MY BEST FRIEND RICHARD PASSED AWAY

 OUR FRONT YARD IS FINALLY EMERGING FROM UNDER ALL THE WINTER'S SNOW

After being taken by ambulance to the Clinton Hospital Thursday night my best buddy Richard passed away Friday morning with his wife Gayle and his son Hayden by his side.  Gayle notified me of his passing this afternoon.  He had been battling heart problems for a while now.  I later slipped over to see Gayle and she is holding up.  They had been married for 66 years and Richard would have turned 88 in August.  I will have more to say about Richard in a future post.  With his passing and Aunt Jean so sick right now, I am feeling overwhelmed at the moment..........I am so thankful to have Lorraine here at the moment.

I was surprised by a phone call from Aunt Jean this morning.  Her voice was weak and she was on oxygen but her friend Pat was with her and able to help.  She explained that she had fallen asleep Friday night and missed my call.  I was sure glad to hear her voice and we had a short chat. Pat then came on the phone with a few updates.  I called Aunt Jean later this afternoon and we were able to talk for a few minutes.  Her voice was strained and I could tell she was weak.  I will call her again in the morning. 

In my pre-awakening slumber this morning I heard the garbage truck rumble up our street.  "Hey wait a minute, my groggy mind muttered.  "This isn't Monday, it's Saturday!!  And then came the rumble again followed by a second thought, "That's not the garbage truck, that's thunder!!".  And, with a faint flash of lightning came another rumble.  And so it was, we had a thunderstorm going on complete with rain.  My day had started with a rumble.  And what a beautiful weather day it later turned out to be.  The best one of the year so far.  Sunshine and I think temperatures hit 60F.

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Pheebs and I headed into Bayfield for a drive around and slipped over to the cemetery to see if the snow had melted off the road enough to take a drive through or a walk.  Most of the roads were clear but too muddy for a walk.  

LAKE HURON'S AQUA BLUE GREEN WATER IS EMERGING FROM UNDER ALL THE ICE AND SNOW

 CRUISING ALONG BAYFIELD'S MAIN STREET PHEEBS AND I CHECK OUT THE ALBION HOTEL  RESTORATION PROGRESS

 SOME OF THE CEMETERY ROADS WERE FREE OF SNOW

AND SOME WERENT

 SAW  THESE EARLY SPRING FLOWERS THIS AFTERNOON WHEN WOODSY AND I TOOK A DRIVE AROUND BAYFIELD

Home again, it didn't take me long to get outside with my leaf rake.  Need I say more??  No, I think not:))))))

 SO NICE TO SEE THE SUNSHINE MELTING SNOW OFF ONE OF MY PATHWAYS

ALMOST LOOKING LIKE SUMMER EH:))

 THE SNOW ON THE RIGHT HAS ALL SLID OFF THE ROOF AND WILL BE THE LAST OF THE SNOW TO MELT 

 WON'T BE LONG AND I WILL  BE HITCHING UP THE UTILITY TRAILER TO HAUL BRANCHES AND YARD WASTE TO THE PARK'S RECYCLE AREA

 DEFINITELY A PLEASANT SIGHT FOR WINTER WEARY EYES

 OUR FRONT YARD FROG POND WILL SOON BE VISIBLE

Al's Music Box:)) You'll Never Find is a song written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and this version is sung by Michael Buble' and Laura Pausini.

 A SPARKLY SHEEN ON THE LATE AFTERNOON WATERS OF LAKE HURON

GROANER'S CORNER:(( An eccentric philosophy professor gave a one question final exam after a semester dealing with a broad array of topics.  The class was already seated and ready to go when the professor picked up his chair, plopped it on his desk and wrote on the board: "Using everything we have learned this semester, prove that this chair does not exist."  Fingers flew, erasers erased, notebooks were filled in furious fashion. Some students wrote over 30 pages in one hour attempting to refute the existence of the chair. One member of the class however, was up and finished in less than a minute.  Weeks later when the grades were posted, the rest of the group wondered how he could have gotten an A when he had barely written anything at all. His answer consisted of two words: "What chair?"

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Teacher: Well, at least there's one thing I can say about your son.

Parent: What's that?
Teacher: With grades like these, he couldn't be cheating.

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Man: I haven't spoken to my wife for 18 months. Friend: Why, you two are fighting? Man: No, I just don't want to interrupt her.

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A husband read an article to his wife about how many words women use a day... 30,000 to a man's 15,000.  The wife replied, "The reason has to be because we have to repeat

everything to men...The husband then turned to his wife and asked, "What?"

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kelly's Corner

 KELLY AND PHEEBS ON A MORNING ROCK SCRAMBLE IN THE DESERT BEHIND OUR ARIZONA HOUSE

Al's Art Gallery

DOES NOT WANT TO BE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL

I'm a bit late posting the blog because I wanted to wait until I had talked to Aunt Jean first to see how she is doing.....I called at our usual time but my call went to voicemail.  I called 20 minutes later and it again went to voicemail.  I then called her friend Pat and Pat told me Jean is now on oxygen and continues to have trouble breathing as well as coughing spells.  Pat was there about 5 this afternoon and will return to see how Jean is in the morning, after which she will call me.  Aunt Jean is still at her facility and does not want to be taken to the hospital..........

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Pheebs and I didn't waste any time getting ourselves out the door this morning and we headed east to the Bannockburn Line and took a slow cruise through that area.  The gravel road was still in a frozen state from the below freezing overnight temperatures so it was not muddy.  Snapped a few pics along the way and then headed home on what would turn out to be a very welcome 55F day.

SAP IS RUNNING AND MAPLE SYRUP WILL SOON BE ON AREA PANCAKES

 ALTHOUGH A LOT OF SNOW HAS MELTED THERE IS STILL LOTS LEFT

Later, Woodsy and I piled into the Subaru and headed over to Exeter.  When we got there, neither one of us knew why we had taken a drive to Exeter but figured while we were there we'd have a look around.  There's a nice boardwalk trail along the river and I was hoping maybe it would be clear of snow by now.  It wasn't.  From there, I showed Woodsy where a few things are located in Exeter and we headed back towards Bayfield with a stop at Hayter's Turkey Farm Outlet west of Dashwood and Zehr's Country Mennonitte Market south of Bayfield.  Home again, I spent time outside piling up more downed pine tree branches and raking up debris on patches of ground where the snow has already melted.  Our house, two sheds, and carport are all about 90% free of ice and snow now.  What a great feeling to simply be outside and finally doing something:)))))

 HERE'S WOODSY CHASING HER DYSON VACUM CLEANER AROUND THE LIVING ROOM

Al's Music Box:)) The Wabash Cannonball was sung by Canadian country music guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Hank Snow. He recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on the Billboard country charts between 1950 and 1980. Snow had success on country music record charts with his songs including: "I'm Moving On," "The Golden Rocket," "The Rhumba Boogie," "I Don't Hurt Anymore," "Let Me Go, Lover," "I've Been Everywhere," and "Hello Love."  Hank Snow wrote songs about a wide range of topics including joy, freedom, travel, anguish, and love. His work was often inspired by his personal experiences, such as his childhood in a small town in rural Nova Scotia. He experienced extreme poverty, abuse, and physically punishing labor during the Great Depression. His mother encouraged him to pursue his dream of becoming an entertainer, like his idol, country star Jimmie Rodgers.  Snow received various music awards and is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. The Hank Snow Home Town Museum in Liverpool, Nova Scotia is dedicated to his life and work.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I ordered a Chinese takeaway from a local place,and as I was driving home, I heard the bags rustling and moving!!  I thought what on Earth is that. Has something got in the bag? I thought I could see a little pair of eyes peering out at me.  I was driving so I leaned forward, picked up the bag, put it on the passenger seat and there it was again, more rustling and little eyes looking out from behind the prawn crackers.  I thought it’s got to be a rat or a mouse or something, so I carefully pulled the bag down ... And there it was ... A Peking Duck!

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A visitor to a certain college paused to admire the new Hemingway Hall that had been built on campus.  "It's a pleasure to see a building named for Ernest Hemingway," he said. "Actually," said his guide, "it's named for Joshua Hemingway. No relation."  The visitor was astonished. "Was Joshua Hemingway a writer, also?"
"Yes, indeed," said his guide. "He wrote a check."

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The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.  "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael, He's a doctor.'  A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher, She's dead.

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"A PRIEST, PLEASE!" the dying man says again. Then out of the crowd steps a little old Jewish man of at least eighty years of age.  "Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I'm not a priest. I'm not even a Catholic. But for fifty years now I've been living behind St. Mary's Catholic Church on Third Avenue, and every Friday night I listen to the Catholic litany. Maybe I can be of some comfort to this man."  The policeman agrees and brings the octogenarian over to where the dying man lay. He kneels down, leans over the injured man, and says in a solemn voice:

"B - 4. I - 19. N - 38. G - 54. O - 72."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kelly's Corner 

 ON A MORNING WALK WE CLIMB UP A HIGH ROCK OUTCROPPING ABOUT HALF A MILE BEHIND OUR CONGRESS ARIZONA  HOUSE

 WITH THE LITTLE WILD WEST TOWN OF CONGRESS IN THE BACKGROUND KELLY BUILDS ONE OF TWO INUKSHUKS

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 IT'S QUITE A PILE OF PRECARIOUS ROCKS SHE HAS CONSTRUCTED THERE

HEADING BACK DOWN

 FROM OUR BACKYARD KELLY USES A PAIR OF BINOCULARS TO SEE IF SHE CAN SEE HER STONE CREATIONS

AND USING MY TELEPHOTO LENTS I WAS ABLE TO SPOT THEM TOO

Al's Art Gallery