ALL THREE OF US IN THE JEEP THIS MORNING TRAVELING THROUGH SOME SNOWY WEATHER

HERE’S PHEEBS PLOWING AROUND IN THE SNOW EARLIER TODAY

Started our day with an 'extreme cold weather alert'.  Snow squalls in the area and at the risk of being repetitious I had to once again fire up my snow shovel first thing but at least it wasn't as bad as Wednesday mornings deeper snowfall.  We are so fortunate to have made the decision to replace our old inefficient electric furnace with a new gas furnace a couple years ago.  We are toasty warm in the house and my new winter duds are keeping me toasty warm outside. 

GETTING TIRED OF SHOVELING I’VE BEEN TEACHING PHEEBS TO PLOW SNOW

 

AND THERE SHE GOES FLYING BY PLOWING OUT THE DRIVEWAY

Kelly needed to pick up some groceries and things in Goderich so because of the snowy roads and heavy snow streamers coming in off Lake Huron we all piled into the Jeep again and away we went.  Kelly had breakfast coupons for A&W so that was our first stop.  Bags of dog food from Pet Value and a spin down around the harbor before heading home and that pretty much summed up our morning.  In Wednesday’s post I guessed at the leading bird photo as a ‘Chipping Sparrow’ but commenter  Beatrix Kohlhass has identified it as an ‘American Tree Sparrow’.  I’m afraid I don’t know my birds too well.

IT’S EASY TO SEE HOW HIGH LAKE HURON’S POUNDING WAVES TOSS SPRAY INTO THE AIR

THAT GRAY WALL OF CLOUD OUT OVER THE LAKE IS LADEN WITH SNOW AND IT’S ABOUT TO COME ASHORE

Snowing heavily on the way back to Bayfield but luckily we didn’t have any winds blowing the loose snow around making visibility too difficult.  The snow has been a bit of fun for a few days but we’ve about had enough of it already.

HEADING HOME FROM GODERICH ON PORTER HILL LINE

ONE OF THE HAZARDS OF WINTER DRIVING IS NOT KNOWING WHERE THE SIDES OF THE ROAD ARE SOMETIMES AND IT’S EASY TO DRIVE STRAIGHT OFF INTO THE DITCH

EASY TO TELL THE SNOWPLOW HAS BEEN DOWN THIS ROAD FROM THE SNOW SPLASHES ON THE TREES AT RIGHT

STARTED SNOWING HEAVIER AS WE DROVE THROUGH A SNOW STREAMER COMING IN OFF LAKE HURON A COUPLE MILES TO OUR RIGHT

I HOPE WE’RE STILL ON THE ROAD

WE’VE DRIVEN OUT OF THE STREAMER AND IT’S CLEAR AGAIN

AND THIS IS WHAT THE JEEP LOOKED LIKE WHEN WE GOT HOME

I’M HOPING THE VIEW THROUGH THE RIG’S WINDSHIELD IS GOING TO LOOK A LOT WARMER IN A COUPLE WEEKS

THE MOTORHOME GOES INTO THE BAYFIELD GARAGE IN THE MORNING FOR AN OIL CHANGE, ETC.  I THEN PLAN TO TAKE IT FOR A SPIN AND BLOW ALL THAT LIGHT FLUFFY SNOW OFF THE ROOF BECAUSE THERE IS A RUMOR GOING AROUND THAT SUNDAY’S TEMPERATURES COULD GO ABOVE FREEZING

There’s no getting away from the corrosive road salt in these parts so I suspect when we leave soon we’ll have no choice but to travel south in salt encrusted vehicles with no idea of where or when we will be able to get all that miserable stuff  washed off the Motorhome and Jeep.  Nothing we can do about it, it’s the way it is for anyone leaving this late in the season.

A MALE CARDINAL

HEY WAIT A MINUTE THAT’S NOT A CARDINAL…..IT’S OUR METER MAN COMING ACROSS THE YARD TO READ THE ELECTRICITY METER

A FEW OF OUR OUTSIDE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

We’re both still dragging our feet on getting organized and loading the Motorhome but I think Sunday we are going to put a big push on and trudge back and forth through the snow and cold to get most of it done.

AND I THINK THIS MIGHT BE A HAIRY WOODPECKER >>>>>

Still have no idea where we’re going in the Southwest except to say we’ll be seeking out the warmest weather wherever it may be and as quickly as we can.  We’re still trying to think of somewhere we haven’t been that is off the beaten path and far from the maddening crowds.  Want to spend more relaxing time boon-docking in the desert like we used to do.  No neighbors except for tall Saguaros, howling coyotes, cactus wrens, and winds whispering through Mesquite and Palo Verde trees.  No light pollution as I count the stars from horizon to horizon every night and no RV’s or buildings to spoil the unending beauty of the desert sunrises and sunsets.  It was the raw beauty of the great American Southwest that first attracted me there back in the Spring of 1992 and it is that very same majestic beauty that has brought Kelly and I back again and again over the past dozen years.  I never tire of the mountains and if I had been born American I would have made my home somewhere in that great enchanted land.  We sure have built us up a great stack of memories there.

A COUPLE PHOTOS OF THE SETTING MOON TAKEN ONE YEAR AGO THIS MORNING FROM THE BACKYARD OF OUR CONGRESS ARIZONA HOUSE….IT WAS 5 DAYS AFTER I TOOK THESE PHOTOS THAT WE LEFT OUR COZY LITTLE ADOBE ABODE FOR THE LAST TIME…………..

GROANER’S CORNER:((  George Carlin once said…………….

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than ten years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions. "How old are you?" "I'm four and a half." You're four and a half going on 5.  You get into your teens; and you simply jump to the next number. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16." You could be 12, but you're gonna be 16. Eventually.  Then the great day arrives and you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. You BECOME 21!!
Then you turn 30. What happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk. He TURNED; we had to throw him out. What's wrong? What changed?
You BECOME 21. You TURN 30; You're PUSHING 40. You REACH 50. Then you MAKE IT to 60. By then you've built up so much speed, you HIT 70. After that, it's a day by day thing. You HIT Wednesday….  You get into your 80's; you HIT lunch, you HIT 4:30. And it doesn't end there....
Into the 90's, you start going backwards. "I was JUST 92." Then a strange thing happens; if you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half."

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Two retired professors were vacationing with their wives at a hotel in the Catskills. They were sitting on the veranda one summer evening, watching the sun set. The history professor asked the psychology professor, "Have you read Marx?"
To which the professor of psychology replied, "Yes and I think it's these damned wicker chairs."

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