Tuesday, July 06, 2010

SO, YOU DON'T THINK IT SNOW'S IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA EH!!

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THOUGHT THESE SNOW PICTURES FROM ARIZONA MIGHT BE APPROPRIATE IN THE MIDST OF OUR HEAT WAVE RIGHT NOW.....'YES, ARIZONA!!'

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The past couple of winters Kelly & I have had some great times 'ranch sitting' for some RV friends of ours near McNeal, Arizona.  Ranch owners Jeanie & Ray just sent us some photos they had taken at different times when we were there.  This group of pics is from a freak snowfall we had one morning 2 winters ago.  And who says it doesn't snow in Arizona eh!!

twins closeup 

AND, JUST WHO ARE THESE TWO CUTIE PIE LITTLE RASCALS??  HINT....THEY ARE BROTHER & SISTER:))

Had planned on taking another baby Robbins photo about 4 days ago but when I went out to the nest it was empty.  The little feathery guys had already flown the coop.  And speaking of babies.....some of you may remember last winter when one of Kelly's twin daughter's gave birth to a set of twins herself out in Vancouver.  Well,  here's the gang now.   Mom, Pop, & kids are all doing fine.  The two little round faced bowling balls are Gabrielle & Adara.  Their Mom is Sarah (Kelly's daughter) & some of you folks out there on Canada's west coast might recognize their Dad, Bradley Shende.  He is on Global Television doing segments on a program called Connected Life which has to do with the internet & especially internet safety.

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BRADLEY, SARAH, GABRIELLA & ADARA   (Both photos have the Bayfield Bunch watermark on them but I did not take the photos.)

Also had myself a fine working day with two thirds of my run to London this morning taking me through our beautiful rural countryside.  Dropped off two people at Parkview hospital around 10:15 & then high tailed it north right back out of the city as fast as I could.  Had a couple of hours to kill before my next pick up back in Clinton so I leisurely took the back roads & enjoyed the scenery stopping here & there for a few photos with my small Canon Powershot A720. 

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FINALLY GOT ANOTHER ONE FOR YA MIKE

Assuming all you folks are not totally bored of my Jeep observations lately I will once again tell you a few more things I have learned this past week.   If you were to go into your washroom, get down on your knees beside the bathtub, & then attempt to swing your right leg over the top into your tub you would have an idea what it is like trying to get into a Jeep Wrangler.  From the ground to the lip of the body panel is over 2 feet off the ground so while standing beside the Jeep you have to get that right leg & foot up high enough to swing over top that lip & drop it down nearly 7 inches to the floor of the Jeep.  At this point I am quite a sight with the right leg up over 2 feet off the ground & inside the Jeep while the left leg is ram rodded to the ground outside the Jeep.  Right hand clinging to the steering wheel, look of fear on my face & the left arm hanging straight down at my side like a wet noodle.  If I was Catholic this would probably be the opportune time to make one of those cross signs on my chest.  Also.....'memo to myself'......  Do not eat a big bowl of Chile beans half an hour before attempting this maneuver & do not wear tight fitting pants while attempting this feat.  Coupling those two things with the leg up position climbing into a Jeep could result in a rather catastrophic mis-adventure!!  Oh, the hazards of a newbie Jeep owner......but there's more!!

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To confuse this Jeep entry procedure even further we have running boards on the sides & the first bunch of times trying to enter the Jeep with some sort of dignity I tried putting a foot on that & hoisting myself up with my right hand on the steering wheel, or was it the left hand.  First time I nearly launched my self over top the Jeep & the second time I started with the wrong foot on the running board & very nearly ended up in some kind of big wiggling puddle of embarrassment on the ground.  I kind of liken it to putting the wrong foot in a stirrup when mounting a horse.  JB would know a whole lot more about that than me.

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As you can probably tell by now.......this is quite a learning process & not unlike trying to get a big old wet & floppy bag of socks into a laundry hamper.  That nearly 7 inch lip did give me an idea though.  If we were to take the seats out of the Jeep we could bring the garden hose over & fill up the tub so to speak.  Jeeps are made to handle water & actually have drain plugs in the floor.  In this heat & humidity it would make a perfect shallow wading pool for us.  These Jeep designers are quite the creative thinkers you know.  Imagine driving down the highway sitting in half a foot of sloshing water.  Jacuzzi on wheels.  It brings 'boating' thoughts to mind & that reminds me......I've got to dust off my crowbar & somehow get that hard top off the Jeep before the summer is over!!!!

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THOUGHT THIS WAS AN INTERESTING GROUP OF NUMBERS ON THE JEEP'S SPEEDO A FEW DAYS AGO....111000 km's

Kelly handles all the phone calls coming into Deer Park Lodge whether she is at Deer Park or at home here (call forwarding) & she feels today has been the busiest the phone has ever been since working at Deer park over the past 7 years. 

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FIELDS OF WHEAT IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO

And just for fun I checked our Sitemeter minutes ago & noticed in the past few hours we've had visitors to our site from, Trinity North Carolina, Mindoro Wisconsin, Victoria BC, Kitchener Ontario, Pipe Creek Texas, Washington DC, Wichita Falls Texas, Edwardsville Illinois, Mountain View California, Winnipeg & Brandon Manitoba, Lucan Ontario, Wolverhampton England, Dallas Texas, Tullahoma Tennessee, Fort Huachuca Arizona, Okotoks Alberta, Roanoke Virginia, Yuba City California, Bothell Washington, Shady Springs Virginia, San Diego California, Colorado Springs Colorado, Ottawa Ontario, Athol Idaho, Verona Wisconsin & Tucson Arizona, just to name a few.  Don't know who all you folks are but thanks for dropping in on, The Bayfield Bunch:))

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COOLING OFF FROM THE HEAT TODAY

GROANER'S CORNER:))  During a recent password audit, it was found that a red head was using the following password:
'MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofyWashington' 
When asked why she had such a long password, she said she was told that it had to be at least 8 characters long and include at least one capital.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened

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13 comments:

  1. Thanks for the pics of snow, it kinda makes you feel cooler just looking at. Jeeps are really fun and if you follow what they say down in the south, jeep stands for "just empty every pocket" because they are so much fun and you can do so much with them.
    Al, I really do enjoy your posts, they are varied, good informative reading and your pics are very good.
    Mike & Gerri

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  2. Can't say as I have ever put the wrong foot in the stirrup Al but I can imagine it would cause quite a predicament. Hope you get rythym down soon or you will miss the summer slipping in and out that Jeep.

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  3. The twins are so beautiful, and it seems like it was only a little while ago when you announced their coming into the world! If they are growing this fast, then I must be aging just as fast :(

    If you were Catholic you might want to go to confession after crossing yourself, haha. I bet you cussed a lot trying to get into the Jeep. I cussed a lot today just trying to figure out how to put the batteries into a new flashlight! Life doesn't get easier, but it does get better.

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  4. Holy Smokes, those twins are precious! Beautiful babies to be sure.

    Loved the pic of the wheat field, Al. And you included one of the donkeys in AZ....hooray! They are always my favorites.

    Enjoy that jeep!

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  5. As Paulette would say "those twins are adorable"!! I'm thinking by this winter you'll be able to just run and jump into that Jeep on the fly!! Just watch out for that stick shift!!

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  6. If I didn't know better, I would think you didn't like your new jeepster, but then I don't think anybody could take it away from you right now!
    Rod

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  7. Oh gosh I loved your process of getting into the Jeep~! I will have to save that one for Steveio. We might be buying his folk's jeep as our future toad. Tee heee


    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  8. I have the same trouble with my 2500hd 4x4 my legs are to short, but who would want any less than what you are happy with. be safe out there. Sam & Donna.

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  9. Not so sure we want a Jeep now, Al!! Those babies are beautiful!

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  10. I'm so short I have trouble getting into ou bed at night..LOVE THOSE TWINS!!Nice gene pool goin' on, Kelly..beautiful group of kids and grandkids..
    As for the snow...Al, you look like Nanook of the North!! All you two needed was ski poles and you could do an ad for Aspen..

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  11. Are you telling us that you had a big bowl of beans, wore tight jeans, and then tried to get into the jeep? What an explosive situation that must have been. :)

    Al, others have suggested that it is the browser you are using that causes the cutoff of some of my pics. I don't know anything about those things, but only a few folks have mentioned a similar problem.

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  12. We can say this -- that young family is obviously descended from Kelly - too cute to be from your side!

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  13. Hehe...that's gonna leave quite a stain in your shorts ;) great description. I could picture the whole thing!

    Adorable twins! What a great looking family!

    -Nellie

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