Showing posts with label Hensall Ontario. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hensall Ontario. Show all posts

Friday, October 15, 2010

LOOKING BACK ON A SCHOOL BUS STORY:))

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MAX, CHECKERS & I WERE BEING WATCHED ON THE TRAIL THIS MORNING

No mobility van drives so it turned out to be a day of home & Motor Home puttering.  Just a lot of small things again.  Packing this here & moving that there.  Dusted off both my cowboy hats this afternoon & put them in the rig.  Can't wear big cowboy hats around these parts or people would point & stare figuring I had escaped from a correctional center or something.  Standard head gear is a baseball hat here in the northern latitudes but down south.......Hi Yo Silver, it's cowboy hats all the way:)))))

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TOOK THIS UFO PHOTO AT SUNSET LAST WEEK WEST OF EXETER, ONTARIO.

And here's something I never thought about.

ME & MY DOG had a post Thursday regarding publishing posts, editing, re-editing etc. I sure hope this isn't happening with my posts but maybe it is because I am in the habit of re-publishing my blog if & when I find errors in it. Nobody has ever brought it to my attention yet, but........

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SEEN IN GODERICH ONTARIO......SELF EXPLANATORY  (tonight's photos are a mish mosh of pics)DSC_8507 

Now, time for a little backtracking.  I should have explained in Thursday night's blog that the fellow who's air line I stepped on was just fine.  I had picked him up at home & transported him to the hospital for an appointment.  People who have home oxygen are well instructed on the care & use of their equipment so when the oxygen hose was abruptly pulled out the fellow just simply re-inserted it & I helped put the 'over the ears' holding line back on.  He wasn't bothered by it all & I think the only one feeling bad was me for not noticing the long plastic & transparent oxygen hose trailing out from behind the wheelchair.  Good thing it wasn't an IV line eh!!

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I THINK THIS FORGOTTEN LITTLE CORVETTE HAS SEEN THE LAST OF IT'S LIFE ON THE ROAD

And to backtrack a little further to my Boondocking post, I was talking about refilling the fresh water tank while out in the desert.  RETIRED ROD suggests....."There are also some 40 or 50 gallon bladders available that you can put in the back of your truck to bring fresh water out to your site.  Some folks will take a RV water pump and rig it up so they can pump the water directly into their rig's tank.  Plug the water pump into the cigarette lighter socket and off load the entire tank!  Most folks go to town at least every other day, so running out of water shouldn't happen!" 

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GYPSY was wondering if we needed the generator on while Boondocking to run the A/C & my answer to this is, 'yes.'  In the 4 years we have had the Motor Home we probably wouldn't even have 3 hour's running time on either of our A/C's.  Hot humid days are not a problem in the Southwest during the winter.  Our windows & doors are always open so it's rare for us to use A/C 

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ONE OF EXETER'S WHITE SQUIRRELS...(only had my small point & shoot with me)

And a note regarding the AM 740 ZOOMER RADIO   site.  When you open the site just look to the top right for a large round gray button that will say, 'On the Air.'  Click that & you should be able to hear the station.   The Zoomer's club is on the site as well but you do not have to join that to hear Zoomer radio.  I should also mention in regards to my 'photo organization' blog that my main confusion is in trying to organize my photos into my Smug Mug site.  I always categorize my photos by month & year taken.  I don't break them down into categories like flowers, sunsets, family, etc.  All the pics I take in 'September 2010' are in a folder by the same name.  Someone asked about photo storage in web albums & yes, Picasa has their own web albums which I have been using since I started all this.  Just type in Picasa Web Albums to Google & you will find the site.  My Picasa Web Albums are here.....  BAYFIELD BUNCH'S PICASA WEB ALBUMS  I hope that catches me up on some of the questions.  I still have some emails to send regarding others.

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AWWWW NUTS, I RAN INTO A SNOW DRIFT WITH THE MOBILITY VAN IN HENSALL ONTARIO THURSDAY!!

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SNOW FROM THE REFRIGERATION UNIT IN THE ARENA:))

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On my way home from Exeter Thursday I followed along behind a school bus for awhile.  Watching the little kids get off at one stop I was reminded of my school bus driving days & the time a public school principal from the East Wawanosh Public School in Belgrave Ontario had to come out the bus & give me a scolding.  Before I had my own school bus run in this area I would often fill in on routes where other drivers were off on medical leaves, etc.  It was late March 2005 when I took over a bus route from an older lady who finally retired driving the same school bus route since Abe Lincoln was a small boy.  I was told she ran a totally strict bus with absolutely no Tom Foolery or shenanigans going on.  It was a quiet bus & it was a disciplined bus.  The crew was made up of about 30 small children & 5 young teenagers.  By the time I put on my Captain's hat & slid into the driver's seat I had no idea what I was in for.

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THIS WAS MY 'KIDS' SCHOOL BUS  

It was the one & only time in my entire life I had ever interacted with or been responsible for a group of children.  Never happened before & has never happened since.  I was a fish out of water & had no idea what to do except drive the bus & that's what I did for those first few quiet days.  The thought did occur to me that, how is it possible to have so many kids together without any noise.  The first few days I would say 'good morning' to the kids getting on the bus but few of them had much of a response.  I think it was about the third day when a little girl sitting directly behind me finally spoke.  She asked me who I was.  (guess I hadn't told them)  Well, with that simple little question, the ice was broken.  I basically operate with a kid's imagination at the best of times anyway so I answered her with marvelous great story of some kind.  Well, that did it.  There was laughter coming from behind me.  More questions & more zany answers.  Pretty soon the questions were zanier than the answers, the stage was set, & for the next 3 months or so anybody could have heard our bus coming from a country mile away.  It was a bus filled with laughter, kibitzing & kids just being kids.  And there was me, right in the middle of it, the biggest kid of them all.  And then.....the hammer came down:((

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DIFFERENT BUS ROUTE BUT YEP, THAT'S ME IN THE SHADOW THERE ALIGHT

I was parked in front of the school one fine spring afternoon waiting for the kids to come piling out & onto the bus.  Checked my passenger mirror & saw the young lady principal coming along the sidewalk.  She swung up into the bus with a friendly "Hello Al."  The next words out of her mouth were, "I've had complaints about what is going on aboard your bus!!" but it was the next thing she said that totally floored me.  She said the complaints were placed by the 5 teen-agers on the bus!!  She explained how those 5 teens had been riding this same bus since the day they started school way back when.  For all those years they were not allowed out of their seats, no loud voices, no acting up & no having the kind of fun kids like to have.  Anybody who has ever watched Southpark & seen the school bus driver, Miss Crabtree, will understand.  Those teens on my bus were totally resentful at what all the kids were getting away with now & having the fun they were never allowed to have.  They were resentful of the noise, the laughter, & the freedom.

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A FEW VIEWS FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT....is it any wonder we like to go south!!

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(click pics to enlarge) 

The principal was very good about it all & just asked me to quiet things down on the bus a bit & get a handle on the circus like atmosphere.  I told her 'no problem' & she headed on back into the school.  The only thing that saved me from her having to come out & talk to me about the rowdy bus problem was the fact it was only a short time until the end of the school year because you know what......right up until the last day of school, anybody could have still heard us coming a good country mile away:)))))))))

BELOW IS SOME OF MY MOTLEY CREW ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (click to enlarge)

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THIS IS THE LITTLE GIRL WHO BROKE THE ICE & THAT'S 'NOISY NICK' WHO GAVE ME THE HARDEST TIME OF THE WHOLE BUNCH!!

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Say, have I blogged about the time I got called up on the carpet because of a snowball fight on my school bus.  Or the time police called the bus company about one of there unmarked cars being mooned by teenagers riding in the back of a school bus.  Yep, that was my bus alright & I was in trouble over that one too:((  And have I shown you pics of the time 'Snoopy' rode the school bus:)) 

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OH, & ABOUT THAT UFO PHOTO EARLIER....IT WAS JUST A CLOUD ANOMALY:))

GROANER'S CORNER:))  I urgently needed a few days off work, but, I knew the Boss would not allow me to take a leave.  I thought that maybe if I acted 'Crazy' then he would tell me to take a few days off.  So I hung upside-down on the ceiling and made funny noises. My co-worker (who's blonde) asked me what I was doing.  I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb so that the Boss would think I was 'Crazy' and give me a few days off.  A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked, 'What in the name of good GOD are you doing?'  I told him I was a light bulb.  He said, 'You are clearly stressed out.' Go home and recuperate for a couple of days.'  I jumped down and walked out of the office...  When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her, '..And where do you think you're going?!'

She said, 'I'm going home, too. I can't work in the dark.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

Until one has loved an Animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS

http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

Friday, June 04, 2010

FINALLY.....A NEW CAMERA LENS:))

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THIS WAS THE WAY OF THE OLD WEST

Tonight's photos are a random sampling of pictures from the day we dropped into RATTLESNAKE CRAFTS near Gleason & Tombstone Arizona this past winter.

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SELF PORTRAIT IN A GLASS BALL

With the exception of some weed whacking this morning I didn't get much done around home today but I did get a few things done a whole bunch of miles away.

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CHATTING IT UP WITH THE RATTLESNAKE MAN HIMSELF..................... JOHN WEBER

I have been thinking for over a year now about trading my 55-200mm  Nikon camera lens in for a new 70-300mm lens.  Been watching the prices on a particular lens for quite awhile & finally it went on sale so it was out the door & off to Henry's Camera Store in Masonville Mall, London Ontario this morning.  I did have an alternative reason for going as well because yesterday I while on the way to & from London with the mobility van I had spotted a Jeep Wrangler for sale in the little town of Hensall.  

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MY NEW AF-S VR NIKKOR 70-300 f4.5-5.6 G IF-ED ZOOMERGATOR LENS:)) (fully extended)

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AN ANTIQUE BROWSER'S PARADISE

The Jeep turned out to be a 2001 with a ka-zillion million miles on it plus rust spots so that was the end of that.  Proceeded on to London.  I have blogged before about dealing with some of the 'kids' in retail stores so I didn't go through the door with a lot of optimism going for me.  Computer & camera type stores usually have those young wiz bangs behind the counter who no doubt know their 'technical' stuff but don't seem to have a lot tact when dealing with older folks.  Luckily, this time I dealt with an older fellow by the name of Mike who didn't talk to me like I was some kind of old homeless geezer who just crawled in off the street & didn't know which end of a camera to look through anyway.  I traded in my 55-200 lens plus a 2x Tamron converter.  I didn't expect to get much for them.....and I didn't.  In retrospect I probably should have kept that lens as a spare because there was nothing wrong with it.  It had a lot of miles on it for sure but still worked fine.  Like I've said before.....I'm not the brightest crayon in the package sometimes!!

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IT WAS JUST NICE TO STAND HERE LISTENING TO ALL THESE HANGING ANTIQUES TINKLING IN THE DESERT WIND

The new 70-300 lens is much bigger than I had expected but that's fine.  I'm from the old school where heavier feels better.  I know I'm going to love this lens & I'm hoping to get in a bit closer on those bugs & bird shots now.

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Leaving the camera store I got the brainwave to head on over to a Stratford Ontario auto dealership that had some Wranglers on the lot.  Looked at a couple nice 2007's but the prices were enough to pull your pants down & I could not believe the low ball price the guy offered me for the Caravan.  It was $1,300.00 lower than the lowest offer I have had on the van so far. 

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Headed on back to Bayfield stopping at a few car lots on the way but no Jeeps in sight.  Also stopped in Goderich to take that red 2005 TJ for another run.  It's a 4 cylinder 6 speed & I like it but Kelly is not keen on it.  This is the only place that will take the bike on a trade.  Yes, I could maybe get a few more dollars for the motorcycle if I tried selling it myself but I absolutely hate all that 'bargaining & stupid dickering crap' you have to go through with everybody coming to look at whatever your selling.  Some people enjoy that BS but I am not one of them.  Nothing like haggling over money to bring out the worst in people!!

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The big spring rush is over at our front yard bird feeders for another year.   Activity is way down as the Cardinals, Blue Jays, Red Breasted Grosbeaks, Orioles, Nuthatches, & others have all but disappeared.  Still a few Goldfinches at the feeders, some sparrow type birds & of course the ever present all time front yard scavengers....the squirrels!!

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I unplugged our troublesome external hard drive from the desktop computer & hooked it up to our newer Win 7 Toshiba laptop this afternoon & it worked perfect.  Re-plugged it back into the desktop tonight using a different USB port this time & so far so good.  I'll know when I go to publish this thing in a few minutes.  Maybe it's not the X-drive after all.  Maybe it's just the color of my socks or something.

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NO, THE CACTUS IS NOT FOR SALE!!

I have finally decided to include my SMUG MUG photo gallery on the bottom tag line now.  It is nowhere near done, nor will it probably ever be done because I just have way too many thousands of photos to sort through.  But, it is a work in progress for sure.

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GROANER'S CORNER:((  Suburbia: where they tear out the trees and then name streets after them.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it......

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

Friday, May 21, 2010

HOW AM I EVER GOING TO RETAIN MY GRUMPINESS IF THINGS JUST KEEP GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME!!

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Think we have some rain headed our way & that is a good thing.  About 4 days back to back of any kind of weather is just about enough so I welcome the weather change.  Yep, atmospheric pressure variety is definitely the weather spice of life.

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A CARPET OF PERIWINKLE BESIDE OUR HOUSE

Had a short mobility van run this morning from one little town to another & that was about it for today.  Lots of farmer's on the field's with their big planting machines this time of year so the dust was just a flying in the county.  This whole southern Ontario area we live in is mainly agriculture with lots of farms & fields of green.

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THE DARKER VAN IS THE ONE I GENERALLY DRIVE

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OH OH, RADAR AHEAD.....NOPE, JUST A DUMMY CAR.  SEEN IN HENSALL, ONTARIO

Ever wonder what a real life oil man & fellow RVer does north of the Arctic Circle when he's not on the road with his rig?  Check out JOHN & BRENDA'S INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE

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If missing out on not having sweet potatoes fries at Fuddruckers wasn't bad enough, ROD & LOYCE arrived back at their rig in Des Moines Iowa to find water cascading out their rig's door & down the road.  Definitely not a couple of happy campers there!!

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GROANER'S CORNER:((  An RVer in a motorhome got hopelessly bogged down in an unexpected muddy hole along a dirt road. After a few minutes, a passing farmer drove by on his tractor and offered to pull him out for only $20. After the motorhome was back on dry ground, the RVer said to the farmer, "At those prices, I bet you're pulling vehicles out of this mud day and night."
"Nope," replied the farmer. "Night is when I haul water to fill up the hole again."

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.