I BLT’D MY PANTS THIS MORNING

PHEEBS GREETS HER LITTLE PAL ‘RASCAL’ FROM UP THE STREET EARLIER TODAY….NOTICE HOW FAST HER TAIL IS WAGGING

A fast moving storm with heavy thunder, lightning and gusting winds bent our tall pine trees while blowing sideways rain whacked us about 6:15 this morning knocking our power out twice.  We are very fortunate the loud thunder doesn't bother Pheebs.

OUR OFFICIAL RAIN GAUGE SAYS WE GOT ALMOST HALF A WHEELBARROW LOAD OF RAIN IN ABOUT 20 MINUTES

THOSE MORNING RAINS SURE BEAT OUR HYDRANGEAS DOWN

OUR WATER SOAKED RED BUD TREE HANGS LOW OVER THE JEEP

A lackluster weather morning for sure but Pheebs and I took the Jeep for a run anyway.  I had a BLT on my mind I couldn’t shake.  BLT stands for a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.  Doesn’t it just bug ya when people use short form letters without telling you what they stand for.  They expect you to be up to speed and fashionably tech savvy.  Drives me nuts!!  Anyway, despite always quickly muting all those vile TV commercials one  of them caught my eye Wednesday and it wouldn’t leave me alone.  McDonald’s were advertising their new BLT. (ya know that one now, right?)  Although we started off in the direction of Clinton this morning that darn commercial kept rattling around in my hungry head and before I knew it we made an unplanned course correction and headed for McD’s in Goderich. 

TURKEY VULTURE TOP RIGHT IS COMING IN FOR A LANDING

THIS JUMBLE OF FEATHERS IS ACTUALLY A TURKEY VULTURE TAKING OFF

Six cars in McDonald’s double menu drive-thru line but I did Okay and never bent up any fenders.  Picked up our BLT and a coffee and away we went.  Of course any smart person would have pulled over, shut things down and proceeded to eat their BLT mess free.  I don’t have to tell you where I am on the smarts ladder so we pulled right out and headed into Goderich.  Hadn’t gone a block and Pheebs and I hadn’t even got into a good squabble over the sandwich yet when I took my first big bite. In less time than it takes to dribble a drop I had about a quarter of that BLT in my lap on my light tan colored pants.  And it was mostly egg, greasy egg along with some bacon and a bit of lettuce.  What a mess.  Tried picking the gooey egg parts off my pants and got my steering wheel gummed up.   Somehow in the ensuing fracas Pheebs and I did manage to make our way through the rest of the BLT but it pretty well put an end to my intended stop at Walmart later.  No way was I gonna end up in a Walmartian photo looking like I had just crawled out of the local greasy spoon restaurant dumpster…….Following photos were taken at the Hullett Marsh last Friday morning.

    

We took ourselves for a quick cruise down around the harbor then headed straight-away for home.  No point in stopping to do a trail hike anywhere with all the humidity in the air.  I would have ended up sweating with my shirt sticking to me and with bacon and egg grease on my pants the mosquitoes and bears would have been chasing me like nuts all over the place.  Home we went.

USUALLY I SEE THE WORLD FROM MY PERSPECTIVE BUT HERE IS HOW THAT SAME WORLD LOOKS FROM PHEEBS PERSPECTIVE

Off with the grease laden pants and on with a clean pair and that was that.  Oh, and what did we do after we polished off the BLT in Goderich before heading home??  Yep, right back through McDonald’s we went and picked up a carrot muffin.  Lady at the window smilingly recognized us and made a comment about us being back again so soon.  Feeling a little silly I told her….’the dog made me do it’ which actually wasn’t too far off the truth.  No more messy BLT’s for us two muffin heads!!

Humidity was such today that I was glad it remained cloudy.  Even so I didn’t venture outside to do any yard work.  Kicked on the A/C, cranked up the  fans and that was it for our day.  Just as well because we did get to spend time on our computers researching and reading up on Smartphones.  Last week I couldn’t have told you which side of a smartphone was which but by golly right now I am pretty versed up on corning wear gorilla glass, megapixels, dual pixels, 2.15GHz, quad processors, dual edge, modems, UHD, auto focus, 5.2, 5,5, micro SD, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.2, panama hat and pink shoelaces, snapdragon, marshmallow, 3GB ram, storage, Qualcomm, Octa-core, accelerometer, and spinning gyro mc-spiro bladders.  Yes Sireeeee I’ve become quite the Wiz.  Don’t have a phone yet but we’re getting it narrowed down.  Soon as I see one with a rotary dial on the front I’m a gonna go for it:))

CLEMATIS FLOWERS AFTER THE RAIN THIS MORNING

A RAN DRENCHED DAISY…..THESE FLOWER PICS WERE DONE WITH ONE OF MY POINT AND SHOOT CAMERAS

Note to Jean and Skip way over there in that British Columbia place.  Do you folks have a new email address yet??

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GROANER’S CORNER:((  If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it will always be yours. If it doesn't come back, it was never yours to begin with. But, if it just sits in your living room, messes up your stuff, eats your food, uses your telephone, takes your money, and doesn't appear to realize you set it free.……. You either married it or gave birth to it.

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Q: When does a person decide to become an accountant?
A: When he realizes he doesn't have the charisma to succeed as an undertaker.

Q: What's the definition of a good tax accountant?
A: Someone who has a loophole named after him.

Q: What's an auditor?
A: Someone who arrives after the battle and bayonets all the wounded.

- Old accountants don't die, they just lose their balance.

“A high rise condo can be uplifting or disappointing on so many levels. Then again, a bungalow can also be a little flat.”

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Knock knock.
Who’s there?
Urine.
Urine who?
Urine trouble if you don’t open the door.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON MY BLOG AND WHAT IT ALL MEANS TO ME

KELLY SPOTTED A COUPLE PILEATED WOODPECKERS IN OUR YARD THIS AFTERNOON

It was a sultry gray laden sky which greeted us this morning and with the humidex level already high any thoughts of hiking area trails today were non existent.  Kelly and Pheebs on their early walk ran into a barrage of mosquitos and that was to be my experience an hour or two later as well.  Humidity and masses of mosquitoes go hand in hand. 

Our usual slow drive to Goderich led to our usual McDonald’s fare which in turn led to our usual drive down around the harbor.  A stop at the doggy walking area and we were on our way again.  Sure nice to get ourselves off the busy highway and onto some good old gravely roads in the quiet countryside.  Some drivers just seem to get totally nuts whenever they seat themselves behind their steering wheels.

Headed northeast out of Goderich keeping an eye on a few fog patches in the countryside.  Anytime we stopped for a leg stretch or a few photos we were instantly set upon by hordes of mosquitoes so it was mainly an ‘in the Jeep’ morning.

WIND TURBINES IN THE MORNING MIST

It is so nice not to have to work anymore.  Nice to get up whenever one feels like it and have no schedules or people telling one what to do for the day.  I think about that driving around along through the countryside on these morning jaunts with Pheebs.  I think about that a lot.  How did I ever end up being so fortunate.  Well of course I know the answer to that question but that’s another story for another day.

NICE PLACE BUT I CAN’T IMAGINE HAVING TO CUT ALL THAT GRASS

Every once in a long while I kinda stop and take a look at where I am with this blog of mine.  I have written maybe half a dozen posts over the years about those thoughts and how my blog has evolved.  From it’s early stumblings in late 2006 when I posted to Microsoft’s ‘My Space’ at the time right up until now my blog seems to have taken on a life of it’s own and some days now it’s the blog writing me instead of me writing the blog.  For me the blog isn’t secondary anymore nor does it take a low priority in my day like it once did.  For me my blog has become my day and I am perfectly fine with that.  I spend a lot of enjoyable time on it and it’s very existence has saved me time and time again from many otherwise boring days.  I’m sure other people’s hobbies do the same for them.  If it wasn’t for my 3 main interests of traveling, writing, and photography I can’t even hazard a guess where I would be.  Maybe it would be here…..They're Coming To Take Me Away Ha-Ha 

ROADSIDE STOP BESIDE A POND

I LIKE THIS FELLOW’S HOUSE BESIDE THE POND BUT NOT WHAT HE HAS DONE WITH HIS PROPERTY

There are several main factors in blogging which are crucial for me staying on an even keel and not spiraling down into the depths of depression and boredom.  Other folks may have different priorities to their lives with hobbies and activities much different to mine.  They keep a hand in and their heads above water in other ways.  We all cope with our Senior years in different ways.  I haven’t done much with my life over the years and have never felt very successful at anything.  Never felt I contributed much to society, never really went too far in stepping out to help other people along……until my blog caught on and began to evolve into something I couldn’t have imagined when I first started out. 

OUR BACKYARD PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS

SWEET WILLIAM

STELLA D’ORO LILY

WE HAVE MANY OF THESE DAY LILIES ON THE PROPERTY

Many times over this past decade I have been able to help myself by writing about myself.  I’ve been able to get things on my mind out of my mind and into the minds of others.  I have been able to tell perfect strangers as well as friends who I am and what I think.  Pretty much impossible for me to do face to face.  In face to face encounters I present a different person to different people but here in my blog I can strip away my fears and inhibitions and feel relaxed knowing I will not be interrupted in my thoughts.  Several readers over the years have told me my blog reminds them of a kinda homespun ‘fireside’ chat’ at the end of the day and I have always liked that analogy because that is how I like to think of it as well.  Just a relaxed chat at the end of another day.  Of course I am the only one chatting but that somehow comfortably works for me best.

WHAT IS THIS??

IT IS THIS:))

WHAT IS THIS??

IT IS THIS:))

WHAT IS THIS??

IT IS THIS:))

As much as writing, photography, and daily mini-travels help me, the real help comes from the readers.  Blog reading friends and perfect strangers alike have helped me over this past decade more than they can ever know.  The comments, the emails, and the personal visits from people that Kelly and I have received over the years have been so rewarding.  And here’s the kicker for me, something I could have never imagined when I started out and one of the main driving factors for me to continue my blog day after day.  Yes I get very frustrated with myself from time to time but it is those comments, emails, and friendly visits and encounters from folks over the years saying how much the Bayfield Bunch blog has helped and meant to them in their own personal lives.  Wished I could tell and read you some of the kind things that has been said to both Kelly and I but I can’t.  It would be blowing my own horn if I did and I don’t want to do that.  Knowing these people are out there gives me the inspiration to write and travel about searching for new photos every day.  These folks help me to help myself and in doing so it seems the help has somehow rebounded the other way as well.  Gives me comfort to know something I started from scratch has done so well in bringing enjoyment to people.  I am so fortunate to be in a position where I feel I can do some good for others finally.  A success if you will.  Something that has come to me late in life but something that eventually did come that I now can feel good about.

HAY WAGONS AWAIT ANOTHER LOAD OF HAY BALES

THIS OLD BARN IS A MERE SKELETON OF IT’S FORMER SELF

THIS PIECE OF FARM MACHINERY IS CALLED A ‘HEAD’ AND FITS ON THE FRONT OF A COMBINE…..DIFFERENT HEADS ARE USED FOR DIFFERENT CROPS

A REVOLVING DEVICE WITH LONG SPIKE LIKE TONGS REEL IN THE CROP DRAWING IT IN FURTHER WHERE THE COMBINE IS ABLE TO SEPARATE THE SEEDS FROM THE STEMS

Of course with the good feeling there does come another side and it’s a side I am still falling down on and it has to do with the many unanswered emails and comments I have received from folks over the years.  People writing to me with their thoughts, ideas, questions, opinions, and well wishes.  People’s emails and comments I have not answered.  I keep running across them, I keep meaning to answer them and yet I don’t know what it is or why it is I am so lax and unresponsive.  Yes my memory is big factor but it also sounds so much like a big excuse.  Before starting my blog I was in constant email contact with people and I would not be exaggerating if I said my email correspondence with people was huge.  Almost over night with the advent of my blog my email correspondence ceased.  A similar thing happened nearly 38 years ago when I quit drinking.  Literally overnight I stopped answering telephones or dropping around to visit people just for the heck of it.  These are all parts of my life where I still search for answers………………

‘GEEEZZZZ I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S STILL THAT HOT OUT TODAY’

 

THIS WAS OUR FIRST EVER SIGHTING OF A PILIATED WOODPECKER

  

Aunt Jean way down there in that Sarasota Florida place had a birthday yesterday and she turned 90.  I call Jean every week and Tuesday night was no exception.  She had many well wishers and some surprise deliveries one of which was a beautiful flowering Orchid plant she was so thrilled about from her niece and my cousin Norma and her husband Jim from Waterloo Ontario.  Aunt Jean’s mind is still sharp as a tack but it’s her body which is failing her.  Not one to let the onslaught of age get her down she still gets out for her morning walk as often as she can and is hoping to get back out on the golf course when the Florida heat dies down sometime in October.  She is a fighter and a very determined person.  She is my Aunt Jean and I love her very much.

 

Rain showers have been cruising through our area all day but what I’m really hoping for is a good old cold front to come through and blow all this miserable damn humidity right out of here.  Come on Autumn I’m a-waitin fer ya:))

SPOTTED THIS LITTLE FEMALE ORIOLE SITTING IN OUR RED BUD TREE THIS AFTERNOON

GROANER’S CORNER:(( I called an old school friend and asked what was he doing. He replied that he is working on "Aqua-thermal treatment of ceramics, aluminum and steel under a constrained environment."I was impressed.  On further inquiring, I learned that he was washing dishes with hot water under his wife's supervision.

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After reading the morning headlines about the recent stock market downturn, a high-powered executive trying to impress a client in his office, flipped on his intercom switch and barked to his secretary, "Miss Hunter, get my broker!" The client was impressed until he heard the secretary's clear voice saying, "Yes, Sir, stock or pawn?"

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Knock Knock
Who's there?
Dawn!
Dawn who?
Dawn leave me out here in the cold!