WERE THEY SHEEPS IN DOGGIE SUITS OR DOGGIES IN SHEEP SUITS??

BEING SHADED BY TALL PINE TREES WE GROW LOTS OF MUSHROOMS IN OUR YARD

Kelly was off to the medical clinic this morning for some blood work.  Didn’t require me being there so after a day of puttering on Monday Pheebs & I decided we needed a change of pace today.  Into the Jeep & off we went.  Short time later we cruised through a Tim Horton’s drive-thru in Grand Bend Ontario for some breakfast snacks.  Minutes later we were sitting on the beach eating our curds & whey.  Well, not exactly.  We were parked at the beach alright but it was a breakfast sandwich, a carrot muffin & a small coffee.  A cold wind coming in off the lake kept us in the Jeep.

ON OUR WAY TO GRAND BEND THIS MORNING WE CAME UPON A ROW OF ‘SHEEP BUTTS’

AND SOME RELAXING COWS

One might wonder how there could be a winter time connection between a 3 story building standing alongside the Ausable river near the harbor mouth in Grand Bend Ontario Canada & the far reaches of the South-Western United States.  Well, it’s a connection the Bayfield Bunch uses a lot every winter.  And we may be the only one’s using it from the South-West.  On the 3rd floor of that lighthouse looking building there is a single window facing west towards Lake Huron.  Inside that window is mounted a live web cam which takes a picture every 60 seconds 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Whether we are on the road traveling or are at home in Congress Arizona we can click on that web cam any time & see what the weather is doing back home here in our area.  Grand Bend is only about 18 miles south of Bayfield.  We can see winter storms blowing through, depth of the snow built up & whether the river is iced over.  We are maybe not able to keep an eye on our house but we are able to keep an eye on our area’s weather.  We’re Canadians so that is important to us:)) 

 

DURING THE WINTER WE REGULARLY CHECK IN WITH THIS GRAND BEND WEB CAM OVERLOOKING THE HARBOR

LOOKING TOWARDS THE LAKE AT 6:40 TONIGHT THIS IS WHAT THE WEB CAM SHOWED

And speaking of live web cams…….Deer Park Lodge has their new beach cam up & running again & it’s in ‘real time’.  I say ‘new cam’ because the old beach cam was stolen last winter.  Always has to be jerks around doesn’t there!!  Try this DPL LINK & have a look at Deer Park’s beautiful sandy beach.  If the link doesn’t work just click on the Deer Park Lodge link & look for the web cam icon at the left just under the header photo.  And at the time of this writing…..yes we know the horizon is tilted.  Just waiting for staff to slip down to the beach & straighten the camera.  Much easier to straighten the small camera than it is to try straightening the earth’s horizon eh.  And if you click on the cam & everything is black……it’s just night time here:))

THE AUSABLE RIVER EMPTIES INTO LAKE HURON HERE AT GRAND BEND ONTARIO

 

NICE HOMES ACROSS THE RIVER FROM THE WEB CAM LIGHTHOUSE

A few pit stops, a few photos, a few old memories of days gone by spent in the Grand Bend area & we were once again slowly headed for home. Another fine couple of hours reminiscing in a picturesque landscape with my best Pal Pheebs & my favorite tunes on Sirius Satellite radio. (The Spa) And driving one of my most favorite vehicles too.  My Jeep Wrangler & I have a lot in common.  We’re both kinda simple with no frills:))

One of the many, many, things I like about our country drives are the different things I come across each time we go out.  Always something interestingly different to be seen if one is looking.  And even is one isn’t looking.  It’s a natural benefit of carrying a camera.  My conscious mind may be tied up thinking about things but my subconscious mind is always on the lookout for something to take a photo of.  Shapes, shadows, & light patterns catch my eye.  Colors jump out at me while compositions form quickly.  Anything unusual is always reason to pull over, stop, & back up if need be.  Lots of U-turns to check things out.  I optically see the majority of my world as a beautiful place & I suppose that is why I enjoy my photography hobby so much.  Every day there is something new to be found.  And with each photo, another challenge to get it as close to right as I can.  I consider myself very fortunate to have such a great hobby & it has enabled me to see a part of the world I may very well have otherwise never seen. 

Came across this very interesting gang of roadside critters this morning.  And they were literally right alongside a country road in a long fenced-in enclosure.  Coming up on it I could see many goats, sheep, & one black cow.  I’m guessing there were 50 or more goats & sheep.  As I slowed to a stop for a better look see & I could hear the barking of dogs amidst the flock but I could not see any dogs.  Could these be barking sheep?  Wasn’t until I exited the Jeep & walked up to the low fence line that I figured it out.  All of the goats & sheep were walking away from me while 3 broke from the rest & walked towards me.  Could these be sheep with doggy suits on or doggies with sheep suits on.  Well it was neither.  These 3 guys were just downright sheep looking dogs.  Handsome fellows & friendly too as I talked to them & petted them over the fence.  Just wanted to go in there & give them all a big smooch.  They told me they were there as a security detail to watch over the flock.  The big black cow too.  There was a house directly across the road surrounded by a tall hedge & I assume that’s where the flocks Shepherd lived.  I didn’t let Pheebs out of the Jeep because I didn’t want to cause a ruckus & frighten the sheep.  I just love our Jeep tours:)) 

 

 

 

---

A tip about the Goldfinch feeder. The feeder you see in recent photos is new….and so is the Niger seed in it. And that is the tip. Our old Finch feeder was identical to the new one but was about 5 years old. Many times over the years rain had got into the seeds & made things mouldy. I hosed out the feeders & hung them up again. I read recently where feeders should be cleaned every couple weeks with a mild solution of watered down bleach so I think over the years the plastic may have taken on a mustiness. Also, the seed I put in the feeder a month ago was seed left over from last summer. It had sat in our shed all winter. When our feeder was hardly attracting any Finches over these past bunch of weeks I decided to throw out the old feeder, get a new one & fill it with fresh Niger seed. ‘Walla’, within 2 days the feeder was filled to overflowing with Finches again just like it used to be a couple years ago. Think I got the new feeder at Walmart or Canadian Tire.

PHEEBS LIKES TO RELAX IN HER RECLINER RIGHT BEHIND ME EACH NIGHT AS I WRITE MY BLOG POST

GROANER’S CORNER:((   The town fathers were looking for a way to increase attendance and participation at their regular meetings. One member suggested bringing in a hypnotist. The officials agreed, a famous hypnotist was hired, publicity distributed, and everyone was pleased.  A few weeks later the meeting hall was packed, and the town's people sat fascinated as the hypnotist withdrew a pocket watch. The hypnotist began chanting... "Watch the watch, watch the watch, watch the watch..."  The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light gleaming off its polished surface. Hundreds of pairs of eyes followed the swaying watch, until suddenly the hypnotist's fingers slipped and the watch fell to the floor...

“CRAP" said the hypnotist.  It took three weeks to clean up the town hall.

-------------------------------------------------------------
- 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.