First things first the ladder is still firmly attached to the front of the trailer and it looks like it might be for some time to come, yeah, no more having to construct wobbly structures to get up onto the roof.
Took Tal-y for a wander around the lake this morning. There was a rabbit sitting under the hedge off to one side and my brave puppy looked straight at it and then ran the other way, is she just that dumb or just that afraid?
Mike and I drove into Amish country later this morning to Middlefield in Geaugu County; this is the 4th largest Amish population in the world. We stopped off first at an Amish Cheese Coop where we bought some really nice cheese, and then we visited an Amish craft store and bakery. The cheese was good but the pasties at the bakery were more gooder, they were lush. We had something called a fry cake, although I don’t think they were fried, they were like pasties but were filled with fruit. Mike had apple and cinnamon and I had a blackberry one; I don’t even like blackberries but it was really tasty. They had some amazing items for sale too including beautiful hand made quilts and lots of wooden items; we bought a bowl that folds flat that is in the shape of a maple leaf. A young girl waited on us at both stores and they both seemed very quiet and shy although very polite.
We headed into Middlefield and passed a horse and buggy along the way; they don’t hang around in those things, they were just buzzing along. We stopped at Mary Yoder’s Amish Kitchen for lunch which wasn’t too exciting since it seems that an Amish family’s typical meal consists of meat, potatoes and veggies – not really something we are interested in. Most of the staff were Amish, mostly teenage girls since they leave school after 8th grade to work, and they all seemed very serious and staid.
On the way home we drove through some country roads looking for another covered bridge (which we never found) and we passed a 4H camp and saw an Amish girl driving an ATV and an Amish man cutting the grass on a tractor – what is the world coming to, are they supposed to be driving those things? Nell was supposed to be directing us to the bridge but she failed (if you ask Mike he’ll tell you it was operator error), she did however manage to take us down a road that was little more than a path through the trees with more holes in it than Swiss cheese. We got a little ways down it before Mike decided to turn around; he claimed that if he’d been with anyone other than me he’d have kept going but I think he was a little nervous and just used me as an excuse. He did manage to complete a perfect 8-point turn!
This afternoon after we got home we attempted to erect the tent that we’re going to be staying in while Ma and Pa stay. It actually went up fairly easily and there wasn’t much shouting or screaming at all. It’s a very nice tent and will be perfect for a few weeks, but even better than the tent is the pillow top airbed that we have to sleep on. I think there might be some fighting over who sleeps in the tent as the airbed is more comfortable than our bed in the trailer. Anyway, if anybody wants to come visit us we have a place for y’all to sleep now.

Mike: I would have screamed through the forest in four-wheel drive with my mighty Serena at my side! Becc will have a place to sleep when she’s bad.