Weekend Round Up

This has been a good long weekend and here are some photos to show what we've been up to.

Saturday started with a nice 23 mile bike ride. In the afternoon we went to Jennifer R.'s wedding. It was a lovely day for a wedding and the ceremony at a church in Holley was beautiful.

Groom Tom, Bride Jennifer and Maid of Honor Annie

The reception was held at Deerfield Country Club and we has a lot of laughs with our friends Jim and Sue, enjoyed a great buffet dinner and then danced until our feet hurt. 

On Sunday Jim and I drove to a farm south of Syracuse for their 6th Annual Shearing Festival. We enjoyed the sunshine, the animals and the demonstrations.

There was a woodcarver using a chainsaw,

A sheep shearer

A variety of sheep and lambs,

And Jim's favorite, the Alpacas. These guys have been freshly sheared.

There was a spinner who gave me some good tips about spinning the llama fiber that Tucker gave me for Christmas.

Speaking of llamas, Jim being brave!

Border collie-sheep herding demo

Guard donkey-really, these animals are used to keep predators away from sheep! Now you've learned something!

Chickens-their brown eggs were for sale.

Goats

Angora rabbit

Tractors-just like Iowa!

Alpaca shearing-Their legs were stretched out and tied down during the  process-a bit unsettling to watch, but the shearing process did not take long.

After 2 hours at the festival, we headed north to see Corey in his new dwelling. He and his buddy and teammate, Mike, have rented the 3rd floor of this house. They have use of the veranda on the second floor, which is where they were when we arrived. Notice Corey's garden on the roof of the first floor porch. He has broccoli, lettuce and something else growing.

The third floor is full of odd shaped rooms and angled ceilings-it is a great place. They have a lot of space and it is light and bright. Below is the living room. They just moved in the day before, so they were still figuring out where to put things.

Both boys have access to the kitchen from their respective bedrooms, but you have to be thin, like runners, to get from Mike's room into the kitchen. This is definitely not an apartment for most of the football team!
After a tour of the apartment we took Corey, Mike, and another running friend, Forrest, to play mini-golf and then out to dinner at Dinosaur BBQ. The Dinosaur was its usual madhouse, so we ordered take-out and ate outside at one of their picnic tables. It was a perfect evening for it.

In the photo below, Corey is admiring his perfect parallel parking job, that was doubly challenging because he had to park in a spot on the driver's side of the road, and his parents and buddies were in the car as he was trying to do it. He nailed it on his first try!
After dinner, we drove home. Corey and Mike had plans to play some volleyball with the team and then go downstairs to meet their neighbors-2 young women!!

Today was a stay close to home day. I got an early morning bike ride in and then Jim and I went to the garden store and bought some plants for around the yard. They are now all planted. Jim washed some of the Jalousie windows on the porch, one of those pain-in-the-neck kind of jobs. 

I have finished sewing Jim's sweater and now just need to knit around the neck hole. I fear the sweater is growing and Jim is not! Time will tell!

Gram and GrandDad got home from their Spain trip right on schedule on Saturday night and are resting up at Jenny Lake. I talked to them today and they report that they had a great trip!

Now, about Jim painting my toenails~ it seems to have aroused some ire from some of the male readers of this blog. My brother Bob buys his way out of having to do it and Biking Bob thinks it is a step back for all of mankind! Jim says he cracked under the pressure of all the sensitivity training that J&J is requiring of its employees! I think he was just being a nice guy and there is nothing wrong with that. And to tell the truth, he never actually touched my feet!

Just got an e-mail from Tucker with some photos from the wedding he was in this weekend, but those will have to wait until the next blog.  

Hope all is well.