The Water Festival

I took Wednesday off work and joined up with Cameron's and a few other classes for a trip to the Peterborough Zoo. The Children's Water Festival was on and so we spent the day there. Now, I'll admit that I thought Water Festival meant sprinklers, buckets and playing in the wet stuff. For that reason, I couldn't figure out why they weren't supposed to bring their towels and swimsuits. Well. Turns out, the Water Festival is an annual event, teaching kids (and their mums) about conservation, pollution, natural habitats and all things water. It was great and, quite honestly, I learned a lot! And, I got to hang out with Cameron and five really nice buddies all day.

We wandered around, visiting several booths throughout the morning. We learned how to identify some native frogs, turtles and snakes, then visited a demonstation that involved toilets - regular and low flush. Wow! What a difference. Same with the showers set up in the parking lot with regular and low flow shower heads. There were a couple of guys there who work for the City. They had a cut-away fire hydrant hooked up and showed how they work. There are 2100 hydrants in Peterborough alone! Then the kids went across the pathway, readied themselves, the water was turned on and in no-time-flat, they were soaked. Fully clothed, no less (although I did suggest they remove their shoes and socks first). Perfect day for a cool soak, too, as it's been so unseasonably hot.

After lunch we headed out for more. We arrived at 'the hill' and the guys wanted to take their turn rolling down it.  Well, our timing was perfect and the next thing you know, the guys joined the host of CHEX TV's 5 o'clock show rolling down hill...on camera!

If you skip to the 6:40 mark, you'll see them in the background. Cammy's the one in the bright green soccer shirt rolling sideways down the hill until he klunes the show's host in the head as she rolls by. And there's Aaron and Brent, Duncan and Ben and Jon, down at the bottom pumping his arms triumphantly in the air. And check out the performance by some grade 2 students from St. Alphonsus at the 3:15 mark. How fun is this water festival! 

The boys will be holding an autograph session at school on Monday.

Mamas and Cowboys and Friends and Family

We celebrated this long Victoria Day weekend with family and friends. To be more precise, family who are friends. Brother Enos dropped by on Saturday after hearing that Paul's cousin Robert, his partner Amy and their three awesome girls were coming by. The day was beautiful, the barbecue was tasty and we ended our fabulous day by the campfire, roasting marshmallows and wienies. As dusk fell the acoustic 6- and 12-strings came out and the best names in country music dropped by...Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Petty (okay, there was more than country) and, of course, Willie and Waylon. And somewhere in there, Angus and Malcolm treated us to 'Big Balls'. Hmmm, perhaps I should work on the wording of that sentence. 

For those of you in these parts, Happy Victoria Day. Hope your day is as beautiful as it is here. I leave you with a snippet by the fire...

Okay, so apparently I can't rotate videos like I can pictures. So just pretend the flames are shooting up, not sideways. Mental note: hold the camera normally next time. Hey, who knew?
 

The Yolks on Us

After I let the chickens out every morning, I change their water and check for eggs. I've gotta say - I had a good laugh this morning...

Not eggs-actly sure who laid that little one

As a matter of fact, it cracked me up. Thinking back, I'm pretty sure the chocolate eggs from the Easter bunny were bigger. And I'm not eggs-aggerating. Ah well, I'm sure it'll still be egg-cellent.

Now I'm going to go listen to some Billy Ray Cyrus. Eggy Breaky Heart.

That's going too far, isn't it?

I'm sorry.

 That's all, yolks.
 

Home Tweet Home

Years ago, we had an old barbeque that resided on our back deck. Over the years, it did a good job cooking up suppers. It also turned out to be a great home for birds.

Each spring, a couple of blackbirds took over the cooker and built a nest. Filled the whole dang thing up with grass and leaves, they did, making a proper nest in the southwest corner. They flew in behind, on the east side, and up into the lid. Several families were raised there. And it didn't matter how many times the nesting material was removed - they always brought more.

Well, the old barbecue finally saw its day and we got rid of it. Paul saw the neighbour's swanky grill and replaced our old one with one similar to theirs.

There hasn't been a nest for a few years - we figured they couldn't find their way into this one. Paul was relieved. And then yesterday, I saw a bird. And some grass sticking out from under the lid. Being the inquisitive type, I headed outside to investigate.

They're back.
 

Wordless Wednesday

Save This School

In honour of tonight's Rick Mercer Report, I thought I'd share this rant put out a few weeks ago by the student council president of one of our local highschools, Peterborough Collegiate. PCVS is one of the oldest highschools in the country and is, sadly (and I would say, wrongly), slated for closure at the end of this school year. The students have marched, picketed, demonstrated and been very vocal in their fight to keep this beautiful old school open. And, during all this, they raised over $50,000 for the Spread the Net campaign, winning the title of top fundraiser in Canada. If you're in these parts, be sure to watch the Mercer Report tonight.

And, yes - we have our Save PCVS sign perched defiantly on our front lawn.

That's Some April Fool's Joke

Why is it, no matter what the topic, Mother Nature always wins? The gals of the Stanley Coop did not appear impressed this morning. Come to think of it, neither was I...

"You've gotta be kidding me."

"Now where do we go?"

And then they started chanting, "5 degrees, 5 degrees..."

They're under the coop now plotting their revenge. Oh, and Nolan's wearing shorts today.