JEEP FEVER.....IT'S WEARING ME DOWN:((

DAISIES IN A CLOVER FIELD

Well, after all the time & effort I put into Wednesday night's blog finding & arranging all the photos I am tonight......discouraged:((  All the photos for Wednesday night's post were on our external hard drive & I had long & hard time retrieving them because the external drive kept failing.  I'm wondering if that somehow had something to do with the blog not publishing because of incomplete photo data or something.  

DOCKSIDE IN GRAND BEND

I had trouble with that drive a few months ago & took it into the shop.  It was checked over & found to be working OK but it's acting up again.  I might be in the middle of getting some photos & it will just quit.  I then have to pull out the power cord & keep re-plugging it in to get it working again.  Had to do that 7 times last night & in the end my pictures didn't publish anyway.  We are going to get another external drive & see if we can get all our stuff out of the troublesome one into a new one.  May have to use my hammer & crowbar!!  (

(My heart stood perfectly still tonight as it took 85 seconds for the blog to publish with no error message)

AN OLD FORGOTTEN FOOT BRIDGE

I think tonight I am just going to keep things simple & use some file photos from the desktop computer.

FROG ROCKET ON A LAUNCH PAD

It was a long day.  The toilet in our rig doesn't hold water anymore so that means the seal is shot & has to be replaced.  That is not a job for the faint of heart like myself so will have to find somebody who is willing to do that.  Wanted to make sure the black tank was sanitized so I drove the rig to our nearest dump station in Exeter which is a 40 minute drive away & flushed a couple full tanks of water through it with a copious amount of bleach included.   Between each tank full of water & drove the rig around for a couple miles to give it a good slosh.  I will probably do that whole procedure one more time before finding someone to fix that seal.

THE BONNIE DOON MANOR OVERLOOKS GRAND BEND'S BEACH & LAKE HURON

This afternoon I had a mobility van run to London & back.  Heavy torrential rains made for some bad driving again so by the time I got home late this afternoon I was beat.  Luckily I have tomorrow off so hope to catch up on things at home here.  Grass is about 20 feet tall & there seems to have been some kind of nuclear weed explosion with all the rain lately.

SPLISH SPLASH I WAS TAKING A BATH

We have just been going round, & around, & around, with this Jeep thing.  Up until last night I was leaning strongly toward the 2005 four cylinder red Jeep in Goderich but after receiving emails & comments yesterday I became discouraged about the 4 cylinder Jeeps being underpowered.  Kelly spent way over an hour last night reading Jeep forums & reviews.  I emailed some Jeep friends for their opinions & emailed some other fellows about their thoughts. 

MY HEART IS STILL IN THE OLD WILD WEST (This is the cover off a picture book I had as a kid)

This morning my head swung back to the 2009 yellow 6 cylinder Jeep in Exeter & for the rest of the day I was mentally exhausted with red Jeep this or yellow Jeep that!!  Which was the better deal & why.  For sure the yellow Jeep is the better vehicle but for sure it is the vehicle with the biggest price tag too.  Pros & cons back & forth.   Should I trade the motorcycle or not.  The red Jeep place will take the bike on trade but the yellow Jeep place won't.  Tonight I am totally all Jeeped out & am going to have to go stick my head in a pail of cold water for half an hour just to put the fire out.  Say, has anybody out there got a good Jeep deal for the Bayfield Bunch:))

<<<< A SUNSET SAIL IN BAYFIELD

GROANER'S CORNER:(( 

Let's put the seniors in jail and the criminals in a nursing home.

This way the seniors would have access to showers, hobbies, and walks.  They'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental
and medical treatment , wheel chairs etc.  And they'd receive money instead of paying it out.  They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly if they fell, or needed assistance.  Bedding would be washed twice a week and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them.  A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell. They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.  They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counseling, pool, and education.  Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, P.J.'s and legal aid would be free on request.  Private & secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard & gardens.  Each senior could have a P.C., A T.V., radio, and daily phone calls.  There would be a board of directors to hear complaints, and the guards would have a code of conduct that would be strictly adhered to.

The "criminals" would get cold food,  be left all alone, and unsupervised.
Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week.
Live in a tiny room, and pay $5000.00 per month and have no hope
of ever getting out.    Justice for all.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

MAY 24TH WEEK-END....THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER:))

GEARED UP FOR SUMMER & READY TO RUMBLE

In Canada we commonly refer to this as the May 24th week-end & it is the traditional kick-off to summer.  It's a big celebratory week-end with folks pouring out of the cities & heading for cottage country & the beaches like here in Bayfield, Grand Bend, & Goderich.  Many boats will be going back into the water after a long winter in storage.  Cottages will be opened & aired out.  Stores, shops, art galleries, eateries, & cafe's will be open for another busy summer.  Lots of parties & fireworks going on.  The teenagers will flock to Grand Bend about 20 minutes down the coast from us & the police presence there will be tripled & quadrupled for the week-end.  A lot of the rowdy teenagers who used to hang out in 'the Bend' back in the 60's have since grown up & are now retired in Bayfield........ including me.

 

'GRAND BEND BEACH'....PROBABLY A COUPLE OF THOSE WILD TEENAGERS FROM THE 60's.....REMEMBERING WHEN:))

Unlike the tourists who flock to Bayfield we remain hidden in our little pine forest about a 5 minute drive from the heart of the village.  Traffic will be chaotic & the small local grocery market will be shoulder to shoulder with people picking up everything from bags of ice to an endless supply of wieners, charcoal, & suntan lotion.  We learned years ago to make sure we have all our groceries or anything we need before the week-end tourist gang rolls in & especially on the long week-ends. 

ALONG BAYFIELD'S COLORFUL & PICTURESQUE MAIN STREET

It is a perfect week-end to stay home because the roads & highways can be heavy with people racing to & from their cottages.  Camp grounds & Provincial Parks will be jammed packed full & will basically stay that way right up to the Labor Day week-end in September.  The only times we would ever go to the Provincial Parks anymore around here is either before the May 24th week-end or after the Labor Day week-end.  The Pinery Provincial Park which is a half hour south of us is totally beautiful in Spring & Fall when the hordes of people are not there.

ANOTHER BAYFIELD SUNSET

Noticed on Facebook that MOTTY & PATTI are now in the Bryce Canyon, Cannonville, & Kodachrome Basin area of Utah. (you might want to read their post about returning to their rig after 3 weeks to find a very much most nauseating stench)  The places Motty & Patti are visiting right now bring back a lot of memories for us.  Utah is one of my most favorite States simply because of it's beauty.  That whole southwest area of the United States is like no other.  I have picked out 3 separate blogs & photo albums of our memorable times in & around Cannonville Utah.  Check out...............WILLIS CREEK SLOT CANYON...SLOT CANYON PHOTOS

ATOP GROSVENOR'S ARCH...GROSVENOR'S ARCH PHOTOS

DESCENT INTO BRYCE CANYON...BRYCE CANYON PHOTOS

MAX CROSSES THE SHALLOW CREEK IN WILLIS CANYON

LOOKING BACK & DOWN INTO BRYCE CANYON WHERE WE HAD JUST HIKED THROUGH THE 'QUEENS GARDEN' FAR BELOW

NOVEMBER 15TH, 2007 - VIEW FROM ATOP GROSVENOR'S ARCH AFTER A HEFTY CLIMB FROM THE VALLEY FLOOR BELOW....I FIRST CLIMBED THIS IN 1992

GROANER'S CORNER:((  "Grannie, do all fairy tales begin with, 'Once Upon A Time?"  "No darling.  There is a whole series of Fairy Tales that begin with, "If Elected I Promise'."

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

NICE DAY SO WASHED THE RIG & THE BIKE

FORSYTHIA

Our recent rains sure have gone a long way to greening things up in the last 48 hours.  Early spring here always looks pretty bleak & barren after the long winter but once things begin to warm up in late April & May the vegetation literally explodes into life & by June we are in full blown almost tropical mode.  I've always felt June is the month most plants, shrubs, trees, & flowers are at their absolute best before the heavy heat of July & August take their toll.  As much as we love our southwest desert in the winter we sure love our summer greens here in the northern latitudes while at home.  We truly do have the best of both worlds.

ALWAYS A BIG JOB GETTING THE RIG LOOKING CIVILIZED AGAIN AFTER A LONG TRIP

Our little 2003 Santa Fe car had developed some strange vibrations in the front end lately so Kelly took it to a local tire shop this morning suspecting we were in for some new tires.  Well, we do need tires all the way around but it was determined the ball joints are totally shot & at the dangerous point.  The car is 7 years old & we have had it for 3 of those years.  It's been a totally great little car with very few problems so I guess we have to expect some repairs now & again.  Four new tires, new ball joints plus labor & tax is going to carry us way over the thousand dollar mark for sure.  Also priced out 6 new tires for the Motorhome & as expected that's going to run us up close to $3,000.00.  We'll wait until September before having tires installed on the rig because who knows what could happen between now & then.  Let me see now, so far this month AL has made a grand total of $78.  Yep, everything seems pretty normal so far.

POPLAR LEAVES

The temps came up enough today to finally take the motorcycle for a run.  Stopped at Bayfield's car wash & hosed off the winter's storage of dust & cob webs.  Took er out & blowed er dry on the highway & it was great to feel that wind ripping away at my aging face again.  Kind of like a road dirt- sand blast make-over.  A bit warmer tomorrow so I will try to get some wax on it.  (the motorcycle, not my face)

ON THE BEACH AT GRAND BEND

Washed the Motorhome today as well so that should be good now until the fall when I will do it again before we leave.  Sure was a lot of road grime on it and is now looking so good we could fit ourselves right into shiny rig row with no problem at all.

HERE'S THE BAYFIELD BUNCH ON SHINY RIG ROW WHEN WE HAD THE FIVER....BEAUDRY RV PARK, TUCSON AZ.

And, earlier this morning it was determined I could hold out no longer on a decision I had been mulling over for a couple weeks now.   Subsequently, my wild wooly west look ended up on the kitchen floor again.  Kelly shortened up my curly gray locks with a scissors & I in turn trimmed up my shaggy white beard with an old electric shaver.   I am now back to my neat little namby pamby school boy look for the summer.

<<<< THIS YEAR'S HAIRCUT WAS A REPEAT PERFORMANCE OF LAST YEAR'S HAIRCUT

JUSTRAVELIN is in Arizona's Dead Horse State Park at the moment & that brought back memories of our stay there 3 winter's  ago.  You can see a few photos here.......  SEDONA, JEROME, DEAD HORSE STATE PARK.

A FLOCK OF MORNING GEESE WING THEIR WAY TOWARDS COTTONWOOD, ARIZONA

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.

OUR FIRST COMPUTER…..AND WE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO TURN IT OFF:((

TO-DAY’S PHOTOS ARE FROM THURSDAY’S MOTORCYCLE RIDE.  CLICK TO ENLARGE & HOVER OVER THE PICTURES TO READ CAPTIONS

Sometimes Kelly & are called upon by friends to help with minor computer problems they are having.  The emphasis is on the word minor.  We are not computer geeks by any stretch of the imagination but we are familiar with a few areas of computing that we repeatedly use ourselves.  We are both on the computer every day & it is this constant repetition that keeps us in the loop.  At this age & stage of the game I find that daily repetition is the key to staying on top of the computer game.  Slack off for even a day or two & those memory cells begin to drift off into space again.  Learning can quickly become....re-learning!!

It was probably about the mid 90's when the word 'computer' slowly began showing up in my world.  A few things on the news, maybe a magazine article here & there, & sometimes actually meeting someone who had one of these things at home.  It all started to take on some meaning for me while driving passenger vans back & forth to the Toronto airport.  Some of the people I was transporting were local businessmen from various companies & industries in Stratford, Ontario.  I would sometimes strike up a 'computer' conversation with them & pick up bits of info regarding their computer knowledge.  I remember leaving the airport late one night with a fellow sitting two seats behind me.  His luggage was in the back of the van but he had carried on a small black rectangular looking case.  We were somewhere well west of Toronto when I happened to glance in the rear view mirror & in the total darkness was startled to see what I thought looked like a glowing Martian face.  This man wore very thick glasses & his face was bathed in a pale green glow that seemed to be emanating from somewhere below his head.  Remember as a kid sticking a flashlight under your chin in the darkness, then running around scaring everybody.  Well, same effect & just as scary too!!   This was my first introduction to some kind of computer machine that sat on a persons lap or something.

That man's name was Jim Young & as it turned out he was a computer programmer for a large company based in Stratford.  Over the next while we became friends & Jim would ride up front in the van on his way to & from the airport on his many trips all over the world.  He was the fellow I was asking the most questions, like, what exactly is a computer & what does it do, what is this thing called email, does the keyboard have a back-space bar, how does something go from a keyboard in seconds to the far corner's of the earth in a single keystroke, do you use white-out on the screen if you make a typing error, what is an internet & is it something like a fishing net, & what has 95 Windows got to do with anything, & a flopping disk....what is that?  It was hard for me to get an overall concept of how all this magic worked but I was intrigued & determined to find out. 

Jim Young was very patient with my country bumpkin questions & always seemed to enjoy explaining the wonders of cyberspace.  My imagination grew as I gradually began to realize that this computer age could be something very beneficial that we just might be able to use at home.  Wasn't exactly sure why but just had a feeling it was somehow going to be a good thing.  The writing was finally on the wall..........I wanted a computer!!!!

It didn't take any convincing for Kelly to get on board with the puter idea because her interest was peeked just as much as mine so with that in mind we headed into Stratford one day & dropped into a local computer shop. We had seen their sale flyer advertised in the local newspaper.   Chipon Computers was located on Erie street & it was our first real time seeing actual computers, printers, monitors, & all kinds of other magical looking & sounding things.  We sure felt like a couple of local yokels who had just fallen off a hay wagon going by.  But wow, talk about excitement for both of us.  Mixed with a healthy dose of apprehension I might quickly add.  We picked out one of 4 advertised computer packages, signed on the dotted line, & headed home wondering what we had just done.

It was a couple days before the fellows at the computer shop were able to bring the computer out to our old rented farm house & set everything up.  I wasn't home because it was late on a Friday afternoon & in those days I did the mid afternoon Airport run from Stratford to Toronto so it was usually well after 10 o'clock at night before I got home. The fellow setting the computer up had given Kelly a quick lesson on how to turn it on & that was about it.  When I finally got home that night, there it was. This wondrous looking thing sitting on the table with lights blinking, whirring sounds, & a big colorful something bounding around on a thing that looked like a small television screen.  I would later come to know that bouncing ball was a screen saver.  I remember both of us standing in front of this space age contraption saying, "now what do we do."  We didn't even know how to turn it off.  We knew absolutely nothing & our faithful 6 week old puppy, Max, knew even less.  This was day one of a love/hate computer relationship lifestyle that continues to this very day.

And who could have imagined that the scary green appearance of a Martian looking face in the back of a darkened van late one night on an 8 lane highway would someday tie to-gether my love of computers, photography, writing, & traveling, & one day lead to something as weird sounding as.......a blog!!

In a future post.........Al buys a book for 'Dummies!!'

In last night's post I mentioned about a quiet ride on the motorcycle yesterday.  Some of you may wonder how is it possible to have a ‘quiet’ ride on a motorcycle!!  Very simple.....I ride a Honda, not a Harley:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Five days a week my body is a temple.  The other two it's an amusement park.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

NICE MORNING RIDE TO THE BEND & BACK

A TOTALLY DIFFERENT LOOKING GRAND BEND BEACH

For most us us the names Fred & Wilma immediately conjure up memories of the Flintstones years ago. The TV cartoon has been off the air for a long time now but RV bloggers Fred & Wilma are alive & well living in Michigan. Quickly approaching retirement they are looking forward to taking their 38' Winnebago Adventurer into warmer winter climates in the very near future. You can find the Flintstone namesakes at http://flintstones1970.blogspot.com/ VIEW OF THE KID'S PLAY AREA FROM ATOP THE BEACH HOUSE

Our "Blogs We Follow" list is growing so I have decided to trim it up a bit by listing only the blogs that are remaining currently active. I will still keep an eye on the bloggers who haven't been posting for awhile & if & when they are up & running again I will either re-add them or make mention of their post in the blog. For anyone reading those blogs at the moment I sugguest you add their websites to your favorites so you don't lose them. I will do this Wednesday night. I'm going to keep Gypsy97 on the list though because I'm expecting her to re-surface any time now. I think she has got herself into a bad reception area. Her last post was May 27th. If anyone has heard from her, let me know & I'll post an update on her status. GRAND BEND'S ONLY LARGE BUILDING.....A BEACHFRONT CONDO

Beautiful day but rain moving into the area over the next couple days so figured it would be a good morning to take the bike for a run down to Grand Bend & have a look at the new beach renovations there. The motorcycle was needing a good run anyway & so was I. After a stop at the Bayfield carwash to hose all the pine pollen off the bike I was southbound for the Bend. Don't like washing vehicles here at the house because the strong chlorine in the water always leaves spots. NICE MORNING FOR A RIDE TO THE BEND

Grand Bend's main drag looks the same but they sure have made a lot of improvements to the beach area. I really, really, hope the summer teen-agers will respect all the hard work, time, & money, that the people of Grand Bend have put into their now family oriented beach project. It's obvious they are trying to make it family friendly. I have put this mornings beach pics in a photo album which can be found here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/THENEWGRANDBENDBEACHJUNE16TH2009#

An old Tavistock (my hometown) friend from many moons ago dropped in this afternoon & we had quite a chin wag. Been about 10 years since we last talked over in Stratford & it turns out he now lives just 3 miles from where we do. Small world.

ACCOMODATIONS ACROSS FROM THE BEACH

Looks like I'm going to be busy with the mobility van over the next couple of days so I'm looking forward to some nice scenic country driving. It's one of the many advantages of living in a small town because everywhere you go involves driving through the countryside to get to where your going. I call that a huge bonus:)) ROMANCE WILL ALWAYS BE ALIVE ON THE BEACH AT THE BEND

Sidenote to the Grand Bench beach........My Dad as a young man was stationed at an air base just east of the Bend during the war & he told me how the guys used to get a car to-gether or hitch-hike into the Bend on Saturday nights to go swimming & dance the night away in the beachfront Pavillion. He said he had many a good time on that beach. My Dad died in 1992 & on the morning of his funeral I drove to Grand Bend & went for a walk along the shore. I picked up a small pebble in the sand & later slipped that into my Dad's jacket pocket to take with him & bring him good luck on his next journey..........................

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/