WALKING WITH MY CANE AGAIN AND ANOTHER RV BLOGGING FRIEND HAS PASSED AWAY

 SNOWDROP FLOWERS

Cloudy first thing this morning but at least the rain had finally stopped, the temperature was pushing 40F, and there were a couple brief bursts of sunlight.  Pheebs and I were out for a routine drive around the Park and managed to find a few more photos.

 IN ANOTHER MONTH OR SO THIS FOREST FLOOR IN OUR PARK WILL BE FILLED WITH SPRINGS TRILLIUM FLOWERS

 AN OLD UPROOTED PINE TREE POINTS TO THE SKY

 MANY BABY PINE TREES GROWING IN OUR PARK

I have a habit at times of pushing myself a little too hard whether it be mentally or physically.  In this case, it was physical though I do not see it as a step backward.  As of yesterday, I am using my cane again and will probably do so for the next couple of days.  Pushing myself to walk without a cane a few days ago was premature and it was my hip and right leg that ouchily told me so.  This time I will wait for my hip to give me the 'all clear' signal instead of me telling it to 'straighten up and walk right'.

 I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THESE FLOWERS ARE

With errands to run, a few groceries to pick up, and a stop at the Dynacare Lab for bloodwork, Kelly headed off to Goderich this morning.  All went well and she didn't have any problems.

 HMMMM, LOOKS LIKE A CRITTER CAM TO ME

 ALL EXISTING PROPERTIES IN OUR PARK NOW HAVE 911 NUMBERS AND DID YOU NOTICE THE BLACK SQUIRREL IN THE BACKGROUND

Kelly is making headway with her new iPhone 15.  On the phone with Bell Telephone Thursday she finally hammered out a satisfactory new phone plan which turned out to be better than her old plan.  At the moment she is awaiting the delivery of a new Sim card from Bell to fully activate the phone.       

 THE PINE FOREST HERE IN THE PARK CAN BE QUITE DENSE IN SOME AREAS

We got word Thursday evening that another RV Blogger friend has passed away while hiking in a State Park in Phoenix, Arizona.  In our early RVing days John Brown, an Alberta rancher had been one of our earliest blog followers.  While boondocked south of Quartzsite, Arizona in January of 2009 a knock came to our door one fine sunny morning.  Opening it, there stood a tall good looking fella with a big smile on his face.  It was John Brown.  You can read about that morning here...Pleasantly Surprised By Some Blog Followers  Over the years we would run into John and his wife Brenda a few times here and there and especially at our Congress House when they and some other long-time RV Blogging friends of ours, Janna and Mike popped in.  The last time we saw John was on Yellowbird Road in Bouse Arizona....A Long Day In Parker Arizona At Castro's Garage  It was our last RVing year.  John was a fine example of a gentle giant.  A true soft spoken cowboy who loved, raised, and rode horses.  In fact, John and Brenda would sometimes trailer their horses from Alberta to Arizona to ride them in the winter months.  Just prior to the time Kelly and I bought our little ranch house in Congress Arizona, John and Brenda bought a ranch house just west of Casa Grande, Arizona.  They called their place 'Dog Pound South' and their ranch in Alberta, 'Dog Pound North'.  John worked many years for the Shell Oil Company.  In his early days, someone else worked for Shell Oil as well and it was none other than Douglas Bader, the Second World War's renowned fighter pilot ace during The Battle of Britain.  Following the war Douglas Bader in later years worked for Shell Oil flying executives, engineers, and workers around various oil sites and cities.  And, one of those Shell Oil employees was John Brown.  For me, having read many books about the fighter pilots of that era, I would say to John when shaking his hand, 'hey it's an honor to shake the hand of a man who once shook the hand of one of England's top fighter aces.  John always got a big smile out of that.  Here's John's story in his own words about Douglas Bader..."In the far distant past Douglas Bader was the chief pilot for the company I worked for. One time on a long flight from Inuvik back to Calgary he like I was a passenger on our company plane. Being about 6'6" I was always on the lookout for a seat with a little extra leg room. On this flight I found one, but the crew put the bum's rush on me and said it was for Mr. Bader, he came along just at that time and said heck that kid needs the leg room more than I do, I can just take my legs off. Later on that flight he told me he always sat at the back of the plane. "Further from the point of impact" was his theory”.   John's blog has been on my sidebar for the past 16 years and you can read his last post here....Happy New Year.      

 THIS IS THE FIRST PICTURE I TOOK OF JOHN BROWN ON JANUARY 20TH 2009 SOUTH OF QUARTZZITE ARIZONA

 THIS IS THE LAST PICTURE I TOOK OF JOHN BROWN HEADING BACK TO HIS TRUCK AND FIFTH WHEEL ON YELLOWBIRD ROAD, NEAR BOUSE ARIZONA...FEBRUARY 1ST, 2019

 IT WAS JOHN WHO TOOK THIS PICTURE OF US AT OUR CONGRESS ARIZONA HOUSE

Al's Music Box:)) Blue Moon is the debut studio album by the doo-wop group The Marcels. It was released in 1961.   Although the album Blue Moon failed to chart on the Billboard albums chart, the first single "Blue Moon" did well. The single charted at No. 1 on the billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, charted at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, sold one million copies and the group was awarded a gold disc.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A farmer got pulled over by a state trooper for speeding, and the trooper started to lecture the farmer about his speed, and in general, began to throw his weight around to try to make the farmer uncomfortable. Finally, the trooper got around to writing out the ticket, and as he was doing that he kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around his head.  The farmer said, 'Having some problems with circle flies there, are ya?' The trooper stopped writing the ticket and said, 'Well yeah, if that's what they are, but I never heard of circle flies.'  So the farmer says, 'Well, circle flies are common on farms. See, they're called circle flies because they're almost always found circling around the back end of a horse.'  The trooper says, 'Oh,' and goes back to writing the ticket. Then after a minute he stops and says, 'Hey...wait a minute, are you trying to call me a horse's ass?'  The farmer says, 'Oh no, officer. I have too much respect for law enforcement and police officers to even think about calling you a horse's ass.'  The trooper says, 'Well, that's a good thing,' and goes back to writing the ticket.  After a long pause, the farmer says, 'Hard to fool them flies though...'

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- “A timber wolf is an animal with wooden legs.”

- I'm not 10, I'm more like two 5's held together by mashed potatoes.

Q: How does an archeologist tell a male skeleton from a female skeleton?
A: He knows it’s a female skeleton if the jawbone is worn down.

- Teacher: "You are the only one in the entire class who makes so many mistakes in the homework assignment."  Student: "That is not true, I am not the only one. My parents are involved in this as well!"
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