Monday, June 20, 2016

NOT A FROG ON A LOG NOT A TURTLE IN A TREE

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Needing to pick up a few things at Walmart Pheebs & I headed to Goderich.  Nice summer morning with a cool breeze off the lake.  Took a longer scenic route back to Bayfield stopping at one of our favorite ponds along the way in hopes of a few photos.

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D’YA THINK CLYDE KNOWS HOW HIGH OFF THE GROUND HE IS

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OK I WON’T TELL HIM IF YOU WON’T

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YOU CHECK THE HEIGHT OVER THERE AND I’LL CHECK IT OVER HERE BUT DON’T TELL CLYDE WHAT WE’RE DOING

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HEY WATCH THAT COLD BEAK WILL YA!!

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AWW GEEEEZZZZZZ FELLAS THAT’S A LONG WAY DOWN

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HEY MARVIN I THINK HE JUST FELL OFF

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YA HE’S OVER HERE ON THE GROUND UPSIDE DOWN

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WELL WE ALWAYS KNEW POOR CLYDE HAD A FEAR OF HEIGHTS DIDN’T WE

Not a frog on a log or a turtle in a tree
Not a Heron not a tadpole not a bird did we see 
Deer flies were biting Mosquitos were annoying
Twas a nice morning we had been enjoying 
A quick photo here a quick photo there
Brushed bugs out of fur and insects out of hair
Heat was upon us as we headed for home
We'll be back again on our next country roam:))

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HOW’S ABOUT A SMOOCH TOOTS

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WELL I HOPE NOBODY SEES US

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LOOK VERY CLOSELY AND FOLLOW THE LITTLE FROGS GAZE TO THE YELLOW LILY FLOWER….CAN YOU SEE WHAT FROGGY IS LOOKING AT??  WHEN TAKING THIS LILY PAD FLOWER PHOTO  I SAW NEITHER THE FROG NOR IT’S PROSPECTIVE LUNCH

Digging around in my Blog Archives tonight I came across a little something I wrote back on September 16th 2007 called Motorcycle.....First Experience.  I remember that short one  hour maiden voyage well with most of my time being spent in a cemetery:))

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I THINK WE HAVE HAD OUR LITTLE FRONT YARD POND FOR OVER A DOZEN YEARS NOW

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A BABY ROBIN IN OUR BACKYARD SUNDAY NIGHT…MOM AND DAD WERE NEARBY

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Monday afternoon was basically a repeat of Sunday afternoon as we kept ourselves comfortably cool inside.   Kelly got some things accomplished and me not so much.  Looking forward to cooler days ahead.   And again a word of thanks to readers for their kind comments.  I know I don't answer each and every email, shout or comment but know I read them all and do very much appreciate hearing from everybody:))

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SQUIRRELS KNOW I DON’T CHASE THEM OFF THE BIRD FEED STATION ANYMORE SO THEY JUST CLIMB UP, EAT A FEW SEEDS AND SOMETIMES HANG AROUND FOR AN OCCASSIONAL RELAXING REST WHILE THEY’RE UP THERE

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GROANER'S CORNER:(( A three-year-old went with his dad to see a litter of kittens. On returning home, he breathlessly informed his mother there were 2 boy kittens and 2 girl kittens.  "How did you know?" his mother asked.
"Daddy picked them up and looked underneath," he replied, "I think it's printed on the bottom."

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One day, a lady goes over to her blonde neighbor’s house and sees her crying.  She asks her what happened.  The blonde said that her Mother had passed away.  The neighbor made her some coffee and calmed her down a little and then left. The next day the neighbor went back over to the house and found the blonde crying again.  She asked her why she was crying this time.  The blonde said, "I just got off of the phone with my sister. Her Mother died too!"

Sunday, June 19, 2016

RIDING ALONG WITH US THIS MORNING WAS NAT KING COLE, BING CROSBY, FRANK SINATRA, BILLIE HOLIDAY, LOUIE ARMSTRONG AND MORE………..

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A rarity of sorts Saturday night as all three of us piled into the Jeep and headed out into the countryside to see if we could catch ourselves a rising Moon.  Too much haze on the Eastern horizon for an early Moonrise but no matter it was just a nice change of pace for us all to get out together for a drive on a warm near Summer’s evening.  Been a long time since we’ve done that.

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IT WAS A NICE WARM SATURDAYEVENING FOR A DRIVE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

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WAITING FOR THE MOONRISE WE PARKED RIGHT ALONGSIDE THIS BEANFIELD

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LOOKING SOUTH

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LOOKING NORTH

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It is always so difficult for me to keep the number of photos down in my posts when we live in such a beautifully diverse area of rural Ontario. 

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AN AREA FARMER LOOKS BACK TO CHECK ON HIS HAY RAKE

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STOPS THE TRACTOR TO CHECK SOMETHING AND I’M THINKING HE MIGHT HAVE GOT THAT FRONT WHEEL A LITTLE CLOSE TO SOME WIRE FENCING

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OH DEAR HE MAY BE HEADING BACK TO THE BARN TO FETCH A FEW TOOLS

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Sunday morning found me with paint brush in hand as I put a final coat of paint on our new gas furnace door.  Had been a dozen years or so since we painted our hallway where the furnace is located and luckily a few days ago Kelly remembered the name of the paint we used back then as Bennington Gray.  She picked up a quart of Bennington Gray Friday so this morning I was able to blend that furnace door in with the rest of the hallway.

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AMISH FOLKS HAVE A TENDENCY TO LIKE THEIR HOUSES WHITE AND THEIR BARNS RED

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A COUPLE OLD BARNS IN THE TWILIGHT OF THEIR YEARS

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LOTS OF FINE OLD HOMES IN RURAL SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO

Although feeling very tired I asked Pheebs if she would like to go for a ride in the Jeep this morning and she immediately went Bonkers so it was into the Jeep & off out to the countryside with us.  All windows down again as we made our way over to the Marsh.  We had a ba-zillion Gnats around our heads every time we stepped out of the Jeep so needless to say we finally had to just kept on moving.

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A COUPLE AREA FARMERS CHATTING UP THIS SEASONS GROWING WEATHER

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ASSEMBLED FROM BITS AND PIECES METHINKS

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A COUPLE YOUNG FARM LADS RAKING UP  HAY ON A HOT SUNNY SATURDAY MORNING

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IT’S A BUSY TIME OF YEAR IN THE FARMING COMMUNITY

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STONE WORK IN OLD BARN FOUNDATIONS CAN BE A WORK OF ART IN ITSELF

Despite a good night’s sleep I spent most of my afternoon snoozing on and off in my recliner.  Kelly has been bothered with waves of tiredness over these last few days as well.  We’re quite a pair as we drag ourselves around here.  We think it just may simply be the heat and humidity that’s affecting us although I never ventured outside once today after arriving home from our morning drive.  We sure do love the cooling comfort our air conditioner brings us.  A big ‘Yahouie Louie’ to whoever invented A/C:))

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Longest day of the year is nearly upon us after which we begin the long backslide to the the shortest day of the year in December.  I always look forward to those two time markers each year as one signifies the coming of Autumn and Winter which means southbound RV travels and one means the coming of Spring and Summer which signifies northbound RV travels.  Funny how that works for me but somehow it always does.

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CAME ACROSS THIS WILD ROSEBUSH IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

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Riding along with us this morning was Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Billie Eckstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby Dinah Washington, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Billie Holliday, Louie Armstrong and Sarah Vaughn just to name a few.  With my Sirius Satellite Radio tuned to the ‘Sinatra’ channel my mind was again taken back to an era and place in time I remember with great fondness.  I am fortunate the sands of time have been kind as they have gently sifted through my mind wearing away any lumps of coal leaving only diamonds.  My Dad I never knew well in those days but one of my earliest memories is of him coming into our village one day on his motorcycle and pulling over to the curb to talk to me.  My Mother and I on warm summer evenings would sometimes play catch in front of our house & we played a game called ‘Skunk’.  Whenever either one of us would drop the ball we would pick up a letter and the first one to drop the ball five times would be ‘skunked’.  I had no brothers or sisters to play with and grew up in a house of adults.  My Mother, Step-Father, Uncle and Grandfather.  They were all very good to me as a small boy and to this day my mind often travels back to those times oh so many years ago and it is the music from that era which frequently stops to pick me up and take me there.  No, I won’t call them the ‘good ol days’ nor will I call them the ‘bad ol days’.  No, instead let me just call them what they were & what they have become over the past  7 decades……the ‘best of days with the best of memories in a young boy’s mind’.

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GROANER’S CORNER:(( GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:
1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.
GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:
1) Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD:
1) Growing up is mandatory; growing old is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.