A Quick Run-down of the Last Few Days...

While we visited this weekend, Dad finally got a chance to play with the RC boat that Michael got him for Christmas. Now, Dad was thinking about chasing the Canadian geese around the pond with the boat, but in the meantime, we let the dogs chase it around the pool. They had a blast, but we did have to stop because Jasper began limping. We later found that the poor bugger was down three wheels: he tore his paw pads on three feet. He's been laid up with antibiotic ointment and gauze on his feet since Friday night, when we discovered why he was favoring three of his paws.

Check out the rest of the pictures here to see what we've been up to these last few days....


Ava attacks the RC boat.



Mom made crepes with banana and nutella on
Saturday morning. Yum.




At the York Agricultural and Industrial Museum on Saturday, Savannah learns that milking a cow is harder than it looks.
Me: "Nothing's coming out."
Michael: "Pull and squeeze."
Me: "Nope. Nothin'"




Bun sits in a delivery truck at the
York Ag & Industry Museum.




Woo woo! Michael runs an engine.



Michael and me at the York Ag & Industry Museum (on front of a flat-bottom boat
you can't see here.)

How may I direct your call? An operator station from the 1930s.

The sign under which my Dad said he walked for 7 years, when he
worked at the paper mill. It's now on view at the Ag & Industrial Society.
That buggy in front? That was a mail buggy run by a relative, named
Samuel Schroll, for 20 years in the later 1800s.

Dad and Bun in front of the reproduction apothecary at the Historical Society Museum.

Presentation of that cake....

My Mum blowing out the candles.

 Remember the cake I made yesterday, and the frosting I made the day before? I got to present it to the birthday girl today. There she is, blowing out the candles.

We're actually not on the homestead today, but on the "farm" I grew up on. I use air quotes around farm because we've never farmed it ourselves, although we had a big garden, a goat, a flock of chickens, a herd of guineas, and some peacocks. Still, in terms of actual agriculture, a local farmer used to (and still does) rotate crops on an annual basis, planting corn one year, soy beans the next.

When I was 13 and 14, the neighbor boys from Big Mount would ride their ATVs in the back acerage and destroy large swaths of crop. At the time, I was a great fan of the mafia shows, and at the time, my father had giant Lincoln Town Cars. When the young lads from up the road would come into the field with their ATVs, knocking down soy bean plants, I would drive my father's Town Car over the swails and sit there, revving my engine. It scared the living crap out of those boys. And they stopped coming down for awhile. Mission accomplished.


My father. We've made quick work of the cake.

So, we're here for a few days, while Glenn (Thanks, Glenn!) takes care of the bees, which are flourishing in this hot weather. We topped off their feeders before we left. In fact, last night, around 9:30, Michael made sugar syrup, while I packed and tidied the house in preparation for leaving. If you ever wonder what person would vaccum at 10 o'clock at night. Wonder no further. That person is me.

If you keep scrolling, you'll see a picture of me holding a glass of ice cream. My folks made strawberry ice cream from scratch (and from their own berry crop), and it is fantastic.

While Dad and I got into the port wine, we had a cloud burst, a cloud burst that came with hail. The last picture below shows the rain sheeting down the green house windows. And as quickly as it came, the rain was gone, although it remained overcast for the rest of the evening, and the sky had a strange yellowish cast. Unsettling to say the least, given all the tornadoes that have been ripping across the landscape over the past few weeks

.

Bunny, comfortable after dinner.

Me, holding Mom and Dad's strawberry ice cream.



A cloud burst with sheets of rain.