A NAIL-BITER OF A WINTERS DAY DRIVE TO GODERICH AND BACK

EVERYTHING LOOKED FINE WHEN I STARTED OUT THIS MORNING

A pinkish sunrise this morning so that was encouraging.  Because I had missed a Goderich Bank appointment a week ago due to bad weather I didn't want to miss the one I had rescheduled for this morning.  Leaving Pheebs at home, Subie and I set off for Goderich despite severe weather warnings about blowing snow and road closures.  Decided to take Highway 21 if it was open.  Didn't see any road closure signs at the corner of Bayfield Road and Highway 21 so under partially sunny skies I headed north assuming the road was plowed and okay.  It wasn't!!  With strong winds coming in off Lake Huron and blowing the snow off of tall snowy embankments across the highway, it wasn't long before I began encountering whiteouts.  The south bound lane was drifted shut in half a dozen spots and I was beyond the point of turning back.  Coming out of one such whiteout an oncoming car was in my line but he was going slow and so was I.  We managed to get past each other on my side of the road with a friendly wave.  With an excellent all-wheel-drive car under me, I was confident Subie could punch her way through any snow we encounter so we forged on.  A little further along, the snow drifts were getting bigger and one of the cars ahead of me hit one, lost control, and went into the east ditch.  Two cars behind it stopped to help out which in turn caused an additional hazard.  They didn't need me stopping and adding to the hazard so I was able to get around them using the southbound lane.  It was another continuing series of nail-biting whiteouts and snow drifts before reaching the clear outskirts of Goderich.  Having left home on the early side, I was on time for my 10:30 appointment which went well.  I now know for sure I have enough money saved up to buy myself a case of popsicles this summer.  

 THE DRIVE STILL LOOKED GOOD HEADING NORTH ON HIGHWAY 21 A FEW MILES NORTH OF BAYFIELD

OH OH, GROUND DRIFTING

 WHITEOUTS AHEAD

 INSIDE ONE OF A HALF DOZEN NASTY WHITE-OUTS

From the downtown bank, I headed to Walmart to pick up a few things.  I noticed half a dozen big 18-wheelers in the parking lot which told me Highway 8 east out of Goderich was probably closed.  Geeezzz, how was I going to get home now....Coming out of Walmart I saw the big trucks were on the move heading out of the parking lot and turning east on Highway 8 and that in turn told me the Highway was probably open.  It was.  Just east of Goderich, I decided to head south on Orchard Line (not a good decision) and see how the road was.  It wasn't good.  I made it just past the first crossroad and ran into a white-out with only a single lane in front of me and a wall of snow on my right.  I had quickly checked my rearview mirror before entering the whiteout so I knew nobody was behind me.  Not knowing what was ahead I stopped and backed all the way up to the intersection, turned, and headed east on Blacks Point Road.  I knew by this time that any of the secondary North/South roads would be plugged so my plan was to get back onto Highway 8 and follow it all the way east to Clinton.  I knew if I reached Clinton I could pick up the Bayfield Road in Clinton's southwest end basically running west into the wind and not across it and that this road would take me to within half a mile of our Park.  My figuring was right on and I never encountered another whiteout or snowdrift for the rest of the way home.  Sometimes, things just have a habit of working out okay.  Even a nail-biter of a winter's day drive to Goderich and back.  And, I do have to admit it was kind of exciting........except for when it wasn't:((

 HEADING SOUTH ON ORCHARD LINE (NOT ONE OF MY BETTER DECISIONS)

 IT WAS HERE WHERE I STOPPED, BACKED UP, AND HEADED EAST

 POOR VISIBILITY AT A FEW SPOTS ON HIGHWAY 8

FROM CLINTON IT WAS CLEAR SAILING ALL THE REST OF THE WAY HOME

Al's Music Box:)) I'm Sorry is a 1960 hit song by 15-year-old American singer Brenda Lee. The song was written by Dub Allbritten and Ronnie Self.  It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in July 1960.  All Music guide wrote that it is the pop star's "definitive song", and one of the "finest teen pop songs of its era". In 1999, according to the Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, Brenda Lee recorded the song early in 1960, but her label, Decca Records, held it from release for several months out of concern that a 15-year-old girl was not mature enough to sing about unrequited love. When the song finally was released, it was considered to be the flip side of the more uptempo "That's All You Gotta Do". Although "That's All You Gotta Do" was a chart success in its own right, reaching No. 6 on the Hot 100, it was "I'm Sorry" that became the smash hit and the standard.  On other charts, "I'm Sorry" peaked at number four on the R&B chart and "That's All You Gotta Do" peaked at number nineteen on the R&B charts. "I'm Sorry" was not one of Lee's more successful singles in the UK, where Lee's previous single, "Sweet Nothin's", and several later releases (notably "Speak To Me Pretty", "All Alone Am I" and "As Usual") were substantially bigger hits.  Although "I'm Sorry" was never released to country radio in the United States as a single, it would in time become accepted by American country fans as a standard of the genre. The song—a fixture on many "country oldies" programs—was an early example of the new "Nashville Sound", a style that emphasized a stringed-instrumental sound and background vocals recorded by Lee on  Decca Records.  It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two students were arguing when their teacher entered the classroom. The teacher says, “Why are you arguing?” One boy answers, “We found a ten dollar bill and decided to give it to whoever tells the biggest lie.” "You should be ashamed of yourselves," said the teacher, "When I was your age I didn’t even know what a lie was." The boys gave the ten dollars to the teacher.

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I was visiting a friend who could not find her cordless phone. After several minutes of searching, her young daughter spoke up.
“You know what they should invent? A phone that stays connected to its base so it never gets lost.”

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- “Now that they allow us to wear jeans at the office every day, I am no longer a slacker.”

- Why did the smart phone need glasses?  It lost all its contacts.

- What do you call a female magician in the desert?  A sand witch.

- How do billboards talk?  Sign language.

- What do you call a communist doing yoga?
Stretch Marx

- What do you call an injury you get at yoga class? Yoghurt.

- I told my yoga instructor I wanted to be able to do the splits.  She asked how flexible I was.  I told her I couldn't come on Tuesdays.

- What state has the smallest drinks?  Mini-soda.

- Where do pencils spend their vacation?  Pencil-Vania.

- How do white fairytales start? "Once upon a time,"  How do black fairytales start? "Bro, you ain't gonna believe this!"

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kelly's Corner

 KELLY SPENDING TIME WITH OUR LITTLE CORA BEFORE THE LITTLE MOTORMOUSE PASSED AWAY

 ONLY DAYS AFTER I TOOK THIS PHOTO IN FRONT OF OUR CONGRESS ARIZONA HOUSE OUR LITTLE MOTORMOUSE WAS GONE....OUR LITTLE MOTORMOUSE HAS GONE TO BE WITH HER OLD PALS MAX AND CHECKERS

Al's Art Gallery