HAD MYSELF A PAYING JOB FOR A FEW HOURS THIS MORNING:))

ST MARYS, ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE SOUTHERN ONTARIO TOWNS

Actually had myself a nice little paying job this morning for a couple hours. The job was right up my alley.   DEER PARK LODGE recently switched from a large linen/laundry facility in London Ontario to another laundry company in St. Marys. Normally, the company picks up & delivers on certain days but with the Labor Day holiday weekend upon us, Deer Park needed an extra load of dirty laundry delivered to ST. MARYS ONTARIO this morning in order to have it back Monday. And, that's where I came in.  Picked up & stuffed 15 bags of laundry into our Santa Fe about 10:30 & headed east with ‘The Laundry Company Inc’ as my destination. St. Marys is a small picturesque town & it is a quiet country drive all the way there & all the back. When we lived in the old farm house near Fullarton Ontario years ago, St Marys was our 'go to' town so I am well familiar with it.  Kelly & I both drove school buses out of there & I also drove the St. Mary’s mobility bus part time for a few years.   If I had to pick a small southern inland Ontario town to live in, it would be St. Marys. If I were to pick a town on Lake Huron, it would be Goderich.  And, if I had to live in a large city…….I would just simply throw my hands up in despair:((

<<< MY MISSION THIS MORNING?  DELIVER THE LAUNDRY!!

Over the years I have had many varied jobs & one of these days I'm going to take the time to write a few posts about all the shenanigans & experiences those working years entailed.  It was the driving jobs I enjoyed most over the years. Before leaving the stress of working in a small retail business back in the mid 80's for a few years I used to dream of just getting myself a simple driving job delivering parcels to rural communities. A month after leaving my managerial job at a one hour photofinishing store in Stratford Ontario, I was in a cube van all by myself, happy as a Clam, delivering parcels for Purolator. I was one of the 'on call' drivers who came in after all the main driver's had left on their morning routes. I loaded my van up with the left over stuff the regular guys couldn't fit in their trucks. Most of my deliveries were to outlying farms & small rural business's off the beaten path. It was this period of time I got to know so many of the back country roads in our area & it was also the time I began to grow my love for the countryside. Ten years later, after meeting Kelly, we both moved from large cities to an old farm house in rural southern Ontario & that marked a major turning point in both our lives:))

LARGE STONE BUILDING ON RIGHT WAS ONCE THE OPERA HOUSE

 

IT IS EASY TO SEE WHY ST. MARYS IS REFERRED TO AS ‘STONETOWN’

Took me exactly one hour to reach St. Marys & another hour & a half’s journey back to Bayfield.  That extra half hour was spent put putting along a few gravel roads along the way.  Humidity was heavy again today so I was thankful for the A/C in the Santa Fe. 

Commenter, Casita Wren asks, 'Al, can you tell me how you deal with Ontario house-watching for 6 months’?  Leaving one's house empty for half a year is a always a major concern for Snow Birders. We are fortunate in several ways here. First, we happen to live in a very secure & mature community so our fears of break-ins & vandalism are extremely low. We are not in a town or city & yet not isolated on a back country road either. We do have watchful neighbors. We have a friend in the Park who checks out our place on a regular basis. We leave a large thermometer in a window beside the driveway as well & a quick glance at that gauge from outside quickly tells him if there is any problem with a dropping temperature inside. We leave our furnace on low which is an old habit from when we had a lot of indoor plants. Well, we had a lot of plants until they all froze two years ago when something happened we had not anticipated. The batteries in our thermostat failed!! So, from experience, a warning here!! Replace the batteries in your thermostat each year before heading south. When the batteries failed, our house temperature began dropping. Luckily, the fellow (Bruce) we had looking after our place caught the drop before it did any serious damage to our water pipes, but not before all our plants died. We have two separate thermostats, one for our electric furnace & one for our gas fireplace stove. We will definitely replace those year old batteries with new ones before we leave. Many people completely drain their water systems & completely shut their house down. Seems to work fine but I've never been comfortable with the idea of our whole house turning into one big huge frozen ice box.

C 

THE RUSTIC TOWN HAS AN OLD ENGLISH FLAVOUR TO IT
We have never had our mail forwarded while traveling. Bruce picks up our mail every few days & if he feels there is anything important we should know about, he emails us. Bruce also starts up our Santa Fe periodically. The first few years of traveling we always took the battery out of the vehicle at home & for some reason we went through a couple batteries. The last few years we just leave the battery in the vehicle & with it being started & left running for a bit everything has been fine. Our cable TV, internet & telephone stuff is all put into 'vacation mode' & the insurance on our Santa Fe is dropped into a basic coverage mode. All that saves us a few dollars here & there. We unplug all electrical cords from outlets. We leave cupboard doors under sinks open, etc. If, in an emergency we had to come home in the winter, we have a neighbouring farmer who can slip over with his tractor & blow any snow out of our driveway. If a tree or branch fell on our roof, we have Park staff here who could immediately help with that.  Anyway, in my usual rambling sort of way, I hope that kinda answers Casita Wrens question.

 

And, I did find my Picasa Web Albums where commenter Rick said they would be.  I have to now spend some time getting myself familiar with the new & revised workings of Google.  Practice makes perfect they say.  Whoever they are that say them kinda things that is:))

THE THAMES RIVER FLOWS THROUGH THE HEART OF ST. MARYS 

GROANER’S CORNER:((   New Investment Definitions::
CEO - Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO - Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET - A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET - A six to eighteen month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewellery, and the husband gets no sex!
VALUE INVESTING - The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO - The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.
BROKER - What my broker has made me.
(S&P) STANDARD & POOR - Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST - Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.
MARKET CORRECTION - The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW - The movement your money makes as it disappears down the Toilet.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR - Past year investor who's now locked up in a Nuthouse.
MOMENTUM INVESTING - The fine art of buying high and selling low.
'BUY, BUY' - A flight attendant making market recommendations as you step off the plane.
FINANCIAL PLANNER - A guy who actually remembers his wallet when he runs to the 7-Eleven for toilet paper and cigarettes.
CALL OPTION - Something people used to do with a telephone in ancient times before e-mail.
YA HOO - What you yell after selling all you owned to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS - What you jump out of when you're the sucker that bought Yahoo for $240 per share.
PROFIT - Religious guy who talks to God.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward   

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

- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/

stargeezerguy@gmail.com

I GLANCED AT MY $25 AMITRON WATCH AS A NEEDLE WAS INSERTED INTO MY RIGHT ARM

It is on our early morning walks we sometimes have some of our quieter talks.  Decisions seem to formulate easier in the morning.  Maybe it’s the cooler fresher air.  Maybe it’s the simple exercise of walking that pumps more oxygen to the brain causing it to think clearer.  Of course we’ve made a few bad decisions on those walks & I guess that would kind of nullify my ‘more oxygen to the brain’ theory.  Thinking of those morning walks this afternoon I was reminded of other kinds of pleasant walks I have been on over the past number of decades.  After all, different walks lead to different squawks.

Years ago when I belonged to the Stratford Field Naturalist Club, the group walks were very informative. Each person brought along they're own expertise in various fields of interests & hobbies. The bird watchers pointed out & identified the many birds along the way. Other folks drew attention to the abundant wild plants & flowers alongside the trail while others were astute at tree or animal identification. Always an exchange of information & points of interest. I also belonged to the Avon Trail Hiking Club for awhile where the focus was on exercise, wellness, & speed. We would traverse the trails in single file, moving swiftly, keeping the conversations low, & not stopping to look at too much. When I was with the Stratford Camera Club we focused our attentive walks on things like composition, color, shadows & lighting. The eye became trained to look photographically at our surroundings. Conversations revolved around shutter speeds, f-stops, camera brands & lenses. Every outing was an adventure in learning.  Enjoyed those club walks years ago but now seem more content in walking with just Kelly & the Pheebs.  In fact most of my walks now are just Pheebs & I in the afternoon & evening.  I find it interesting how interests & priorities change as we age.

Glancing at the $25 Walmart Amitron watch on my left wrist this morning I noticed it read 9:23 a.m. Looked over to my right wrist just as a needle was inserted into a vein there. I was at the Goderich Medical Center having blood drawn for an upcoming PSA test. Five minutes later I was out the door & into the Jeep heading north out of Goderich. It was another fine morning & I decided to take a longer 2 hour scenic country road route home. I never tire of our lush forests growing green between rolling farm land fields of maturing corn, yellowing beans, & waving grasses. Colorful well kept farms along dusty gravel roads always interest me with their rural architecture. Painted & graying barns with driving sheds, farm machinery, & century old houses on many farms give the land a quaint rustic feeling. Cattle, horses, goats & sheep graze in pastures of gently rolling hills. Didn't take any photos, just rolled along slow with windows down breathing in all my peaceful surroundings.  I like when that happens.  It brings me contentment for a time:))

A word of thanks to the folks emailing in a few tips on how to upload photos from Picasa. I have actually uploaded 251 albums from Picasa to my Picasa Web Album site over the past few years but was confused by the newer Google+ way of doing things.  Hadn't uploaded an album since first arriving in New Mexico last November & in the meantime things had changed. JERRY left a comment saying RICK was going to post a tutorial on the Google+ way of doing things today so I checked that out & followed Rick’s written instructions. Understand the upload & linking process now but am confused as to what Google+ has done with my 251 web albums. I can easily access my older Picasa Web Album site through a link but haven't figured out the Google way yet.  I did come across a bunch of double albums & knew right away I had better not be messing around in there.  Made a big blunder in that area about a year ago when, not knowing why there were two sets of albums, I started deleting one set.  Fortunately, I stopped the delete shortly after starting it but not before I wiped out all the photos in about a dozen posts I had recently & painstakingly inserted photos into.  Had I not stopped that delete in time it would have been a major blow to all my past Blogger posts dating back as far as 06 & 07.  All this newer & fast moving technology can slip by a feller pretty quick if he doesn’t keep right on top of things.  Heck, I’m still back at trying to figure out how to carry a rotary phone in my shirt pocket:((  

On the anniversary of the Goderich tornado just over a year ago I had intended to include a link to my photo album of tornado damage.  Totally forgot that so for anyone interested here is that photo album…………  GODERICH TORNADO DAMAGE AUGUST 2011.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A New York City yuppie moved to the country and bought a piece of land. He went to the local feed and livestock store and talked to the proprietor about how he was going to take up chicken farming. He then asked to buy 100 chicks."That's a lot of chicks," commented the proprietor. "I mean business," the city slicker replied.A week later the yuppie was back again. "I need another 100 chicks," he said. "Boy, you are serious about this chicken farming," the man told him."Yeah," the yuppie replied. "If I can iron out a few problems." "Problems?" asked the proprietor. "Yeah," replied the yuppie, "I think I planted that last batch too close together."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

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

- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/

stargeezerguy@gmail.com

AS MUCH AS I GRUMBLE & COMPLAIN SOMETIMES…………

OOOOPS, SOMEBODY FORGOT THEIR FLIP FLOPS

Our late August weather is very reminiscent of the weather we experience during our winter travels in many parts of the Southwest.  Cool to cold nights followed by moderately warm days.  When the sun goes down around 4 in the afternoon temperatures begin to plummet in desert regions.  About 10 in the morning with the sun rising, temperatures begin to rise again.  The warm feeling comes from the sun because the air remains generally cool.  Not unusual to be wearing a short sleeve shirt on the sunny side of the rig & a sweater on the shady side of the rig.  Our Autumn & Spring days are much like that here in southern Ontario.

AND, HERE’S A LITTLE SAILOR DOG JUST ENJOYING A NICE QUIET MORNING ON THE DOCK 

Full Timing RV people traveling solo are prone to difficulties which can present them with a variety of very unique problems. Judy, over at TRAVELS WITH EMMA is having some thoughts at the moment about dealing with a problem hip sometime in the future. Surgery may be required, so where to go & where to convalesce. And what about care that may be needed not only for herself, but Emma as well.  Her latest post asks some realistic questions.

PLACID WATERS ON BAYFIELD’S INNER HARBOR THIS MORNING
When considering Full Timing a few years ago Kelly & I also had some concerns about possible future medical situations. If we sold our house & hit the road full time, what would we do if one of us came down with a serious illness or injury that required us to immediately return to Canada in the middle of winter. Where would we go, where would we stay?  Trying to live in the Motorhome is out of the question because of the frigid cold & snow. A Motel room?? Yikes!! Staying with a relative?? Yikes again!! It is questions like these that, in the end caused us to hang on to our house. We came very close to being forced back to Canada last December when I had my kidney stone attack south of Tucson Arizona & surgery was advised. If push had come to shove, we at least had a warm comfortable home to come home to. Being Snow Birds traveling in a Motorhome to the southwest each winter & maintaining a house in Ontario as well is certainly a financial stretch for us. So far, it has turned out to be ‘slightly’ doable & it is a comforting thought knowing we have somewhere to go in case of unforeseen problems on the road whether they be south of the border or right here in Canada.  As much as I grumble & complain sometimes about the boring summers & being stuck in one place for half year at a time, I just have to stop & think about how truly nice we do have it here.  I have been known to forget that sometimes……………..:))

AND TO THINK, ALL THESE BOATS WILL HAVE TO COME OUT OF THE WATER IN A FEW MONTHS

The tall white whip aerial on our Jeep's rear bumper serves a useful purpose when we are in the Southwest. A small orange triangular flag sits atop it & when off-roading in the hilly mountainous backcountry, that noticeable flag joinking along in a gulch or gully is sometimes the only sign others have of an unseen vehicle beneath it. It is common practice in the desert where ATV's, dirt bikes, Jeeps & 4 wheelers share the landscape & can be coming at each other from any direction at any time. Before heading home last March I took that orange flag off & put it in a safe place where I would remember it. I haven't seen it since:(( I was reminded of that this morning when I went looking for my RV list of things to do & pack in the Motorhome each year at this time. Been using my helpful handwritten notes for the past 4 years. Put them away in a safe place the night before we left last November. Put them where I would remember them. Yep, can't find em anywhere now!!

 

Commenter Phil wondered about the naming of Rotary Cove in Goderich Ontario. The town of Goderich built a whole new beach a number of years ago & believe the local Rotary Club had much to do & sponsored part of that. In the header photo ,a distant white structure on the horizon can be seen rising out of the water. This is part of an outer break wall protecting the mouth of the harbor. I'm guessing it's about a half mile off shore.  And, did you know, the Rotary club, founded in 1905, got it’s name because early meetings were often ‘rotated’ between members homes.  Yep, it’s true:))

ENJOYING THE FINAL WANING DAYS OF SUMMER ON BAYFIELD’S BEACH
Tammy & Art from, 'IT'S GOOD TO BE US' are our latest Blog Followers & we are happy to welcome them aboard.  Thanks for taking an interest in the Bayfield Bunch:))

WE DO HAVE SOME STRANGE CREATURES IN OUR FRONT YARD SOMETIMES
GROANER'S CORNER:(( Nobody can fix the economy.
Nobody can be trusted with their finger on the button.
Nobody's perfect. Vote for Nobody.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))
- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)
- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward
- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.
- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/
stargeezerguy@gmail.com

MET UNCLE HARRY AT THE STRATFORD HOSPITAL

An amber colored engine warning light made itself known in the Jeep a few days ago so we dropped Jeepers off at the BAYFIELD GARAGE about 9 this morning. The warning light was not flashing so knew it was not an emergency. Had some problems with that light last summer as I recall.

By 11 o'clock we were both in the Santa Fe headed for the Stratford Hospital, an hour's drive east of us. Nothing serious, we just had to be there to meet the mobility van bringing Uncle Harry in. He was scheduled for a consultation with his surgeon & ended up having to have a minor procedure done. Well, at 96 years old, nothing is medically minor anymore & we could tell it was hard on Harry. He just seemed so frail today.  Sat with him for quite awhile in the same prep room I was in a couple months ago before my kidney stone procedure. Didn't seem as busy in there today. By 3 this afternoon Harry's ordeal with his Doctor was over & we had him safely loaded back in the ‘One Care’ mobility van & he was headed back to the Ritz Villa in Mitchell.

<<< UNCLE HARRY ARRIVES AT THE HOSPITAL IN A WHEELCHAIR MOBILITY VAN

Turned out to be a beautiful sunny day for a drive in the country & I enjoyed the big fluffy cloud scenery all the way there & back. We were home in Bayfield before 4 with one very happy little doggy anxiously watching out the window. Took us another whole hour to remember our Jeep we had dropped off at the Bayfield Garage earlier in the morning.  Had we not remembered we would have got up Wednesday morning, not seen the Jeep in the driveway, phoned the police & reported it stolen.  This aging memory stuff is not a good thing & what makes it doubly worse is having two people in the same house with the same problem:((  Turns out the Jeep needed a new oxygen sensor.  I think I could probably use one of those myself.
  ---

In my Monday night Ikea post using 'Live Writer' I had tried to put a photo album together with my Ikea pictures. Of course I hadn't tried that for a very long time & I noticed things had changed again. After publishing the post I saw right away the album idea didn't work. So, if anyone clicked on my post early & couldn't get the album thing working, I have since gone back, took the album attempt out & reloaded my photos the standard way.

I seem to recall a time not so long ago when I was easily able to upload my Picasa photos into a simple Picasa Web Album. Seems to me I just highlighted the pics & pressed an 'Upload' button at the bottom of my Picasa site. Very simple & my album was uploaded to 'Picasa Web Albums'. Now, since this Google+ thing has taken over everything with it's  ‘circles' & all that 'sharing' stuff.........I am totally lost. I have no interest in these types of chatty social sites & all I would like to do is just put together a simple Picasa photo album like before & make the link available for viewing. I'm wondering if that is even still possible??
---

I have been to PEGGY'S COVE Nova Scotia & watched the North Atlantic’s mighty waves ending their long sea journey in thunderous finality on the shore’s foreboding rocks.   I remember the placid waters of the inner harbor & the many little fishing boats, nets, & lobster traps scattered about.  I remember graying weathered fishing shacks with their backs to the wind & vibrant colored houses shuffled about on the rocky terrain.  East Coasters love their bold house colors.  But, I never saw Peggy’s Cove from the air.  Well, guess who was in Peggy’s Cove with his trusty remote controlled helicopter a few days ago…….yep, IVAN was in the air again:))

 

AND NO, THIS IS NOT A PICTURE OF IVAN IN THE AIR AGAIN………   

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A local fisherman says, "I caught a twenty pound salmon last week."  A friend asks, "Were there any witnesses?"  To which the fisherman answered,
"There sure were. If there hadn't been, it would have been forty pounds."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

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

- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

- OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/

stargeezerguy@gmail.com

IKEA…IT WAS AN ENJOYABLE EXPERIENCE

The rains came sometime in the night setting off a chorus of Frogs & Crickets. Pattering of rain on a roof always reminds me of camping & as I comfortably sat in my recliner by our open patio door at 5 a.m. this morning I let the rain, the Crickets, & the Frogs take me back to years gone by. It is the time of day when one's mind is not yet cluttered with day's activities. It is a quiet time of life's reflections. Later, despite the rain, we donned our hats & raincoats for our morning walk along the darkened pine forest trail.

OH PLEASE MOM & DAD, LET’S GO HOME….I DON’T LIKE GETTING WET:((
Not all stories have happy endings, but some fortunately do. If it's a an animal story & especially a dog story, that makes me a pretty happy guy. Check out how RV SUE was able to get the ball rolling in re-uniting a man & his lost dog somewhere out in the wilds of Colorado & Arizona:))

PHEEBS WAITS PATIENTLY FOR ME EACH NIGHT KNOWING AS SOON AS I’VE FINISHED MY POST I WILL SPIN MY CHAIR AROUND & GIVE HER A GREAT BIG SNUZZLE:))  AND YEP, THAT’S ONE OF OUR IKEA CHAIRS…………….

Kelly had been to an IKEA store before but & I had only heard of them. She convinced me that if we sold all the uncomfortable furniture in our Motorhome we could replace everything with better things from Ikea. And, so it happened. I took apart our dinette & unbolted both the couch & tub chair while boondocked in the desert. A day later we sold it all to 'The Gambler' in Quartzsite Arizona & a day after that, with only a couple small wooden chairs to sit on in the coach we headed for an RV Park in Casa Grande Arizona. Figured we would make this our home base for a few days while we slipped up to Tempe south of Phoenix to scout out an Ikea store for some furniture.

 

ALL THE MERCHANDISE YOU SEE IN THESE PHOTOS IS FOR SALE
Well, what a totally pleasant experience that Ikea store was once we got there. And getting there was an even better experience. The traffic on I-10 to the easily locatable Ikea store in Phoenix that morning was light & non threatening. Fortunately, the store is in the south end of Tempe & situated only about a block from the Interstate. We timed it to get there around 9 to take advantage of the in-store restaurant at Ikea. As we neared the store it reminded me of being on the grounds of large estate. Big palm trees, landscaping, & not at all like the usual ordinary run of the mill shopping mall. The super large yellow & blue store stood in the middle of it's own acreage. I had a good feeling right off because there were only a handful of cars in the huge parking lot & by the looks of the store this was not going to be just another ho-hum drag AL up & down isles of another boring big box store .

 

We entered a very clean & well organized lobby, followed the prominent arrows on the floor to the escalator & let our noses lead us to the well laid out & colorful restaurant. Store wasn't open yet but the restaurant was.  Yummy stuff:)) 

  

HAD OURSELVES A GREAT IKEA BREAKFAST BEFORE THE STORE, OVER TO THE RIGHT, OPENED 
Very, very, impressive to say the least. Breakfast is fast, & cafeteria style, & the prices were right out of the 1950's. As I ate my bacon, eggs, & pancakes I looked around at all the colors, designs, windows, & decors. The thought occurred to me, "finally, a store that knows how to market itself right!!"

  
No gouging here, no silly "sale" signs, no cheesy gimmicks, no glitz & glamor like some stores. Merchandise was not merely stacked on shelves row upon row. Homey settings were everywhere. Living rooms, kitchens, & bathrooms were all laid out. Chairs were there for sitting on & trying out. Flop on a bed in a cozy setting. Bounce those big yellow beach balls on the floor. The store was kind of laid out like a large castle with many rooms chalked full of colorful things & think that is what appealed to me. It was a store a kid would love. Finally, a retail store that actually put a child like grin on my face. And, they knew how to price things right too.  As we made our way around the store looking at a ka-zillion million things I was amazed at the sensibility of the price tags.  I think the retail industry should send their CEO's, sales staff, & managers here to see how a business can be run in a warm & aesthetically pleasing manner. The showrooms are beautiful & tastefully done. Colors, colors, colors. An interior decorator's place to be, & a photographer's dream. The whole store is like a piece of yummy eye candy. We easily spent a couple hours sitting in this, lying on that, & lifting things to check their weight, etc. I especially liked the kid's toy section with all it's really groovy & colorful unique Ikea toys. Kelly wouldn't let me stay & play though.

  

WE BOUGHT THE SAME TYPE OF FOLD UP BED & MATTRESS KELLY IS LYING ON
The way things are done at Ikea is different as well. As I recall, we filled out cards or something with item numbers we were interested in. We didn't have to carry things around or push a cart full of stuff. When we finished our shopping we hopped aboard an elevator & headed straight to the basement.

The warehouse basement area is huge & it is set up in such a way that you pick up your own stuff you had previously marked down on your card while up on the sales floor. I've worked in warehouses for Eaton's & Sears many years ago but this warehouse dwarfed them many times over. I've only been in a Costco once & there are some similarities with Ikea. Long wide aisles with merchandise stocked high on towering metal shelving. It was not just a shopping cart we walked around with either.  It was 2 larger wagon type carts. All aisles & merchandise items are clearly marked so with the numbers we had on our cards from the sales floor above we easily found everything we were looking for. We just kept piling things on our cart & moving along.

AISLES & AISLES OF REALLY NEAT-O GROOVY STUFF

 

Even the check-outs are different. You can scan your own stuff, which we tried, but gave up. Just a little too techno for us bumpkins from the north. And, when you leave the checkout, there is a bistro with 50 cent hot dogs, dollar cinnamon buns, etc. And the 25 cent coffee is great. Even outside, they have people there to help you load the merchandise in your car. And, it was quite a load we packed into our little Santa Fe at the time too. And everybody at Ikea was not only helpful, but friendly too. Even the young kid who helped us pack our car:))  I think a lot of retail business’s would do well to take a few lessons from Ikea on how to display merchandise, how to treat people, keep prices down and how to make yummy cinnamon rolls:))

 

KER-POOPED

My memory is a little hazy now but I think we sold our rig's furniture for around $450 & our Ikea stuff came to slightly less than that. Couldn't believe we came out ahead of the game for a change & ended up with so much stuff. It was good day & I will always remember our one & only Ikea experience.  We began assembling things as soon as we returned to the rig in Casa Grande & the following day I began painting our interior walls.  Kelly had to drive all the way back to Ikea in Tempe to pick up the bed mattress that had been out of stock the previous day.  Despite what seemed like a lot of stress at the time, we look back on it all now as a fun experience:))

 

 

2 POANG CHAIRS, TWO WOOD TABLES, 2 GREEN PILLOWS, 1 HASSOCK, 1 COMPUTER CHAIR, ONE FOLD UP BED WITH MATTRESS & CHAIR COVER PLUS A LITTLE PAINT LATER…………….:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
- Tourists see the world, travelers  experience it.
- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward   

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

- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.

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