WALKING BAYFIELD'S SAWMILL TRAIL

 WE WALKED THE SAWMILL TRAIL THIS MORNING

Pheebs and I made it back out to our favorite dark sky spot in the countryside late Saturday night.  The air was clear but cold so I didn't set up any camera gear.  With no Moon in the sky it was as dark out there as the ace of spades.  Soon as I stepped out of the Jeep I spotted my favorite constellation 'Scorpios' right away coming up out of the east.  And oh my how nice the fresh earth and grass smelled.  With star chart in hand, I again traveled around the night sky refamiliarizing myself with the stars and constellations.  It's disappointing how much my mind had already forgotten since last being out under the stars just a week or so ago.  Mars was faintly visible in the west near the Gemini Twins Pollux and Castor.  Also saw one satellite, three jets, and one meteorite.   I am a little discouraged at the surrounding light pollution close to the horizon coming from Bayfield, Grand Bend, Goderich, and Clinton.  It will only continue to grow.  I guess the dark desert skies of Arizona, Utah, and Borrego Springs California have spoiled me.  But, I'm not complaining.  I consider myself very fortunate to have the dark skies we do right here so close to home.  And right next to the dark nighttime waters of Lake Huron.  On the way home the Jeep's odometer rolled over to 200,000 kilometers or 124,273 miles.

 TOOK THIS PHOTO A COUPLE WEEKS AGO OF THE SYNCHRONIZED FLASHING RED LIGHTS ON THE MANY WIND TURBINES SOUTH OF OUR DARK SKY SPOT.....THAT SLIGHT GLOW TO THE RIGHT IS THE LIGHTS OF BAYFIELD

 NO THIS IS NOT A UFO, IT'S THE JEEPS DASH WHEN I TRIED TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE ODOMETER

 I DIDN'T GET A SHOT OF THE 200,000 KMS BUT I WAS  DARN CLOSE

 I DON'T KNOW....I JUST LIKED THE ABSTRACTED COLORS

Sunday morning dawned sunny and bright without even a hint of wind in the air to lower the 52F temperature.  A bonus start to the day I'd say and it didn't take us long to get ourselves out and onto a local trail which begins only about a half-mile from our house.

 THE SAWMILL TRAIL LEADS DOWN A STEEP SLOPE TO THE BAYFIELD RIVER

 THIS IS A REAL NICE TRAIL WITH PROBABLY HALF A DOZEN LITTLE WOODEN BRIDGES ALONG THE WAY

 WALKING ALONGSIDE THE BAYFIELD RIVER

The little villa of Bayfield has some really nice woodsy up and down trails which can be accessed right from the town itself.  Because of all the week-enders this time of year local trails can be crowded so imagine my surprise this morning when I noticed the Sawmill Trail parking area totally empty.  Didn't take Pheebs and I long to get our feet out of the Jeep and onto the ground.

 THESE ARE CALLED OSTRICH FERNS AND THERE IS AN ABUNDANCE OF THEM HERE

 'THIS WAY DAD I CAN SEE THE BRIDGE'

It's probably been about 5 years since the last time we did this trail but it's been on my mind to do it again because I knew it led down to and follows the Bayfield River towards #21 highway and the new bridge.  And it was a view of that new bridge construction I wanted to grab a few pics of.  Only encountered one person on the trail and they were walking along on this beautiful Sunday morning trail talking on their cell phone.  I guess I am from the old school and just don't understand why somebody would do that.

 THIS CANADA GOOSE FAMILY IS PADDLING UP THE BAYFIELD RIVER

 THE SAWMILL TRAIL IS A LOOP TRAIL AND HERE WE ARE ON OUR WAY BACK TO THE TRAILHEAD

 I'M JUST FOLLOWING THE PHEEBER BUNS UP AHEAD

 WOODY WOODPECKER??  YEP, READ THE FIRST PARAGRAPH

Our air remained cool and the day reminded me a lot of an Arizona winter day.  Cool air and warm Sun.  Did a bit of house cleaning and that was about it for another May day.  Here's a sobering thought....in well less than a month, the days will be getting shorter again:((  It ain't fair I tell ya, it just ain't fair!!

 HMMMM, I WONDER WHAT THIS COULD BE??

 HERE'S A CLUE

 YEP IT'S A WIND TURBINE AND ONE OF THE ONES WE CAN SEE FROM OUR STARRY NIGHT SPOT TO THE NORTH

A big thank you to everyone for your compliments on our front yard.  Keep in mind though that it wasn't just me putting all that together over the years.  Kelly had a big hand in all that as well.  We didn't want a finely manicured look to our place and we didn't want an overgrown wilderness look either, so our place falls somewhere into the middle of those two extremes giving us a somewhat semi-controlled natural look.  We are not allowed to build fences in here so right from the first day my plan was to 'grow' a fence around us and that is basically what we have done:))      

 A PURPLE MARTIN MOM RESTS ON HER FRONT PORCH

 AND THERE SHE GOES TO DO A BIT OF SUNDAY MORNING SHOPPING

I don't know how many times I have watched The Eagles Farewell Tour on AXSTV but it was on again Saturday night and I watched it all over again.  One of my favorite bands of all time.  Oh those harmonies.......

 IT'S A BUSY TIME OF THE YEAR FOR BUMBLY BEES

GROANER'S CORNER:(  An old-time pastor was riding furiously down the road, hurrying to get to church on time. Suddenly, his horse stumbled and threw him to the ground.  Lying in the dirt, his body wracked with pain, the pastor called out, “All you angels in heaven, help me get up on my horse!”  With extraordinary strength, he leaped onto the horse’s back—and fell off the other side.  From the ground again, he called out, “All right, just half of you angels this time!”

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An explorer walked into a clearing and was surprised to see a pigmy standing beside a huge dead elephant. "Did you kill that?" he asked. The pigmy answered: "Yes". "How could a little bloke like you kill something as huge as that?"  "I killed it with my club" replied the pigmy.  "That's amazing," said the explorer. "How big is your club?"  The pigmy replied: "There's about 150 of us"

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