‘OMG’ ‘OMG’ I THOUGHT TO MYSELF LAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS I READ A READER’S EMAIL

IF JUDY (THE BIRDLADY OF BLOGLAND) WERE STILL BLOGGING SHE WOULD PROBABLY ENTITLE THIS PHOTO ‘THE END’

Skies partially cleared Sunday night with sunlight peering through our pine trees from the west.  Had my fingers crossed for clear skies Monday morning but it was not to be as more rain, thunder and lightning cropped up over night leaving us Monday morning with a solemn cloud cover.  However not wanting to sit in the house I gathered up my cameras and the Pheebs and off we went.  At least it wasn’t raining.

NOTICED A LOT OF SHEEP IN FARMER’S FIELDS THIS MORNING

MOM KEEPS A WARY EYE ON JUNIOR

YEP THERE’S THE PROVERBIAL BLACK SHEEP OF THE FAMILY ALRIGHT

IT WAS A LAZY MONDAY MORNING IN SHEEPSVILLE

Back to my winter attire again with a T-shirt, long sleeve flannel shirt and winter jacket we headed east picking up a coffee and muffin at Hortons in Clinton.  Heading further east I saw blue skies in my rear view mirror and before long we were driving in glorious sunshine.  Stopped and took my winter jacket off and with the heater on half I rolled up my sleeves and wound the passenger side window down for Pheebs.  Turned south and wondered along Huron Counties country roads snapping a few photos along the way.  Turning right on a westerly heading I right away noticed dark clouds out over the lake.  Our warm sunshine was soon gone and winds picked up.  Stopping for a leg stretch I was quickly back into my winter jacket with the windows rolled up and some additional heat on heading home.  Early afternoon skies once again cleared and we finished off the day under clear blue warming skies:))

SO MANY NICE HOMES IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

AND MORE AND MORE BIG HOMES BEING BUILT ALL THE TIME

Now for my ‘OMG’ moment………OMG by the way means ‘Oh My Gosh’.  I have waffled back and forth the last few days trying to decide whether to tell you about my ‘OMG’ moment but in the end figured I couldn't sit on my excitement any longer.  Plus in this world of so many bad happenings and depressing news stories I decided to share a little something positive that happened to me this week.  I received an email from a long time blog reader Wednesday night.  Here in part is what that email said::  “Al -  I have two Nikkor DX lenses [AF-S Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR; and AF-S DX Nikkor 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR] and Nikon DX camera [D-7200] and a small Sony Rx100v4 which I do not use and am ready to ship to you.”……. Confused, I read the email over very carefully about 3 times and still had a hard time believing what I was reading and yet something told me this was not a scam and as it turned out……it wasn’t.  Even though I tried to keep a lid on my excitement you can imagine how bubbly I felt inside as I right away went to the internet to check out all this fine camera equipment.   The more I read the more I bubbled.

NIKON D7200 CAMERA

NIKKOR  18-105 LENS

NIKKOR 55-300 LENS

SONY RX100 IV CAMERA

In the morning I had Kelly read the email over just in case had I missed or misinterpreted something.  (I do have a habit of doing that) Nope, Kelly came to the same conclusion I did.  Everything looked like it was on the up and up.  With my shaky ‘OMG’ fingers I immediately emailed the email sender back and sure enough they emailed me in return asking for an address to ship the camera equipment to.  This person lives in the States and as luck would have it Kelly is heading down to Spencerport NY early this coming week to visit her Mother for awhile so we decided to have the camera gear shipped there.  Early Thursday afternoon I received another email saying the parcel had been shipped to Kelly’s Mom’s place in Spencerport by Fed-Ex.  Kelly quickly called her Mother to let her know a Fed-Ex driver would be bringing a 15 pound package.  Well as it turns out the Fed-Ex driver had already been there with the package but Kelly’s Mother not expecting anything missed the driver.  A neighbor noticed the Fed-Ex note on the door and brought it in.  Kelly quickly got in touch with Fed-Ex to see if the driver could re-deliver the package but being an old part time Purolator driver many years ago I knew that was unlikely to happen and it didn’t.  The parcel was re-scheduled to be back on the Fed-Ex truck for a Monday delivery.

ON MANY COUNTRY ROADS EVEN THE DITCHES ARE MOWED

FOLKS OUT GOLFING SOUTHEAST OF SEAFORTH ONTARIO

SOON THESE NEATLY MANICURED BROWN FIELDS WILL BE SPROUTING WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF GREENERY

This kind person has requested anonymity and I will honor and respect that.  I can tell you it is someone I have never met and someone who I have never heard from before.  I am already counting the days to when Kelly returns from Spencerport with all the ‘mint condition’ camera gear.  And she hasn’t even left Bayfield yet.  In this day and age with so much depressing news coming at us daily Isn't it nice to hear a genuinely uplifting and positive story for a change and how the thoughtful kind consideration of a stranger affected someone else and in my case cranked up my excitement level to the bubbling point.  Yes Toto ‘there still are’ good people out there…….Update::  The camera gear was safely delivered to Kelly’s Mother’s house at 1:52 this afternoon:))))))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Tom is applying for a job as a signalman for the local railroad and is told to meet the inspector at the signal box.  The inspector decides to give Tom a pop quiz, asking: "What would you do if you realized that two trains were heading towards each other on the same track?"  Tom says: "I would switch one train to another track."  "What if the lever broke?" asks the inspector.  "Then I'd run down to the tracks and use the manual lever down there," answers Tom.  "What if that had been struck by lightning?" challenges the inspector.  "Then," Tom continued, "I'd run back up here and use the phone to call the next signal box."  "What if the phone was busy?"  "In that case," Tom argued, "I'd run to the street level and use the public phone near the station."  "What if that had been vandalized?"  "Oh well," said Tom, "in that case I would run into town and get my Uncle Leo.  This puzzled the inspector, so he asked "Why would you do that?"  "Because he's never seen a train crash."

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A young woman, pursuing a graduate degree in art history, was going to Italy to study the country's greatest works of art. Since there was no one to look after her grandmother while she was away, she took the old lady with her. At the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, she pointed to the painting on the ceiling. 'Grandma, it took Michelangelo a full four years to get that ceiling painted.' 'Oh my, 'the grandmother says. 'He and I must have the same landlord.'

KELLY’S JIF PEANUT BUTTER FACEBOOK PAGE SUDDENLY BECAME VERY POPULAR THANKS TO SOMETHING ON CANADA’S CBC NEWS TODAY

Rains came in the night and stayed all day making it too wet to do anything outside.  I tried reading for awhile early on but tired of that so loaded up Pheebs and we took a drive into Bayfield.  Not much going on anywhere and I soon tired of that as well and we were soon back home again.

ONLY BEACH GOWER WAS A LADY WALKING HER DOG THIS MORNING

A LOT OF NICE HOMES AND PROPERTIES IN BAYFIELD

OUR LILACS ARE REALLY COMING INTO BLOOM AND OUR YARD SMELLS SO NCIE

I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT ALL THESE POSTS PUT IN THE GROUND A COUPLE DAYS AGO ON A FARM BETWEEN OUR PLACE AND BAYFIELD….TURNS OUT THEY WILL BE GROWING HOPS HERE AT HURON COUNTY AND BAYFIELD’S FIRST FARM BASED BREWERY….RIVER ROAD BREWING CO.

Couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Bayfield Merchants who’s business survival depends on warm sunny days through late Spring, Summer, and early Fall.  Already with this Springs cold and wet some of them if not many of them will be hurting from a lack of customers.  I drove down main street this morning and didn’t see a sole.  Normally one would have trouble finding a parking spot on a week-end but I could have counted the number of cars on my fingers and toes.  Of course I would have had to take my shoes and socks off to do that but I think you get my drift.  And not a single sailboat on the lake and only one bundled up lady on the beach walking her dog.  Not cold but had it been a sunny morning Bayfield’s main street would have been teeming with people on this May 24th long week-end.  And for sure there would have been sailboats offshore plying the sparkling clear waters of Lake Huron.

THIS IS A VIEW OF GRAND BEND’S FORLORN BEACH THIS AFTERNOON….NORMALLY THAT BEACH IS PACKED FULL OF PEOPLE (MOSTLY TEEN-AGERS) ON A LONG WEEK-END

DOUBT IF THERE WILL BE ANY ‘BAND CONCERT’ AT GRAND BENDS OUTDOOR STAGE ON THE BEACH  THESE 2 PHOTOS WERE TAKEN BY GRAND BEND WEB CAMS

Most of my time today was simply spent in my favorite corner of the sunroom reading and that was about it but here’s something interesting regarding Kelly.  Seven years ago Smucker's stopped selling Jif peanut butter in Canada due to slow sales.  Kelly, a big Jif peanut butter fan started a Facebook page after that in an effort to stir enough interest in fellow Canadian Jif fans to bring the peanut butter back to Canada.  The name of Kelly’s Facebook page is, ‘Canadians hoping to keep JIF Peanut Butter in Canada !!’ and just today it was announced on CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) news that, 'Overwhelming Consumer Passion' brings Jif peanut butter back to Canada.  Smucker's ends 7-year drought after social media campaign’.  In the article a reference is made to ‘a Facebook group’ which is Kelly’s and since the CBC Jif write-up Kelly’s Facebook page has been going bonkers with member requests to join her site:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( There were two lovers, who were really into spiritualism and reincarnation. They vowed that if either died, the other one remaining would try to contact the partner in the other world exactly 30 days after their death.Unfortunately, a few weeks later, the young man died in a car wreck. True to her word, his sweetheart tried to contact him in the spirit world exactly 30 days later. At the seance, she called out, "John, John, this is Martha. Do you hear me?" A ghostly voice answered her, "Yes Martha, this is John. I can hear you."
Martha tearfully asked, "Oh John, what is it like where you are?"  "It's beautiful. There are azure skies, a soft breeze, sunshine most of the time."
"What do you do all day?" asked Martha.  "Well, Martha, we get up before sunrise, eat some good breakfast, and there's nothing but making love until noon. After lunch, we nap until two and then make love again until about five. After dinner, we do it all over again until we fall asleep about 11 p.m."  Martha was somewhat taken aback. "Is that what heaven really is like?"
"Heaven? I'm not in heaven, Martha."  "Well, then, where are you?"  "I'm a rabbit in Arizona."

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A child comes home from his first day at school. His Mother asks, "Well, what did you learn today?"  The kid replies, "Not enough. They want me to come back tomorrow."

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“A quarter-acre of undeveloped land may not seem like much to some people, but to me it's a lot.”

NOW WHY WOULD THE GOVERNMENT SEND ‘ME’ OF ALL PEOPLE A REGISTERED LETTER!!!!

PHEEBS AND I CRUISED DOWN BAYFIELD’S MAIN STREET THIS MORNING AND THAT IS THE LITTLE INN OF BAYFIELD

With a postal notice card telling me I had a ‘registered letter’ to pick up I could only think not good things of course.  Nobody’s going to send me a registered letter with the words inside saying ‘have a nice day’ so it was with some trepidation I headed into Bayfield this morning with Pheebs to pick it up at our local Post Office located in a south end convenience store.  A very official looking piece of mail alright and it was from the Government.  Oh horrors of horrors I thought, now what!!  Turns out it was my old passport being returned with a note saying my new passport will be delivered by courier at a later date.  Remember me writing a short while back how I generally assume the worst about things and then am pleasantly surprised when it’s the opposite.  Now had I gone in there this morning with a great big positive attitude that it’s impossible for it to be anything bad then you can bet it would have been a notice from the Government saying that I was under an audit notice for failing to pay my income taxes way back in 1965 or something.  Well that’s the way I figure it anyway.

FOR A LONG HOLIDAY WEEK-END THESE WERE THE ONLY PEOPLE I SAW ON THE BAYFIELD BEACH THIS MORNING….THE STATE OF MICHIGAN IS STRAIGHT ACROSS ON THE OTHER SIDE

FROM THE WAY THEY ARE DRESSED IT IS EASY TO SEE WHY AS WE HAD A COLD EASTERLY WIND BLOWING OFF-SHORE

AND IT LOOKS LIKE IT WAS A DAY OFF FOR A COUPLE BAYFIELD FISHING BOATS ACROSS THE RIVER….LAKE HURON IS OFF TO THE LEFT ABOUT A QUARTER MILE

After picking up my registered letter Pheebs and I took a cruise around Bayfield.  I had expected a lot of traffic with all the tourists in town for the big May 24th holiday week-end.  Maybe 8:30 was too early for a lot of those folks to be up.  Because of ‘whiz-bang’ drivers it is rare for me to drive highway 21 which runs between Bayfield and Goderich and especially on a holiday week-end but all the way to Goderich we never had a single ‘whiz-banger’ tailgating us.  Amazing!!

SOON THIS MAIN STREET WILL BE TEEMING WITH PEOPLE SHOPPING, DINING OUT, AND ENJOYING THEIR DAY AT THE LAKE

AS MANY HIGH END HOMES AS THERE IS IN BAYFIELD NOW THERE ARE JUST AS MANY IF NOT MORE QUAINT OLDER RENOVATED COTTAGES FROM YEARS GONE BY

SOME READERS MAY REMEMBER MY PHOTOS FROM A FEW YEARS AGO WHEN THIS OLD RAILWAY STATION WAS GINGERLY MOVED ABOUT A THOUSAND YARDS FROM IT’S OLD LOCATION TO IT’S NEW LOCATION CLOSER TO LAKE HURON….IT IS NOW A FINE RESTAURANT

NO THE RESTAURANT TOWER IS NOT TILTED TO THE RIGHT IT’S SIMPLY A DISTORTION CAUSED BY MY 18mm WIDE ANGLE LENS

A few things to pick up in Goderich and then it was our usual routine as we grabbed a coffee and muffin and headed down to the harbor beach area.  Would have stopped for a walk at the dog walking area but somebody was already there with a couple dogs on leashes.  That doesn’t work for Pheebs and I so we just kept on going and headed for home.  Kelly and neighbor Monica had slipped on down to Grand Bend for a couple hours.  Talked to my neighbor Richard for a bit and puttered about the yard thoroughly enjoying the beautiful day that was upon  us. 

HADN’T SEEN THIS SHIP IN THE GODERICH HARBOR BEFORE AND IT’S NAME IS THE SEDNA DESGAGNES

I NOTICED A FEW DAYS AGO BETWEEN SOME NEWLY PLANTED TREES ALONG THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON WORKMEN PUTTING IN SMALL CEMENT PADS AND I THOUGHT MAYBE THEY WERE GOING TO PUT PICNIC TABLES ON THEM…..NOPE

KELLY TONIGHT SAW ON FACEBOOK THESE PADS ARE GOING TO HAVE PIECES OF GYM EQUIPMENT INSTALLED SO PEOPLE WALKING OR JOGGING ALONG THE BOARDWALK CAN STOP AND DO A LITTLE CARDIO….THIS IS ALONG THE ROTARY COVE SECTION OF BEACH AND IS BEING DONE BY THE ROTARY CLUB OF GODERICH IN CONJUNTION WITH THE TOWN

For me with a daytime high of 66F today, a sunny sky overhead and a stiff offshore breeze it was about as good as it gets for working and wandering outside in the flower beds.  A day very reminiscent of a winters day in the great American Southwest.  Sunny skies, cool air and a warm sun.

IT’S ALWAYS NICE TO SEE FOLKS IN OUR 5 SEASONS PARK WORKING TO KEEP THEIR PROPERTIES LOOKING NICE….I ACTUALLY DUG THAT CORNER FLOWER BED IN WHERE THE FELLA IS WORKING OVER 10 YEARS AGO ALSO PUTTING IN SOME LARGE FLAT ROCKS WHEN THAT HOUSE WAS FIRST NEW…. I’M HAPPY TO SEE THE PRESENT OWNERS HAVE EXPANDED AND IMPROVED IT AS WELL AS KEEPING  THE FLOWERBED MAINTAINED AND AS I COME TO THINK OF IT NOW I LAYED A LOT OF THE SOD TO CREATE THAT NICE GREEN LAWN THERE TOO.

I was reminded again this morning what a marvelous program GOOGLE EARTH is.  Had received an email from blog reader Carolyn in Childress Texas wondering if we had heard about any wildfires destroying some buildings in Bisbee Arizona.  Turns out it was a house fire which destroyed a few buildings plus 5 acres of land.  The article gave the location of the fire so I hopped aboard my Google Earth plane and flew myself to Bisbee to see what section of Bisbee the fire was in.  Of course Bisbee brings back a flood of memories for us so while there I also flew over to a part of Bisbee formally called Lowell and via 'street view' touched down on Erie street right in front of the Bisbee Breakfast Club.  The BBC as it is commonly referred to has been one of our favorite breakfast places since way back in February of 2009 with our last stop there just this past January while in the area.  And what would be a stop at the BBC without a leisurely stroll down Erie Street where time has stood still for the past 50 or 60 years.  Oh the memories and photos I have of this historic street and it's fine old cars. Thanks Carolyn for mentioning Bisbee Arizona this morning and what a nice way to start my day.  And of course thanks to the folks at Google for the technology smarts in coming up with their absolutely great program called Google Earth:))

ALONG THE SHORES OF LAKE HURON IN GODERICH ONTARIO

GROANER’S CORNER:((   A Few Bumper Stickers::

- Everyone has a photographic memory ...some just don't have any film.
- Your ridiculous little opinion has been noted.
- I used to have a handle on life...but it broke off.
- If you can read this...I can slam on my brakes and sue you.
- Some people are only alive because it is illegal to shoot them.
- Try not to let your mind wander...It is too small and fragile to be out by itself.
- Welcome to America ...now speak English

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Years ago, the then President and Mrs. Clinton were vacationing in their home state of Arkansas. On a venture one day, they stopped at a service station to fill up the car with gas. It seemed that the owner of the station was once Hillary's high school love.  They exchanged hellos, and went on their way.  As they were driving on to their destination, Bill put his arm around Hillary and said, "Well, honey, if you had stayed with him, you would be the wife of a service station owner today."  She smirked and replied, "No, if I had stayed with him, he would be President of the United States right now."

FROM OUR AIR CONDITIONER TO OUR FURNACE IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS

We went from nice cool air conditioning to nice warm furnace heat in less than 12 hours.  From short sleeve shirts to long sleeve shirts and no jackets to warm coats.  From 85F to 45F.  Quite a drop in temperature overnight and although cloudy and much cooler this morning I was Okay with that and happy to see that sticky humidity gone once again even if only for a little while until it inevitably returns again.  The air this morning was as still as still could be.  Not a leaf was stirring not even a house.

The cooler morning air energized me enough to fire up my Shop-Vac and clean up the wooden floors in our carport’s storage area and wooden shed.  I then hauled out a can of exterior white paint and proceeded to paint an outdoor table top.  Not to be outdone I slipped myself across the road and polished off the remaining weeds and tall grass at neighbor Monica’s house with my weed whacker.

  As mentioned before in my blog neither Kelly or I are the best at remembering dates like birthdays and anniversaries and it surprised us both when our good friend and neighbor Gayle sent us a belated email congratulations for our 15th wedding anniversary this morning which actually was Thursday May 18th.  I don’t think that is the first time Gayle has remembered our anniversary and even a few birthdays methinks.  Kelly and I are a bit of an odd couple you know…………………..

I have mentioned the Desert USA on-line magazine before in my posts and that in almost every issue I can find an article of interest about some area of the American Southwest we have been.  This week’s issue talks about the old west and places to see in southeastern Arizona.  It’s Apache country and as I read the interesting article I would say we have been to about 90% of the places mentioned.  As I read one of the articles entitled Touring Apache Country Land Of Geronimo And Cochise my mind flooded with so many great memories of our time periodically spent in that area over a space of 4 years between 2008 and 2012.  That whole region seems like a second home to us after spending a combined 6 or 7 winter months ranch sitting near McNeal Arizona in our first half dozen years of RV travels.  Articles in the same issue also bring memories flooding back from places we’ve seen and been such as the Grand Canyon, Lake Powel and the Glen Canyon Dam, Big Bend National Park Texas and the Rio Grande river, California’s Salton Sea and the list goes on.  OMG I gotta stop thinking about all this or else I’m gonna be outside saddling up the Motorhome!!

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A middle-aged guy is out to dinner with his wife to celebrate her fortieth birthday. He says, "So what would you like, Julie? A Jaguar? A sable coat? A diamond necklace?" She says, "Bernie, I want a divorce." "My goodness," he says, "I wasn't planning on spending that much."

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My home church welcomes all denominations, but really prefers tens and twenties.

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A priest was sent to a very small church in the backwoods of Alaska. After a couple of years the Bishop decided to pay the priest a visit to see how he was doing. The priest said that it was a really lonely job and that he didn't think that he could have made it without his Rosary and two martinis each day. With that the priest said to the Bishop, "Would you like to have a martini with me?" The Bishop said, "Yes, that would be nice." The priest turned around and hollered toward the kitchen, "Rosary, would you fix us two martinis please?"