IN MY WORLD I FIGURE LESS PEOPLE = LESS STRESS

Thinking of our South-west travels tonight I am reminded of the many bird photos I have taken over the years.  I must have hundreds upon hundreds of them scattered throughout my files.  I’ve also had all summer to gather up my birds and centralize them in a photo album but here we are only weeks away from returning to the Southwest and I don’t even have so much as one of my bird photos in any kind of an album. 

Tonight’s random sampling of Southwest birds were taken last winter at our house in Congress.  I am already looking forward to tipping my chair back in the warm Arizona sunshine this winter and once again zeroing in on all my feathered friends:))

With an abundance of water falling from our skies we had ourselves a rather inactive day.  It is our annual seasonal change for this time of year as late summer slips into early Fall.  Winds in the night, a bit of lightning and thunder early this morning and rain for most of the day until skies began to slowly clear in late afternoon.  If the sun is out in the morning Pheebs and will be off but if it’s cloudy I might just crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head.  

    

Sunday’s drive around my old stomping grounds in and around Tavistock Ontario had my head full of writing ideas but today those ideas just seemed to go into hiding.  I suspect the rain had something to do with that.  For me sparkly thoughts don’t seem to fly well in wet weather.  I’ll save my old home town stories for a sunny day.

I’ve been hesitant to load too many things in the Motorhome lately because if I do it’s likely I will forget what I have put in there then have to waste time in another couple weeks frustratingly walking around searching for stuff I can’t find which of course is already in the Motorhome.  Better off to wait 5 minutes before we leave then scurry around in a madcap upside down state of panic and load everything all at once.  Well it almost seems like that sometimes.  Having to make these constant little life adjustments while on the run at this stage of life now is something I had not thought much about years ago and here it is already banging me on the end of the nose almost on a daily basis.  If I ever find out who coined that ridiculous phrase ‘the golden years’ I’m gonna track em down and heap some serious grief upon his or her head!!

I am not a big believer in a lot of the cutsy patootsie over the top ‘inspirational’ sayings I see flooding the internet all the time.  I figure those saying are churned out en masse by Coutts-Hallmark company employees huddled in tiny cubicles somewhere.  I normally skip over them but every once and awhile one of them might catch my attention.  Here’s one I saw this morning, ’People think being alone makes you lonely.  I think surrounding yourself with fake people is the loneliest thing in the world’……….Yep, I like and have experienced that one.  It has taken a very long time for me to learn and accept this but in my world less people simply means less stress.  Not for everybody of course but it works for me and as long as I don’t try to be everybody my life is easier for me to understand.  Well on the good days that is……………

PHEEBS AND I SHARE MANY HATS:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A widower who never paid any attention to his wife while she was alive now found himself missing her desperately. He went to a psychic to see if he could contact his late wife. The psychic went into a trance. A strange breeze wafted through the darkened room, and suddenly, the man heard the unmistakable voice of his dearly departed wife. "Honey!" he cried. "Is that you?" "Yes, my husband." "Are you happy?" "Yes, my husband." "Happier than you were with me?" "Yes, my husband." "Then Heaven must be an amazing place!" "I'm not in Heaven, dear."

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“If you can't choose between an angry psychic and a sad psychic, you'll have to find a happy medium.”

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Amy: Can people predict the future with cards?

Joan: My mother can.

Amy: Really?

Joan: Yes, she takes one look at my report card and tells me what will happen when my father gets home.

SO MUCH TO REMEMBER- SO MUCH TO FORGET

SUNFLOWER

For Pheebs and I today was our longest Jeep ride of the entire summer.  We were gone for six and a half hours and covered about 65 miles.   Headed over to my old hometown of Tavistock Ontario and by the time we arrived back in Bayfield about mid afternoon I was feeling very drained.  Running the extremes from happy to sad had my emotions on the run.  I took 188 photos of which some will go into my files and some will make it into my blog.  We trudged through heavy 7 foot tall matted underbrush, stepped into an unseen Groundhog hole almost snapping my leg off and later took a tumble down a dirt embankment onto a pile of stones nearly breaking one of my camera.  My mind wandered restlessly as I not only overwhelmed myself with photos but flooded my thoughts with old memories as well. 

MY OLD PUBLIC SCHOOL

I SPENT THE FIRST 14 YEARS OF MY LIFE IN THIS HOUSE WHICH ACTUALLY LOOKED A BIT DIFFERENT WHEN WE LIVED THERE

I SPENT MOST OF MY MID AND LATTER TEEN YEARS LIVING IN THIS HOUSE

A CEMETERY WALK TO VISIT FAMILY AND OLD FRIENDS….GARY B YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THAT STONE AT THE FAR RIGHT

PUSING OUR WAY THROUGH SOME DENSE UNDERBRUSH IN SEARCH OF ‘THE RED BRIDGE’

AND AT LAST WE FIND IT AND I SET FOOT ON IT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 23 YEARS

I WILL HAVE MORE TO SAY IN UPCOMING POSTS ABOUT THIS OLD ABANDONED RAILWAY BRIDGE AS WELL AS A FEW OTHER THINGS REGARDING MY OLD HOME TOWN AND YEP THAT’S PHEEBS ON THE LEFT WAITING FOR ME TO COME BACK OFF THE BRIDGE

Somewhere in our Tavistock sightseeing today Pheebs and I managed to get ourselves a Tuna Sub.  Good thing because I had forgot to fix up breakfast for Pheebs this morning.  It was no wonder she nearly had that sub right out of the bag before I could even get it out of it’s wrapper.

A PASTORAL SUNDAY MORNING SETTING IN RURAL SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO

BEAN HOPPERS WAITING TO BE LOADED WITH HARVESTED BEANS

IF YOUR A ‘VERY SUCCESSFUL’ DAIRY FARMER IN THESE PARTS THIS IS HOW YOUR MODERN DAY DAIRY BARN AND DRIVING SHED MIGHT LOOK

HERE IS A VERY RARE SITE NOWADAYS, CHICKENS ACTUALLY OUTSIDE IN A FARM YARD

SPOTTED THIS AIRPLANE WADDLING ACROSS A FIELD

IT TURNED AROUND AND THE PILOT POURED THE POWER ON

WITH A HOP SKIP BUMP AND A BOUNCE IT’S WHEELS QUICKLY LEFT THE GROUND

AIRBORNE

GAINING ALTITUDE

AND OFF IT GOES FOR DESTINATIONS UNKNOWN

So much on my mind to write about that I find myself too tired tonight to know where to even begin.  Think I will let things settle down a bit before trying to get my day into perspective.  An emotionally draining day but not in a bad way, just at times in a sad way.  It always seems to be how it is whenever I occasionally return to my old home town of distant boyhood and teen-age memories.  So much to remember, so much to forget………….

HOW NICE TO COME ACROSS A FIELD OF SUNFLOWERS THIS MORNING

Kelly made it home from Cambridge and Guelph  about 5:45 this afternoon.  Her visit went well and it was nice for her to get together with two of her daughters and one son plus some grandchildren.  She’s pretty tired tonight and that makes two of us.  We’re both looking forward to a good night’s sleep and our Monday morning re-sets:))

AND WHO SAID ONTARIO DIDN’T HAVE COWBOYS EH:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  Last year, when the power mower was broken and wouldn't run, I kept hinting to my husband that he ought to get it fixed, but somehow the message never sank in. Finally I thought of a clever way to make the point.  When my husband arrived home that day, he found me seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors.  He watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. He was gone only a few moments when he came out again. He handed me a toothbrush. "When you finish cutting the grass," he said, "you might as well sweep the sidewalk too."

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Little Johnny is approached by the lifeguard at the public swimming pool.  "You're not allowed to pee in the pool," said the lifeguard. "I'm going to report you."  "But everyone pees in the pool," said Little Johnny.  "Maybe," said the lifeguard, "but not from the diving board!"

PHEEBS AND I ARE HOLDING THE FORT DOWN FOR A COUPLE DAYS AND WE SPOTTED ‘THE KING’ AT McDONALDS THIS MORNING:))

Wow sure is getting dark earlier these night now and our weather has definitely turned a cooler corner.  Looking ahead at the 10 day forecast our daily highs are all in the 60's and that works out just fine for me.  I'm back into my toasty T-shirts and this morning our new furnace came on for the first time and wow again as volumes of enveloping hot air came blasting out of the floor vents wrapping us in a warm blanket of cozy comfort.  Sure was a right decision to replace our old inefficient 33 year old electric furnace with a new high efficiency gas furnace.   Always a nice feeling inside when one realizes they have made a right decision for a change.

NUTHATCH IN OUR SUNBURST LOCUST TREE

Kelly headed off to Cambridge and Guelph for a couple days this morning.  Her youngest daughter's husband Ricardo is in Spain at the moment so Kelly will be visiting with Rebecca and little Ella.  They also plan on getting around to visit with three of Kelly's other children.  A good opportunity for her before we head south in less than a month.

KELLY PICKED UP A ROCK AT DEER PARK LODGE’S BEACH A FEW WEEKS AGO AND PAINTED THIS FACE ON IT TO GIVE TO LITTLE ELLA WHEN SHE GETS TO GUELPH

ABOUT TWO THIRDS OF THAT LOAD IS FOR A FEW OF KELLY’S GRANDKIDS

ALL LOADED UP AND READY TO GO

Dusted off my cameras and under a cool crisp sunny Autumn sky Pheebs and I were out the door and on the road.  I definitely felt better about things this morning as we slipped up through Goderich and dusted ourselves up on a few country roads.  Farmers out harvesting beans and I noticed combines had removed a few rows of corn around the perimeter of a couple corn fields.   

INTERESTING FARM COMBINATIONS IN THE FIELDS THESE DAYS

One of our stops this morning was near Dungannon Ontario to visit Pheeb’s Alpaca Pals.  They are always happy to see her whenever we drop by.

ALPACA HOUSE

<<< THIS FELLOW WASN’T HAVING ANY PART OF ALL THE VISITING THOUGH

When I drove a mobility van for Town and Country a few years ago my supervisor's name was Marie.  Marie has kept in touch over the years and this afternoon dropped around to say Hello.  Talked a bit about our aging memories and how the frustration with that can at times lead to bouts of depression.  Hey Marie I just remembered the names of Lucy and Desi's friends.......Fred and Ethel:)) 

GUESS WHO I SPOTTED BURGERING UP AT McDONALDS THIS MORNING….YEP, THE KING IS ALIVE AND WELL ALRIGHT:))

Fixed myself up a real fine supper tonight.  Two pieces of toast with a big hunk of Kielbasa sausage washed down with nice cold glass of  skim milk.  Now that's my kind of supper.  A cold glass of skim milk is my all time very much most favorite beverage of everything:))

WHEN I SLIPPED INTO THE TSC STORE AFTER McDONALDS I HAD TO LEAVE MY CARROT MUFFIN SITTING OUTSIDE THE JEEP…….FOR OBVIOUS REASONS

A month from now with a bit of luck we just might be at Aunt Jean’s in Florida.  Can't say I am looking forward to all the traffic chaos we expect to encounter on our route but we are looking forward to seeing Aunt Jean for sure.  I do have a route figured out but whether we take that route or change our minds at the last minute and go a different way I have no idea.  Our travels have always been on the spontaneous side without a whole lot pre-planning ahead of time.  There's pros and cons to that of course but it's the way we prefer to travel.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( God created the mule, and told him, "You are mule. You will work constantly from dusk to dawn, carrying heavy loads on your back. You will eat grass and lack intelligence. You will live for 50 years." The mule answered, "To live like this for 50 years is too much. Please, give me no more than 20."
And it was so.
Then God created the dog, and told him, "You are dog. You will hold vigilance over the dwellings of Man, to whom you will be his greatest companion. You will eat his table scraps and live for 25 years."
The dog responded, "Lord, to live 25 years as a dog like that is too much. Please, no more than 10 years."
And it was so.
God then created the monkey, and told him, "You are monkey. You shall swing from tree to tree, acting like an idiot. You will be funny, and you shall live for 20 years."  The monkey responded, "Lord, to live 20 years as the clown of the world is too much. Please, Lord, give me no than 10 years."
And it was so.
Finally, God created Man and told him, "You are Man, the only rational being that walks the earth. You will use your intelligence to have mastery over the creatures of the world. You will dominate the earth and live for 20 years."
The man responded, "Lord, to be Man for only 20 years is too little. Please, Lord; give me the 20 years the mule refused, the 15 years the dog refused, and the 10 years the monkey rejected."  And so God made Man to live 20 years as a man, then marry and live 20 years like a mule working and carrying heavy loads on his back. Then, he is to have children and live 15 years as a dog, guarding his house and eating the leftovers after they empty the pantry; then, in his old age, to live 10 years as a monkey, acting like an idiot to amuse his grandchildren.
And it is so ...

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Did you hear about the guy who tried to date a nun?  He wanted to take her to the county fair, but she declined on account of she had taken a vow abstaining from Carnival pleasures.