I SAW THE CORN COBS SMILING

I didn't open the sliding patio door beside my chair to let in cooler night air early this morning.  No, I opened the door to hear joyous sounds of pattering rain on our roof.  Not something we have heard much of this summer.  Rains began in earnest around 10 Friday night and continued for hours well into Saturday morning and oh how we did need that welcome rain.   I'm sure all the area farmers woke up with big wide smiles on their faces and I can hear the corn and bean crops giggling from here.

TURNED OUT TO BE A COWSY KIND OF MORNING

I’M SURE PHEEBS (THE COW SMOOCHING DOG) WOULD LOVE TO GO SEE HER COW PALS

JUST A NICE LAZY SATURDAY MORNING GOING ON HERE

AND A FAMILY OF WILD TURKEYS TODAY TOO

I THINK THIS MIGHT BE APPLE’S IDEA OF A COWPOD OR WOULD THAT BE A COWPAD….WELL EITHER WAY I’M SURE IT ENDS UP IN MANY COWPIES

Knowing the ground would be soft after our overnight rains Pheebs and I headed out shortly around 8 under a heavy cloud overcast to see if we could locate us some diggable upable wildflowers along the roadside.  Didn’t take us long to find what we were looking for and we soon had us a bin full of country flowers.  Stopped for a couple leg stretches in the Hullett Marsh but didn’t walk far because of the long wet grass.  Just as well because the skies opened up around 10 and dumped a deluge of rain on us.  While passing by one corn field I swear I saw the corn cobs smiling.

SOMETIMES PHEEBS AND I GET A GAME OF ‘HIDE AND SEEK’ GOING AND THIS MORNING IT WAS HER TURN TO HIDE….HMMMMM, I WONDER WHERE SHE COULD BE

‘OH-OH THINK MY DAD MIGHT HAVE SPOTTED ME’

‘BETTER KEEP MY NOSE DOWN’

 

‘OH BUT I LOVE THOSE FRESH AIR COUNTRY SMELLS’ 

Water lay in puddles along gravel roads as we splashed our way through them.  Wipers on high at times and other times we had Libby’s windows down between traveling storm cells.  No chance of stopping for a leg stretch now or else we would have turned the outside muddy mess into an inside muddy mess with wet gooey doggy paws all over the place.

GOOD THING WE GOT OUR PLANTS DUG UP BEFORE THE RAIN CLOBBERED US

STARTING TO RAIN HARDER

FELT GREAT TO SEE ALL THE RAIN TODAY

Arriving home we had to sit in the Jeep for a few minutes waiting for a break in the downpour.  Finally out of the Jeep we quickly splashed through some driveway water puddles as we raced for the porch just before another heavy dump of water.  This is the badly needed rain everyone has been waiting for and especially the farmers. 

NOT OFTEN WE SEE PUDDLES OF WATER IN OUR DRIVEWAY

‘FINALLY’ A VERY WET FRONT YARD:))

I WAS ABLE TO GET THESE WILDFLOWERS INTO THE GROUND BETWEEN RAIN SHOWERS LATER THIS AFTERNOON….A NICE CLUMP OF GOLDENROD AND A MILKWEED PLANT……ALSO 4 OTHER CLUMPS OF VARIOUS FLOWERS BUT DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE THEY JUST LOOKED PRETTY:)) 

After umpteen years of taking a countless number of photos and missing many opportunities due to wrong camera settings I think I have finally managed to settle myself into a routine of checking my camera gear before heading out.  For a couple weeks now each time I get into the Jeep and before starting it up I go over both my Nikon DSLR’s checking to see if the auto focus is on and do I have the cameras in the correct shooting mode.  I check the menu to make sure I have them set for the right lighting conditions such as Sun, Shade, or Cloud.  Have I remembered to put the ‘chip card’ back in??  I check my exposure settings because I have each camera set specifically to two different exposures.  My D90 has a habit of switching exposure numbers on me so I always have to keep a close eye on that.  Battery and ISO checks are done periodically now too.  And to think it only took me about 30 or 40 years to get myself into the routine of checking my camera gear.  Sometimes I just totally amaze myself……………………………….  

I am optimistic about the large weather front traveling through our area at the moment being the beginning of the annual mid August shift to early Autumns cooler days and nights.  All the signs are falling into place and all's we have to do now is get rid of this miserable humidity and we can turn the corner and set our sights on Autumns magical splendor soon to be upon us.  Just think, a month from now and we'll already be into mid September.  Now how cool is that thought eh:))))))))))

Storm cells began sweeping through our area late this afternoon dumping more rain and one of those cells grazed us coming inland heading east.  Pheebs and I chased that one for a few miles nabbing ourselves a few last photos for the day.

STORM IS MOVING OFF TO THE SOUTH-EAST IN THE DIRECTION OF STRATFORD AND ST. MARYS

THIS IS THE EXACT SAME SPOT WE WATCHED FOR METEORITES A COUPLE NIGHTS AGO….IT’S ONE OF OUR FAVORITE ‘GO TO’ SPOTS ONLY 2 MILES EAST OF OUR HOUSE AND THAT COUNTRY ROAD POINTS EXACTLY DUE SOUTH

AT NIGHT THE NORTH STAR IS ABOVE THIS ROAD UP YONDER SO WE KNOW THE ROAD (STIRLINGS LINE) POINTS NORTH

SKIES CLEARING A BIT TO THE NORTH BUT THE CLEARING WAS ONLY TEMPORARY AS MORE STORM CELLS WERE ALREADY HEADING ACROSS THE LAKE

FROM THIS LOCATION WE HAVE ‘CLEAR SKY’ VIEWS ALL WAY ROUND

TONIGHT’S GOOGLE EARTH MAP SHOWS OUR STIRLING LINE ‘GO TO’ SPOT ON THE RIGHT AND WHERE WE LIVE ON THE LEFT  (CLICK ON MAP TO ENLARGE)

A very close call for Tom way up there in that Alaska place as he woke up to chest pains in the pre-dawn hours nearly a week ago.  The decision he quickly made that night may very well have saved his life.  ZippyPinHead  No more great big greasy 10 pound Zippyburgers for Tom!!

STORMY SKIES TO THE SOUTHWEST AND THAT’S A FIELD OF BEANS ON THE RIGHT

GROANER’S CORNER:(( The doctor entered the room and advised his patient that a brain transplant was the only remedy.  "Fortunately" he continued, "this hospital has perfected the procedure,  however, it is not yet available on the National Health and you will  therefore have to pay.  We have two brains in stock at the moment, a female brain costing $100,000 and a male brain at $175,000"  "Why is the male brain so expensive?" asked the patient.  "Oh, that's easy, male brains are hardly ever used."

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Man says to God: "God, why did you make woman so beautiful?"  God says: "So you would love her."  "But God," the man says, "why did you make her so dumb?"  God says: "So she would love you."

MORE JEEP RIDES THIS SUMMER BUT NOT AS FAR AND NOT AS LONG

Our night never cooled down and at 6 o’clock this morning we were still at 75F.  Even Pheebe didn’t want to go for a walk this morning.  Way too hot to work around in the front yard so I had 2 choices again.  Either the air conditioning in the house or the air conditioning in the Jeep.  I chose the latter and off Pheebs and I went to Goderich with 3 windows up, the A/C on and 1 window down so little Bugsy could stick her nose out and pick up all the groovy fresh country smells.

A FEW PICS FROM THURSDAY MORNINGS DRIVE

STILL A BIT OF MIST HANGING IN THE WARM MORNING AIR

We did receive a bit of info a couple days ago from Sandie on Retired Rod which in part read ‘he's undergoing a second round of chemo and radiation and is doing as good as can be expected’.  Thanks Sandie:))

Slipped ourselves on down to the south harbor and Rotary Cove’s doggy area.  Too hot for walking so we just hung around the entrance to the walk area by the water for a bit.  Pheebs raced around using her nose once again to gather up all the latest local doggy smells. 

SPOTTED THIS RV TRUCK CAMPER PARKED ALONG THE BEACH

IN THE CAMPER I NOTICED THIS FELLOW INTENTLY WATCHING SOMETHING OUT IN THE WATER

‘AHA’ LOOKS LIKE HIS DAD WAS OUT FOR A MORNING SWIM IN LAKE HURON

SAW THE RV FELLOW WALKING TOWARDS SOMETHING IN THE WATER

HEY HE TOOK HIS BICYCLE FOR A SWIM AS WELL

WHAT A GREAT WAY TO GIVE HIS BICYCLE A GOOD  WASH

TOWELING OFF THE BIKE

AND WHAT A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE THE RIG A  GOOD WASH TOO

I don’t know when it was we first noticed the lengthy crack running from top to bottom in the rig’s passenger side windshield but I do remember it was when we were still in Congress last winter.  Believe it to be the result of a stone chip.  It was not a safety factor so we decided to wait until we were back home in Ontario before having it replaced.  I stopped into Speedy Glass beside McDonalds this morning and made some preliminary arrangements to get the ball rolling on having the cracked windshield replaced.  Our $300 insurance deductible is only good until the end of the year when it will rise to a $500 deductible.  Speedy Glass will phone early next week and a fella will drop around and measure things, take some photos and jot down any number information on that particular piece of glass.  They will then contact the windshield warehouse wherever that is and let us know when to bring the rig in.  We have used Goderich’s Speedy Glass 3 or 4 times in the past with great results.

A FEW THINGS SPOTTED DOWN AROUND THE HARBOR AND BEACH AREA THIS MORNING

THAT IS ACTUALLY ONE OF TWO SIGNS STUCK IN THE SAND….CUTE

I GUESS BY OCEAN STANDARDS THIS WOULD BE CONSIDERED A CALM DAY

I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE THE FREIGHTER MICHIPICOTEN DOCKED AT THE SALT MINE PIER

 

JUST A FEW DAYS AGO THIS OCEAN GOING LAKE FREIGHTER WAS DOCKED ABOUT 500 YARDS AWAY AT THE GRAIN ELEVATORS…..MAYBE IT’S TAKING ON A DUAL LOAD OF SALT AND GRAINS

WORKERS OUT AND ABOUT TENDING TO MORNING CHORES ON THE MICHIPICOTEN

I’M WONDERING IF THAT BIG BRASS LOOKING THING MIGHT BE A SPARE PROPELLOR BLADE

SEEMS THE HARBOR ROAD WAS KINDA BUSY THIS MORNING

It wasn’t a long Jeep ride today because of the excessive heat so Pheebs and I were home again well before 10 o’clock.  After that it was just the same-old same-old stay inside and stay cool kind of day.  One of the best investments we ever made a few years ago was the installation of central air.  Sure has made our summer lives more tolerable:))

SPOTTED ON A GODERICH LAWN

SPOTTED IN THE BACK SEAT OF THE JEEP

Have noticed this summer our morning Jeep rides have increased substantially over other years but our distance of travel each time has not been as far as before.  I don’t think we have ranged out any further than about 30 miles from Bayfield even once this summer.  Our duration of travel is generally shorter too with our average country road traveling time being maybe a couple hours.  Not sure why the change but I suspect it has to do with the frequency of travel being 4 or 5 times a week now.  Pheebs and I go out more often but don’t stay out as long.  And for sure this heatwave we have been caught in has had something to do with it as well.  Maybe in the cooler Autumn weather we might venture a little further……we’ll see.  By the way another heat record was broken today.

STOPPED ALONGSIDE A LITTLE COUNTRY ROAD CREEK

 

 

And thanks to Bev way out there in that State of Idaho place for catching my mistake in Thursday’s post where I referred to our Star Party gatherings occurring in the early 80’s.  Should have read the years 2001 and 2002.  Hey, I was only out about 20 years this time.  I have since corrected the mistake.  And I forgot to mention 2 other great friends of my Uncle Harry’s who also came out with Harry to see us at what we called ‘The Weeny Roast Ranch’.  Grace and Helen were 2 of Harry’s best friends in his latter years and Grace was at Harry’s bedside the night he passed away.  So many old memories of days gone by………

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A very successful businessman had a meeting with his new son-in-law. "I love my daughter, and now I welcome you into the family," said the man. "To show you how much we care for you, I'm making you a 50-50 partner in my business. All you have to do is go to the factory every day and learn the operations."  The son-in-law interrupted. "I hate factories. I can't stand the noise."  "I see," replied the father-in-law. "Well then you'll work in the office and take charge of some of the operations."  "I hate office work," said the son-on-law. "I can't stand being stuck behind a desk all day."  "Wait a minute," said the father-in-law. "I just make you half- owner of a moneymaking organization, but you don't like factories and won't work in a office. What am I going to do with you?"  "Easy," said the young man. "Buy me out."

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The following is a true story written by an educational psychologist and her experience on a plane. On a flight to Florida, I was preparing my notes for one of the parent-education seminars I conduct as an educational psychologist. The elderly woman sitting next to me explained that she was returning to Miami after having spent two weeks visiting her six children, 18 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren in Boston. Then she inquired what I did for a living. I told her, fully expecting her to question me for free professional advice.
Instead she sat back, picked up a magazine and said, "If there's anything you want to know, just ask me."

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“Wounds heal better if they are covered. This is an example of gauze and effect.”