OLD SCROOGE HERE ISN'T MUCH FOR PARADES

ANOTHER ONE OF MY FAVORITE COUNTRY PROPERTIES AND THIS ONE HAPPENS TO BE ON THE WEST SIDE OF PORTERS HILL LINE

It was a cold but beautiful sunny Saturday morning that greeted us earlier today.  As long as Pheebs and I are in the toasty warm Jeep we are okay.  Nice music, nice warm air, and great companionship:))

 IT WAS A NICE CLEAR MORNING FOR A DRIVE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

 PHEEBS, IN THE SIDE VIEW MIRROR CHECKS OUT THE SCENERY AS WE SLOWLY ROLL BY 

 SO NICE TO BE OUT AND ABOUT WITH NO PARTICULAR PLACE TO GO

Our aim this morning was to hopefully find some corn spills along the country roads.  A year ago at this time I already had a large bucket of corn and about 3 dozen corn cobs to help the birds and squirrels through the winter.  At the moment I don't have any kernels of corn and only about a dozen broken corn cobs.  It is imperative I find more corn, especially for the squirrels so that they can continue to torment the stuffings out of me all winter long by raiding the bird feeders.

 PARTIALLY HARVESTED CORNFIELDS ARE A COMMON SIGHT IN OUR AREA NOW

 THE SMALL PATCH OF DARK BLUE ABOVE THE FARM MACHINERY ON THE ROAD IS LAKE HURON

 A JOHN DEERE COMBINE

 A FARM TRACTOR TOWING A GRAIN BIN TRANSFERS A LOAD OF CORN INTO WAITING TRUCKS

 ANOTHER CORN TRANSFER AND IT IS AT THESE SPOTS I WATCH FOR SPILLAGES ON THE ROAD

 NOTICE THE TANK TREADS ON THIS HAUL MASTER GRAIN CART

 I SAW TWO COMBINES WORKING THIS FIELD

NOT ALL FARMERS WERE COMBINING CORN BY THE LOOKS OF THIS RECENTLY PLOWED FIELD

 AND SOME FARMERS ALREADY HAVE NEXT YEARS CROP PLANTED
We did stop for a short walk along the George G Newton Nature Reserve trail on Kitchigami road.  Due to recent rains, the path was very muddy and slippery and I didn't want to risk a painful tumble with this bothersome hip of mine.  Not having anything to worry about of course, Pheebs was all over the place happily running around tracking down one delightful smell after another.    

 THE TRAILHEAD AT THE GEORGE G NEWTON NATURE RESERVE

 THE FOREST HERE WITH ITS OLD GNARLY TREES I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT OF AS KINDA SPOOKY

 TROTTING ALONG THE TRAIL

 HEADING BACK TO THE JEEP

 'COME ON DAD YOU CAN MAKE IT, WE'RE ALMOST THERE'

It's Bayfield's big 'Christmas In Bayfield' weekend with lots of folks in town to take part in the celebrations which include a Santa Clause parade.  All the stores and shops are open and it's a festive time.  Now, old Scrooge here isn't much for parades, shopping, or festive activities anymore so I don't have any photos of all the events.  However,  I do support the goings on though, and think it's great that there are folks out there who volunteer so much of their time to make Christmas In Bayfield happen every year.  And, I think it's great that people come together from all around to take part in Bayfield's Christmas weekend.

 DID YOU SEE THE SHEEP?....I DIDN'T UNTIL I LATER EDITED THE PHOTO

 THIS FARM HAS A FEW VERY SMALL HORSES

 AND NORMAL SIZE HORSES AS WELL

 YEP, THERE'S THE SHEEP

Pheebs and I did get out for a sunny afternoon walk but I did have to bundle up against the cold wind.  Pheebs, with her fur coat, never has to worry about stuff like that.  I didn't take my camera with me because I had gone and taken way too many pictures again this morning so I certainly didn't need any more pics for tonight's post.

 THERE IS A PUSSY CAT IN THIS PHOTO AND YES I SAW IT WHEN I TOOK THE PICTURE

A few readers in have expressed an interest in the NDE (Near Death Experiences) books I have read and wondered if I could compile a list of those books.  I am in the process of doing that now and will have that list up in a few days, maybe even tomorrow.

 AIRPLANES TAKE OFF AND LAND AT THIS RURAL AIRSTRIP

 MODEL AIRPLANES THAT IS

 THIS IS ONE OF THE LOCATIONS FOR THE SKY HARBOR MODELERS

 I THINK ONE OF THE SKY HARBOR MODELER FELLAS HAS AN ARTSY SIDE TO HIM

Al's Music Box:)) Imagine by Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) and Chet Atkins live at the London Palladium 1987.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Sometimes I tuck my knees into my chest and lean forward.  That’s just how I roll.

A soldier survived mustard gas in battle, and then pepper spray by the police.
He’s now a seasoned veteran.

Why do we tell actors to ‘break a leg?’
Because every play has a cast.

My friend says to me: “What rhymes with orange?”  I said: “No it doesn’t!”

I’m addicted to brake fluid, but
I can stop whenever I want.

What do you call a dog that does magic tricks?
A labracadabrador.

I saw a guy spill all his Scrabble letters on the road.  I asked him, “What’s the word on the street?”

How do you get two whales in a car?
Start in England and drive west.

Two fish are sitting in a tank. One looks over at the other and says:  “Hey, do you know how to drive this thing?”

I bought the world’s worst thesaurus yesterday.
Not only is it terrible, it’s terrible.

Once, my dog ate all the Scrabble tiles.
For days he kept leaving little messages around the house.

This is my step ladder.
I never knew my real ladder.

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AS LONG AS IT TRAVELS AN ENERTAININGLY SIMPLE PATH

 THIS PRETTY MUCH SUMS UP MY DAY

A dull, dreary, and rainy dark morning greeted Pheebs and I as we headed out of the Park.  Temperatures were dropping and it was raining.  A very typical cold and bleak November day.  Kelly was insistent that she drive herself to her morning dental appointment in Exeter so Pheebs and I wandered off to Goderich to pick up a prescription and a few groceries.  

 THE OCEAN-GOING BULK CARRIER SLAVYANKA WAS THE ONLY SHIP IN PORT THIS MORNING DOCKED AT THE GODERICH GRAIN TERMINAL

Home again, about the only outside thing I did was top up the bird feeders.  Inside, I finished another great book.  If I Live Until Morning by Jean Muenchrath.  After suffering a devastating fall in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range on Mount Whitney while skiing the John Muir trail, this is her true story leading up to that accident and the 30-year struggle both mentally and physically following that accident.  Those struggles led her down many paths and took her to places around the world including the Himalayan Mountains around Nepal.  It was her spiritual journey to find herself following the accident that really piqued my interest in this book.........I'm already into my next book called, The Train Jumper by Gwen Banta.  I don't know where this book will take me but I should be okay as long as it travels an entertainingly simple path and doesn't become too frustratingly complicated for my short-term challenged memory.   

 OVERNIGHT AND MORNING RAINS STOPPED THE CORN HARVEST DEAD IN ITS  MUDDY TRACKS AGAIN

Al's Music Box:)) Green Green Grass Of Home is sung by Welsh singer Tom Jones.  Jones, who was appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, visited Colony Records while staying in New York City and upon asking if they had any new works by Jerry Lee Lewis, he was given Lewis's new country album.  Impressed with the song, Jones recorded and released his version of Green Green Grass Of Home in the UK in 1966. It reached No. 1 on December 1, staying there for a total of seven weeks.  In September 2006, Jones performed the song as a duet with Jerry Lee Lewis during the taping of the latter's Last Man Standing TV special in New York City, and credited Lewis with providing the inspiration for his own recording.

THE DAY DID BRIGHTEN UP AND BY LATE AFTERNOON WE HAD PARTIAL CLEARING SKIES

GROANER'S CORNER:(( You might be a redneck if...

- You think that Dom Perignon is a Mafia leader.
- Your wife's hairdo was once ruined by a ceiling fan.
- You go to your family reunion looking for a date.
- Your Junior/Senior Prom had a Daycare.
- You think the last words to The Star Spangled Banner are, "Gentlemen, start your engines."
- You lit a match in the bathroom and your house exploded right off its wheels.
- You had to remove a toothpick from your mouth for your wedding pictures.
- The bluebook value of your truck goes up and down, depending on how much gas it has in it.
- You have to go outside to get something out of the 'fridge.
- One of your kids was born on a pool table.
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I bought a bag of air today…The company that made it was kind enough to put some potato chips in it as well.

“The best thing to carry with you when you start feeling tired is a knapsack.”

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People always tell introverts to be more talkative and leave their comfort zone, yet no one tells extroverts to shut up to make the zone comforable.
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I'M OFFICIALLY ON THE HIP REPLACEMENT LIST FOR MAYBE SOMETIME IN THE SPRING

 I LIKED THE WARM COMFORTING COLORS OF DOCTOR GAMACHE'S OUTER WAITING ROOM

I took Pheebs out for a quick country road Jeep ride around the block this morning before we all switched vehicles a short time later and headed off for Sarnia.  It was a nice sunny morning with temps already reaching for the 60F mark.

 WE SAW FARMER'S OUT WORKING IN THEIR CORNFIELDS EARLIER TODAY

It was 9:52 when all three of us piled into the Subaru and slipped out of the driveway.  At the Park's entrance, I made my first mistake of the day and I turned right.  We were about a quarter mile down the road when Kelly says, "are we going in the right direction"??  The instant she said that I knew I had mistakenly plugged our London Hospital route into my brain instead of the Sarnia Hospital route.  I quickly turned around and got myself back on track and headed south through Bayfield on the Bluewater Highway.  We hadn't gone far when mistake number 2 crept into my head via my ears when Kelly casually commented,  "I wonder if the Doctor's office is close to downtown Sarnia somewhere"??  'WHAT'......I thought we were supposed to meet the doctor in a waiting room at the Sarnia Hospital.  Kelly asked, is the Hospital at 110 Water Street?  NO, the hospital is NOT on Water Street, I answered.  After thinking for the past 3 months this appointment was going to be at the hospital I was now instantly flummoxed and confused.  Now all of a sudden I didn't have a clue how to get to where we were supposed to get to once we reached Sarnia.  And, we had an appointment time deadline!!  It's at this point that my stomach flipped up on end, my stress level takes off like a rocket and I am instantly about 3 feet in the air going in fifteen different directions at once.  Luckily, and as always, Kelly stays calm, pulls out her phone, and soon has directions for 110 Water Street Sarnia on the screen.  But, the Gremlins weren't through with me quite yet.  In Sarnia, her smartphone's GPS gave us a few wrong turns and right away the argument was on between me and the GPS.  Fortunately, I usually have a reasonably good sense of direction and knew when the GPS called for a right-hand turn that it should actually be a left-hand turn.  This bickering went on for half a dozen blocks until, with a combination of shakey directions from me as well as the fumbling GPS we finally somehow amazingly found 110 Water Street.  And, it wasn't anywhere near the hospital!!  But, it sure had put me in a sour mood which luckily I was soon able to shake off instead of carrying it around with me for the next 6 weeks.  A short while later, sitting in the doctor's waiting room Kelly and I reminded each other of all the times we got lost in our RV days trying to make our way through some of America's biggest cities.  Chicago, (twice) St. Louis, Oklahoma, Dallas, Phoenix, Indianapolis, (3 times) El Paso, Houston, and another half dozen cities I've thankfully forgotten about. 

 PHEEBS HOLDS DOWN THE FORT WHILE KELLY AND I SLIP INTO THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE

We were early for the appointment so I took Pheebs for a short walk around the parking lot.  The appointment was for 12 o'clock and we finally met Dr Anil Gamache about 12:20.  He talked to us for a bit, wrote some things down, then had me get up on a bed/table thingy where he gently moved my right leg around a bit without causing me any screeching pain.  He then exited the room to have a look at the hip X-ray we had brought which was done in Goderich back in April.  A few minutes later he was back in the room and said "yes, you have severe arthritis in that hip and I recommend we do a hip replacement".  He then explained things about the surgery and wondered if we had any questions.  Of course, Kelly is always full of questions so she put him through the ringer and he sort of answered all of her questions satisfactorily.  Well, at least we think he did.  He had an accent and with his soft voice speaking through a facemask I think between Kelly and I we were able to decipher maybe only half of what he said.  I didn't hear him use the words 'chain saw' so I take that as a good sign.  So, that was it and he handed us off to his office lady who had the itinerary and paperwork for the surgery.  And here's where we ran into a slight glitch.  A speedbump you might say.  A couple of weeks ago we saw on the news that a cyber ransom attack had been launched on a number of southwestern Ontario hospitals and wouldn't you know it.....Sarnia's Bluewater Hospital was one of them. (Cyber Attack Update)  Because of the whole medical health system being compromised, the office lady couldn't give us an exact date for the surgery.  However, she does keep paper backup files, and judging from the backlog she ballparked my surgery for maybe sometime in late March or April.  She also said she hopes the appointment and filing system will soon be back online and she will get back to us with a firm date sometime in the latter part of December.  So, there it is, I am officially on the hip transplant list with a possible surgery date sometime in the Spring.  And, that is quite alright with me. I would not have liked to have this done in the freezing cold winter months of January or February.  Spring is good for me both mentally and physically:))

 I LOVE EMPTY WAITING ROOMS

 WAITING FOR THE DOC

 I WAS HOPING I WOULDN'T END UP ON THAT TABLE THING BUT I DID...HEY, AT LEAST THE DOCTOR DIDN'T ASK ME TO WRAP MY LEGS AROUND THE BACK OF MY HEAD

Leaving the Doctor's office and without using GPS we had no problem finding the short distance back to the 4-lane 402 highway heading east.  Once we were on that highway we were on very familiar pavement and knew our way home.  This is the route we always took in our RVing days coming and going back and forth across the border.  Of course, this route always took us through a little Ontario town called Forest and it was at a Tim Hortons coffee shop here that we always picked up coffee and donuts to go before driving the final 50 miles home.  And, it was this same Tim Hortons today that we picked up coffee and sandwiches to go as well.  I think it was sometime around 2:30 when we finally rolled into our driveway on this mighty fine mid-November day:))    

 WE COULDN'T BELIEVE THE MILES OF TRUCKS LINED UP WAITING TO GET ACROSS THE BORDER INTO THE STATES

Al's Music Box:)) Welcome To My World was performed by country music singer Jim Reeves, who styled the song in his favored Nashville Sound. Reeves' version was included on his 1962 album A Touch of Velvet and was released as a single in the United States in early 1964.  The song became one of Reeves' last major hits in the U.S. during his lifetime before he was killed in a plane crash on July 31, 1964.

 I HAVE TAKEN MANY PHOTOS OVER THE YEARS OF KELLY EXITING THIS TIM HORTONS WITH COFFEE AND SNACKS IN HAND

GROANER'S CORNER:(("I'm sorry, Bill," said the doctor, "there's simply nothing I can do for you. Your condition is hereditary."  "Oh," replied Bill, "in that case just send the bill to my parents."

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Hear about the new restaurant called ‘Karma’?
There’s no menu, you only get what you deserve.

I’ve found a job helping a one-armed typist do capital letters.  It’s shift work.

Did you hear about the claustrophobic astronaut?  He needed a little space.

What did the pirate say when he turned 80 years old?  “Aye matey.”

How do you keep an idiot in suspense?

Have you heard about those new corduroy pillows?  They’re making headlines.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather.  Not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car.

Why did the chicken go to the séance?  To get to the other side.

Where are average things manufactured?
The satisfactory.

My granddad has the heart of a lion and
a lifetime ban from London Zoo.

I went on a once in a lifetime holiday.  Never again.

What sits at the bottom of the sea and twitches?
A nervous wreck.

Why can’t you explain puns to kleptomaniacs?
They always take things literally.

Last night me and my girlfriend watched three DVDs back to back.  Luckily I was the one facing the telly.

A man tells his doctor, “Help me. I’m addicted to Twitter!”  The doctor replies, “Sorry, I’m not following you.”

Exaggerations went up by a million percent last year.

What kind of exercise do lazy people do?  Diddly-squats.

They all laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian.  Well, they’re not laughing now.

What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards?  A receding hare-line.

I used to be addicted to soap, but  I’m clean now.

What does Charles Dickens keep in his spice rack?  The best of thymes, the worst of thymes.

Due to my isolation, I finished three books yesterday.  And believe me, that’s a lot of coloring.

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BUT THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE IT KNOWS I'M GOING TO SEE THE HIP SURGEON IN THE MORNING

MORNING SUNSHINE LIGHTS UP THE COLORS IN OUR FRONT YARD EARLIER TODAY

For Richard and I, our usual bi-monthly country road coffee tours are normally on Thursdays but due to the fact that Kelly, Pheebs, and I will be in Sarnia Thursday morning, our coffee and muffin drive was re-scheduled to this morning.  And a fine sunny blue sky morning it was too with temps pushing 60F today.  Our travels around the area took us through a neighboring mobile home park called Pine Lake.  It was over 21 years ago since I was last in this Park.  Before moving to where we are now Kelly and I had briefly looked at a place in Pine Lake.  The very same day we looked at a place there, we found our current digs right here in the Bayfield Pines which was then called, 'Five Seasons Estates'.  The very first time I was ever in Pine Lake was over 50 years ago when my Dad had a trailer there. 

 WAITING FOR RICHARD THIS MORNING I TOOK A FEW PHOTOS AROUND THE END OF OUR DRIVEWAY

 NO LEAVES LEFT ON OUR SUMAC TREES

With such a nice Autumn day going on this afternoon I couldn't resist the call of the 'Outdoors'.  Noticing a dozen leaves lying in our driveway I wasn't long in hauling out my 3,000 horsepower leaf blower and blowing those dozen leaves up into some semblance of an organized leaf pile.  I also hauled out our big 20-gallon shop vac and vacuumed out the Jeep.  And, I needed every gallon of space too what with all the dog fur and dropped doggy snacks all over the place.  A couple bird feeders were needin a fillin so I took care of that too.

Needless to say, it was a much better day than yesterday.  An afternoon walk took Pheebs and I past the Park's pond and on down around the far end of the Park's property and back.  My hip was on its best behavior this afternoon but only because it knows I'm going to see the hip surgeon in the morning for a consultation.

 OUR AFTERNOON WALK TOOK US ALONG THIS ROAD THAT SHOULDN'T BE HERE....THANK HEAVENS OUR PARK CHANGED OWNERSHIP NEARLY A YEAR AND HALF AGO JUST IN TIME TO STOP ANY FURTHER RAMPANT DAMAGE BEING DONE TO IT

 PHEEBS STANDS ON THE SPOT WHERE MY FAVORITE MAPLE TREE ONCE STOOD ALONGSIDE A  QUIET FOREST PATH.....THE PARK'S PREVIOUS OWNER MINDLESSLY, RECKLESSLY, AND NEEDLESSLY DESTROYED THE FOREST HERE

 THIS OLD HOMEMADE UTILITY TRAILER IS ABOUT ALL THAT'S LEFT OF THE TONS OF JUNK MACHINERY THE PARK'S PREVIOUS OWNER HAD LEFT SCATTERED AROUND THE PARK'S PROPERTY

Ellen's Groove:)) Another great video showcasing Ellen's bass-playing progress. She really heats up the frets and rocks this one out..... Disco Daddy .

 A PARK NEIGHBOR HAS BEEN BUSY WITH CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

IMAGINE HOW NICE THIS IS ALL GOING TO LOOK AFTER A GENTLE WINTER'S SNOWFALL

 AND YEP, THERE'S A PHEEBS IN THE PHOTO

Al's Music Box:)) Escape (The Pina Colada Song) is a song written and performed by British-American singer-songwriter Rupert Holmes taken from his 1979 fifth studio album 'Partners In Crime'. The song was inspired by a want-ad he read whilst idly scanning the personals one day. As Holmes put it, "I thought, ‘what would happen to me if I answered this ad?’ I'd go and see if it was my own wife who was bored with me." The title of the song was originally going to be "People Need Other People", The chorus originally started with "If you like Humphrey Bogart", which Holmes changed at the last minute, replacing the actor with the name of the first exotic cocktail that came to mind and fit the music. The original lyrics said, "If you like Humphrey Bogart and getting caught in the rain." ...As I was getting on mic I thought to myself, I've done so many movie references to Bogart and wide-screen cinema on my earlier albums, maybe I shouldn't do one here. I thought, What can I substitute? Well, this woman wants an escape, like she wants to go on vacation to the islands. When you go on vacation to the islands, when you sit on the beach and someone asks you if you'd like a drink, you never order a Budweiser, you don't have a beer. You're on vacation, you want a drink in a hollowed-out pineapple with the flags of all nations and a parasol. If the drink is blue you'd be very happy. And a long straw. I thought, What are those escape drinks? Let's see, there's daiquiri, mai tai, piña colada... I wonder what a piña colada tastes like? I've never even had one. I thought that instead of singing, "If you like Humphrey Bogart," with the emphasis on like, I could start it a syllable earlier and go, "If you like piña-a coladas. Holmes said in 2019 that he still does not drink Pina Coladas.

OUR FRONT YARD LATE THIS AFTERNOON

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A husband and wife were driving down a country lane on their way to visit some friends. They came to a muddy patch in the road and the car became bogged down. After a few minutes of trying to get the car out by themselves, they saw a young farmer coming down the lane, driving some oxen before him.  The farmer stopped when he saw the couple in trouble and offered to pull the car out of the mud for $50. The husband accepted and minutes later the car was free. The farmer turned to the husband and said, "You know, you're the tenth car I've helped out of the mud today."  The husband looks around at the fields incredulously and asks the farmer, "When do you have time to plough your land? At night?"  "No," the young farmer replied seriously, "Night is when I put the water in the hole."

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If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

Love may be blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

Two wrongs are only the beginning.

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