HOW A KNUCKLE SANDWICH YEARS AGO PLAYED A PART IN ME GETTING NEW TEETH

 LAKE HURON'S MOONSCAPE COMPLETE WITH A CRATER

How nice to not only see but to hear as well the dripping and melting of ice and snow today.  Above freezing temps and sunshine joined forces to tackle Winter's menace.  Having driven our two vehicles through the snow all winter our whole driveway is now a hard-packed patch of treacherous uneven ice.  I think if we're still stuck here next winter we'll have to look into getting someone with a  snowblower to keep our driveway clear.  Back in the winter of 04/05 I bought a brand new snowblower but hated the damn thing.  Only used it maybe 3 times and sold it.  Been hand-bombing the snow ever since.

Anxious to see what was underneath the lump of mud I have been driving around in lately I stopped at a Goderich car wash earlier today and was glad to find out I was still driving our Jeep Liberty.

 WHEN TEMPS DROP BELOW FREEZING THIS ALL TURNS TO SLIPPERY ICE

 A LONG ICICLE STRETCHED FROM THE ROOF TO THE GROUND 

In response to my Tuesday post, a commenter in the Shout-Box wondered how I had lost my original teeth.  I was one of those people who never had good teeth, even as a kid.  I was plagued with toothaches for years and after a blind-sided knuckle sandwich removed one of my front teeth outside a bar one night, I decided a few years later it was about time to do something about my problematic teeth.  Had them all extracted in the Stratford Ontario hospital back in 1981 and went the full denture route.  It's a decision I have never regretted.  Haven't had a toothache or been strapped into a torturous dentist chair for forty years.  And that alone is worth a big 'Yahouie Louie':))

I remember last week a commenter asking about where all the salt goes from the Goderich Salt Mine.  {The rock salt produced at the mine is used to keep citizens in North America safe as they travel through winter snow and ice.  The salt is shipped to hundreds of communities around the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence seaway.  It is also used in deicing products, water care, and animal nutrition.  Also used as culinary salt}

 OUR RHODODENDRON IS ALL GREENED UP AND READY FOR SPRING

 SOMEWHERE UNDER THAT PILE OF SNOW IS OUR FRONT YARD FROG POND

 A LOT OF ICE AND SNOW HAS ALREADY MELTED OFF OUR SUNROOM ROOF

Having just washed the Jeep I didn't want to take it on the muddy new bush roads here in the Park so Pheebs and I tried tramping through the snow around the Park's pond.  I was hoping the snowpack had gone down enough to make it doable.  And it had.  Having access to our Park's forest via our old tried and true 18-year pond route once more makes our afternoon walks doable again.  Well, unless we get another big dump of snow that is.

 I JUST FOLLOW THE DOGGY TRACKS

 PHEEBS AND I SURE ENDED UP WITH SOME MUDDY PAWS AND BOOTS THIS AFTERNOON

 HAVEN'T SEEN THE SHADOW COWBOY FOR AWHILE

 THE PARK'S POND STILL HAS A SMOOTH SHEET OF ICE ON IT

And 6 years ago today I just kind of puttered around outside our Congress Arizona house.  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( "How was your golf game, dear?" asked Jack's wife.  "Well I was hitting pretty well, but my eyesight has got so bad I couldn't see where the ball went."  "Well you're 75 years old now, Jack, why don't you take my brother Scott along?" suggested his wife.  "But he's 85 and doesn't even play golf anymore," protested Jack.  "But he's got perfect eyesight. He could watch your ball," his wife pointed out.  The next day Jack teed off with Scott looking on. Jack swung, and the ball disappeared down the middle of the fairway.  "Do you see it?" asked Jack.  "Yup," Scott answered.  "Well, where is it?" yelled Jack, peering off into the distance.  "I forgot."

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'LITTLE RED' IS BACK....LET THE SQUIRREL WARS BEGIN!!

 LITTLE RED HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO GET ON OUR HANGING BIRD FEEDER:((

It was just me in the Jeep this morning heading for a 9:30 Denturist appointment in Clinton Ontario.  Clear blue skies overhead and an icy wind coming up from the south.  No melting today.

 SUNNY DAYS AND BLUE SKIES ARE JUST THE BEST AT THIS TIME OF YEAR

Sure is a big difference in having dentures made in Canada as opposed to Mexico.  I had two sets of dentures made in the past 15 years with one set made in Palomas Mexico and the other one in Algodones Mexico.  Today was my third appointment at the Albert St. Denture Clinic and the assistant denture lady really took her time with more measurements and fittings making adjustments to the upper and lower impressions.  I don't remember all that exact nose to chin, side to side, and minute adjustment stuff, etc. at the Mexican dentist places.  They might have but I don't remember anything like that.  Maybe that is why my upper denture always had such a downhill angle on it that a skier could have identified with the degree of downward slope.  Maybe too that is why I never smiled much.  I should mention something here that may be of interest to many fellow Ontario Seniors.  There is a dental plan available from the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program that enables Seniors free or low-cost dental work.  And it covers dentures.  My overall denture cost is $2,700 but with this program, I only to pay $108.00.  Kelly signed us up for this program about 3 years ago and this is the first time I have used it.  Kelly has used it 3 times and next week sees a Dental Surgeon in London Ontario.  I will be back to the Denturist next week for a final fitting before I get my choppers.

 PHEEBS AND I ON MORNING JEEP PATROL CHECKING OUT THE RURAL SNOW MELT

Home again I quickly loaded up the Pheebs and we were off for a Jeep ride.  Beautiful looking morning but winds were icy cold.  Stocked up the bird feeders, burned some trash, and that was about it for me venturing outside.  With warmer temps on the way, I am so much looking forward to more active times in the not too distant future. 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 10 Words That Do Not Exist...But Should::

1. AQUADEXTROUS (ak wa deks' trus) adj. Possessing the ability to turn the bathtub faucet on and off with your toes.
2. CARPERPETUATION (kar' pur pet u a shun) n. The act, when vacuuming, of running over a string or a piece of lint at least a dozen times, reaching over and picking it up, examining it, then putting it back down to give the vacuum one more chance.
3. DISCONFECT (dis kon fekt') v. To sterilize the piece of candy you dropped on the floor by blowing on it, assuming this will somehow `remove' all the germs.
4. ELBONICS (el bon' iks) n. The actions of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie theater.
5. FRUST (frust) n. The small line of debris that refuses to be swept onto the dust-pan and keeps backing a person across the room until he finally decides to give up and sweep it under the rug.
6. LACTOMANGULATION (lak' to man gyu lay' shun) n. Manhandling the 'open here' spout on a milk container so badly that one has to resort to the `illegal' side.
7. PEPPIER (pehp ee ay') n. The waiter at a fancy restaurant whose sole purpose seems to be walking around asking diners if they want ground pepper.
8. PHONESIA (fo nee' zhuh) n. The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling just as they answer.
9. PUPKUS (pup' kus) n. The moist residue left on a window after a dog presses its nose to it.
10. TELECRASTINATION (tel e kras tin ay' shun) n. The act of always letting the phone ring at least twice before you pick it up, even when you're only six inches away.

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HERE WE ARE AT THE BEGINNING OF MARCH ALREADY AND A CONVENTION OF CARDINALS

 WINTER'S MORN

We started our day off with snow squall and high wind warnings so Pheebs and I kept our eye on the sky this morning.  Luckily, neither one of those two weather events happened while we were out cruising a few quiet country roads southeast of Bayfield.  How nice to see bare earth beginning to show up in larger patches in farmer's fields.  Country roads are now totally free of ice.

 MORE PATCHES OF GROUND SHOWING THROUGH THE SNOW

 THE DARK BLUE ON THE HORIZON IS THE OPEN WATERS OF LAKE HURON

 NICE TO SEE SOME GREEN OUT THERE

 HOW GREAT TO HAVE ICE FREE COUNTRY ROADS AGAIN

Home only a short while and light snow began falling.  With Sunday's 45F temps a lot of snow slid off or carport roof blocking the gate to our back yard so I was busy getting all that shoveled out of the way.  There is still more snow to slide off when temps warm up again.  We are hovering slightly below the freezing mark today.

 CREEKS AND DITCHES ARE FILLED WITH WATER FROM MELTING SNOW

This video gives you an idea of how lake ice along the shoreline of the Great Lakes breaks up at this time of year.  We see this along the Lake Huron shoreline all the time.  It generally depends on which way the wind is blowing.  When the ice pack breaks off with an easterly wind blowing, it is pushed away from our shoreline out into the lake.  If winds change and blow from the west the ice pack will move back into shore.  One day there is ice as far as one can see and the next day it isn't there.  It all depends on the wind and temperature factors.  Ice Breaking Up.

 I THINK THIS OLD TREE HAS HAD A HARD LIFE

 I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ALL THAT IS STICKING OUT OF THE SNOW

 This afternoon it looked like we had a Cardinal Convention going on in our front yard.  I counted six pairs of Cardinals at one point.

 JUNCO

 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH

 DOWNIE WOODPECKER

And here we are at the beginning of March already.  How encouraging is that for we people living here in this cold winter weather:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A man went to a fancy dress party wearing trousers, a roll-neck sweater, and a balaclava, all light brown. He was carrying a woman, wearing a brown and fawn dress, piggyback style.  His host asked him what he had come as. He answered: "A tortoise.''  The host asked ''What about the woman?"  The man replied ''She's Michelle.''

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John's teacher sent a note home to his mother, saying :  "John seems to be a very bright boy, but spends too much of his time thinking about girls.  The mother wrote back the next day:  "If you find a solution, please advise.  I have the same problem with his father!"

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