YEP, I SURE LIKES MY MUSIC ALRIGHT:)))))

 

A FEW PHOTOS TONIGHT FROM OUR TRAVELS THIS MORNING
In a comment question about my Friday post on the ICECULTURE company in Hensall Ontario The Furry Gnome in part asks, ' How did it ever end up in Hensall?  To the best of my memory this is how I think our guide told us how it all got started.  A local fellow who in fact may have been from Hensall first had a business in the area called 'Pine Tree BBQ’. While visiting someone he noticed some kind of a machine sitting under a stairwell.  Turns out the machine was a 'not in use' tub type ice making device.  This fellow took that machine home, figured out how to use it & soon began making ice bowls for local weddings etc.  The demand grew & before long a fledgling ice making company grew into what & where it is today.

WHEAT FIELDS AWAITING HARVEST

Some days ya just can't win for losing & I thought of that old saying when I read Jerry's latest post at Our Life On Wheels.  He & Suzy just seem to be having a hard time catching a break on their first trip out with their new to them Prowler Travel Trailer.  RVing can be like that & not all days are going to be wondrously perfect or even anywhere near up to snuff.  Our trip to the south-west last Fall & our trip home this past Spring were both good examples of some not so great days.  Problems with the rig & Kelly's health on the way down & again problems with the rig on the way home again.  We have our fingers crossed all the bugs are out of our coach now but realistically we know that bugs are commonplace with most if not all homes on wheels.  It’s just the nature of Recreational Vehicles.

AM STILL PHOTOGRAPHING BARNS & WILL UPDATE MY ‘OLD BARNS’ ALBUM SHORTLY…..THINK I HAVE ABOUT ANOTHER 50 BARNS OR SO

LIKED THIS HORSES COLORFUL SOCKS…HORSE IS COVERED TO THWART BITING DEER FLIES & OTHER PESKY BUGS

With a 50% chance of rain this afternoon Pheebs & I slipped up to Goderich this morning checking on a for sale cottage property fronting Lake Huron on the way.  When it comes to Real Estate in these parts one sure doesn't get much for their dollar anymore.  Just makes me shake my head at the prices some people want for their run down homes & properties.  Slid through McDonalds drive-thru & headed for the doggy walking beach.  With humidity building we didn't stay out too long.  Took the scenic way back to Bayfield making a couple short photo stops along the way.  With all the Jeep windows down we were home before having to switch on the A/C.

Cruising around in the Jeep it is our SiriusXM Satellite Radio Pheebs & I always listen to.  I kinda shuffle around between 4 channels.  053 CHILL, 058 WILLIE'S ROADHOUSE, 068 SPA, & 073 FORTIES BIG BAND.  Have recently added channel 071 SIRIUSLY SINATRA.  It’s not just all Frank Sinatra or his songs but other crooners as well like Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett & Andy Williams.  Ella Fitzgerald sometimes, Linda Ronstadt, Ray Charles & I even heard good old Willy Nelson singing ‘Blue Skies’ a couple days ago.  I sure love my music & although our SiriusXM radio subscription seems to climb higher every year it’s one of those things I gladly pay for.  Listening to commercial radio ended abruptly for me the first time I plugged in a SiriusXM Satellite Radio probably 10 years ago or more & heard the type of music I wanted to hear 24/7.  No more commercials & no more radio announcers.   Just keep that nice uninterrupted music coming SiriusXM & I thank you for the great piece of mind you bring me each & every time I turn you on.  And while I’m at it a big thank you to Soma FM’s GROOVE SALAD which plays on our computer’s stereo set-up from dawn till dusk.  And not to forget a big thank you to our East Link cable TV’s music channel 837 for beaming in ‘STINGRAY THE CHILL LOUNGE’ which plays through our living room television stereo system whenever we are not watching TV which is mainly most of the day.  Yep, I sure likes my music alright & like I have said many times before, ‘it is music that has consistently brought me more pleasure through the years than anything else I can think of’.  Groovy:))  

  

On our computer's live weather radar feed I watched with interest a line of storm cells intensifying over Lake Huron & heading right for us about 3:30.  Looking out our living room window it was dead calm yet just a few miles west of us we could see the storm bearing down on us from the northwest.  Big rumble of thunder at 3:43 followed by our newly laid sod receiving a strong, steady & prolonged watering from Mother Nature.  Can you tell I didn't have much to do this afternoon except watch the weather, the clock, & my laptops weather channel.  The bulk of the storm swung south & headed on down the lake so all's we experienced was some rain & a few thunder boomers.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( After church one Sunday morning, a mother commented, "The choir was awful this morning."  The father commented, "The sermon was too long."
Their 7-year-old daughter added, "You've got to admit it was a pretty good show for a dollar."

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The Sunday school teacher asked, "How many of you children would like to go to Heaven?" All raised their hands except little Ronnie. The teacher asked him why not.  "I'm sorry," Ronnie replied. "Mommy told me to come right home after Sunday school."

BEST PART OF OUR DAY TURNED OUT TO BE THE COLDEST PART OF OUR DAY AT–9 CELSIUS OR 15.8 FAHRENHEIT

NO THESE ARE NOT MINIONS
A short 20 minute drive southeast of Bayfield Ontario is a small town by the name of Hensall.  The town can be noticed from a few miles away due to it’s 3 major farming Co-ops.  Tall metallic silos dominate the town’s skyline & Hensall is touted as the White Bean Capital of Canada.  The town’s name may ring a bell for some RV’ers if they happen to own a Citation RV made by General Coach.  This is where they are made.  In fact our very first RV a 1979 17’ Class C Dodge Centurion was built here as well as the 68’ mobile home we now live in.  But it wasn’t the huge Hensall Co-op complex or the RV manufacturer we were in Hensall this afternoon to see.  Where we were headed we needed our winter coats with temperatures plunging as low as –9C. (15.8F)

There was little on the outside of the long dark blue building we entered in downtown Hensall to tell us of the sculptured wonders inside except the 10 letter word on the building saying ICECULTURE.  Probably not as well known around the area as it is around the world.   Iceculture began 30 years ago as a hobby & today the company is one of the largest players of the hospitality ice industry on the Planet.  Company staff travel around the globe attending international events & elaborate gala functions.  In other words this company makes ice & turns that ice into wondrous works of art.

Our Iceculture tour led by a personable & knowledgeable young fellow began at 2 p.m.  I’m sure he told us his name but I missed it.  By the way there were 5 other people on the tour.  We went from Hensall’s outside Friday afternoon temperature of around 80F to 16F in a matter of seconds as we entered through a cool room into a large warehouse freezer.  Yes we needed our winter coats & this freezer was probably big enough to park three 18 wheelers in side by side.  Quickly through the large freezer room which we would return to later we exited through another door into a long assembly line type room where the ice for all the company’s numerous sculptures is made.  Rows of square & rectangular metal tubs for making blocks of ice.  We did get to see one tub with two large ice vodka bottle looking things inside being slowly frozen.  A long standing California liquor company had ordered them for an ice display function they will be presenting.  Icesculpture has been making ice products for this California company for about 10 years now.  Water was being swirled around forming these ice bottles & our guide fellow told us some of these ice blocks can take 2 & 3 days to properly freeze.

MANY METAL CONTAINERS FOR MAKING PLAIN BLOCKS OF ICE AS WELL AS ICE SCULPTURES

THIS ICE BLOCK WHEN FINISHED WILL WEIGH ABOUT 300 POUNDS & WILL BE SHIPPED TO CALIFORNIA

OUR GUIDE DID EXPLAIN HOW THE FREEZING PROCESS WORKS BUT OF COURSE I CAN’T REMEMBER ALL HE SAID
From the ice block room we were led to a smaller room with a large window overlooking something akin to a very cold winter’s day.  A young female staff member sat at a desk with shorts on & here we were in winter coats but just a few feet away on the other side of the glass window a lady in something akin to a snowmobile suit was busy with a snow shovel clearing the floor.  Another warmly dressed fellow with heavy winter gloves & ice shavings on his boots worked at a table with a small circular buffer type machine removing what looked like packed snow from inside perfectly formed ice drinking glasses.  Beside that worker a computerized cutting & sculpturing machine moved knowingly over a block of ice precisely cutting out ice glass after ice glass.  I think there were several computerized machines in that room.

ICE GLASSES CAN BE SEEN ON TRAYS

THAT COMPUTERIZED CUTTER MOVES BACK & FORTH OVER THE ICE BLOCKS SCULPTING THE GLASSES

PILES OF SNOW LIKE ICE SHAVINGS ARE ABOUT ALL THAT’S LEFT OF THE ICE BLOCK

A PAIR OF COLD LOOKING WINTER GLOVES IN THE FOREGROUND

SNOW SHOVELLING IN JULY

FRUIT SUSPENDED IN ICE

THIS FELLOW PASSED THAT ICE DRINKING GLASS THROUGH A DOOR FOR US TO LOOK AT…..THEY ALSO MAKE FANCIER WINE TYPE GLASSES AS WELL
From the ice glass making room we were back out into the block ice container room again this time looking at a metal vat of water slowly freezing to create a couple ice bowls.  These types of ice bowls are often used at wedding receptions for punch.  Just about anything can be added to the thick ice layer making up these bowels & our guide told us of one bowel they were contracted to make for a young lad’s bar mitzvah.  The frozen walls of the bowl were to contain diamonds so that is exactly how they made it.  I’m assuming the diamonds were shipped in from the lad’s very rich family. 

TWO PLAIN ICE BOWLES BEING SLOWLY FORMED…..WE WERE ALLOWED TO FEEL THE WATER ALONG THE BOWELS EDGES WHERE ICE WAS ALREADY ABOUT AN INCH THICK

OUR GUIDE TALKS ABOUT THE FIRST ORIGINAL ICE MACHINE THE COMPANY STARTED WITH…..BOTTOM RIGHT FOREGROUND 
Icesculpture does far more than the small ice creations we saw today & I really encourage readers to click on their website to see how truly well known this small company in Hensall is.  About The Company  Their core staff of 15 people have traveled to places like Thailand, Greece, & Dubai for example creating permanent ice sculptures inside huge buildings.  Here in Canada they built an ice bar in Toronto a few years ago & I do remember seeing that on the news.  Canadians may also remember a Canadian Tire commercial featuring a pick-up truck made of ice.  That truck was built & filmed right there in Hensall.  The commercial promoted Canadian Tire’s rugged low temperature ‘Eliminator’ battery.  Photos of that full size ice truck can be seen on their website.

FROM A PHOTO ON THE WALL THIS IS IN DUBAI & ONLY THE FLOOR & CEILING ARE NOT MADE OF ICE….. IT IS THIS TYPE OF THING ICESCULPTURE SPECIALIZES IN AROUND THE WORLD
From the ice making room we were led back into the spacious freezer warehouse & display area & it was here where we were able to see some of the fine finished products of these talented local ice sculptors.  Also very interesting is Icesculpture’s connection to Nasa & how they worked together on an ice related project concerning the tragic loss of space shuttle Columbia. 
 
OUR GUIDE TALKS ABOUT THE NASA CONNECTION & COLUMBIA

WE RE-ENTER THE LARGE FREEZER WAREHOUSE & DISPLAY AREA
My shaky hand held pictures in low lighting today do not do the ice creations justice but they will give you an idea of what we saw this afternoon.  Check the company’s website for much better photos.  I’m hoping the Live Writer album feature is working tonight so will try putting the sculptures into a slideshow format.

I REMEMBER OUR GUIDE SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT MAPLE SYRUP BEING POURED IN THE TOP OF THIS SCULPTURE REPRESENTING WOODEN LOGS

Icesculptures VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I recommend viewing the photos in the slideshow format.  Open the album then double click the first photo.  Screen appears with photo enlarged against a black background.  Move your mouse around a bit & look to the top left corner to where it says ‘Play slide show’.  Click on that & away you go:))


All & all it was a good day simply due to the fact we were able to get out & see something different again.  Best part it was right here in Huron County practically right in our own back yard.  I like when that happens:))

THIS IS PART OF THE MAPLE SYRUP SCULPTURE
GROANER’S CORNER:(( A new business is open and one of the owner’s friends wants to send him flowers for the occasion. They arrive at the business site and the owner reads the card: “Rest in Peace.” Understandably the owner is angry and calls the florist to complain. After he tells the florist the obvious mistake and how angry he is, the florist replies, “Sir, I’m really sorry for the mistake, but rather than getting angry, you should imagine this. Somewhere there is a funeral taking place today, and they have flowers with a card saying, ‘Congratulations on your new location.’”

A COMMENTER ASKS, “HAVE YOU BEGUN DESERT DREAMING YET?

The age of our old rotary push lawn mower is unknown.  In fact we can't even remember where or when we got it.  Seems like it's been sitting in our shed forever.  What is known is that it's cutting blades need to be sharpened.  Problem is where to get that done.  Pheebs & set off this morning with the mower in the back of the Jeep......and came home a few hours later with the mower still in the back of the Jeep.  We were unsuccessful in finding a place which still sharpens those types of older push lawn mowers.

 

Our travels this morning did take us to Goderich as well as up into Mennonite/Amish country.  Did stop at a rural machine shop but they didn't sharpen rotary mower blades & had no idea who did.  On our drive I kept a sharp eye out while passing Mennonite farms for any signs sayings 'saws sharpened here' etc.  I did see one Mennonite lady cutting grass with a similar push mower but I didn't feel comfortable stopping to ask where she got her lawnmower sharpened.  More than likely she or her husband sharpened it themselves.

@q#!!!&%{#* The Live Writer album feature wouldn’t work again so I’ll have to put the following photos in the post instead of in an album!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The album was titled, ‘Haying Mennonite/Amish Style.  I may try the album feature later tonight & if it works I will include it.  This series of photos works better in a larger slideshow format.

I WAS SURPRISED THE BOYS HAD SOME KIND OF GASOLINE ENGINE WITH THEM OUT THERE

Decided to pull my heavy old toolbox apart this afternoon re-organizing & eliminating things in it that are not necessary.  I found a total of 16 screwdrivers of various sizes.  6 Flat Heads, 6 Phillips, & 5 Robertsons.  Two pairs of scissors, 2 small crowbars, 3 vice grips, & 2 adjustable wrenches for starters.  Now if that was the only toolbox we had it wouldn't be so bad but I have another tool bin in our  metal shed with more of all the same, another small portable tool carrier in our bathroom plus another toolbox full of stuff at our Congress Arizona house.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we had over half a dozen hammers if I was to go around & count em all up.  So where did all these tools come from anyway?  Ten years ago Kelly & I cleaned out my Mother's house & a lot of stuff came from there.  When my Uncle Harry gave up his house we gained some more tools & when a few neighbors of ours here in the Park downsized we accumulated even more tools.  And of course I myself used to have a habit of buying things on sale whether I needed them or not.  For a guy who doesn't use a lot of tools I sure seem to be way over-tooled alright.

In a blog comment Geri from down there in that Florida place asked, ‘Have you begun desert dreaming yet’?  Well I did touch on that a few posts ago but so far have been able to keep myself pretty well focused to where we’re at now.  I do know in another month when our weather begins it’s early shift into Fall the south-west section of my mind will begin to stir.  That little twinge of excitement like a stove’s pilot light will be lit.  Thoughts will begin drifting through my mind & some early travel plans may slowly filter through current thoughts.  I have noticed one curious thing already though.  When my thoughts do turn to the winter months now I find myself thinking more of the side trips we make rather than our time spent in Congress at our house.  It seems I’m missing more of our older haunts from earlier years.  I do enjoy traveling around & briefly touching base with old memories.  Guess it’s kinda like here in the summer when Pheebs & I travel around to all our favorite spots every week.  We have toyed with the idea a few times of selling the RV & just driving down to our Congress house & staying there for the winter.  Only good part about that as I see it is the money saved on gas & motorhome maintenance.  I’m just not at a stage in my life yet where I could go somewhere & then just sit in one spot for the whole winter.  And especially not in the great American south-west where there is still so much to see & do.  The first winter after buying our place we did spend most of our time working on the house & that was a nice break from our previous 6 years traveling & boondocking our way around southern Arizona & California.  I must confess by early 2012 we were beginning to tire a bit of all that.  The house & property came along at just the right time for us.  We have really enjoyed our place in Congress these past 3 years but I’ve noticed this year it is the traveling side trips I’m really looking forward to.  Just as it is my country drives with Pheebs I look forward to when we are heading home in the Spring.  We did more south-west side trips last winter than the winter before & I’m hoping this winter we can travel around to see & do even more……………..Well by golly Geri it does look like I have been doing a little desert dreaming after all & your question just may have lit my pilot light a tad on the early side again this year:))

GROANER’S CORNER:)) My brother wanted me to find him a summer job. He asked me to check with my boss, my friends, my business associates.  Then he asked me to run off 100 copies of his resume, call up the employment agencies, and write an ad for the Positions Wanted section of the newspaper.  I asked him what he wanted to call himself in the ad.
He said, "A self-starter!"

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Summer vacation was over and the teacher asked Little Johnny about his family trip. "We visited my grandmother in Minneapolis, Minnesota."  The teacher asked, "Good for you, can you tell the class how you spell Minneapolis Minnesota?"
After careful thought, Little Johnny said, "Actually, we went to Ohio."