GUSTING WINDS TO-DAY REMINDED ME OF THE SOUTHWEST

QUEEN ANN'S LACE

Another quiet morning that lent itself to a peaceful motorcycle ride in the country. Sky looked dark & unpredictable to the northwest so after picking up some groceries in Goderich I turned back & headed for home. Not a lot of groceries of course because saddle bags don't hold too much. Kept an eye to the sky all the way back because belly swampin rain clouds can form out over the lake & come roaring ashore without a lot of notice so didn't want to get caught in a deluge of water. Been there, done that, not nice!! MAX'S NOSE IN THE AIR.....PROBABLY PICKED UP A DEER SCENT

Kelly phoned & said a lady had spotted Stella on a street near the lake so I headed over there but didn't see anything. Kelly was already cruising the neighborhood & putting more "missing" posters up. CANADIAN THISTLE

I had a mobility van run to London this afternoon but was back home again by 5:30. After supper we once more drove around in the area Stella had been spotted but didn't see anything. Needle in a haystack. We'll go again early in the morning because the lady said that's when she has been seeing a stray dog which she identified as Stella from the picture on the poster Kelly made up. Stella's owners will be home to-morrow so maybe they will have better luck in finding her. Ontario Provincial Police just called saying a dog wearing a green life jacket had washed ashore just north of Bayfield but from the description, it wasn't Stella. Must have fallen overboard from one of the many boats out there. Sad:(( COULD THIS BE AN INDIGO BUNTING??

Came across a completely blue colored bird in the forest this morning. Made a chip-chip sound like a Chipping Sparrow but that's not what it was. Managed to get a few pictures in the dim light at 200mm. My beginner's bird book leaves a little bit to be desired so I'm thinking I'll have to invest in a good Peterson Field Guide book. My uneducated guess as to the make of bird would be an Indigo Bunting. Some of you folks out there might remember John from John & Brenda's Incredible Adventure travel blog this past winter. Well, John has surfaced again with a new blog & you can currently find him, his horse Blue, & dog Meg trekking around out in the back 40 somewhere on his ranch in Alberta. John's a good tracker because he managed to track down the Bayfield Bunch last winter in Quartzite, Arizona. He found us camped on the fringe of literally thousands of RV's in the desert. No easy feat I'm sure but no problem for a true cowboy. You can find John riding the outback here......JOHNOur windy day reminded me of our winter travels in the southwest where the winds are strong enough to blow the stripes right off Zebras.......if there was any there. Might have been years ago but after having their stripes blown off the local ranchers & cowboys just figured they was short stocky white horses from Canada or something....................:)) I WAS A BIT OUT OF FOCUS HERE IN THE DIM LIGHT BUT AT LEAST MY CAMERA FLASH LIT HIM UP OK

GROANER'S CORNER: As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on 280 Interstate. Please be careful!" "It's not just one car," said Herman. "It's hundreds of them!"

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