I MISS LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR WINTER TRAVELS TO THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

Our wanderings south of Bayfield this morning led us through Zurich Ontario to a walking area east of town.  It's mainly forested with a couple wide and well-maintained trails.  

UNDER A THICKENING CLOUD COVER WE HEADED INTO THE OLD FOREST BUT SOON VEERED OFF ONTO A BRIGHTER SIDE TRAIL BELOW

NOTICE ALL THE OPENING MILKWEED PODS ON THE LEFT

DID YOU SEE THE LITTLE WHITE GOOSE BOTTOM RIGHT

THIS IS A NICE WELL MAINTAINED GRASS TRAIL ON THE WEST SIDE OF THE FOREST

THIS MAY HAVE BEEN A BALTIMORE ORIOLE NEST

BOTH THE FOREST AND THIS OPEN AREA TRAIL ARE LOOP TRAILS AND TOGETHER COULD BE WALKED IN ABOUT HALF AN HOUR

WE EVEN SAW A HARMLESS LITTLE GARTER SNAKE

I'm sure many folks wonder how, in our Great Lakes area, sailboats are lifted out of the water in preparation for the coming winter freeze-up each year.  In his latest post entitled Lifting Boats, the Furry Gnome north of us up there on the shores of Georgian Bay shows through his camera lens how that is done.  He watches as a former sailboat conversion minus its mast is carefully lifted out of the water.  In the Bayfield harbor this morning I noticed a similar boat only this one is still a sailboat complete with its mast.

THIS SAILBOAT IS STILL A SAILBOAT

It was yet another in a series of fantabulous early Autumn days and especially first thing this morning with warm temperatures playing hide and seek with the sunshine.  Cloudy this afternoon with a few sprinkles of rain and cooler temps but still a reasonably nice day for early October.   And how nice this morning to ride around with both our front windows down and no heater on.  There will not be many, if any days left this year that we can still do that.  

I SUSPECT THIS SAILBOAT WITH ITS MAST ALREADY DOWN AND LASHED TO THE BOAT WILL BE SET ON A BOAT TRAILER AND DRIVEN AWAY SOMEWHERE

AFTER THE BOATS ARE OUT OF THE WATER ALL THESE DOCKS HAVE TO BE TAKEN OUT OF THE WATER AS WELL

THIS LOVELY AREA IS JUST A MILE EAST OF OUR PLACE

Our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is fast upon us now and marks the unofficial end to our summer season.  With few exceptions, we now enter the least desirable time of year as Old Man Winter in his unfailing ways steadily plods his frigid way towards us.  I don't see any hope of the Canada-U.S. border opening so it looks like we've got another long cold winter ahead of us.  Not looking forward to that at all.  Not even a little bit.  Oh how I miss looking forward to our wondrous travels to the Great American Southwest............

WE LIVE IN THAT FOREST ON THE LEFT

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A widower who never paid any attention to his wife while she was alive now found himself missing her desperately. He went to a psychic to see if he could contact his late wife. The psychic went into a trance. A strange breeze wafted through the darkened room, and suddenly, the man heard the unmistakable voice of his dearly departed wife. "Honey!" he cried. "Is that you?" "Yes, my husband." "Are you happy?" "Yes, my husband." "Happier than you were with me?" "Yes, my husband." "Then Heaven must be an amazing place!" "I'm not in Heaven, dear.

-------------------------------

A guy is walking down the street with his friend. He says to his friend, "I'm a walking economy."  His friend replies, "How's that?"
"It's like this -- my hair line is in recession, my stomach is a victim of inflation, and the combination of these factors is putting me into a deep depression."

====================