We had traveled from Sherwood, Arkansas to Neelyville, Missouri on Friday night, making a brief stop at my mother's house along the way. What's in Neelyville? Nothing worth stopping to do, except that it's where my father owns a warehouse. In this warehouse is a bedroom where I stay when I visit, as well as a bathroom and my father's office. The rest of it is filled with cars and airplanes and tractors and motorcycles... that kind of stuff. It's a good place to get in trouble. :)
The young ones stayed up playing cards, darts and "left,right,center" dice game. I went to bed early to prepare for an early Saturday.
When we got up Saturday, we decided to go flying in my father's ultralight airplane. Flying is one of his many crazy hobbies. The below video is Jule's takeoff.
Jule said that while she was in the air, they flew over some people on tractors. The people looked up and waved at the plane, and Jule waved back. She said it was like on movies. :)
Next we ate a bit of lunch and then decided to see if we could get Jule onto a combine (or harvester, as I think Germans call it.) We rode the back roads in true redneck style... on a trailer pulled by a four-wheeler. We sat on boxes and lawn chairs to make the ride a bit easier. My father said that we looked like a band of gypsies, and I think he was right.
While we were on the trailer, we crossed a set of railroad tracks. The road sat parallel to the tracks for a few miles. And to our luck, a Union Pacific train passed by. So, I got the kids to do the sign for "blow your horn." (I don't know if this is an international thing or not. I would imagine not since Americans are typically less serious about everything. But to do it, you make a fist with your hand, put your arm in the air, and do a "pulling down" motion over and over to get a trucker to blow their horn. It's just a friendly way of saying "hello.") I had never tried to use this sign on a train. It's typically only used on the highways with 18-wheeled truck drivers. Well... the train operator DID blow the horn for us and oh my... it was deafening!!!! I had underestimated how loud it would be when we were so close!
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| Union Pacific is one of the largest cargo train companies in the U.S. |
We finally made it to the Arndt family rice crop. Jule and Marissa loaded up into a large tractor to be taken to the combines.
Jule is in this combine. ===>
American grandpa Marret was giving some information about how rice grows and is harvested.
We returned home (the warehouse) to finish our day. Jule and Marissa loved riding the four-wheeler. And for some reason, Jule loved going in reverse.
Also, she rode (and crashed on) the Orange County Chopper bicycle below. Apparently she spun out on the gravel. I didn't see it happen. My father told me he just looked over and saw her lying on the ground. :)
The next thing we did was teach the kids how to shoot. Shawn (Marissa's dad) showed Jule how to use the gun safely before we started target practice. Jule was a natural. In my family, we teach kids at a young age how to handle guns... not necessarily just to teach them how to use them, but more to teach them how they are dangerous. Since guns are so prevalent in the U.S. it's better that they understand how to keep it in safety mode, why you should never point it at anyone (even if you think it's unloaded) and how to make sure that there are no bullets in the gun. Kids will be curious. It's better to allow them to be curious in the presence of an adult who can teach safety than for a kid to pick up a gun alone and NOT know how to handle it. This is our philosophy, at least.
While shooting, my father prepared some foods for Jule to try. My family hunts... not for sport, but for food. We do not believe in shooting an animal just for fun. My father smoked pheasant, deer and wild dove (not the white ones!) for us to try. We also had burgers, hotdogs, rotel cheese dip and chips and baked beans for dinner. It was all so good!
We watched a few movies later on Saturday night and then went to bed around 1 a.m. We had a busy Sunday planned, as well... so this old woman needed some sleep! :)
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