UNTIL IT BECOMES A SERIOUS PROBLEM I'M NOT GOING TO WORRY ABOUT IT

How nice first thing this morning to see a big orange ball low to the horizon shining brightly through our pine trees.  It was sunrise of course and not something we have been seeing very much of these past few weeks.  

 OUR NIGHTTIME FRONT YARD

Just me in the Jeep as I headed off to Goderich's Napa Autopro Garage for a 9 a.m. oil change appointment.  I asked them to have a look to see where the Jeep's engine is slowly leaking oil.  And they did that.  Turns out it is leaking in two places, one of which is at the engine oil pressure switch and the other is the engine's oil pan which is apparently in rough shape.  The total repair estimate to fix that is just under fifteen hundred dollars because they would have to remove the Jeep's front axle to change the oil pan.  At the moment, the oil leak isn't bad and I only have to add a tiny bit of oil every couple of weeks.  So, until the oil leak becomes a serious problem I'm not going to worry about it.

IT'S GREAT TO SEE ROADS BARE AND DRY AGAIN 

 AND NICE TO SEE SNOW MELTING IN THE FIELDS

I have a habit of checking my watch any time something unusual happens.  If I hear a gunshot, a thump, a bang, or a vehicle going by our house late at night, I mark the time on my watch.  I don't know how, why, or when I got into that habit but I did.  And that is how at precisely 1:45 this afternoon I knew a squirrel had knocked the garbage can right off the top of the bird station because I heard a big 'clunk' outside.  That clunk was the sound of our plastic garbage can hitting the ground.  One quick glance out the sunroom window confirmed my suspicion.  The squirrel was sitting right there atop the feeder wolfing down birdseed like there was no tomorrow.  I am once again very close to calmly walking out there and taking down that whole bird station contraption forever. 

 IT WAS A GOOD DAY TO GET MY LONG SNOW RAKE OUT AND PULL DOWN SOME OF THAT HEAVY OVERHANGING SNOW ON THE ROOF

Ellen's Groove:)) Ellen and her Dad are at it again with another short little diddy.  Wongnotes

 I THINK THIS FARMER MISSED THE CORN HARVESTING BOAT THIS YEAR

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man goes to a Unitarian Universalist service for the first time and later is asked what he thought of it. "Darndest church I ever went to," he replies. "The only time I heard the name of Jesus Christ was when the janitor fell down the stairs!"

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You can't spell gravity without gravy...And you can't spill gravy without gravity!

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After my husband and I had a huge argument, we ended up not talking to each other for days.  Finally, on the third day, he asked where one of his shirts was.  "Oh," I said, "So now you're speaking to me."  He looked confused,  "What are you talking about?"  "Haven't you noticed I haven't spoken to you for three days?" I challenged.  "No," he said, "I just thought we were getting along."
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OH THE GALL OF THAT FAT LITTLE RAT FACED CRITTER!!

 SUMMER'S FUN STORED IN A SHED FOR THE WINTER AWAITING NEXT YEAR'S SUNSHINE AND WARM TEMPERATURES AGAIN

Rather than saying it was a bit warmer today, I'll simply say, it wasn't as cold as it has been for the past few days.  Under cloudy skies, Pheebs and I slipped into Bayfield and headed for the cemetery where I knew we could walk somewhat sheltered from the morning's icy wind.  Following that, we slipped over to the carwash and gave the Jeep a good five-minute pressurized hosing down, especially around the wheel wells and underneath where corrosive road salt does the most damage.  After that, we drove along Bayfield's main street, slipped down around the harbor, and headed home.

 THE CEMETERY WITH ITS BIG TREES IS VERY SHELTERED FROM THE WIND

Some readers are still having various on-and-off problems accessing our blog and we don't know if it's a Blogger issue or something to do with Google.  It seems to be a random ongoing thing.  We haven't changed any settings so I'm afraid we can't be of much help.

 NO HARDY COFFEE AFICIONADOS  SITTING OUT FRONT OF BAYFIELD'S SHOPBIKE COFFEE ROASTERS COFFEE SHOP THIS MORNING

 THE RECONSTRUCTION OF BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET CONTINUES

 UP UNTIL TODAY, THE BAYFIELD RIVER WAS BUSILY FREEZING ITSELF OVER

 I THINK THESE SEAGULLS ARE CONFUSED ABOUT THE STIFF WATER

 A THIN LAYER OF ICE ON THE RIVER

Later,  while sitting at the sunroom desktop computer this afternoon I noticed a movement in the small pine tree near the bird station.  Sure enough, I watched as a black squirrel launched himself from the pine tree, sailed through the air, knocked the blue plastic bin lid aside, and landed on the feeder.  'A-ha' I thought, 'I got your number buddy!!  Out to the shed I went, picked out four wood screws, grabbed my drill, and headed for the front yard.  Minutes later I had that plastic lid screwed securely to the piece of wood making it a solid barrier.  I was sure that lid could now withstand a speeding locomotive as well as a frantic squirrel.  With that, I went back into the house and waited.  Twenty minutes later I saw the squirrel scurry up the pine tree, hesitate, then fling himself into space heading for the bird feeder.  'Bam'!!  He bounced off the plastic wall and dropped to the ground where he scampered back to the pine tree and tried again.  'Bam'!!  Down he went again but ten minutes later he tried for the third time.  'Bam'!!  Down he went again and scampered off.  It was about this time a small sly smug leering grin began to appear on my face.  But, it didn't last long.  Minutes later, not to be outdone, the rascally squirrel went roaring up the tall cedar tree behind the feeder and did his high wire act by again launching himself into the air and sky-diving down upon the bird station from the top.  And dag nab it if he didn't land himself on a small flat space beside the garbage can.  Leaving my smug leering grin behind, I too was in a roaring mood as I went flying out the door with my arms flailing like a wildly wonky windmill in a hefty force-ten hurricane.  Before the squirrel jumped off the feeder he turned to look at me and I for sure saw a very distinct smug leering little grin on his face. Touche' I bet he thought.  Oh, the gall of that fat little rat-faced critter!! I repositioned the garbage can and added a water-filled plastic bottle to the open space and then went back inside again to await the squirrel's next move!!  At the time of posting this tonight, the squirrel has not mounted another high-flying aerial cedar tree attack on the feeder.  But, there is no sly smug leering grin on my face this time.  The battle resumes at daybreak..............

It was around 1 p.m. when the sun finally made an appearance and it wasn't long after that that I saw the first signs of some 'drip-drip' melting going on.  It was 37F, the snow underfoot was crunchy, and some overhanging snow actually slid off our steel roof.  Oh my, I thought to myself, 'Spring can't be too far away now eh'.  And Facebook sent a memory today saying 15 years ago on this day we were at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  We had just been to both Bryce and Zion Canyons the week before that.  Oh, how time flies......

I THINK THE JEEP'S HALF-OPENED WINDOW GOT IN THE WAY OF THIS SHOT AT THE BOTTOM LEFT

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Kathy began a job as an elementary school counselor and she was eager to help.  One day, during recess, Kathy noticed a young girl standing by herself on one side of the playing field while the rest of the kids were playing a game of soccer.  A while later, Kathy walked over to the young girl and offered, "Would you like me to be your friend?"  The girl looked at Kathy suspiciously, then said hesitantly, "Okay, I guess so..."  "Why are you standing here all alone?" asked Kathy.  "Because," the little girl said with great exasperation, "I'm the goalie!"

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I just want you to know that if I win the Powerball tonight, it won't change me.  It will change my phone number, my email address, my mailing address...

  

PHEEBS AND I PLOWED THROUGH A FEW SNOWDRIFTS THIS MORNING

Oh, how nice it was to see a patch of early morning sunlight briefly make its way through the tall pine trees to alight on our living floor.  Even nicer, later on, was to see patches of blue sky through the overhead cloud cover.  With temperatures at 24F made worse by a wind chill factor of 9F, Pheebs and I headed out in search of a few country road photos.

 IT WAS ENCOURAGING TO SEE THESE PATCHES OF BLUE SKY ON OUR JEEP RIDE THIS MORNING

SNOW BLOWING ACROSS THE ROAD LIKE THIS IS CALLED 'GROUND DRIFTING'

 A LUCKY QUICK SHOT UP THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD

 WHILE I'M TAKING THIS SHOT OUT MY WINDOW, PHEEBS BELOW IS LOOKING OUT THE OTHER WINDOW

With strong westerly winds whipping across the open waters of Lake Huron, north/south roads were beginning to drift with snowy build-ups.  The snowplows had been out but the roads had begun drifting back in again.  With the snowy white landscape on either side of the road, it is hard to estimate the depth of the drifts.  We did plow into one which did its best to pull us off the road into the ditch but going slow like we usually do, the Jeep was able to muscle its way through.  Somebody else coming along at a higher speed and not paying attention might not be so lucky.

 THIS IS THE PATCH OF SNOW WE PLOWED THROUGH A COUPLE OF SECONDS AFTER I TOOK THIS PHOTO....NOTICE THE OTHER LANE HAS BEEN SNOWPLOWED

 LATER ON AN UNMAINTAINED ROAD WE CAME ACROSS THIS SNOW DRIFT AND STOPPED

 I CHECKED WITH PHEEBS TO SEE IF WE SHOULD TRY GOING AROUND TO THE RIGHT OF IT AND SHE SAID, 'GO FOR IT DAD'

 AND GO FOR IT WE DID....THE DRIFT WAS NO PROBLEM FOR THE FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE JEEP LIBERTY

 THIS SECTION OF KITCHIGAMI ROAD IS NOT MAINTAINED IN THE WINTER

THIS IS WHERE I TOOK THE SNOWY CREEK PHOTOS

 IF I WAS A CANADA GOOSE I WOULD HAVE FLOWN SOUTH A MONTH AGO

Of course, there was a squirrel on our bird station this morning when I looked out.  I shooed him off and waited for him to return so I could see how he was getting on the feeder but he never came back, just like yesterday.  I did stick a blue plastic bin lid in beside the board I had screwed on just in case he was jumping from the pine tree.  I also had to take down one of two hanging bird feeders this afternoon when one of the squirrels finally figured out how to get to that one.  Our remaining hanging bird feeder is squirrel proof so no problem there.  To save myself a lot of frustration I may have to get another squirrel-proof feeder just like the one I already have.

 I STUCK THAT BLUE PLASTIC BIN LID THERE IN CASE THE SQUIRREL IS JUMPING FROM THE PINE TREE ON THAT SIDE

 IT'S ONLY NOVEMBER AND ALREADY WE'VE GOT A BIG PILE OF SNOW ON BOTH THE HOUSE AND CARPORT ROOFS

Kelly fixed up a big yummy Sunday dinner today with all the fixins.  Chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, stuffing, and gravy.  And, as always, she did a super great job:)) 

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A drunken man who smelled like beer sat down on a subway seat next to a priest. The man's tie was stained; his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of whiskey was sticking out of his torn coat pocket.  He opened his newspaper and began reading. After a few minutes, the man turned to the priest and asked, "Say, Father, what causes arthritis?"  The priest replied, "My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol and a contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes, and lack of bathing."  The drunk muttered his response, "Well, I'll be damned," then returned to his paper.  The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"  The drunk answered, "I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does."

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After he died, I couldn't even look at another man for almost 20 years.  But now that I'm out of prison, I can honestly say it was worth it.

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