Some New Old Friends!

Hi, everyone!

The weekend after I wrote last time, Grandma and Grandpa took me and Uncle Steven’s family to a grand opening party!  The Rochester Museum and Science Center was hosting a travelling exhibit on dinosaurs!  I remember going to the grand opening the last time there was a dinosaur exhibit, and I was excited to be there with James and Thomas!  When we got there, we saw a greeter in a dinosaur suit and a baby amargasaurus right in the main lobby!

Most of the exhibit was upstairs in the Riedman Gallery — the same place we went for the Lego architecture exhibit!  James and I stopped for a photo op with a t rex right outside the gallery door!  Inside, there were lots of big dinosaur models!  Some of them moved when they detected motion around them, and some of them had movements visitors could control.  I made friends with some dinosaurs I’d never heard of before!

There were some activities set up among the dinosaurs.  Thomas and I practiced uncovering dinosaur fossils from loose dirt.  James and Thomas both learned how to transfer dinosaur eggs with a remote claw hand.  When James and Thomas were done looking at the exhibit, I made sure to say goodbye to the dinosaur by the door.  Of course, we made a stop in the Adventure Zone before we left the museum, so James and Thomas could use the overhead walkway.  Then they got more practice with the canal lock model before we all had dinner together at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

The end of that weekend, Grandma and Grandpa took me out to the bay.  Uncle Steven had helped Grandpa rehang the sliding door for the boathouse.  Now that it is shorter and the boathouse frame is level, it’s a lot easier to open!  The garage door store won’t have the roll-up door Grandpa wants for the front of the boathouse until next year, but Grandpa wanted to get the door frame ready for it now.  Because of the rain we’ve had, the water level in the bay is higher at the boathouse opening!  Grandpa had to wear waders, because boots weren’t tall enough to keep the water out when he worked there.  Grandma and I helped by handing him everything he needed, so he didn’t have to wade in and out of the water to get tools.

Enough leaves were down at the bay to do our first cleanup.  Grandpa used the leaf blower to collect the leaves into piles, then Grandma used rakes to push those piles into the borders.  We’ll have to do this again when the rest of the leaves fall, but it was nice to see green lawn for a little while!

After the leaves were cleaned up, we finished one more project.  Grandpa and Grandma stretched a tarp across the front of the boathouse on a rope.  Then Grandpa fastened the tarp around the top and sides of the door opening with wood blocks and nails and screws.  I hope our temporary “door” will keep out most of the rain and wind!

In Fairport, most of the leaves have fallen from the red oak and the sugar maple.  The leaves on the rest of the trees are at least turning yellow now!    Last Friday evening, Grandma and Grandpa worked till after dark to make the first big leaf pile of the season along the road.  I was looking forward to playing in it, but Saturday and Sunday were both rainy and chilly.  Grandma doesn’t let me play in wet leaves!  Yesterday, the town leaf patrol came to pick up the pile before I got a chance to go out.  We had a graupel flurry while they were working!  There are already enough additional leaves down to make a new pile for me when the weather is drier!

Inside, my Christmas cactus is getting ready to bloom for Thanksgiving.  Grandma and I made a batch of croutons for salads.  We’ve had several nights below freezing, but some of my impatiens friends in the protected window box are still blooming.  They’ve been nibbled down, chilled and aren’t even being watered any more! I admire their spirit!

Love,

Lion-san