A RAINY JEEP RIDE AND ALL THE MOTORHOME’S BINS ARE NOW CLEANED

OUR FORESTS ARE QUICKLY GREENING UP

Rains, heavy at times, came in the night and stayed for most of the morning.  Had a couple options.  Leave the recently washed and shiny cleaned up Jeep in the carport or load up the Pheebs and later return home with a mud wagon.  Well seeings how we didn't go anywhere Monday it was a no brainer and we headed off to see what we could see.  Up to Goderich for coffee, harbor run, and back home by 11 with a reasonably clean Jeep despite it raining non stop all the way.  Luckily even I knew enough to stay off the mud soaked country roads today.

SURE HAD US A WET JEEP RIDE TO GODERICH THIS MORNING

NICE TO SEE THINGS LOOKING SO NEAT CLEAN AND FRESH IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

NO SIGN OF THE FARMER IN THIS MOTIONLESS TRACTOR OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A RAIN SOAKED FIELD

AT THE BEACH I STAYED IN THE JEEP WHILE PHEEBS HAD A WALK AROUND IN THE RAIN

Rains ended late morning and skies began clearing by early afternoon.  Checked my energy levels, saw that I had a few extra units to spare so started right away on cleaning the Motorhome’s bins.   Everything out of the bins, vacuum them all out thoroughly and about a third of the stuff back into the bins.  Cleaned up the 'wet bay', generator, checked the 4 solar batteries and cleaned up the electrical bin as well.  For a 15 year old Motorhome it's still in great shape and lookin good.

ALL THE RIG’S BINS ARE NOW CLEAN

HOSED DOWN OUR OUTSIDE RV MAT AND SURE HAD A LOT OF CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA DESERT DUST COME OUT OF IT

Several readers mentioned our decision a few years ago to downsize from our 2003 Damon Challenger 33' Motorhome to a smaller 2013 Chevy 23’ Sunseeker Class C.  (Our Chevy Sunseeker Link) Yes that was a mistake on our part but we then compounded that mistake with a second mistake.  We traded that smaller Class C in on a larger Class C. (Our Ford Winnebago Link) Nope that didn't work either and we ended up selling that Winnebago Access 2011 27' Class C to buy the largest RV we've ever had, our current 2003 37' Class A Triple E Commander Motorhome.  Despite making a few dollars (I think it was about two dollars and forty nine cents) we are very aware of our 2 downsizing mistakes a few years ago and it is playing a big part in our current thoughts.  Circumstances were different when we last downsized but still no matter what advantages a smaller RV might have,  a smaller living space is a smaller living space and there is simply no way around that no matter which way ya slice the bananas.

IT IS AMAZING HOW FAST OUR LANDSCAPE HAS GREENED UP IN JUST THE PAST COUPLE DAYS

JUST BEFORE POSTING TONIGHT THIS MALE BALTIMORE ORIOLE LANDED ON OUR SUET FEEDER AND I WAS ONLY ABLE TO GET TWO QUICK SHOTS OF HIM BEFORE HE WAS GONE

Another commenter mentioned about traveling in the Spring and Fall instead of Winter and we have been talking about that for awhile as well.  In the mid 80's I travelled to Canada's east coast in my Volkswagen van camper in the month of September which in my opinion along with October is the best month of the entire year to go somewhere.  By staying on the move I was able to see a fair amount of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton.  I never spent any more than two days in one place.  This type of traveling may or may not be more to our liking if we decide to do something like that.  I think our days of boon-docking in all our old familiar southwest places for a week or more are probably behind us.  I believe the bottom line for us now at this age and stage is to change things up, adjust ourselves best we can to change, and try to come up with a different and more interesting way to continue our RV travels.  Well it all looks good on paper of course but only time will tell and we'll have to wait to see what happens………….

SOME DAYS AT OUR HOUSE THERE ARE TOY TOYS EVERYWHERE

OH-OH PHEEBS IS ALL WORRIED BECAUSE MOM’S GOING SOMEWHEE IN THE CAR WITHOUT HER

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An important and very well publicized murder trial was soon to begin. In preparation for the trial, the tiresome jury selection process took place, each side hotly contesting and dismissing potential jurors.  One prospective juror, Dan O'Keefe, was called for his question session.  He was asked, "Property holder?"  Dan replied, "Yes, I am, Your Honor."  Then he was asked, "Married or single?"  Dan responded, "Married for twenty years, Your Honor." Then the judge asked, "Formed or expressed an opinion?"  Dan stated with certainty, "Not in twenty years, Your Honor."

-------------------------------

Seen on a bumper sticker:  "I believe in dragons, good men, and other fantasy creatures."

------------------------------

One evening, while sitting around the dinner table, a little girl looked up and asked her father, "Daddy, you're the boss, right?"   Her father was very pleased by this and replied, "Yes."   Then, the little girl continued, "That's because mommy put you in charge, right?"

==============================

FLOWER BEDS ARE COMING ALIVE AND STILL IN A QUANDRY ABOUT OUR RV FUTURE

No Jeep ride this morning, in fact the Jeep never moved all day and I never moved off the property either.  Spent my day puttering around the yard.  Moved some bird feeders around and helped Kelly re-arrange a bunch of hanging flower baskets she had brought home a few days ago.  Didn’t have any photos so slipped out into the front yard just before supper and snapped a few for tonight’s post.

OUR AZALEA PLANT IS IN BLOOM

A BUSY BUZZY BEE BUM

I know I’ve mentioned this before in a few previous posts but the subject of our future RV travels came up again recently here at home.  There was a time in our earlier years when after arriving back in Bayfield in the Spring we knew exactly when and where we would be headed in the Fall again.  It was never in doubt and we (especially me) counted the days to when we would be back on the road headed once more for our beloved destination of choice, the great American Southwest.  It was our second home and we loved it so much we even bought an Arizona house in early March of 2012.  That was great for over 4 years but we got a little bored after awhile and became restless.   Sold the house in December of 2016 .  What a great feeling to be free and back on the road again.  But it didn’t last.  We did enjoy our time boon-docking for the remainder of that winter but after returning home in late March of 2017 we both noticed a change in ourselves.  For the first time we were not counting the days until we headed south again.  We knew we would be going alright but we had trouble all last summer rallying our enthusiasm.  We did eventually head for the Southwest but something had changed in both of us.  We were there last winter of course but yet again, we really didn’t seem to be there at all.  Gone was the excitement and adventure of previous years.  Gone was the newness of everything.  There we were in all our favorite places hoping to re-do all our favorite things, and yet we just couldn’t seem to get ourselves in gear like in previous years.  I haven’t even done my annual Marshal South trek up Ghost Mountain the past two years.  The old saying ‘been there done that’ kept ringing in our ears.  We both agreed the best part of last winter for us was coming home.

So that brings us to our latest and current state of confusion and indecision.  It’s been suggested we try Mexico but we don’t have any interest in RVing around Mexico.  Not saying it isn’t a great winter destination but it’s not for us just as traveling abroad to say Europe , Australia, South America, or Alaska is.  I don’t know why that is, it just is.  Traveling in the summer is not high on our interest list either.  Maybe 20 years ago it would have been but not now.   About the only thing we’ve hammered out so far is that we both agreed if we do get away it will not be for the 5 or 6 months we used to go for.  Maybe 2 months and that’s about it.  I am not yet at the point where I want to just sit here in the cold and snow for the whole winter doing nothing!!

My heart is still in the southwest and always will be.  Have not seen anywhere else in the States that I like better for a winter destination but going back again to all the same old places doing all the same old things just doesn’t hold the same interests it once did.  The drawback of course is the weather.  We would love to see northern California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and of course more of Utah but it’s waaaaaay to cold in all those places during the months of December, January and February.  We have always been confined by the warmer weather to southern New Mexico, Arizona, and California.  Do we want to keep our 37’ Motorhome and repeat our repetitious boon-docking lifestyle of 12 years or do we downsize to a smaller more fuel efficient RV and maybe travel further afield more often to new places.  Yes, we have a lot to think about this summer………………………….

 

It is so nice to see our flower beds ‘FINALLY’ springing to life.  Always an amazing time of year when everything goes from looking so dead to looking so vibrantly alive.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  At a local coffee bar, a young woman was expounding on her idea of the perfect mate to some of her friends.  "The man I marry must be a shining light amongst company. He must be musical. Tell jokes. Sing. Entertain. And stay home at night!"  An old granny overheard and spoke up, "Girl, if that's all you want, get a TV!"

---------------------------------

Bill: Your wife is a lovely woman.
Bob: She’s getting old.
Bill: Well, you know, they say that women age like fine wine.
Bob: She’s aging like milk.

--------------------------------

As the plane was flying low over some hills near Athens, a lady asked the stewardess: "What's that stuff on those hills?"  "Just snow," replied the stewardess.   "That's what I thought," said the lady, "but this fellow in front of me said it was Greece."

--------------------------

"When I saw you driving down the road, I guessed 75 at least.""You're wrong, officer, it's only my hat that makes me look that old."

============================

KELLY HEADS OFF TO CAMBRIDGE FOR MOTHER’S DAY WHILE PHEEBS AND I HEAD OVER TO THE HULLETT MARSH

COLORS OF SPRING IN THE FOREGROUND AND COLORS OF AUTUMN IN THE BACKGROUND

Being it was Mother’s Day Kelly rolled out about 8:40 this morning under clear blue skies heading for her daughter’s house in Cambridge Ontario.  Three of Kelly’s 5 children made it a special day for their Mom.

IT WAS A VERY PEACEFULL LOOKING SUNDAY MORNING HERE IN RURAL SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO

Well I really don’t have to tell you what Pheebs and I did for the morning because it was basically the same thing we do most every morning.  Today’s short drive took us over to the Hullett Marsh where we had ourselves a walk along one of the dykes.

NESTING CANADA GEESE IN THE MARSH

ALWAYS LOTS OF WATER IN THE MARSH’S PONDS THIS TIME OF YEAR

PHEEBS SPOTS A MUSKRAT

WIND IS NATURE’S WAY OF RIDDING THE LANDSCAPE OF OLD DEAD TREES

NOT TO WORRY, LOTS OF NEW TREE GROWTH AND UNFOLDING LEAVES IN THE FOREST

ONE CANADA GOOSE IN THE CREEK AND TWO MALLARD DUCKS IN THE AIR

UNFORTUNATELY I HAD MY CAMERA ON A WRONG SETTING AND FAILED TO CAPTURE THE CLEAR ACTION MOVEMENT OF THE TWO FLY ING DUCKS…..DECIDED TO POST THE PHOTOS ANYWAY

We were back home well before noon and simply enjoyed the early sunny warm afternoon that was upon us.  Feeling unusually tired I sat down in my recliner for a few minutes……and woke up 3 hours later upon hearing Pheebs bark at a car backing into our driveway.  It was Kelly home from Cambridge and it was already 4:30.  I don’t recall ever falling totally asleep that long in an afternoon.  However, I did recently read one of the symptoms of pre-diabetes is tiredness and fatigue and yes I certainly have been experiencing that one for sure.

PHEEBE KEEPS AND EYE ON A COUPLE YOUNG DUCKS

THE YOUNGSTERS MOM IS KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON THEM

BUT AS SOON AS SHE TURNS HER BACK THE KIDS SKEE-DADDLE OFF ON THEIR OWN

OKAY LET’S SPLIT UP AND REALLY CONFUSE MOM

EVEN MAMA GOOSE IS OUT WITH ONE OF HER KIDS

Kelly’s day in Cambridge went well and with the day’s weather turning out so nice the gang was able to sit out on her daughter’s patio.  Nice cards, nice gifts, and a good time was had by all.

SABRE, KELLY. REBECCA. AND BEN…..MISSING ARE SARAH AND JAY

With the price of gas rising dramatically Pheebs and I may have to curtail some of our morning Jeep rides.  With so many fuel efficient engines out nowadays I don’t know why the Chrysler corporation had to go and put a ‘gas guzzler’ in their Jeep Liberties.  Oh Dear then there’s the Motorhome.  Guess I better not think of that for now.

I SPOTTED THIS DEER WATCHING US

I STOOD VERY STILL AND IT WENT BACK TO GRAZING

ALWAYS WARY IT LOOKED UP AND SPOTTED PHEEBS WALKING HER WAY

AND THEN AWAY IT WENT INTO THE FOREST

Looks like a nice sun and clouds weather week coming up with average temps in the low 60’s.  That’s about perfect weather for me to stroke a few more outside projects off my list.  Hope to pull everything out of our Motorhome’s bins and vacuum them out.  Still a troublesome tail light and bin latch to fix.  Can’t remember if I mentioned it or not but the rig’s rear ladder is now repaired.  We couldn’t find the part needed to fix it so my good friend Richard made a part and the ladder is now better than ever.  He is also in the midst of repairing the bottom of our Jeep’s side door which had begun to rust out.  He’s a masterful jack of all trades that guy is:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A boss was complaining in a staff meeting the other day that he wasn't getting any respect. Later that morning he went to a local sign shop and bought a small sign that read, "I'm the Boss". He then taped it to his office door.  Later that day when he returned from lunch, he found that someone had taped a note to the sign that said. "Your wife called, she wants her sign back!"

------------------------------------

My home church welcomes all denominations, but really prefers tens and twenties.

-----------------------------------

I was visiting my daughter last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.  'This is the 21st century,' she said. 'We don't waste money on newspapers.  Here, use my iPad.'.  I can tell you this... That fly never knew what hit him!

================================