Charlotte Tractor Parade

Gather 'round folks - it's time for the long-awaited update, the news of the century, .....the triumphant posting of the Charlotte Tractor Parade!

Some readers (I just found out that we do not have a mere two readers; we now have three!) might ask why it has taken so long to post the update, or just how much time do I need to learn how to post pictures from the new camera....well, the real reason for the late update is that our household has been totally preoccupied and obsessed with the "Balloon Boy" story. We've read every newspaper article available and not strayed away from the television lest we miss a second of talk show coverage on this story......

YEAH, RIGHT! We've been busy with life: raking leaves, preparing dinners, teaching our dear NorthernToddler to not apply crayon to our furniture - all the normal stuff. I was going to post yesterday, but it was so nice (almost 50 degrees) that I started cutting down the stand of Japanese Knotweed that is obscuring our shed/chicken coop. (Okay - for just a second here, we're going to ask you to be quiet and keep a secret from Northern Mommy: it has to do with chickens. I don't particularly care for chickens, other than they are tasty when properly cooked, but Northern Mommy is fascinated by the idea of raising some laying hens here on our semi-homestead. I've sworn up one side of the barn and down the other that I AIN'T RAISING NO CHICKENS! Damn noisy, dirty birds that require feeding and upkeep...well, after reading about some other peoples' experiences with chickens and visiting some friends who raise them, I'm slowly contemplating the idea of housing some on our property (we've got a nice coop with a large fenced run that was already in place when we bought the house). So far, the positives for having chickens are: I'll have eggs to throw at NorthernMommy, and we can always chop some heads off if things don't work out (can you say "chicken and dumplins"?!) So, maybe next spring we'll be teaching NB/T how to scatter chicken feed...but DON'T tell Northern Mommy! My excuse for clearing the entrance to the coop was that I needed a place to park the snowmobile trailer....let's let her keep thinking that!)

Wasn't I supposed to be writing about a tractor parade?! Well, here we go - below is a picture of NBT showing us just how bored he is with waiting for the parade to start. The parade started thirty minutes later than the advertised time, so we sat around for an hour waiting for tractors to start rolling. (But when they did.....we saw a whole lot of tractors!) (So many tractors that we got tired of watching them - and we love tractors!)

There was a short lecture from Northern Mommy on how I had too many tractor photos ready to share with y'all, and that seeing how the title of the blog has something to do with 'NorthernBaby', maybe I ought to cut out the tractors and insert a photo or two of NBT.

(I hate it when she's right.)

Below is the coolest tractor in the parade. If you have to ask why, too bad.

Northern Mommy's favorite parade entrant. (Why would anyone paint their tractor pink?!)


My favorite tractor of the parade - and it's kinda funny how the curve/roundness of the tractor's bodywork is reflected in the curve/roundness of the operator's bodywork!

Okay, this wasn't at the parade, but it helps to fulfill the requirement that pictures of NBT be in the blog about him. Isn't he just too darn cute?!

Technical Difficulties

Dear Faithful Readers (all two of you):

I realize that I promised a posting of this past weekend's grand adventures, including photographs from the legendary Charlotte Tractor Parade, but due to technical difficulties arising from the replacement of the camera we have used for the past six years, we will be unable to post pictures until NorthernDaddy learns how to upload the newer files.

Sorry for the inconvenience - but rest assured that NorthernBaby/Toddler is still tearing up the North Country and having a GRAND time, despite lack of photographic proof.

I Believe I've Seen This Before...

The first paragraph and picture are from a September post. The second photo(not mine) is from this evening.

Below is a photo taken at sunset of the harbor in Burlington. Some readers may recognize the sailboat as a picture they've seen before. Well, that fella moors his boat in the same spot every year, so I take photos of it as the conditions change. ( I almost think that the city of Burlington pays this guy to moor there just for tourist photo opportunities - this boat never moves!)

© Tom Way / Alamy
Lake Champlain, Vermont, New York, Quebec
Another border-straddler, Lake Champlain sits largely on the boundary of New York and Vermont, but its extremities creep northward into the Canadian province of Quebec. Champlain's waters are sprinkled with islands, lighthouses and quaint lakeside villages, and its shores are criss-crossed with old railroad lines and new bike paths. The High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains form a spectacular backdrop.
For more information: Lake Champlain Region

We were looking at the Yahoo main page, and they linked to a ForbesTraveler.com article on "North America's Loveliest Lakes". Of course, we had to click through the slideshow to see the lovely lakes...It was nice to see Lake Champlain listed among the other notable bodies of water, but the photo that was used seems familiar. That's not the exact same boat, but it's in about the same spot. This further bolsters my theory that the city stations a sailboat in the same spot on the waterfront every summer in order to create a 'photo opportunity'.

If anyone wants to visit us next summer and help to verify my theory, you're welcome to stay with us - just note that NorthernBabyToddler is learning to play the "drums" by banging wooden spoons on various household items. He's also learning to cook - he helped make a pizza today and ran his fingers all through the finished product (probably not the tastiest for visitors' dinners). Oh yeah, he's also learning about toilet training....but peeing on the floor of the bathroom (and the kitchen floor, once) - now that I think about it, not that much fun for visitors. Maybe we can hook you up with a local hotel!

(Here's a pic of NBT helping with the pizza.)

Hope that everyone has a fun weekend - we will be posting after a busy couple of days - going to a christening for one of NBT's friends, watching the Charlotte Tractor Parade, hitting the local Lowes, and tons of other stuff!

Our Weekend

We spent a few minutes at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, VT. This is a pretty cool museum aimed at children (and older kids - not naming any names NorthernDaddy). We were two hours away from home to attend a cross country meet that NorthernMommy had to coach some runners in, so we combined it with an opportunity to see a set of grandparents and cross off one more of NorthernMommy's items on her "must see" list.

The first thing Levi did after (well, as) Daddy was paying his admission was to run over to the giant tanks with trout and turtles and other fishies and proceed to point and shout at them. I think he might have been excited...it took a few of us to drag him away from the fish and convince him that there was more to the museum! The photo below shows "Andy's Place": a special play area for kids five and younger. It's pretty cool. There are treehouse platforms and a giant system of tubes to roll golf balls through and all kinds of stuff - Northern Baby wants his bedroom to look like this place....Remember the kinetic sculpture that we mentioned a few months ago? Here's a smaller, wall-mounted version by the same artist. I really want one of these installed in my office! (If the winters get any longer up here, I might just start bending some metal for one...)

Grandpa Peter becomes the motor for another kinetic sculpture. See that long white coil/auger thingie in the center? That's what lifts the balls up to the starting point; and the ratio of hand crank to auger turning was about five to one - I think we wore out the old man with all the cranking he had to do!

Northern Baby(Toddler) spins up a dust devil in one of the interactive displays.

A giant xylophone/glockenspiel variant: made of granite! Not one of those sissy orchestral instruments - this is a monster! Look at the size of the mallet used to strike a note! (And because I know you're wondering; yes, I had to look up the spelling of xylophone. I knew how to spell glockenspiel, thank you very much!)

A musical fence. Put one of these in your backyard, add a toddler with a mallet, and your neighbors will never sleep again.

Actually, as I think about it some more; put one of these in your backyard, add beer and a typical adult male with a mallet, and nobody in the vicinity will sleep! I loved playing this thing!


Levi and Daddy try to tap out Handel's Messiah....Levi was consistently a measure ahead of the score....

NorthernMommy's cross country race was held in the rain. The two smart members of the family retreated to the car to take a nap and stay dry. Then we passed a few hours by turning the inside of the car into a playground. (Fold the seat down and you double the area for running around!)

We're not pulling weeds this late in the season (it's about to snow...), and they are responding by putting up pretty flowers. Here our model strikes a pose near the back fence line.

Visit to the pumpkin patch. When told to pick out only three pumpkins, Levi picks almost all of them to take home.

Aww, isn't he cute?!

Dad! - you're killing the pumpkin!!!! Oh No!

Eww, what's that stuff in there?

Say cheese!