5-18-03: Do You Feel a Draft?

Sunday, May 18 2003

10:40 pm - Yesterday's events were fun. David really got a kick out of how big those draft horses are. We were both impressed with the *horse teams, handling, and plowing efficiency in heavy, damp soil. 

"Don't look now, but I think that guy is following us..."

It was so cool to see man and beast work together to turn the earth.

I think I heard them singing "99 bales of hay in the loft,  99 bales of hay,
so take one down and pass it around,
98 bales of hay in the loft..."

Handsome pair of Percheron Drafts

Met *Ellen Geld and also spoke with *[J]. (We've agreed to May 28 as a date to get together - she & [A] will come over for a late lunch). Ellen was pleasant as was her husband, Carson. It was nice to have [J] there to explain my background a little regarding the Pond House.

Ellen Bromfield Geld seen here signing my copy of her book "View From the Fazenda". Look it up!

Me, Ellen, and [J]. David was taking the picture.
Ellen very kindly agreed to pretend-sign my book again for the photo opp!

After the Malabar Farm events, we went to the plant sale as planned and bought 12 mums and 3 geraniums (the geraniums were almost sold out, and very picked over). Also got a fuschia start at a different location, and 6 tomato starts ($1.50) and 6 sweet hot 'banana' peppers (starts).

Spoke to Sharon on the phone this morning - she wanted to go over some of the photos on the CD we sent. After that, I puttered in the barn while David did some mowing. Barn puttering included playing with the chickens, and moving the pre-greenhouse plants into the stall with the window. This of course led to cleaning the window. Fun to play with the mini horses in the barn stall and out in the corral. "Beanie" is affectionate and lets you hug her like a dog--a big dog. She'll follow me and lean against me for attention.

The dog agility field is in full swing! Yesterday & today I ran Vince & Tessa around the "course". Actually today was the best because David assembled the "tire" frame, and I assembled the two tunnels and staked them down with landscape anchor pins. So, the course had 3 jumps, two tunnels, 1 tire jump and a set of weave poles. It's a riot, and the dogs seem to enjoy it. Tessa is so fast!

Tomorrow we're going to *Cedar Point! The weather forecast for the area looks good - 70's and low chance of rain. David says we're only @ an hour away, so it should be an easy day outing. We may get a season pass to make it worth the money. Have to go 3 times to make that sensible, though.

Yesterday David put landscape lights around the north rim of the pond. 100 ft of wire. It looks so nice at dusk, and also later the way they reveal the water instead of it being just a big, dark hole in the yard.

11:12 pm - I'm going to sleep now so I'll be rested for our big day tomorrow.

*horse teams: All from area draft horse clubs and groups, since Malabar is no longer a working farm.

*[J]: The lovely lady who we tried to buy the "Pond House" from; she worked for many years at the Malabar Farm Gift Shop.

*Ellen Bromfield Geld: daughter of Louis Bromfield, of Malabar Farm fame.

*Cedar Point: Roller Coaster Capital!

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