Angela left for Maryland last Thursday, so I've been a single dad for the last few days. The three of us have managed to stay pretty busy! Friday morning, we made our first trip of the year to the Maine Wildlife Park. There was no school on Friday, so I took the day off and met up there with Steve from work and his two boys. The kids ran from animal to animal like it was a race, but they pretty much behaved themselves. Highlights were seeing a coyote out and about in the daylight, which is pretty rare, and having a moose with budding antlers bedded down just 15 or 20 yards from the fence. One of the mountain lions was unusually alert and perched on top of his little hill like a sentry. The deer were a disappointment, though. Just a single doe came up to be fed while the rest laid down on the opposite side of the pen. No little ones tearing around yet, either.
After leaving the park, we did some shopping in South Portland and went to the Mall. I was looking for another Rock Band 2 guitar, but had to settle for a Guitar Hero III one. It works, but it feels way too different for me to use over my trusty fake stratocaster. Getting a new guitar was a priority because that night Eric and Joe, two more co-workers, came over to play Rock Band after the kids were in bed. We had a good time and played for a solid 4 hours or so. I must be getting old, because I had some serious Rock Band strumming arm soreness when I tried playing again the next night.
The next morning, I took big sister to her first T-ball practice. Unfortunately, little sister was determined to cling to me and not let me help out at all. Luckily, one of the other girls had two parents with her and one of them helped my kid with the drills that I should have been doing with her.
After lunch, we headed to Skyline Farm for Plow Day. We bought a farm share from Deri Farm again this year, and luckily for us he's moved over to Skyline which is MUCH more convenient for us. Don't worry - I will NOT be posting photos of our vegetables every week this year. That was so tedious that it made me actually dread Tuesdays instead of looking forward to them last year. The girls watched three teams of horses plow and harrow the fields and got a wagon-ride from a fourth pair. It was nice to catch up with a few neighbors that I don't see all that often, too. A couple of whoopie pies and some cider rounded out the activities.
Today (Sunday), I got the call from my dad that Uncle Dan had passed away. He had been at a nursing home for the past few weeks after having struggled with Alzheimer's for the past several years. His sister Minnie had been taking care of him until his health took a downturn recently. His passing will make life a lot easier on the both of them. I explained what had happened to the kids, but decided that even though I was already planning on heading up to camp for the day that I'd skip visiting Minnie today. She'd obviously be very upset and while she likes seeing the kids, I'm still not sure how to handle exposing the kids to the concept of death. It hasn't really dawned on them yet that we're all going to die eventually.
My father had swapped out the scout camera card and left it at camp, though, so I yanked the videos off it and got some decent deer ones. There was a fleeting glimpse of what was either a coyote or a fox and a hasty skunk, but not a single turkey. The tractor spraying the field gave me a new appreciation for how far away something could be to trip the camera's sensor, too. It was probably the stark contrast against the bright sky that helped.
Here are the "keepers" from the past two weeks of videos:
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