IF WE MOVE TO TOWN SOMEDAY WHICH TOWN WILL WE CHOOSE

Imagine my surprise this morning when Kelly expressed an interest in coming along for a country drive with Pheebs & I.  Pheebs was a little put out about having to take a back seat but she soon got over it as all three of us headed out on a weatherly beautiful Monday morning.  A couple errand stops & we were soon in downtown Goderich to have us a look at the town's Court House square where a permanent outdoor stage is currently being erected. (when I know more about what this stage will be used for I will let you know) Although the center of town is actually round it has become affectionately known as 'the square' over the years.  It was this area of Goderich which was heaviest hit by a devastating tornado 3 summers ago.  It is truly amazing how parts of the downtown area in Goderich are being & have been rebuilt.  As so often happens after the winds of destruction have had their way, new & better ways arise to replace that which has been destroyed.   Good job Goderich, well done & keep up the good work.

SOUTH SIDE & MAIN ENTRANCE WAY OF GODERICH’S COUNTY COURTHOUSE WITH THE STAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN THE BACKGROUND

 

ALTHOUGH A HOLIDAY THERE WERE TWO FELLAS WORKING ON THE ROOF PORTION OF THE STAGE THIS MORNING

 

I EXPECT MUSICAL CONCERTS MIGHT JUST BECOME A MAINSTAY HERE ON ‘THE SQUARE’

THESE NEW BUILDINGS NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION HAVE RISEN FROM ONE OF THE MOST DEVASTATED CORNERS ON THE SQUARE…;CARMAN CAMERAS; USED TO BE AT BOTTOM RIGHT

A drive down around the harbor & out along the beach to a dog 'off leash' area.  Pheebs was needing a run & we was needing a stretch.  Our drive around Goderich this morning re-affirmed some long range plans we had first touched on a few years ago & set off on a back burner to simmer for awhile.  Both Kelly & I like Goderich with it's scenic harbor & boardwalks along the beach.  Fine old homes with a relaxed easy to get around atmosphere.  At some point we will probably have to move into a town & for us we decided awhile back Goderich would be that town.  As much as we would both like to live in the country we have to be practical about that.  We’re not exactly getting any younger & with some possible health issues in the future we have to look ahead a few years to a time when winter travels south may no longer be an option.  Winter in the country around here can be brutal.  Drifted in laneways, icy snow blocked roads to town.  Higher fuel bills from being out in an open landscape.  A vehicle is needed for everything.   Any kind of an illness could leave us in a tough spot, etc.  Just simple realities one has to consider now that time seems to be marching a little faster for us.  If we were 10 years younger we wouldn't even consider living in a town but at this age & stage of the game we have to start planning ahead more practically.  A little more thinking with the head & a little less thinking with the heart.  Darn!!  When health begins to deteriorate for us as it naturally does for everyone we want to be in the right place at the right time to deal with that next upcoming phase of life……………….Just a few thoughts today:))

KELLY CHECKS OUT SOME COLORED STONES ALONG THE SHORELINE NEAR THE ‘OFF LEASH’ DOG AREA

 

A LARGE FREIGHTER TAKES ON A LOAD OF ROCK SALT FROM THE SIFTO SALT MINE IN THE HARBOR

KELLY LAUGHING AT PHEEBS BY THE WATER’S EDGE…PHEEBE GOES TO GREAT LENGTHS TO KEEP HER PAWS DRY
In a few months I will be 70 years old & I am a little surprised by that.  I never really figured on making it this far.  Don't ask me why but I just never thought I would.  Many of my friends didn't.  I never thought much about aging through my early & mid 60’s but the looming number 70 just seems to have a bit of a hard edged reality check to it.  Can't tell you I am all happy faced & cheery to be moving into my 7th decade.  I don't buy into that false bravado way of thinking the best years of life are still ahead.  Centuries of simple human reality clearly tells me it is not.  It is only natural for any living being, plant, animal or organism to decline with age.  Its an inescapable fact.  Yes we try to make the best of it of course but the inevitable is the inevitable.  Nothing to do with that positive/ negative thinking thingy here & everything to do with the reality of our aging minds & bodies.  I don't think there is one person in their Senior years on this entire planet who wouldn't give just about anything to have not only their mental & physical youth driven health & well being back .  I don't think any of us years ago ever said, 'oh gee I can't wait to get old, it will be such fun.

The remainder of our morning drive took us again up near Dungannon Ontario where we stopped to let Pheebs out to see her Llama Pals.  Or could these be Alpaca’s.  Although Pheebs did a lot of running up & down the fence line she just couldn't seem to stir up any frenzied interest.  Her Pals just kind of stood off aways curiously watching her.

 

THE GUYS ALL HAD THEMSELVES A BIT OF A STARING MATCH GOING ON BACK & FORTH

Lots of WIND TURBINE action going on in this area so we drove along slow having us a look at the progress.  It's a long week-end here in Canada so there were no workers around.  The country roads northeast of Goderich were quiet.  Sunday night we watched a TV show on wind turbines & our area of South-western Ontario was part of the shows focus.  Wind turbines are a real mixed bag of emotions for folks around here.  Well anywhere as far as that goes.  Where do the fantasies stop & the facts begin.  Who's right & who thinks they’re right.  The show left us with more questions than answers.  One doesn't think too much about these giant windmills until they begin popping up in one's own backyard & neighborhood like a bunch of white & waving armed manic mushroom Monsters.  And then there's the health risks & symptoms people living close to these wind turbines have.  Maybe the problem isn't so much the turbines themselves as it is to their placement close to human habitat.  Yes it's a raw issue here along the Eastern shoreline of Lake Huron & one which local residents have no control over.  The wind turbines are here & they are here to stay…………………….  

LARGE WIND TURBINE BLADES READY TO BE ATTACHED TO THEIR ROTATING NACELLE HUB 

A BIG CRANE WILL SOON ARRIVE TO LIFT THAT BLADE ASSEMBLY UP WHEN THE CENTER TOWER IS COMPLETE…MAYBE TWO CRANES FOR THAT JOB
Thank you to readers for your support & understanding not only in our Shout Box lately but blog comments & emails as well.  And of course a big thank you to my few faithful Facebook supporters.  Bit of a disturbance in our Shout Box these past few days but I'm hoping things will calm down.

 
GROANER'S CORNER:((  Anyone who's ever ridden in a cab in Washington DC knows they're some of the world's most brazen drivers. Oddly enough though, their current accident rate isn't all that bad. One day I asked one of the drivers the reason for that. "Easy," he said. "all the really bad drivers are dead now."

ARCHIVE MEMORY:: ‘MY BIG HOWDY DOODY WAVE’

Well, I'm not going to take up your time with another puttering around the house post so I will leave you with an archive memory from a few years ago.  I should mention these archive memories are truly old original writings but they do have a touch of newness to them.  As I find & re-read my posts & paragraphs from years ago I have a tendency to often edit, update & re-write them a wee bit.  I find mistakes to correct & I sometimes restructure sentences or omit & replace a word or two here & there.  So whatever is old is somehow slightly new again:))   

ARCHIVE MEMORY::   'My Big Howdy Doody Wave'......You may or may not have noticed that when motorcyclists meet on the road a customary 'cool' wave is exchanged. Same thing with Jeep owners. There is quite a hierarchy of motorcycle waves of course & being new to the sport a bunch of years ago I had to learn the embarrassing way on how to 'properly' exchange that 'cool' hand gesture. Of course being as new as I was I always gave the oncoming biker a great big smiley Howdy Doody wave with my arm way up on in the air flappin like it was on the end of a puppet string. Kinda like, "hey there big Buddy biker guy, I got a big bike too, see." Took me awhile to realize the guys coming the other way were not responding with the same big Howdy wave. They just seemed to casually slip there hand off the handlebar, drop their arm a bit & spread a couple fingers as they rolled on by. Well, at least some of them did. After seeing my big Howdy wave coming down the road most of them just put their heads down in disbelief & rolled on by.  Especially the Harley guys.  The few that did give me a glance probably figured I looked like Howdy Doody too.  Took me awhile to clue in on that but I think I got er down pat now. I hear the Harley driver's have a special wave but I don't know what it is. I do know what it isn't though. It's not the big Howdy wave that's for sure. And, do you know how I can tell a new biker coming the other way? Yep, I see that big Howdy Doody wave coming down the road about a mile away.  I just kinda put my head down & motor on by.

Now I do have a couple other curious bike habits as well & one of them sometimes shatters the peacefully quiet countryside.  Quiet at least until I come rolling along.  No, it's not my bike that makes the noise, it's me!!  Remember I ride a Honda not a Harley.  I have a habit of singing on the bike & it is usually the same old tune....Johnny Horton's, 'Honky Tonk Man.'  And, I can sure belt er out pretty good too.  I have seen cows turn their heads, horses stampede, pigs cover their ears & chickens fly.  Yessireeee Bob,  I'm quite a noise coming down the road sometimes. And I have another curious habit I do on the motorcycle too.  It’s a curious little oddity I do when passing another bike.  I give a slight nod of the head along with a verbal............"Gday Sir".  I have absolutely no idea why I do that every time & have actually tried to stop that Australian "Gday" part but it always just seems to pop right out of me.  It's not like the other biker can hear my 'cordial greeting' as we pass each other at a combined speed of 120mph.   But, here's the worry.....the biker can't hear me of course but he may catch a glimpse of my lips flapping as I flash by.  I could be saying anything!!  What if this is a bad biker Dude & figures I have just told him to...... well you know.  I always have to quickly check my rear view mirror for brake lights in case the guy is in the process of burning a U-Turn & coming after me for assuming I said something nasty.  Oh what a life it is I make for myself some days:))

And lets all remember…………..'When faced with senseless drama, spiteful criticisms and misguided opinions, walking away is the best way to stand up for yourself.  To respond with anger is an endorsement of their attitude’......Dodinsky 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Some tourists in the Chicago Museum of Natural History are marvelling at the dinosaur bones. One of them asks the guard, "Can you tell me how old the dinosaur bones are?"  The guard replies, "They are 3 million, four years, and six months old."  "That's an awfully exact number," says the tourist. "How do you know their age so precisely?" The guard answers, "Well, the dinosaur bones were three million years old when I started working here, and that was four and a half years ago."

---

A fisherman accidentally left his day's catch under the seat of a bus.  The next evening, the newspaper carried an ad: "If the person who left a bucket of fish on the No. 47 bus would care to come to the garage, he can have the bus."

WISHED I COULD THINK OF AN EXCITING TITLE BUT IT WAS JUST ANOTHER QUIET SATURDAY

A FEW PHOTOS FROM OUR FRONT YARD THIS AFTERNOON

Our humidity factor is on the rise again so I am missing our cooler temperatures.  Mosquitoes plagued us on our morning walk as did other flying miseries.  The direct result of higher humidity I may add.  Did a trip around the property with the weed whacker & both Kelly & I with our clippers thinned out some shrubs etc.  Between short outside work bursts I kept myself inside between the cooling fans.  In other words it turned out to be kind of a none event day.  I guess they are Ok as long as I don't get too many of them in a row.

A FEW PHOTOS FROM OUR FRONT YARD TONIGHT

Took the bike out for a short run about mid afternoon.  It's not often I have a destination & today was no exception.  Just slipped around a few paved country roads enjoying the ride.  Noticed a lot of farmers busy in the wheat fields with combines, tractors, balers & wagons.  A few eighteen wheeler tractor trailer trucks on the roads hauling the wheat harvest off to nearby grain elevators.

As I write this tonight we are under a severe storm warning with high winds & possible hail.  Best part of this storm will be the immediate elimination of this miserable humidity.  As a rule storms come in across the lake but I see on the live radar this is a big one forming up east & inland from us.  Could see on the radar it was only about 3 miles away so grabbed the cameras, loaded up the Pheebs & off we went to see if we could maybe get us some nice storm photos & maybe some lightning if we were lucky.  Well no such luck & all we saw was lots of rain & a very dark southeast sky.  But hey, at least we got ourselves out for a 20 minute drive:))

And for you outdoor enthusiasts with an interest in kayaking remember to keep an eye on BOB'S EYES blog.  He takes many photos from his kayak & you will see lots of birds & shore activities as he happily meanders his way along various scenic waterways.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( IT'S CALLED THE 'BUT FIRST SYNDROME': You know. It's when you decide to do the laundry. So you start down the stairs with the laundry, but then see the newspapers on the table. OK, you'll do the laundry. BUT FIRST you decide to put the newspapers away. So on your way in to put the newspapers away, you notice the mail on the table. OK, you'll put the newspapers away. BUT FIRST you'll pay that bill that needs to be paid. So you look for the checkbook. Oops...there's the baby's bottle from yesterday on the floor. OK, you'll pay the bill. BUT FIRST you need to put the bottle in the sink. You head for the kitchen. Darn it, there's the remote for the TV. What's it doing here? Okay, you'll put the bottle in the sink. BUT FIRST you need to put the remote away. Head for the TV room. Aaagh! Stepped on the cat. Cat needs to be fed. Okay, you'll put the remote away. BUT FIRST you need to feed the cat... So, here's what happens at the end of the day: Laundry is not done, newspapers are still on the floor, bottle is on the table, bills are unpaid, checkbook is still lost, and the cat ate the remote control ... And, when you try to figure out how come nothing got done all day, you are baffled because .....you KNOW you were BUSY ALL DAY!! That's the "BUT FIRST" Syndrome."

FINDING CONTENTMENT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE & MEMORIES OF A SMALL BOY

I had a choice of two seats this morning.  My recliner or the Jeep.  It was a no brainer so Pheebs & I were on the road before 9 a.m.  Figured I'd answer a question I surprisingly have never been asked.  How come Kelly doesn't go with you & Pheebs on these country drives?  Well, let me answer that for any of you who have probably wondered but never asked.  Poking around on back country roads is not exactly everyone's idea of spending a couple of enjoyable hours.  But enjoyable to me it is.  Kelly's idea of spending a couple relaxing hours is sitting quietly reading.  Of course that doesn't work for me.  I like the outdoors & wide open spaces.  Plus if Kelly comes along with us guys Pheebs doesn't get to sit in the front seat.  End of explanation………………….
 

SPOTTED THIS CRANKY LOOKING FELLOW WALKING DOWN THE ROAD SO I EASED AROUND HIM AS QUIETLY AS I COULD…DON’T THINK HE WAS FEELING WELL
I guess the real reason for my country drives is simply a form of self therapy.  It's the only thing that seems to temporarily quell my restlessness during the summer months.  Gives me something to do I enjoy doing plus I know how much the Pheebs loves her Jeep rides.  We were out for about 4 & a half hours today with about half a dozen stops along the way.

 

It's been an unusual summer weather season & it's very noticeable in the countryside.  Usually by the first of August vegetation is beginning to take on a hard look.  Leaves are a darker green with lawns & grasses generally browning from heat & lack of water.  Even the country roads are not dusty this summer.  Due to excess rain showers it looks to me like the farmers are going to have a bumper crop of everything.  The beans & corn are looking so green.  Corn is tasseling already.  Waving fields of golden wheat are now being harvested.  There just does not seem to be any signs of stress on anything this year.  And I've noticed the creeks & rivers are flowing well. No stagnant water in the creek beds.  I have a feeling Autumn colors could be a little later this year. 

  

I particularly took note once again of all the fine looking farms that line our rural roads.  The landscaping, the flower beds, sweeping lawns looking like golf courses.  Houses, barns & out buildings looking like something one might find in the pages of Homes & Gardens.  Large farm machines looking like they were just driven home from the showroom.  Nice vehicles in the driveways.  Farm properties & their owners sure have come a long way from when I was a kid when run down & derelict looking farms were more the norm.  One can pick any country road they like here in Southern Ontario & drive for miles enjoying what the farmers of today have done with their farms & properties.

 

 

 

WELL NOT ALL HOUSES HAVE BEEN KEPT QUITE UP TO PAR

I have also come to the conclusion one of the things that attracts me so much to the countryside is the wide open spaces & the ability to see for miles & miles over hill & dale.  It is one of the very things that attracts both Kelly & I year after year to the great South-West's sweeping vistas & never ending skies.   As cozy as our place is here in the Pine forest I so very much miss the open night skies, sunrises, sunsets & big fluffy white clouds in azure blue sunny skies.  I miss seeing storms & weather patterns traveling by.  When we lived in the old farmhouse years ago we enjoyed watching lightning based storm fronts moving inland miles to the south of us.  And then there are those great country smells & sounds.  New mown hay, cattle lowing in the fields.  Horses, the sounds of chickens & roosters.  And I have always liked the smell of a cattle barn or that fresh air smell after a passing storm.  Yes, it's where I find some contentment for a few hours each week.

AN EARLY SIGN OF A COMING SEASON

Archive Memory::  In July of 2011 I wrote this about my memories as a young Boy.  Heating water on an old cast iron coal/wood stove for washing, once a week baths, bringing in water from a pump outside, coal oil lamps for when the electricity went off as it frequently did, no television, wind up clocks, buckled galoshes on cold winter feet , a hand crank phone on the wall, pee pots under the bed, wooden sided refrigerator where you put a big block of ice in the top part, no such thing as a supermarket & fish was pedaled on Fridays by a man pushing a wagon around my little home town of Tavistock Ontario, Canada.  Knives could be sharpened the same way & milk was delivered by a horse drawn wagon.  I can still see our local happy smiley faced chicken farmer standing just inside our door with his wooden basket of freshly killed chickens.  A folded white cloth covered 2 or 3 at a time & that is how my Mother selected & bought our meat in those days.  A big old wooden floor model radio was the main source of entertainment in our house & my Mother, my Grandfather, my Uncle Fred & I would gather around it Sunday night's for 'Our Miss Brooks, Fibber McGee & Molly, the Great Gildersleeve & many other great old time radio shows. Arthur Godfrey in the mornings, Gunsmoke & Gangbusters on Saturday nights. Friday night boxing matches sponsored by Gillette.  We had an old crank up Victrola which could play big round 78 RPM records.  I listened to those records over & over. My Mother could play piano by ear & it was always a great treat for me to sit on the piano bench beside her as she played my favorite, Greensleeves. Our house always had music in it & I'm very grateful for that to-day. Whether it was the radio, the Victrola, my Mother on piano my Grandfather bought one day or an old record player years later, there was always music in the house. To this very day I still surround myself with music from dawn to dusk. Sometimes I would like nothing better than to just climb aboard a time machine to go back & turn on that big old wooden floor model Crosley radio again.  I'd like to tune in Amos & Andy & gather round in the living room with my Mother, my Grandfather, & my Uncle Fred to listen & laugh once more to a simple humor that is all but lost now. A way of life, a way of family, a way of remembering.  And some days those old memories just keep on coming & coming......and I like that:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  I walked into the music store to buy a CD of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto.  I found the Hiphop, R&B, Country and Jazz sections, but no area where I might look for Rachmaninoff.  "Excuse me," I said to a young store clerk. "Do you have a classical section?"  After a brief hesitation, he asked, "You mean...like Elvis?"