A MIGHTY FINE WAY TO END THE WEEK I'D SAY

 A FEW MORE PHOTOS AROUND THE FRONT YARD TODAY

With Saturday's high wind gusts ripping through the Park, I do remember hearing a slight crackling sound outside somewhere.  I later saw a branch in the Redbud tree hanging low to the ground.  Oh-oh, a busted limb.  So, skipping my morning walk, I got my tall ladder out and with saw and shears in hand, proceeded to get that branch down before the day heated up.  It was 59F when I got up this morning around 8, and that was great for me to be outside dealing with this problem.  Half an hour later, I had the branch down and loaded into the utility trailer.  Cleaned up the twigs and leaves and hauled the load down to the Park's recycling area.  For me, a successful accomplishment is always a nice way to start the day.

 A BROKEN REDBUD TREE BRANCH

 ALL LOADED UP IN THE UTILITY TRAILER AND OFF I GO

 THE TWO FROGGY BUDDIES WERE BACK ON THEIR FAVORITE ROCK AGAIN TODAY

 THERE ARE THREE FROGS IN THIS PHOTO

Spent some relaxing time on the front porch with my camera in hand this afternoon, and that is pretty much where tonight's blog photos came from.

A CROW ON THE BIRD STATION ROOF

 ANOTHER CROW SAT FOR THE LONGEST TIME ON A DEAD BRANCH NOT TOO FAR IN FRONT OF ME....IT WAS QUITE A CHAT WE HAD

 WHEN I FIRST SAW THIS LITTLE CHAP WALKING ALONG THE STONES AT THE EDGE OF THE FROG POND, I THOUGHT IT WAS A CHIPMUNK, BUT NO IT WASN'T.....

 IT WAS A LITTLE RED SQUIRREL OUT FOR A SUNDAY AFTERNOON STROLL

With clear sunny skies today, it is with certainty that I will be out for an evening walk, a pleasant, slow cruise through the rural countryside, and a stop at my spot on Tower Line Road to have a look at the night sky.  A mighty fine way to end the week, I'd say:))  

 A FEW MORE HOSTA BLOOMS

Al's Music Box:: Lonesome Town by Rick Nelson.

I THINK THIS BLACK SQUIRREL HAS BEEN ROOTING AROUND IN THE FLOWERBEDS CEDAR MULCH

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A dietitian was once addressing a large audience in Chicago: "The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Soft drinks erode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. Vegetables can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water. "But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have eaten or will eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?" A 75-year-old man in the front row stood up and said, "Wedding cake."

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A Manager of a retail clothing store is reviewing a potential employee’s application and notices that the man has never worked in retail before. He says to the man, “For a man with no experience, you are certainly asking for a high wage.” “Well Sir,” the applicant replies, “the work is so much harder when you don’t know what you’re doing!"

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Mary Clancy goes up to Father McGuire after his Sunday morning service, and she's in tears. He says, "So what's bothering you, Mary, my dear?" She says, "Oh, Father, I've got terrible news. My husband passed away last night." The priest says, "Oh, Mary, that's terrible. Tell me, Mary, did he have any last requests?" She says, "That he did, Father."
The priest says, "What did he ask, Mary? "
She says, "He said, 'Please, Mary, put down that damn gun.' "

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Ten Reasons Why God Created Eve...

10. God worried that Adam would always be lost in the garden because he knew men would never ask directions.

9. God knew that Adam would one day need someone to hand him the TV remote because men don't want to see what's on television, they want to see WHAT ELSE is on television.

8. God knew that Adam would never buy a new fig leaf when the seat wore out and therefore would need Eve to get one for him.

7. God knew that Adam would never make a doctors appointment for himself.

6. God knew that Adam would never remember which night was garbage night.

5. God knew that if the world was to be populated there would have to be someone to bear children, because men would never be able to handle it.

4. As 'Keeper of the Garden' Adam would never remember where he put his tools.

3. The scripture account of creation indicates that Adam needed someone to blame his troubles on when God caught him hiding in the garden.

2. As the Bible says, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' He only ends up getting himself in trouble.

AND the #1 REASON WHY GOD CREATED EVE is ...

When God had finished the creation of Adam, He stepped back, scratched his head and said, 'I KNOW I can do better than THIS!!'

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AND, I FOUND THAT OUT THE HARD WAY

HOSTA BLOOMS IN THE FRONT YARD

Had it not been for the smoke obscuring the night sky these past few nights I would have been out to my night viewing spot to look for a Planet line-up.  Maybe tonight if skies remain clear. (They didn't)

 RIPPLES ON THE FROG POND

 A COUPLE OF BUDDIES HANGING OUT BY THE POOL

 SITTING BY THE WATERFALL

Looking out the living room window at first light, I was heartened when looking up through the tall pine trees to see patterned clouds in the morning sky.  That meant one thing.....the wildfire smoke was finally clearing out.  A touch of slightly diffused sunlight tumbled through the window and didn't appear to be as yellow as the past few days.

HOSTAS

With my early 5:30 a.m. awakening and arising this morning, I was out the door for my walk earlier than usual.  It was a strong but pleasantly warm southwest wind blowing the wildflowers and long grass around in the ditches alongside my walking road.  I had to hold onto my hat, and that was okay, because I could feel the heavy humidity in the air.  Without that cooling wind, I probably would not have done the walk.

 NOTHING LEFT IN THIS HARVESTED WHEAT FIELD EXCEPT STUBBLE AND FARM VEHICLE TRACKS

 A WHEAT HARVEST UNDERWAY ABOUT HALF A MILE FROM MY WALKING ROAD

 A THISTLE ALONGSIDE WHERE I WALK

 I BELIEVE THESE ROADSIDE FLOWERS TO BE SWEET PEA

It was coffee on the front porch mid-morning, and with a pocketful of peanuts, I soon had a lot of company.  Even a Blue Jay dropped in looking for a peanut.

 THIS BLUE JAY HAS ITS EYE ON THE PEANUT AT BOTTOM RIGHT 

 THIS LITTLE GUY WENT RIGHT INTO MY PANTS POCKET AND GOT THE PEANUT....SAID HE DIDN'T WANT TO BOTHER ME WHILE I WAS NODDING OFF

Over the years, some readers have referred to my blog as a fireside chat, and I like that analogy because I feel the same way.  I'm pleased that it has morphed into a gentler version of my early blogging years when I, at times, was sharply opinionated and critical of a number of things.  I welcome the change and I guess it came with age, and a lot of blog writing experience.  I am comfortable now at the end of each day that I have not gone and deliberately offended anyone.  Groaner's Corner sometimes gets a little dodgy, but I hope people know and understand it's just a joke, and we all certainly need a little humor in our lives during these difficult days.  Sometimes, I partially rewrite the jokes so as not to make them hurtful to some folks.  And, as I've said several times before, I stay away from politics and religion.  In the past, I have got myself into hot water with both those topics, so I now make a special effort to stay clear of them.  Not easy at times, but I would sooner have readers wrap up their days with a chuckle and a smile on their face, and not mad all over the place with steam coming out of their ears.  There's too much of that in the world already, so I'll leave that kind of writing and opining for others.  Besides, I'm too thin-skinned to write like that anyway.  And, I found that out the hard way.

 THIS BLUE JAY PERCHED ON A CORNER OF THE SUNROOM DID MANAGE TO SWOOP DOWN AND NAB  A FEW PEANUTS FOR HIMSELF

 ROSE BREASTED MALE GROSBEAK

 ANOTHER ROBIN ON THE BIRDBATH

 WELL, AT LEAST I KNOW THIS LITTLE FELLOW ISN'T A CROW

Al's Music Box:(( Up On The Roof by The Drifters.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two drunks are walking along. One drunk says to the other, "What a beautiful night. Look at that moon!" The other drunk stops and looks at his drunk friend. "You are wrong. That's not the moon; that's the sun!" Both continued arguing for a while when they came upon another drunk walking along. So they stopped him and said, "Sir, could you please help settle our argument? Tell us what that thing is up in the sky that's shining. Is it the moon or the sun?" The third drunk look at the sky and then looked at them and said, "Sorry, I don't live around here."

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A man visits his psychiatrist and talks about being haunted by visions of his departed relatives. He says; these ghosts are perched on the tops of fence posts around my garden every night. They sit there and watch me and watch me. What can I do?
The psychiatrist says; that's easy … just sharpen the tops of the posts.

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It was three o'clock in the morning, and the receptionist at a posh hotel was just dozing off, when a little old lady came running towards her, screaming. "Please come quickly," she yelled, "I just saw a naked man outside my window!" The receptionist immediately rushed up to the old lady's room. "Where is he?" asked the receptionist. "He's over there," replied the little old lady, pointing to an apartment building opposite the hotel. The receptionist looked over and could see a man with no shirt on, moving around his apartment. "It's probably a man who's getting ready to go to bed," she said reassuringly. "And how do you know he's naked, you can only see him from the waist up?" "The dresser, honey!" screamed the old lady. "Try standing on the dresser!"
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