I TELL YA FOLKS WE’RE LIVING THE LIFE OF RILEY HERE

A bit cool but another bright sunny day.  Pheebs and I walked our morning pine tree trail and I did a little more maintenance along the way.  We later hooked up the utility trailer and hauled some yard waste down to the Park’s recycling area.  On the way back I stopped and picked up a couple buckets of sand to fill in the patio stone cracks.  Did a bunch of weed whacking and that was about it for us guys.  I did find my 3 short videos from Wednesday but haven’t been able to figure out how to insert them into my blog.  Does anyone know of an easy way to do that??

DOWNIE WOODPECKER

MALE ROSE BREATED GROSBEAK

FEMALE ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK

Maybe it was the mild winter coupled with all the rain these past few months that has had something to do with our Spring growing season.  I have never seen our front yard fill in as nicely as it has this year or look as good.  I have always aimed at having a jungle like setting here with lots of greenery and by golly that is just about what we have now.  Contrast that with our Arizona house in Congress when we had it where we could step out the door and see mountains on the horizon and clear night skies above.  It is those two contrasts that is the big deal for me every year.  Approximately every 6 months our environment completely changes and I absolutely love that and find it probably one of the top reasons I so love the Snow Birding RV lifestyle.  We are not stuck in the same place for 12 months of the year and with our 11th RVing year coming up I’ll be so happy to head for the great American Southwest again with it’s wide open spaces, endless scenery, mountains all around and crystal clear nights with brilliant diamond like stars from horizon to horizon.

ANOTHER ONE OF OUR FRONT YARD AZELEA OR IS IT RODODENDRUN BUSHES IN BLOOM

THIS AZALIA OR RODODENDRUN IS RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR SUNROOM DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF WHERE WE SIT AT THE COMPUTER

SOME BLOOMS ARE FULL OUT WHILE OTHERS ARE JUST OPENING

After writing the above paragraph earlier this afternoon I had myself so revved up I went out and spent a little time in the Motorhome with some tunes on while cleaning up and re-organizing things a tad.  We sure lucked out when Kelly spotted this 2002 Triple E Class A Motorhome for sale on-line a few years ago.  It had been so well maintained and looked after it was like the day it came out of the factory.  It was a one owner and the fella we bought it from was at the time a 757 pilot for FedEx Express.  He has since retired.  A very meticulous fellow he did a lot of his own maintenance and upgrades to the coach and we are now happy he did all that.
THAT’S MY CORNER OVER THERE AND THIS IS OUR BASIC SET UP WHETHER STOPPED FOR ONE NIGHT, ONE WEEK, OR ONE MONTH
For supper tonight it was cream corn with a handful of ham chunks thrown in.  Followed that with a big bowl of shredded wheat.  I tell ya folks we’re living the life of Riley here:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Three friends decided to go hunting together. One was a lawyer, one a doctor, and the other a preacher. As they were walking, along came a big buck. The three of them shot at the same time and the buck dropped immediately. The hunting party rushed to see how big it actually was. Upon reaching the fallen deer, they found out that it was dead but had only one bullet hole.A debate followed concerning whose buck it was. When a game warden came by, he offered to help. A few moments later, he had the answer.He said with much confidence, "The pastor shot the buck!" The friends were amazed that he could determine that so quickly and with so little examination. The game warden just smiled. "It was easy to figure out. The bullet went in one ear and out the other."
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“Vikings were expert mariners - you can lead a Norse to water, but you can't make him sink.”
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An explorer walked into a clearing and was surprised to see a pigmy standing beside a huge dead elephant. "Did you kill that?" he asked. The pigmy answered: "Yes". "How could a little bloke like you kill something as huge as that?" "I killed it with my club" replied the pigmy. "That's amazing," said the explorer. "How big is your club?" The pigmy replied: "There's about 150 of us"

UP CLOSE WITH A BABY FOX AND FINISHED MY LITTLE CEMENT BLOCK PATIO PROJECT

How nice to have Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers, Benny Goodman, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Glen Miller, Vic Damone, Billy Ekstein, The Ames Brothers, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and many, many other fine old crooners and bands riding along with Pheebs and I this morning.

OUR RURAL COUNTRYSIDE WAS LOOKING JUST AS LOVELY AS EVER THIS MORNING

SURE DO LIKE LOOKING AT THESE NEWLY PLANTED FIELDS

I’M THINKING THAT MIGHT BE A  NEW CORN CROP OUT THERE

FARMER’S WERE BUSY

FARMS IN OUR AREA ARE GROWING LARGER AND LARGER AND THIS DAIRY FARM IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF THAT

Picked up our usual fare at McD’s, skipped the harbor and headed ourselves north out of Goderich.  Bright sunny skies overhead, great tunes on our Sirius Satellite radio and there I was cruising along with my best Pal again.  How I ended up so fortunate at 72 and a half I’ll never know.  Leaves me kinda gabberflasted.  Sort of the same as flabbergasted only spelled different.

SPOTTED THESE FAMILIAR WILDFLOWERS ALONGSIDE THE ROAD AND I’LL BE DARNED IF I CAN REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE

BUT I KNOW WHO THIS LITTLE FLOWER IN THE JEEP IS:))

AND WE WEREN’T THE ONLY TRAVELERS ON THE ROAD THIS MORNING

FARMERS OUT MOWING THEIR LAWNS AND DITCH GRASS

Rolled ourselves along slowly through Huron Counties rural countryside again stopping for a stretch here, a walk there, and a few more photos along the way.  Tried my luck at a couple short videos with my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera but after downloading it into my computer I now have no idea where the videos are.  Been a few years since I last made a short video so I’ve obviously forgot the computer end of the procedure.  Videos are something I have never bothered with much over the years but with some new camera gear on the way I intend to pour a little more thought into the idea.

AND WE MADE IT UP THROUGH MENNONITE-AMISH COUNTRY AS WELL

KIND OF A LAZY DAY ON THE FARM TODAY

We were back home before 11 and feeling energized I figured I’d have another crack at the cement patio project.  My back wasn’t bothering me so I was soon down on the ground trying to fit  a number of 12x12 cement blocks together into some kind of a reasonably practical formation.  Within 20 minutes of working I became aware of something I had not expected.  Getting myself up off the ground was not nearly as hard as just a couple days ago.  I was getting up quicker with fewer grunts, less groaning and not having to hold on to anything.  Now I’m not saying I was popping up off the ground like a Jack in the Box but getting up was definitely easier.  Reason for that I suspect is the fact I used those ‘getting up’ muscles for a few hours earlier in the week so those same muscles were obviously in better working condition this morning.  Sure says something about ‘exercising’ doesn’t it.

USING UP A FEW CEMENT PATIO BLOCKS WE HAD LYING AROUND I WAS ABLE TO FIND ENOUGH TO COVER THE MUDDY AREA….THREE LARGE WHITE BLOCKS UNDER AND IN FRONT OF THE STEPS HAVE BEEN THERE FOR ABOUT 10 YEARS

HEADING EAST ON GLENS HILL ROAD I SPOTTED THIS UNFAMILIAR CREATURE AHEAD

WE WERE GOING SLOW ANYWAY SO I STOPPED AND HOPPED OUT OF THE JEEP AND QUICKLY REALIZED IT WAS A BABY FOX……THERE WERE 2 OF THEM

I TOOK A FEW PHOTOS THEN TRIED TO GENTLY SWOOSH THEM BACK INTO THE BUSH BECAUSE THEY WERE WAY TOO CLOSE TO THE ROAD

I WAS ONLY ABOUT A DOZEN FEET AWAY FROM THE LITTLE CRITTERS

Figured I had better tone it down a tad today so for lunch we had a couple hot dogs and supper tonight was a chicken pot pie followed by the last of my Activia Vanilla yogurt.  I later whupped myself up a banana smoothie with some of Kelly’s Liberty’ lemon yogurt and chased it all down with a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

NO THIS IS NOT AMISH COUNTRY

SPOTTED THIS SNARLY LOOKING FUNGUSGATOR ON THE SIDE OF A TREE

Hey it only took me a week to remember to stop at our Park’s mailroom and pick up our mail.  Not much there but I did see a notice telling me there was something at the Bayfield Post Office.  I suspected it might be my new passport so Pheebs and I headed into town to check it out and sure enough I now have my new passport.  If I’m reading it right it says it’s good for 10 years.  I may very well not have to worry about ever renewing it again eh.

JUST A REAL FINE MORNING IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Two blondes were recently observed in a parking lot trying to unlock the door of their Mercedes with a coat hanger. Here is their dialogue: Blonde One: I can't seem to get this door unlocked! Blonde Two: Well, you'd better hurry up and try harder! it's starting to rain, and the top is down!

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Teacher: "Tim, what is the outside of a tree called?" Tim: "I don't know." Teacher: "Bark, Tim, bark." Tim: "Bow, wow, wow!"

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An exhausted hunter out in the wilds stumbled into a camp. "Am I glad to see you!" he said. "I've been lost for three days."  "Don't get too excited, friend," the other hunter replied. "I've been lost for three weeks."