SO WHAT THE HECK IS A ‘TOONIE’

Cool enough today for me to throw on a long sleeve flannel shirt over my short sleeve shirt.  Clouds, rain, & a few rare sun splashes in the afternoon.  Aside from taking a utility trailer load of yard waste to the dump I spent a fair chunk of my day inside not straying too far from my recliner.  Think we made it into the mid 60's today.  Nice.

In Monday's post I mentioned the word 'toonie' in relation to Kelly's purchase at the Lakeside Flea & Farmer's Market north of Goderich.  With the overwhelming majority of readers on my blog being American I should have explained what a 'toonie' was.  A number of years ago Canada stopped making paper one dollar bills & replaced that currency with a coin.  That coin has a Loon imprinted on it & soon took on the affectionate name of a Loonie.  Next bit of Canadian currency to be discontinued was the paper two dollar bill also being replaced by a coin.  Because it was a two dollar coin coming after the one dollar 'Loonie' coin it quickly became known as a 'Toonie.  I think if a survey were to be taken asking what Canadians think of that change one would probably find we Canadians love our Loonies & Toonies.  I personally prefer the coins to the paper bills.  And there you have it my southern friends:))

A LOONIE ON THE LEFT & A TOONIE ON THE RIGHT WITH A DIME IN THE MIDDLE FOR A SIZE COMPARISON

Remembered to upload my latest collection of barn photos to my OLD BARNS, SOME NEWER ONES & A FEW SHEDS ALONG THE WAY site today.  This link can also be found on my side bar.  With somewhere over 700 barns now I have to wonder to myself, when are enough barn photos enough barn photos.  Now that my mind & eye are attuned to barns I keep seeing barns everywhere I go & feel compelled to grab a photo of as many of them I can.  Old barns are a slowly vanishing icon in our rural countryside & in many of my photos their continuing & inevitable deterioration is sorely evident. 

Oh how I have grown to utterly detest TV commercials.  Any time I watch television nowadays I do so with my finger on the remote's mute button.   How many more times must I have to listen to George Foreman touting 'Invent Help'.  And whatever happened to that law or whatever that was a couple years ago about advertisers having to tone done the volume on their pumped TV commercials.  They are as loud & offensive as they always have been.  If I ever come into possession of a stop watch I'm going to sit down one day & time the minutes of commercials in a standard one hour long broadcast of CNN news.  I'm betting commercial ad minutes outnumber actual news minutes.  Ya Ya I know.......if I didn’t watch television I wouldn’t get bugged by TV commercials.

Clearing mid afternoon skies soon had Pheebs & I out of the house for a walk around our forest trail.  Luckily we went when we did as it soon clouded over again & drizzled rain.  If it's sunny in the morning maybe we can slip over to the Hullett Marsh in search of some new photos.  This sitting around the house for a whole day is just about enough to give a fella cabin fever!!

GROANER’S CORNER:(( I'm not keen on taking pills, so when my doctor gave me a prescription to lower my blood pressure, I asked him if there were any side effects.
"Yes," he said. "Longevity."

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For years my husband and I had complained bitterly about the lack of sidewalks in our small town, observing often that if only we had sidewalks, we would walk daily and become models of fitness.   So we were thrilled when a community sidewalk project was announced, and watched eagerly as paving neared completion.  Then wishful thinking and reality collided. "Well, dear," my husband said, "What'll we use as an excuse for not walking now?"

FOUND A TABLE FOR THE RIG & A STEP BACK IN TIME AS WE ARE SURROUNDED BY YESTERYEAR & MAYBE A GHOST OR TWO………..

Rains ended before morning so we started our early day under sunny skies & big white puffy clouds.  With Pheebs in the back seat Kelly & I headed out about 8:30 heading northeast to Wingham Ontario & the well known WINGHAM SALES ARENA.  Knew of a place there with used furniture & figured it might be a good place to find a small table for our rig.  And it was.  Not exactly what we had in mind but it's a solid wood top with sturdy metal legs & it was only $20.  We still had one other place to check out just in case we found a better table so we slowly made our back in the direction of Goderich.  Took our time slipping along some back roads stopping for a few barn photos & a leg stretch along the way.  

STOPPING ALONG A COUNTRY ROAD THIS MORNING FOR A LEG STRETCH BETWEEN WINGHAM & GODERICH ONTARIO
Rolled into the LAKESIDE FLEA & FARMER'S MARKET on highway 21 just north of Goderich Ontario around 11:30.  We had been to this place before about 10 years ago & I had forgotten just how big this place really is with it's huge barn (formally a large swine operation) chocked full literally from floor to rafters with countless thousands of just about everything one could imagine being for sale at a huge flea/antique/farmers market.  This is truly a fascinating place which will instantly transport anyone entering back in time.  Walking these subdued sometimes slightly crowded aisles is a true trip down memory lane & I would recommend anyone looking for authentic fine old antique furniture to stop by.  Better bring your lunch along though & a cell phone because it may take you awhile to find what your looking for & that cell phone might just come in handy if you get lost somewhere in the huge barn with it's two levels of just about everything old & antiquely.  We saw numerous hidden treasures this morning & the feeling I had walking around inside this large barn building was the same feeling I had walking through Tombstone Arizona's Birdcage Theater years ago. Kinda spooky.  With all the old pieces of furniture sitting in quiet slightly dusty corners covering just about every square foot of floor & wall space I couldn't help but feel the long ago & long departed owners of these furniture pieces still hovering nearby close to their once long treasured memories.


THAT LARGE BARN IS FULL OF JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING

THERE’S PROBABLY ABOUT 6 LONG ISLES LIKE THIS IN ONE SECTION OF THE BARN WITH LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF ITEMS…..I THINK KING TUT HIMSELF MAY BE HERE SOMEWHERE

PILED TO THE RAFTERS WITH SOMETHING FOR JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY……SOMEWHERE


NO THAT IS NOT A GHOST IT’S JUST KELLY CHECKING OUT A SMALL TABLE ON THE LARGE BARN’S 2ND FLOOR
We did see a few tables for the rig but they were not in our price range.  However we did pick up a home made coffee mug I liked, an owl figurine Kelly liked, & a small orange/red vase.  It's a cash only place & not being used to carrying a lot of cash anymore we had quite a time coming up with the $14.87 plus tax but Kelly dug into her purse & came up with a paper Canadian one dollar bill as well as a two dollar bill & a Toronto subway token.  I contributed a toonie, Kelly found a five dollar bill & another toonie.  We somehow scrapped together $13 & the nice lady/owner of the Lakeside Flea Market must have taken pity on us poor folks & let us off with $13:))  Of course I was too embarrassed to be a part of the negotiations so exited the building & took Pheebs for a walk around the Flea Market property.  We were back home about half an hour later.

KELLY’S OWL & MY HAND MADE SLIGHTLY USED NEW COFFEE MUG
 
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THEIR WEBSITE & READ DESCRIPTION FROM OWNER:

THAT’S KELLY NEGOTIATING WITH A TORONTO SUBWAY TOKEN SHE FOUND IN HER PURSE

LAKESIDE FLEA MARKET VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Open the album then double click the first photo.  Screen appears with photo enlarged against a black background.  Click on any photo to enlarge it & move from photo to photo using the white arrows on the left or ride side of each picture.  For a slideshow move your mouse around a bit & look to the top left corner to where it says ‘Play slide show’.


Somehow the exposure setting on my Nikon D90 shifted itself 'again' causing my camera to underexpose today's photos.  This results in photos being too dark & the photos I took inside the Lakeside barn were very dark but with the help of Picasa's easy to use free photo editing program I was able to lighten & include them in a Live Writer album anyway.  Look closely at these photos & see if you see any ghosts.  I didn't see any today but I did feel their presence.........:))
 
IF YOUR IN THE AREA BE SURE TO DROP IN & TAKE A STEP BACK IN TIME OR BETTER YET TAKE SOME OF THAT TIME HOME WITH YOU
Once home we were not long in trying out our Wingham Sales Arena table in the rig.  Seemed to fit perfectly so we were pleased with our find.  This will be a multi-purpose table.  One person can eat at it or use a laptop on it.  An Atlas can be easily be opened & looked at & while in my recliner I can set my cameras or coffee on the table as well as my coloring book & crayons.  For a chair we remembered we had a handy padded fold up card table chair in storage which years ago belonged to a card table set owned by my late Uncle Harry.  Fits perfectly with the table & can easily be stowed away or left standing while traveling.  Always nice to have things come together nicely when working on a project isn't it:))

RECLINER, FOOTSTOOL, & TABLE ARE ALL ON THE SLIDE SO NOTHING HAS TO BE MOVED FOR TRAVELING…KELLY’S FOOTSTOOL STOWS AWAY UNDER THE TABLE

UNCLE HARRY’S FOLD UP & PADDED CARD TABLE CHAIR FITS UNDER THE TABLE & CAN CONVENIENTLY BE FOLDED UP & STOWED AWAY WHEN NOT NEEDED

FOR A FOLD UP CHAIR THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY COMFORTABLE

I MANUALLY FOCUSED THE CAMERA FOR THIS SHOT KELLY TOOK & THAT IS WHY IT IS OUT OF FOCUS:((

BOTH OUR HORTON RECLINERS ARE SWIVEL BASED AS WELL

WHEN THE SLIDE IS IN FOR TRAVELING WE STILL HAVE LOTS OF ROOM & IT WOULD BE A NICE PLACE FOR SOMEONE TO SIT GOING DOWN THE ROAD WITH A NICE BREEZE COMING IN THAT WINDOW BESIDE THEM & IN THIS POSITION THE RECLINER CAN BE RECLINED AS WELL

IF KELLY WAS DRIVING THIS WOULD BE A NICE PLACE FOR ME TO HAVE A SNOOZE:))
After publishing Sunday night's post I gassed up my 'Google Earth' plane & flew myself on down to Torrey Utah just west of CAPITAL REEF NATIONAL PARK.   Via Googles 'street view' I landed on main street in front of the General Store.  I was curious to see how big Torrey was & it looked like it didn't really get any bigger than what I was looking at up & down the street in front of the General Store.  Decided to fly over to Hanksville on the east side of the Park & see how big that little place was.  Well if I thought Torrey was small.......... Flew back over the Park & had a look from the air at a little place called Fruita.  No 'street view' landing strip there so just circled around the campground a few times to get an idea how big it was.  Low on fuel I finally headed on back to Canada & Bayfield Ontario.  At least I’m getting the lay of the land a bit & thanks to reader’s for your first hand comments about the area & the weather etc.  Much appreciated.
 
Despite some weather concerns with our late October early November Plan B travel plans I'm going to stick with that route I talked about in Sunday night’s post for now & we'll monitor the weather closely.  If the weather is looking sketchy ahead of us by Lincoln Nebraska we can just swing south & pick up Plan C.  Really really would like to spend some time in Utah’s Capital Reef National Park though.  If all goes according to plan we will be leaving 8 weeks from today.  Yes I know my travel plans are early……but I got the bug:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( An simple explanation in regards to the game of baseball………
This is a game played by two teams, one out the other in. The one that's in, sends players out one at a time, to see if they can get in before they get out. If they get out before they get in, they come in, but it doesn't count. If they get in before they get out it does count.
When the ones out get three outs from the ones in before they get in without being out, the team that's out comes in and the team in goes out to get those going in out before they get in without being out.
When both teams have been in and out nine times the game is over. The team with the most in without being out before coming in wins unless the ones in are equal. In which case, the last ones in go out to get the ones in out before they get in without being out.  The game will end when each team has the same number of ins out but one team has more in without being out before coming in.

OK, NIX THE PLAN ‘A’ TRAVEL ROUTE & MOVE ON TO PLAN ‘B’

NICE CLUMPS OF PURPLE LOOSESTRIFE GROWING IN THE MARSH

With sunny skies overhead & welcome cooler temperatures upon us Pheebe & I headed ourselves on over to the Hullett Marsh for a nice quiet Sunday morning walk.  A pleasant breeze with no Mosquitos in the air & lots of frogs in the low grass kept Pheebs busy jumping from one spot to the next.  Blue Herons, Canada Geese, Killdeer, Ducks, & Blue Jays ruled the lower air corridors while Turkey Vultures soared in wide spiralling circles higher & higher atop rising thermal columns of warm air. Huron Counties Hullett Marsh was alive with an abundance of late summer's winged creatures. 

AND YEP WE DON’T GOT NO GATORS UP HERE IN THESE PARTS:))

We didn't travel far today & spent most of our time in the Marsh.  A month from now Hullett will be slipping into her early cloak of fiery Autumn colors as Hullett prepares itself for another long cold snowy Winter.

 

ONCE TOO NUMEROUS TO COUNT JUST A FEW YEARS AGO MONARCH BUTTERFLIES ARE NOW A RARE FIND

After reading comments on my Saturday post regarding our South Dakota travel plans I'm thinking we may have to reconsider that route.  I knew it was a bit late in the season for that area & with reader's first hand accounts I'm thinking we do not want to take any chances with winter driving conditions.  Weather's just too unpredictable for that time of year that far north so it's on to Plan B.  South Dakota will still be there next time.

 

Pouring over my Atlas & ‘Mountain Director West’ book again tonight I've decided on a secondary route that can still land us in the CAPITAL REEF NATIONAL PARK area of Utah in early November without having to go through Denver.  Picking up I-80 (an old familiar route for us) in Chicago we can follow that right across the Plains swinging slightly north up through Cheyenne & Laramie to Rawlins in southern Wyoming.  (This is another route Mike McFall told us about) From Rawlins we will be on the same route south we were on last Fall.  A left hand turn west of Rawlins will put us on highway 789 dropping us straight south down through Craig to Rifle Colorado.  Coming from a higher altitude this long stretch will continually descend us into warmer & warmer weather.  I remember that from last year.  In Rifle we’ll pick up I-70 west through Grand Junction heading for Utah.  My favorite scenic State.  I’m guessing we will be running about 3 weeks behind where we were last year.  So there it is…….Plan B.  And yes we do have a plan C, D, & E:))

ALTHOUGH INVASIVE THESE PURPLE LOOSTRIFE PLANTS ARE REALLY PRETTY & ADD SOME NICE COLOR TO THE MARSH >>>

Monday morning we’re off again still in search of a small table for our rig.  Big used furniture place North of Goderich, another one in Lucknow Ontario & another in Wingham.  They are all kind of in a long traveling arc unless we get lucky & find something at the first place of course.  Weather looks good again so we’ll have ourselves a nice scenic morning drive.)  I like when those scenic drives happen:))  No sooner had I typed this paragraph tonight when I noticed the sky darkening.  Quick check of our ‘live time’ computer weather site surprisingly showed a big green rain monster over Michigan just starting across Lake Huron heading straight for us.  Fingers crossed skies will be clear in the morning.  A nice steady rain overnight is generally a good thing & makes for happy giggling plants.  Say, I wonder if maybe I stood outside in the rain for awhile it would wash away my grumpiness & turn me into a happy giggling something or other too……………:))

JUST ANOTHER MIGHTY FINE SUNDAY MORNING COUNTRY ROAD JEEP TOUR FOR US GUYS:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A young woman, pursuing a graduate degree in art history, was going to Italy to study that country's greatest works of art. Since there was no one to look after her grandmother while she was away, she took the old lady with her.
At the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, she pointed to the painting on the ceiling.
"Grandma, it took Michelangelo a full four years to get that ceiling painted."
"Oh my," the grandmother says. "He and I must have the same landlord."

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A Sunday School teacher asked her class, "Does anyone here know what we mean by sins of omission?"  A small girl replied: "Aren't those the sins we should have committed, but didn't?"

GETTING MYSELF INTO THE TRAVEL GROOVE

Kelly & I spent a sizeable chunk of our morning in Goderich & Clinton checking out used furniture places in search of a small approximately 2'x2' by 30” high preferably wood sit down table.  Came across a couple the right size but they had pedestal stands & that is too wobbly for a moving Motorhome.  Have to have solid legs on all 4 corners.  Our search continues. 

A reader in our Shout Box wondered about anchoring the furniture to the floor for travel.  In our Damon Challenger we had 2 Ikea Poang chairs, a single bed/chair, & a fold up table none of which were fastened to the floor & we never had a problem with that.  Nothing ever moved.  Yes I know anything moveable should be secured to the floor in case of an accident.

Pheebs & I took a walk along the Pine trail this afternoon & despite it being quite warm with some humidity there were no airborne mosquitos or biting Deer flies.  Very surprised by that & maybe our way cooler nights are now beginning to take a toll on those miserable flying things.  Come on Autumn, we're a patiently waitin fer ya:))

Dabbled around in my Atlas a bit tonight as well as my Mountain Directory West book & think I have found a way through the Rockies without all the steep grades & flagged mountain hazards.  Well I didn’t actually find it (but I did remember it) because it’s a route Mike McFall told me about a year ago & it’s actually the same route we took when we left Custer South Dakota early last October.  Now that is of course if we decide to run up to South Dakota.  After our trip home this Spring through those long grades west of Denver Colorado & the problems we were having with our rig at the time I’m sure not to anxious to go that way ever again & get into all that nonsense again.

Also been checking daytime highs & lows for late October/early November in & around Rapid City South Dakota.  Looks like mid 50’s by day & down around the freezing mark by night.  That’s doable as long as that area isn’t prone to snow storms that time of year.  Am guessing we would be away & heading south from that region by the end of the first week in November.  Can you tell I’m getting myself into the travel groove……………:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Early in the Civil War, when the Union armies were suffering repeated defeats, Abraham Lincoln was discussing the war situation with his cabinet.  "How many men do you estimate are in the Confederate army?" a cabinet member asked.  "About a million and a half," said Lincoln.  "That many?" said another member. "I thought the number was considerably less."  "So did I," said Lincoln, "but every time one of our generals loses a battle, he insists that he was outnumbered three to one - and we have about 500,000 men."

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A very large old building was being torn down in Chicago to make room for a new skyscraper. Due to its proximity to other buildings, it could not be imploded and had to be dismantled floor by floor.  While working on the 49th floor, two construction workers found a skeleton in a small closet behind the elevator shaft. They called the police.
When the police arrived, they directed them to the closet and showed them the skeleton, fully clothed and standing upright. They said, "This could be Jimmy Hoffa or somebody really important."  Two days went by and the construction workers couldn't stand it any more; they had to know who they found. They called the police and said, "We are the two guys who found the skeleton in the closet and we want to know if it was Jimmy Hoffa or somebody important."  The police said it's not Jimmy Hoffa, but it was somebody kind of important."  "Well, who was it?"
"The 1956 National Hide-and-Seek Champion."