AN ECHOCARDIOGRAM FOR KELLY & ANOTHER JEEP JAUNT FOR ME & THE FABULOUS PHEEBS PLUS A FEW WORDS ABOUT….MY CANE

BLACK SWALLOWTAIL

 

MONARCH & TIGER SWALLOWTAIL

Kelly had an ECHOCARDIOGRAM scheduled for 8:50 this morning so she was out the door early & headed for the Goderich hospital. Similar to an Ultra-Sound the test is no big deal & didn't require the two of us to be there. Her health continues to improve a wee bit each day. Not out of the woods by any means but we're hopeful we'll get to the bottom of this soon.

When I told Pheebs there was a 70% chance of rain this afternoon she suggested we get ourselves out for a little Jeep ride this morning.   Loaded up the little Rumble Buns & off we went. Needed some peanut butter anyway & the only place I can get the 'natural' peanut butter I like is at Zehr's Supermarket in Goderich. Of course that meant a quick stop at McDonalds as well before heading out of town. Touched base with a couple favorite spots in the countryside & had us a couple pit stops with one being beside a pond. One good thing about Pheebs not liking water is no muddy, wet, smelly, Pheebster inside the Jeepster:))

 

OUR COUNTRY ROAD DRIVES SOMETIMES LEAD THROUGH THICK SWAMPS, DARK FORESTS, & WIDE OPEN SPACES

Something else Pheebs is not fond of is night time. She always seems a little apprehensive of the dark for some reason so I don't insist we do a night walk after dark. I've written many posts in the past with references to night walks Max & I took years ago. Every night we would head out under the stars down a lone dusty country road when we lived in the old farm house. We continued those nightly walks after we moved to Bayfield right up not too long before Max died a couple years ago. Wasn't the same as our starry night walks at the farm but nevertheless we did get out for a short walk most nights. I miss those night walks so much. During the winter in Congress Arizona last year Pheebs & I did slip out every night but we stayed on our fenced in property. Pheebs seemed fine with that & with the number of Coyotes & Javalinas close by in the night I was comfortable to just stay right on our securely fenced in property as well. Unlike our digs here in Bayfield we have no tall trees on our Congress property so we always had a clear view of the starry night sky from horizon to horizon. I really miss that.................

GOLDFINCHES AWAIT THEIR TURN AT THE ALREADY FULL FEEDER

Watching Pheebs gallivanting down the trail this afternoon I couldn't help but think how much she is like Max, Checkers, & the Motormouse all rolled into one. She has Max's devotion, Checkers determination, & little Motor's humor. All three of the original furry Bayfield Bunch seem to be in the Pheebs. How truly fortunate we were to find her nearly 2 years ago.

OH SAVE ME DAD, MOM’S TRYING TO CLIP MY NAILS AGAIN

  

YOU JUST GOTS TO SAVE ME DAD

OOOOOOOOOH WOE IS ME

It's funny how tunes stick in your head for years & years & keep coming back when you do certain things. Whenever out riding my motorcycle it is Johnny Horton's 'Honky-Tonk Man' that comes belting out of me while cruising down the road. For years & still today another song always comes to mind whenever out walking or hiking. To my best recollection it was a Scottish song learned many years ago in public school & it is called, 'THE BONNIE BANKS OF LOCH LOMOND'.  <<< You Tube link.  It is these 4 lines below from the chorus I remember & it is these 4 lines I often sing to myself walking along. And the more Scottish brogue I can spin into it the better it sounds to me.  ’O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll tak the low road, An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye;  But me and my true love will never meet again on the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'. These are the only words I can remember to the song so I do a lot of filling in with Doodely Doos, Tweedely Dums, & Ooogely Boos. Lyrics to the song are on the web but there are too many words for me to remember.  Besides, it's those 4 lines in the chorus that puts the extra zip into my step. Of course I sing it much faster than the above You Tube fellow but he sings it much better than I do.  And I’m sure the wildlife around here would attest to that fact too:))

CLOSED UP LILY PAD FLOWERS AWAITING THE EMBRACE OF WARMER WEATHER

My Nurse Practitioner suggested last week that I carry a cane with me. Said some people won't because they feel there is a stigma attached to that. Fortunately I am not some of those people & have never felt that way about carrying my cane with me. I began using a cane as early as last November in Arizona after pains began in my upper right leg around the end of August. Not every day mind you, just when the pain occasionally flared up to a point where I couldn't put downward pressure on my right leg. The cane enabled me to get around easier & lessened the soreness.   Over the months the pain has become more frequent & now I carry the cane with me wherever I go. The pain may not be with me every day but my cane is. And I have no problem going into Walmart or the grocery store or coffee shop carrying my cane. In fact a rather strange thing has occurred over these past 7 months & maybe some other folks using a cane may understand what i am about to say here.

HERE I AM, CANE IN HAND ON A BAD HIP DAY EARLY LAST NOVEMBER WITH MY GOOD FRIEND,THE SARGE…OF COURSE YOU CAN PLAINLY SEE HE IS TRYING TO TIP ME OVER:))  CONGRESS ARIZONA

My cane has become my best Buddy in more ways than one & if I leave the house without it I feel like I am missing something. Seems I even kind of walk funny without it now. The other day I had to get down on the ground with my camera to take a Mushroom photo. How easy it was to get back up with the aide of my best Buddy. While out walking it is easy for me to flick small branches off the trail, maybe poke at something on the ground I'd rather not pick up or bend some grass back out of the way to see what's underneath. How great to have a long pointer along to point out a bird in a tree or turtle in the pond. I can twirl it around like Bat Masterson & I can walk with a gate akin to a fine Englishman on the Moors of Scotland. Low branches can easily be pushed aside & a clod of upturned earth can readily be tamped down. And the cane also gives me the confidence to ward off a whole charging herd of crazed Grizzly Bears if a herd should suddenly appear that is. If & when I do get my hip repaired I will have to get used to venturing out without my best supportive Buddy again & that is going to take a little getting used to. Especially if I were to unexpectedly encounter a flock of speeding Giraffes.............

 
GROANER'S CORNER:))  There was a man who had worked all of his life and had saved all of his money. He was a real miser when it came to his money. He loved money more than just about anything, and just before he died, he said to his wife, "Now listen, when I die, I want you to take all my money and place it in the casket with me. I wanna take my money to the afterlife."  So he got his wife to promise him with all her heart that when he died, she would put all the money in the casket with him.

Well, one day he died. He was stretched out in the casket, the wife was sitting there in black next to her closest friend. When they finished the ceremony, just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said "Wait just a minute!" she had a shoe box with her, she came over with the box and placed it in the casket.  Then the undertakers locked the casket down and rolled it away.  Her friend said, "I hope you weren't crazy enough to put all that money in the casket."

She said, "Yes, I promised. I'm a good Christian, I can't lie. I promised him that I was going to put that money in that casket with him."  "You mean to tell me you put every cent of his money in the casket with him?"  "I sure did, " said the wife. "I got it all together, put it into my account and I wrote him a check."

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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.
- It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL.