Fall Adventures Begin!

Hi, Everyone!

I thought it was time for fall adventures to start, and I was right!  The leaves are starting to turn color, apples are ripening, and we’re starting the fall chores at the bay! Some creature has been eating nuts on our deck benches and leaving the husks behind!  Every time we’re out there, Grandma has to sweep another pile off the deck!  Grandpa replaced the window panes Grandma repainted, so the boathouse is ready for winter!

A week ago Saturday, Grandma and Aunt Kara and I took James and Thomas to Burnaps Farm Market to pick apples!  Of course, we had to admire the pumpkins first!  Then James and Thomas wanted to play on the train!  It took a while before they agreed the next stop could be the apple orchard!  In the meantime, I made a lot of pumpkin friends!

Guess what?  We were the very first people in the you-pick apple orchard section for the entire season!  The trees were full of great big apples!  There were no signs this year for the different varieties, so James and Thomas just picked what they thought looked good.  We got lots of different kinds!  When our bag was full, James and Thomas decided to run around in the corn maze.  They said it was easy to find the right path out!

When we got back from picking apples, Uncle Steven wanted to haul the jet skis and put them on the trailer for the winter.  When we’ve done that before, Grandpa had to get the powerboat out to ferry Uncle Steven back from the haul-out ramp to drive the second jet ski there.  This year, Aunt Kara rode one of the jet skis to the ramp, so Grandpa only had to drive the trailer there to pick them both up.  The trailer and skis were back in no time!  Uncle Steven got them parked for the winter.  I helped cover up the trailer to protect the skis!  Then I sat with Thomas while he watched anime on YouTube.

James and Thomas had a school holiday the next Monday.  Grandma invited them over to make goat cheese biscuits.  James made the dough and helped Grandma roll it out.  After James cut the dough into biscuits, Thomas put them on the baking sheets and painted the tops with milk.

While the biscuits were baking, James and Thomas set up a cushion-jumping challenge in the living room!  The first challenge was a high jump.  When Thomas was taking his turns, James sang a video game jumping theme for him.

James and Thomas had moved on to the long jump challenge when the biscuits were done.  They took time out to put the biscuits on the cooling rack, then they did the triple jump challenge!  Grandma was happy they didn’t turn into techno zombies right away, even when they had permission to use their electronics.

Last weekend, Uncle Steven and James and Thomas came out to the bay on Friday night.  There was electronics time before breakfast on Saturday, but then they tossed Thomas’ new football around.  Footballs are hard to throw and catch!  I’m glad nobody tossed one to me!

Tuesday, Grandma and I made our annual visit to Powers Farm Market’s pumpkin patch.  That’s so popular we have to pick a time when there’s parking available.  Grandpa came home from an errand and told us it wasn’t crowded when he drove past.  So we went right away!  Powers has lots and lots of pumpkins!

We visited the teepees, too!  I made pumpkin friends inside!

One reason Powers is popular are the hayrides!  One was just leaving when we came out of the teepees.  I’ve never been on one, so I was happy to read the sign that described what is included.  Then I said hello to my alpaca and goat friends.  Just before we left, I made friends with the pumpkins that are the examples for size and price.  My nearest friend is marked $12 on the other side!

We’re going to have a partial eclipse of the sun in another week or so, and next April we’ll be in the path of a total eclipse!  Grandma decided we’d better get our eclipse watching glasses and ordered them on-line.  Because they arrive flattened out, they came in this great big box!  Grandpa has finished the first inside phase of his project to fix the basement wall next to the back deck.  He’s putting up plastic panels to cover the water-damaged cinder block surfaces.  The wall looks much nicer!

Love,

Lion-san