STOPPED MY PAIN MEDS THURSDAY AND AM NOW FEELING MUCH, MUCH, BETTER:))

Waiting at the end of our driveway earlier this morning it wasn't long before a dark burgundy van pulled up and whisked me away.  It was my good friend Richard of course and we were off again on another one of our bi-monthly country road coffee runs.  Another couple hours of quality time well spent.  

SHORT ON PHOTOS TODAY I HAD TO TAKE A WALK AROUND OUR JUNGLED FRONT YARD AGAIN

BUTTERFLY BUSH FLOWERS

Our good friend Ron from Four Seasons Performance on his way to Goderich later this morning stopped in to say Hello.  Always great to see Ron and ever since buying our first Class A Motorhome from him in May of 2007 we have been good friends and he has done so much for us over the years in regards to RV's. etc.  He also solved a mystery for us.  Over the years we had received 3 different packages in the mail with three different items in each package with no info about who sent them.  Yet the items were somewhat familiar to us and we had a feeling we had seen them before in a number of  Cracker Barrel gift shops.  For years we couldn't figure out who had sent these to us but we did have our suspicions.  Today talking to Ron I remembered those items now hanging in our sunroom and said to Ron, "I have a question for you" and led him into our sunroom pointing up to the ceiling.  Well a great big grin spread across Ron's face like that of a Cheshire Cat and I knew right away who our mysterious gifter had been all these years.  Our suspicians had been confirmed.  Yes, it was indeed Ron and his wife Jan who had anonymously sent us each and every one of them.  Mystery solved and I like it when big happy grins break out and are had by all:))))

THREE OF THE ABOVE HANGING OBJECTS IN OUR SUNROOM CAME TO US FROM A MYSTERIOUS SOURCE

THE ABOVE 3 CRACKER BARREL GIFTS HAVE BEEN HANGING FROM OUR SUNROOM CEILING FOR THE BEST PART OF THE LAST 10 YEARS

Not much going on for the rest of the day but we did take a little jaunt down to Grand Bend and back to break up the afternoon.  Pheebs too.  Sunny and warm today with more hot and miserable sticky days just right round the corner.  Oh Gee can hardly wait eh:((

WELL WHAT THE BIG DARN HECK ARE WE DOING ON AN RV LOT AGAIN....DON'T ASK!!

Took myself off my recently prescribed pain meds (Pms-Hydromorphone) Thursday, dusted off an eight year old bottle of 800mg Ibuprofen which had been prescribed for me in Tucson Arizona for kidney stone pain at that time and 'Walla' I am immediately feeling much better.  I am surprised those old Ibuprofen pills have any strength left in them but they do.  Glad I had kept them all these years and never threw them out.  I had stopped the pain meds Thursday and from about noon today I simply started feeling better and better.  I am almost back to the point where I can leap over tall buildings and run faster than a speeding bullet:))

GROANER'S CORNER:(( There was a Packers fan with a really crappy seat at Lambeau. Looking with his binoculars he spotted an empty seat on the 50-yard line. Thinking to himself "what a waste" he made his way down to the empty seat. When he arrived at the seat, he asked the man sitting next to it, "Is this seat taken?" The man replied, "No, this was my wife's seat. She passed away. She was a big Packers fan." The other man replied, "I'm so sorry to hear of your loss. May I ask why you didn't give the ticket to a friend or a relative?" The man replied, "They're all at the funeral." 
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We were at a red light when a car pulled up, its music blasting.  “He’ll be deaf before he’s 25,” I said.  “That won’t help us,” my wife replied. “He’ll only crank it up even louder then.”
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If life is a waste of time and time is a waste of life, then let's all get wasted together and have the time of our lives. 
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The corporate world is divided into two groups: those who know, and those who don't know. Those who know become the workers.Those who don't know are also in two groups. First, those who don't know and know they don't know, they go back to school to get another degree.  Secondly, there are those who don't know, and don't know they don't know. They become the managers.
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SIGNS OF PROGRESS ON BAYFIELD'S TIM HORTON COFFEE SHOP SITE...FINALLY!!

NOT AS MANY BIRDS AT OUR FEEDER DURING THESE HOT SUMMER MONTHS BUT DID SEE THIS FEMALE RED BREASTED GROSBEAK THIS AFTERNOON

Cloudy and cool today and for me that measured high on the heat relief scale.  It was another short Jeep ride for Pheebs and I but imagine my surprise this morning when going by the dormant Tim Horton coffee shop site when I saw a sign of progress on the actual building itself.  Now if things stay true to form there I expect what I saw will be all that gets done for another five or six weeks.  Hey it only took them a year to get this far.

HOLY SMOKERS THEY HAVE ACTUALLY GOT A WALL UP ON THE TIM HORTONS COFFEE SHOP SITE

DOUBLE HOLY SMOKERS I NOTICED LATE THIS AFTERNOON THEY EVEN HAD A SECOND WALL UP

AND SPEAKING OF CONSTRUCTION HERE'S THE LATEST UPDATE FOR C & G

Quiet drive through the countryside snapping an occasional pic here and there.  Home again I just kinda flopped around a bit for the rest of the day.  Might be the kidney stone pain meds I'm on that are making me feel kinda dumpy these past number of days.  Had us a nice afternoon rain bringing forth many giggling sounds from our front yard greenery.  Even our two pond goldfish were swimming happily around holding onto their little colorful umbrellas.

OF ALL THE PLACES PHEEBS AND I GO AND OF ALL THE PLACES WE STOP THIS IS THE SPOT WE STOP AT MOST ON PAVILLION ROAD BETWEEN THE BRONSON LINE AND THE GOSHEN LINE

WE CHECK ON THIS BEAN FIELD TWO AND THREE TIMES A WEEK

A TYPICAL RURAL SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO FARM SCENE

Kind of stuck for words tonight again so I'll cut it short and hit the 'publish' button...……..

BLUE JAY

GROANER'S CORNER:(( The rain was pouring and there was a big puddle in front of the pub. A ragged old man was standing there with a rod and hanging a string into the puddle. A tipsy- looking, curious gentleman came over to him and asked what he was doing. 'Fishing,' the old man said simply. 'Poor old fool,' the gentleman thought and he invited the ragged old man to a drink in the pub. As he felt he should start some conversation while they were sipping their whiskey, the gentleman asked, 'And how many have you caught?' ‘You're the eighth.‘
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I was at a museum, and I asked a worker there if we were allowed to take pictures. He told me no, as they had to stay on the walls.
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WE DISCUSSED A COUPLE TREATMENT PLANS FOR MY PROSTATE CANCER WITH DOCTOR BUKALA TODAY

MONARCH BUTTERFLY

Although the 'Freedo Vandito' passed it's safety inspection nearly 2 weeks ago and had the front brakes done we noticed 3 days after getting it home a squeaking sound in a wheel somewhere as well as a screeching noise when applying the brakes.  Sometimes very noticeable and sometimes hardly noticeable at all.  I didn't want to drive the van all the way back to Palmerston where the break job was done with wheels and brakes squeaking so this morning we dropped the van off at the Bayfield Garage hoping it was something minor.  And as it turned out it was minor but it still cost us nearly a hundred dollars anyway.  Bayfield Garage work order said, 'Front Shims On Both Front Calipers Hitting Rotors. Bent Tabs Back To Lock Shims.  Road Tested - Ok.'  $94.92.  The safety check which included front brake rotors was done by 'Grant's Service Center' in Palmerston Ontario!!

OUR 'FREEDOM ESCAPE' VAN AT THE BAYFIELD GARAGE FIRST THING THIS MORNING

SWITCHING TAILS TO WARD OFF FLIES

MILK WEED PODS ARE GROWING

A beautifully cool 57F start to the day so Pheebs and I rolled on over to the Hullett Marsh for a short walk.  How nice to have such a great natural wildlife area so close to us.  Didn't see any birds this morning but did catch sight of a few Monarch butterflies and a couple Frogs.

BEAUTIFUL MORNING IN THE HULLETT MARSH

A MUSKRAT TRAIL THROUGH THE WATER

Home again feeling tired I didn't do much until it was a time to head for Stratford to have a chat with my Urologist Doctor.  Now, for readers who would rather not read about boring medical stuff I suggest you click me out of here and head off to read something of more interest to you.

BECAUSE THIS LITTLE LEOPARD FROG CAN'T SEE ME IT THINKS I CAN'T SEE HIM

VERY RARE TO SEE PEAR TREES GROWING NATURALLY IN NATURE AROUND HERE BUT DID SPOT THIS ONE AT THE HULLETT MARSH

My life partner/guardian/secretary/care person and very much most bestest wife of all times of course came with me this afternoon to ask Dr. Bukala all the right questions about the right things at the right times.  I just kind of always sit there going, 'yup, Okay, sounds good, will it hurt, will I be sick, d'ya think it will rain today, what about losing my hair, yup Okay, still sounds good, etc. etc.  So here's the skinny from Doctor Bukala regarding the findings of my recent Prostate Cancer tests.  The bone scan showed no signs of cancer anywhere else in my body except something in my neck which could be arthritis.  I'll be getting an X-Ray of that in the morning at the Goderich Hospital to confirm what it is.  So here's the plan we worked out with Doctor Bukala for my future treatment.  First, he thinks I may not be a candidate for Brachytherapy because of my 'intermediate' cancer status. (Prostate brachytherapy (brak-e-ther-uh-pee) is a form of radiation therapy used to treat prostate cancer. Permanent prostate) brachytherapy involves placing radioactive seeds in the prostate gland permanently, where they slowly release radiation).  We have opted out of surgery for now and have decided to meet with an Oncologist Doctor at the London Regional Cancer Program Center in London Ontario.  They will decide there if I'm eligible for the 'Brachy' treatment.  If not I am looking at a series of 20 radiation treatments 5 days a week for 4 weeks.  Nothing mentioned about Chemo Therapy.  Doctor Bukala's office notified the London Cancer Clinic today so we should hear from them in two to three weeks regarding a consultation appointment and where we go from there.  
Also, Doctor Bukala will remove the two kidney stone stents from last Wednesday's Lithotripsy procedure on September 5th.  In the meantime he has renewed my pain meds from now till then because I still have pain in my back when I go to the washroom.  Okay, that wraps up my medical report until next time.  Now that wasn't so bad was it:))

IN DOCTOR BUKALA'S OUTER WAITING ROOM

'OH GEEEZZZZ DID I REALLY NEED TO SEE ALL THIS SCARY STUFF'

HEADING OUT WITH A BRIGHT EYED PHEEBS EARLIER THIS MORNING

HEADING HOME WITH A SLEEPIER PHEEBS AN HOUR LATER

We were home today shortly before 3 and had a very happy little doggy waiting for us at the window.  Not often we leave the Pheebs at home for any reason but when we do she is perfectly fine.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Bumper Stickers::

- "Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately it kills all it's students!"

- "According to my calculations the problem doesn't exist."  

- "Pride is what we have. Vanity is what others have."
- "How Can I Miss You if You Won't Go Away?
-"Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear."
- "Give me ambiguity or give me something else."
- "Why is 'abbreviation' such a long word?"
- "I like you, but I wouldn't want to see you working with sub-atomic particles."
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On the first day of college, the Dean addressed the students, pointing out some of the rules:  "The female dormitory will be out-of-bounds for all male students, and the male dormitory to the female students. Anybody caught breaking this rule will be fined $20 the first time.  "He continued, "Anybody caught breaking this rule the second time will be fined $60. Being caught a third time will cost you a fine of $180. Are there any questions?  "At this point, a male student in the crowd inquired: "How much for a season pass?"
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