I'M STILL TICKED OFF AT TIM HORTONS!! BUT, I STILL LIKE THEIR COFFEE

BLUE JAY 

Oh joy, another dark & dreary rain soaked day.  I’m anxious to get the new wood stain on the deck but I’m gonna need a stretch of some actual real live dry weather to do that!!

RETIRED ROD had wondered in a comment Sunday how we were making out with our ongoing Squirrels vs Bird Feeders war.  I have to tell you right up front that we were finally winning…...until this morning!!  Hadn’t had one single Squirrel on the new bird station since setting it up & securing until I walked into the sunroom this morning & saw a black Squirrel perched on top of it just as content as can be.  No Squirrels on any of the other feeders so far because I have finally managed to strategically locate them out of Squirrel reach.  I don’t dislike Squirrels at all & Sunday watched two of them playing in the front yard for a long time.  It’s just when they rip into our bird feeders that I get ticked off with them.  In fact, I don’t dislike any animals whether they be birds, bugs or crawly things.  Ok, I don’t like Mosquites!!
    
Some readers may remember a few of my posts regarding my love/hate relationship with Tim Hortons over the past few years.  Love the coffee but do not agree with their business ethics.  In a previous post, the 4th & 5th paragraphs in, TIM HORTONS.....THE DUMBING DOWN OF CANADIAN COFFEE DRINKERS!! tells you how I feel about their continuously shrinking cup sizes & how I figure that same ploy will come to America as well.  Hadn’t had myself an in-house Hortons coffee since last November until I stopped at a Hortons in Goderich a couple of weeks ago.  What a total insult it was to be handed a porcelain cup of coffee that is now bordering on the size of a tea cup.   Obviously downsized once again over the winter.  And, to add insult to injury, they have raised their prices again.  So, that’s it for me & Tim Hortons.  No more casually stopping in for an occasional coffee anymore.  This is one consumer who has had enough of being dumbed down by Canada’s largest coffee giant!!!!  And Starbucks?  Nope, none of that high priced burnt Char for this guy!!  Now, in all fairness I must admit I am not a big coffee drinker anymore anyway.  One cup at home in the morning & sometimes a second cup before noon & that’s it.  So why am I ticked?  Just the principle of the matter. 
 

L to R..... CANADIAN SMALL COFFEE - AMERICAN SMALL . CANADIAN LARGE . AMERICAN LARGE. ...... NOW, TELL ME WHY CANADIANS GET LESS COFFEE FOR MORE MONEY!!  BECAUSE WE CANADIANS HAVE BEEN DUMBED DOWN THAT'S WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Been reading some great reviews on Nikon’s new DSLR camera, the D5100.  Retired Rod has one on order.  For any camera buffs out there it might be good to have a look at the new model.  But, be aware, the camera is going to take a fair bite out of a thousand dollar bill.

Thanks to Sue over at THE MOHO AND OTHER TRAVELING TALES I was reminded this morning of something that had slipped my mind.  She talked about a photo site she has just joined called SMUG MUG.   I am familiar with Smug Mug which happens to be a great site & I have actually had an account there the past year & a half or so.   Problem is that my photo account had expired this past winter & I had not remembered to renew it.  In fact I had almost entirely forgot about my Smug Mug site.  Quickly reinstated my status & am now working on refurbishing & beginning anew my photo albums once again.  Currently working on my ‘birds’ album which can be seen at FEATHERED FRIENDS.

I am always amazed at wood carvers & how they can carve such great detail & patterns into things.  From ancient man to modern day, the wonders of carving patterns goes on, as evidenced by the following photos I took a few days ago of these mysterious carvings I found.  Could this date back centuries?  Maybe North American Indians or could these carvings have come from old Mexico.  Maybe even European.  Do the symbols denote a Master intelligence of some kind.  Could these be symbols of a past Alien culture here on Earth?  Am I seeing Alien like Spider creatures depicted on what could be an old wooden cane?

        

All possible theories I suppose & in an indirect way they may all be connected because the Masterful Carver of these wooden objects goes back to the beginning of time itself.  This work was done by none other than Mother Nature herself carving her magic into these broken Pine branches that lay on the ground after some heavy winds a couple days ago.  Probably a tiny burrowing wood insect:))

    

GROANER'S CORNER:((   Once upon a time, there was Larry the Lobster and Sam the Clam. They were the best of friends. One day, they were both killed. Larry the Lobster went to Heaven and Sam the Clam went to Hell. Larry the Lobster missed Sam the Clam so much, he asked God if he could go to Hell to visit Sam. God agreed, but he told Larry not to forget his harp.
Larry the Lobster agreed and down to Hell he went. When he found Sam the Clam, he had his own Disco in hell. Larry the Lobster had such a great time with Sam the Clam, that he lost all track of time. Larry heard the voice of God saying "Larry you must come back to Heaven now."
Larry ran as fast as he could back to Heaven. When God saw Larry, he said, "Where is your Harp?"
Larry replied, "I left my Harp in Sam Clam's Disco."

-----------------------------------------------------------------
EMAIL THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))
stargeezerguy@gmail.com
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right
now...... AL.