Tuesday, December 17, 2024

I KNEW SHE WOULD

 SO NICE TO SEE GREEN FIELDS POKING THROUGH THE MELTING SNOW
Opening the patio door beside my living room recliner this morning at 6 a.m. to let Pheebs out I could hear 'drip-drip-drip' which told me the temperature was above freezing and the snowpack was still melting.  It was 40F.  Maybe it was a Spring like feeling, I don't know...but, something energized me, and before I could say 'Honky Dorry' I was up in my PJ's changing our living room around.  I've always liked changing things around and I figured our living room was certainly due for a change.

It turned out to be a busy morning and with a few drops of rain on the windshield I headed off to Goderich.  I didn't know how long I would be gone so Pheebs opted to stay home.  My first stop was the McCallum and Palla Funderal Home where I got buried in paperwork.  Forms to fill out for Government pension, etc. etc. and etc.  And I don't know how I'm going to get out from under it.  The funeral director was very helpful but by the time I walked out of there, I was lucky to remember where I had parked the car.  I took Kelly's health card and driver's license in to be sent away away to Ottawa for official cancellation.  The document I really need right now is our marriage certificate and I have no idea where that is so I will have to start going through Kelly's stacks of files and papers trying to locate it.  While at the funeral home I also picked up Kelly's ashes to bring home so with her in the front passenger seat beside me I headed off to my next two stops.  The Scotia Bank and the CIBC bank.  At both places they made appointments for me to come back and talk to someone regarding our financial affairs.  One appointment is this Thursday morning and the other one is Monday Morning.  The CIBC bank said they needed a copy of our wills so with that I grabbed a Tim Hortons coffee to go and headed for Clinton Ontario with a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a prescription.  With Kelly's ashes on the seat beside me it was so sad driving past the Huron Hospice location where just a week ago today, Kelly sadly passed away.  Just know that I was talking to her all the while we were driving.  I was able to find the recently relocated law office of Frank Cameron so I slipped in and told them what I needed.  The lady said to pick up the copies tomorrow (no charge) so that is what I will do.  I was glad to get home and bring Kelly into the house.  She is now on a small decorative table near her chair where I can glance over from my recliner and sense her presence there.  And yes, she has made her presence known here in more ways than one.  I knew she would:))
 I FELT SAD DRIVING BY THE HURON HOSPICE HOUSE ON MY WAY TO CLINTON THIS MORNING

 IT WAS A WEEK AGO TODAY ALMOST TO THE HOUR THAT KELLY PASSED AWAY HERE
The rest of the day was spent on my living room project and by late afternoon it was complete.  Looking around I thought, 'ya know what, I just might paint the living room'.  What color you might ask, and I would say the same color I painted the interior of our first motorhome and the same color I painted a large room in our Congress house.  North of Tucson years ago while we were at an RV Park in Casa Grande and while at a Walmart, I walked into the garden center and picked up a clay flower pot.  From there I went to the paint department and had them read the color of that flowerpot with their paint reader.  I said give me a gallon of that color and an hour later with a paint brush and roller in hand I was busy painting the interior of our motorhome.  I love southwest colors so if I decide to do it, that is the color our living room will be:))

GLAD TO FINALLY BE HEADING HOME AFTER AN EMOTIONAL MORNING
Al's Music Box:)) All I Have To Do Is Dream is a song made famous by the Everly Brothers, written by Boudleaux Bryant of the husband-and-wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, and published in 1958. The song is ranked No. 141 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All TimeThe best-known version was recorded by the Everly Brothers at RCA Studios Nashville and released as a single in April 1958. It had been recorded by the Everly Brothers live in just two takes on March 6, 1958, and features Chet Atkins on guitar. It was the only single ever to be at No. 1 on all of the Billboard singles charts simultaneously. On May 12, 1958, it became No. 1 on the "Best Sellers in Stores" chart, then it reached No. 1 on the "Most Played by Jockeys" and "Top 100" charts on May 19, 1958, and remained No. 1 on each chart for four, five, and three weeks, respectively. With the August 1958 introduction of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song ended the year at No. 2. "All I Have to Do Is Dream" also hit No. 1 on the R&B chart as well as becoming the Everly Brothers' third chart-topper on the country chart. The Everly Brothers briefly returned to the Hot 100 in 1961 with this song.  Outside the United States, "All I Have to Do Is Dream" saw massive success in various countries, most notably the United Kingdom, where it topped the UK's New Musical Express chart in June 1958 and remained there for seven weeks (including one week as a joint number one with Vic Damone's "On the Street Where You Live", spending 21 weeks on the chart in Britain.  The song has also featured on several notable lists of the best songs or singles of all time, including British music magazine Q's 1001 best songs ever in 2003.  It was named one of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll" by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2004.  The B-side, "Claudette", was the first major songwriting success for Roy Orbison (who also recorded his own version of the song) and was named after his first wife.  As a result of this success, Orbison terminated his contract with Sun Records and affiliated himself with the Everly's publisher, Acuff-Rose Music.

 ALMOST HOME
GROANER'S CORNER:(( Once there was a golfer whose drive landed on an anthill. Rather than move the ball, he decided to hit it where it lay. He gave a mighty swing. Clouds of dirt and sand and ants exploded from the spot. Everything but the golfball. It sat in the same spot.  So he lined up and tried another shot. Clouds of dirt and sand and ants went flying again. The golf ball didn't even wiggle.  Two ants survived. One dazed ant said to the other, "Whoa! What are we going to do?"  Said the other ant: "I don't know about you, but I'm going to get on the ball."

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- What would Wonder Woman and Spider-Man name their business?  Amazon Web Services.

- Being blocked and unfriended by some people is like the trash taking itself out.

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Me: "I just burned 2000 calories in 20 minutes."
Friend: "How?"
Me: "I forgot to take my brownies out of the oven."

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Two buddies are fishing, but they haven’t caught anything all day. Then, another fisherman walks by with a huge load of fish. They ask him "excuse me, but where did you get all those fish?"  The other fisherman replies,” If you just go down the stream until the water isn't salty, there are a ton of hungry fish."  They thank him and go on their way. 15 minutes later, one fisherman says to the other "fill the bucket up with water and see if the water is salty."
He dips the bucket in the stream and drinks some. "Nope. Still salty." 30 minutes later, he asks him to check again.  "Nope, still salty." One our later they check again. "Nope. Still salty."  "This isn't good," the fisherman finally says. "We have been walking for almost two hours and the water is still salty!"  "I know," says the other. "And the bucket is almost empty!"

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kelly's Corner

 SOMEWHERE IN SARASOTA FLORIDA

Al's Art Gallery












Monday, December 16, 2024

IT WILL NO DOUBT BE A CHALLENGE FOR ME

 IT'S GOING TO BE A BIG SPRING CLEAN-UP AROUND OUR PLACE
How encouraging today to at least have the temperature above freezing.  44F.  Although it will be short-lived I was able to make some headway outside by moving some heavy snow off the front and rear decks.  I also slipped over to see how Gayle and Richard were doing but Richard had gone to Goderich.  She said he is feeling better.  Gayle and I had a twenty-minute chat and it was back home I went.

 THE HEAVY SNOWS OF TEN DAYS AGO HAVE BROKEN DOWN A LOT OF TREE BRANCHES

 IT SURE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE SUMMERTIME OUT THERE NO MORE
As many readers know, Kelly and I were never on the leading edge of socializing whether it be here at home or on the road during our RV traveling years.  But, during our travel years, we did meet and make some great friends along the way and some of these friends have paid tribute to Kelly on their blogs.  Janna and Mike were two of our favorite people and Janna wrote this in her blog, Kelly. The last time we saw Janna and Mike was at their winter home on the east side of Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains.  Ivan, a single traveler with his cat Bailey, was another friend who we met in different places over the years.  Ivan writes, Blogging Community Loses Another. The last time we both saw Ivan was somewhere south of Patagonia in Arizona.  A short time later after Ivan moved to the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (the Grasslands I always called it) not far from where Kelly and I were boondocked I went over one morning to have a coffee with him at his campsite.  Another RV Blogger who was inspired by our travels through my blog also set out to discover the Great American Southwest following in our footsteps.  Doug Lanning writes, Been Awhile.  The last time we saw Doug was on Darby Well Road west of Ajo, Arizona.  You can read and see photos of this day in my 'A Blast From Our Past' segment below.

 BY THE END OF TODAY THE BIG SNOW LOAD ON OUR FRONT DECK WAS GONE AND DID YOU NOTICE THE LITTLE DOGGY FACE PEERING OUT THE PATIO DOOR
 AND, A LOT OF SNOW HAS ALREADY MELTED OFF OUR BACK DECK TOO
A Blast From Our Past:)) Atop The Plops With Kelly And Pheebs And Then Atop The Plops Again With Doug, Pheebs, and Yuma.  There are more nice photos of Kelly here.

 I WAS ABLE TO FREE THIS LITTLE CEDAR TREE FROM THE SNOW AND THE SMOKY BACKGROUND IS JUST ME BURNING A FEW PAPER PRODUCTS IN OUR BURNING BARREL
 OUR NEIGHBOR ACROSS THE STREET IS GOING TO BE BUSY THIS SPRING AS WELL AND THAT IS THE PARK'S CLUBHOUSE IN THE BACKGROUND
Kelly, like her Mother, was an avid reader and spent many contented hours with her books.  It was nothing to see a stack of three or four books in her room on the nightstand beside her bed.  She loved the Bayfield Library where she found her favorite books through the Huron County Library System.  It was suggested by Kelly's brother Peter, also an ardent library supporter that if anyone felt they would like to make a donation in Kelly's name to the  Bayfield Public Library they could do so.   Saturday morning I stopped into the Library and inquired how that might be done and the nice lady there sent me a form via email which I think could be copied and printed off.  The Bayfield Public Library is part of the Huron County Library system.  Tribute-form.pdf   And, while on the topic of the Bayfield Library, I have made an appointment there for this coming Thursday afternoon to have someone help me with the basic operation of Kelly's iPhone. That is if my short-term memory will absorb and retain anything.  It will no doubt be a challenge for me.  I don't even know how to turn it on or off......... 

 I WAS ABLE TO FREE THIS LITTLE CEDAR TREE FROM THE ICY SNOW AS WELL
 ALTHOUGH BENT, IT WILL PULL ITSELF UP STRAIGHT AND STRONG AGAIN
Al's Music Box:)) The Twelth Of Never is a popular song written in 1956 and first recorded by Johnny Mathis the following year. The title is a popular expression, which is used as the date of a future occurrence that will never come to pass.  In the case of the song, "the 12th of Never" is given as the date on which the singer will stop loving his beloved, thus indicating that he will always love them.  Mathis initially disliked the song, which was released as the flip side to his number 1 hit single "Chances Are".  It was written by Jerry Livingston and Paul Francis Webster, the tune (except for the bridge) being adapted from "The Riddle Song" (also known as "I Gave My Love a Cherry"), an old English folk song. Mathis's original version reached number 9 on what is now called the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA in 1957.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A wife went to the police station with her next-door neighbor to report that her husband was missing. The policeman asked for a description.  She said, "He's 35 years old, 6 foot 4, has dark eyes, dark wavy hair, an athletic build, weighs 185 pounds, is soft-spoken, and is good to the children."  The next-door neighbor protested, "Your husband is 5 foot 4, chubby, bald, has a big mouth, and is mean to your children."  The wife replied, "Yes, but who wants HIM back?"

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Why don't some couples go to the gym?
Because some relationships just don't work out.

A minister stood in front of his congregation and announced, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is we have enough money to pay for our new building program. The bad news is that it’s still in your pockets.”

"Madam, your husband must have absolute rest." "Well, Doctor, he won't listen to me."
"A very good beginning, madam, a very good beginning."

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Al's Doggy World

Meanings::

Kelly's Corner
ATOP THE COW PLOPS NEAR DARBY WELL ROAD EAST OF AJO ARIZONA

 THROWING SNOWBALLS IN THE EMORY PASS EAST OF SILVER CITY NEW MEXICO
 A VERY WINDY MORNING WEST OF OCOTILLO WELLS NEAR BORREGO SPRINGS CALIFORNIA
OH HOW WE LOVED BOONDOCKING IN THE SONORAN DESERT NEAR INDIAN ROAD WEST OF AJO ARIZONA AND THOSE ARE ALL SAGUARO CACTUS YOU SEE SO TALL AND STATELY
 BEV, KELLY, AND JANNA.....BOTH BEV AND KELLY ARE GONE NOW
 KELLY, PHEEBS, AND I AT OUR WINTER HOME IN CONGRESS ARIZONA...PHOTO BY DOUG LANNING
Al's Art Gallery 



 THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS