TUCKED AWAY IN MY RECLINER

A combination of heavy winds and rain made for a wet start to our day but luckily it quit before Pheebs and I headed out for an even shorter Jeep drive around the Park than usual.  With all the rain I knew the road down around our recycle area in the Parks's south end would be a muddy mess.  A few far-off pics of a Canada Goose on the pond and that was about it for photos.  Another reading day tucked away in my recliner.  Tomorrow morning, Pheebs and I will once again be traversing our area roadways:))

Al's Music Box:)) Twilight Time is a popular 1944 song best known for its 1958 version by The Platters.  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man is walking from the lake carrying two fish in a bucket. He is approached by the game warden who asks him for his fishing license.  The fisherman says to the warden, "I did not catch these fish, they are my pets. Every day I come down to the water and whistle and these fish jump out and I take them around to see the sights only to return them at the end of the day."  The warden, not believing him, reminds him that it is illegal to fish without a license. The fisherman turns to the warden and says, "If you don't believe me then watch," as he throws the fish back into the water.The   warden says, "Now whistle to your fish and show me how they jump out the water."  The fisherman turns to the warden and says, "What fish?"

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A few signs you are getting old:
- You don't hold in your stomach when someone young and attractive enters the room.
-You are proud of your lawn mower.
- Your friend is dating someone half his age, but not breaking the law.
- You can sing along with elevator music.

- Someone calls your house at 9 pm, and asks, 'Did I wake you up?'

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- I made a lamb curry last night…Apparently they prefer grass!

- Someone stole all my lamps you'd think I'd be upset...but I'm actually delighted.

- I'm going to have to return the camouflage jacket I bought last week...I just can’t see myself wearing it!

- I went into the office early one morning and switched the M and N keys on everyone's keyboard. Some people will say I'm a monster.  The others will say I'm a nomster.

- I was dating a girl named Ruth but I broke up with her. I'm ruthless.
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LITTLE 'SMARTY PANTS' PHEEBS KNOWS WHEN IT'S TIME FOR OUR AFTERNOON WALK

DESPITE RECENT FREEZING TEMPERATURES AND BEING COVERED IN SNOW, I THINK THIS DAFFODIL PLANT MAY STILL FLOWER

Had it not been windy we would have had us an even nicer day than we had.  Appreciated the sunshine but not the wind chill factor.  Undeterred, Pheebs and headed off on our second-to-last-routine drive around the Park.  Noticed a concrete slab being poured for a new mobile home on an already existing empty lot.  Home again I wasn't long in getting out our leaf blower to blow out our carport, front deck, and porch as well as all the birdseed husks on the ground under the birdfeeders.  Followed that up by vacuuming both the Subaru and Jeep as well as cleaning some inside window glass on both vehicles.  With my hip finally telling me it was time to 'knock it off' I did just that and headed inside.  It was nice to be outside doing something useful today.  Looking forward to even nicer days ahead:))

 WELL, I THINK IT MIGHT BE EASTER BUNNY TIME SOON

 HMMMM, IT LOOKS LIKE SOME ACTION GOING ON HERE

 YUP, THEY ARE POURING A CONCRETE SLAB FOR A NEW MOBILE HOME

 ONE OF OUR FRONT YARD BLACK SQUIRRELS

 BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON THIS ICICLE ON OUR DOWNSPOUT HAD FALLEN OFF AND WAS ALMOST ALL MELTED

Little 'Smarty Pants' Pheebs knows when it's time for our afternoon walk so she made no bones about arousing me out of my afternoon sunroom slumber.  Minutes later with my cane in hand we walked over to the pond and made our all the way around.  Where yesterday there was snow on the ground, today there was none and where yesterday there had been ice on the pond, today there was only a tiny bit left at the shaded south end.  No sign of our resident Canada Geese couple but I'm sure they are not too far away.  Kelly said she saw two Muskrats swimming side by side when out for a morning walk with Pheebs.  I think we topped out around 50F today.  Rain is headed our way for Tuesday.

 WHERE YESTERDAY THERE WAS SNOW TODAY THERE WAS NONE AND THE POND IS ALMOST TOTALLY FREE OF ICE

 A BIT OF SURFACE ICE REMAINS IN ABOUT THE CENTER OF THE PHOTO

 NEIGHBOR'S CHAIRS

 WE HAVE ONE CROCUS FLOWER BLOOMING IN A BACKYARD FLOWER BED

Al's Music Box:)) Light My Fire by Jose' Feliciano" is a song by the American rock band the Doors.  Although it was principally written by the band's guitarist, Robby Krieger songwriting was credited to the entire band.  Puerto Rican vocalist and guitarist Jose' Feliciano enjoyed significant international success when he released his version of "Light My Fire" in 1968 as a single on the RCA Victor label. It is perhaps the best-known cover of this song,  Feliciano's remake blended Latin influences, including a mixture of classic Spanish guitar and soul, with American pop. It contains "proto-Latin rock" stylings, and a slower tempo than the Doors original version.  In a 1969 interview, Feliciano said that he liked the song when he first heard it, but felt that he should wait a year before releasing the song. He also said that "California Dreamin' " was the original A-sid of the single. The single helped to spur the worldwide success of its album, Feliciano!, which was nominated for multiple Grammy Awards in 1969.  Songwriter Robby Krieger said in an interview about the cover: "It's really a great feeling to have written a classic. I think I owe a big debt to Jose Feliciano because he is actually the one that when he did it, everybody started doing it. He did a whole different arrangement on it."

 A SMALL PILE OF SHOVELLED SNOW REMAINS BESIDE A DAFFODIL PLANT IN OUR FRONT YARD

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Sadie walked into a print lab to have a photo of her deceased husband Moshe copied and retouched.  She said to the technician, "I have always hated the hat that my husband Moshe is wearing in the photo. Could you please retouch the hat out?"  "Of course," said the technician, "What color hair did your husband have?"  "When you take the hat off, you'll see," she said.

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Our 15-year-old daughter, Melanie, had to write a report for school about World War II, specifically D-Day and the invasion of Normandy. “Isn't there a movie about that?” she asked.  I told her there was, but I couldn't think of the name.Then it came to her, “Oh, I remember! Isn't it something like ‘Finding Private Nemo'?”

I was on vacation in Texas, and was appalled by Dallas' chaotic traffic.  I asked the bellhop at the hotel why it was so disorderly.  "In some countries, they drive on the right, in others on the left. Here, we drive in the shade."

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ONLY TWO MORNING PARK DRIVES LEFT BEFORE WE BUST OUT INTO THE COUNTRYSIDE:))

DOGGY IN A PARK RESIDENT'S WINDOW THIS MORNING

A big bright sunny day for the most part.  I like it when that happens.  Now, if we could just get some heat in the air.  It's always the earlier part of March every year when I begin checking the 14-day weather forecast looking for warming trends and by golly, it looks like after today our daytime highs, aside from a few minor short-lived dips will continue well into the beginning of April.  And, I see a lot of sunny days coming up.  Oh my, is it even remotely possible this is the end of it and that we may have actually survived another miserable Winter.......

 PHEEBS AND I WILL SOON BE OUT WALKING IN THE PINE FOREST AGAIN

 MORNING SHADOWS

Another drive around our Park for Pheebs and I this morning with only two Park drives left before we bust out into the countryside again.  I will be so glad to get out in the mornings and resume our old routines.  Country road walks, conservation area hikes, farm crops, Lake Huron's shoreline, cows, horses, tractors, big ships, green fields, Spring flowers, tree buds, and much, much more.  Okay big guy, bring on that Spring weather:)))))

 I HOPE THESE LITTLE FELLERS DON'T BECOME COVERED WITH SNOW AGAIN

With sunshine beaming through our sunroom windows it was an afternoon of reading for me with the exception of a walk around the Park's pond for the furry Kid and I.   

 I FIGURE A MUSKRAT POKED THIS HOLE UP THROUGH THE POND'S ICE

Al's Music Box:)) Rainy Night In Georgia is a song written by Tony Joe White in 1967 and popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970. It was originally released by White on his 1969 album, Continued, on Monument Records, shortly before Benton's hit single was issued. In a January 17, 2014, interview with music journalist Ray Shasho, Tony Joe White explained the thought process behind the making of "Rainy Night in Georgia" and "Polk Salad Annie".  When I got out of high school I went to Marietta, Georgia, I had a sister living there. I went down there to get a job and I was playing guitar too at the house and stuff. I drove a dump truck for the highway department and when it would rain you didn't have to go to work. You could stay home and play your guitar and hangout all night. So those thoughts came back to me when I moved on to Texas about three months later. I heard "Ode to Billie Joe" on the radio and I thought, man, how real, because I am Billie Joe, I know that life. I've been in the cotton fields. So I thought if I ever tried to write, I'm going to write about something I know about. At that time I was doing a lot of Elvis and John Lee Hooker onstage with my drummer. No original songs and I hadn't really thought about it. But after I heard Bobbie Gentry I sat down and thought ... well I know about Polk because I had ate a bunch of it and I knew about rainy nights because I spent a lot of rainy nights in Marietta, Georgia. So I was real lucky with my first tries to write something that was not only real and hit pretty close to the bone, but lasted that long. So it was kind of a guide for me then on through life to always try to write what I know about.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, "This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you." The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?"  The boy takes the quarters and leaves. "What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never learns!"  Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. "Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?"  The boy licked his cone and replied, "Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!"

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- Little Johnny: "Mom, Dad just backed out of the garage and ran over my bicycle!"
Mom: "Maybe in the future you shouldn't leave it on the front lawn."

- One man said to the other, "You know, there are really only three kinds of people in the world: those who can count, and those who can't.
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The Teacher had asked the class to write an essay about an unusual event that happened during the past week.  Little Johnny got up to read his. It began, "My daddy fell in the well last week."  "Good Lord!" the teacher exclaimed. "Is he OK?"
"He must be," said Little Johnny. "He stopped calling for help yesterday."
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A friend was laid up at home with the flu. His fiancee called and volunteered to come over and fix dinner and play nursemaid to him. He declined, not wanting to pass on the flu to her.  "Okay honey", she told him, "We'll wait till after we get married. Then we can spend the rest of our lives making each other sick!"

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THE DAY WE MET RV SUE AND HER CANINE CREW

 HERE'S A COMBINATION OF COLORS I'VE ALWAYS LIKED

Sort of a sunny sunrise but it didn't do anything to make the frigid 19F temperature feel any better.  Fortunately, our weather once again begins to roll towards Spring Sunday with predictions of 50F on Monday.  Shorts and tank tops eh.  With a few snowflakes drifting lazily in the air Pheebs and I headed out on our short Jeep ride around the Park's roads.  I could feel myself getting antsy about heading out into the countryside and had to remind myself I only have 3 more days to go with this temporary medical hold on my driver's license.  Years ago I would have been out driving around all over the place anyway but time has changed that way of thinking for me.  There is definitely something to be said about this age, maturity, and wisdom stuff.

 A PARK BENCH FOR WEARY RESIDENTS COMING AND GOING

 I BELIEVE THAT OPEN WATER BY THE SHORE HAS BEEN MADE BY A MUSKRAT

NOTICE THE STRAIGHT LINE CRITTER TRACK ON THE LEFT....IT'S PROBABLY A COYOTE BECAUSE DOGS DON'T WALK IN STRAIGHT LINES 

 PARK RESIDENTS OUT PLAYING IN THE SNOW

 BRIGHTLY COLORED FLAGS GATHERED AROUND A HIDDEN HOLE IN THE GROUND

I am pretty much free of my cane nowadays and about the only thing I can't do yet since my total right hip replacement, is put my right sock on.  I'm close but hesitant to bend that leg the extra couple of inches because I can feel the excess strain in my hip.  Having come this far I sure don't want to do anything that might land me back in the hospital again.  At the moment I am employing the aid of a plastic sock device to get my sock on until at some point in the not-too-distant future when that hip joint becomes flexible enough to allow me to put my sock on the normal way.

 THIS PARTIALLY HIDDEN BLUE JAY KEEPS A CLOSE EYE ON THE BIRD STATION WAITING FOR THE GRACKLES TO CLEAR OUT

With this afternoon's sustained sunshine digging into our recent snowfall, Pheebs and I took ourselves for a walk over to the pond.  We soaked up some sunshine and marveled at how quickly our snowy white landscape is melting and giving way to Spring's luscious green again.  I'm sure glad we are closing in on the beginning of April and not the beginning of November.

 WALKING TO THE POND

 SO GREAT TO SEE GREEN GRASS AGAIN

 LOOKING BACK IN THE DIRECTION FROM WHENCE WE CAME

 I SUSPECT THE POND'S ICE WILL BE GONE BY TUESDAY OF NEXT WEEK

 THIS WAS OUR TURNAROUND POINT AND WE HEADED BACK

 THE SHORT PATH UNDER THE TALL PINE TREES ACROSS THE ROAD FROM OUR HOUSE

 I SURE HOPE THIS IS THE LAST OF THE SNOW FOR THIS SEASON

In keeping with Bloggers and Blogland for one more day it was December 10th of 2011 that we met another RV Blogger just beginning her travel adventures in the great American Southwest.   The Bayfield Bunch Meets RV Sue And Her Canine Crew  From this day on RV Sue and her crew went on to travel many dusty roads leading from one hidden away boondocking site to another.  Privacy was always a priority for Sue.  Over the next number of years she garnered herself a rather large following of blog readers whom she lovingly referred to as her, 'Bloggereenos':))

 KELLY WALKING ON DARBY WELL ROAD WITH RV SUE AND HER CANINE CREW BRIDGIT AND SPIKE

A Blast From Our Past:))   In our RVing years to the great American Southwest, it was generally in mid to late March that we would finally begin our long homeward trek to Bayfield Ontario.  On March 22nd, 2009 it was the day before we left our ranch-sitting days near McNeal, Arizona.  And for me, as is often the case, I was feeling sad about having to say goodbye to my newest best Pals.  And yes, I even said goodbye to the chickens and the donkeys too.  Dogs....My Bestest Pals Of Ever  

 GLEESON AND PEARCE WERE BOTH NAMED AFTER TWO OLD WESTERN TOWNS NEARBY

 GLEESON ALWAYS LIKED HIS TUMMY RUBS

Al's Music Box:)) On The Beach by British singer-songwriter singer Chris Rea. The song was released in 1986.  "While his album The Road to Hell shows the darker side of Rea's worldview, On the Beach is an excellent introduction to his brighter, more optimistic songwriting". (It is Chris Rea's song 'Driving Home For Christmas' that I post in my blog every Christmas--Al)

GROANER'S CORNER:(( After being away on business, Tim thought it would be nice to bring his wife a little gift. "How about some perfume?" he asked the cosmetics clerk. She showed him a bottle costing $50.00.  "That's a bit much," said Tim, so she returned with a smaller bottle for $30.00. "That's still quite a bit," Tim complained.  Growing annoyed, the clerk brought out a tiny $15.00 bottle. "What I mean," said Tim, "is I'd like to see something really cheap."  The clerk handed him a mirror.

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Liz: I get so nervous and frightened during driving tests!

Doctor: Don't worry about it. You'll pass eventually.

Liz: I'm the examiner!

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Teacher to a student: "Can you think of a solution to end unemployment?"  "Yes, sir! I'd put all the men on one island and the women on another."  "And what would they be doing then?"  "Building boats!"

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The Reverend Billy Graham tells of a time early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy had told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, "If you'll come to the Church this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to Heaven."  "I don't think I'll be there," the boy said. "You don't even know your way to the post office."

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