MY MIND GOT TO THINKING TODAY AS IT IS SOMETIMES PRONE TO DO…..WHY DID WE CHOOSE A ‘SNOWBIRD LIFESTYLE?’

NOPE THAT IS NOT THE PHEEBS OUT THERE HELPING THEM FELLAS LOAD THAT WAGON

Pheebs had missed out on her Sunday morning Jeep ride so the pressure was on.  With nary a thought about doing anything else we headed north out of Bayfield and took ourselves for a drive up through Amish-Mennonite country.  Seen a few folks out and about but that was about it.  Spent a fine couple hours with Libby’s windows down letting today’s summer breezes flow through ruffling both hair and fur.

‘HI PHEEBS SHE CALLED’

LOOKS LIKE MONDAY IS WASH DAY

ON A NICE LOOKING MENNONITE FARM I SPOTTED THESE GLADIOLIS FLOWERS PLANTED ALONGSIDE A CORN FIELD,,,,,YOU CAN SEE CORN COBS AS WELL

Back home shortly before noon I noticed some dead pine trees were about to be taken down across the road at a neighbor’s place.  For safety sake I didn’t waste any time moving the Motorhome ahead and away from the tree cutting area.  It was then I noticed our Grape Nuts Flakes box taped to the side of our rig over the stove had finally come unstuck and was hanging by a few threads of masking tape.  Forgetting to take it off for months I made it a point to go get the ladder and take it down before I forgot about it again.  The plastic vent was a pukey yellow color so I hauled out some white paint and gave it a couple coats.  Looking better.  That Grape Nuts Flakes box had been on the side of our rig since January 25th of this year when I taped it up there to stop California’s big winds from flapping our stove vent and keeping us awake.  We were at Ogilby Road west of Yuma at the time.  For nearly 7 months and probably about 4,000 miles it stuck there.  Here’s the post showing it affixed to our rig the day I put it up.  Wandering Willy Finishes Up Our 'Tire Minder' Installation. 

WITH SOME TREE CUTTING GOING ON ACROSS THE ROAD I MOVED THE MOTORHOME AHEAD

THAT GRAPE NUTS FLAKES BOX STUCK UP THERE FOR NEARLY 7 MONTHS AND ABOUT 4,000 MILES

CORN FIELDS TO THE LEFT OF US AND CORN FIELDS TO THE RIGHT OF US THIS MORNING

STOPPED FOR A LEG STRETCH

While up on the ladder painting the vent my mind got to wandering a bit.  No nothing to do with paint fumes but everything to do with our upcoming RV travels this winter.  As I’ve said before it’s usually this time of year when we begin to make some early plans and preparations but I have purposely been keeping a lid on myself.  Well until today that is and I couldn’t help from putting my RV hat on for awhile and mulling over some thoughts about our RV Snowbird lifestyle.

WE SEE LOTS OF ROADSIDE MARKERS LIKE THIS IN THE SOUTHWEST BUT IT’S VERY RARE TO SEE THIS IN OUR AREA OF ONTARIO

 

OBVIOUSLY SOMEONE HAS DIED HERE AND THIS MARKER HAS BEEN SET UP IN REMEMBRANCE ALONGSIDE ST. AUGUSTINE ROAD NORTH OF AUBURN ONTARIO

I BELIEVE THAT TO BE THE CRASH SITE TO THE RIGHT

‘Snowbirds are people who migrate from colder regions of the United Sates and Canada to sunny spots in Florida, Arizona, and other sunbelt States every year.’

This will be our 11th Snowbird year coming up and for a fella who wanted to go full-timing back in 2008 what are my thoughts now 9 years later.  Do I regret we did not hit the road full time or in hindsight am I satisfied things have worked out the way they did and we kept our home in Bayfield?  Well it’s a bit of a mixed bag of course but in the long run I’m glad things worked out the way they did and we stuck with the Snow Bird lifestyle.  Now had we gone full-time I might be sitting in the Motorhome typing this from somewhere other than Bayfield Ontario saying how glad I was we had decided on the full-time lifestyle.  It’s one of those things we will never know so I can only speak from the perspective of where we are now.

We are both very happy we did not give up our house and sell or give away all our stuff.  We both believe strongly in a home base and with health issues becoming increasingly uncertain and drawing closer each year we are thankful we are established in a place and an area we are happily comfortable in.  We do like the comforts a sticks and bricks offers and we are made very aware of that twice a year when we leave for the southwest to live in our Motorhome for 5 or 6 months and then return home in the early Spring.  And it is that return each year that makes Snow Birding our overwhelming choice of lifestyle.  Such an absolutely great feeling after living in the smaller confining spaces of an RV to be able to park it and walk into our house once again.  Now our mobile is not like a big spacey house but it’s sure a heck of a lot bigger than our Motorhome.

‘HOW’S ABOUT A LITTLE SMOOCH TOOTS’

‘WELL MAYBE’

‘MMMMMM I’M LIKING THIS

‘HEY SLOW DOWN THERE BIG FELLA’

‘AWWW COME ON NOT IN MY EAR’

‘WELL ALRIGHTY THEN’

From a psychological point of view the two major Spring and Fall lifestyle changes each year is definitely one of the main reasons I much prefer Snow Birding.  Two big seasonal changes to look forward and for people like me who become bored easily with ‘same old - same old’ it’s a lifesaver.  For the past 10 years we have experienced those changes and it’s unimaginable to me now to think of spending 365 days in either an RV or a house.   So like many have said, ‘we have the best of both worlds’ and I do truly believe that.  But…….here’s the downside if one is very financially minded.

WHO’S THIS LITTLE FELLOW??

WHY IT’S MR. BLUEJAY OF COURSE

Back in 2006 had we not decided to buy an RV and pursue a Snowbirding RV lifestyle we would certainly have a pile more money in the bank for sure and we’d likely have been able to find our little dream house and property in the country.   Had we decided to sell our house and embrace the full time RV lifestyle we would for sure still have a pile more money in the bank.  But it’s a choice one makes and where one sets one’s priorities.  We decided early on in 2006 sitting in the house 365 days a year was something neither one of us had any interest in whatsoever.  We had a few extra dollars in our pocket and even knowing trying to keep our house plus buy an RV and travel half the year was going to stretch us very thin we decided it was the right thing for us to do.  And oh boy have we been stretched thin but by golly we’re still going and looking back we would both make that very same house/RV decision all over again.  Here’s an informative link about Snowbirding.  The Best Of Both Worlds.

So Okay where’s the bottom line here??  Well I guess it’s this.  We’re thankful to still have our house, we’re thankful we still have our RV and we are thankful we are still able to spend half a year here and half a year there.  I am personally thankful for the two different lifestyles we are able to live.  Our more relaxed and stable lifestyle here in Bayfield Ontario and our more excitingly adventuress lifestyle way out there in the wild and wooly deserts, mountains, and forests of the great American Southwest.

One other thing which maybe puts both Kelly’s and my personalities in perspective and kinda shoves every thing into a nutshell.  By late 2011 and early 2012 after traveling the winter months in our Motorhome we were beginning to tire of being in the Motorhome all the time and that’s when Congress Arizona came along and we bought a house there.  Oh how excited we were those first couple years working on the house fixing everything up and oh how we looked forward to getting there each Fall.  It was so great to pull into our yard after a long hard journey and just walk into the house and spread ourselves out.  It was about the third year after we had everything fixed up nice enough to suit ourselves that we again began to tire with the ‘same old – same old’ routines.  Boredom began to set in on both of us and we knew the writing was again on the wall.  We both felt the need for change again and with some health issues bubbling up and the growing political situation rapidly changing in the States we figured it was best that we sell our house and property and divest ourselves of any obligations and responsibilities south of the border.   It was time to get ourselves back on the road again.  And that is what we did and that is where we are now.  As much as we loved our Congress Arizona house we are both very relieved to be free of any ties.  We are once again foot loose and fancy free:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( When a customer left his cell phone in my store, I scrolled through his saved numbers, stopped at 'Mom' and pushed send. His mother answered, and I told her what happened. 'Don't worry,' she said, 'I'll take care of it.' A few minutes later, the cell phone rang. It was 'Mom.' 'Martin,' she said, 'you left your cell phone at the convenience store.'

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- Psychiatrist to Billy: Do you ever hear someone speaking but you are not able to see them?
Billy: Yes.
Psychiatrist: When does this happen?
Billy: When I am speaking on the phone.

- “The leopard tried creeping up on the water buffalo using its camouflage but it was spotted.”

- "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said the teacher. The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what pregnant means?" she asked. "Sure," said the young boy, confidently. "Means carrying a child."

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Knock knock.

Who’s there?

Dozen.

Dozen who?

Dozen anyone wanna let me in?