Of Knights and Ladies Fair

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

 

Wait, that's not right...

 

Ahem.  Once upon a time, when the boys were very into knights and armour, a royal tournament was held at the castle of Sir Alex. 

 

Ye knights who attended: Sir Matthew C., Sir Tim, Sir Christopher, Sir Alex, Squire Matthew A., and Sir Aubrey.

 

Ye fair ladies, Lady Ellen, Lady Kellie, Lady Lilly, Lady Natasha, and Misty, the royal guard dog.

 

Squire Matthew assists Sir Alex with his armour.

Excitement mounts as the knights enter the lists...

Sir Alexander and Sir Christopher begin their battle by...making faces at each other?  (Notice Sir Christopher's tongue?;)

Back to their tents to repair their arms...their weapons, that is.  No one lost a limb, as far as I know.

 

Sir Aubrey and Sir Alex engage in battle...

 

They close in on each other...

 

It was a fierce battle, but in the end...

 

Who won anyway?!

 

I don't think anyone really won, but Sir Alex came away with a nasty cut, I mean, wound, on his nose from a "battle axe"!

 

After a sumptuous feast, all of our brave knights went home tired, bruised, and happy.

 

And so the story ends...

 

~The End~

 

Weather Balloon Volleyball

A long time ago, my Dad used weather balloons for testing his electronics business products...I think. 

Like I said, it was a long time ago.  As far back as I can remember, Dad did stuff with weather balloons.  We have pictures of me when I was really little (about 2 years old), helping daddy with the balloons.

Today, while rummaging in the attic, Dad found a couple of the balloons that hadn't been inflated yet.  He enlisted me to help inflate one (it was my job to make sure it didn't touch the ground), to see if it would hold air.  He wasn't sure if it would, since they're about 15 years old.

While we were inflating it, Alex and my extra brothers (the A boys) happened along.  Of course, they were immediately interested.

They took over keeping it off the ground, so I got a few snapshots - you generally fill weather balloons with helium, so they'll float, but, unfortunately, we didn't have any, so we had to use plain old air.

Then they carried it away...

...and around the pond...

...where Dad prepared to toss it in.

Doesn't that look neat?!

The boys towed it around for a bit...

After a while, we put some more air in it - weather balloons are capable of being inflated till their about 20 feet across, but it takes about a half an hour to get them that big.  I think some weather balloons are even bigger.

The boys then had the bright idea of playing volleyball with the balloon in the pasture.

They tried it in the horse pasture first - I only wish I had a video of Dewey when the balloon landed on his head...;)

For safety reasons (!), we relocated to the lower pasture.  Enjoy the video:)  

btw, our camera no longer records sound, so you really can't hear anything besides static.

 Happy Trails y'all!

The Rockin' B Ranch

This Thursday was the Hat Band's last opportunity to play at the Rockin' B Ranch Cowboy Supper Show for the season.  They got to play once a month this year as the pre-show.  Many of the other local bands have this opportunity as well.

Kellie and Grampy came with us this time=)

Grampy is Mrs. F's dad, who was visiting this past week.

Dad and the boys - it's hard to get good pictures at the Rockin' B because it's so dark inside.

Thank goodness for Photoshop!=)

I'm so glad you and Grampy were able to come, Kellie:)

Happy Trails, folks!

Fun at the Fair

We went on Sunday mainly because the Panhandle Polecats (aka the Little family) were going to be performing.  We took Michelle along with us, which was a lot of fun=)

 

It was a great performance!

 

Molly (Little) Wilbur, playing the mandolin, is due to have her baby in 4 weeks. 

 

Austin Little

 

Bonnie (Little) Campbell (aka Bonnie-the-human, not to be confused with Bonnie-the-dog) on the guitar, and Molly Wilbur.

 

Hank Little

 

A tip from the Polecats - don't wear black.  It get's really hot.  Especially in the afternoon sun.

 

I believe it.

 

They played and sang several of the songs from their latest CD, Selkirk Storm, including one that Austin wrote called Bald Gal. 

 

Yes, you heard right.

 

It goes like this...

 

A toe-headed girl ain't got much sense / A red head packs a punch / A bald-headed girl ain't got no hair / But a brunette's got a a bunch

 

(chorus)

Bald gal, bald gal / Walkin' in the rain / A girl with hair is a tangled mess / But a bald gal looks the same (yee-haw!)

 

Well around this big, wide world / You won't find a gal like mine / She cooks me corn-pone every day / And, Boy!  how her head can shine!

 

(repeat chorus)

 

And so on...I think you get the idea.

 

Add in musical interludes of Austin playing the washboard and the jaw harp (aka jews harp), Molly playing the kazoo, and Hank playing the harmonica and you've got Bald Gal!

 

After their performance was over, I couldn't help it, I just had to ask him.

 

"So, Austin, if I see any bald gals, should I send them your way?".  He thought about that for a moment, "Actually, no, don't".  I just couldn't resist;)

 

We then proceeded to walk around the fair, looking at the exhibits, and visiting the different animal barns.  Alex entered quite a few things in the fair this year, as always, and he won a blue ribbon for a photograph he entered.

 

Here it is...

The photography category is very competetive, so we're quite excited that Alex got a first place!

 

Then Michelle, Alex, Christopher and I walked over to see if we could see anything of the demolition derby that was going on in the arena.  There were so many people there, that we couldn't see anything ('cept for some smoke and dust), so we decided to go talk with the Polecats some more.

 

Annoy is probably a better word;)

 

They had to hang out for a while because they had to bring some of the animals that they were showing at the fair back home that evening. 

 

So, we talked...and talked...and talked about many diverse topics including Ham radio, glue, carnival rides, etc.  (you can tell from the topics who was doing most of the talking;)

 

Quality home schooled and formerly home schooled time.

 

 

Then, we came up with nicknames for some of them.  They are now officially "one of us";)

 

Which may or may not be a good thing...time will tell.

 

Meet Dexter Smuff...aka, Austin.

Meet Oscar Smuff...

 

aka Hank - he was a much more obliging customer, and smiled for the camera, therefore, we do not have any strange pictures of him.

 

However, Dexter, on the other hand...

 

Poor Dexter...Alex sure had a lot of fun with him=) ;)

 

And after all of that, it was time to head home...don't mind me, I had my eyes closed:)  And a strange smile...

 

Happy Trails, ya'll!