August 21, 2001
New Hampshire - Day 4: Timmy, Chili's, and Guns
-Monday, July 23, 2001-
4 p.m.
We just finished watching “All the President’s Men,” a fascinating movie about two Washington Post journalists who uncovered the Watergate scandal and ultimately broke the story.
4:30 p.m.
This morning we went to the barn, where Sam and I sat outside on a little step to watch Leen ride Timmy around in the ring for a while. Timmy really did have lots of purple on him (it’s both a personal and a barn joke). He’s a very well-behaved horse and has a nice disposition.
The barn people were interesting, especially Ken, a short, older man who obviously enjoys life. He had a stroke not too long ago but was back working at the barn two weeks later. At one point he left and said, “Do you ladies need anything?” They said no, and he left with the parting words, “I’ll be back, beautifuls.” He thoroughly enjoyed teasing the boy who brought the wood chips for the stalls and was tickled when someone complimented him on his new hat. Ken raises turkeys as a hobby and sells them to people when the Christmas season approaches. He only takes enough money to pay for what they cost to raise, but that seems like just the sort of thing he would do. Ken asked Leen if she wanted one and said that some would be 50 pounds. All three of us were shocked by the idea of such a huge turkey, but Leen asked him a few questions about them. She was wondering if they would still have the feathers on them, but Ken said, “Oh, you get ‘em dead.”
Leen finished her lesson inside the barn, then walked Timmy for a while to let him cool down. First, she had him show off a bit by walking sideways. I had never seen a horse do that, and it was both fascinating and impressive. I got to feed Timmy peppermints, and that was such fun. Sam and Leen laughed so hard over my reaction to feeling horse lips against my hand, and Sam took a picture. Then I got to see the horse trailer, with “TIMMY” on the license plate, and then I even saw Timmy roll, which was a most remarkable sight.
Later in the day, we watched a couple of the videos I brought, including my Internet auction scam on the evening news, my high school senior project, and an unlabeled one that turned out to have a couple of my church mimes on it.
5:45 p.m.
We just looked at New Zealand pictures, and before that I took a closer look at Leen’s model horse tack stuff.
9:58 p.m.
We ate dinner at Chili’s this evening. Yes, that’s the restaurant with the Huge Knives and the chili pepper door handles that Sam and I like so much. On the way back, we stopped at the Armory, where a very large gun was sitting in a grassy area near the road. The cannon was made in 1945 and weighed 10,315 pounds, according to a metal plate on it. We walked around it, figured out how the gears would work, then wondered what the large metal extensions off the back of it were for. We decided that they must be used to anchor the cannon, because the kickback from such a large amount of ammunition would be quite strong. The gun was near the Armory, where the Army has a local office. According to Sam, though, the Armory has a bigger purpose. “That’s so that if Dover [a neighboring town] declares war on Somersworth, we’re prepared.”
We returned home, and I heard a few more school stories, such as the time that Sam got a bloody nose right in the middle of a pop quiz he was going to fail. By the time his nose stopped bleeding and he got back from the school health center, the test was over. The teacher didn’t know what to do, so she told him he could retake it the following day. Of course, Sam studied the material that time, and he aced the test. When the teacher handed the tests back, she publicly praised Sam because he got the highest grade in the class. Some teachers aren’t too bright.
When it got a bit cooler outside, we went for a walk in the old cemetery. It’s a fascinating cemetery with lots of paths, hills, and gravestones arranged in patterns. It grew dark, and I was able to see fireflies for the first time in my life. We also saw quite a few bats, and Sam and Leen got a kick out of the fact that I’m terrified of bats.
After we came back home, Leen and I had ice cream, and we all sat downstairs
and watched “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree,” since that was yet
another show I had never seen. (Having grown up without television, there are
a lot of classic movies and television shows I’ve never seen.)
Photos:
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