If It Can Break, It Will

There are rules in nature and rules of things.   If there is a yellowjacket or honey bee flying around, it will sting you.  Well not me, but they always seem to find the kid that will scream and swat at them, which ends in a sting every time.  True, yellowjackets and hornets will sting you just because you are walking by.  One time when I was a kid, somehow one got up my pant leg and stung me six times before I could get them off.  

Actually I was told wasps, hornets or whatever you want to call them, don't sting, they BITE.  Who knew?  Anyway, we dealt with a couple of "bites" yesterday at the top of the slide.  After much investigation, we finally found the nest and sprayed it.  Hopefully that won't happen again.

There's always something when you have 250 school kids running around.  It was our first Field Trip day.  It's hard to gauge how long it will take them to move from one place to another.  I sent them to the barn too early, resulting in pandemonium when they had to wait ten minutes for the show.  Bad Nancy.  I'll do better next time.

Since it rained last night we were frantically cleaning up the bounce pillow of mud and water.  I did better with the next two groups.  The hardest part is getting them OUT at 12:00.  In spite of warning after warning, they drag their feet (and the kids) until we are scrambling.  

We handed out a pumpkin to every kid and every adult and thought they were gone, only to find them sneaking in the back door to use the restrooms.  All 50 of them.  That of course required a major clean up job, as you can imagine.

Once set up, as I walked to the back, I hear talking.  There should not be anyone there at this hour.  Sure enough, two had gone under the ropes and were playing in the Corn Maze.  I chased them out and locked the gate.  Gosh ... you have to watch them every second.

Moving on around the area, this is the Gem Mining station, looking across to the snack bar.  I was giving breaks at the time.  This is not my favorite location since they do not have a place to sit down.  Believe me, I sit at every possibly moment.  My feet have been screaming like that kid that got stung.  

This is the sluice box.  Water comes from that tank, runs down the ladder and into our box, which runs to the end behind me.  You get a bag of pay dirt, which you dump into the little boxes and swish around in the water.  

The screens in the bottom filter out all the sand (which is used again and again) and you are left with MAGIC!  Actually it's just some Australian mix along with two magnets, a piece or two of pyrite and one magic rock ground down to look like an animal ... mostly dinosaurs.  The kids go crazy over this stuff.

In the meantime, oh the sounds of electricity mixed with water!!  The gal working the Snack Bar has not done it before and isn't familiar with the fact that all those things plugged in will not work on the minimal electricity available.

They put water in the hot dog steamer, only to find it running out the bottom.  That should have been a clue.  I finally remembered that pan had a hole in the bottom, which I complained about for two years to no avail.  The heating element got wet and POP .... nothing worked.  Of course then they couldn't figure out WHICH pot had the hole, because the two they were looking at did not.  

At long last I found the holy one, which didn't walk on water well at all, and described how we used it and more inportantly WHERE we used it.  As of now, it's out of business since there are STILL too many things plugged in.  This is a BARN, not the Ritz Hotel!  

About that time I got a call from the slide.  Someone's phone fell out of their pocket and was lounging halfway to the bottom.  Oh the horror!!  Just get on a rug and slide down, grabbing it along the way.

Then it was off to find the kid lost in the Corn Maze, which covers about 8 acres.  I get lost every time I go in there, so I conned one of the worker kids into doing it.  He was gone for a long time before coming out alone.  Apparently the parent screaming for the kid was just playing hide and seek.  He wasn't lost at all.

Here's another pretty ... have you seen a sunflower before it blooms?

Amazing these things, which run from three to ten foot tall.  I think they plant them so the adults will smile instead of scream at their kids.  It does work on occasion.

And so the day finally ended as I waited for one lone kid on the Bounce Pillow to quit bouncing so we could close the entire place for the night.  He refused to get off until exactly 8:00 on the dot.  I did a quick sweep, told my feet to hush up and signed out.  Lucky for me I get to sit until 10:00 this morning.  Oh the joy!!

Where The Goats Go

It was another long day at the Pumpkin Patch, but the weather has been wonderful.  In the mid 70's with a breeze blowing, it doesn't get any better.

Actually it does, when I'm able to sneak off to visit the goats and take a break from the wonderful screaming kids and parents.  This is where the goats go.  We call it the critter corral.  Inside these red barn doors is Barnyard Squares.  We will visit it later.

Across from the squares is the large pen where five baby goats beg for food.  That's all these "kids" think about, like any normal kid I suppose.

They are cute as can be and LOVE to be petted and scratched.  The best part for me is the hay bales scattered about where I can sit and take a load off my feet out of sight of the public!!

Believe it or not, this little girl is asleep.  I can't believe she didn't fall off.  The day went well actually, especially when I found the blower to take the place of that broom.  That made a world of difference in my walking gait for the rest of the day.  We spruced up, cleaned up and hauled off stinky pumpkins.  You cannot imagine just how bad they can smell.  Whew!!!!

I may have mentioned this before, but goats only have teeth on the bottom, so they can't really bite you.  They nibble like a bunny rabbit.  Too much fun.

Back at it, I was amazed that the new recruits I trained for the Corn Chute slide did an amazing job.  We had not ONE single complaint the entire day.  Boy does that make my job easier.  

I'm sure that won't happen today however, as I've got somewhere between 250 and 300 school kids coming for their field trip at 9:00 this morning.  Add to that a new tractor driver to train and I should be catatonic by noon!  Some days I don't get lunch ... but THIS day it will be required to keep my sanity.  

If you happen to be out in the goat barn, you can also have your picture taken with the witch who turned my prince into a frog.  This caused quite the stir last year when a kid stuck his entire head THROUGH the hole in the frog and got stuck.  Oh yeah, that was a fun one, trying to get him unstuck.  Soap finally did the trick, whereupon we made the hole MUCH larger!

Here's the best news of the day.  My new tool box came in.  I can't wait to screw it down and fill it up!!

Total miles walked:  48.39

Is There A Full Moon?

 You know how all the crazies come out on a full moon night?  Well surely yesterday was a full moon in spades!  Maybe it was the change in weather (SO welcome at this point) to a slight breeze all day and 75 degrees.  I think that saved me.

This is the infamous slide.  It doesn't look too bad from the bottom.  Once you get to the top however, it's VERY steep.  And very high in the sky!!  

Parents seem to want to force their kids to go down.  I don't get it.  So they have to be 38 inches tall.  Probably half of those that height are still in diapers.  Surprising?  Yessirree!  The rules say you have to hold your own blanket and walk to the top, then go down by yourself.  No lap sitting, no holding hands.  Those kids ride the whole way laying down ... if they ride it at all.

Yesterday was an epic day of screaming crying children.  I walked the first four back down to the bottom.  One parent insisted her little girl ride, so she brought her BACK up.  I walked her down again.  New Rule:  Once you walk down, you are not allowed back up.

Sandals are not allowed.  The website, the front gate and the big sign at the slide all say YOU MUST WEAR CLOSED TOE SHOES.  Therefore, anyone wearing sandals cannot ride.  The cry of outrage was like a rock band in my ears!!  

The full moon effect kicked in.  She said I told her daughter in crocs that she could not ride.  No ma'am, I told the little girl standing NEXT to your daughter SHE could not ride because she had on sandals.  They literally went screaming to the boss.  You can't talk to those people ... they just flip out.  I seriously think it's an act to get something for free, because of course they all want their money back.  (They didn't get it though).

And there was more.  One little girl was so scared she started screaming and would not let go of the handle so we could walk her down.  I have not heard screaming like that EVER.  I finally located her mother and asked her to please get her child off the slide.  Even Mom couldn't make her let go.  

She finally grabbed one arm and just started walking down.  I thought for a second she would rip her arm from the socket.  She dragged the screaming-ever-louder kid the entire way.  It was epic!!!!  You could tell it was more tantrum, because at the bottom she continued to scream for the next ten minutes.  It took all my patience not to ask her to leave.

Oh yes, there were more.  I quit counting at eight kids walked or dragged down the stairs.

Aahhhmmmmmm I went and contemplated the sunflowers for awhile.  

I really didn't know there were so many different kinds and colors.  All of these are from 4 to 8 feet tall.  Pretty cool!

Scheduling kid workers has been another awesome task.  Thankfully I don't have do to it, I just have to figure out where I need people and move them around from place to place.  So far the kids working have been doing an excellent job ... making MY job much easier.  

The nice lady who took over the snack bar hardly has any hair left since pulling most of it out on the first two days.  I'm pretty sure she didn't know what she was in for.  Not only do you have to manage the entire kitchen, but order and keep everything in stock.  

Thus the 2500 hot dogs now residing in the refrigerator, along with 2500 hot dog buns hidden everywhere, in every cabinet, in wagons in the shop building and in the freezer of a nearby parked RV.  I help her when I can, but don't want to get in her way.

My reward was a hot dog for dinner.  Any leftovers are offered up to the kids, but I snagged this one for me.  Not too appetizing, yeah?  No worries, smothered in mustard, it tasted GREAT since I hadn't eaten all day.

I was a little taken aback when I got home to discover I am apparently allergic to almond hull dust.  They use crashed shells on the entire grounds.  I have a lovely red rash from my ankles to my knees that tingles and itches like crazy.  Now Benadryl has become my friend!!  Today I'll be wearing my lovely boot socks in an attempt to keep the itching at bay.  We shall see how that goes.

Total miles walked as of day 5:     41.1 miles

BINGO!!!!

 Are you ready for some BINGO?  I wasn't.  I would rather have stayed home on the couch, but off I sauntered to the land of gambling.  It started out great .... happy peasants ..... until nine won the first pot.  That's VERY unusual.  What it probably means is that the previous volunteer helpers used the boxes of cards out of order.  What that meant was a grand total of $21 each was paid out.  Not a good investment on their $40-$60 cost.  Oh the moans and groans!

The peasants were not happy with the King, and that brought out the cranky.  When I gave one lady her total, she proceeded to give me a piece of her mind.  I overcharged her she stated ... LAST week.  I told her if she had her receipt, I'd be happy to show her I did not.  

We went round and round until she finally left the table with $57 worth of tickets.  She said last week for the exact same thing, I charged her $63.  They do like being loud before finally mumbling off into the dungeon.  In thirty minutes she came back, stating she didn't get the Double Action cards in her pack.  I checked her new receipt where none were found.  That will be $6 please.  Guess what ... 57 + 6 = 63.  Yup ... it happens almost every single week.

The night went on rather quickly for once, with one guy winning even before any numbers were called.  There's a game called Bonanza.  The machine automatically pulls up numbers which you get for free.  When the game comes around, the caller only calls a few before someone wins.  I don't think this has ever happened before.  He had all the numbers before the game started.  Everyone gave him a standing ovation.  Then they ran over to touch his shoulder for good luck.  I kid you not!  

There were lots of boos and hisses from pots that were shared to the tune of $40 each, but overall no fighting or food throwing.  I'm hoping we got all those mixed up boxes out of our system.  Yay for not having to call the police!

On another note ... remember that cauliflower chili verde bowl from Costco?  It doesn't resemble this by even the tiniest bit ... well maybe the corn ... but it's REALLY good ... chili verde tasty.  Not only do you not taste the cauliflower, you really can't even SEE it ... there's hardly any at all.  It's all pork!!  Yummy!!

Lastly before I hit the couch for a quick snooze pre-pumpkin-patch, here's how to make that wreath.  It's wired nylon ribbon, three pieces cut to 12" long and zip-tied together.  I bet there was a man involved in the construction.  

Those are tied to a rolled bundle with pipe cleaners, and all of that tied to a wire frame.

The red and blue rolls of poly mesh ribbon look to be 10-12 inches wide with lengths of probably 12 inches, rolled with the wire edge on the outside, then tied to the bottom of the blue/white bundle.

All that is then wired to the frame.  There are about six bundles of red and white, along with three bundles of blue and white.  There may be a couple of extra rolled bundles, I can't quite tell.  The wire frame is 14".  

And there you have it ... instant wreath!  Maybe after I heal up in December, I'll make one for Christmas.

As for now, I'm headed back to the couch ... or maybe even the bed ... to gather up strength for my noon to 7:30 shift.  This will be the first time I have to ask the kids to empty the trash.  I bet they are going to love THIS new twist!!

WORK WORK WORK!!!

Anyone remember ALF?  The fuzzy alien from TV land?  Every time I walked by these sunflowers yesterday, that's what came to mind.  It was definitely NOT what I expected.  Thinking I had a day off, I lounged around, not getting far from the living room couch.  Then I got the call.  The 11-6 pumpkin selling - mum selling girls would require training.  Ugh ... okay, at least I won't have to walk far, right? 

How wrong I was.  Another 6.4 miles added to the tally.  It seems the night guy who does all the cleaning, decided he didn't have enough time to dump any trash or clean up any concrete areas.  This place that has a reputation for being spotless, was a big mess after Sunday night.  

I spent the next 3 hours blowing off the dirt and almond hulls, then washing down the entire concrete area to remove 20 or so sno-cone drops.  I could have had the girl do it, but at that age, these kids don't know how to work fast or efficiently.  Next time I'll crack the whip and make them do it.

I tried to sit as much as possible when the boss wasn't looking.  My plan now is to shift my transmission into a lower gear and practice my PLOD.  Surely if I go much slower, I won't put on as many miles and my feet will be happier.  If I survive, I'll be strong as an ox!!

As you can tell, the sunflowers are in bloom.  Who knew there were so many different kinds?  Apparently a sunflower is not just a sunflower.  Thankfully they are all on drip irrigation so these don't become something I have to supervise!!

I made a quick trip out to check on the goats.  Okay, that's a lie.  I went out to the barn so I could hide while sitting down on a bale of hay.  I felt a little guilty, but hey ..... I'm old!!

We finally finished cleaning just before the heat got to me.  Another 95 degree humid day with barely breathable air.  We seem to be getting smoke from another fire.  The good thing was we had very few customers, giving the one girl time to reload all the pumpkin bins and get things in ship shape.  When we sold 150 to one customer, she had to start all over again.

I took a quick break inside with the AC on high before the meeting of the minds.  Mine didn't really work so good since my feet were screaming bloody murder.  Rather distracting!!  A plan of action was decided upon, which means more work for me, or for the kids really, but I'm responsible for making them do it.  Empty all the trash at the end of the night.  I'm sure they will love that!!

This is what Cooper and I looked like two minutes after getting home.  Exhausted would be a good word.  Advil is my friend!!!  I'll be back at it today, but just for two hours.  I told them I absolutely HAD to have Tuesday's off for the Magic Kingdom, where at least I will be sitting down all night!!

I'll leave you with a smoky weird sun as I got home.  It was like my neighbors were burning their trash again, only worse!!  Today it should cool off and clear up.  YAY!!

You Build It .. They Will Come

Today's little tidbit is how many varieties of pumpkins there are.  Too many for me to name them all.  Technically, all these pictures are gourds of the decorating variety.  As you enter the property, there are eight (maybe nine) huge bins full of these little cuties. 

Not small bins, but big boxes, 4' x 4' x 3' tall.  Need something warty for your dinner table?  We have it.

There are so many varieties at the Pumpkin Patch, it's hard to pick.  The best part is they last on your mantle or dinner table until Thanksgiving.

The good news is we are not that busy in the first two weeks of October.  We have lines set up kind of like Disneyland and are experts at keeping them moving.  That's a good thing, since if it could go wrong yesterday, it did!!

Right off the bat, three kids didn't show up.  That puts a crimp in things because I have to play musical chairs to get the main attractions going.  It was another epic morning of training.  As you can imagine with 16 year olds, some get it and some don't.  They are all very willing thank goodness, and try their best.  Some are just more talented than others.  And of course then there's the problem of a 16 year old telling the adult visitors they can't do that!!

There are signs everywhere that sandals and flip flops are not allowed on the slide.  When the kids get turned down, the parent comes unglued, maybe more so that a kid is telling them NO.  We've seen some epic displays of crazy already!!

Here's the wreath I picked up at the craft market for my front door.  The best part is I now know how to make them myself for a fraction of the price!!!!!

And this cool sign ... I couldn't resist.  Unfortunately it wasn't until I got home that I realized the sign is pointing the wrong direction.  Actually .... that may be even better!!  Hee hee hee!

The day's walk turned out to be 9.74 miles (oh my aching feet) and 19 stories climbed.  That's because the slide is something like 50 feet tall and I had to climb it that many times.  My calves are screaming at me as I type.  From the top, the view is amazing.  

This is the new professional ballfield.  You build it ....... you know the rest.  Last year when the County refused to let any of the kids play little league (or any kind of baseball), the Hunter Family built this ballfield so the kids would have a place to go.  Since it's on private property, no one could stop them.  All summer long, little league and high school baseball flourished.

Yesterday as I spent quite some time at the top, I watched the local high school kids play their championship game.  Boy can those kids play!!!

The other view is this ... the calm before the storm of visitors.  Thank goodness the steps coming up are small in height for little kids.  My first two trips were to try and find the wasps that were flying about.  Then to train two kids, then to spray the slide to make it slippery, then to bring down some kids who panicked at the top.  It never ended all day.

Thank goodness for a few moments of quiet (with the roar of a tractor engine) while giving breaks to the drivers.  In the meantime, the snack bar ran out of stuff to sell the first day.  Since they were open until 7:00 at night, they didn't get a refill for yesterday.  

It's definitely still a work in progress which I'm happy to say I don't have to take care of.  YAY!!!  Eventually they got the doors open with tri-tip sandwiches while I lounged in the goat pen petting the latest group of babies. 

It was a crazy long day of problem solving and working out the kinks.  Thank goodness they are only open for pumpkin sales for the next two days.  By the end of the eleventh hour, my body was fine but my feet were screaming bloody murder!!  

Today I'm going in just to be sure the day girls are set up, then hopefully I'm back home until it's time for the Magic Kingdom tomorrow.  I imagine you'll find me on the couch!!!

Total miles walked so far:   26.95   Yikes ... that's a marathon!!!

Let The Craziness Begin!!!

 As much as I love this Pumpkin Patch fun, the Craft Market Day is a killer.  I started at 8:30 am.  We don't open until 10:00.  Vendors were here packing the roads and aisles by 7:30.  First things first ... get the equipment turned on and plugged in.  All I can say is thank goodness I'm not in the kitchen this year. Still, it's a lot of running around trying to get organized and begin training.  Oh boy the training!!

The above picture was taken around 9:30.  There is already about 50 people in line under the tent and they were lined up out to the parking lot.  By 10:30 they were all the way to the END of the lot, about 35 cars away.

At least this time I remembered my phone.  Not many craft pictures, since no one wants their ideas stolen.  There were almost 70 booths set up, many leaving after only two hours when they were sold out.

I never did get to check out every booth, but I did pick up a couple of things I'll post tomorrow.  Right now, I barely have time to write the blog.

None of the kids working on this day had done this before, and most missed the training day a week ago.  No surprise!!  And truly, most all of these 15-17 year olds have never even been on a ranch or farm of any kind.  One was a little put off at the dirt ... of course the girl who didn't know how to turn the faucet off ... and one who played the sick card, so I sent her home.  I'm pretty sure she won't be back!!

It was the Corn Chute (the big slide) that was the day killer.  I'll get a picture of that today.  Yesterday I was too exhausted from climbing to the top constantly.  There are rules.  No one likes rules, including me, but they are required when kids are at the top, close to 50 feet high.  

No, your baby in a diaper cannot go down this slide.  "Well we do it at the fair every year".  Sorry, NO!!  They must be 38" tall ... and we measure!!  You cannot hold your child in your lap either.  They must be old enough to carry their own blanket and climb to the top on their own.  (Kid is screaming) I really don't think your child likes this.  Please don't try to force him ..... but they do.  And of course one worker lets one kid go down on a parents lap, which brought resounding protests!!!  She no longer works the top.

No open toed shoes, no flip flops, no sandals it says in big letters at the entrance.  It matters not.  I finally told three kids they could only go down the slide if they found someone to loan them a pair of tennis shoes.  Believe it or not, that's just what they did.

All in all, the five kids that ended up working this attraction, did very well, after two hours of training.  Remember, they are 15-17 years old.

Then there was the slight mistake in the scheduling (thank you Lord for not giving me THAT job) where I required TWO bodies, but only got one.  I finally snagged a gal from a not-so-important job and stuck her on top of the slide.  I'm learning the ropes too ... how to speak teenage-eze!!  I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!

I walked an amazing 10.45 miles between training and passing out water.  At 95 degrees, we were all melting nicely into the crushed almond hulls on the ground.  I'm determined to cut that in half today, although I'm pretty sure I have an entire new crew to train.  On the other hand, I didn't have to deal with the power going out in the kitchen every hour because they overloaded a circuit.  

It's going to be an interesting year.  The best part of all, I THINK (I haven't confirmed this yet) that I will actually get at least ONE day off.  They will be open on Mondays for pumpkin sales ONLY, no attractions will be open.  YAHOO!!!

Hunter Farms Pumpkin Patch

Did you ever have one of those days when you were so far behind you couldn't catch up with your feet?  It was like that most of the day.  The Pumpkin Patch is officially open!!  I knew there would be much to do, so I went in at 2:00.  We opened at 3:30.

The first order of business was to clean the bounce pillow.  That should have been done the day before, but we grabbed the mops and buckets and went to work.  There was a bit of a mess to clean up when the 17-year old didn't know how to turn the garden hose faucet off.  No, I'm not kidding.  It amazes me every time!!  

Next up I headed to the Corn Chute (the slide) to train the two girls how to hand out the rugs people ride down on, how to set them up and keep the line going.  Lucky for us it was a slow opening day.  Getting people up to the top of the slide in a timely manner is an art.  They did pretty well considering just how hot it was.

Then came the bad news.  I ran off and left my phone at home.  No pictures, other than what I can snatch from last year.  That didn't work out so well for me when the Boss called and I didn't answer -- THREE times!!

So here's a scary Halloween image I took a few years ago (okay, ten years ago) at Raisin Hell Ranch down south.  This was a scary Halloween experience where people chased you with chain saws.  That was to get you moving at the very end to make room for more people.  The screams were hilarious, but only because I knew the whole scenario from being inside taking photographs.

They didn't stay open very long.  It was like a Hollywood movie set where actors, costumes and props were required for every performance every night.  What a kick in the pants it was to be there.  The photographs were used for their advertisements around the state.  

Next up was extracting the wad of hornets who built their nest in the paper towel dispenser.  Thankfully one of the guys had already sprayed it generously and killed everything, but not before getting stung.  I got the easy part of pulling them out and adding new towels.  

 

Although slow to get going, the snack bar works a little better because it's twice the size as previously used.  It was also staffed with eight girls instead of the normal three.  Attraction Supervisor works SO much better for me than Snack Bar Supervisor.  

Luckily, there was only one glitch with electricity, which was fixed almost immediately.  It's too bad the rest of the new equipment didn't show up.  They ordered the new tractor car ride last year.  Apparently it's sitting on a ship out in the middle of the ocean and won't be delivered until October 23.  It's doubtful it will get set up in time to be used THIS year, but we are keeping our fingers crossed.

The mums are blooming like crazy and ready for pickup.  Anyone know if these are annuals?  I have to admit, they make beautiful table decorations.  I might have to bring one home.

And so it was a very hectic day.  I'm hoping it gets better, but alas, the first week will be all about training all the new kids.  Out of maybe 45 employees, we only have 5 who have worked before.  At least I will remain busy.

Miles walked:  6.76 on the first day.  My feet talked to me until about midnight!!

IT'S PUMPKIN TIME!!!!

 The mysteries of Mother Nature are many.  Here’s one … how in the world does this guy get in my back yard?  I’ve traveled the entire perimeter and found no entry or exit holes.  Has he got wings?  More up close and personal video!

I did find one four inch space under a double wrought iron gate.  That’s amazing if it’s how he enters the back yard.  Lucky for me, no Eau-de-Pew followed him this time.

Here’s the truck toolbox I ordered.  If you could see underneath the back seat of my truck, you would understand the need.  There’s so much stuff crammed under there it’s crazy, not to mention it's really hard to find anything.  Chains, battery cables, a jack, tools spread out everywhere … it’s a mess.    Hopefully this will help give Cooper a little more room.  I ordered it from Tractor Supply.

At long last it's PUMPKIN time at the Patch.  As much as I was hoping to show off the new additions this year, sadly Insurance has put a stop to most everything.  Out of the blue they decided not to insure the kids zip line, even though they did last year.  Scratch that one for now.  

The big new Snack Bar building is also on hold because even though they submitted plans over a year ago to the Building Division (where I worked for ten years), they still have not approved them.  That's ridiculous.  I know the routine .. I know what's required and they should have had that done in two months.  MY building crew would have had it approved in two WEEKS.  It seems nowadays they do everything they can to make you wait.  It's a game of control.  Can you feel my irritation?

On the other hand, the good news is that I'm not working the snack bar this year.  No more lugging 400 cases of Costco water, or 400 cases of soda or all the boxes of goodies to sell.  I'm pretty happy about that!!  This year I just have to supervise the teenagers running the attractions.  Come to think of it, that just might be a worse job!!  No no .... it's going to be a blast!!

I can't wait to hear the creak of this 100-year old windmill that opens and closes with the speed of the wind.  Whoever invented this was a genius!!  The dinosaurs are ready, the goats not so patiently waiting for all that food they get and the slide got a new coat of slick spray.  

I'm making up my list of required items ... like furniture polish.  Yup that's what makes the slide slick!!  I'm sure the first day will be a disaster, but I've got my fingers crossed.  Tomorrow is the big vendor day ... an open air market with over 60 sellers of crafty items.  If I survive that, I should be good to go.

It's PUMPKIN TIME!!