Wednesday, April 16, 2014

IT WAS A GOOD DAY TO BE OUTSIDE GETTING RID OF A COLD

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JEEPERS WAS NOT LOOKING TOO HAPPY THIS MORNING WITH ALL THE ICE & SNOW COVERING HIM

Another good night’s sleep & that is always a big plus for this guy.  A cold night but we had us some warming sunshine streaming in the windows this morning.  I didn’t do the walk with Kelly & Pheebs but I did get outside first thing & get a couple birdfeeders up.  Also set a piece of wood from the broken feeder station back on the pole & added a cement patio stone to hold it down.  Upon this I sprinkled a generous helping of birdseed.  A temporary fix but good enough for our fine little feathered friends for now.  First 2 birds on the temporary feeder station were a pair of Cardinals about half an hour after I set things up. 

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WAS SURPRISED TO SEE THIS GOLDFINCH AT THE FEEDER SO EARLY IN THE SEASON

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TEMPORARY BIRD FEEDING STATION…THIS PIECE OF WOOD WAS ORIGINALLY THE ROOF ON THE OTHER FEEDER

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I’m not out of the woods on this congested chest & cold thing yet but did see some improvement today.  Energy levels were more intact & I was able to get a few additional things done outside.  It is a nearly an impossible thing for me to just sit in the house doing nothing for 2 days in a row.  One whole day is bad enough.  This mornings Sun was like a magnate drawing me outside & I believe had I sat inside all day again I would not have felt as good at the end of today as I do right now.  In my opinion fresh air, sunshine, & extra oxygen in the blood from some physical work goes a long way to healing whatever is ailing a fella.  Well that’s what I figure anyway………………….  

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IS IT POSSIBLE ALL OF THE ABOVE 4 BIRDS ARE COWBIRDS??

I am still using my Kindle to read every night.  Keep it under my pillow & when I go to bed I read a few more chapters of my UFO book.  So easy to hold & so easy for me to see.  Could never do this with a conventional printed book page.  The Kindle has lots of features I’m sure but right now I’m just content with knowing how to turn the pages. Don’t want to snow myself under with too much Kindle technology all at once you know:))

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HERE’S LITTLE MOLLY POPPINS MAKING HER WAY THROUGH THE WOODS A  COUPLE MORNINGS AGO

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DUCKS ON THE PARK POND BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT KIND

Loaded me up 2 full utility trailer loads of yard waste & hauled them down to our recycling area.  Wanted to get that out of the way first thing while the ground was still frozen from Tuesday night’s freeze.  Knew it would be pretty soupy there once the probing sun got around to thawing out the frozen mud.  Didn’t mind working in the cooler/colder air knowing our temps were on the way up & this bit of cold weather snow is very likely the last we will see.  Spent most of my day outside relaxingly, raking up Pine needles & picking up broken branches.  Never pushed myself & came in for 2 snoozy restful recliner & munchy breaks:))

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DROPPING OFF MY 2ND UTILITY TRAILER LOAD OF YARD WASTE THIS MORNING

Always amazes me how when transitioning between 2 homes the one being left behind fades so quickly from memory.  When in the Southwest for the winter it is sometimes hard to remember our Bayfield place & we rarely think of it.  Same thing with our Congress Az digs.  By the second day on the road a week ago both Kelly & I remarked how quickly our winter Congress memories were fading.  Rarely a thought about Congress all the way home & yet only days before we left I was walking around the property feeling so sad about having to leave.  It seems one’s mind is like an automatic transmission.  It just quietly shifts itself smoothly into the next gear ahead & rarely finds itself in reverse.  I think it also the mind’s way of protecting itself & remaining healthy by dealing with the things at hand & not dwelling itself in the past.  Except for all the good memories of course.  We Bloggers & especially we daily Bloggers have a huge advantage over many folks in that basically with some of us everything is written down & photographed.  So even if our aging minds are not as readily accessible as they once were we do have us a permanent record of where we where & what we were doing on any one given day for the last whole bunch of years.  And sometimes that precise record keeping comes in mighty handy as Kelly found out a couple days ago.

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PHEEBS JUST ENJOYED HANGING OUT IN THE SNOW TODAY WHILE I WORKED AWAY ON THE YARD

Kelly, an American, has duel citizenship & carries a ‘landed immigrant’ status card.  That card has to be re-newed every 5 years.  In the mail when we returned a few days ago was her renewal form & they wanted more information this time.  One of the things they required was the number of days Kelly has spent in the U.S. during the past 5 years.  Since 9/11 many things have tightened up considerably in the States & one has to be as accurate as possible with information now.  Guessing at required info can bring things to a crashing halt right quick.  Well, in Kelly’s case it was my Blog to the rescue for the exact number of days in the States.  All’s she had to do was have a quick look in our Archives for the days we left Canada & the days we returned to Canada in the past 5 years.  All the correct information she needed was stored right here in our Blog Files.  So you see folks there is some method to all this Blogger madness after all…………:))   

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EVEN GARFIELD WHO RIDES ON THE BACK OF THE JEEP DID NOT LOOK LIKE A HAPPY CAMPER THIS MORNING

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The man looked a little worried when the doctor came in to administer his annual physical, so the first thing the doctor did was to ask whether anything was troubling him.  "Well, to tell the truth, Doc, yes," answered the patient. "You see, I seem to be getting forgetful. No, it's actually worse than that. I can never remember where I park my car, where I'm going, or what it is I'm going to do once I get there -- if I get there. So, I really need your help. What can I do?"
The doctor mused for a moment, then answered in his kindest tones, "Pay me in advance."

13 comments:

  1. Great photos as usual!! We had snow here yesterday morning...What the Heck is up with that...????

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  2. Oh Wow! I'd be hard pressed to tell you how many days I'VE spent in the US in the past few years... as well as how many days I've spent in various other countries. Guess I could go back over our daily logs, but... why do they want that kind of info? I can so relate to the shift in life... we've been back in the USA 4 weeks today... Costa Rica is SO far in the past it's almost ancient history by now. Shifting gears? Heck, it's more like being on a spacecraft and going from one planet to another!!!!

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  3. Well this is quite a change from a few weeks ago when you said it was getting warmer in Congress and now the white stuff. It's cold here in the "tropics" of Southern Indiana but to far south for the white stuff. I was wondering if it was cold enough that you would have needed to winterize your RV or does it have a winter set up?

    I hope to be away from the white stuff here next winter, somewhere in SW Arizona where the hounds and I can hang out all day in warmth.

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  4. Glad to see you are up and about a little bit.

    I love having the blog to remind me of all the wonderful places we've visited. Even after just a year and a half, there have been so many different experiences it all gets jumbled up in my head and the blog brings it all back bright and clear!

    Metamorphosis Lisa

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  5. been reading that sleeping with a cell phone under you pillow is dangerous for radiation... not sure about kindles... love the birds!

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  6. Glad you are feeling better , the sunshine sure helps.
    A doing a daily blog sure does help us remember all the things we keep forgetting.
    Or at least we can look it up.

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  7. Was just going to say that sleeping with the kindle under your pillow...so close to your head...is not a great idea, and then I saw the comment above.

    Still very much enjoying your blog! Thank you!

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  8. Glad to hear you're on the mend--must've been the Vicks!

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  9. The birds are happy you are back and sure you can take a pic or two of us,keep the seeds refilled please.

    The Kindle goes to sleep when the cover is closed ( magnet lets it know). When sleeping the radio is turned off to save battery power, same as being turned off. There should be no problem unless you try to eat it during a dream.

    Great pics and love that trailer.

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  10. Glad you are getting better, Al. I'm SLOWLY getting back to normal myself...It's been a LONG two weeks. It will be nice having a 3 day weekend starting tomorrow, though!
    Cheryl Ann ~temps will be in the 90's again here by then.

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  11. Keeping track on our total days via the blog is not sufficient for us any more. It gets more complicated.
    There is a "day-count" for snowbirding
    and a "day-count for tax purposes.

    I will now have to keep count on every single day-crossing (fuel, shopping, transit to Canada mainland) as well, because every entrance, even a one minute one, is counted as a WHOLE DAY.

    The first one is about the "unlawful presence" (travel stay over 180 days within consecutive 12 month), and the second one for the "libability for US income tax."

    That is a way more complicated process to figure out.
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    It is somewhat more involved and requires applying a mathematical formula to the days present in the US. The formula works like this:

    Start with the number of days present in the US during the current year and, if greater than 30, add 100% of these days and continue to step 2;
    Add 1/3 of the number of days present in the US during the prior year;
    Add 1/6 of the number of days present in the US two years prior.
    If the individual spends more than 30 days in the US in the current year, and the sum of those three figures is greater than 182 then the individual is resident in the US for US income tax purposes and therefore subject to tax on worldwide income. If the sum is less than 182 or less, then the individual is not resident for US income tax purposes.
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    No way that I can beat that! We have to go over the border to gas up in the US, there is no gas station on the island. Canada is an hour away.
    I definitely will keep a log about every entry from now on, that's for sure. And file the form 8840 in June.

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  12. You always amaze me with your clean up work. It would take us months to do that each year. So glad we no longer have a house, much less two! We are just too lazy>

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  13. You're right, poor Garfield does not look happy with all that white stuff. Great picture.

    And hey, welcome to the PDD Driving Club! So far you and I are the only Gold Level members. ;c)

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