IT’S THE VERY SPITFIRE I FLEW IN MY CHILD’S IMAGINATION

EAST SIDE OF THE GODERICH COURT HOUSE

Tuesday night's rain cleared up by Wednesday morning leaving us with a high thin rolling cloud cover.  Mystic feeling diffused sunlight spilled across the countryside making for another in a series of beautiful Autumn mornings.

NEARLY OCTOBER AND MANY AREA FIELDS STILL HAVE A SPRING LIKE LUSH GREEN COLOR TO THEM

DON’T KNOW IF THAT JOHN DEERE COMBINE IS SET UP FOR HARVESTING BEANS OR CORN

With no particular place to go and no direction forthcoming Pheebs and I wandered our way aimlessly in the direction of Goderich.  While picking up some gas I remembered something I had read about ceramic poppies set up on the grounds of Goderich's court house.  Without further ado that is where we headed.

  

EVEN THE SHADOW COWBOY MADE IT INTO THIS PHOTO

NOTICE THE CURVING STRUCTURE ABOBE THE POPPIES,,,,THE PLAQUE BELOW TELLS ABOUT IT

 

IF YOU LOOK VERY CLOSELY TO THE BOTTOM OF THOSE ROOF SQUARES YOU CAN SEE A VERY SLIGHT SPLASH OF ORANGE AND THAT IS THE MORNING SUN RISING THROUGH A THINNING CLOUD COVER

And what's a drive to Goderich without checking out the harbor and beach areas.  One very large lake freighter at  the Sifto Salt mine dock taking on a big load of salt.  Waters of Lake Huron were calm but I noticed right away the lake level was down about a foot or so from last week.  And I know that because we stop at the same place all the time and just last week rocks that were visible this morning were under water last week.  So where did all that water go, did Niagara Falls spring a leak??

THE CAPTAIN HENRY JACKMAN TAKES ON A LOAD OF SALT IN THE GODERICH HARBOR

A WEEK AGO LAKE LEVELS COVERED THESE ROCKS IN THE FOREGROUND

When Pheebs and I got ourselves back home Kelly was busy loading up the Motorhome with kitchen stuff etc.  I think she may already have a bunch of clothes onboard.  I think I loaded up a pair of socks last week.  It's that time now that any Snow Birder is well aware of as things slowly make their way from the stationary house to the mobile house.  I do have loading lists for all the important stuff but that doesn't mean to say I have got myself into the habit of remembering to check those lists over and over and over just yet.  Hmmmm, guess my socks must have been important though or they wouldn’t have been loaded yet……………

SITTIN ON THE DOCK OF THE BAY

‘MOVE OVER LADIES I’M COING IN’

‘HEY WANNA SEE MY SWAN DIVE’

With our day time highs hanging around the 'perfect for me' 70F level I figured it would be a good time to clean out and shut our front yard frog pond down for the season so that's what I did.  Always a grungy job cleaning out all the algae and slimy stuff but it's just one of those things that needs doing when it needs doing.  Spotted a couple more frogs so I'll have to see if I can get those guys rounded up and moved.

Kelly fixed me up my all time favorite sea food platter Tuesday night.  Our neighbor Monica had given us some smoked Salmon and Kelly wasn’t long in preparing it………..for herself.  For me she made fish sticks which along with Fish n Chips is the only seafood I will eat.  You can have your Lobsters, Clams, Shrimps, Groupers, or whatever else passes itself off as great tasting seafood but for this feller just give me a big plate of fish sticks, some ketchup and half a dozen slices of buttered bread and I am one very happy guy:))

WITH A LITTLE HELP KELLY LOADS THINGS INTO THE RIG’S PANTRY >>>

Downloaded myself another half dozen books into my Kindle in preparation for reading this winter.  It's better to download that kinda stuff here at home before we are on the road using our limited Gigabyte Verizon coverage.  Although I've still been reading all summer I seem to forget to mention what it is I'm reading most of the time.  My attention and interest is still focused on the Battle Of Britain.  Just finished 'A Salute To One Of The Few' which is probably one of the best books I have read regarding those turbulent times in England's 1939 to 1945 history and especially those decisive days in the summer of 1940.  Many years ago reading about the Battle Of Britain I was fascinated by stories of those brave young men and their flying machines and read many books about their history changing exploits in the skies over England, France, and Germany and here I am pushing 72 and I'm still reading about them.  It's a guys thing I guess and as a young boy I often imagined myself as a Spitfire pilot twisting, turning, and soaring high overhead on elliptical wings in crystal clear blue azure skies.  In fact sitting here right now all’s I have to do is look high overtop my computer screen to where a large Spitfire painting hangs on our sunroom wall.  It’s the very Spitfire I flew in my child’s imagination…………….

Nice surprise this afternoon when blog readers Cathy and Gord from around the Flesherton Ontario area dropped in to say Hello.  Good friends of the Furry Gnome on our sidebar Gord and Cathy have a Mercedes Sprinter van they do some RVing in and have been up to Alaska with it.  They plan on heading to the great American Southwest for a bit this winter.  Real nice folks and we RV'ers always have lots of things in common to talk about.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A Few of Life’s Random Questions::

- If you mixed vodka with orange juice and milk of magnesia, would you get a Phillip's Screwdriver?

- Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

- If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

- When someone asks you, 'A penny for your thoughts,' and you put your two cents in, what happens to the other penny?

- Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

- When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?

- Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?

- If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?

- If you take an Oriental person and spin them around several times do they become disoriented?

- If people from Poland are called 'Poles,'why aren't people from Holland called 'Holes?'

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I am passing this on to you because it definitely worked for me, and we all could use more calm in our lives. By following the simple advice I heard on a Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started. So, I looked around my house to see things I started, and hadn't finished; and, before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreo's, a pot of coffee, the rest of the Cheesecake, some Saltines, and a box of Godiva Chocolates.  You have no idea how absolutely great I feel right now.

SADDLED UP MY WHEELBARROW AND BEGAN MY ANNUAL AUTUMN ROUND-UP

ON SUNDAY KELLY BROUGHT HOME ANOTHER ROADCREW MEMBER FOR THIS YEARS SOUTHERN TRAVELS…. HIS NAME IS ‘MELON’ AND HE’S THE GREEN GUY IN THE CENTER…. ‘ELMO’ AND ‘MONK’ ARE HAPPY TO HAVE HIM ON THE BAYFIELD BUNCH TEAM:))

First thing I did this morning around 5:30 when I stepped out the door with Pheebs was to cast my eyes skyward up through the pine trees and sure enough in the cool crisp, clean air I saw diamonds sparkling high above in an inky black velvety sky.  Through the pine branches I also spotted a crescent Moon high up in the East.  Clear skies meant a sunny day would soon be upon us and that in turn meant I would not have to go back in the house, crawl into bed and pull the blankets over my head.  And that alone made for a positive start to this guy’s day.  If the old Man in the Moon had been peering down through the pine trees he would have seen a slightly whiskered and sleepily bedraggled older happy face feller wearing dark blue Gummy Bear pajamas beaming a big happy smile right on back up at him:))

ANOTHER FINE AUTUMN MORNING DRIVE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE AND THIS SHORT  HALF MILE STRETCH OFF THE BEATEN PATH IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES

HOW IS IT THE GRASS ALWAYS SEEMS TASTIER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE

NEWLY PLANTED WINTER WHEAT IN HURON COUNTIES ROLLING HILLS

A FEW MORE WIDE SWEEPS WITH THE COMBINE AND THIS SHADOWED SECTION OF SOY BEANS WILL BE ON THEIR WAY TO WHEREVER IT IS SOY BEANS GO

A FEW STOPS ON OUR WAY TO THE MARSH

Pheebs and I had ourselves a nice walk in the Marsh this morning and I couldn't help but notice the silence which enveloped us.  Even the few Crickets I heard seemed far away.  Nothing airborne in the Marsh's air, no birds and not even a single flying insect.  The only movements we saw were the rustling of leaves as Westerly winds played lazily through acres of gently swaying trees.

IT WAS SO PEACEFUL IN THE HULLETT MARSH THIS MORNING THAT NOT EVEN A GREATURE WAS STIRRING NOT EVEN A GROUSE

SEEMED LIKE PHEEBS AND I HAD THE WHOLE SLEEPY MARSH TO OURSELVES AS WE WALKED ALONG THE TOP OF ONE OF THE MANY DYKES

While walking we could hear sporadic shotgun blasts (pheasant hunters) around us off in the distance and I was reminded again as I always am when I hear hunter's in the woods how truly fortunate I am not to be one of them.  My Dad was a hunter in his earlier days but gave it up by mid age and sold his guns.  My Mother was an animal lover and although my Dad's genes led me in the hunter direction as an young teen thankfully my Mother's genes prevailed and I was able to turn away from the hunting instincts.  I credit my Mother's stronger genes for my love of animals and I am always so grateful for that.  Actually I do enjoy hunting but it's hunting with my cameras and being able to share that enjoyment each day with my readers that I am probably most grateful for.

AUTUMN WILDFLOWERS ARE ABUNDENT THIS TIME OF YEAR

  

Saddled up my wheelbarrow this morning and began the annual round-up of summer’s lawn and garden ornaments.  We have a lot of little things hanging and sitting around outside and it's always a bit of a search rounding up the main group of things as well as the strays and stragglers.  Feeling as energetic as I did I was actually able to get half a dozen little jobs done by multi-tasking my way right along.  It reminded me of myself not that many years ago when I was able to organize a number of little projects and knock them all off 1,2,3:)) 

I AM STILL TRANSPORTING FROGS FROM OUR SMALL FRONT YARD POND TO THE PARK’S MUCH LARGER POND AND SO FAR I HAVE RELOCATED ABOUT 20 FROGS

Hey Marie, I really like that KB Microfiber Cleaning Cloth you gave me Saturday.  Your right it's great for cleaning windows.  No streaks and no lint.  Did the Jeeps windows and how nice not to have to keep going over them because of annoying streaks.  I will definitely be looking into getting more.

A TOUCH OF COLOR IN THE MARSH

  

In my Monday night post I mentioned 'The Golden Years' and this morning found out something I never knew.  Seems there is another meaning for that saying which may have been the original idea for it.  Long time blog reader Wilf Blakey from Kirkland Lake way up there in that Northern Ontario place in an email in part writes, 'You mentioned the golden years in your blog tonight. Do you not know the proper meaning of that expression? I have known it for many a year, especially since I retired about five years ago. It means that it takes much gold to live and exist after you retire from the workforce ( even before we retire for that matter) wouldn't you agree'?........Well yes I would agree with that Wilf but seeings how I have only heard it in reference to the many trials, travails, and tribulations of aging Seniors I think I'll just stick with that one.  Say, did you get my email a couple weeks ago Wilf or is Kirkland Lake already buried under 10 feet of snow for the winter:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Hold onto your hats folks here comes a real groaner!!

Many years ago, a fisherman's wife blessed her husband with twin sons. They loved the children very much, but couldn't think of what to name their children. Finally, after several days, the fisherman said, "Let's not decide on names right now. If we wait a little while, the names will simply occur to us."
After several weeks had passed, the fisherman and his wife noticed a peculiar fact. When left alone, one of the boys would also turn towards the sea, while the other boy would face inland. It didn't matter which way the parents positioned the children, the same child always faced the same direction. "Let's call the boys Towards and Away," suggested the fisherman. His wife agreed, and from that point on, the boys were simply known as Towards and Away.
The years passed and the lads grew tall and strong. The day came when the aging fisherman said to his sons, "Boys, it is time that learned how to make a living from the sea." They provisioned their ship, said their goodbyes, and set sail for a three month voyage.
The three months passed quickly for the fisherman's wife, yet the ship had not returned. Another three months passed, and still no ship. Three whole years passed before the greiving woman saw a lone man walking towards her house. She recognized him as her husband. "My goodness! What has happened to my darling boys?" she cried.
The ragged fisherman began to tell his story: "We were just barely one whole day out to see when Towards hooked into a great fish. Towards fought long and hard, but the fish was more than his equal. For a whole week they wrestled upon the waves without either of them letting up. Yet eventually the great fish started to win the battle, and Towards was pulled over the side of our ship. He was swallowed whole, and we never saw either of them again."
"Oh dear, that must have been terrible! What a huge fish that must of been!"
"Yes, it was, but you should have seen the one that got Away...."

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The new army recruit was given guard duty at 2 a.m. He did his best for a while, but at about 4 a.m. he fell asleep. He awakened to find the officer of the day standing before him.
Remembering the heavy penalty for being asleep on guard duty, this smart young man kept his head bowed for another moment then looked upward and reverently said, “Amen”