A RECENT POST BY MY GOOD BUDDY JIM

 LOVE THIS MORNING'S PATCHES OF BIG BLUE SKIES

I really messed up my photos this morning and of course it was my own fault.  Oh Gee what else is new eh.  Heading out the door I pressed the button on my camera to check my usual exposure levels.  Nothing happened, camera was dead.  Checked the battery level and it was zero.  Very rare for me not to keep my battery charged up.  That was my first mistake.  Stepping back into the house and grabbing another camera I made a second mistake by not checking the settings.  Hence, with the color balance way off into the blue spectrum, away I went.  Third mistake I made was in not checking my photos more closely as I went along.  Anyway, all my photos have a blue caste to them.  Some much worse than others.  I was able to color correct a few of them to an acceptable level using my Picasa photo editing program. Some were not color correctable at all so I made black and whites out of them the best I could. The majority of the photos I simply deleted.  Sometimes stuff just happens........

 MORE AND MORE PIG BARNS ARE BEING BUILT THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRYSIDE

A slight hint of color on the eastern horizon at dawn had me hopeful for a few smatterings of sunshine.  An hour later we had some big welcome patches of blue sky overhead.  Days without sunshine sure makes for good feelings when old Sol finally makes an appearance.  And especially at this time of year as we approach mid-January.  By afternoon we were once again under a partial cloud cover.

 ANIMAL TRACKS IN THE SNOW

 THE ONTARIO ALPS

 THE'ALPS' ARE ACTUALLY PILES OF DIRT AROUND THE EDGE OF A GRAVEL PIT

 THE 'ALPS' AT THE BOTTOM AND A GRAIN SILO OPERATION IN CLINTON AT TOP RIGHT

<<<< LOVING THESE PATCHES OF BLUE SKY
Brewed up my own coffee this morning and headed northeast out of our Park.  How nice to see those big splashes of Sun lighting up the snowy landscape and bringing nature's vibrant colors back out of the greyness from previous days.  Temps were again above freezing for most of the day.  Checking the forecast ahead I see despite dropping temps we might be lucky enough to have ourselves a few more sunny days.  I will be sure to use the correct camera settings for that:))

 SNOWMOBILE TRACKS

Home again shortly after 10 I right away got myself busy with a few outside chores.  Started up the Motorhome and let it run for a while.  It purred like a kitten.  Snow had been building up on our house roof as well as the carport roof so I dusted off my 15' aluminum snow rake and began pulling snow and ice down off the roof along the edges.  After that, I had to get myself on the end of my snow shovel and remove some of that downed snow from a couple walking areas.

 TIME TO GET OUT MY BIG SNOW RAKE AND GET THAT ICE AND SNOW DOWN

 KELLY'S SMART PHONE PHOTOS

My bloodwork numbers came back already and things are looking Okay.  I am back to the pre-diabetes number of 6.1.  My diabetes person is calling me on January 11th to talk about the blood test.  I have to return to the Dynacare lab next week for a second blood test regarding my PSA number.  My London Oncologist, Doctor Mendez, has requested this one as part of my twice-yearly check with him.

 

I particularly liked a recent post written by my good buddy Jim from Lifetime Sentences.  It is a heartwarming family-oriented piece that I think a lot of readers can readily identify with.  In these times of so much upheaval and uncertainty how nice to read of one Dad's hopes and dreams for his children's children based on love, caring, and a winter tradition shared with Jim by his own Dad from days gone by.  I wasn't able to get a link to work for Jim's post so I copy and pasted it below.

 For the Grandkids

For ten years, starting in 2007, with the help of my family, I built big skating rinks in our backyard. By the time our mild winters put a stop to the rink-building, someone asked me why I kept making them as it was true that they weren't seeing much use the last couple of years. Our kids and their friends had moved on. It took me a little longer to do the same.

But that question stuck in my head. Why did I keep making them? Going out every 20 minutes on 12-below nights till dawn to apply another coat of water. Freezing my fingers and toes off. Only to look out a couple of weeks later to see the grass re-emerge through the remnants of the ice. Just exactly what kind of fool was I?

The answer finally came to me one day, not in time, of course, to respond to the man who had asked me the question. I kept building skating rinks but now they were for my grandchildren. I don't have any grandchildren but I know if I ever do that there will probably be skating rinks of some description in the backyards of the homes they live in as their parents reflect on their years growing up at our place.

And now I think that this reasoning might apply to a lot of the things my wife and I still do. Our Christmas traditions, for example. The real tree, the great movies, the games, the meals, the music. I could list ten movies but though my grandkids might never see them all, I know for sure they will always watch White Christmas and probably A Christmas Story. Maybe Elf and possibly Christmas vacation.

Our grandkids will eat turkey on Christmas evening. And one other thing I can almost guarantee. They will stay at home all day Christmas Day. That is a practice Barb and I started many years ago. We decided to not leave our property from Christmas Eve till Boxing Day. No visiting anyone. Selfish maybe, but it has been the one day of the year we know we will all be together.

There are many other Christmas and non-Christmas traditions we observe and I know our grandkids won't be introduced to all of those. After all, our children's future spouses will have family practices of their own they want to introduce to their kids.

But I really believe that simple acts we do for and with our sons and daughters will benefit their sons and daughters down the road and maybe even farther into the future than we can see.

The first time I saw A Christmas Story was in 1984, a year after it was filmed. I loved it immediately. I was single at the time and watched it alone in my apartment. I had no way of knowing that 12 years later I would have a son and that a few years after that, he would become a big fan of my favourite Christmas movie. Or that in 2011, he and I would be in Cleveland, standing in front of the house where the exterior scenes were shot.

I also didn't know the movie would become one of my daughter's favourites as well or that she would present her brother this year with a replica of the iconic leg lamp from the show.

I will admit that we have lost some of the traditions my wife and I grew up with, mainly revolving around the religious aspects of the season. The Christmas music we listen to, for example, is mostly not the carols that we loved. For me, as a Catholic, there is no more midnight mass.

Who knows if I will ever meet my grandchildren. But I know, as they lace up their skates for a twirl around their backyard rink, or sit down to watch White Christmas, that they will know their grandparents very well.

By that time, wherever it is I might be, it will please me to know their parents made them a rink, just as my Dad did for me.

I wonder if Dad ever thought he was making those rinks for his grandchildren, my children, both of whom he would never meet.

©2021 Jim Hagarty

lifetimesentences.com

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Some people are like a Slinky.....not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?

In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

Eighty percent of all people consider themselves to be above average.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Every solution breeds new problems.

Everybody is somebody else's weirdo.
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Boss: "Working hard here, Jimmy?"  Jimmy: "Ever since I heard you coming down the stairs, boss!"

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