EAT EM WHILE THEY'RE WARM SHE SAID AND EAT EM WHILE THEY'RE WARM I DID

 A GROWING STACK OF BEST-EVER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Not a good long weekend for area campers, boaters, and tourists.  Especially felt sorry for all the tenters out there waking up to low 50's temps and a cold drizzle in the air this morning.  I remember mornings like this when camping decades ago and they were not fun!!  Sleeping in one's clothes on the ground in a cold tent only to wake up and find out it's raining, the firewood is soaked, the matches are soggy and you are out of fuel for your Coleman stove and tent heater if you even had one.  And somebody has already ate all your peanut butter sandwiches.  Now, to make that scenario even worse, try waking up with a hangover from the night before as well.  No, I don't miss those kinds of days at all.......It was a short ride into Bayfield for Pheebs and I this morning with Subie's heater on and the windshield wipers keeping a cold rainy drizzle off the windshield.  We didn't stay out long and I was glad to get back home again, fry myself up a cup of coffee, and micro-wave myself up a relish, mustard, and ketchup hot dog for breakfast.  With my tube steak and coffee in hand I quickly retreated to our cozy sunroom where I fired up our Vermont Casting gas stove to take the damp chill out of the air.  Tipped back in my recliner with kindle book in hand and let my mind wander me off to Prince Edward Island where Lucy Maude Montgomery's warm descriptive laid back style of writing once again soothed my troubles and danced my imagination around the Island.  There was no going back outside again today and that was that.  And, I was quite okay with it too.  

 IT WAS A COLD, WINDY, AND BLEAK LOOKING SUNDAY MORNING AT BAYFIELD'S BEACH

 IDLE BOATS WERE BOBBING AT THEIR MOORINGS

I THINK I SEE THE CAPTAIN OF THE BONNIE LEE SITTING IN THERE PLOTTING A COURSE FOR WARMER WATERS

 LOOKS LIKE THIS LOCAL FARMER HAS TRADED HIS TRACTOR IN FOR A BOAT

 QUITE AN ARRAY OF SOLAR PANELS ON THIS BOAT WHICH ALSO ACTS AS A SUN SHADE AND RAIN COVER

 NO RAIN COVER ON THIS BOAT SO I THINK THE CAPTAIN IS GOING TO END UP WITH SOGGY SHORTS WHEN HE SITS DOWN AT THE WHEEL

I haven't seen hide-nor-hair of the black and white cat I chased out of our yard last week after I saw it ambush and kill a chipmunk.  I think my 'chicken wire, milk crate, and old plastic flower pots' defense system is working.  I have hung the birdfeeder back up and I did see a chipmunk scurrying around our yard today.

Kelly took a hankerin' to bake up a batch of the best-ever chocolate chip cookies this afternoon.  They were barely out of the oven when I snuck away with 50 of them under my shirt when she wasn't looking.  Okay, not that many but I sure grabbed up my fair share when she said, 'Eat em while they're warm.  So, eat them while they were warm I did.  All 50.....er, at least 4 of them:))  

 KELLY HAS THE MOST GOOD COOKIE BRAINS IN OUR FAMILY

 WORKING ON A THIRD BATCH

THESE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES HAVE A VERY HIGH 'YUMMY' FACTOR

I recently finished two more books by Prince Edward Island's author Lucy Maude Montgomery.  Thoroughly enjoyed them both.  The Blue Castle and Jane of Lantern Hill.  I am currently reading another one of her books entitled, The Complete 'Pat Of Silver Bush' Series which consists of two books. 

Ellen's Groove:)) Ellen and her dad team up for a progressive Metal Jam.  I was surprised to see Ellen using her 'small' bass.

 BEANFIELD IN A VALLEY

 NOTHING UP IN THIS FIELD YET, MAYBE TOMORROW

 AMAZING HOW FARMERS CAN GET THEIR FIELDS ABOUT AS SMOOTH AS BILLIARD BALLS

Al's Music Box:)) That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be is a song performed by Carly Simon, and the lead single from her self-titled debut album Carly Simon (1971). Her friend and frequent collaborator Jacob Brackman wrote the lyrics and Simon wrote the music. The song earned Simon a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards in 1972, where she also won Best New Artist.  It is an art song with a semiclassical melody in the style of Gabriel Faure', and Elektra staffers were worried the single was too emotionally complex to be released as Simon's first single. With subject matter that includes "the parents' bad marriage; the friends' unhappy lives; the boyfriend's enthusiasm for marriage but controlling nature; the woman's initial resistance and ultimate capitulation."  The success of the song propelled Simon into the limelight.  In July 1971, the single reached No. 1 in Boston (WRKO), Burlington, Vermont (WDOT), New Haven (WNHC) and Rochester, New York (WSAY).  No music video existed for this song, although a filmed performance was produced for an episode of the early 1970s PDS series The Great American Dream Machine.

 THIS YOUNG GRACKLE HASN'T GROWN OUT ITS ADULT COLORS YET

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A hungry lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something to eat. He came across two men. One was sitting under a tree reading a book; the other was typing away on his typewriter. The lion quickly pounced on the man reading the book and devoured him. Even the king of the jungle knows that readers digest and writers cramp.

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- It only takes one slowly walking person in the grocery store to destroy the illusion that I am a nice person.

- Bought a head of lettuce from a small grocery store called Mamas and Papas.  Can't eat it because all the leaves are brown.

- An Irish Text:  Mary, I'm just having one more pint with the lads.  If I'm not home in 20 minutes, read this text again.

- Teacher told me not to worry about spelling because in the future there will be auto-correct for which I will be eternally grapefruit.

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WIPER BLADES ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE WINDSHIELD

 "HEY LOOK, THERE'S PHEEBS"

Despite the dark and gloomy rain-soaked earlier part of the morning, I was greatly brightened by reader's emails and comments when I opened my blog.  And for that, I gratefully say thank you to everyone for your kind words, thoughts, and encouragement.  At this age and stage of life, every little needed boost is so helpful and important.  And, so much appreciated......

STORMY SKIES OVER A WHEAT FIELD TO THE EAST THIS MORNING

 EVEN STORMIER SKIES OVER ANOTHER WHEAT FIELD TO THE WEST

 AND WE EVEN SPOTTED 'OLD LONESOME' ON OUR WAY TO GODERICH

 HMMMM, I WONDER WHAT LITTLE DICKENS PUT THIS ON OUR SUBARU??  ANY GUESSES:)) I'LL GIVE YOU A HINT....IT WASN'T ME AND IT WASN'T PHEEBS

Pheebs and I in the rain, splashed ourselves all the way to Goderich earlier today.  Every time I tried to put Pheebs window down for her she got a snoot full of rainwater.  She didn't seem to mind that much but Subie wasn't happy about getting her interior wet so up went the window.  Hey, at least I was smart enough not to open the moonroof.  Had I done that I would have had to put on a rain coat and I didn't have one in the car anyway.  By the time we left Goderich about forty minutes later, the rain had quit and sunshine began breaking through the cloud cover.  Temperatures were up so we had our front windows down.  So much better than Friday morning when it was cool and I had the heater going in the car.  We didn't receive any more rain today but the humidity sure came stampeding back.  

I must say that I do like driving the Subaru more than the Jeep these days.  It's the quietness of the ride, the smoothness of the ride, and the quality of the car's sound system.   The better gas mileage is a big plus and of course, I like that big rectangular hole in the roof that I can open and allow sunshine and warm breezes to come tumbling in.  At highway speeds, if I open that moonroof it instantly creates a whirlwind inside the car with flying dust, food debris, and doggy fur swirling everywhere.  So thick at times my visibility is impaired and I have to quickly turn on the windshield wipers to see where I'm going.  However, each time I do this I quickly realize the wiper blades are on the wrong side of the windshield for inside whirlwinds.  Oh my, the frazzles of life eh.  And, did you really think we get whirlwinds of that magnitude going on inside the car??:))

 A NICE SMATTERING OF DAYLILIES ALONG THE WAY

 HOW NICE TO SEE BROWN-EYED SUSANS AGAIN

With the day's humidity ramping up it was a slow walk for Pheebs and I around the Park's pond.  As soon as we got back I had to plant myself right in front of my big fan and crank it up to restore myself to some semblance of dry civility.       

 A SATURDAY MORNING CLUSTER OF COWS

Al's Music Box:)) That'll Be The Day is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widespread success. Holly's producer, Norman Petty, was credited as a co-writer, although he did not contribute to the composition.  The 1957 recording was certified gold (for over a million US sales) by the Recording Industry Association of America. (RIAA) in 1969. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. It was placed in the National Recording Registry, a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States", in 2005.  In June 1956, Holly along with his older brother Larry as well as Allison and Sonny Curtis went to see the film The Searchers, starring John Wayne, in which Wayne repeatedly used the phrase "that'll be the day". This line of dialogue inspired the young musicians.  The song was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes for Decca Records at Bradley Studios in Nashville, on July 22, 1956. Decca, displeased with Holly's previous two singles, did not issue recordings from this session. After the song was re-recorded by the Crickets in 1957 and became a hit, Decca released the original recording as a single on September 2, 1957, with "Rock Around with Ollie Vee" as the B-side. It was also the title track of the 1958 album That'll Be the Day. Despite Holly's newfound stardom, the single did not chart.  Holly's contract with Decca prohibited him from re-recording any of the songs recorded in the 1956 Nashville sessions for five years, even if Decca never released them. To evade this restriction, the producer Norman Petty credited the Crickets as the artist on his re-recording of "That'll Be the Day" for Brunswick Records.   Brunswick was a subsidiary of Decca. Once the cat was out of the bag, Decca re-signed Holly to another of its subsidiaries, Coral Records, so he ended up with two recording contracts. Recordings with the Crickets were to be issued by Brunswick, and the recordings under Holly's name were to be on Coral, although the Crickets played on several of them.  The second recording of the song was made on February 25, 1957, seven months after the first, at the Norman Petty studios in Clovis, New Mexico, and issued by Brunswick on July 27, 1957.  This version is on the debut album by the Crickets, The 'Chirping' Crickets, issued on November 27, 1957. The recording was made with everyone performing and without additional overdubs. The B-side of the record, "I'm Looking for Someone to Love" was recorded at the same session with the same backup singers.  The Brunswick recording of "That'll Be the Day" is considered a classic of rock and roll. It was ranked number 39 on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( After watching me read War and Peace, my son asked me,  “Dad, why is your book so thick?”  I said, “Well, it’s a long story.”

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- A book fell on my head.
I can only blame my shelf.

Q: What do you call 2,000 mockingbirds?
A: Two kilo mockingbird.

Q: Why was the library so tall?
A: Because it had a lot of stories.

- I’ve written a book about falling down a staircase.  It’s a step-by-step guide.

- Have you heard about Waldo? He went abroad and found himself.

- Did you hear about the author in jail?  They put him in the writer’s block.  Couldn’t get past his first sentence.

A not-so-bright guy was at home watching TV with his friends when he heard a noise. He ran out just in time to see a thief drive off in his car.  "Did you see his face?" his friends asked when he came back inside.  "No, but it's okay I got the license plate number!"

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A FEW THOUGHTS ABOUT MY BLOG

Well, here it is Canada Day week-end already.  This summer is certainly slipping away.  Before we know it, it will be the Labor Day Week-End, Thanksgiving, and then good grief it will be Christmas again.  Oh well, at least after Christmas we will all be looking forward to Spring again and the May 24th week-end.  We gotta stay positive eh:))

A FROG'S EYE

 A NEWLY PLANTED BEANFIELD

 BY GOLLY I THINK THERE IS A SHEEP OUT THERE

 CORNS UP ABOUT FOUR FEET NOW

I had to take our hanging birdfeeder down again.  No, not because of the Grackles this time.  It was because of a sly and cunning predator!!  I knew a month or so ago we had a dozen or more frogs in our front yard frog pond and they were quite tame and didn't panic when we walked by.  We also had maybe half a dozen friendly little chipmunks scurrying about as well.  I always made it a point to feed the chipmunks birdseed.  But then, this past couple of weeks or so I'd noticed we were seeing fewer frogs and chipmunks.  It was about a month and a half ago I first saw a nice looking black and white cat hanging around our yard.  It was leery of me but liked hanging around underneath our Rhododendron plant directly in front of our sunroom.  Often times walking by that plant the kitty cat would run out from under the Rhododendron.  I didn't shoo it away because I like cats.  But, a couple of feet in front of the Rhododendron plant and straight up, there hung our birdfeeder.  Grackles and Bluejays would get on the feeder and swoosh out the birdseed with their bills in search of certain seeds.  Those swooshed-out seeds would fall to the ground in front of the Rhododendron and always make a big mess.  However, chipmunks, squirrels, and an assortment of birds would come there to feed on the fallen seeds.  Sitting at the computer a couple days ago I noticed movement in the flowerbed out front near the road.  It was the black and white cat and it came forward across our small patch of grass heading straight for the Rhododendron bush and sure enough, it went in underneath.  Curious to see if I could see where it was under there I stepped over to one of the sunroom windows and looked down.  The only thing I could see in the dark shadows under the bush was a white paw.  While looking at this I saw movement a couple feet away under the hanging birdseed feeder.  It was a chipmunk who had slipped out from under a large bundle of Hosta leaves to have himself an afternoon birdseed snack.  In a flash, the cat ambushed the little fella and ran away across the yard with the chipmunk in its mouth.  I instantly knew why so many frogs and chipmunks had been disappearing.  That was it, no more Mr. Nice Guy from me towards that cat!!!!  Within an hour I had raked up all the fallen birdseed under the feeder, loaded up a number of large rocks in the wheelbarrow and placed them under the Rhododendron shrub.  I also scrounged up some chicken wire and stretched it across in front of the plant anchoring it down with some old plastic milk crates with chunks of concrete in them to hold the chicken wire in place.  I also tossed half a dozen old plastic flower pots under the shrub as well to eliminate any space the cat could use for its nefarious deeds.  And, so far I have not hung the birdfeeder back up yet, nor have I seen the black and white cat back either.  Unfortunately, I have not seen any more chipmunks either.   Pheebs and I had stopped in to see Richard this morning on our travels.  Richard has lots and lots of friendly chipmunks at his place and I was tempted to ask him if I could borrow some of them.  But then I thought better of it.  No point in risking any more chipmunk lives until I know for sure that our cat problem is solved.

 THIS WAS A KILLING GROUND FOR THE CAT

 THE BIRDSEED FEEDER HUNG UNDERNEATH THAT RAIN-PROTECTIVE GARBAGE CAN LID AT THE TOP

My apologies to readers and especially to my last few die-hard readers who have stuck with me here on my blog over the years.  I know I haven't been holding up my blogging end lately and I know I haven't been very communicative with my readers regarding comments, and emails, etc.  And lately again my heart hasn't been in my blog like it was for most of my blogging years and I'm struggling.  I have let too many things weigh me down as of late.  Some things you know about, some things you don't,  On the positive side, I thank all of you who are still here for giving me the inspiration and confidence to keep this blog going for as long as it has these past nearly 18 years.

 THERE IS A BUTTERFLY INSIDE THE DAY LILY

Al's Music Box:))  The Hockey Game by Canada's own Stompin Tom Conners.  Also by Stompin Tom are, Big Joe Mufferaw, Sudbury Saturday Night, Bud The Spud, I've Been Everywhere, Canada Day, Up Canada Way  These are but a few of Stompin Tom's songs:)))))

 A LONG SHAKEY 600mm TELEPHOTO SHOT THROUGH SUBIE'S WINDSHIELD OF THE COUNTRY ROAD AHEAD THIS MORNING

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A Canadian went into a Tom Horton’s and noticed there was a “Roll Up The Rim To Win” Contest. So, he rolled up the rim of his coffee and started yelling, “I’ve won a motor home! I’ve won a motorhome!”  The girl at the counter said, “That’s impossible. The biggest prize is a car.”  The person shouted, “No, it’s not a mistake. I’ve won a motorhome!” He handed the Cup to the girl who read............“W I N A B A G E L”

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Whoever said, “Do the job right the first time and you’ll never have to do it again” never shoveled snow off a Canadian driveway.

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An angel asked God what He was doing.

"Making Canadians," He said.

"Awwwww, their so nice," said the angel.

"Oh ya? watch this," said God as he dropped a hockey puck.

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A French guest, staying in a hotel in Edmonton phoned room service for some pepper.  “Black pepper, or white pepper?” asked the concierge.

“Toilette pepper!” replied the Frenchman.

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- Name the two seasons of Canada.  Winter, and July.

- Did you know that Canada has a real hard water problem?  Most of the time, it’s frozen.

- In New Brunswick, I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.

- I love hockey, but I want to follow a sport that’s a little less violent. Now I’m into kickboxing.

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A man was strolling along the Beaches area in East Toronto when he spotted a bottle floating in Lake Ontario. The bottle drifted ashore.  He picked up the bottle and opened it, and out popped a Genie.  “Master, Master you have released me from my bondage in this bottle, ask any three wishes and I will grant them to you.”  The man thought for a moment and said, “I would like the following three things to happen this year — The Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup, the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series, and The Toronto Raptors to win the NBA title.”  The Genie thought about this for a moment and then without a word hastily retreated back into the bottle.

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Have a great day eh:))