PIONEER PARK'S STAIRWAY TO THE BEACH
What a welcome bonus it was to wake up this morning in the exact same place I had gone to bed last night. That could only mean one thing.....I had finally had myself a decent night's sleep thanks to the codeine in the Dimetapp medicine I took last night. Am definitely feeling a bit better today & will hopefully be totally out of this thing by the time my anti-biotic program ends in another 9 days.
Sleep has been a problem for me this past 7 or 8 years & it was one of the things discussed with my NP yesterday. She has already scheduled me back to the Medical Center next week for blood tests regarding cholesterol etc, followed by another consultation on Sept 13th to work on my sleep disorder problem amongst other things........ Now, I think that's just about enough about all this medical stuff for awhile. It seems my posts have become focused on this health issue over the past week & a half & I think it's time I moved myself forward.
Had the doggy guys on the trail this morning by 7:15 & when we got back I decided it was time I spent a little extra effort & fixed myself up a fine breakfast for a change. Right from scratch I toasted myself up a nice stack of Eggo Waffles. It sure pays off to go the extra mile for oneself once & awhile. I can be quite a little creative food connoisseur when I want to be you know.
BAYFIELD'S MAIN BEACH CAN BE SEEN AT TOP CENTER
For lunch I squeaked myself into town & picked up a 6" Tuna sub (turning out to be quite a foody blog eh) to go & headed for Bayfield's quiet Pioneer Park which overlooks Lake Huron. Ate two thirds of the sub & saved the rest for my furry Pals back home. Took a few pics, drove down to the harbor, took a few more & headed back home. It was sooooo nice to get out of the house for an hour & do something different for a change. Am looking forward to getting the bike out for a spin again soon too. Also realized today that I had better get scrambling on the Motor Home's preparation for this coming winter's travels. A long list of things to be attended to & I don't want to get myself caught in a last minute crunch thing.
A TRIO OF GUYS IN PERPETUAL MOTION:))
Noticed we have a couple new Bayfield Bunch followers on our list so would like to welcome heyduke50 aboard along with MARGIE & ROGER down there in Florida. I do try & keep a variety of interesting posts going folks so hopefully you will find something from time to time that may perk your interest.
A CALM DAY ANCHORED JUST OFF BAYFIELD'S BEACH
And RETIRED ROD left a comment on yesterday's post that left me a bit concerned for a few seconds. In it he say's, "And lets hope the pills get your wits back about you, and you finally get over the stuff. We need you railing on something soon. Can't have all these yes mam posts, they are not the Al we know.".......... Well, if a solution is found to my nearly decade long lack of sleep problem in the coming weeks, will this mean I may run the risk of losing my......grumpiness!! Could more sleep possibly be the end of my realistic thinking & maybe push me over the edge into that unrealistic group of positive thinkers I am always so careful to avoid. Could it put my Cursmudgeon status into question. Would it mean one less person in the world to objectively look at the negative side of things hoping to maintain some kind of balance with the smiley face gang on the other end of the teeter totter. Well Rod, I can tell you this, sick or not, sleep or no sleep, I yam who I yam & that probably isn't going to change. I will always see things as they realistically are & not as the world's do gooder's & scam artists would have us think & believe they are. Not to worry my friend:))
THE 'BOYS' HEADING BACK FROM THE BEACH
GROANER'S CORNER:(( And remember, Never explain yourself to anyone because the person who likes you doesn't need to hear it and the person who dislikes you won't believe you anyway.....And for sure you know your getting older when you & your teeth don't sleep together anymore!!
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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UN-AWAKENED"
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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.
It was a Monday morning & the local employment center had sent me over to a store called Bennett's Furniture & Appliances. The helper on their local delivery truck had just been terminated the previous Friday & they needed a new Swamper. (the helper person on a 2 man delivery truck) The stores truck was commonly referred to as a Ford Cabover & had a hydraulic lift on the back. To me it was a large truck because I had to climb up & into it & the whole thing reminded me of a big boxy looking dinosaur because it was all painted green. 
I met the driver who went by the name of Garth. He showed me around & we were soon working to-gether loading the back of the truck with the morning's deliveries. Some furniture pieces & a couple of appliances I think. I also became aware of Garth's discontent with the store as we headed out with our load. All morning long Garth went on with his concerns, complaints, rants, & ravings. Seems his previous swamper was also his best friend & Garth was unhappy that the store had let him go. We finished up the morning's deliveries & headed back to the store. Garth threaded the large truck up an alley & maneuvered it around until he was able to back into the loading dock. I wondered at the time how he was able to move such a large truck around in such a small space. Little did I know that I was about to find out........... real quick. With a flurry of unkind words about Bennett's he tossed me the keys, opened his door, & with the words, "I quit" he was gone & I never did see the guy again. 
The head sales fellow was my immediate boss in the store had the nickname of Sparky & as I walked back into the store with the news about the driver quitting I soon found out why he was called Sparky. Sparks flew alright!!!! He was a very hyper man & I caught the brunt of his fireworks about the driver quitting. He thrust a pile of bills in my hand & told me to get out there & start loading the truck with the afternoon's deliveries while he called manpower to get another fellow sent over. I assumed he was hiring another driver........but no, he hired a new swamper. Suddenly, I was the new driver!! 
There was no point in telling Sparky I had never driven a truck or anything bigger than a car before because he would have squashed me into the floor like a bug. In fact I was to learn there was no telling Sparky anything, ever!! So with that in mind I climbed up into the driver's side of the big stake truck & just sat there looking around at the vastness of mechanical space around me. Had never seen a gearshift lever that long before or a steering wheel that big. There were buttons & switches here & there that were definitely foreign. The road seemed a long way down & the far corner of the windshield seemed an acre away. Before I could get myself too scared or talk myself out of it, the passenger door opened & a young fellow hauled himself up into the cab with a big friendly, "Hi, my name's Frank & I'm your new Swamper." New Swamper?? Hell, it was only a few hours before that I was the new Swamper:(( 
Not wanting to let on to Frank that I had never driven a truck before I tried to look as professional as I could, but as soon as I ground the truck into some sort of forward gear & lurched away from the loading dock, the cat was out of the bag & Frank new what was up. Between the two of us we wiggled our way around & out the alley to the busy main street without breaking off any of the outside rearview mirrors or taking down any buildings. I do remember scaring the beejeebers out of some pedestrians though as we bumbled out of the alley. Managed to make our way up & down the streets of Vernon that afternoon, lurching in & out of driveways & around some of the local treacherous steep drop off roads in the Valley outside of town. By day's end though we had successfully completed all our deliveries without incident & returned the truck to the store........unscathed:)) No pats on the back from Sparky though......he was too busy snarling about the morning's deliveries already!!
I got onto that large truck pretty quickly & with Frank being a good swamper we went on to work well to-gether over the next little while. We did have a few incidents though where we dropped a brand new kitchen stove down a flight of outside stairs on Christmas Eve one day & another time when Frank jumped out of the truck as I slid helplessly backwards down an ice slicked laneway with a steep drop-off on one side. But, in the long run we did OK & never put so much as a scratch on that big old dinosaur of a truck (well, none that we admitted to anyway) despite it's intimidating size to a little Volkswagon beetle driver from a small town in Ontario..........................:)) 