Sunday, March 08, 2020

TUNDRA SWANS, ROCK KETTLES AT KETTLE POINT AND THE BEST MORNING GLORY MUFFINS OF EVER IN GRAND BEND ONTARIO

A LARGE ROCK KETTLE AT KETTLE POINT ALONG THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON
So did I remember to turn the clocks ahead Saturday night??  Nope I did not.  Kelly reminded me about it in the morning.  Would I be in favor of doing away with the twice yearly changing of clocks??  Yes I would.  I see the changing of clocks each year as an unnecessary personal affront to my already over taxed and challenged memory.
UPON ARRIVING HOME FRIDAY AFTER GETTING OUR SUMMER TIRES PUT ON OUR JEEP'S HATCH WOULD NOT OPEN SO HERE'S OUR CHIEF RESIDENT MECHANIC TAKING THE INNER PANEL OFF TO HAVE A LOOK AT THINGS
YUP SHE'S ALMOST GOT IT OFF
'YAY TEAM'
AND THE LITTLE DARLIN EVEN GOT THE HATCH DOOR OPEN BUT ALAS WE WERE NOT ABLE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM AND THINK MAYBE A MICRO SWITCH HAS TO BE REPLACED....BY THE WAY, KELLY WATCHED A 'YOU TUBE' VIDEO ON HOW TO DO ALL THIS
It was all three of us in the Jeep early this morning as we headed south.  No, not to Arizona but just south of Grand Bend.  Three days ago while outside I heard a different bird sound high in the sky above and new right away what it was.  Tundra Swans and sure enough as I looked up I saw three small groups of them heading south.  One of their favorite stop over spots is the Thedford Bog area a few miles south of Grand Bend and that is where we were headed.  And sure enough we found us a bunch of Tundra Swans.
HERE'S PHEEBS AND I DRIVING MISS KELLY
TUNDRA SWANS
From the Thedford Bog we headed further south along Lake Huron and cruised through the Port Franks area.  Lots of memories for me from back in the early 60's when a few of we Tavistock boys would hang out a bit at a friends parents cottage there.  I think I have blogged a few times in the past about some of our adventures in and around Port Franks.
SPOTTED THIS CURIOUS LOOKING BOAT NEAR THE PORT FRANKS MARINA  BUT CAN'T QUITE FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS USED FOR
HAS A LARGE CRANE ON THE BACK FOR MAYBE LIFTING FISH NETS??
PARTS OF THE PORT FRANKS INLAND WATERWAY IS STILL FROZEN
Still heading south following along the Lake Huron shoreline we stopped here and there to climb over a few sand dunes to the beach.  Lots of nice cottages and homes along the way nestled into the pine and cedar forests.  
THAT POINT OF LAND ON THE HORIZON JUTTING OUT INTO THE LAKE TOP LEFT IS KETTLE POINT AND THAT IS OUR DESTINATION 
STOPPED TO WALK UP AND OVER SOME SAND DUNES TO THE LAKE
KELLY IS BUNDLED UP AGAINST A COLD ICY WIND COMING IN ACROSS THE LAKE
THESE PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE OUT THERE ON THE SHORELINE ICE MOUNDS....VERY DANGEROUS!!
PHEEBS GETS THE COLD SHOULDER FROM MR. FANCY PANTS WALKING BY
INDIAN BANDS LIVING IN THIS AREA CENTURIES AGO WERE KNOWN FOR MAKING ARROW HEADS AND CUTTING TOOLS FROM THESE SHALE LIKE ROCKS FOUND ALONG THE SHORELING IN ABUNDANCE
IT'S EASY TO SEE HOW ARROW OR SPEAR HEADS COULD BE MADE FROM THESE ROCKS
Our turn around destination was Kettle Point where surrounding lands have a history with Indian people going back a few centuries. Kettle Point History.  Kettle point of course is well known for it's Kettles.
HERE WE ARE AT KETTLE POINT..... OUR DESTINATION TODAY

KELLY LOOKS AT A ROCK KETTLE THAT HAS SPLIT IN HALF
THERE ARE A NUMBER OF THESE ROUND KETTLE ROCKS HERE BUT MOST OF THEM RIGHT NOW ALONG THE SHORE LINE BELOW ARE COVERED EITHER BY SNOW OR HIGH LAKE LEVELS
SOME OF THE KETTLES ARE OUT THERE CLOSE TO THE SHORE UNDER SNOW AND WATER
CURIOUS HOW THOSE TWO TREES HAVE THEIR OWN TWO ICE MOUNDS 
I FIGURE WAVES HAVE SPASHED ICY WATER UP THERE ONTO THOSE TREES AND NOW WITH MILDER TEMPERATURES THE ICE MOUNDS HAVE DETACHED THEMSELVES FROM THE TREES AS THEY SLOWLY MELT
'OKAY PHEEBS TIME TO HEAD FOR HOME'
We were home again around 1 p.m. after a stop in Grand Bend at a coffee shop/bakery place Kelly likes called Highway Girl.  I gave up my muffin habit well over a month ago but I did break with that today when Kelly and I shared a morning glory muffin.  We have had these muffins here before and I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt these morning glory muffins are the best muffins OF EVER:))  If your in the Grand Bend area be sure to stop by the Highway Girl and have yourself a Morning Glory for sure.  She is located on the west side of the Grand Bend Post Office across the road from the Schoolhouse Restaurant.
Area temps ranged up to 50F today but of course here along the frozen shoreline of Lake Huron it was somewhat cooler but no matter because we had a lot of melting going on and the snow pack definitely went down.  Farmers fields all around are pretty much bare but here in our Park shadowed under many tall pine trees our snow is just about the very last to melt for miles around.  And had it not been so windy today we would very much have felt warmer temperatures.  
OUR PARKS POND STILL HAS ICE ON IT BUT IT COULD BE CLEAR IN A FEW DAYS
THE VERY LAST PATCH OF SNOW TO MELT AT OUR PLACE WILL BE THAT STRETCH ON RIGHT BECAUSE IT IS ON THE SHADOWED NORTH SIDE OF THE HOUSE 
Our little drive to see the Tundra Swans and Kettle Point this morning is more in line with our changing RV travels plans for the future.   It's a total unknown if we'll ever make it back to the Southwest again but we know we can at least do a lot of exploring during the Spring, Summer, And Fall months right around southwestern Ontario here and it's the reason we're looking for something smaller than the big Motorhome we had.  Never thought I'd ever say this but I wish we had our little 2013 Class C Chevy Sunseeker back again.  (Bought that one in Quartzsite Arizona a few years back and oh my what a nightmare that whole deal turned out to be.  Another story for another time...….
MIGHT NOT BE TOO LONG BEFORE WE HAVE A ROARING BACK YARD CAMPFIRE GOING AGAIN
GROANER'S CORNER:(( During a terrible storm, all the highway signs were covered with snow. The following spring, the state decided to raise all the signs twelve inches at a cost of six million dollars. “That’s an outrageous price!” said a local farmer, “but I guess we’re lucky the state handled it instead of the federal government.” “Why’s that?” “Because knowing the federal government, they’d decide to lower the highways.”
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Two confirmed bachelors sat talking, their conversation drifted from politics to cooking.  'I got a cookbook once,' said one, 'but I could never do anything with it.''  Too much fancy work in it, eh?' asked the other.  'You said it. Every one of the recipes began the same way -- 'Take a clean dish...''
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9 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your daytrip! Thanks.

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  2. Looked like Pheebs had a bit of a smile on her face, probably thinking "Hey dad, we got her to sit in the back seat again..."

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  3. Thanks for the tour tips Al. We had planned to do much the same thing today (Monday) so very timely! Gord.

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  4. Thanks for the reminder about Daylight Savings Time. It completely skipped my mind, partly because I am in ARIZONA, which still uses God's time.

    But at least the time change explains why my smartphone and laptop were giving different times on Sunday morning.

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  5. A wonderful outing, thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the photos. I agree about the folks on the ice mounds, not smart.
    The boat could be a fishing boat and it was my first thought. On a second look I wonder if it has something to do with the placing and lifting of buoys?Not a lot of room for clearing nets and such on the deck but enough room to swing a buoy in and off the deck.
    Great job Kelly!!

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  6. A fishing net would weigh that boat under water with such low sides and that's without any fish in it... so that's not it - and though I do not know what it is, I can say that net hauler likely isn't it...

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  7. Those 'kettles' are fascinating! Great pictures of the swans too!

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  8. I'd say those uprights in the boat can be lowered into the water to anchor the boat on the bottom - like some oil rigs do - so it can remain stationary and solid to do whatever it is that it does!

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