“HEY, I RECOGNIZE YOU….YOUR THE BAYFIELD BUNCH”:))

Our walk took a little longer this morning because it is Raspberry season & we have lots of wild raspberries along some sections of the forest trail. Kelly likes her raspberries. Me, I'm still looking for a peanut butter tree.

Heat & humidity were quickly building so Little Miss Most Best & I piled ourselves into the Jeep & headed for Goderich. A quick Walmart stop & then it was into the Zehr's Supermarket for some Yogurt, Cranberry Juice, Peanut Butter & Honey. Only had a few items so I was quickly into the Express Line. With Pheebs in the Jeep during this hot weather I don't waste anytime checking prices, looking for bargains, or squeezing the Charmin in the toilet paper isle. The cashier looked up & said, "hey, I recognize you, your the Bayfield Bunch." Well, nice to be recognized but it always sets off a moment of concern for me.  My mind instantly goes into a lightning fast backtracking blog mode. Have I said something somewhere in one of my opinionated past posts about Zehr's Supermarkets?  Like maybe a frustrating wait in a check-out line or somebody with 712 items piled on their cart in the 8 items or less aisle. What about cashiers wearing red vests, name tags, & orange socks?? Nope, couldn't find anything so I nervously said thanks to the lady who’s name tag identified her as Karen.  She asked me if I was anxious to head south & that put me more at ease.  No sock in the nose coming my way.  I have written a lot of personally silly things over the past 5 years so I'm always expecting one of these days something I have written is going to suddenly jump out of the bushes & bite me.

 

Reading Gypsy's ON THE ROAD AGAIN post this morning I was reminded of a little confidence issue I occasionally have a struggle with. Gypsy & I sometimes experience & blog about similar thoughts, feelings, & emotions, so it was interesting to read how she gathered up some confidence recently, grabbed the bull by the horns & re-installed a pesky window screen she had previously considered beyond her interest or capabilities. Seemingly simple things to others can give some of us confidence challenged folks a pretty darn nice sense of accomplishment at times. And, we have been known to surprise even ourselves with our dormant talents.

Case in point: I sometimes complain that I have trouble hammering a nail in board straight, which of course is true.   And yet, 8 years ago, without any diagrams, blueprints, or help of any kind, I built a wooden shed from scratch, except for the roof trusses. No big deal for most guys but for me it was akin to figuring out how to fly to the moon & back with my arms tied behind my back. I was simply overpowered by a rare burst of confidence that created a time frame for me to build a shed. It allowed me to figure out the size of the shed I wanted to build & what materials I needed to do the job. I had never attempted to build anything in my life so everything was from scratch & I learned as I went along. The floor may not be perfectly level & the corners are definitely out of square & I probably got the window in upside down but my little 8 x 10 wooden shed is still standing strong & in full use to this very day. Another burst of confidence one time allowed me to build a deck on the back of our place including a roof. Even did the roof shingling myself. And, amazingly enough that deck is also still alive & well too. Anyway, it was just a little something I remembered after reading Gypsy's post this morning.

 

My Blog Followers list seemed to be dead in the water for quite awhile & I thought maybe it wasn’t working.  Not wanting to get myself in another big flap about a technical glitch on the site I simply moved it to the bottom end of my sidebar on the right.  Am forgetting to look at it there so was surprised tonight when I happened to notice we had two new Blog Followers.  So, a big Bayfield Bunch welcome to NICOLA GORDON & DEEP CANYON.  Thanks for dropping by folks.  Wow, if this keeps up I just might have to move that list back up front & center again:))

 

And, just to re-affirm JANNA'S comment question in which she asks, "All righty Al, I've discovered the root of any problems you may have--you LIKE?? the smell of a diary farm"???? (what….me have problems, oh say it isn’t so:))  My answer to Janna’s question is a resounding 'yes':)) Have always liked the smell of an old cattle barn with it's hay mows, straw bales, old barn timbers, chickens, horses, & cattle within. To me it all blends together in a pleasant memorable aroma reminding me of things many years ago.  No, I didn’t grow up on a farm but did spend a couple short vacations on one.  Add to that an old dusty radio sitting up on a barn beam somewhere with Hank Williams Senior wailing out some mighty fine mournful tunes on many an early morn.  I think old Hank did his share back in those days in keeping cattle all across North America regular, just a mooin & a pooin. Toss in the jinkling of a few milk cans & the occasional loud holler coming out of the barn from farmer Jones that sounded a lot like,  “move over ya big son-of-ditch"!!

THE GIRLS ARE JUST STAYIN COOL

I'm not much a movie fan anymore. Not that I do not like movies, it's just the kind of movies I do like seem to be very few & far between nowadays. Call me old fashioned or whatever you like but I just don't buy into what seems to be the norm for selling movie tickets anymore. With North America's seemingly fascination with violence, fiery explosions, mega monsters, guns, murders, mayhem & madness at the box office it leaves little of interest for me…… So, how pleasantly surprised I was Sunday night when Kelly put a movie in the DVD player that not only appealed to the young boy in me, but held my undivided attention right from the opening scenes to the finish, including the credits.  It was my kind of movie with lots of colorful characters, fanciful magic, intriguing mystery & suspense.  And, there was an underlying message in this movie that stirred some personal memories for me & tugged a few heart strings.  For me, it was the kind of inspirational movie that drew forth my childhood & placed it right in the movie itself.  I like when that happens.   Loved the simplicity of the French sound track as well. What a pleasure it was to finally find a movie that not only I thoroughly enjoyed, but Kelly thoroughly enjoyed as well.  Only regret we both had was that we did not see this movie in a movie theatre with big screen & big sound.  Two happy thumbs up for................ Hugo:))  

 
GROANER'S CORNER:(( My Father was completely lost in the kitchen and never ate unless someone prepared a meal for him. When Mother was ill, however, he volunteered to go to the supermarket for her. She sent him off with a carefully numbered list of seven items. Dad returned a short while later, very proud of himself, and proceeded to unpack the grocery bags. He had one bag of sugar, two dozen eggs, three hams, four boxes of detergent, five boxes of crackers, six eggplants and seven green peppers.

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- Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

- Home is where your pet is:))

- "If having a soul means being able to feel
love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals
are better off than a lot of humans."
(James Herriot)

- The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward

- The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.
stargeezerguy@gmail.com