I NEED MORE DAYS LIKE TODAY:))

MORNING ON THE LAKE IN WROXETER, ONTARIO (Canon Powershot A720)

The early morning cool air gave way to the sweet smell of new mown hay as I cruised through our emerald green rural farmland on my way to pick up the day's first passenger.   Some farmer's were already on the land cutting & raking the long winding rows of clover & alf alfa grasses.  No rain in our forecast for awhile so the freshly cut hay will rest on the ground drying in the warming sun waiting for the farmer to return in a few days with his bailer.  Soon, big round & smaller rectangular bails of hay will dot the countryside over hill & dale.  No majestic mountains here but we sure do have ourselves a pretty countryside in the late spring, summer, & early fall.  OK, wintertime can be pretty too......sometimes!!

         

A FEW QUICK SHOTS THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD OF FRESH CUT & BAILED HAY

Just as I do not like being here in the winter I would not like being in the deserts of the southwest in the summer either.  I was in Florida for a week one time during the summer & that was the worst heat & humidity I have ever experienced!!  Cold northern winters can hold a person captive in their own house just as easy as the hot blistering summers can do the same thing in the southern States.

QUICKLY PULLED OVER & TOOK THESE PHOTOS BEFORE PICKING UP MY FIRST PASSENGER THIS MORNING

Well, we finally received the phone call we have been waiting for.  The call could have come weeks ago, today, or a year from today.  It was an unknown factor.  A room has come available in an area Nursing Home & my Uncle Harry's name was next on the waiting list.  Not sure about the States but here in Canada this process happens very quickly.  In fact we only have 48 working day hours to have him moved about 40 miles to the new facility.......lock, stock, & barrel.  Both Kelly & are working all day to day so bright & early Monday morning we will take both our vehicles to Woodstock Ontario & begin Harry's move to a town much closer to us called, Mitchell.  This will not be an easy move for my 94 year old Uncle.  He has been in the assisted living facility in Woodstock for nearly 8 years now & has made a lot of friends there.  It is going to be a difficult day for everyone.

Took our new Toshiba laptop with me on my work travels today & managed to finally get a good start on some backed up emails while sitting in a hospital parking lot in the town of Listowel Ontario. Transported a lady here from another small town so I have some waiting time. The back seat of this Mini-Van offers the most room so here I am stuffed into a small bucket seat with the side doors open & a cooling breeze flowing through.  And luckily, I am parked in the shade of a big old Maple tree.  I have our new Toshiba laptop with me which has Windows 7 on it. Our other two, & currently more used computers at home, are both running XP so it's always a bit of a re-learning curve whenever I use the newer operating system.  Aging brain cells & the ever changing rapid growth of new electronic technologies do not always make for a happy AL camper!!

              

FIRST TIME I EVER SAW A TIM HORTON'S LOCATED IN A COMMERCIAL BLOCK OF BUILDINGS.....Listowel Ontario Canada

Turned out to be a long working day today since I left the house at 7:15 this morning & never returned until 6:15 tonight.  Had a nice van to drive & I got to see even more of our lush June countryside than I usually do.  Even managed to get myself on a few more roads that I have never been on before.  I like when that happens & I really need more days like today...........:))

I HAD A NICE LITTLE VAN TO DRIVE TODAY WHILE SLIPPING THROUGH OUR BEAUTIFUL GREEN COUNTRYSIDE:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead & why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle.  And while we're at it.......If work is so terrific, why do they have to pay you to do it?  Just a few of the more important parts of my life that I thought about today.

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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

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

COLD WET RAINY DAY

YES, I TOOK THIS PHOTO TODAY BUT IF THIS IS THE EARTH HOW DID I GET WAY OUT INTO SPACE TO DO IT??

Wow, what a great weather day it was......to stay inside!!  Cold with an Ontario damp feeling in the air & no sun.  A good day for familiarizing ourselves with the new Toshiba Satellite laptop & Windows 7.  As always when moving from an old familiar format to a new one there are always frustrations.  Same thing as Win 95 to Win 98 & then XP.  I'm sure I will be just fine when I change my head to match the system instead of trying my old familiar tactic of trying to change the system to match my head.

RANCH DOG PEARCE FOUND HIMSELF A COMFY SPOT LAST NIGHT

Win 7 definitely has a different look to it which I'm sure will be just fine when I get used to it.  I did manage to get some files transferred but of course it did not go as smoothly or quickly as I figured it should have so had to go sit in my chair & pout for half an hour.  In the meantime Kelly sat down for a first look at Win 7 & within 10 minutes had most everything transferred.  Like I've said many times before, I'm pretty good at taking the garbage out back home:((

DATA TRANSFER BETWEEN OLD & NEW…….(new is on the left)

The rain & thunder began around noon so I made a bee-line for the corrals to get the donkeys into a sheltered area.  Grabbed them a bale of hay while I was at it & ended up back in the rig cold & wet. Turned up the heat a tad & had another crack at Win 7.  Because of our limited 5 Gig Verizon card we can't do the many program downloads we have to do.  That will have to wait until Thursday morning when Kelly goes to Elfrida for exercise class & I go along to the Wifi spot in the library.  Hopefully I will be able to pull enough brain cells & patience together to get all that done correctly!!

GATHERED AROUND THE OLD HAY BALE TIRE

Today's rain has put us into a mud situation again & with 4 shoes & 20 little paws going in & out of the motorhome we are in quite a mess again.  But not to worry, I held onto my common sense & didn't let my mind stray to silly thoughts of concrete & pavement this time.  One look out the door without staring into somebody else's living room is well worth any mud that Mother Nature sends our way......Amen!!

 

SOME DARK HOURS TODAY

Doesn't look like we are going to get over to the Chiricahua Monument this time for more hiking.  Had we been on the ball we would have done that hike back in the first part of November when we first got here.  Too cold & snowy up in the Chiricahua mountains now.  Too bad because I was really looking forward to returning there. 

 

(click on pics to enlarge)

We're still not sure where we are headed once we leave here this week-end but it will definitely be further west.  Maybe Ajo Arizona, maybe up to Quartzite for a few days, maybe straight through to Yuma, just not sure.  Seems we have to go to Quartzite every year just to get a new flag pole because every year I always manage to step on the one we have break it.  At least the majority of humanoids should be out of there by now since the main event stuff was over a week ago.  We'll probably head up Tucson way & before we get there maybe we'll have decided where we are going.  The pull is strong to return to old favorite places but the pull is also strong to search out new areas & see new things.  Like I say, "we never know where we're going until after we have been there for awhile."   We are over half way through our winter stay in the southwest so I think it's time to get some new adventures under our belts before returning to another looooooong boring summer at home!!

And welcome to our latest blog follower, ParkingFineRants.  From England I think.  That name brings back memories of Stratford Ontario for me when in the mid 80's while working in downtown Stratford I was in almost daily conflict with the local parking enforcement officer.  But, that's another story.......or rant!!

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Another sign that you are growing older is when you keep more food in the fridge than beer.

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