Friday, November 23, 2018

WHAT A GREAT RESPITE TODAY’S BIG BLUE SKIES AND MILDER TEMPERATURES WERE:))))

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‘WOW’ BLUE SKIES TODAY:)))))))

Checking Grand Bend's live Yacht Club harbor cam first thing this morning I could see a setting Moon over Lake Huron and this told me skies were at least clear to the west of us.  I took that as a sign of encouragement for some sunshine today.  And what a great sunshiny day it turned out to be.  And milder melting temperatures too.

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FISHERMEN SURE HAVE A LOT OF FORTITUDE FOR FREEZING COLD WEATHER

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Kelly mentioned to me Thursday she had noticed some progress on the Tim Horton Coffee shop site at the south end of Bayfield.  Well it sure didn’t take Pheebs and I long to get ourselves right on down there and have us a looky see .  Sure enough, there was work going on.

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DEFINITELY WORK GOING ON AT THE TIM HORTON SITE

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A DIGGER STANDS BY WITH ENGINE RUNNING

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A BIG WATER TANKER ON THE PROPERTY

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Right beside the Tim Horton lot is Bayfield’s carwash and with the Jeep encrusted in road salt I wasn’t long in getting it in there and hosed off.  Minutes later Libby came out of there looking pretty spiffy so we didn’t waste anytime getting her re-dusted a bit on some still frozen country roads.  No mud on the roads, just wiffle dust.

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‘HEY DAD WHERE DID ALL THE CORN GO’??

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A FEW DAYS AGO THIS CORN FIELD LOOKED LIKE THIS AND BELOW IS WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE THIS MORNING

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LOVING THESE BIG BLUE BLUE SKIES TODAY

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ANIMAL TRACKS

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LOOKS LIKE A GREEN CROP OF WINTER GRASS OR SOMETHING

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After Thursday’s low temperature of 14F today’s therapeutic sunshine and warmer temperatures worked wonders for me.  We were able to have both front windows down (heater on of course) and when heading in a westerly direction I could feel the warmth of the sun on my face.  Feeling so good I even felt compelled to take a few selfies.

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CAN YOU TELL I AM TOTALLY ENJOYING THE SUNSHINE:))

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‘OMG’ IS THAT A SLIGHT SMILE I SEE ON THAT CRANKY FACE

Back home by 10:30 with temperatures continuing to rise I went into overdrive.  Fired up the Motorhome’s generator and let that run for awhile as well as the rig’s engine.  Made a few adjustments to several bird feeders, burnt some trash, and took care of a half dozen other things outside.  As I went from one task to the other not forgetting anything along the way I was reminded of the way things used to be.  Like many other folks I am at my personal best when I have something acceptably agreeable to do and about at my worst when I don’t.  A big thankyou to Mother Nature today for her generous gift of sunshine and and almost 40F temperatures.  A nice and necessary respite from our recent doom and gloom weather for sure.

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Last week the Squirrel score was tied up a at 2-2.  When I moved the bird station to a new location the score went up to 3-2 for me.  Three days later I saw Mr. Squirrel back on top of the feeder again.  Oh-Oh, 3-3.  I watched for a awhile and finally saw how Squirrely was getting onto the feeder via a far away branch on our Sunburst Locust tree.  Ever heard of ‘flying Squirrels’?  Well we have them.  Out came my step ladder and clippers and down came the Sunburst branch.  A-ha, 4-3 for AL:))  Late Thursday afternoon I looked out and sure enough there was Rocket J Squirrel up on the bird station again.  Hmmmm, all tied up 4-4 now.  From the sunroom this afternoon I sat with eyes riveted once again to the feeder and sure enough along comes Houdini and up the wooden post he goes this time, grabs the lip of the overturned empty plastic flower pot edge I have on the post to deter him, hauls up his legs and then springboards himself up onto the wooden platform.  Staring at the eyes of defeat I had to do some thinking so out came my yellow handled sheers and out the door I went.  Took a while but I was able to cut that plastic lip off the flower pot so now Mr. Smartypants Squirrel has nothing to grip onto and pull himself up with.  It is now 5-4 for me.  Game on:))

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CUTTING THE RIM OFF THE INVERTED FLOWERPOT

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BEFORE AND AFTER

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PHEEBS KEEPS WATCH ON THE FRONT PORCH MAKING SURE NO SQUIRRELS COME UP THERE AND GET INTO THE BIRDSEED BIN

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‘HEY DAD I THINK I SEE ONE’………. ‘I DO’ ‘I DO’!!!!

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Had some unusual never seen before problems with my Picasa photo editing program tonight and I sure hope it doesn’t mean the now unsupported program is beginning to become unstable.  If I lose my handy dandy photo editing program I will be totally dead in the water.  Oh woe I could very well be…………………..

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GROANER’S CORNER:(( A man arrives at the gates of heaven. St. Peter asks, "Religion?" The man says, "Methodist." St. Peter looks down his list, and says, "Go to room 24, but be very quiet as you pass room 8." Another man arrives at the gates of heaven. "Religion?" "Baptist." "Go to room 18, but be very quiet as you pass room 8."A third man arrives at the gates. "Religion?" "Jewish." "Go to room 11, but be very quiet as you pass room 8." The man says, "I can understand there being different rooms for different religions, but why must I be quiet when I pass room 8?" St. Peter tells him, "Well the Catholics are in room 8, and they think they're the only ones here."

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Knock Knock  Who's there?  Disguise!  Disguise who?  Disguise the limit!

Knock Knock  Who's there?  Disk!  Disk who?  Disk is a recorded message, please leave your message after the beep!

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Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Person asked the young programmer, "And what starting salary were you looking for?" The programmer said, "In the neighborhood of $75,000 a year, depending on the benefit's package." The HR Person said, "Well, what would you say to a package of 5 weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company Corvette leased every 2 years?"  The programmer sat up straight and said, "Wow!!! Are you kidding?" The HR Person replied, "Certainly, but you started it."

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11 comments:

  1. Looking forward to future episodes of your local Houdini.

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  2. Hi Al A few posts ago you mentioned that the cold bothers your Febs feet. My late Mother-in-Law had a small dog and he had the same problem only his bled he got so bad. She bought him some doggy boots to keep his feet from picking up the salt and the cold from the snow and he never had anymore trouble. Just thought I would pass that along.

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  4. It's amazing what blue skies and the sun can do for a person during the winter months. So enjoying the adventures of Houdini vs Al.

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  5. Love your artistic eye (along with God's artistic eye) and the photos Al ... thanks.

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  6. I’m loving your squirrel story. I was laughing out loud!!

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  7. Hi, AL! Regarding your squirrel battles.....At our last house, we had feeders hanging from a wooden support my husband built. Baffles alone didn't keep the squirrels from getting to the feeders, but when my husband wrapped metal sheeting around the poles below the baffles, that did the trick. They couldn't get footing on the metal, and if they did, they couldn't get enough footing to get around the baffles. Unfortunately, it didn't keep the raccoons off, but was a great squirrel deterent.
    Enjoy the sunny days and keep trudging through the cloudy ones!
    Selene

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  8. Winter is do able when you have clear blue skies and sunshine , not too cold was a bonus too.

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  9. Ha ha the game is! Good on you for not giving up. Now that Flickr is forcing everyone to pay I am worried also they give a free account with 1,000 photos but I have 20,000 soooo. It's a quandary. Good luck and great photos!!

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  10. Yesterday, we got to meet with George and Suzy, your fellow Canadians who write a great blog, also. I see they have already commented on your site today. We had a wonderful time.

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  11. Thank you for making me laugh. Squirrels are hungry too. You look good smiling in the sunshine.

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