AND WINTER HASN'T EVEN STARTED YET

A fast-moving short storm blew through our neighborhood Friday night bringing high winds, lightning, thunder, rain, and hail.  The rolling thunder shuddered our house.  In the morning we woke up to scattered sunshine and brisk cold winds.

SLEEPY HOLLOW

A LARGE COMBINE RESTS BETWEEN HARVESTS

THIS BEANFIELD AWAITS IT'S DAY WITH THE COMBINE

A FEW FARMERS ARE BEGINNING TO COMBINE SOME OF THE CORN

THESE STAGHORN SUMAC ARE ALWAYS SO PRETTY IN THE FALL

Pheebs and I have to crank the heat up in the Jeep every morning now and this morning was no exception. We headed off to Goderich for no other reason than it's just somewhere to go and it beats sitting in the house looking out the window.  Rotary Cove road was open after being closed this past week so we followed Goderich's shoreline south from the harbor to the dog walking area.  Strong icy winds blowing in off the lake discouraged any dog walking.  A few pics and we headed back towards the harbor where we had seen a large ship docked at the grain elevators.

A COLD WINDY MORNING ALONG THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON

MORE LARGE BOULDERS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT IN TO BOLSTER THE SHORELINE

I don't think I had seen the large bulk carrier Torrent in Goderich's harbor before.  It sails under the flag of Cyprus and over this past year has traveled through the Canary Islands and the Straits of Gibraltar.  I'm assuming the ship was taking on a load of grain from the Goderich Elevators.

HATCH COVERS AMIDSHIPS ARE OPEN AS A CRANE LIFTS SOMETHING OUT OF THE CARGO HOLD

WORKERS BEGIN CLOSING THE BIG HATCH COVERS

STRONG ICY WINDS ARE BLOWING THIS ROPE ALMOST HORIZONTALLY

I WONDER IF THE SHIP'S CAPTAIN IS UP THERE DRINKING HIS MORNING COFFEE WATCHING OVER THE PROCEEDINGS

From the south side of the harbor we slipped over to the north side for a different perspective of the ship.  I think the big Goderich Salt Mine on that side of the harbor is open again after being closed for a few days after they had a small cave in last Monday night.  Nobody injured but I think some equipment was damaged.  The underground salt mine stretches for a couple miles out under the waters of Lake Huron.

With the Jeep's heater still on we headed for home.  Again, a beautiful sunny mid-October day but I had no interest in being outside puttering around with yard work in the cold.  Maybe it's my age catching up with me.  I curled up in my recliner by the fireplace, opened my Kindle reader, and as usual, fell asleep.  I have a feeling it's going to be another long, cold, dragged out winter.  And winter hasn't even started yet and is still over two months away.  Oh dear:((

OUR PARK ENTRANCE ALWAYS LOOKS SO NICE THIS TIME OF YEAR

HEADING DOWN OUR STREET

AND THAT'S US RIGHT THERE ON THE LEFT

Facebook threw me a 6-year-old memory for this day in 2014.  We were doing some morning grocery shopping at Basha's in downtown Wickenburg Arizona on this date.  We had headed for Arizona earlier than usual that year taking a different route over the top of Lake Superior, through Manitoba into eastern Saskatchewan then south crossing the border into North Dakota.  Worked our way further south from there down through South Dakota, Colorado, and Utah.  Had a lot of trouble with our new to us 2003 Triple E Class A Motorhome along the way that year and Kelly got sick before we reached our Congress Arizona house.  Luckily for us, we had a house to reach, relax, and slowly recuperate.  It certainly was not one of our better RV trips over the years..........

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A guy goes into a bar. He's sitting on the stool, enjoying his drink when he hears, "You look great!" He looks around - there's nobody near him. He hears the voice again, "No really, you look terrific."  The guy looks around again. Nobody. He hears, "Is that a new shirt or something? Because you are absolutely glowing!" He then realizes that the voice is coming from a dish of nuts on the bar.  "Hey," the guy calls to the bartender, "What's with the nuts?"  "Oh," the bartender answers, "They're complimentary."

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Tonight I’m gonna have possum soup made from Himalayan possum...Because I found Himalayan on the road.

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The man who broke up with his longtime girlfriend went on a consolational fruit-eating binge. When asked how he was handling it, the fellow merely raised a half-eaten piece of produce. “Can't you see,” he said, “I am in the depths of this pear.“

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SUNNY COLD DAY

 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Dad," said Little Johnny, "I'm late for football practice. Would you please do my homework for me?"  Little Johnny's father said irately, "Son, it just wouldn't be right."  "That's okay," replied Little Johnny. "You could at least give it a try, couldn't you?"

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WE'RE LIVING IN THE 'NOW' NOT THE 'THEN'

WEST OF DUNGANNON ONTARIO

It was a short drive into Bayfield and back for Pheebs and I this morning.  Had to pick up some milk at Foodland and while there I could see lots of construction activity at the adjoining new Tim Horton coffee shop site.  I thought they had begun paving the parking lot but later in the day when editing my photos, I realized it wasn't a paving machine I saw it was a cement curb forming machine I had seen.

LOTS OF ACTIVITY ON THE TIM HORTON SITE THIS MORNING

THAT'S THE CURB MAKING MACHINE I MISTOOK FOR THE PAVING MACHINE...'DUH'

THEY ARE CURBING IN THE 'DRIVE-THRU' LANE

Dropped Pheebs and the milk off at home and headed over to Richard's place to pick him up for our semi-monthly country road coffee tour.  Our travels this morning took us north and east of Goderich through Dungannon and Ben Miller.  We were back about 11:30 after solidly talking our way through yet another couple of enjoyable hours.

RICHARD AND I TRAVELED SOME NICE SCENIC ROADS TODAY

Our skies remained cloudy with a bit of drizzle.  With temps in the mid 50's and windy, it felt cold and damp with nothing in that forecast to entice me back outside.  Cranked on a little heat in the sunroom, settled into my recliner, tipped back, cracked open my Kindle Reader, and enjoyed the Autumn colors in our front yard from the nice comfortable warmth of inside our house.  

Weather forecast for next week has changed and I'm now seeing a lot of rain most days which in other words means it's not likely we will go anywhere in the Winnie-Wagon.  Our chances for nice weather are fast running out for us now.  Just a few short years ago we would only be a couple days away from leaving our annual trek south for the winter.  But don't get me started on all that again.  We're living in the 'now' not the 'then'.

DARK LAKE HURON WATERS UNDER THIS MORNINGS MOODY SKY

GROANER'S CORNER:((   A woman went into a bank to get a check cashed, but she didn't have an account with them. When the teller asked for some identification, the woman showed her several charge cards, her social security card, and a library card.  The teller told her they needed a driver's license, but the woman said she didn't have one.  "Don't you have anything with your picture on it?" the teller asked.  "Oh, sure," she said, as she flipped to a family photo in her wallet. "That's me in the back row."

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The old man approached a young stranger in the post office and asked, "Sir, would you address this postcard for me?"  The man gladly did so, and then offered to write a short note for the old fellow.  Finally, the stranger asked, "Now, is there anything else I can do for you?"  The old man thought a moment and said, "Yes, at the end could you add, Please excuse the sloppy handwriting."

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