PLANTING MORE DAFFYS AND TULIES, THE MOTORHOME WAXING CONTINUES AND YES WE GOT NO BANANAS

BALTIMORE ORIOLE SEEN ALONG THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON THIS MORNING

So hard to keep track of days and especially week days.  When one is finally out of the work force days just kind of blend into each other.  No place to be at any particular time, no work routines and no schedules.  For all I knew today was Saturday.  I don't know when it finally dawned on me it was Friday.  There was a time in the work years when week-ends were always very much looked forward to.  Now it just doesn't matter.  Week-ends are the same as week days.  Nothing special going on and if Tuesday comes after Friday and Sunday is the day before Wednesday, well so be it and that's alright too.

‘HEY HERE COMES PETEY THE NEW GUY AND  HE NEVER BRINGS ANYTHING WORTH WHILE WITH HIM’

‘OH YA I GOTTA STICK’……..’OH GEEEEZEEE, D’YA BELIEVE THIS GUY’

FEMALE ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK AT TWILIGHT

A McDonalds coffee to go with a matching breakfast burrito seemed the right thing to do so Pheebs and I scooped our goodies and headed down to the harbor.  No vehicles parked at the doggy walking area so away we went along the parallel trail overlooking Lake Huron.

THE RADCLIFFE R. LATIMER WAS DOCKED AT THE GODERICH ELEVATORS 

LOOKS LIKE THIS GREAT LAKES BULK CARRIER COULD USE HERSELF A NEW PAINT JOB

THE CLEAR WATERS OF BEAUTIFUL LAKE HURON

BEAUTIFUL AQUA COLORS AS WELL

MALE MALLARD DUCK

A stop at Walmart fetched us 3 pots of daffodils and 2 pots of tulips.  It's the end of the season for them so they were on sale very cheap.  I planted them in our front flower bed and they will hopefully be looking good next Spring.

‘UM WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THESE TULIPS AND DAFFODILS DAD, DID YA GET THEM FOR MOM’ ………. ‘WELL DID YA’??

HEADING HOME

A SLEEPY LITTLE FACE

Pheebs and I were home about 11 and I started right away on the Motorhome again.  I now have all the passenger side bins waxed.  Next will be the top two thirds of the coach on that side then I will back the Motorhome out, turn it around, and back it in whereupon I will begin on the driver's side.  I am so glad I noticed a week ago or so that the Canadian Tire Store in Goderich had 10 inch Simonize electric buffers on sale and that has made a world of difference.  So much easier doing all that buffing with a buffer machine rather than by hand.   It's the first time I've ever used a buffer and it has me wondering why I didn't get one of those things years ago'.

 Some may be wondering if I'm spending all this time shining up the Motorhome to sell it.  Nope, just had me an urge to clean and wax it earlier in the week so that's what I'm doing.  Maybe when I get it done we'll head out for an overnighter somewhere.  Just the Motorhome and not the Jeep.  It would be nice to sit outside at night under the stars again.  Just gotta find some quiet unpopulated places to do that......................

Sometimes we don’t communicate so swell here at home or is it my memory that just don’t work so good no more.  I had forgot Kelly said she had some errands to run in Goderich this morning and that usually means a stop at the grocery store.  Of course while in Walmart picking up the 5 pots of tulips and daffodils I decided i had better pick us up a bunch of bananas too.  Of course when Kelly got home later she also had picked up a bunch of bananas plus daffodils and tulips.  I have the 7 pots of flowers planted now but in order to eat all the bananas we have we are going to have to get ourselves a whole herd of Monkeys!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  The US standard railroad gauge (space between the rails) is 4 feet 8½ inches.  That is a very odd number. Why was that gauge used?  Because that's the way they built them in England and the US railroads were built by English expatriates.  Why did the English build them that way? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.  Why did they use that gauge? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that were used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.  So why did the wagons have that particular spacing? If they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England because that was the spacing of the wheel ruts.  So who built those old rutted roads? The first long distance roads in Europe (including England) were built by Imperial Rome for their legions and they have been in use ever since.  And the ruts in the roads? The ruts, which everyone had to match for fear of breaking their wagon wheels, were first formed by chariots. Since the chariots were made for (or by) Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the manner of wheel spacing.  The US standard railroad gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches was derived from the original specifications for the Imperial Roman war chariot.  Specifications and bureaucracies live on forever!  So, the next time you are handed a specification and you wonder what bureaucratic horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right, because the Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two horses.  There we have the answer to the original question but now for a new twist to the story.  When we see the space shuttle sitting on its launching pad, there are two booster rockets attached to the side of the main fuel tank. These are solid fuel boosters that are made by Thiokol at their plant in Utah.  The engineers who designed the boosters would have preferred to make them larger in diameter but they had to be shipped by rail from the factory to the launch site. The railroad from the factory had to pass through several tunnels in the mountains that are, you guessed it, just slightly wider than the railroad track which is about two horse butts wide.  Incredibly, a major design feature of what is currently the world's most advanced and technologically sophisticated transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.  Don't you just love engineering?

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THURSDAY MORNING COUNTRY COFFEE TOUR AND MORE WAX ON THE MOTORHOME

MONICA’S MANY MAGNIFICENT MAGNOLIA BLOSSOMS

What an absolutely beautiful Spring day we had.  How nice it is when all weather elements are in perfect harmony.  My turn to drive this morning so Richard and I had ourselves another great country coffee tour heading south along highway 21 between Goderich and Bayfield turning into half a dozen roads leading about a mile to Lake Huron.  At the end of each road along the lake are cottages and houses atop bluffs overlooking the lake.  Always interesting to see the many housing styles whether old or new, rich or poor.  Of course anyone with lake front property certainly can’t be poor.  Our semi-monthly drives generally last about  two and a half hours and this morning was no exception.  We were back shortly after 11.

ON OUR WAY TO GODERICH THIS MORNING RICHARD SPOTTED SOMETHING IN A FIELD SO I STOPPED AND BACKED UP….NEITHER ONE OF US COULD TELL FOR CERTAIN WHAT IT WAS BUT LATER TODAY WHEN I ENLARGED THE PHOTOS I SAW IT WAS A SNOWY OWL

 

I IMAGINE THERE HAVE BEEN MANY A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET WATCHED FROM THESE LOCATIONS

AND THIS IS HOW THEY LOWER SAILBOATS INTO THE WATER AFTER THEY ARE LIFTED FROM A BOAT TRAILER

FELLOW ON THE LEFT AT THE CONTROLS EASES THE BOAT DOWN

FELLOW ON RIGHT THEN TAKES THE BOAT OVER TO IT’S DOCKING SPOT ALONG THE RIVER

Didn't take me long to slip into some work clothes and get myself back to cleaning and waxing the Motorhome.  Finished up about a third of the coach starting from the front passenger side working my way towards the back.  By 1:30 temperatures were coming up to the point where I called it a day and retreated inside to cool off by my fan.  I wisely learned a long time ago not to push myself in hot weather anymore.

REMAINING PHOTOS ARE OF OUR FRIEND AND NEIGHBOR MONICA’S MAGNOLIA TREE NOW IN IT’S LATTER STAGE OF BLOOMING

Here in Canada we celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday every third week-end in May.  Commonly known as the ‘two-four’ week-end it unofficially kicks off the summer season and here in our area along the shores of Lake Huron things get very busy as in-landers flock to the lake.  Beaches, boats, cottage owners, party goers, it all comes together for this week-ends celebrations.  We have learned over the years to stay close to home and off the roads.  Any groceries we need we make sure to pick up a few days before all the week-enders roll in.  Of course that traffic problem doesn't apply to area country roads so Pheebs and I are always cleared to head out any time we want and of course our Five Seasons Park is far enough from the highway and beaches that we never really notice much of a difference in our countryside pine forest area anyway……………………….

MY NOBLE PHOTO ASSISTANT IS ASLEEP ON THE JOB AGAIN

WELL WELL LOOK WHO JUST WOKE UP

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Religion as Baseball::

Calvinists believe the game is fixed.

Lutherans believe they can't win, but trust the Scorekeeper.

Quakers won't swing.

Unitarians can catch anything.

Amish walk a lot.

Pagans sacrifice.

Jehovah's Witnesses are thrown out often.

Televangelists get caught stealing.

Episcopalians pass the plate.

Evangelicals make effective pitches.

Fundamentalists balk.

Adventists have a seventh-inning stretch.

Atheists refuse to have an Umpire.

Baptists want to play hardball.

Premillenialists expect the game to be called soon on account of darkness.

The Pope claims never to have committed an error.

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Diner: How do you explain this twig I found in my rice? Waiter: It stands to reason, sir. Our restaurant has branches everywhere.

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A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, "This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you." The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, "Which do you want, son?"   The boy takes the quarters and leaves. "What did I tell you?" said the barber. "That kid never learns!"  Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. "Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?"  The boy licked his cone and replied, "Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!"

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A BUSH LANE WALK AND WAXING OF THE MOTORHOME BEGINS

Spring has finally kicked into high gear and things are actually looking and feeling like Spring itself again.  Pheebs and I had hoped to do another Bayfield Trail this morning but when we got there it was closed due to ‘hunting’!!  #!!%*%##

CALM LAKE HURON WATERS FOR BAYFIELD FISHERMEN THIS MORNING

NICE TO SEE A FEW SAIL BOATS BEGINNING TO APPEAR

THIS DREDGING BARGE HAS BEEN BUSY DEEPENING THE HARBOR

I DON’T THINK THIS OLD BLISTER HAS SEEN WATER FOR A LONG TIME

SPOTTED THIS NICE LITTLE COTTAGE-HOUSE FOR SALE SOUTH OF BAYFIELD….OH GEE ONLY A MERE $700.000….OH DID I NOT MENTION IT’S LAKE FRONT

It was a short Jeep ride for Pheebs and I a few miles south of Bayfield.  Spotted us a bush lane, parked the Jeep, and took ourselves for a walk.  Lots of trilliums in the forest and how nice to be outside wandering around in a vibrantly green forest blossoming forth with new and old life.

WE WANDERED OFF DOWN THIS BUSH LANE

TRILLIUM FLOWER

MAY APPLES ABOUND ON THE FOREST FLOOR

TOWERING 12 INCH MAY APPLES MAKE FOR A SECOND FOREST CANOPY OVER THE FOREST FLOOR

STILL NO PESKY BUGS OUT YET TO RUIN ONE’S DAY

WILD DAFFODILS

<<< BEECH TREES ARE THE GREATEST FOR CARVING ONE’S INITIALS INTO

Back home again I hauled out my ladders, cleaners, waxes, buffing cloths and electric buffer.  Had it in my mind for quite awhile to clean up and wax the top of the Motorhome’s front cap above the windshield.  There was absolutely no shine left on that part of the coach’s finish.  A dozen trips up and down the ladder finally saw that job finished.  Well no point in stopping there so I went on to clean and wax the whole front end.  Maybe tomorrow or Friday I’ll have a go at the rear cap and see if I can get that all waxed up as well.  Sure makes things easier when one has an electric buffer.

PRECARIOUSLY PERCHED ATOP MY LADDER BUFFING THE FRONT CAP AVOVE THE WINDSHIELD

KELLY SNAPS A COUPLE PHOTOS WITH HER SMART PHONE ABOVE AND BELOW

<<< IT’S BEEN A COUPLE YEARS SINCE I LAST SCRUBBED THE RIG’S ROOF AND I WAS SURPRISED AT HOW CLEAN IT STILL IS

With the rig’s rear ladder now repaired I was soon up on the roof to check things out up there as well.  With the roof looking much cleaner than I expected the only thing left to clean up was the solar panels so I took care of that.  Don’t know where I’m getting all this energy from but experience tells me I had better capitalize on it while it’s here because I know it is not a permanent thing anymore.

ON OUR MORNING BUSH LANE WALK I SPOTTED SOMETHING UNUSUAL ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF THIS FIELD

COMING CLOSER I SAW THAT IT WAS A ‘HUNTER’S BLIND’

LOOKING INSIDE THE BLIND

WHEN THE WORLD IS GETTING YOU DOWN JUST TAKE YOURSELF FOR A QUIET MORNING WALK IN A FOREST

AN OLD ROTTING STUMP >>>

Had one bag of unopened bark mulch left over from last summer which had wintered in the shed.  Wheel barrowed it around to one of our front flower beds, opened it and dug in with both hands lifting out the mulch and carefully placing it around some daffodils.  About the 5th scoop I felt a slight tinkling tickle on my arms.  Looked down and ‘OMG’ there was about a ka-zillion million tiny ants scattering about all over my arms.  They had obviously built themselves a nest in that bag of mulch and they were just pouring out in a full state of panic.  Quickly brushed them off my arms as best I could then dumped the remaining mulch into the flower bed and exited the scene.  Came back later, no sign of any ants so I spread out the mulch and all was well.  Even me.

GROANER’S CORNER:((  The Iowa Wage and Hour Department claimed a man owning a small farm was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an agent to interview him.  "I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them," demanded the agent. "Well, there are my hired hands. One has been with me for four years; the other for three. I pay them each $600 a week, plus free room and board. The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $500 a month plus free room and board. Then there's the half-wit that works here about 18 hours a day. He takes home $10 a week and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every week," replied the farmer. "That's the guy I want to talk to; the half-wit," said the agent.  The farmer said, "That would be me."

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Abe and Esther are flying to Australia for a two-week vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Suddenly, over the public address system the Captain announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news. Our engines have ceased functioning and we will attempt an emergency landing. Luckily, I see an uncharted island below us and we should be able to land on the beach. However, the odds are that we may never be rescued and will have to live on the island for the rest of our lives!"  Thanks to the skill of the flight crew, the plane lands safely on the island. An hour later Abe turns to his wife and asks, "Esther, did we pay our $5,000 PBS pledge check yet?"  "No, sweetheart," she responds.  Abe, still shaken from the crash landing, then asks, "Esther, did we pay our American Express card yet?"  "Oh, no! I'm sorry. I forgot to send the check," she says.  "One last thing, Esther. Did you remember to send checks for the Visa and MasterCard this month?" he asks.  "Oh, forgive me, Abie," begged Esther, "I didn't send that one, either."  Abe grabs her and gives her the biggest kiss in 40 years.   Esther pulls away and asks, "What was that for?"  Abe answers, "Not to worry Esther they'll find us for sure now!"

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