THIS OH-SO-THIN LAYER OF ICE THAT I SO PRECARIOUSLY NOW WALK

 DARK SNOW-LADEN CLOUDS OVER LAKE HURON AT GODERICH'S ROTARY COVE

Another cold grey day but hey, its January in southern Ontario, Canada.  Having more 'paperwork' stuff to do in Goderich I loaded up the Pheebs and off we went with a few snow flurries in the air.  Coffee to go at McDonalds, down to the harbor, 'snap-snap' went the camera, and back up the hill into town to attend to the paperwork stuff.  The Subaru was in both Kelly's and my name and in order to get the auto insurance info adjusted I first had to go to 'Service Ontario' and have the car ownership changed showing me as the sole owner of the car.  Expecting a line-up, imagine my surprise and delight when I walked in and went straightaway to the counter.  Yes it's true...small miracles can happen.  The nice lady there had everything wrapped up in less than ten minutes.  With the new amended ownership in hand, I drove a couple blocks to our Auto/Home Insurance place whereupon another nice lady did all the necessary insurance paperwork and sent me on my way.  A stop at Walmart for some celery and a green banana and Pheebs and I headed for home.  Roads were semi-snow-covered with a bit of ground drifting, but no problem.

  ON NARROWER SECONDARY ROADS I ALWAYS PULL OVER TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD AND STOP WHEN I SEE A SNOWPLOW COMING....IT MAKES IT MUCH EASIER ON THE SNOWPLOW DRIVERS' ALREADY FRAZZLED NERVES

 THE SPRUCEGLEN AND THE TIM S DOOL ARE TIED UP STERN TO STERN IN GODERICH'S HARBOR FOR THE WINTER

 THE SUPERSTRUCTURE OF THE ALGOMA INTREPID CAN BE SEEN BEHIND THE BEACH HOUSE AT ST. CHRISTOPHERS BEACH

 ALWAYS NICE TO SEE A SPLASH OF COLOR ALONG THE WAY

I had not clicked on our 'online' bank account since last week's bank nightmare and the reason I hadn't was simply that I was afraid to click on the site and be confronted with another white security sign again meaning I was locked out of the site.  I would then be head first into another screaming nightmare situation.  Well, knowing I had to take the plunge sooner or later I steeled my nerves as best I could and 'click'.  An immediate big sigh of relief when no white screen security issue popped up.  But there was that darn 'verification code' thing again and that is what had started the nightmare off last week when I didn't know how to find that code on the iPhone.  However, luck was on my side when I remembered a lady at the bank last week showing me where to find that code number.  In fact, I already had the iPhone turned on and the page open where it should land.  And, land it did and I was nervously able to punch the right numbers in using my computer's keyboard.  'Walla' there was the open bank account for me to see.  If I would have had tears they would have been tears of joy, unlike last week's tears of utter frustration.  Now, this 80-year-old is not naive enough to think that everything will be honky dory and clear sailing from here because my wise old 80 year old self with its decades of experience knows for certain that it will not!!  But, at least for today, I was able to take one small baby step forward on this oh-so-thin layer of ice that I so precariously now walk.

 A WEE BIT OF GROUND DRIFTING ON THE WAY HOME

 IT'S NOT OFTEN ONE SEES A TRAIN CROSSING PORTERS HILL ROAD

 THE SNOW-COVERED ROADS WERE SANDED AND SALTED

 THE ROAD LOOKS LIKE A MERE TRAIL THROUGH THE FOREST

A Blast From Our Past:)) Fifteen years ago on January 8th while boondocked near Borrego Springs, California we decided to head out in the direction of San Diego for a morning hike (we always did our hikes in the morning) at a place called Mountain Canyon Campground 40 miles short of San Diego.  By the end of the day, one of us had an injury....and it wasn't me.  Mountain Palm Canyon Hike

Al's Music Box:)) Puttin' On The Ritz by Taco is a song written by Irving Berlin. He wrote it in May 1927 and first published it on December 2, 1929.  In 1982, singer Taco released a synth-pop cover version of "Puttin' On the Ritz" as a single from his album After Eight, released in Europe on Polydor and by RCA in the US. The single was a global hit, reaching No. 1 on Cash Box as well as No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Irving Berlin, then 95, the oldest ever living songwriter to have one of his compositions enter the top ten.  It was certified gold by the RIAA for selling over one million copies.  It was Taco's only hit in the United States. This version of the song was ranked No. 53 in VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man was driving down the road. He passed a traffic camera and saw it flash.  Astounded that he had been caught speeding when he was under the speed limit, he turned around and, going even slower, he passed by the camera.  Again, he saw it flash. He couldn't believe it! So he turned and, going at a snail's pace, he passed the camera.  AGAIN, he saw the camera flash. He guessed it must have a fault, and home he went.  Four weeks later he received 3 traffic fines in the mail, all for not wearing a seatbelt.

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Q. Did you hear about the new sushi bar that caters exclusively to lawyers?

A. It's called, Sosumi.

- I saw an Apple store get robbed.  I was an iWitness

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An old man goes to the Wizard to ask him if he can remove a "Curse" he has been living with for the last 40 years.  The Wizard says "maybe, but you will have to tell me the exact words that were used to put the curse on you."  The old man says without hesitation "'I now pronounce you man and wife'".

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A little boy was attending his first wedding. After the service, his cousin asked him, "How many women can a man marry?"  "Sixteen," the boy responded.  His cousin was amazed that he knew the answer so quickly. "How do you know that?"  "Easy," the little boy said.
"All you have to do is add it up like the Preacher said: 4 better, 4 worse, 4 richer, 4 poorer."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kellys Corner

IN DOUGLAS ARIZON'S HISTORIC GADSDEN HOTEL

 A MORNING WATER BREAK IN THE SONORAN DESERT NEAR HICKIWAN TRAILS RV PARK IN WHY, ARIZONA

IN UTAH'S ARCHES NATIONAL PARK ON ONE OF OUR MANY ROCK SCRAMBLES

Al's Art Gallery