.

AGAIN, BECAUSE I COULDN’T THINK OF A CATCHY TITLE I’LL JUST CALL THIS ONE………..‘SUNDAY’

SOME ENCOURAGING SIGNS OF SPRING

Our colder damp weather has been hard on my motorcycle battery & I had to put the trickle charger on it this morning.  Weather has not been good for riding so even though I bought a new battery last year I have yet to get the bike out for a run which in turn keeps the battery charged.  We never even reached 50F today.

A mix of warming sun & cooling clouds had me out of the house, then back in the house, then back out of the house over & over today.  Puttered a bit in the back yard, got our pond pump going for another season & cleaned the interior of the Jeep.  Well sort of, my old Shop-Vac hardly has enough power to suck up a Mosquito.  Hooked up our outside garden lights & raked a few pine needles.  Things are slowly taking shape for the summer season.

 

OUR OUTSIDE CACTUS PLANT HAS NOT WEATHER THE WINTER WELL & A ROUGHED IN VERSION OF MY BACKYARD PROJECT

A busy week coming up.  I have the loveseat out of the Winnie to pick up at Ron’s.  He’s in Arizona right now bringing back more RV’s but I’ll be down to his place with our utility trailer as soon as he gets back maybe Tuesday.  Email from Don saying he has the rear furnace in the Triple E Commander fixed & is hoping to have the coach safety inspected possibly Monday or Tuesday.  Hopefully we will be off to Cambridge Ontario to bring the rig home very shortly.  I have to drop into the Maitland Medical Center to leave a gallon or two of blood & we’re hoping the cement guys might show up this week to begin the cement pad for our carport.  I know I’m forgetting some stuff but nothing like having things on the go to keep my mind from imploding on those ‘not much going on’ days.

We have not been happy with cable television for a long time. I've never thought the answer was to throw the television out the window, I think the right way to go about this is to find some kind of intelligent yet entertaining alternative programming.  Not all television is bad, just a lot of it.  And how good or bad it is depends on each individual's preference of course.   ROKU has caught Kelly’s eye as a refreshing new technology referred to as tabletop streaming.  It picks up the WiFi signal from our computer’s router which means it is Internet based.  Kelly chose the ROKU 2 player for us.  All very confusing to me of course but Kelly seems to be getting a handle on it.  Roku with it's 450 channels would also make Netflix possible for us as well......if we decide to go this route.  I don’t think it has all that blood & guts or moronic reality mentality to it.   We are going to try it out for a month & see how we like it.  Well I think we are, well I don’t know, we’ll see.  One thing I do know though, it is a whole heck of a lot cheaper than those ever escalating cable/satellite TV rates.  Well at least I think it is.

 

KELLY BEHIND THE TV HOOKING UP THE ROKU DEVICE WHILE PHEEBS I SUPERVISE FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY

BUSY COMPUTER DAYS FOR KELLY AS SHE ORGANIZES THINGS FROM OUR DESKTOP…I ORGANIZED MY SOCKS YESTERDAY

We first met Annie a few months ago.  We knew of her through Roxie’s GOOD LUCK DUCK blog & it was Annie who helped us get settled in an overnighter spot just west of Sedona Arizona before finding a larger site nearby the next day.   We stayed about a week & had the opportunity to get to know Annie better.  She had talked a bit at that time about starting a blog one day.  Well that one day has come.  You can find Ellen, Lily, Tucker, Jake, & Annie either on our sidebar or at ANNIE & THE FUR KIDS.  A truly warm hearted & gentle Soul.

ALWAYS NICE TO SEE MORNING SUN BEAMING IN OUR LIVING ROOM WINDOW

GROANER’S CORNER:((  At the supermarket, I overheard two women talking in the next aisle. "Horace and I have been together ten years now and he makes me very happy," one said. "So I don't mind buying him what he likes even if it is more expensive."
"Well, with my Benny I have no choice. He's just plain fussy," her friend replied.
I turned into their aisle. Both women were loading their shopping carts with high-quality cat food.

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At the supermarket, I noticed a woman with four boys and a baby. Her patience was wearing thin as the boys called out, "Mommy! Mommy!" while she tried to shop.
Finally, she blurted out, "I don't want to hear the word mommy for at least ten minutes!"
The boys fell silent for a few seconds. Then one tugged on his mother's dress and said softly, "Excuse me, miss."

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A little boy and his dog were waiting outside a veterinary clinic. When asked if he was there to see the doctor, he replied, "Yes, I'm having my dog put into neutral."

A RAINY INDOOR DAY HAD ME WORKING ON ANOTHER NEW BLOG TEMPLATE

Thanks to a reader's email this afternoon I was reminded I still had not resolved a problem with my blog regarding a function allowing readers to access 'Newer' or 'Older' posts.  Since having to set up a new blog template a few months ago this feature has never worked correctly.  You may notice a slightly different looking blog now as I have changed templates again & this one appears to have solved the ‘Newer/Older’ problem.  I still have some tweaking to do with the new template but I’m hoping everything is alright now.  A big thanks for the reminder goes out to Amy in Guelph Ontario Canada.  Thanks bunches Amy:))

Pretty well since setting up our very first computer back in the late nineties we have used Internet Explorer as our default Browser.  In those early days there was another Browser gaining a lot of attention called Netscape.  We tried Netscape for awhile but returned to Internet Explorer.  Netscape eventually went the way of the Dinosaur.  About 5 years ago we tried Firefox for a short while but again returned to Internet Explorer where we have remained basically trouble free for years until a little while back.  Two recent large automatic Microsoft downloads screwed up our computers & Kelly has spent a lot of time this past while trying to figure out so many little glitches & problems that have popped up.  Holding off as long as I could against a browser change I finally had no choice & gave in Friday night to Google's ‘Chrome’. Noticed right away Chrome solved 2 of the most annoying problems I had been having for a long time.  And one of those problems had to do with Blogger’s Dashboard.  I had heard people complaining about the problems with Internet Explorer for a long while now but sometimes it's just hard to change things that are working reasonably well most of the time.  But in the end it was those 2 massive Microsoft updates that forced us to finally change our minds about trouble plagued Internet Explorer & make the switch.  I’m sure there will be some Chrome glitches & bugs ahead plus the usual learning curve with a new browser but with Kelly’s patience & computer smarts on our side & my growling in the background we should make out just fine………………………………

UNFORTUNATELY SOMETHING DESTROYED THE 4 CANADA GEESE EGGS A FEW DAYS AGO BUT THE GEESE ARE STILL ON THE POND
Ron at FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE switched out our residential loveseat In Winnie & put a standard RV couch/ blow up bed in. Fits better & Ron thought it would add to the sale ability of the coach.  Soon as our rainy weather clears up I'll hook up the utility trailer & slip down to Grand Bend & pick up the loveseat.  Ron added new pics of the RV couch/bed to Winnie's sale SITE.
  
YEP THAT’S RON’S SIGN BUT NO THAT IS NOT RON PADDLING ACROSS THE POND
Fellow RV Blogger Mary Ann from IN THE WIND ADVENTURES has added a page with all the details & photos of their 2011 Keystone Fuzion 360 Fifth Wheel Toy Hauler & 2011 Chevy Silverado LT 2500HD for sale.  You can find out all the info about these two units here at TRUCK & FIFTH WHEEL FOR SALE.

EASY DOES IT GUYS
Triple E owner Don emailed us the VIN (vehicle registration number) number today for our insurance company.  He hopes to have the safety inspection done on the rig Monday or Tuesday.  By golly we just may be bringing the Big EEE home in a few days, weather permitting of course:))

NICE TO SEE THE PARK PONDS MANY GOLDFISH HAVE SURVIVED THE HARSH WINTER
With periods of rain spitting down for most of the day I didn’t spend a lot of time on my small backyard renovation project before retreating into the house to blissfully lose myself in the cushiness of my recliner for the rest of the day.  Will be sooooooooooooooooo glad when warm sunny Spring days are upon us sometime soon.  Update:  With sunshine streaming through the Pines at posting time tonight I am optimistically hopeful of a decent weather day coming up Sunday.  Now if we can just get that outside thermostat cranked up a bit……………………….

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Overheard in a Social Security office:
"I'd like to apply for Disability, please."
"What is your disability?"
"I'm having trouble with my eyes."
"What kind of eye trouble?"
"I can't see myself going to work."