SNEAKING INTO OUR YARD TO SNITCH MY APPLES

The morning air was more than cool earlier today.  To me, it felt cold.  But that was okay, Pheebs and I had Subie's heater going as we slowly cruised around our Park before heading out this morning. And, I had a pair of mitts with me just in case.

OUR PARK IS BEGINNING TO LOOK A LITTLE HALLOWEENY

 IT LOOKS LIKE THE WEEKLY MEETING OF SUNDAY MORNING TRAFFIC CONES IN THE FOREST 

 THIS IS THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK WHO IS GOING TO LEVEL OUT THE NEW HOUSING SITES

Heading east down Bayfield River Road we turned south on Parr Line and scooted straight through Varna to Pavilion Road where we turned west.  I knew there to be corn fields along this road and with any luck we might find us a few corn spills.  We didn't.

 A FEW COWS IN A DISTANT FIELD

STOPPED TO CHECK OUT THIS CORN FIELD FOR COBS....NOPE

Our destination was the Linwood Wildlife area where I knew the small gravel parking area there had a cornfield on two sides of it.  I crossed my fingers that we might find some corn on the ground here.  We didn't.  No matter because this is a favorite little walking spot of ours anyway.  Carrying my camera I had wished I'd put my mitts on.  Oh well, we weren't going far.

 AT THE LINWOOD WILDLIFE PARKING AREA

 OUR WALKWAY BETWEEN THE HEDGEROW AND THE CORNFIELD

 PHEEBS CHECKS TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY CORN COBS ON THE GROUND

 A LEAFY BUSH LANE

 COLORED LEAVES ALONG THE HEDGEROW

 BACK TO THE CAR FOR A BIG DRINK

Back to the car again we slowly wandered off in the direction of Bayfield.  With lots of cornfields unharvested yet, I am still optimistic that we'll find a winter supply for the squirrels, birds, and bunnies.  At Linwood, I had picked up half a dozen small apples and stuffed them into my coat pocket.  Arriving home later, I tossed all the apples out around the bird station.  An hour after that all those apples had already disappeared.  Hmmm, methinks I have a new food source for our front yard critters.  Whatever those Critters may be of course.  I just hope one of those critters isn't one of our neighbors disguised as a shrub, sneaking into our yard to snitch my apples!!

HEADING HOME

 SUNDAY MORNING FIELD WORK

 ACROSS THE ROLLING HILLS OF HURON COUNTY LAY THE BLUE WATERS OF LAKE HURON

My poorest excuse for not getting some late October yard work done today is that my new right hip is bothering me.  It's been grumbling at me for a couple days and today it has been barking.  I don't recall doing any bending, twisting, or heavy lifting this past week so I'm not sure what's going on with it.  Maybe, just maybe, it's because I haven't be doing enough bending, twisting, and heavy lifting.  In other words, it may be telling me it's sore because I haven't been doing enough walking to strengthen those lower back and upper leg muscles around that new February hip.  I'll see how the next few days go.

 A FOREST STREAM OF FALLEN LEAVES

 CRIMSON MAPLE LEAVES ALONGSIDE A CORNFIELD

 I THINK SOMEBODY IS FEELING A LITTLE SNOOZY

Undaunted, Pheebs and I headed off for an afternoon walk.  Around the  Park's pond and beyond we went until Pheebs finally stopped and indicated to me 'this is far enough Dad'.  So with that, we turned around and slowly headed home.  My hip area never bothered me once on that walk.  Hmmmm.

Ellen's Groove:)) Here's an interesting short video of Ellen and singer Nai Barghouti doing a voice and Bass exercise.  This again shows Ellen's amazing progress with her Bass as she works hard at this one.  Duet With Nai

Al's Music Box:)) Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers is originally a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the prison film Unchained (1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack.  It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers in 1965.  According to the song's publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages.  Of the hundreds of recordings made, the Righteous Brothers' version, with a solo by Bobby Hatfield, became the jukebox standard after its release. Hatfield changed the melody in the final verse and many subsequent covers of the song are based on his version. The Righteous Brothers recording achieved a second round of great popularity when it was featured in the film Ghost in 1990. In 2004, it was number 27 on AFI's 100 Years....100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.  

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A drunk man who smelled like booze sat down on a bench next to a priest.The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading.  After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, 'Say Father, what causes arthritis?'  The priest replies, 'My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath.'  The drunk muttered in response, 'Well, I'll be damned, 'then returned to his paper.  The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. 'I'm very sorry.  I didn't mean to come on so strong.  How long have you had arthritis?  The drunk answered, 'I don't have it, Father.  I was just reading here that the Pope does.

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After a quarrel, a wife said to her husband, "You know, I was a fool when I married you."  And the husband replied, "Yes, dear, but I was in love and didn't notice it."

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As migration approached, two elderly vultures doubted they could make the trip south, so they decided to go by airplane. When they checked their baggage, the attendant noticed that they were carrying two dead raccoons.  "Do you wish to check the raccoons through as luggage?" she asked.  "No, thanks," replied the vultures. "They're carrion."

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{Quote} In the end, I realized the hurt never turned to hate.  No matter how much my emotions led me to feel so.  I never stopped loving people.  

'I stopped trusting them'.

Al's Art Gallery

IT'S NOT EASY BEING OLD...ESPECIALLY IF YOUR A MAN:((

With two new prescriptions to pick up for Kelly and one refill for me, Pheebs and I headed off under cold wind-driven moody skies to Goderich's Walmart Pharmacy.  We switched things up a bit from our normal routine and made Walmart the first stop to submit the prescriptions.  Grabbed a few groceries and headed off down to the harbor.  A few icy drops of rain on the windshield which probably started out as sleet higher up in the darker clouds. The wind coming in across the lake was frigid but I did see a few surfers in wetsuits on the beach.

HEADING OUT OF OUR PARK THIS MORNING

 BEAUTIFUL SKIES OVER LAKE HURON TODAY

 LAKE WATERS WERE CHOPPY THIS MORNING

 NO MATTER HOW COLD...AWAY THEY GO

THE HELENA G WAS IN PORT THIS MORNING TAKING ON A LOAD OF GRAIN OR CORN

 THAT IS ONE MIGHTY BIG BULBOUS BOW ON THAT SHIP

From the harbor, we headed back to Walmart and picked up the 'filled' prescriptions and from there began our homeward trek with a short stop at Richard and Gayles.  Bursts of brilliant sunshine along the way mixed with a few traveling wind-blown scatters of rain.  There was probably a rainbow or two somewhere in the colorful Autumn countryside as well.

 AWESOME SKIES COULD BE SEEN IN ALL DIRECTIONS

 THOSE DARK GRAY CLOUDS ARE CARRYING RAIN

There are still outside things for me to do here but I have to be patient and wait until the right mood stirs me to get out there and get them done.  I think I've been on a low-energy lazy streak these last few days.

 A BUSY SATURDAY MORNING FOR THIS FARMER

I've noticed a few RV folks we know already have their RV wheels rolling and are heading south.  Most of these people we know are heading to the American Southwest.  Ivan and his cat Bailey Roadtrip 2025 from Alberta towing a 5th wheel are already on their way.  You might want to grab onto Ivan's coattails and follow along.  He moves around a lot from place to place.  Peter and Bea (Canadian Traveler) from Campobello Island just off the southeast coast of New Brunswick have just picked up a 'new to them' Class A Diesel Motorhome in Trinidad Colorado before swinging south to their favorite spot east of El Centro, California.  Deb and Riley (On A Long And Lonesome Highway) from Manitoulin Island in Ontario are also traveling with a 5th wheel and are already somewhere in Texas moving West.  Patsy and Bill (Chillin' With Patsy) from a place not too far north of us here in Bayfield Ontario are currently in Nashville on their way west as well.  Bill's a model plane enthusiast.  Mike and Janna (Restoration Cowboy Style) with their little black Schnauzer, Kaycee have already left their ranch in Montana and traveled to their winter home near Sunsites, Arizona.  With the exception of Deb and Riley, we have met all these folks and some of them numerous times.  Ivan, Mike and Janna come to mind.  We have known these three folks since our very early RVing days ranch sitting near McNeal Arizona and we have visited several times with Janna and Mike at their beautifully restored desert home near Sunsites.  

 AREA TREES ARE SLOWLY LOSING THEIR LEAVES

Pretty much every time one starts with a new prescription one has to go over the medication instructions with the Pharmacist.  And, so it was today at the Walmart Pharmacy when I picked up two new meds for Kelly.  Really, what are the chances of an 80-year-old man even retaining a mere tenth of what he is being told or instructed to do or remember.  The helpful Pharmacy man did all the talking and my head did all the bobbing.  I got out a few okays and a couple yes words and might have even managed an embarrassing unnatural smile to cover up my total befuddlement before turning away and asking a Walmart worker to help me to the door and then point me in the direction of the parking lot, wish me well, give me a little push, and keep your fingers crossed I can find my car before winter sets in.  Of course, when I got home, one of Kelly's first questions for me was, "well, what did the Pharmacist say"??  It's not easy being old.......especially if you're a man:((

Al's Music Box:)) Ebb Tide by Pat Boone is a popular song written in 1953 by the lyricist Carl Sigman and composer and harpist Robert Maxwell. In 1953, Frank Chacksfield and his Orchestra reached number two on the US pop chart, and number nine on the UK chart with an instrumental version of the song.

 BUSH LANE

GROANER'S CORNER:(( One day, three unemployed factory workers heard that a large food company was enlarging and needed more staff. So they went downtown to see if they could get themselves a job.  After filing out their applications, each one was interviewed and each one managed to get hired. As they were waiting to be assigned their new duties, a foreman came by and spoke to the hiring boss.  The foreman told the boss that he didn't think it was such a good idea as one of the workers had snapped for no apparent reason at his last job.  Also a second was said to have had cracked up after severe mental stress.  The third, he believed was their father who he felt was a bit odd but he couldn't put his finger on it.  The hiring boss reassured the foreman and said that they would start on something easy and after a week, the company would re-assess them to see if they would be kept on.  The foreman reluctantly agreed and asked the boss where he thought they should start.  The boss replied, "Why not take them and put them in our Cereal Division...Snap, Crackle and Pop should work out fine down there."

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My 7 year-old nephew showed me with pride the "telephone" he had just made from a string and two tin cans.  I pulled out my iPhone and said, "That's nice, but... look at the phones that kids your age are making in China!"

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After the revival had concluded, the three pastors were discussing the results with one another.  The Methodist minister said, "The revival worked out great for us! We gained 4 new families." The Baptist preacher said, "We did better than that! We gained 6 new families."The Presbyterian pastor said, "Well, we did even better than that! We got rid of our 10 biggest troublemakers!"

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{Quote} Life doesn't always get better. But you do. You get stronger. You get wiser. You get softer. With tattered wings you rise. And the world watches in wonder at the breathless beauty of a human who survived life.

                              Al's Art Gallery