Friday, I fixed the spreader. All I needed was a 15m socket wrench.
Until I realized I needed something else to stop the bolts from turning in place.
Then things went smoothly.
Except for the mower dying on the far side of our fields the next day! Halloween started with a trick!
I had to walk back. Maybe it was from the black cat that kept crossing my path during chores?
But to be serious, it was annoying. Carrie and I spent two hours working on barn chores. Shane helped for an hour, but spent most of it complaining his hands were freezing. Which was extra annoying, because I told him he should wear a coat. He refused and then claimed I never said anything!
Shane didn't get much sympathy. Especially because I started to overheat and stripped off my coat and hat to work in a t-shirt while he wailed.
He got to go in, change for soccer, and rest for almost an hour while we worked without him. Carrie was finishing up Ernie's walk and grazing when I went inside to grab him.
The silly kid was in jeans. His socks and shin guards wedged the jeans up almost to his knees! I made him change and got the car ready. Shane hopped in the car without his goalie gloves and had to run back in. I'd put them on the table earlier to make it easy on him, but he "hadn't seen them."
Nana called as we were running up to the field. We talked for half an hour, so I don't have any pictures from the first half.
Shane played well, though! He tried to take a shot on the goal and he kicked in a corner kick one of his teammates scored off! For the first time, the Banana Slammas ended a half in the lead!
Shane was goalie for the second half. He made a full dive to the side on one shot! I was impressed! He didn't stop the ball, but luckily it was aimed a little too far right.
Shane did have some good plays and saves. It helped that his team stayed on the offensive much of the half. There was one time he was navel-gazing or something as the other team took control. I waited for him to react, but he didn't as they crossed midfield. I yelled and Shane popped up like he'd been sleeping! He sprang into action and managed to make a stop!
I was praying Shane's team could get their first win of the season. It was 1-0 with less than 5 minutes to go.
The other team tied it up. There was a shot, a scramble, and then a follow-up while Shane was on the ground.
It was tied up and stayed that way until the last seconds of the game. Wonderkid raced downfield on Shane's right.
Shane moved to the right of the goal and positioned himself well. Wonderkid fire off a shot that popped up towards Shane's face and Shane deflected it out of bounds!
It all came down to a corner kick. I turned on my camera and it was amazing....for the other team.
They almost didn't lose a game this season, but it was not to be (unless they won while we were out of town).
It was still fun. Shane was excited, because he wanted to set up a playdate with the boy on the team (who he'd just realized was the coach's son), and because he got a trophy. "It's my first soccer trophy!"
I'm not a big fan of participation trophies, but Shane ate it up. "It's because you were able to last the whole season. That's better than anyone who drops out or is too afraid to try!"
Followed shortly by, "WHOA! Your cleats are clogged with mud! Get out of the car! You're supposed to kick the clumps out before you get in!"
I brought Shane home to rest and eat a snack while I worked on barn chores, shoveled Maddy's lot, and tried to resurrect the mower. It would turn over, but refused to start.
Then we had to run out the door for the next adventure. Shane and I drove up to Darden Towe Park and parked near the boat ramp.
Shane ran to look at the waters (elevated from the storm), and I played photographer while we waited.
Dylan, Eli, and John McM showed up after a little!
I asked and Eli said, "I've got lots of energy!"
We went on a two-hour walk.
Not that we walked the whole time. The boys definitely stopped to talk, gawk, or play with things.
They all found the elevated river interesting. Some words of lament were spoken that all the bamboo was on the other bank. Bamboo makes for great walking sticks.
We could see the 'beach' where we used to walk when we got to the bridge. John said that he and the boys didn't visit that side much anymore due to discarded needles.
The boys were eager to keep moving along and stayed ahead of John and I most of the time.
I jumped up in a tree and that got them to stop for a bit!
It wasn't the best climbing tree (I flubbed my grip the first time I jumped). Eli and Shane kept at it a while, though!
Somewhere past the tree the boys started to collect sticks and play a game. I couldn't tell you what the game was other than it changed with every sentence Shane uttered. They had to pick classes. There were zombies. Vampires.
And amazingly no one hit each other with a stick! I got some funny shots with Eli twirling around and Shane posing.
Shane was a wizard of some sort. Then they did it Among Us style where Shane would tell everyone their roles. And then there was the time Eli was upset, so Shane said he could be a ghost, only Eli got mad when Dylan could clearly see him!
The kids didn't want to turn back when we made them, but it was a good thing we did. Game negotiations were much more strained for a while!
I noticed a trick with gauging the boys' energy levels: They walked ahead of us to start, but they constantly lagged behind by the end!
I thought relations might have been slightly strained at several points, but Dylan kept asking, "Can we see Shane again tomorrow? Next week?"
But the fun continued after we hopped into cars. John and the boys were right behind Shane and I on the road. The kids yelled back and forth at a stop light and Shane waved for the next several miles.
I saw Dylan giving Shane a thumbs up out of the rear view mirror whenever I looked back!
We were reunited at Costco. John and I decided to take a mutual trip to accomplish errands along with fun.
Thankfully, it wasn't crazy crowded. John stuck with the boys when the candy caused their pace to falter. They detoured through the toys and I raced to collect groceries and meet them when they came out the other side at the frozens!
It made for a much faster (and arguably more fun) trip than usual!
We made it home and unloaded the groceries by 4:30 PM. I thought that timing was perfect from what Carrie had said earlier, but it turned out we were half an hour too late for her liking!
We were supposed to go to a small, outdoor party at Ellie and Landie's for Halloween. Carrie was a ball of stress and anxious to get Shane dressed and on the road! She really didn't want to be late and we had to stop by Food Lion to get drinks to bring.
We made it by 5:03 PM. Carrie calmed down once we had the drinks (including an impulse buy of Clearly Canadians!) and nothing else had gone wrong.
Shane was dressed as a Gryffindor Student (he loves that outfit). He wanted to be Harry Potter, but he didn't know where his glasses were.
My 'costume' was easy. I represented Starfleet.
Carrie's costume required some minor assembly.
She got to it once we parked.
"Chickens!" Shane said. You can guess how he entertained himself while we waited for Mom.
Don't tell Ellie.
It kept him busy long enough.
Then he nearly got himself in trouble poking and whacking Mom's costume!
We nearly went in the wrong door, but met Landie up the hill.
Carrie's costume blew her little mind.
Just like Carrie planned.
Shane was the oldest kid present followed by Landie. Everyone else was really young.
Not that it stopped Shane from being social. He lives for these sort of soirees.
It was a small affair and outside. Carrie realized that her costume was not only perfect for distancing, but that it was actually nice and warm! She'd been afraid the fan would act like a personal air-conditioner in the cold.
I noticed Carrie was only standing and invited her to sit down. She wasn't sure her costume could, but gave it a try.
Laughter spilled out of the unicorn. I couldn't see Carrie's face anymore, because the costume wasn't designed for being seated.
With the help of MS Paint, here's a second look with xray vision.
Landie was concerned she couldn't see Carrie in the costume anymore and stood on a chair for a better look!
It was time for Landie to get into her own costume after that.
I can't remember if that was before or after Landie's dad, Steve, arrived to start up the grill. He really wanted newspaper to help start the fire, but that's something harder to find nowadays (Though Ellie's roommate fortunately had some!).
The kids put everything they were doing on hold to wait impatiently as Ellie filled Easter eggs with candy for a scavenger hunt.
Since everyone had chosen to forgo Trick-or-Treating, a scavenger hunt was a great substitute!
Shane had to hold back until the little kids all had a chance. I thought he'd be calmer, but he took off running when Ellie said it was okay!
After that we hung around and ate some snacks. Buddha inhaled one kids candy, wrappers and all! I like big dogs, but it seems 'dangerous' to have a dog so big he can put his nose on the countertops!
We left as it got dark to take care of horse chores. Carrie grabbed Shane and I hot dogs to go. Carrie was concerned it was going to be cold and rainy, so she wanted to throw blankets on.
It was good and dark when we finished, but there was still the issue of the mower stranded with a full load of crap. It needed to be emptied.
I drove the gator out and got the mower to start.
Only it died the moment I dropped the parking brake and started to move.
That's going to be a problem at a future moment. Only now it was dark, cold, and I wanted to spread some poop so I wouldn't have to do it first thing in the morning when it was colder and wetter! I detached the spreader and tied it to the gator by flashlight.
It went well until we hit the driveway and I heard stones scrape. The twine had slipped between the coupler and the support struts. Maybe I hadn't tightened them down as much as last time? Hopefully, I hadn't gutted the yard! I didn't noticed anything when I was spreading and watching with the flashlight.
I tried an experimental knot with the coupler pin installed, but it lasted all of 15 feet.
At that point, I just dragged the spreader by hand to the barn and parked the gator in the pole barn. The poop was spread and I'd prefer daylight to figure out the next steps!
Meanwhile, Shane and Carrie were inside watching cartoons and eating snacks. A fine ending to a a fun evening.
And that was our Halloween! It was not the typical affair, but it was a lot of action for during a pandemic. The weather was nice enough, so most of our socializing got to be outside. I felt it made up for last weekend when I couldn't secure any playdates.
And now, I'm tired. I was on the go from 8 AM to 8 PM. After that, I worked on the blog. I'm all but caught up!
