'YAHOUIE LOUIE', KELLY'S HOME AND THE 'BUNCH' IS TOGETHER AGAIN:)))))

 WHEN IN A FOREST, REMEMBER TO LOOK UP  AND ESPECIALLY AT THIS TIME OF YEAR

Another totally gorgeous late October day found Pheebs and I wandering into Bayfield with our first stop as always being the harbor.  One can always find photos here whether it be the lake, the Bayfield River itself, the boats, the docks, the people, or the Marina etc.

 TIDYING UP THE BOAT BEFORE IT GOES INTO WINTER STORAGE

 HERE'S TWO FELLAS TOWING A SAILBOAT DOWNRIVER

 I HOPE THAT FELLA IN THE BOW HAS A TIGHT GRIP ON THAT SAILBOAT TOW LINE

From the harbor we headed up the hill and took a drive down Mainstreet as well as around a few of the back streets.  I think Bayfield looks its absolute best at this time of year in all its Autumn finery.  So colorful, so quaint, so picturesque.  It's a charming little village with its old and new architecture.  New homes and vintage cottages, old growth trees, and magnificent views out over Lake Huron which just happens to be the third largest fresh water lake in the world.

 THERE ARE MANY EXAMPLES OF BEAUTIFUL HOMES IN BAYFIELD....COME SEE FOR YOURSELF

 A HERITAGE HOUSE

 A BAYFIELD HOSTA LEAF

From Bayfield's downtown, we ventured off to our closest walking spot which just happens to be the Bayfield Cemetery.  There is a forest on the east side of the cemetery so that is where Pheebs and I headed because I knew how peacefully quiet it would be there.

 SO SERENE IN THE FOREST ON THIS SUNNY WARM LATE OCTOBER MORNING

Home again I raked up several more wheelbarrow loads of pine needles and loaded them into the utility trailer.   Hooked up the trailer to the Subaru and away we went to our Park's recycling area.  I really enjoy doing this kind of yard work on these fine October days.

 MY FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR PUTTEING ABOUT OUTSIDE

 ANOTHER LOAD OF PINE NEEDLES FOR THE UTILITY TRAILER

 AT THE PARK'S RECYCLE AREA

It was about 1:10 this afternoon when I sat down at our sunroom computer and began a short email note to Kelly.  I had one line written when the phone rang.  It was Kelly, and she was ready to come home.  Well, without further adieu, I was out the door, into the car, and on my way to London under sunny skies.  Arriving at the hospital and hour later it was the usual manic traffic chaos at the main entrance.  I spotted Kelly sitting outside on a bench and she spotted a white car in the traffic mosh with someone's arm sticking out the roof waving franticly.  Yup, that was me alright.  Safely in the car, we made fast tracks out of London heading north.  A stop at Tim Hortons in Lucan for coffee and sandwiches to go and we were home 40 minutes later.  Kelly was sure glad to be out the hospital, but once again mistakes were made and now, Kelly has to go back for another endoscopy Friday afternoon.  What!! Why?? She just had an endoscopy Sunday morning!!  After being told she had no bleeding Varices in her throat....she was told by an intern that in fact there had been three.  When Kelly's liver doctor, Dr. Kahn came on duty today and found this out he immediately rescheduled another endoscopy that we think he himself will do this time.  Kelly didn't find any of this out until after she had been released today.  She had a really terrible night with the prep for her colonoscopy this morning,  which by the way didn't find the source of her bleeding.  She said she never had one spec of sleep.  I have always had great respect for the medical profession and basically still do, but in Kelly's case there have been way too many mistakes, miscalculations, missteps, and misunderstandings.  It seems to me that too often the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing at that hospital.  And, it is Kelly who has had to bear the brunt of this each time.  And, this is supposed to be one of Canada's 'top hospitals'.  This is all just my own opinion of course...................

KELLY HAD BEEN WAITING ON THAT BENCH BACK THERE

Al's Music Box:)) Skip A Rope  is a song written by Jack Moran and Glenn Douglas Tubb and recorded by American country music artist Henson Cargill, released in November 1967 as the first single and title track from the album Skip a Rope. The song was Cargill's debut release on the country chart and his most successful single. "Skip a Rope" was Cargill's sole No. 1 on the country chart, spending five weeks at the top and a total of 16 weeks on the chart.  "Skip a Rope" crossed over to the Top 40, peaking at No. 25.  The song asked listeners to pay attention to what children would say as they played. It touched on, among other things, verbal spousal abuse, tax evasion, and racism, and at the end, laid blame for what the children said directly at the feet of their parents.  Cargill's original recording featured background vocals by The Jordanaires.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Upon entering the little country store, the stranger noticed a sign saying "DANGER! BEWARE OF DOG!" posted on the glass door. Inside he noticed a harmless old hound dog asleep on the floor besides the cash register.  He asked the store manager, "Is THAT the dog folks are supposed to beware of?"  "Yep, that's him," he replied.  The stranger couldn't help but be amused. "That certainly doesn't look like a dangerous dog to me. Why in the world would you post that sign?"  "Because," the owner replied, "before I posted that sign, people kept tripping over him."

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- My girlfriend isn't talking to me because apparently I ruined her birthday.  Not sure how I did that...I didn't even know it was her birthday!

- I never got along with my dad. Kids used to come up to me and say, 'My dad can beat up your dad.' I'd say 'Yeah? When?

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Q. How does a man show he's planning for the future?
A. He buys two cases of beer instead of one.

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Son: "Dad, did you go to Church when you were little?"
Dad: "Yes son, every single Sunday."
Son: "I thought so. Bet it won't do me any good either."

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I got pulled over by a bicycle cop in L.A. -- not a motorcycle cop, a bicycle cop. And I'm in my car, and he gets out -- he's sweating, he's got these little shorts on. 'You know how fast you were going he said'.  Yeah, a lot faster than you were on that stupid bike.

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Al's Art Gallery:))

IT'S TIME TO PUT THE COFFEE ON

 IN A FLOWERPOT IN A FLOWERBED AT THE ENTRANCE OF OUR PARK

In that gray area between Asleep and Awake lies the mostly always confusing Slumber Zone.  It's that zone where you don't know if your dead or alive, coming or going, or if anything is real or not.  In that zone this morning, my fog-shrouded mind awaited the familiar sounds of stirring. And it waited, and it waited.  It groggily thought to itself, 'why haven't I heard the bathroom light switch being turned on and the closing of the bathroom door'??  'Why haven't I heard any stirrings in the kitchen or the kitchen light coming on and the sounds of tap water filling a kettle??  The clinking of coffee cups on the counter, the gurgling of the coffee maker.  And how come it seems so dark out??  Groggily making my way out of the slumber zone I realized nobody has pulled the living room curtains back yet.  Nobody??  Then, as things slowly clear, it dawns on me that someone isn't here and I began to remember that Kelly is in London's University Hospital.  With effort, I haul myself out of my recliner and shakily make my way to the kitchen.  It's time to put the coffee on........

Talking to Kelly today she said she underwent a blood transfusion in the middle of the night.  Her Hemoglobin which should not be below 90 had dropped from 103 to 70 and they are concerned about her low blood pressure.  First thing this morning she had an endoscopy but no varices were found in her throat.  She is still bleeding somewhere so Monday morning they are going to do a colonoscopy.  She is on the 8th floor GI section. (Gastrointestinal Bleed)  She is in a room with three other people, two men, and one older lady.  So far, they are all sorta getting along.  As usual, Kelly's spirits are good as she once again takes all this like the true trooper she is.

 DOWN AROUND THE SOUTH END OF OUR PARK THIS MORNING

 THIS IS BAYFIELD RIVER ROAD RUNNING THROUGH THE FOREST BESIDE OUR PARK

Saturday, I noticed a number of farmers combining corn so knowing the location of half a dozen cornfields nearby, Pheebs and I set off to hopefully find a big Bonanza corn spill alongside the road somewhere.  We found one corn cob with a third of its corn kernals missing.  It was lying on the road so for sure we stopped and I picked it up.  Hey, it was better than going home empty-handed.

 I STOPPED AT THIS CORNFIELD TO SEE IF I COULD FIND A FEW COBS BUT NO LUCK

PHEEBS WAITS PATIENTLY IN THE CAR

 A COMBINE COMING UP THE ROAD

 STOPPED AT AN OVERHEAD RAILWAY BRIDGE FOR A COUNTRY ROAD WALK

 PLANTS GROWING OUT OF THE BRIDGE'S CONCRET FOUNDATION

 A FARMER'S LANE

I didn't think I was in photo mode this morning but when we got home and I downloaded the pics, I had taken 50 photos.  I don't know how that happens sometimes.  At least it was better than two days ago when I got home with 93 pics in the camera.  But, it's that beautiful time of the year when colors abound and I see beauty everywhere.

 WHEN I TOLD PHEEBS IT WAS TIME TO HEAD HOME AND FIX US UP A COUPLE HOT DOGS SHE LICKED HER LIPS

 HERE SHE IS THINKING 'I HOPE DAD PUTS SOME ICE CREAM ON MY HOT DOG'

 KELLY SENT A PICTURE OF HER ALL LIQUID SUPPER

After publishing my post last night I decided to take myself for a little drive out into the countryside.  I threw a couple cameras in the car and off I went to our morning walking spot down near the east end of Bayfield River Road.  Our walk spot road is actually called Stirlings Line and there are rarely any vehicles on it.  What a beautiful night it was and surprisingly for this time of year, not too cold.  Of course, I had my winter jacket on.  I took a few pics with my Nikon CP 900 and my Sony RX 10 IV.  The Sony outshot the Nikon.  This Sony is the camera I use every day...........

Al's Music Box:)) Tears Don't Care Who Cries Them by k.d. lang is a song from her album, Shadowland.  Kathryn Dawn Lang born November 2, 1961 is known by her stage name k.d. lang.She is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won both Juno and Grammy awards for her musical performances. Her hits include the songs 'Constant Craving' and 'Miss Chatelaine'.  A mezzo-soprano, Lang has contributed songs to movie soundtracks and has collaborated with musicians such as Roy Orbison, Tony Bennett, Elton John, Anne Murray, Ann Wilson, and Jane Siberry.  She performed at the closing ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, and at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, where she performed Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A sister and brother are talking to each other when the little boy gets up and walks over to his Grandpa and says, "Grandpa, please make a frog noise."  The Grandpa says, "No."  The little boy goes on, "Please .. please make a frog noise."  The Grandpa says, "No, now go play."  The little boy then says to his sister, "Go tell Grandpa to make a frog noise."  So the little girl goes to her Grandpa and says, "Please make a frog noise."  The Grandpa says, "I just told your brother 'no' and I'm telling you 'no'." The little girl says, "Please .. please Grandpa make a frog noise." The Grandpa says, "Why do you want me to make a frog noise?"  The little girl replied, "Because mommy said when you croak we can go to Disney World!"

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- Can you put the cat out?  I didn't know it was on fire.

- Dad, can you put my shoes on?  No, I don't think they'll fit me.

- I'm afraid for the calendar.  Its days are numbered.

- Wanna hear a joke about a pizza?  Never mind, it’s too cheesy.

- Singing in the shower is fun until you get soap in your mouth.  Then it's a soap opera.

- Why do seagulls fly over the ocean?Because if they flew over the bay, we'd call them bagels.

- What did one wall say to the other?
I'll meet you at the corner.

- My cousin Jimmy was having a terrible time falling asleep unless he was lying on a pile of old magazines.  It turns out he had back issues.

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After much urging by his wife, Uncle Joe applied for work on a farm. The foreman decided to give him a try and told him to milk a cow, equipping him with a stool and a bucket.  An hour later Uncle Joe returned dirty and sweaty, the bucket in one hand and the broken stool in the  other.  "Extracting the milk was easy," he explained. "The worst part was getting the cow to sit on the stool!"

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Al's Art Gallery:))

KELLY'S IN LONDON'S UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

 WAITING OUTSIDE LONDON EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT WAITING FOR KELLY'S CALL....THE SUN WAS BEAMING IN THE WIDOW SO I HAD A SMALL TOWEL HUNG UP BLOCKING IT....PROPPED UP ON THE STEERING WHEEL IS MY KINDLE

Kelly was up at 2 a.m. this morning throwing up blood and things didn't really get much better after that but Kelly wanted to hang on and see if things got any better.  They didn't and by early afternoon we were faced with the decision of calling an ambulance.  We've been through this half a dozen times before over these past few years and knew if we called an ambulance she would be kept in Goderich until transportation could be arranged to take her to London's University Hospital and that could be hours and hours later.  Although feeling like she was going to be sick again we knew the right decision was simply to quickly head straight for London's Emergency Department ourselves.  And, that is what we did, and as it turned out it was the right decision.  I dropped Kelly off at Emergency and as it turned out, that was the last time I saw her today.  I parked the car nearby in a vacant loading zone and waited for Kelly to call.  I later walked over to Emergency and headed inside, but Kelly was nowhere to be found.  She later called and said she had been admitted and tests were already ongoing.  She suggested I might as well go home because she was going to be busy.  Blood tests, intravenous lines, etc. etc. and more etc's.  So, I headed for home.  Within minutes of arriving home, she called saying she was about to undergo a blood transfusion.  At this point, we have no idea how long she will be in the hospital.

 THAT'S THE SUBARU AND THAT'S THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT ON THE LEFT

 KELLY SENT THIS PHOTO TONIGHT  OF THE VIEW FROM HER HOSPITAL ROOM

I talked to Aunt Jean Friday night and she said they took the boards off all the windows last Wednesday morning and the Plymouth Harbor special needs folks returned to their residence on on Sarasota's Lido Key the same day.  And, she said that she finally managed to get outside and have a look at her car for the first time since the hurricane.  Basically, it was undamaged but a lot of wind-blown tree debris had been blown into the driver's side of the car and she thinks the paint may have been damaged.  Despite taking her car to a carwash, the dirt on the driver's side did not wash off and may be imbedded in the paint.  She also said crews at Sunnyside Village were still busy outside cleaning up the storm damage.  She said a lot of the big beautiful trees were completely stripped of their leaves and many branches had already been cut down.  Aunt Jean said she has weathered many Florida hurricanes over the decades but she feels Hurricane Milton was the worst.  

 I ONLY TOOK FIVE PHOTOS TODAY

Al's Music Box Are You Lonesome Tonight by Elvis Presley is a song written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926.  April 1960, after Elvis Presely's two-year service in the United States Army, he recorded the song at the suggestion of manager Colonel Tom Parker.   Its release was delayed by RCA Victor executives, who thought the song did not fit Presley's new (and publicized) style. When "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was released in November 1960, it was an immediate success in the U.S., topping Billboard's Pop Singles chart and reaching number three on the R&B chart.  A month after the song's release, it topped the UK Singles Chart. Presley's version was certified by the Recording Industry Association of America for a Gold Record Award for 1,000,000 copies sold in the United States in 1983. It was upgraded by the RIAA to a 2x Platinum Record Award for 2,000,000 sales in 1992.  Billboard ranked "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" number 81 on its "Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs" list in 2008.  In the final months of his service in the United States Army, Elvis Presley began experimenting with new material in anticipation of his return to recording.  His first recording session was scheduled for March 20, 1960, and RCA's Studio B had recently been equipped with a new three-track recorder.  To improve the recording of Presley's voice, engineer Bill Porter had Telefunken U-47 microphones installed.  A follow-up session was scheduled for April.  During the selection of material for the sessions, Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker, suggested "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" The favorite song of Parker's wife, Marie Mott (who knew the song from Gene Ausitn's act, since he was also managed at the time by her husband.  It was the only time the Colonel intervened in Presley's choice of repertoire. Presley returned to the studio with his band, consisting of Scotty Moore, drummer D.J. Fontana, pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist Hank Garland, bassist Bob Moore, percussionist Buddy Harman, and backing vocalists the Jordanaires, on April 3.  After the eight songs Parker needed for Elvis Is Back were recorded, Presley moved on to his manager's request. At 4 a.m. on April 4, the singer began recording "Are You Lonesome Tonight?", accompanied by acoustic guitar, drums, bass, and the backup group. He asked everyone else in the studio to leave the session, told Chet Atkins to turn the lights out, and performed the song with the spoken bridge. After the second take, Presley said to producer Steve Sholes, "Throw that tune out; I can't do it justice." Sholes told engineer Bill Porter to ignore Presley's order and asked the singer to do a new take, explaining that the Jordanaires had bumped into their microphone stand while recording in the dark. As a result, Presley performed the song once more, and that take became the master for the single.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( In a terrible accident at a railroad crossing, a train smashed into a car and pushed it nearly four hundred yards down the track. Though no one was killed, the driver took the train company to court.  At the trial, the engineer insisted that he had given the driver ample warning by waving his lantern back and forth for nearly a minute. He even stood and convincingly demonstrated how he'd done it. The court believed his story, and the suit was dismissed.  "Congratulations," the lawyer said to the engineer when it was over. "You did superbly under cross-examination."  "Thanks," he said, "but he sure had me worried."  "How's that?" the lawyer asked.  "I was afraid he was going to ask if the damned lantern was lit!"

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- What do you get if you cross a bell with a skunk?
 Jingle Smells!

= What's green, covered in tinsel and goes ribbet ribbet?
 Mistle-toad!

- Did a little mechanical work today...
I put a rear end in a recliner.

- Instead of Drew, I'm going to name my kid Driew.  Now I know what you're thinking, but it's only weird if you read it backwards.

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An Aussie pirate walks into a bar with a wooden leg, a hook, and an eye patch.
The Barman says 'Sheesh - How'd you lose the leg?'  The Pirate says 'Arrrrr - A shark took it off at the knee'.  The Barman says 'That's no good, what about the hand?'
The Pirate says 'Arrrr - Lost it in a bloody bar brawl'.  The Barman says 'Jeez - Well what about the eye then?'  The Pirate says 'That's easy, a seagull crapped in it'.  The Barman says 'What?!?!' The Pirate says 'Arrrrrrr...I'd only had the hook one day...'
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Al's Art Gallery:))