Saturday, Oct 26

Slept late this morning, until around 8 a.m. Sis accompanied Mother to our house mid-morning.

Sis had brought pears and crab apples with her, and we thought we might prepare the pears for the freezer this morning, using an automatic peeler that Sis also brought. But it was such a nice day that I proposed we go on an outing to a pumpkin farm later. So we postponed the pear project until tomorrow.

We relaxed and visited for the morning, and then at lunchtime, I fetched a couple of packages of pancakes from the freezer and heated them in the oven. For toppings, we had a choice of pear honey that Sis made and brought with her this trip, or sugar-free syrup mixed with failed blackberry jelly. It was a satisfying meal.

Afterward, we loaded up and went to the pumpkin farm, about an hour away. This was our first trip to the site, directions to which are to travel about halfway between two towns, then turn left on the road that is across from the John Deere place. We had no trouble finding it.

We were surprised when we arrived to find that there was an $8 per person entrance fee. Once inside, folks had to fork over $5 per person to ride in a horse-drawn wagon, go on a hayride, or ride a tram-style vehicle.

Hungry folks could buy $3 hamburgers from a food shack, or buy jams, jellies, etc., at another building.

The farm is geared toward young families, with hay bale tunnels, huge tractor tires painted white and fashioned into a sea serpent to play on, a very large tree stump to climb on, playground swings with tunnel slides, a life boat capsule sunk into the ground to climb in and out of, a sunflower field, a cotton patch, where kids can pick cotton, pumpkin patches, where pumpkins are on the vines (folks can choose and buy one), a corn field maze, a petting zoo, a corn cob shooting range, an old piece of farm equipment for kids to play on, etc.

We meandered around and looked at stuff, and I took lots of pictures. We also wandered a little way through the corn maze, but we passed on the rides...partly because they weren't handicapped accessible, and partly because we didn't think there should have been a charge after the pricey entrance fee. They did drop the fee to $3 later in the afternoon, but we were ready to leave by that time.

Even though it was a mild afternoon, it was windy, so I saw right away that Mother was going to get chilled. So I traded coats with her, because mine...a fuzzy lined one...has a nice warm hood. Still, by 3 p.m., she was plenty ready to get back to the warmth of the van.

We were back home around 4 p.m., and I put leftover beans and ham dinner into the oven for supper. Since my oven was occupied, Sis took a recipe of cornbread to Mother's oven.

Supper was ready a little after 5 p.m. Afterward, we played Skipbo for the evening. Mother won two games, Sis won two games, and Hubbie won one. Nothing for me this time.

Around 9 p.m., Sis accompanied Mother to her house, and Hubbie and I finished the evening watching TV.