I write to you within a skin of a new hue. I was outside a LOT today and have acquired a bit of a burn. You see, Donna and I took the girls with privileges out on a field trip today ALL OVER ROBIN HOOD'S BARN.
First we went to a local community garden; it's like a co-op thing. Different families pay a certain amount up front and then come and get the produce later in the season. It's all organic etc. Anyway, we met the farmer at his house and had to drive up the road to get to the field. He started his minivan, pulled in front of me, and then hopped out to tell me something...and his minivan kept moving with nobody in it. I quickly pointed this out to him and he seemed rather unconcerned, said something like this happened all the time, and calmly made his way back to the vehicle to stop it. Oh my word. He's so laid back it's almost scary. Anyway, the girls did okay, even though there was a manure pile, and hordes of dragon flies... We did variations of weeding. But not the "hands and knees" variety of weeding. We had implements of agriculture. Cool. Mine was called a "scratcher." Kind of like a hoe. I worked on a row of pepper plants, a couple of rows of potato plants. The girls were enchanted by the free range chickens and when the farmer gave them an egg, I thought they would fly over the moon. They hollered across the field to Donna, " He gave us an egg! Donna! Can we keep it? Can we let it hatch!? I'll sit on it! Can we get an incubator!?" They got tired of hoeing pretty fast. These are city girls we have here.
We moved on from there to Crotched Mountain...We drove up the mountain a ways...I thought we were going to hop out of the car, walk five minutes up a trail and eat our delightful picnic lunch. But it turned into a nightmare. The girls were cranky, tired, and hungry...and in no mood to walk uphill. After all, hadn't they just finished a stint of hard labor? ( Umm...probably half an hour of work on a farm and they're pooped.) The picnic tables I thought were going to appear never materialized. Complaints began to fly. Morale took a nosedive. And then, one girl discovered ticks on her pants. You would have thought velociraptors were charging her. I can still hear the screams. And guess who plucked them off - with a leaf of course? ( That would be me.) Well, shortly after that debacle, a consensus was reached to retreat to the vans...But eating being VERBOTEN in the vans, we ended up eating on the side of the road. Charming. ( Another girl was in tears because of bug bites. I really don't think that the miracle cream in the first aid bag really did anything...but I figured applying it would at least act as a placebo. It seemed to do the trick.)
Next stop, the lake. No lifeguard was on duty, so the rule was, they couldn't go in above their knees. So the couple girls who braved the dubious lake floor, ( to say nothing of the water) flailed about in the shallow water like frantic fish. The rest of them baked themselves in the sun while swatting flies.
So there was my day. My left arm - my driving arm- is especially red.
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9 comments:
It wasn't Roger Noonan who was the farmer, was it? Cause that is what he does, and I can see him just letting his vehicle roll off unattended. But I don't think he has a minivan, so never mind.
Glad the girls got a taste of "nature". Good for them. Next time, tell them horror stories about lyme disease when they see a tick. Then you'll get some REAL hollering...
Nope- wasn't Roger Noonan. I didn't know that's what he did!
Glad you're day was interesting anyway... :) And now, Remembering your comment about not eating cereal anymore b/c you can't stand sogginess... Have you tried the cereal called “Ohs!”? They're very good (at least, I like them), but what makes me think you may like them is they WILL NOT sog! Actually, they did get slightly soft once when I poured the milk and then chatted on the phone with Gretchen for a long time and just let it soak up, but generally, they're so chrunchy through the whole bowl that if anyone tries to talk to me while I'm chewing, I don't even try to hear what they're saying. It's a lost cause b/c they're so crunchy and loud! :) SO for what it's worth :)
I feel like I'm in a commercial!
Yay! This post was great and reminded me of many things. First, "around Robin Hood's barn" took me right back to happy days in Tad's Last Days class. Second, the guy w/ his mini van reminded me of "The Gods Must Be Crazy," and third, a friend of TJ's who has taken many years of German gave him a mix CD with a German song called "Verboten," in which the illustrious word is used many times o'er. I'll have to see if I can get it for Brad.
Brad, thanks for visiting and commenting on my new blog! Yours and Claire's is one of the funniest around, and I'm just delighted to read your stories and keep up to date in this new fangled way!
Claire, Verboten is just your kind of word,
along with all over Robin Hood's barn or whatever it was.
You are Krahzee....but we all love you.
I'm glad it really was just a tick and not a velociraptor. I don't think a leaf would have quite done the trick. :)
Oh my word, I don't know if your girls are city girls or not, but taking city girls to the country is a trip. On one sally into the woods, one of mine cried for I don't know how long because she was stressed out about all the critters. Mind you, she could handle the streets, but not bugs and outhouses. 'Course if I'm tempted to be cocky, someone will wave a dead fish in my face, and I'll have to pretend that it doesn't matter At All, so as not to blow my cover.
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