It has been a busy week. On Wednesday we had Summer killed for butchering. We made this decision after she rejected (and tried to kill) her calf. This has cost us significant time and money (for milk replacer but also for extra farm-sitting costs) this summer. We don’t know if she would be the same with her next breeding, but we didn’t want to take the chance. Plus we would be breeding her with her son which is not ideal. She should produce excellent meat as well. But what we didn’t know is that the butcher discovered that she had bad kidney stones. So that may have contributed to her disposition. I doubt there was anything we could have realistically done if we knew about this so in a weird way it supports our decision to butcher her. At least she is not in pain anymore. This is a photo of her from last year.
I found another use of our cabbage. My red cabbage didn’t make it, but the green cabbage did. So I substituted it in the recipe Red Cabbage with Walnuts and Feta. I think it would be better with red cabbage, but it was good. There are similar recipes without paying.
On Thursday we went to the Phillips 66 Ferndale Refinery’s Family Day. This is where our son-in-law works. William wanted us to bring the Evel Knievel bike there to show. Here it is at the end of some really nice cars. It looks pretty small.
There were some old pear trees there. I wondered about their history.
Here’s the car/motorcycle show again. We had the only motorcycle.
There was an amazing barbecue there as well as roasted corn. It was really good. There were bouncy houses, a playground, volleyball, tether ball, face painting, ballon making, etc. But the big hit was the foam.
Here’s Piper and William in it with Jaylene trying to help with a towel and water to wash the eyes out.
They had so much fun. I am not sure I have seen them happier. I visited the totem poles that were near the car show. Russ told me that the Lummi tribe makes a new pole with each new owner of the refinery. The one time they didn’t, the refinery had poor revenue. The newest one is placed elsewhere though.
We took a bus tour of the refinery which was impressive. At the start, the foam pile was undulating with an occasionally kid popping point. It was surreal. BTW the green in the foam does stain.
When we got back from the tour William had a waffle stick. They were really good. We also all had ice cream treats. So my caloric intake was quite high.
Piper had won this inflated wrist bunny at one of the games there. It was good at preserving her water bottle which became a premium at the end of the afternoon.
The Evel Knievel bike got second place in People’s Choice and Best Restoration. William got the “silver” metal for this. I love the expression on his face.
Friday evening it was a deer on our back camera rather than a cougar. This is better, but I now I worry about our corn.
On Saturday we went to MOHAI to see the Freedom Plane exhibit. It is a nationwide moving exhibit that contains some of the important documents from the formation of our nation.
First was the Articles of Association. This is an agreement to urge the colonists to boycott British goods.
It is signed by Sam Adams, John Adams, George Washington and Patrick Henry among many other patriots.
Then there are the Oaths of Allegiance of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr with their signatures. George Washington was at Valley Forge (where we were last year) when this was signed.
Then there was William Stone’s engraving of the Declaration of Independence, 1823. This was a little less interesting to me as it was a replica.
But the Treaty of Paris was incredible. This formally recognizing the United States as an independent nation by Great Britain. This has the signatures of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay.
Next was the David Brearley’s secret printing of the Constitution, 1787. This belonged to the New Jersey delegate whose notes were present as they negotiated the document.
Next is the state delegation votes approving the Constitution, 1787. This is moment when the constitution became law.
After the Constitution was ratified by the states and became the supreme law of the land, Representative James Madison proposed a series of amendments. Several states advocated for additional protections for individual liberties. This document show the changes the Senate made to the House-passed Bill of Rights. This is the process where our rights as citizen as were determined.
In the gift shop, I purchased replicas of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. I already have a booklet with the Constitution but thought the replicas looked cool. I will post them in my house as they are the most important documents in my life (including my marriage license).
After the Freedom Plane document exhibit, there was an exhibit regarding the American flag. There was a photo of the first Seattle July 4th celebration including an American flag in 1865.
This is the German-made flag that was carried by Joe Rantz from the UW crew team, who won the gold medal in the 1936 Olympics.
This is the inauguration of the first Washington governor in 1889 with an American flag.
This is the flag brought by Jim Whittaker to the summit of Mount Everest in 1963. He was the first American to summit the mountain.
This is a fragment of the American flag that was carried to the summit of Mount Rainier in 1894 by a Seattle group.
This is a large American flag behind the Seattle Mayor Bertha Knight Landes in 1927. She was the first woman mayor of a major American city.
This is a collection of medals, patches, photographs and burial flag for William Imamoto who served as a medic in WWII and died in a battle in Italy in 1945. He grew up on a farm near Port Orchard (near my great grandparents farm) and was drafted in 1941. His family was incarcerated in Idaho and Arkansas.
Here is a funeral service at Washelli cemetery in 1949 of six WWII casualties of Japanese ancestry. William’s grave is the second from the right with his mother holding his flag. I am not sure why his funeral was so delayed.
This is an American flag overriding the Jewel Saloon in 1889 after the Great Seattle fire.
This is a flag belonging to the Oso Fire Chief Seth Jeffords who lost his house, wife, granddaughter and dog in the slide in 2014.
The exhibits were very well done, and I would highly recommend you visit before it closes down on August 16. Where else are you going to see the signatures of some amazing American heroes?
We walked our beagle around the area. Here’s a view of the area.
Then we headed to McMenamins Anderson School to celebrate Jerry Garcia’s birthday. He would have been 84 years old. We brought the beagle with us there too.
They had a special menu for the Days Between Jerry’s birthday and death date.
We partook in the Reckoning and I Need a Miracle Grilled Cheese.
They had a special beer release with a cool can.
They put this on a T-shirt which Tom bought for us.
Here is the view of the Shed patio where we watched the festivities.
They had Wild Geese of the West playing songs from the Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia band.
It was really fun for us. Less sure about the beagle although she did get petted by a number of people. There are some other dogs too including Fenway, a Boston Chihuahua that just turned 17 years old.
Today was a farm day. Ryeleigh had a rabbit in sight. But Wally move in and scared it. Ryeleigh chased it but no damage done.
The turkeys moved to the hay loft and were scratching and pecking the tarp that usually is on top of the hay. Not sure what the interest was, but I didn’t want it damaged so took it away.
I replaced the wood shavings in the nest boxes. The chickens were not happy about this and made a loud ruckus.
A turkey died earlier in the week. Not sure what happened, but there were a few feathers out front, and she was dead behind a barn door where it seems like she was hiding. So we have 9 left with the 3 older turkeys. Here are 10 of them enjoying the area in front of the barn.
I was cleaning the house while watching the Seafair festivities on the television. And up comes the Freedom Plane that brought the documents to Seattle as well as 7 other cities.
There was a. cool airshow including the Blue Angels.
And there was hydroplane racing. The current hydroplanes do not have the sound of the ones from my childhood, but they still have rooster tails. It was fun to watch again.
That was our eventful week. I am somewhat exhausted. But have more upcoming so need to press on.
