A FEW WORDS ABOUT MY ‘BLUE HERON PHOTO’ IN WEDNESDAY’S POST

I was encouraged to see our Pine trees wrapped in a light fog this morning thinking perhaps it was a forerunner of cooler air moving in.  Well so much for that thought as later in the day heat & humidity drove me indoors.  Today’s early morning mist was nice though giving our Park a mystic storybook look.

Had to switch my head around for awhile this morning taking off my sticks 'n' bricks head & screwing on my boondocking head.  It's quite possible we may end up boondocking around the South-West at some point this winter if our Congress house sells before it's time to return in the Spring.  Packing the bins now I have to double think everything.  For example we have 4 nice gravity chairs, two here in Bayfield & two in Congress.  Do we leave our 2 gravity chairs here & use the two in Arizona for traveling?  No, we do not need 4 gravity chairs anymore.  Solution?  Use our Bayfield gravities for traveling & sell the Congress chairs.  That way we have our gravity chairs on our way to the southwest next month.  We'll take very few dishes, pots & pans etc because we have that stuff in our house there which can be used for our Motorhome travels.  Very few clothes to take because our southwest clothes are already in Arizona.   Of course all this way of thinking may be for naught if the house doesn't sell but we have to load & set up the rig for boondocking again just in case it does sell & maybe sell early.  Anyone watching us this morning would have thought we were planning on leaving for the South-west right after lunch or something.  Kelly was busy inside re-arranging things while I was outside doing the same in the bins.  Stuff coming out of the rig for storage while other stuff going into the rig for possible long term travels.  Nice to be excitedly busy again with all new travel plans shaping up on the horizon.  I like when that happens:))

HAD TO PULL EVERYTHING OUT OF THE BINS & START OVER

ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE

 

THAT BLUE STEP STOOL CONTAINER ON THE LEFT IS A ‘NO GO’ & ALREADY OUT & BACK IN THE CARPORT 

Another reason for Kelly's busyness inside the rig this morning is due to the fact we have a ‘rare’ people oriented week-end coming up & one of those people's might be sleeping in the rig Saturday night.  Kelly's daughter Sabra & husband Derek along with their 2 boys Langdon & Keenan plus one of Kelly's other daughters Rebecca & her husband Ricardo & their young daughter Ella are coming as well.  They have a couple rooms rented at Bayfield's ASHWOOD INN which is about a 3 minute drive from our house.  Ricardo, with some current sleep issues may be the one sleeping in our Motorhome.

DIGGING THROUGH HER STUFF KELLY CAME UP WITH A NICE COVER FOR OUR COUCH PLUS SOME COLORFUL PILLOW COVERINGS

 

Kelly has decided to head over to Spencerport New York for a week to visit her Mother.  She figured it would be much cheaper than taking our Motorhome plus having to buy a week's travel insurance for me.  Also doesn't eat into my 182 allotted days in the States this coming winter.  So what does it mean for Pheebs & I batching it for a week.  Means a lot of bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios that's what.  Love it:))  Kelly's thinking of heading for Spencerport either this Tuesday or Wednesday & I’ve already got to industrial size boxes of Cheerios ready to go.

OUR HOUSE IS IN ALL THAT GREENERY SOMEWHERE

OK, WELL LET’S WALK IN THERE & SEE IF WE CAN FIND IT

WELL THERE’S THE FRONT OR OUR SOUTH FACING SUNROOM

AN ARBOR AT THE WEST END OF OUR HOUSE LEADS INTO THE BACKYARD

LOOKING AT OUR SUNROOMS EAST FACING PATIO DOOR

OUR FRONT PORCH

OH THERE’S THE HOUSE…………………..

Earlier this week we ordered a protective Bra to cover the front end of our Jeep Liberty & we're hoping the Bra will arrive at Kelly's Mother's place while she is there.  Had it not been for the protective bra on the front of our Wrangler last October when we had our windshield, headlights, & fog lights broke in southern Saskatchewan we would have lost our radiator that morning as well.  Always a good idea to have the front end of a vehicle protected when towing it behind an RV.

 

WE HAVE SO MANY PRETTY DITCH FLOWERS GROWING ALONG OUR COUNTRY ROADS

JUST WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY

If you haven't been keeping up with Chris & Cherie's bus renovations you might want to catch up with their latest #4 update entitled, 'THE PAINT JOB!!!  Lots of excitement over there as they eagerly anticipate getting Zephyr back on the road.

 

CAME ACROSS A WHOLE BATCH OF BARN BUZZARDS A COUPLE DAYS AGO

HEY WHAT ARE YOU TWO UP TO DOWN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO ON FLY AWAY & SEE IF I CARE

 By early afternoon my shirt was wet from the oppressive humidity & I was a big struggling ball of sticky paste.  Retreated into the blessed comforts of our air conditioning & dragged myself into a very much most refreshingly cool shower.  Never ventured out of the house for the rest of the day.

PHOTO NUMBER 1 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

An overwhelmingly favorable response to my photo of a Great Blue Heron on a tree stump in Wednesday's post from the folks in LAKE HURON SKIES, my Blog, & Facebook as well.  Thanks everybody:)) Thought I'd take a moment with a few words on that particular photo which was the last one in my post.  First, when it comes to photographing animals or birds I always find it important to quickly get off a couple shots when I first see the subject because I know within seconds the animal or bird could & will likely dart or quickly fly away.  By getting off a couple quick shots at least I have a photo of the subject.  In the case of the Blue Heron I spotted this fellow as soon as I stepped out of the Jeep & looked over towards the water & stump filled marshy area.  Took my first photo…….Number 1. 

PHOTO NUMBER 2

Walking another hundred feet or so atop a berm off to the right of the Heron I backed my 300mm lens off a bit taking photo #2 showing a bit of skyline at the top of the photo.  Up to this point the Heron was back-grounded by a forest of dark trees about half a mile away & the Heron kind of blended into that forested background.  Scanning the horizon line I saw a dip in the tree line & noticed a spot where I figured if I could 'slowly' walk another 30  feet or so I might be able to get a photo off with the Heron against the blank sky which I knew would stand the Heron out in the photo much better than the forested background.   And there you have photo #3. Of course the main contributing factor to this photo is the lighting.   Diffused sunlight & a slight mist gave the photo a pastel look with no dark shadows or bright spots.  Just enough sunlight filtering through the morning mist to give the photo an ethereal feeling.  Lighting in photography is everything & every once & a long while I get a little lucky.  And yes a big thanks to the Great Blue Heron itself for posing so regally & remaining motionless long enough for me to get a shot of it.  And of course thanks to Picasa's Photo Editing Program as well.  Keep in mind for any photo buff out here, your photo editing program is your best friend............:))  Oh & by the way if you want to see how a pro uses natures early morning light I suggest you slip on over & have a look at the work of our good friend & former RV’er Gordon Wolford.      

PHOTO NUMBER 3 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Signs You Might Be A Canadian::

1. You stand in "line-ups" at the movie, not lines.

2. You know Toronto is not a province.

3. You understand the phrase, "Could you please pass me a serviette, I just spilled my poutine"

4. You eat chocolate bars instead of candy bars.

5. You drink pop, not soda.

6. You know what it means to be on pogey.

7. You know that a mickey and 2-4's mean "Party at the camp, eh!!"

8. You never miss "Coaches Corner".

9. You talk about the weather with strangers and friends alike.

10. You don't know or care about the fuss with Cuba, it's just a cheap place to travel with good cigars and no Americans.

11. When there is a social problem, you turn to your government to fix it instead of telling them to stay out of it.

12. You know what a tuque is.

13. You get milk in bags as well as cartons and plastic jugs.

14. Pike is a type of fish, not some part of a highway.

15. You drive on a highway, not a freeway.

16. You sit on a couch not a chesterfield - that's some small town in Quebec!

17. You know what a Robertson screwdriver is.

18. You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers.

19. You know that Thrills are something to chew and "taste like soap".

20. You know that Mounties "don't always look like that"

21. Back Bacon and Kraft Dinner are two of your favorite food groups.

22. You admit Rich Little is Canadian and you're glad Jerry Lewis is not.

23. You know that Casey and Finnegan are not a Celtic musical group.

24. You participated in "Participaction".

25. You have an Inuit carving by your bedside with the rationale: "What's good enough protection for the Prime Minister is good enough for me".

26. You wonder why there isn't a 5 dollar coin yet.

27. Unlike any international assassin/terrorist/spy in the world, you don't possess a Canadian passport.

28. You use a red pen on your non-Canadian textbooks and fill in the missing 'u's from labor, honor, and color.

29. You know the French equivalents of "free", "prize" and "no sugar added", thanks to your extensive education in bilingual cereal packaging.

30. You are excited whenever an American television show mentions Canada.

31. You make a mental note to talk about it at work the next day.

32. You can do all the hand actions to Sharon, Lois and Bram's "Skin-a-ma-rinky-dinky-doo" opus.

33. You can eat more than one maple sugar candy without feeling nauseous.

34. You were mad when "The Beachcombers" were taken off the air.

35. You have some momento of Doug and Bob.