Edie and I headed to Illinois to help Grandma and Grandpa with the house. After several days of tasks we all needed a break. So we headed to the farm. Aunt Steph and Uncle Jon's farm. We were excited to see the cows, the dogs, the tractors but mostly to see Erin and her horses.
This is actually not Erin's horse. I thought I got pictures but I missed the bareback ride on Mercedes. But this is Tuna, a very old horse at the stable where Erin keeps her other horse, J.J. We were so excited to see Erin ride as we only get to watch the horse shows online.
Back at the farm, we headed out in the RTV to check out the cows. Grandma took us on this ride.
The farm has two dogs, Maggie and Zoe and Grandma's dog Casey all followed Edie around. The dogs created quite a stir later.
Yes, I am saying "Moo!"
First we got out to have a staring contest with the cows. The whole herd, may 60 head, just watched us. They are angus and herford cows. I discovered that Angus cattle are more aggressive and we discovered that the three dogs together act like a pack. SO...a couple cows in particular were suspicious of the dogs and the dogs got cocky like they could take on the cows. Suddenly, everyone was on the move and cows were chasing dogs, dogs were barking at cows and Aunt Steph and Grandma were yelling at the dogs. I scooped up Edie and moved to the RTV where we had to hold the dogs so the cows would calm down.
As soon as we got in, the cows came up all gentle like nothing happened. I guess this little vehicle often brings food and treats so they were hopeful. We got super close to them then.
Uncle Jon let Edie drive the tractor. Yes, really drive it. Notice the amount of turn on the wheel and the tractor barely moves. I felt better after noticing that.
We headed to an orchard for some pumpkin picking, apple cider slushies and caramel apples. YUMMY!
Erin and I make a great fool and the straight man.
Once back at home, we celebrated the potato growing history of this new little town of ours. While I'm still getting the exact details but for a significant period of time in the late 1880's and early 1900's Carbondale was a potato growing town. It then became focused on ranching and mining. But this year, we walked in the 102nd annual potato day parade. This above picture was taken when Edie and her friend and neighbor, Natasha were walking around the rodeo. Edie had decided to take off with her cousin Elijah moments before and her Dad and I went frantically searching for her not knowing where she was. When Uncle Tim found her, she was following cousin Elijah as he was telling her all the rules around rodeos. "Don't step in horse poop, don't touch the horses and DON'T MAKE THE HORSE NERVOUS!!"
The theme this year was "Potato Sack is the New Black". Folks were encouraged to dress in burlap. And the kids' school group did just that. We had lots of fun fashioning these outfits for the parade. Lots of fun!
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