Thursday, July 15, 2010

STORMY SKIES & A VISIT TO MITCHELL

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STORMY SKIES OVER A NEIGHBORING WHEAT FIELD

Every time I drive that little lumber wagon Jeep of ours the more I am liking it.  I'm past the early stages of herky jerky cornering &  big bumpity bounces.  I've got the 6 speed shift pattern smoothed out & am beginning to slide through those gears like a hot knife through butter.  One of the extra bonuses I hadn't expected is the power of this little Snagglepuss.  It's big 6 cylinder engine coupled with the manual transmission really torgues the light weight Jeep body off the line.  I imagine it would be a real S.O.B. to drive on icy & hard packed snow though.  Throw some high wind gusts into the mix & I'm sure it will be like handling a para-sail with a pair of broken roller skates on while trying to stay upright on a glass smooth lake of frozen ice hockey water.  Even the downdraft from a herd of sparrows flying over rocks the Jeep from side to side & the wind sheer from a Turkey Vulture flying over this morning nearly blew me off the road.  Yep, it's a fun vehicle to drive alright & I am just loving every minute of it:))

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JEEP'S FIRST RUN PULLING THE UTILITY TRAILER THIS MORNING.......we are lucky to have our own area within the Park to dispose of yard clippings.

Now that the convenient & totally logical mini-van is gone I have decided to upgrade our little utility trailer back into road worthy shape.  It has been let go over the years but I am already seeing a new & necessary use for it now that the van is gone.  It has a solid steel frame but just needs some new side panels made & some tail light wiring replaced.  We bought that little home made trailer nearly 8 years ago before moving to Bayfield when we realized we were going to have to move a lot of household stuff by ourselves.  That handy little trailer has turned out to be one of the best purchases we ever made & it has well earned the upcoming extra TLC about to be bestowed on it.  Gotta get Bruce to help me this one though or the trailer could end up looking like, 'The Wreck Of The Asparagus' by the time I would be done with it.

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NEXT PROJECT WILL BE THIS UTILITY TRAILER

Had a few questions about the Canadian Flags on our rig & also the graphics on the back.  Also, about the 'Bayfield Bunch' lettering on the Jeep's windshield.  Lucky for us one of Kelly's Son's owns his own sign company & graphics business.  We gave him the flag decal measurements & he made up the decals & put them on for us.  Same with the 'Bayfield Bunch' graphics on the back.  He has some kind of machine that does all that stuff & when we wanted lettering for the Jeep he just whipped them up for us.  The graphics & letters come on some kind of paper that is carefully peeled off as the letters go on.  He specializes in 'wrapping' cars & trucks which means he can put all that fancy logo stuff on vehicles that you see going down the road.  We have a big blank white spot on the back of our rig & just this morning I sent Ben an email asking him what kind of graphics design he thought might look good in that spot.  His company is called, FLORENCE SIGNS & GRAPHICS and is located in Cambridge, Ontario Canada.

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THINKING OF PUTTING SOME GRAPHICS IN THAT WHITE BLANK SPOT BETWEEN THE TAIL LIGHTS

We headed down to Mitchell this afternoon to visit with Uncle Harry & Aunt Jean.  Jean will be flying back to Florida early Sunday morning.  Harry's doing pretty good but it will be a very sad day Saturday when brother & sister say goodbye because they both know there may not be many more goodbyes left:((

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I sometimes click on blogs I see in other blogger's lists & the other day I clicked on one but only got a few words into the blog & had to turf it.  Why?  The print was too small for me to read!!  Obviously the blogger had excellent vision & never thought about readers who didn't.  It was the smallest print size I've seen so far & I now wish I could remember who's blog it was because I should have dropped a helping comment on the blog about the small print being hard for some folks to read.  When I started out my font size was too small as well & it took me awhile before I went with a larger easier to read font type & size.  And while I'm on the topic of blogs I have another opinion which I've blogged about in the past.  If I click on a blog & it has music blaring I don't go any further.  I don't scramble around looking for a 'mute' button either.  'Click' & I'm gone.  On the up side I'd like to remind fellow bloggers of the advantages of putting a 'search' gadget on your blog.  People can type in key words & find your older posts.  I use it a lot when looking for things on my own blog whether it be from a week ago or a year ago.  You can find the 'search option widget' in your 'Blogger Dashboard.'  Go to Layout/Design & look for the the phrase, 'add a gadget.'  This is where you will find the 'search' widget plus other goodies for your blog.

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'OH OH' I THINK SOMEBODY JUST HEARD THE RUMBLE OF THUNDER

And guess who popped up in the blogging world today after a pro-longed 4 month absence.  Yes indeed, it's our old blogging & traveling buddy WANDERING WILLY.  Nice to see you out here again WW:))

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THE ROAD JUST OUTSIDE OUR PARK

GROANER'S CORNER:((  With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed awhile back.   Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey", died peacefully at age 93.   The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin.  They put his left leg in.  And then the trouble started.  And, just to add to that......What if the Hokey Pokey REALLY IS what it's all about!!

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

11 comments:

  1. And don't you just love light gray print on a white background, or even better, yellow print on a white background.

    Now I'll have to go looking for the search thingy and add it to my blog.

    I knew you were loving that Jeep even when you were still complaining!

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  2. Thanks Al for that suggestion about increasing the size of the font. To be honest I never gave it much thought before but have noticed that your blog is so easy to read. DUH..think I would have clued in. Good idea.
    No wonder I couldn't find those flags, special treatment eh?
    How about a graphic of your fur kids in that blank space?

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  3. You know you can make the print larger on any web page by going to the View menu and choosing 'Zoom in'. I'm doing a lot of that with these cataracts! Hopefully in a month I can be using 'Zoom out'!

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  4. Al,
    I really enjoyed the post about your jeep. They do ride bouncy, but they sure are fun. It's like the more you drive them the more you like them. It kinda gets in your blood.
    Take care!
    Mike & Gerri

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  5. I'm with you on a couple of points tonight which really worries me!! First, blogs with music blaring - booooooooo!!!!! That's what the back button's for. Also, I have a utility trailer similar to yours and it is invaluable to me. I've had it for 10 years now and wish I'd bought it 10 years earlier than that.

    Those Jeeps do look like they'd be fun to run around in for sure!

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  6. I too have a small two wheel metal tailer, that had a removable metal top, it looks like a refuge from the 60's, my son uses it to carry his tent camping gear with the top on it, I use it to haul stuff around the yard like you do. They are worth there weight in gold. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna

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  7. Early on in my blogging beginnings, a reader asked if I could use larger print. I am so thankful for her comment. I immediately used a larger font, and it's so much easier to read. I have since then made that same comment on other blogs that I like to read.

    I noticed how easy on the eyes your blog is the first time I read it! Of course, the great photos don't hurt either! :)

    I wish all bloggers used our font size. :)

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  8. Al, how often has Larry LaPrise died? I seem to have read about his burial at leat a half dozen times over the past few years.

    Have a Jeeping good time!

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  9. "The Wreck of the Asparagus" was the best...took me a minute to get it..I'm not real fast.
    Love the new Jeepster!!...We walked by a 1997 Harley today...FOR SALE...all decked out, saddle bags, nice fat back seat for me...Dennis figured it would only be one more way for us to hurt ourselves...I hate to say it..but for once, he was right.
    I JUST HATE THE VOICE OF REASON!!

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  10. I'm with you Al on those music blaring blogs. Another thing that bugs me is folks that use bad background colors that make the type hard to see or a wallpaper background that drowns out the words.

    I'd like to take those blogs to the dump in your little trailer. ;c)

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  11. Darn! And I was about to put the latest Justin Timberlake song as background music on my blog. I'm trying to attract a hipper crowd ;) hehe!

    LOVE your new jeep...and it's so clean too! I bet you cleaned it with a Q-Tip after your mud ride!

    Nellie

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