HOT AND HUMID BUT DID MANAGE TO GET A FEW THINGS DONE DESPITE THE UNCOMFORTABLE HEAT

EVERYTIME I AM IN THE FRONT YARD I AM ALWAYS BEING CLOSELY WATCHED

Wow, outside this morning at 7:15 with a short sleeve shirt on can ya believe it.  Minutes later I was once again as one with our power washer.  Half an hour later our front porch was finally finished.  Tuesday morning Pheebs and went to Goderich with the idea of picking up a final 4 bags of Mulch but as luck would have it I spied a Goldflame Spirea shrub at a decent price and that of course distracted me and absorbed my attention.  We left the Canadian Tire store 10 minutes later with the Spirea plant.  This morning we were back in the Jeep again on our way to the Canadian Tire store to pick up 4 bags of mulch.  Aren’t you glad your not me!!

BY THE LOOKS OF THAT DUST I’D SAY FIELDS ARE NOW DRY ENOUGH FOR THE FARMERS TO GET BACK ON THE LAND

A swing down around the harbor and beach netted us a few photos and we weren’t long in heading on back home.  Planted the Spirea we had brought home the day before and spread a bit of mulch around.  Seeings how I had the power washer sitting in the driveway I gave the Jeep a good squirt.  After that I opened up a gallon of deck stain and got myself busy staining the older deck boards on the covered section of our back porch.  Although those planks are about 14 years old they are still in excellent shape from when I built that deck way back in 2003 I think it was.

MAMA AND PAPA GOOSE TAKING THE KIDS TO THE BEACH FOR THEIR FIRST SWIM

GREAT LAKES FREIGHTER ‘CAPTAIN HENRY JACKMAN’ IN FOR A LOAD OF SALT

A COMBINATION OF SAND AND CLAY ARE THE REASON FOR THE GRAY WATERS CLOSE TO SHORE

SPRING IS ALWAYS SUCH A PRETTY TIME OF YEAR

Turned out hot and humid today but thank heavens we had a blustery southwest wind blowing which made being outside tolerable.  I was Ok staining the shaded back deck on the north side of the house.  I plan to stain the front porch deck next but will have to do that in the early morning before the sun gets up to high.  Crawling around on my hands in knees in a baking sun is not my idea of a pleasant thing to do.

THE BACK DECK STAINING WENT WELL THIS MORNING AND I THINK THE STAIN COLOR MATCHES THE NEW DECK EXTENSION COLOR BEHIND ME PRETTY GOOD

I’m guessing today’s warm winds carried a lot of waiting songbirds across Lake Erie and Kelly thought she saw a Baltimore Oriole in our front yard.  I was hearing a lot joyous tweeting coming from our surrounding pine trees telling me some of the songbirds are already here.  It is so nice this time of year to throw open windows and doors to the lovely sounds of Spring songbirds flitting about in the trees.

PLANTED THE GOLDFLAME SPIREA

WITH ALL THE GREEN IN OUR GARDENS I WANTED SOMETHING OF DIFFERENT COLOR AND THE GOLDFLAME SPIREA FITS THE BILL

THAT’S MY RED HANDLE GARDEN RAKE IN THE BACKGROUND

NOTICE THE TRILLIUMS BETWEEN THE GREEN HOSTAS AND THE SPIREA PLANT

The day ended up way too hot and humid for us and we had to kick on the A/C around 3 this afternoon.  Had all our fans going as well and I think we made it up to about 85F today.  About 4 o’clock I had to drag myself in the house and throw my sorry old sack of bones into the shower.  Long showers are true lifesavers and one of my favorite things.  I think my biggest bug-a-boo about our winter RV boon-docking in the southwest is the limited water supply.  Yes I know about those short ‘scrub-scrub-rinse-rinse military showers but I hate those things.  I think this winter instead of towing the Jeep around we’ll just tow a big water tanker behind us.

A GROUP OF TULIPS ON THE WAY DOWN TO THE HARBOR

And ‘Pat Richards’ I just remembered your question in our Shout Box from a couple days ago.  For me to remember something from a couple days ago is an amazing feat in itself.  You asked about my ‘smoothie recipe.  Well here it is……Sounds Yukky-Tastes Yummy.  I wrote this post in 2009 so here’s a quick update.  I quite drinking those shakes around 2015 I think and I have no idea what my reason was.  Anyway I resumed them again about a month and half ago and I am right back into the routine.  Everything is the same except I haven’t been adding the flax seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, oat bran or wheat germ.  No reason really, just haven’t got around to picking up that stuff.  I still add oatmeal though as well as a good dash of cinnamon now too.  For my ‘You Tube’ version you can find me HERE.  Just scroll down the blog until you find the You Tube thingy where it says Sounds Yukky But Tastes Yummy:))

A DOWNY WOODPECKER IN THE YARD TODAY

‘DARN’ I am being sucked back into the TV news again.  Instead of having an occasional quick peak about all the drama going on in U.S. politics I am finding myself clicking on the TV at the top of the hour sometimes then sitting there for too long a period of time listening to all the latest foofaraw.  What a circus you guys got going on down there and I don’t know where or if it will ever end.  If you need a break from all that come on up to Canada where our politics are guaranteed to put you to sleep in 5 minutes or less.

‘HEY CUTEY WANNA MAKE SOME BABY FROGS’

‘STAY AWAY FROM ME YOU SLIPPERY SWAMP SLIME’!!

‘AWWW NUTS’!!

GROANER’S CORNER:((  More Pilot Errors
Actual exchanges between pilots and control towers:::
Tower: "Eastern 702, cleared for takeoff, contact Departure on frequency 124.7"
Eastern 702: "Tower, Eastern 702 switching to Departure. By the way,after we lifted off we saw some kind of dead animal on the far end of the runway."
Tower: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff behind Eastern 702, contact Departure on frequency 124.7. Did you copy that report from Eastern 702?"
BR Continental 635: "Continental 635, cleared for takeoff, roger; and yes, we copied Eastern... we've already notified our caterers."
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One day the pilot of a Cherokee 180 was told by the tower to hold short of the active runway while a DC-8 landed. The DC-8 landed, rolled out, turned around, and taxied back past the Cherokee.
Some quick-witted comedian in the DC-8 crew got on the radio and said, "What a cute little plane. Did you make it all by yourself?"
The Cherokee pilot, not about to let the insult go by, came back and said: "I made it out of DC-8 parts and pieces. Another landing like yours and I'll have enough parts for another whole plane."
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The German air controllers at Frankfurt Airport are renowned as a short-tempered lot. They not only expect one to know one's gate parking location, but how to get there without any assistance from them. So it was with some amusement that we (a Pan Am 747) listened to the following exchange between Frankfurt ground control and a British Airways 747... call sign Speedbird 206.
Speedbird 206: "Frankfurt, Speedbird 206! clear of active runway."
Ground: "Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven."
The BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop.
Ground: "Speedbird, do you not know where you are going?"
Speedbird 206: "Stand by, Ground, I'm looking up our gate location now."
Ground (with quite arrogant impatience): "Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before?"
Speedbird 206 (coolly): "Yes, half a dozen times in 1944, but it was dark, and I didn't land."
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While taxiing at London 's Gatwick Airport , the crew of a US Air flight departing for Ft. Lauderdale made a wrong turn and came nose to nose with a United 727. An irate female ground controller lashed out at the US Air crew, screaming: "US Air 2771, where the hell are you going? I told you to turn right onto Charlie taxiway! You turned right on Delta! Stop right there. I know it's difficult for you to tell the difference between C and D, but get it right!"
Continuing her rage to the embarrassed crew, she was now shouting hysterically: "God! Now you've screwed everything up! It'll take forever to sort this out! You stay right there and don't move till I tell you to! You can expect progressive taxi instructions in about half an hour, and I want you to go exactly where I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you! You got that, US Air 2771?"
"Yes, ma'am," the humbled crew responded.
Naturally, the ground control communications frequency fell terribly silent after the verbal bashing of US Air 2771. Nobody wanted to chance engaging the irate ground controller in her current state of mind. Tension in every cockpit out around Gatwick was definitely running high. Just then an unknown pilot broke the silence and keyed his microphone, asking:
"Wasn't I married to you once?"
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A Pan Am 727 flight, waiting for start clearance in Munich , overheard the following:
Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?"
Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English."
Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?"
Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war!"