WE WENT TO GODERICH TO BUY SOME SPRING FLOWERS AND CAME HOME WITH A LAWNMOWER...WHAT!!

PAPA CARDINAL FEEDS MAMA CARDINAL SOME SEEDS

Thunder woke me in the night and before long we had heavy rains drumming on our steel roof.  We soon saw neighbors floating by in canoes and rowboats.  Oh wait a minute....I think I dreamt that last part.  We did get a lot of rain though.

STORMY SKIES WERE UPON US THIS MORNING

FARMERS WON'T BE WORKING THEIR FIELDS TODAY

SPRING JUST KEEPS COMING UP GREEN

SO MANY NICE FARM PROPERTIES IN OUR AREA

TULIPS

Using the old tired excuse we were short of milk and bananas Pheebs and I headed off in the pouring rain in search of groceries.  Staying off the muddy country roads we headed for Goderich on our new rain tires.  Yes our new tires are rated highly for wet roads.  With scads of confidence we splashed our way along through puddles of water all the way.

LAKE HURON WAS RELATIVELY CALM TODAY

GODERICH SALT MINE

NORTH SIDE OF THE HARBOR

PHEEBS IS ALWAYS SO PATIENT WHILE I STEP OUT TO SNAP A FEW PICS

No sooner had we grabbed a coffee at McDonalds when our morning rains eased up leaving everything looking so refreshingly green.  Checked out both sides of the harbor through a few short lived sporadic showers.  There were signs of the lake level being very high

FOG HORNS I PRESUME

THIS IS A GOOD INDICATION OF HOW HIGH LAKE HURON WATERS ARE THIS YEAR

BOATS ARE SITTING HIGH ALONGSIDE THE ALMOST FLOODED OVER PIER

RAIN IS LASHING THE GODERICH HARBOR WATERS

'I'M STAYING IN THE JEEP WHERE I WON'T GET WET DAD'

Off to Wally-World for milk and bananas plus a hand full of other things.  Maitland Valley Cemetery is close to Walmart so we drove through there to the far North end where some nice hiking trails are located.  With one eye scouting out the soggy trail ahead and the other eye keeping watch on a stormy looking sky above Pheebs and I head us a nice walk.

A NICE WALKING AREA ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE MAITLAND VALLEY CEMETERY

AND THAT IS THE MAITLAND RIVER BELOW

EASY TO WALK TRAILS

Home again an hour later I waffled around a bit until Kelly mentioned she wouldn't mind having a look as some hanging flower baskets for our front porch.  Without further adieu we all piled into the Jeep and headed back up to the Canadian Tire Store in Goderich.  Kelly bought some flowers and I bought a lawnmower.  A what!!

THE BUNCH HEADS HOME WITH TREE HANGING FLOWER BASKETS....AND A LAWNMOWER

Awhile back when we decided to try growing something other than 'patchy' grass we settled on the idea of trying some White Clover.  Reading about the clover I noticed it grows in thick and should be kept mowed.  We haven't had a mower here for years for several reasons. Grass didn't grow well with all the shade plus I do not like noisy, fume belching, gas lawn mowers.  Had my fill of those aggravating contraptions years ago and don't want no part of them no more.  With battery technology growing in leaps and bounds a battery powered mower made a lot of sense to me for our small area.  No gas, no oil, no spark plugs, no chokes, no ropes to pull to get it going and very little maintenance.  Sounds like my kind of mower so the price was right and we bought one today.  Upon returning home I even managed to assemble the darn thing myself.  Charged the two 40 volt batteries, installed them in the mower, pressed a button, pulled a leaver, and it was up and running just as quietly smooth as it could be.  Groovy.  Although anxious to try it out I was stymied because of this afternoon's pouring rain.  And being a person who believes in keeping Sundays quiet I won't be firing it up tomorrow either even though it isn't noisy.  However, Monday morning I'll be out knocking on neighbor's doors saying, "Hey want me to cut your grass for free"  Okay-Okay, update here.  After writing the above the rains quit and I just couldn't hold myself back.  Not a good idea to mow wet grass but I just had to try it out a bit and that is what I did.  Double Groovy:))

KELLY TRIES OUT A YELLOW BEGONIA BESIDE OUR PRIVACY DIVIDER

NOW TO GET THAT MOWER OUT OF THE BOX AND ASSEMBLED.....WHAT ARE MY CHANCES

BY GOLLY I THINK I DID IT AND BELOW I CHECK THE ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS AFTER I HAVE ASSEMBLED IT

ONE OF OUR 3 FLOWER BASKETS TODAY

Kelly watched 'Little Red' make 3 nine foot leaps from the same shrub onto the bird station again this morning.  She also watched me out in the front yard later with stepladder and shears lopping off more shrub branches.  As of tonight it appears I am temporarily ahead again.   But of course the day isn't over yet.

I THINK 'LITTLE RED' IS DELIBERATELY TAUNTING ME HERE SAYING, 'BRING IT ON YA BIG DOORKNOB!!!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((    Differences Between Men & Women::
NICKNAMES: If Gloria, Suzanne, Debra and Michelle go out for lunch, they will call each other Gloria, Suzanne, Debra and Michelle. But if Mike, Phil, Rob and Jack go out for a brewsky, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head and Useless. EATING OUT: And when the check comes, Mike, Phil, Rob and Jack will each throw in $20 bills, even though it's only for $22.50. None of them will have anything smaller, and none will actually admit they want change back. When the girls get their check, out come the pocket calculators. 
BATHROOMS: A man has six items in his bathroom-a toothbrush, shaving cream, razor, a bar of Dial soap, and a towel from the Holiday Inn. The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 437. A man would not be able to identify most of these items. GROCERIES: A woman makes a list of things she needs and then goes out to the store and buys these things. A man waits till the only items left in his fridge are half a lime and a soda. Then he goes grocery shopping. He buys everything that looks good. By the time a man reaches the checkout counter, his cart is packed tighter than the Clampett's car on Beverly Hillbillies. Of course, this will not stop him from going to the 10-items-or-less lane. 
SHOES: When preparing for work, a woman will put on a Mondi wool suit, then slip on Reebok sneakers. She will carry her dress shoes in a plastic bag from Saks. When a woman gets to work, she will put on her dress shoes. Five minutes later, she will kick them off because her feet are under the desk. A man will wear the same pair of shoes all day. CATS: Women love cats. Men say they love cats, but when women aren't looking, men kick cats. DRESSING UP: A woman will dress up to: go shopping, water the plants, empty the garbage, answer the phone, read a book, get the mail. A man will dress up for: weddings, funerals. 
LAUNDRY: Women do laundry every couple of days. A man will wear every article of clothing he owns, including his surgical pants that were hip about eight years ago, before he will do his laundry. When he is finally out of clothes, he will wear a dirty sweatshirt inside out, rent a U-Haul and take his mountain of clothes to the Laundromat. Men always expect to meet beautiful women at the Laundromat. This is a myth perpetuated by re-runs of old episodes of "Love, American Style." 
OFFSPRING: Ah, children. A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments and soccer games and romances and best friends and favorite foods and secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house. 
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