MY TURN TO DRIVE AS OUR COFFEE TOUR TAKES US THROUGH SOME TORRENTIAL RAINS

It was my turn to drive this morning and I had forgotten to check our radar site first thing so failed to notice the big green rain monster heading across the lake right for us.  There were already a few rain drops coming down when I backed the Jeep into Richard’s driveway to pick him up.  Didn’t want him making the 40 second walk from his place to our place in the rain.  We older fellers gotta watch out for one another you know:))

‘OH REALLY MISTER CAMERA MAN….MORE COW PICTURES!!’

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU CAN SEE THE COW I ZOOMED IN ON FOR THE FIRST COW PICTURE….I TOOK THESE TWO PHOTOS A COUPLE DAYS AGO

With the downpour increasing I knew we wouldn’t be on any muddy country roads today.  Sticking to pavement for our two and half hour coffee tour we meandered around the Goderich area looking at this and that.  Both Richard and I have what you might call curious minds so it’s always enjoyable driving around looking at stuff with our many theories about why this and why not that.  We covered both sides of the Goderich harbor, the airport, where to get on the Maitland Trail near Dunlop’s tomb, the Meneset Mobile Home Park north of Goderich as well as another housing development at Huron Haven, etc.  Back through Goderich in a torrential downpour we made our way back to Bayfield touring around looking at all the big fancy schmancy houses going up.  Yes lots of comments, lots of opinions, lots of rational theories with maybe even an occasional irrational one thrown in.  Yes the whole nine yards so to speak.  Always an enjoyable time and I look forward to our twice monthly coffee tours.  Time well spent.

ALL THE REST OF TONIGHT’S PHOTOS ARE FROM A SHORT WALK THIS AFTERNOON

BUTTERFLY IN FLIGHT

Only stop we made was at McDonalds for our drive-thru coffee  and this morning we were both a fine example of a couple muddled up old guys when I placed our order.  I thought Richard said he wanted a roasted T biscuit with lemon meringue strawberries on it or something.  I must have got the words peanut butter in there or something too because the girl in the voice box came back with something like ‘we don’t have peanut butter sandwiches.  Of course I am quickly conferring with Richard to confirm his order but by this time he has forgotten his own name and I’m staring blankly out the windshield wondering where we are.  It was a few more back and forths with the voice in the box lady and we somehow ended up with a Toasted T-biscuit with jam on it or something, 2 small coffee’s with cream and a carrot muffin.  Next time we go I’m gonna right everything down then hopefully read it off correctly.  Leaving the lady in the box in probably a bigger state of confusion than we were we rolled up to the payment window where the lady said five dollars and something.  I jokingly said to her, ‘could you tell you were dealing with a couple muddled Seniors’?  With a smile and a chuckle she said, ‘oh wait a minute’ as she echoed the word ‘Senior’ then re-entered and added up the new charge.  She said, ‘that will be $4.49 please.’  Aha, Seniors discount.  I’ll bet when she got home later today she was telling her husband and kids about the two old bewildered befuddlements that came through the drive-thru this morning. When we moved up to the next window to pick up our goodies the lady there seemed extra nice and she too had a knowing smile on her face as well.  With a set of earphones on I surmised she too may have heard and already knew about the two confused Senior guys fumbling their way along through the drive-thru.  Oh what a life it tis we lead eh.  And it ain’t gettin any easier either!!

FROM THIS ONE WILDFLOWER PHOTO I WAS ABLE TO PULL OUT TWO OTHER COMPOSITIONS AND IT’S A GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHY I BELIEVE STRONGLY IN THE BENEFITS OF A PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM

IF YOU CAN’T FIND THIS COMPOSITION IN THE MAIN PHOTO LOOK TO THE BOTTOM JUST LEFT OF CENTER OR TO THE BOTTOM RIGHT OF THE PHOTO BELOW

DID YOU NOTICE THE HAPPY LITTLE ORANGE PUMPKIN FACES IN THE CENTERS OF THESE FLOWERS??

 

LUPINS AND CALLA LILIES IN OUR FRONT FLOWER BED

DID YOU NOTICE THE LITTLE BLACK BUG??

Five minutes after I dropped Richard off the Sun popped out and the rains were over.  Unfortunately humidity levels once again began to climb.  By the end of the day we were under another cloud cover with rain moving into the area.  It’s been crazy weather for sure.

THIS PHOTO IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF IF I HAD TAKEN MY TIME AND USED A STEADY TRI-POD AND ADJUSTED MY APERTURE AND SHUTTER SPEEDS ACCORDINGLY I COULD HAVE HAD EVERY TINY FLOWER SHARPLY IN FOCUS….GOTTA GET MYSELF SMARTENED UP A BIT HERE!!

NOT SURE WHAT KIND OF BIRD THIS IS BUT IT HAD JUST FLOWN UP OUT OF OUR BIRD BATH TO A TREE LIMB AND WAS SHAKING THE ABSOLUTE BLAZES OUT OF ITSELF TO DRY OFF

In a comment on my Thursday post the The Furry Gnome in part asked, 'Do you use a tripod very often for long distance pix?  And do I detect a hint of yellow in that wheat field.  Because I am basically an impatient lazy Sod it is very rare for me to use a tri-pod for my telephoto shots even knowing by using a steady tri-pod I could significantly improve the clarity of my photos.  Because I seem to always be on the move I don't lug my tri-pod with me.  I do carry it along in the Jeep though.  I have tried many times to get myself used to using a tri-pod but it's just one of those things I have not been able to make myself do.....yet.  FG also wondered about a touch of yellow in the wheat fields but the wheat heads are actually not quite as yellow as the photo shows.  I had a similar photo earlier in the week where I mentioned the wheat was not quite as yellow as the photo showed it.  Camera color sensors are not quite up to the quality of the human eye just yet but they are getting better all the time.

EEEE GADS COULD THIS BE AN OLD SKULL PHEEBS AND I FOUND TODAY COMPLETE WITH SOME KIND OF BEETLE BUG CRAWLING OUT FROM UNDERNEATH IT??

NOPE IT’S A SMALL MUSHROOM GROWING UP OUT OF THE TOP OF A TREE STUMP IN OUR FRONT YARD AND BELOW IS A CLOSE UP OF THAT VERY CREATURE

Earlier in the week some kind of Critter climbed our Sunburst Locust tree, shinnied down a thin line holding a plastic bird feeder and knocked the feeder off the hook and smashed it to the ground whereupon it ate all the birdseed.  I suspected a raccoon.  Two days later I found our suet feeder on the ground with the latch open and a whole block of suet gone.  Thursday night I set up a dummy bird feeder on the line and strategically placed my ‘Critter Cam’ nearby.  This morning looking out the window I saw the dummy bird feeder was still in place but quickly slipped out and retrieved my critter cam. Popped the SD card into the computer to see if I had caught anything and sure enough there it was, the mangy critter it’s very self!!!!!!!

‘AWWWWW NUTS’!!!! IT WAS ME IN MY PJ’S COMING OUT TO CHECK THE FAKE FEEDER AND  CAM THIS MORNING

All of today’s photos were shot in my camera’s ‘Program Mode’ and not on Automatic.  Some day’s the camera knows best and some days Al knows best so we are both learning how to work with each other for the best results.  ‘Automatic’ is where the camera decides the colors, aperture and density settings and ‘Program Mode’ is where Al decides those factors. 

GROANER’S CORNER:((  There were some backwoods hillbillies living across the river from each other, who feuded constantly. John hated Clarence with a passion and never passed up a chance to throw rocks across the river at Clarence. This went on for years until one day the Corps of Engineers came to build a bridge across that river. John was elated; he told his wife that finally he was going to get the chance to cross over and whip Clarence.  He left the house and returned in a matter of minutes. His wife asked what was wrong, didn't he intend to go over the bridge and whip Clarence? He replied that he never had really seen Clarence up close and didn't realize his size until he started over the bridge and saw the sign: "CLEARANCE 8 FT 3 IN"

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I hit a frog, and my car was toadaled.

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A preacher, newly called to a small country town, needed to mail a letter. Passing a young boy on the street, the pastor asked where he could find the post office.  After getting his answer, the minister thanked the boy and said, “If you’ll come to the community church this evening, you can hear me tell everyone how to get to heaven.”“I don’t know, sir,” the boy replied. “You don’t even know how to get to the post office!”

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Wheelbarrow!
Wheelbarrow who?
Wheelbarrow some money and go on a holiday!

NICE MORNING IN THE MARSH WHERE I COMPARE A COUPLE CAMERA LENSES

Went to bed with clouds and rain then woke up this morning sunny again.  Air was cool sky was blue I wrote this poem just for you:))

FARMERS ARE BUSY BALING HAY

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY AT THIS PHOTO YOU CAN SEE THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT CROPS PLANTED….HORIZONTALLY IN THE FOREGROUND ARE BEANS AND TOWARDS THE HORIZON VERTICALLY IS CORN

CORN

A COUPLE BEAN FIELDS ABOVE AND BELOW

FARMERS SOMETIMES BALE ALONG THE DITCHES AS WELL

Pheebs and I headed on over to the Hullett Marsh for a wee walk along one of the dykes.  Big white fluffy clouds in the sky made for a picturesque morning.  Set up my camera tripod and took a few long distance photos with my 70-300mm lens as well as my newer 18-300 lens for comparison.  At a full 300mm they were comparatively close in sharpness which surprised me.  I thought for sure the 70-300 lens would have been the sharper of the two.

PHEEBS ALWAYS GETS BORED IF I’M PLAYING WITH MY CAMERAS TOO MUCH

NICE OF THIS LITTLE SWALLOW TO POSE SO NICE FOR ME

FINALLY MANAGED TO CATCH ME A BELTED KINGFISHER IN FLIGHT

I’m inserting this short paragraph here just to break up the long line of photos:))

A DEER FLY ON THE INSIDE OF THE WINDSHIELD

I REMEMBER SEEING THESE TWO GUYS IN THIS SAME FIELD LAST FALL

TURKEY VULTURE

A GREAT BLUE HERON WINGS LOW OVER THE MARSH WATERS

I’M THINKING THAT FELLER’S BURNING A BIT OF OIL

A FEW WET SPOTS IN SOME OF THE FARMER’S FIELDS YET

I think it’s pretty safe to say most of the photos you see in my posts from here on in now will be done with my new camera combination which will be the new to me Nikon D7200 coupled with the new Nikkor 18-300mm lens.  They work well together and the convenience of having one camera and one lens is huge.  I will keep my D3400 camera as a back-up as well as my 70-300 and 18-55 lenses.  My D3100 camera I plan to trade in.  The ‘selfie’ below was taken this morning with my Sony RX100 3.

IT’S FUNNY HOW I NEVER THINK OF MY EYE GLASSES AS BEING TINTED UNTIL I SEE A PICTURE OF MYSELF….I HAVEN’T HAD THE NEED TO WEAR REGULAR SUNGLASSES FOR NEARLY 3 YEARS SINCE SWITCHING TO PROGRESSIVE LENSES IN WICKENBURG ARIZONA

All was relaxingly quiet in the Marsh this morning but I did happen to notice another feller and he too was carrying some camera gear.  We kinda steered clear of each other because I suspect he was out in the Marsh for the same reasons I was out here.  No people!!  Just a quiet walk alone with nature on a beautiful June morning.

THAT GUINEA HEN SURE GOT PHEEBS ATTENTION

IT SURE DID GIVE US GUYS A ‘BLAST’

Last winter while in the southwest we had talked a bit about maybe taking the Motorhome and heading off for a few days here and there around the area during the summer but I don’t think we’ll probably end up doing that.  We both seem to be very content with staying where we are for the months we are home.  Kelly hasn’t been feeling just the best some days so I think we’ll keep things low key.  She has another Doctors appointment coming up Monday morning in Bayfield.

FIELDS OF WHEAT STRETCH TO THE HORIZON

WIND FLATTENED WHEAT

Next month at this time we will already be closing in on the month of August.  We’ve been home from the southwest nearly three and a half months and I have to wonder where has the time gone.  Seems like only yesterday we pulled into our driveway here.  These Senior years are sure flying by………

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Deep within a forest, a little turtle began to climb a tree...  After hours of effort, he reached the top, jumped into the air waving his front legs and crashed to the ground. After recovering, he slowly climbed the tree again, jumped, and fell to the ground. The turtle tried again and again, while a couple of birds sitting on a branch watched his sad efforts. Finally, the female bird turned to her mate.  "Dear," she chirped, "I think it's time to tell him he's adopted."

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- Anyone who plays heavy metal at work is office rocker.

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A boy was teaching a girl arithmetic, he said it was his mission. He kissed her once; he kissed her twice and said, "Now that's addition." In silent satisfaction, she sweetly gave the kisses back and said, "Now that's subtraction." Then he kissed her, she kissed him, without an explanation. And both together smiled and said, "That's multiplication." Then her Dad appeared upon the scene and made a quick decision. He shooed the boy three blocks away and said, "That's long division!"

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Three boys are in the schoolyard bragging about their fathers. The first boy says, "My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a poem, and they give him $50." The second boy says, "That's nothing. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, and they give him $100." The third boy says, "I got you both beat. My dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a sermon, and it takes eight people to collect all the money!"

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Wendy!
Wendy who?
Wendy come to take you away I won't stop them!