MOTHER NATURE IN TIME WILL RECLAIM HER DUE

My main mission today was to clean up one of our two sheds.  Mission accomplished.

 IF YOU THINK THIS LOOKS CLUTTERED, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT BEFORE

With the nicest cool breeze blowing this afternoon, Pheebs and I headed off in the direction of the Park's old Pine Tree trail.  I had heard a machine working in that area yesterday and I was curious to see what it had been doing.  With our new Park owner at the helm now we don't have to worry anymore that something reckless, detrimental, and downright mindless is going on.  I was so pleased to see that Adam (the new owner) had gone in and spent time on his Bobcat machine to level out the ground where the land had previously been upheaved into ruts, piles of dirt, and large holes.  It is now possible to walk the north end of where the Pine Tree Trail had once been located.  All the trees were previously destroyed in that area but at least now that section is easily accessible again. Pheebs and I headed across that new piece of leveled ground clipping a few branches back when we reached the forested section.  I don't know if future housing will eventually go into this area or not but if it doesn't, Mother Nature in time will reclaim her due, and eventually, the area will be forested once again.  Not something Kelly, Pheebs, or I will likely see come to fruition but possibly future residents of the Park might have the opportunity to enjoy the nature of this area as much as we have for the past nearly 20 years.

 LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE TRAILHEAD ACROSS THE NEWLY LEVELED LANDSCAPE

 LOOKING NORTH TOWARD THE TRAILHEAD......THE PHOTO BELOW IS FROM THE SAME SPOT ONLY LOOKING SOUTH TOWARD THE FORESTED PART OF THE TRAIL

I really didn't get too far in my book, A Skeptic's Guide to the Universe.  I couldn't wrap my head around some of the early views and I found the book too hard for my simple mind to understand.  I returned the book to Amazon for a refund.  I am currently reading another Alaskan bush pilot's adventures. What It's Really Like: Flying the Alaska Bush      

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man was forced to take a day off from work to appear for a minor traffic summons. He grew increasingly restless as he waited hour after endless hour for his case to be heard.  When his name was called late in the afternoon, he stood before the judge, only to hear that court would be adjourned for the next day and he would have to return the next day.  "What for?" he snapped at the judge.  His honor, equally irked by a tedious day and sharp query roared, "Twenty dollars contempt of court. That's why!"  Then, noticing the man checking his wallet, the judge relented. "That's all right. You don't have to pay now." The young man replied, "I'm just seeing if I have enough money for two more words!!"

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WE HOPE THAT WAS THE CASE AND IT'S NOTHING MORE SERIOUS

 ALL OF TONIGHT'S PHOTOS WERE TAKEN ALONG A ROADSIDE DITCH THIS MORNING

With much cooler overnight air under clear starry night skies, we have a heavy dew on the ground each morning.  Walking on grass makes for wet shoes.  Roadside ditches were laden with heavy moisture so I took a few photos on our walk earlier today being careful to remain on the road to keep my feet dry.  Soggy doggy paws were another matter.

Not much going on again today.  Kelly headed off to Goderich for a medical appointment.  Phoned my good buddy Richard up there in that faraway Wawa place.  We had us a wee chat while he was on his way into that Wawa town.  Aside from whacking a few weeds later this morning I really didn't do too much.  Of course, that seems to be par for the course these days.  Maybe I've slipped into some kind of a Seniors rut or something.  Oh no, tell me it isn't so.  I'm way too young for all this Senior stuff!!  Well, some days I think I am...........

Heading out for an afternoon walk, Pheebs and I didn't get too far.  I noticed about a minute after leaving the house she was limping and favoring her hind driver's side leg.  We turned right around and came back.  Checking her paw and leg we couldn't determine what it was that was bothering her.  If we had been in the southwest we would have known it to likely be a cactus thorn.  She licked her paw a lot and didn't move too far for the next few hours.  We decided to wait and see if there was any change.  And there was.  After supper, her paw and leg were perfectly fine.  We think that just after Pheebs and I left the house this afternoon she probably stepped on a bee and it stung her.  We hope that was the case and nothing more serious.  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( The boss called one of his employees into the office.  "Rob," he said, "you've been with the company for a year. You started off in the post room, one week later you were promoted to a sales position, and one month after that you were promoted to district manager of the sales department. Just four short months later, you were promoted to vice-chairman. Now it's time for me to retire, and I want you to take over the company. What do you say to that?"  "Thanks," said the employee.  "Thanks?" the boss replied. "Is that all you can say?"  "I suppose not," the employee said. "Thanks, Dad."

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FROM THAT GREAT DAY TO THIS

DRAGONFLIES AT THE PARK'S POND

The signs of our summer moving on are becoming more evident each day in our foliage.  Those lush green colors of Spring are taking on a harder edge now as our ferns and hostas begin their declining slide towards Summer's end.  Tree leaves too are taking on a deeper green as they age and in another short 6-weeks, they will slowly be slipping into their colorful Autumn finery.

 ONCE LUSH FERNS ARE BEGINNING TO SHOW SOME FRAILITY

 HOSTA LEAVES ARE BEGINNING TO LOOK A LITTLE RATTY

 OUR DAYLILIES ARE DONE FOR THE YEAR

With a cool breeze from the North and early morning temperatures in the low 60sF it was a great morning walk for Pheebs and I under sunny skies dotted with big white puffy clouds.  And, with that cooler air, I was later able to get our grass mowed and some more weeds whacked.

An afternoon walk around the Park's pond was finally doable for Pheebs and I today so I took my camera along and managed to stir up a few dragonfly photos.  So nice to be outside in the cooler air.   

A big thank you to a couple blog readers who suggested I use a link for a site called the Wayback Machine to easily find all the fellow Bloggers on my sidebar I had carelessly lost last Friday evening.  Thanks to Anonymous and Larry, you were both a big help:))   

 THERE WERE CLUSTERS OF SQUIRMING SQIGGLEBUGS IN THE WATER 

I am currently reading a book called A Sceptic's Guide To The Universe: How to Know What's Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake.  In this book, several examples are given about not seeing everything one is looking at and how one's attention can be easily misdirected or fooled.  Following are a couple short examples.  1. Selective Attention Test and 2. Color Changing Card Trick.  Watch this last one to the end and see how the deception/misdirection is done.

And it was 11 years ago today that our precious sweet girl Pheebe came into our lives.  She was 2 years old when we met her in Zurich Ontario and she has been with us ever since.  From that great day to this, Pheebs and I have been together in each other's lives every single day.

PHEEBS TAKING A BREAK ON OUR WALK THIS AFTERNOON

GROANER'S CORNER:(( The European Union commissioners have announced that an agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).  In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil servants will reseive this news with joy.  Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.  There will be growing public enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replased by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 persent shorter.  In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the language is disgrasful, and they would go.  By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by "v".  During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud, of kors, be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.  Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German lik zey vunted in ze forst plas.

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