Sunday, January 19, 2025

THE REAL PUSH WILL COME WHEN THE WEATHER WARMS UP

SNOWING HEAVY THIS AFTERNOON
Well, at least we didn't get a big dump of snow overnight but it sure has been making up for it today.  It was a light snow this morning as Pheebs and I took a drive into Bayfield and back.   The dull grey day didn't inspire me much so I only took a few half-hearted photos.

 ICE IS BUILDING UP ON BOTH THE NORTH AND SOUTH PIERS AT THE MOUTH OF THE BAYFIELD RIVER
 UNDER ALL THAT ICE AND SNOW RUNS THE BAYFIELD RIVER
By early afternoon it had turned into a heavy snowfall with the large flakes coming straight down.  Very pretty of course, but........I got the shower curtain back up and almost pushed the two end shower walls into the middle of next week tightening that shower road.  But, I know Kelly's prowess and that bar could be back down in no time, walls and all............. It was more puttering through stuff this afternoon but I'm slowly getting there.  The real push will come when the weather warms up 

    A BUNNY AND TWO JUNCOS IN OUR FRONT YARD
Some long-time readers from our early RVing years will remember fellow RV Blogger Merikay from Merikay's Dreams.  Merikay and her husband Craig once visited us here at our home near Bayfield, Ontario.  Some will remember a very talented Merikay at one time having her own business.  She made large stuffed animals as I recall with some of them being made to order.  After being out of touch with Merikay and Craig for a number of years we received an email from then wondering if we had a photo of Pheebs we could send her.  She said she would do a colored pencil sketch of the photo.  So Kelly picked out a photo and sent it.  Unfortunately, due to our Canadian postal strike and the jumbled backlog of Christmas mail, plus the usual address confusion, the photo never arrived until last week.  Kelly never got to see it.  Merikay did this sketch with colored pencils.

Al's Music Box:)) Make It With You is a 1970 song by the American band Bread. It was taken from their second studio album On the Waters. It went to number 1 in the United States, number 2 in Canada, number 5 in the United Kingdom, number 6 in New Zealand, number 7 in Australia and number 10 in Ireland. It was their only number 1 song in the United States.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I was browsing in a souvenir shop when the man next to me struck up a conversation.  Just as he was telling me that his wife was getting carried away with her shopping, a brief power shortage caused the lights to flicker overhead.  "Ah," he sighed that must be her checking out now."

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An elderly couple was attending church services.  About halfway through she leans over and says to her husband, "I just silently passed gas - what do you think I should do?"  He replied, "Put a new battery in your hearing aid."

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A guy sees an advertisement in a pet-shop window: "Talking Centipede $100."  The guy goes in and buys it. He gets home, opens the box and asks the centipede if he wants to go for a beer.  The centipede doesn't answer, so the guy closes the lid, convinced he's been swindled. Thirty minutes later he decides to try again.  He raises his voice and shouts, "Do you want to go for a beer?"
The centipede pokes his head out of the box and says, "Pipe down! I heard you the first time. I'm putting on my shoes!"

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings:: When you truly don't care what anyone thinks of you, you have reached a dangerously awesome level of freedom.

Kellys Corner

 TRAVELING  BETWEEN POINTS A AND B SOMEWHERE IN THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUTHWEST

 ALTHOUGH NOT FEELING THE BEST KELLY PERSEVERES AND HIKES A TRAIL NEAR COLLINGWOOD ONTARIO 3 YEARS AGO
 OVERLOOKING THE BORREGO BADLANDS NEAR BORREGO SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA....KELLY AND I, PHEEBS, AND THE JEEP ONCE GOT LOST DOWN IN THOSE BADLANDS FOR A COUPLE HOURS ONE AFTERNOON SOMEWHERE NEAR OCOTILLO WELLS
Al's Art Gallery















Saturday, January 18, 2025

I CHOOSE TO THINK IT PROBABLY WAS

 PULLING OUT OF THE PARK THIS MORNING AND HEADING EAST DOWN BAYFIELD RIVER ROAD
Surprisingly, temps were slightly above freezing with snow coming straight down and no wind.  I guess this is the very brief mini-version of our always-hoped-for January thaw.  Looks like we are headed back into another prolonged deep freeze starting tomorrow:((

It was a half-hearted drive down Bayfield River Road for Pheebs and I with snow coming heavily down at times.  Snow like this is akin to a mild fog.  You can see things but they are not sharp, clear, or colorful.  Not much good for photos so henceforth the lack of photos in tonight's post.  We went only halfway down Bayfield River Road before turning around at the south end of Tipperary Line and heading back home.  With the car safely back in the carport I got myself onto the end of my snow shovel and I away I went cleaning out all my snowy paths around the house.

About a dozen or so or more years ago, Kelly decided it was time to update the aging tub and shower facility in the washroom.  She wanted a walk-in shower with no tub.  Tubs had fallen out of style I guess.  I was sitting on the fence with the whole idea already lamenting the fact I would not be able to soak in a tub of hot sudsy water anymore.  Well, I finally relented and flipped over to Kelly's side.  A friend of ours offered to remove the tub and install the new walk-in shower.  So, while we were in the Southwest for the winter he proceeded to do that and did a good job.  Upon returning in the Spring I wasn't exactly pleased with the shower doors.  They were clear glass and there was something about that I didn't like.  I said to Kelly, I'll get a shower curtain and rod and hang it.  Nope, she wasn't having any part of my shower curtain idea so the shower remained curtainless.  Occasionally over the years, I would again bring up my shower curtain idea, but with the same results, 'NO'.  It was shortly after Kelly passed away that I one day I marched into Walmart heading for the 'Home' department.  Yes, you guessed it, I bought a shower curtain assembly and an hour later I was home and had it snugly in place where it has remained.  Last night shortly before 8 p.m. while in the living room, I heard a 'clatter' that sounded like it came from the sunroom.  I knew it wasn't a bird striking one of the sunroom windows because this was a 'clatter' and not a 'thunk'.  Off to the sunroom I went but everything looked intact.  Nothing had fallen off a wall.  Checked Kelly's room next and everything appeared okay.  Walked into the spare room and while there I heard another clatter which seemed to be coming from the washroom.  Nearly to the washroom another slight and milder clatter which made me think maybe a Raccoon had come down through the roof into the washroom.  As soon as I entered fully expecting to be met with a furry creature baring its teeth to me I saw the clatter source.  Yes, you may have guess right again.  The shower curtain and rod had tumbled part way down.  'Kelly', I thought right away.  She does not want that shower curtain hanging there!!!!  Was it another in a series of signs from Kelly I don't know but I choose to think it probably was:)))) 

Knowing I phone my Aunt Jean every Friday night, Mary, in the Shout Box and in a blog comment asked how my Aunt Jean is doing.  Well, she is still doing amazingly well and has increased her walking exercise around the facility where she lives now in Sarasota, Florida.  Being a 'hot weather' person she is not at all pleased with this winter's cooler Florida air.  We talked about her decision back in the early sixties to move to Florida and how she has never regretted that.  I understand well her decision.

Sorry I was late getting the blog posted tonight.......Tiguan

Al's Music Box:)) Bus Stop is a song recorded and released as a single by the British rock band the Hollies in 1966. It reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart.  It was the Hollies' first US top ten hit, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard charts in September 1966. In Canada the song reached No. 1 and was their second top ten hit there.  "Bus Stop" was written by Graham Gouldman, who also penned major hits for (the Yardbirds)("For Your Love") and Herman's Hermits ("No Milk Today"), as well as the Hollies' first venture into the US top 40 with "Look Through Any Window". With the release of "Bus Stop" as a single in June 1966, the Hollies joined the trend known as raga rock, a subgenre first popularised by the Beatles, the Byrds and the Kinks.  Musicologist William Echard highlights the guitar solo and its sitar-like sound as an indicator of the Indian musical element evident in the song.  Billboard said of the single that there was a "good group vocal on this teen-aimed, easy-rocker with more commercial potential than their [earlier single] "I Can't Let Go." Cash Box described the song as a "rollicking, hard-driving bluesy weeper with a plaintive, melodic undercurrent."  In a 1976 interview Gouldman said the idea for "Bus Stop" had come while he was riding home from work on a bus. The opening lines were written by his father, playwright Hyme Gouldman. Graham Gouldman continued with the rest of the song in his bedroom, apart from the middle-eight, which he finished while riding to work – a men's outfitters – on the bus the next day.  Thirty years later he elaborated on the song's beginnings: "'Bus Stop', I had the title and I came home one day and he (Hyme) said 'I've started something on that Bus Stop idea you had, and I'm going to play it for you. He'd written Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say please share my umbrella and it's like when you get a really great part of a lyric or, I also had this nice riff as well, and when you have such a great start to a song it's kind of like the rest is easy. It's like finding your way onto a road and when you get onto the right route, you just follow it."My late father was a writer. He was great to have around. I would write something and always show him the lyric and he would fix it for me. You know, he'd say 'There's a better word than this' – he was kind of like a walking thesaurus as well and quite often, sometimes, he came up with titles for songs as well. 'No Milk Today' is one of his titles, and also the 10cc song 'Art for Art's Sake'."

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A man owned a small ranch in Montana. The Montana Work Force Department claimed he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an agent out to interview him.  "I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them," demanded the agent.  "Well," replied the farmer, "there's my farm hand who's been with me for 3 years.. I pay him $200 a week plus free room and board.  "The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $150 per week plus free room and board.  "Then there's the half-wit. He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, pays his own room and board, and I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night. He also sleeps with my wife occasionally."  "That's the guy I want to talk to ... the half-wit," says the agent.  "That would be me," replied the Rancher

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Q: Why do men prefer intelligent women?
A: Opposites attract.

Q: What do you call a nun who walks in her sleep?
A: A roaming Catholic.

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Two nudists were discussing politics.
One says, “Have you read Marx?”
The other nods, “It’s these blasted wicker chairs."

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A businessman on his deathbed called his friend and said, "Bill, I want you to promise me that when I die you will have my remains cremated."
"And what," his friend asked, "do you want me to do with your ashes?"  The businessman said, "Just put them in an envelope and mail them to the Internal Revenue Service. Write on the envelope, "Now, you have everything."

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Al's Doggy World


Meanings::
Kellys Corner
 IN OUR FIRST MOTORHOME KELLY TAKES CARE OF SOME BUISNESS

 SITTING ON AN ELEPHANT TREE BRANCH WEST SOUTHWEST OF OCOTILLO WELLS, CALIFORNIA
BESIDE A LARGE COTTONWOOD TREE IN THE LAS CIENEGAS NATIONAL CONSERVATION AREA IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA
Al's Art Gallery