An Apple A Day (For The Next Month Or So)

So we went apple picking. Before we get to those pictures -- check out this one.

How much do I love that Strawberry Shortcake dolls are back? Hint: A REALLY LOT.

Anyway, to get from the main part of the farm to the apple trees, we took a ride on this awesome old converted school bus. A topless awesome old magical converted school bus. Shae loved just looking at it, let alone riding in it. I hope I'm not the one who has to tell her that if we stay at our current address, she'll be walking to school. She thinks the school bus is like the greatest thing ever -- and riding in the farm's bus isn't going to change her mind, because it was pretty cool. Even I'll admit it.

On this trip we picked two types of apples I've never heard of before: Idareds, a sweet crunchy Macintosh-y looking variety, and Mutsus, a green-gold apple with a softer flesh. I think they told us that Idared is a baking apple and Mutsu is for eating, but honestly we've done both with each, and I don't care what the "intended" use is -- they're both delicious. And pretty.

Shae was just like the proverbial kid in the proverbial candy store -- once we got off the bus, there were apples everywhere. And Shae went BANANAS. We had a tough time vetting her contributions to our boxes of apples because she was picking up every apple she saw off the ground. She's a Haldaman, that one: if there is food and it is not actively in someone's mouth, she will grab it. That's my girl.

She got the hang of it, though. It helped that when we got to the second set of apple trees, there was a ton of fruit close to the ground, well within her reach.

I think her favorite part was getting to be her own "quality control inspector" -- she looked over each and every apple, and we had to keep a close eye on her to make sure she didn't take a bite out of every one.

Between all of us in our party, we ended up with probably 25 pounds of apples. Just the stuff we picked was more than 12 pounds. We'll be eating apples for a month, probably.

Good thing we like apples.

Secret Observations on the Goat-Girl

Over the weekend we went apple-picking, because I like apples, and because we needed to get out of the house before the weather takes a turn for the worse for good. We found a place near my parents' which was pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be, except for that I had no idea how many gazillions of apples they must grow in commercial orchards in order to sort through all the slightly blemished and mildly deformed apples to get to the perfectly shaped and shiny fruit that they then wax and send to the supermarket.

Personally, I like my lumpy and spotted apples better, because I picked them myself and ate them right off the trees, but we'll get to that tomorrow. Today, let's talk about my daughter, the Goat Whisperer.

I did not expect to see so many animals at the orchard, but there was a big barn there with lots of goats, geese, rabbits, and llamas, and you can walk right up to the animals to pet and feed them. It was pretty cool. My particular poison is wild animals, lions and tigers and bears and stuff, but you know what? Goats are pretty darned cool.

And it's not like I could have stopped her, anyway. Once Shae sees something she wants to do, she just goes ahead and does it. No idea where that kid gets it from.

Sometimes I feel bad for caged animals, because you can't tell whether they actually want to be touched by all these kids with their grubby little mitts and their pointing and their screaming and their not-exactly-gentle petting, but I think these goats were okay with it. For one thing, they live in a pen with geese, and hoo boy, those honkers are noisy and bossy! But I really think the goats like the attention from the people, because I swear to God, they posed for pictures.

I double-dog-dare you to tell me that goat was not looking directly into the camera. He totally was. It was weird. I can't get my kid to look at the camera, but I can get a glamour shot out of a goat. The mind, she boggles.

Anyway, our apple-picking adventure was an unqualified success, and that's before we even got to the pumpkin patch or rode on the Magic Topless School Bus to pick our apples, which was so much fun it almost made Shae's head explode. Tune in tomorrow!

(Oh yeah, not that you asked but in case you were wondering, I stole the title for this post from a profoundly odd and creepy Joyce Carol Oates short story that I read in my "Gothic Fiction" class back in college. It's kind of Halloween-adjacent, right? Man, we read some seriously disturbed stuff in that class. At the end of it I had to do my own writing, and I wrote a story about a woman who became obsessed with some dude at a bar, and she ends up murdering him in the woods while singing a Sarah MacLachlan song. None of this has anything to do with this entry. Perhaps you should disregard this entire paragraph, although if you enjoy Gothic short fiction, I do recommend "Secret Observations on the Goat-Girl," and also "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.)

Catch the Phever

So ... Wednesday's game was pretty exciting, huh? Sure, there was Roy "Doc-tober" Halladay's no-hitter, which I guess is kind of a big deal (snerk), but you know what's even more important than history? Shae's boy Shane Victorino got a double, a stolen base, and a run, all in the first inning.

All great moments start with just a single step, right? Or, in this case, a double.

Oh, yeah, baby, we're feeling the love in our house. And after what we saw on Wednesday? You better believe we'll be watching to see what happens now. It's a good time to be a Phillies phan. Be there tonight, 6:07 PM, TBS. We've all got high hopes up in this joint.

PS -- Still time to vote for Victorino for the 2010 Roberto Clemente Award. Do it now! Voting is the American way, you know ...

Let's Do This Thang

It's the playoffs, baby! Four-peat NL East Champion Philadelphia Phillies start their NL pennant defense tonight against the Reds. Game starts at 5:07 PM on TBS. It's on like Donkey Kong, and WE ARE READY.

And if you have a few spare minutes, why don't you vote for Shane Victorino, this year's Phillies nominee for the 2010 Roberto Clemente Award? Voting continues through October 8 -- the official online ballot is here. Every single one of the nominees is deserving, seriously -- but of course we want Shae's boy The Flyin' Hawaiian to win. Go and vote like a baby stoat!

Here's the Story

Of a girl named Shaezie, and her visit with two very hungry bears. One of them had hair of gray, one a 'fro head, and the little one went "Whee! Whee! Whee!" all day long at the park. (Sorry, paradigm shift without a clutch, there.)

My Visit with Marshmallow and Candy

by Shae Gonzales (with some help from her parents)

I got to visit with Marshmallow and his sister Candy from Thursday, September 30, 2010 until Sunday, October 3, 2010. We all had a lot of fun! Here are some pictures from our visit.


Thursday
Marshmallow and Candy came home with me after school on Thursday, September 30th. It was a rainy night, so we stayed inside and watched some television. We all really enjoyed “Phineas and Ferb” and talked about whether Candace Flynn will ever “bust” her little brothers. (We don’t think so!)

Friday

On Friday Marshmallow and Candy stayed home while I went to school. When I got home, we had dinner, watched some more T.V., and then we had a slumber party! But we all need a little bit of practice because we were all asleep by 9:00.

My parents only complained about the noise a couple of times. We must be doing something wrong. Like I said: we need more practice.


Saturday
On Saturday Marshmallow and Candy came with me while we did our “visiting” – we went to see my grandparents and make sure the “old folks” were staying out of trouble. We played a little bit of hide-and-seek …

… and then we went to one of my very favorite places in the world: the playground. Oh, how we loved the playground! It was very exciting. We couldn’t go on the slide because it was wet at the bottom …

… but we did get to go on the swings. Marshmallow and Candy both told me that the swings were their favorite part.

We also blew bubbles with my friend Anthony. He thought Marshmallow and Candy were awesome.

Saturday was a very busy day, and Marshmallow, Candy, and I all slept in the car on our way home. We only woke up once, when we stopped for a hot fudge sundae.


Sunday
Sunday was the last day that I spent with Marshmallow and Candy. In the morning we went to the store, then after a short nap (grocery shopping is exhausting!), Marshmallow and Candy helped me with my homework: we decorated a pumpkin with chalk, glitter glue, and goo-goo eyes for school.

I really had a nice time visiting with Marshmallow and Candy, and I hope they can come home with me again soon!

Love, Shae.