TRAVEL WITH THE BAYFIELD BUNCH:))

Friday, March 17, 2017

‘STARBUCKS’ IN BAYFIELD…..WHAT!!!!

PHEEBS ENJOYS A NICE SPRING DAY WHILE HELPING ME WITH THE YARD CLEAN-UP
I know Mother Nature is much better than I at removing snow and over the next few days I’m sure she will work away at doing just that. But me being the impatient fellow I am I planted myself on the end of my snow shovel first thing this morning and headed out into the front yard to help her out and re-arrange the snow anyway.

GOING TO NEED SOME SERIOUSLY WARM AIR AND SUNSHINE TO GET THIS SHADED FROG POND OUT OF HIBERNATION
Knowing Saturday may be a crummy weather day and because the sun was shining this morning I took Pheebs for a short snort in the Jeep. A couple nearby country roads and we were back home within the hour. Only photo I took was the one below.

THURSDAY MORNING THIS FARMER’S FIELD WAS COVERED IN SNOW AND THIS MORNING IT WAS NEARLY BARE
To the tune of melting snow dripping from our roof I decided it might be a fine time to start hauling out our summer yard stuff so that’s what I did. Not all of it mind you but I did make a start. A nice physiological boost to these recent bitter cold winter days:))

COULDN’T DECIDE WHICH PHOTO TO PUT IN OF THIS COLORFUL POT SO I PUT ALL 4 OF THEM IN

<<< GOT ME A GOOD START AT HAULING A BUNCH OF YARD STUFF OUT OF ONE OF OUR SHEDS
A phone call from the Maitland Valley Medical Center a couple days ago said a couple tests I had done last week came back A-OK. So far so good. This coming Monday I have an appointment with a Doctor in Goderich whom I have never met. We’ll see how that goes and what it entails.

WON’T BE LONG AND WE’LL HAVE OUR FIRST CAMPFIRE GOING OVER THERE

HAPPY TO SEE ALL THE SNOW HAS MELTED OFF OUR FRONT PORCH DECK
Unless we are on the road traveling it is very rare for Kelly and I to go out to eat anywhere but late this afternoon we made an exception. We had heard good things about the Out Of The Blue Fish & Seafood Market on the east side of highway 21 across from Clan Gregor Square in Bayfield. As readers well know I am not a seafood person but I do generally like Fish & Chips and that is what we had. Kelly chose Pickerel and I chose White Fish. Orders come in either small or large portions and we both chose the smaller size and it’s good we did because the fish portions are HUGE. I ate half my fish and was stuffed to the gills. (did ya get the play on words there) Kelly did better than I did but we both still took home a generous portion of our supper. Cole slaw was good as well as the home cut fries. This is a true ‘fresh fish market’. The husband of the lady who runs it owns one of the fishing boats docked in the Bayfield harbor.

A NICE CLEAN AND NEAT ESTABLISHMENT

KELLY CHECKS THE MENU WHICH IS WRITTEN ON THE WALL

NO WIMPY LITTLE PIECES OF FISH IN THIS PLACE…..’HUGE’
A couple days ago Kelly popped into her Doctor’s office at Michaels Pharmacy here in Bayfield to check on her latest blood tests and came home saying there was a Starbucks in Michael's Pharmacy. What!!!! A Starbucks coffee shop in Bayfield, how was that possible?? Bayfield doesn’t even have a traffic light anywhere and is hardly big enough for a Starbucks but when we drove in and around there today there was the big Starbuck poster in the Pharmacy window. Kelly said they have a counter with hot coffee thermoses and you get a cup and serve yourself so it is mainly a take-out service. I wish Starbucks well but why couldn’t that have been a Tim Hortons I thought to myself.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE THERE IS ACTUALLY A ‘STARBUCKS’ IN THERE

WELL THERE YA GO EH

KELLY READS A NOTE ON THE ‘SUBWAY’ DOOR
Another reason for driving into the small Plaza across from the Bayfield Garage was to check on the Subway Sandwich Shop. Pheebs and I had popped in there a few days ago and a big sign in the door said ‘CLOSED’. Kelly got out to read a note on the door which stated they were closed for the winter but would be re-opening in the Spring. Whewww, big sigh of relief there. Wouldn’t want Pheebs and I missing out on our Tuna Subs now would we:))

SHE SURE IS A VERY PRECIOUSLY SPECIAL LITTLE GIRL
GROANER’S CORNER:((
-------------------------
TEACHER: Why are you late?
STUDENT: Well, because class started before I got here.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

BACK TO THE GODERICH HARBOR AND BEACH AREA WE WENT

It was already after 9 when I hauled my sorry old sack of bones out of my recliner, hopped into the shower, and jumped into the Jeep. Kind of a lazy hop and jump start to the morning. Sun was shining so knew Pheebs and I had to get ourselves on the road and go somewhere.

Putt-Putting our way to Goderich I was heartened to see some early signs of melting along the roadway edges. Coffee and muffin to go at McDonalds and it was down to the harbor with us again. Icy winds off the lake kept me in the Jeep but Pheebs did manage to get out and put up with the elements for about 5 minutes. I was surprised at how much snow and ice had built up along the shoreline again in only a few days.

A SHORT WEEK AGO MUCH OF THIS GODERICH SHORELINE WAS MAINLY OPEN WATER

AMAZING HOW FAST ALL THAT WATER FROZE UP AGAIN

From the harbor’s south side we swung ourselves back up through Goderich and back down to the harbor on the North side. Wanted to have a closer look at the two large lake freighters anchored there. Despite the harbor being iced over again there seemed to be a lot of activity around the tug boat anchorages. Probably getting things ship shape for the coming busy season.

DRIVING OURSELVES OVER TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE HARBOR

DEAD AHEAD IS THE LARGEST SALT MINE IN THE WORLD AND HERE IS A SHORT VIDEO OF IT UNDERGROUND…..LARGEST SALT MINE IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT EXTENDS OVER 4.5 MILES OUT UNDER LAKE HURON…AND KELLY AND i HAVE BEEN DOWN THERE:))

HEY JANNA I BELIEVE THOSE 3 LONG RETANGLE OPENINGS TO BE ‘SKUPPERS’

Picked up some gas and groceries and we were back home shortly after noon. With warming sunlight streaming through our big sunroom windows it was the place for me to be. Each passing day now the March sun is getting stronger and how encouraging to see signs of snow melting on our south facing front porch and deck. A few small chunks of snowy ice have even slide off the roof.

Hey Don the mystery of ‘the brown rusty thing’ in my blog header photo has been solved. You will notice a white sided building atop a high cement block foundation immediately left of the big brown rusty thing. Upper level is living quarters while below used to be a fish store. We know the fella (Scott Austin) who owns that building and operated the fish store below. In fact Scott is responsible for us having our sunroom. He bought a really nice custom built log house years ago and on that house was a sunroom….that leaked like a sieve. He offered that sunroom, 7 glass windows, 2 sliding doors and and everything that went along with it to anyone for $500 if they would simply dismantle it and take it away. Well that somebody turned out to be us. We had a fellow by the name of Mike O’Brian putting a new roof on our house at the time and we asked him if he would be interested in re-assembling this sunroom on the south side of our house. He said he could do it and that is how our sunroom came to be. Wished I could say I helped Mike with the roof and sunroom but he did it all by himself. I think he might have known I could end up being more of a hindrance than a help.

IN THE CENTER OF THIS PHOTO IS ‘THE BROWN RUSTY’ THING IN QUESTION

THIS DIESEL TRAIN ENGINE WAS IN THE PROCESS OF HOOKING ONTO A BUNCH OF RAIL CARS NEAR THE SALT MINE THIS MORNING…..DID YOU SPOT THE TRAIN MAN??

THAT YOUNG FELLER MIGHT JUST BE THE TRAIN ENGINEER HIS VERY SELF

I’M GUESSING THESE ‘HOPPER’ CARS ARE LOADED WITH ROAD SALT…..THIS TRAIN CREW FELLOW WALKING ALONG I THINK WAS CHECKING CAR NUMBERS

Oh ya, getting back to ‘the big brown thing’ in our header photo. Kelly emailed Scott who owns the fish store building and asked him what that brown tank was used for. Scott replied, ‘ It is an insulated tower that stored the ice, a large ice maker used to set on the top’! Scott used a lot of ice in his fish business as did the local fishing boats that docked and still do dock there alongside the fish store. The fish store is no longer in operation. Scott Austin by the way now holds the position of Marsh Manager out at the Hullett Marsh.