HEADED OUTSIDE AND DODGED FROM SHRUB TO SHRUB TO THE CARPORT

 A FEW BIRD PHOTOS TODAY

Richard's turn to drive this morning for our semi-monthly country road coffee and muffins tour.  Our beautiful September weather is still holding so it was a nice cruise through the scenic rural landscape of Huron County as we talked about things probably only two aging Seniors would think enough about to talk about.  Our travels took us southeast of Bayfield.

 'HEY...I'M NOT A BIRD!!

As of late, the bird population in our front yard has finally been picking up again.  Summer's hordes of Grackles have flown the coop for the year so the Blue Jays, Cardinals, Morning Doves, Grosbeaks, Goldfinches, Woodpeckers, Chickadees,  Nuthatches, and a couple old Crows are finally flying in again.  Nice to see the gang coming back.  Geeezzzz, I missed you guys.  Oh, and I saw two Chipmunks in the front yard today also.  I have my fingers crossed that the black and white stray cat doesn't return to our yard and kill them too.  

Home before noon I tried to talk myself into heading outside to resume my late summer yardwork.  Guess I'm a good salesman sometimes because before I knew it was out in the backyard cutting down a bunch of vines with the electric hedge trimmer.  That lasted about 40 minutes before I was back inside with my sticky shirt off and my fan on high blowing cooler air at me.  At one point I realized I had left my smaller camera in the car so rather than put my shirt on to slip outside to the carport to retrieve it, I carefully peered out the door to make sure the coast was clear....it was.  Quickly, I then headed outside and dodged from shrub to shrub to the carport and nabbed the camera.  Using the same shrubs, I quickly beat a hasty retreat back into the house before being seen.  Things can spread fast here in our Park, and the sighting of a half-naked man running around near the east end of Sugar Maple Drive would not have been a good thing!!     

Earlier this past week I met with my good buddy Jim in a Seaforth Ontario Park for coffee.  What I forgot to mention is that Jim also writes a post most every day and you can find him on my sidebar under the title Lifetime Sentences.  Jim has a long background in Journalism, he's a great writer with a clever sense of humor and an unlimited imagination to back it up.  His posts will often leave you with a smile on your face, a frown in your coffee, or a host of question marks in your mind.  He does it intentionally, he does it well, he stimulates your thinking, and he peaks your curiosity enough to come back for more:)) 

A Blast From Our Past:)) Ode To My Coffee Cup  I wrote this post on September 14th, 2008 and it concerns a coffee cup and my memories of that coffee cup which was a part of my life for two years.  It's about the day we met on December 22nd, 2006 in an Apache Trading Post near the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.  It briefly tells about our Southwest Travels, and the day it all ended with a crash in September of 2008 in our backyard here in Bayfield, Ontario Canada:((

Al's Music Box:)) Listen To The Music is a song by American rock band the Doobie Brothers, released on their second album, Toulouse Street (1972). The song was their first major hit. It was written by Tom Johnston.  Johnston described the motivation for the song as a call for world peace: "The chord structure of it made me think of something positive, so the lyrics that came out of that were based on this utopian idea that if the leaders of the world got together on some grassy hill somewhere and either smoked enough dope or just sat down and just listened to the music and forgot about all this other bullshit, the world would be a much better place. It was very utopian and very unrealistic (laughs). It seemed like a good idea at the time."  The studio recording used both a banjo and a prominent flanging effect, audible from the bridge until the fadeout. When released as a single by Warner Bros. Records, the song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1972.  The commercial success of "Listen to the Music" helped the album Toulouse Street rise on the charts. The song remains a staple of adult contemporary and classic rock radio. The band also uses it as an encore song during live shows. Patrick Simmons, the second guitarist and vocalist in the group, sings the bridge of the song.  Upon the release of the single, Cash Box said that it's "the group's mellowest rockin' mood yet.  Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci rated "Listen to the Music" as the Doobie Brothers fourth-greatest song, praising the smooth, "soft, shuffling rhythm" and Johnston's vocal performance. The staff of Billboard rated it even higher, considering it the Doobie Brothers' best song, saying that it "ranks high in the pantheon of rock n’ roll feel-good hits" and should "get your foot tapping and bring a bit of a smile to your face."  In June 2020, four members of the band released an acoustic version of the song on YouTube, with each performing from his home during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The recording included a more prominent banjo part, but no lead electric guitar or drums. At the end of the recording, lead singer Tom Johnston noted that it was a benefit performance, of sorts, for Feeding America, and gave the organization's URL, encouraging fans to donate.  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A kindergartner was practicing spelling with magnetic letters on the refrigerator: cat, dog, dad, and mom had been proudly displayed for all to see.  One morning while getting ready for the day, he bounded into the room with his arms outstretched. In his hands were three magnetic letters: G-O-D.  "Look what I spelled, Mom!" with a proud smile on his face.  "That's wonderful!" his mom praised him. "Now go put them on the fridge so Dad can see when he gets home tonight."  The mom happily thought that her son's religious education was certainly having an impact.  Just then, a little voice called from the kitchen: "Mom? How do you spell 'zilla'?"

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My son wanted to know what it was like to be a parent.  So I woke him at 2am to tell him my sock came off.
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"To do is to be..." -- Descartes.
"To be is to do..." -- Sartre.
"Do be do be do..." – Sinatra!

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Man walks into an ancient Greek tailors with a pair of ripped trousers.  Tailor says, "Euripides?"  Man says, "Yeah. Eumenides?"

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English lesson…
Tsunami
T is silent
Psychology
P is silent
Knife
K is silent
Honest
H is silent
Wife
Husband is silent

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I did my first nude painting yesterday.
The neighbors weren't happy but the front door looks great!

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WE WERE HOME 40 MINUTES LATER....MINUS ONE TOOTH

 AUTUMN'S EARLY COLORS HAVE SLIPPED IN AND TOUCHED THIS SUN-DAPPLED FARM LANE

T.G.I.F doesn't mean much anymore when in these Senior years every day seems like Sunday to me.  A.N.I.S. (Awww Nuts Its Sunday)  Well, regardless of what day it is, in the end, it was another beautiful early September morn.

 A FEW TOUCHES OF COLOR FROM MOTHER NATURE'S PAINT BRUSH

With Subie's front windows down, Pheebs and I headed East on Bayfield River Road to Parr Line again.  From there we motored south through Varna to Pavillion Line and turned right for a slow gravely road cruise west to the Linwood Wildlife area.  Another one of our favorite areas for a short walk.  Pheebs is more into the short walks we do nowadays compared to the longer walks we did years ago.  And, that's quite okay with me.

HOW NICE TO TURN OFF THE HIGHWAY ONTO THIS QUIET COUNTRY ROAD

ME AND THE KID OUT DOING WHAT WE LIKE TO DO BEST

 A LAZY LATE SUMMER MORNING IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

WALKING ALONGSIDE A CORNFIELD

 LET'S STEP INTO THE CORNFIELD AND HAVE A LOOK AROUND

 BRANCHES LADEN WITH APPLES

These September mornings are nothing short of magical in the countryside with Autumn's touch beginning to dapple a few colors here and there across the hills and dales, fields and forests.  The air is quieter now without summer's flying insects and with the Sun's rays angling in at a slightly lower angle, shadows are lengthening as the rural landscape slowly begins to slip on its Autumn cloak.

 

 MOTHER NATURE'S CHRISTMAS COLORS

GOLDENROD

Another one of the many bad effects of liver disease is the deterioration of one's teeth and Kelly certainly has had her share of dental appointments these past years.  We piled into the Subaru this afternoon and headed to the Exeter Dental Care clinic in Exeter where Kelly had a 2:15 appointment.  While she was having a tooth extracted, I slipped over to the Home Hardware store and picked up some #1 coffee filters.  From there I checked to see if the new Exeter Burger King was open.....and it wasn't.  On the way back to the Dental clinic I briefly stopped at Elliot Park which can accommodate half a dozen small to medium-sized RVs.  With a dump station, it's a handy stopover in Exeter's north end right off Highway 4 on the west side.  During most of our RV years, after arriving home in the Spring, I would drive our RV here after a few days to empty the tanks at the dump station..........Kelly was ready to go about 2:45 and we were home 40 minutes later.....minus one tooth.  

A SHADY CAMPGROUND AND RV STOP

 THIS IS THE DUMP STATION I USED FOR MOST OF OUR RVING YEARS

 EXETER'S SHADY LITTLE RV CAMPGROUND

Al's Music Box:)) Me And Mrs Jones was a #1 single originally performed by Billy Paul, recorded and released in 1972. The single was written by Cary 'Hippy Gilbert, Kenny Gamble, and Leon Huff, and arranged by Bobby Martin.  The single became Paul's only #1 single. In 2018, Paul's single was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.  "The arrangement has been described as having "A lush string arrangement and punchy horn parts complemented Mr. Paul’s velvety, husky baritone, which built from a near-whisper at the beginning of the song to a wrenching, drawn-out shout of “Me and Mrs. Jones” at climactic points.

 A COUPLE FALLEN APPLES

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Two men are hunting deer when a large bear rears up and begins to charge them.  One man jumps into his running shoes and begins to run with the other man.  The second man asks why he put them on because it won't help him outrun the bear.  He said, "I don't need to outrun the bear I just need to outrun you."

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A young woman said to her doctor, 'You have to help me, I hurt all over.' 'What do you mean?' said the doctor. The woman touched her right knee with her index finger and yelled,'Ow, that hurts.' Then she touched her left cheek and again yelled, 'Ouch! That hurts, too.' Then she touched her right earlobe. 'Ow, even THAT hurts.' The doctor looks her straight in the face and says, 'You have a sprained finger.'
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A couple walking in the park noticed a young man and woman sitting on a bench, passionately kissing.  "Why don't you do that?" said the wife.  "Honey," replied her husband, "I don't even know that woman!"
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A Mormon acquaintance once pushed Mark Twain into an argument on the issue of polygamy. After long and tedious expositions justifying the practice, the Mormon demanded that Twain cite any passage of scripture expressly forbidding polygamy.  "Nothing easier," Twain replied. "No man can serve two masters."

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