Rural Road Rambling (Mostly but not exclusive to Southwest Ontario)

If you think of it in the spring PM me and we can meet to ride some roads in my area and you can show me some down your way.

Full moon on Hallowe'en is reasonably rare. Two full moons in one month "Blue Moon" also rare. Tonight's " full blue moon" on October 31st is the first one in 79 years. First pic is through the branches of a walnut tree.



Second one is at full optical zoom on my camera.



Third pic is at both full optical and full digital zoom.

Thanks for the moon shots, going outside right now to look.
Yep , still there.

I have a motorcycle lift table I built a couple of years ago. I also built a platform for my car hoist to lift bikes and garden tractors for service. At an online auction which closed on Thursday I bought a steel table with 4 drawers that is 3 ft by 8 ft. Today I shortened the legs and added a set of casters I had from a large tool box. I will clean it up tomorrow and add diagonal bracing to the legs. I also have a wheel chock to bolt on and will add some tiedown points. There is a thick steel plate where the PO had a vice bolted down. That will be removed as well. I have a very long term Royal Enfield Bullet 500 project that will be on this work table while I put all the parts together in one large lump to see exactly what I do and don't have. This is what I am working on. The table top height has been reduced from 37 in. to 24 in.

^^^^^ That's one hell of a shop Dave!

Finished the work table today except for some tie down points. Should have the Enfield on it tomorrow. Drawers will be handy for some of the parts instead of piling them on the table top.

you got some MAD skills Dave...

Thanks Rudy. I worked as a auto and truck fleet mechanic for 27 years for the Ontario Government and Bell Telephone. I have always enjoyed repairing stuff and fabricating stuff. I would be lost without my shop to play in. Gathering parts to build another trailer now.

If I ever win the lottery, I'd like to have a mancave like that...

November 4th. Who would have thought that the temperature could see 58 F. in Ontario. And the next 5 days in a row will be even better! Went for a short ramble on my R.E. this afternoon. South of my home and around the corner on Edgeware Rd. I stopped to get a pic of the almost bare trees in a woodlot. Most trees in my area look like this now with a few exceptions.





A bit further west I stopped for an "at the bridge" pic.





I kept going west towards St Thomas and took this pic of corn being unloaded into the auger pit at Ken Goodhue's on farm grain storage facility.



When I got to the east end of St Thomas the Ontario Southland train was just leaving town to return to Ingersoll. I got a quick pic and then backtracked to Yarmouth Centre Rd. to catch him at that crossing. As far as I know these two F units and another one that O.S. owns are the last F units in commercial freight service in Canada.







There was a train station beside this crossing many years ago but there is no trace of it now.



continued.....

Back south on Yarmouth Centre Rd. brought me to the Kilmartin Cemetery for a pic for that thread.



All the marker stones have been gathered and set in a concrete wall.





Further south brought me to Hwy. 3 where I turned east for one block to Tower Rd. Back north to where the train tracks cross this road the west property is owned by the Karn family. They are local fuel oil and propane suppliers and like to collect local historical artifacts. On this property they have a caboose and a sign from the CN Talbotville Yard where Ford cars from the Talbotville Assembly Plant were loaded onto trains to be shipped all over North America. When Ford stopped producing the full size rear wheel drive car lines they closed this plant and tore it down. Over forty years of production is now an open field with only the pollution control facility still on site.




From there I rode through St Thomas to the west entrance to the city where there is a unique sculpture in the middle of a round about. You can also see in the background of the city sign, the elevated park that used to be the large Michigan Central rail bridge.





continued....

From St Thomas I rode south on Sunset Drive (Hwy. 4 ) past the Shaw's ice cream plant and retail facility.They have been serving ice cream to locals and tourists since 1948.





Then it was on to Port Stanley for some pictures of the commercial area of the harbour. Jackson Fisheries own the building that Weaver Bros. have just unloaded their catch at and where Cosley Bros. will soon be doing the same. The fish then goes to Omstead Packers in Wheatly by refrigerated truck for processing.







When I left Port Stanley I rode a big loop west of town and came back in on the Union Rd. til I turned left on the Sparta Rd. and went to Sparta Village for a couple of pics before heading home to supper and a beer. I took another cemetery pic and one of an Elgin County Heritage tree. This large copper beech is still mostly covered with leaves but not for much longer.









From Sparta I rode north to Pleasant Valley Line, east to Springwater Rd. and then north through Jaffa and Orwell and Kingsmill to my home north of Kingsmill Corner. Hope to be back out tomorrow. Thanks for tagging along...Dave

Yesterday I went for a ride with my usual riding partner and a new fiend Jim. (inmate LittleMac). I didn't take too many pictures as we were too busy riding and enjoying the roads. In the first pic my buddy Maurice is in the foreground and Jim is beside his GS in Paris where we stopped for lunch.



From Paris we headed south towards lake Erie and turned west to run along the waterfront trail. We stopped at Hometown brewery so I could buy a six pack to take home. Forgot to get any pics there. We continued west for 1/2 a mile and turned north on Charlotteville west 1/4 road. On this road we stopped at Charlotteville Brewing to pic up another six pack. (one of which I am consuming as I compose this reply). I did take a few pics here. One of which contains Jim giving me the ADV salute along with Maurice who isn't even an inmate!









You'll notice that one bike ( had to be the GS eh!) isn't parked with the other two.



We had a good ride out and except for the place I was counting on for ice cream was closed there were no surprises. Thanks for coming along Jim. It was good to meet a fellow inmate; especially one who is practically a neighbor. Looking forward to more rides with you.

Nice to enjoy a rideabout with Dave and Moe. We had perfect weather for it with a few remaining fall colors.

Excellent shots. I especially like the ones of the Erie fishing boats unloading. As kids our Dad would drive us to Kingsville to watch them come in (our farm was near Amherstburg) . My understanding is that the Erie boats have their own design/‘look’ to them. Not many active ones left these days, I’m sure.

Yesterday; Nov. 7th was another unusually warm day for November so I went for another "ramble". I took my R50/5 out my laneway and went to the corner to head east on Mapleton Line towards 73 HWY/Imperial Rd. Just before that intersection I took a pic across the fields to the hamlet of Lyons. I went north on Imperial Rd to Lyons and stopped at the parkette where there is a memorial to the former Township of South Dorchester.















The Ontario Government in power in 1998 wanted to have less municipalities to deal with and forced many smaller townships and villages/hamlets to amalgamate with their neighbors to create new fewer local government entities. The Township of South Dorchester joined with it's neighbor to the south Malahide Township. I live in the area of the former South Dorchester Township which is now all called Malahide Township. There was a lot of animosity towards the Provincial Government of the day over this action.


continued.......

From Lyons I went east on Lyons Line to Whittaker Rd and south to the village of Springfield. I took a pic of the bike in front of the Springfield Pioneer Cemetery. The modern one that is now in use is located east of town.





The cenotaph in the village is set in a park that was developed and maintained by the local Lions Club chapter. There is also a plaque telling of the founding of Springfield. At the entrance are some rocks painted with masks to thank essential workers during the ongoing pandemic we are all experiencing.















continued.......

I left town on Springfield Road and went south to Summers Corners where I turned east on Talbot Line/Hwy 3. Just after turning east I stopped in front of the Burdick Cemetery. This one is fairly old having been "improved" in 1927. In the grounds I found stones for burials from 1818 to 2017.









From the cemetery I continued east on Hwy 3 and then veered southeast on Heritage Line/ County rd. 38 over to the village of Richmond where I photoed another cemetery and the road through the village.











continued...

East of Richmond, Heritage Line has a lot of nice sweeping curves and elevation changes on it's way to Straffordville where their cemetery sits on the edge of town. Amazing how you pass so many cemeteries while driving and never notice them; but when you look they are all over the place. I will stop taking so many cemetery pics soon. But there will be several more in today's ramble.









In Straffordville I turned south on Vienna Line to go to the village of Vienna where I stopped at the cenotaph and park for a couple of pictures.









I previously posted a pic of this plaque showing the connection of the Edison family to the Village of Vienna and area.



more of this connection in the next post.

continued.....

On this ramble while I was in Vienna again I sought out the Edison Pioneer Cemetery. It is in a very peaceful setting on the top of a hill on the southeast end of the village. All the stones have been laid flat and set in concrete so they won't be damaged. Thomas A. Edison's grandfather and other relatives are buried here. Some pictures of the way into the cemetery and also on the way out follow.













This is TAE's grandfather's headstone. Samual lived to the age of 103 years.



This is the downhill exit from the cemetery. It was leaf covered and loose but manageable.





I liked this pic so much it is now my screen saver.


continued.....