Wednesday, December 29, 2021

WHEN NORMAL WAS SO REFRESHINGLY NORMAL

 AND THIS ABOUT SUMS UP MY AFTERNOONS
We woke up to snow on the ground again this morning but with rising temps, a lot of it was gone by the end of the day.  It's been a different kind of a winter season so far with small amounts of snow followed by melting.  That process keeps repeating itself.  Luckily, there were no big winds today but it felt cold and damp outside anyway.  More like late March or November days.

 IT'S VERY RARE TO SEE FREE RANGING CHICKENS BUT I SAW THESE FREE RANGERS OUT FREERANGING THEMSELVES ALL OVER THE PLACE
It had been nearly a week since Pheebs and I took a drive up to Goderich and I almost needed my GPS to tell me how to get there.  Well, not really, but the thought did enter my mind.  A gas stop, coffee to go at McDonalds and down to the south harbor we went.  The bank restoration work has finished up for now so with nobody there Pheebs and I took a muddy walk along the shoreline for a short distance.  They have been doing a good job at shoring up the eroded bank in that area.  A stop at Zehr's supermarket netted me a few groceries and before heading home we slipped through A&W and scooped us a $2.19 Buddy Burger.

FOR SOME FARMERS THE LAND IS STILL WORKABLE

 PHEEBS AND I SURE GOT OURSELVES MUDDIED UP WALKING ALONG HERE
THEY ARE DOING A GREAT JOB REBUILDING THE ERODED SHORELINE WITH TONS AND TONES OF ROCKS
 THIS SMALL BRIDGE ALONG THE WAY WILL HAVE TO BE EITHER REPAIRED OR REPLACED.
 AND I'M GLAD THIS LARGE MARBLE ROCK WASN'T DAMAGED BY ALL THE NEARBY RUMBLING MACHINERY MONSTERS MASHING AROUND CLOSE BY
The last time we were in Goderich a week ago I saw something odd on one of the streets.  A young boy walking along the sidewalk.  Well, what's so odd about that?  There wasn't anything unusual about this boy, no fancy colored clothes or bizarre Iroquois haircut to catch my attention.  Just a normal boy walking down the street.  But here's the odd thing that occurred to me.  When was the last time I saw any young people outside walking down the street whether by themselves, in a group, or just hanging out somewhere on a street corner or wherever.  I drew a blank on that question.  How different nowadays to when I was that young lad's age.  We small-town kids in Tavistock Ontario were always outside going somewhere or hanging around uptown.  We all had bicycles and we all used them.  It would seem unusual for someone driving through our town not to see some kids outside somewhere along the way whether walking, playing, hanging out, or tooling around on their bikes.  My oh my how things have changed.  It was not how this young boy I saw looked, how he was walking, what he was wearing, or what he might have been carrying.  What caught my eye was the simple fact of seeing something as unusual as a young person 'outside'.  To me, it was a page out of my yesteryear.  You know, when normal was so refreshingly normal..............

GROANER'S CORNER:((   The Reverend Francis Norton woke up Sunday morning and realizing it was an exceptionally beautiful and sunny early spring day, decided he just had to play golf.  So... he told the Associate Pastor that he was feeling sick and convinced him to say Mass for him that day. As soon as the Associate Pastor left the room, Father Norton headed out of town to a golf course about forty miles away. This way he knew he wouldn't accidentally meet anyone he knew from his parish.  Setting up on the first tee, he was alone. After all, it was Sunday morning and everyone else was in church!  At about this time, Saint Peter leaned over to the Lord while looking down from the heavens and exclaimed, "You're not going to let him get away with this, are you?"  The Lord sighed, and said, "No, I guess not." Just then Father Norton hit the ball and it shot straight towards the pin, dropping just short of it, rolled up and fell into the hole. It WAS A 420 YARD HOLE IN ONE!  St. Peter was astonished. He looked at the Lord and asked, "Why did you let him do that?"  The Lord smiled and replied, "Who's he going to tell?"

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P.S. Thanks to Jeff's comment for letting me know my Tuesday night Borrego Springs link didn't work.  I was able to fix it and at least a couple interested people were able to look at it.
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5 comments:

  1. Looks like a good way to spend the afternoon to me!

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  2. I'd sure like to know how you get so many cardinals to your feeders. I live out in the country too and I buy bird seed that says for cardinals. I sometimes hear them but they don't frequent my feeders. I'm so disappointed about that.

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  3. Cardinals especially like cedar trees and we have cedars in our front yard within only a few feet from our feeders. They also seem to like an elevated and safe platform to land on hence our bird station. With the tall pine trees all around us and small trees in our yard there is much protection for them from larger flying predators. The birdseed we buy here in Bayfield is not the same as what is sold at Walmart etc. And that makes a big difference as well. This afternoon we had 4 male cardinals and 3 females all visible at one time. They were darting back and forth between the bird station and the cedar trees. At this time of year our feeders are most active when it's snowing or there's a snow storm going on. We probably have half a dozen Juncos to every Cardinal. Also, a few Black Cap Chickadees, a couple Mourning Doves, a few Goldfinches and a healthy smattering of Blue Jays especially when we put peanuts out. Good luck with your birds. Don't give up:))

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  4. Luxury in the recliner in a room with lots of windows and a stove. (I know, you're not out roaming around, but there's something to be said for such a rich life, and your mind is engaged at any rate! Or I am assuming it is. Haha.)

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  5. I would have posted that your link didn't work yesterday, however we blamed it on the slow RV Park wifi connection and thought we'd try another day. Great shots and the area is definitely on our bucket list thanks to you! You got the local bird population well trained and they know where to come for food!

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