First we saw the bowman. He's dressed a bit like Robin Hood. Elder Jolley took photos for you! The bowman tells lots of funny stories geared toward the school children who come to the castle for their field day. We'll call the bowman Robin Hood for the sake of the story. R.H. shot a few arrows into the hill across a ravine. He was right on the mark with the Long Bow he was using. He requested the appropriate oohs and aahs from the crowd and we were great oohers and aahers.
Then R.H. commenced showing and telling how to operate the old implements and weapons used for war in medieval days. He took a long deadly sword and went to the end of the enclosure where the school children were sitting. He asked all the other children to move away because he was going to cut a certain boy in half. Then he drew back the sword and swooshed it down toward "Ben", stopping just a foot or two above the boy, who was cringing, but grinning. Then R.H. said, "Well, I like that! Not a single teacher yelled "STOP"!
After the bowman completed his 'grisly' show, we moved to the Bird Arena. There were eagles, vultures, an owl and a huge Andes Condor. The birds would swoop down right over our heads so we were ducking for fear we might get a talon in the eyeball.
Cute little owl, trying to ignore us
When the cute little owl appeared, the trainer told a story of how the owls teach their young. The parents bring the babies food to the nest right after they hatch, but one day when the babies appear to be getting too fat for the nest, the parents don't bring the food to them. They fly by with the food so the babies have to come and get it. Once the babies have learned that lesson, the parents stop bringing any food and simply have the babies follow them to find their own food. When they can do their own foraging, the babies are no longer welcome in the nest. No wonder they are called wise old owls! They are smarter than many human parents! :-)
Speaking of smart parents, Casey and Amber have a new baby girl - Tessa Lynn. She was born on June 23rd but since she kept trying to swim back up the channel, she had to be delivered Caesarean section. Momma Amber is in pain! Thankfully, Grandma Palmer is there to help out for about a month. Grandpa Palmer will come to help out soon. We're sorry to miss out on the new little one.
We have another granddaughter, Skylar Rose who was born April 15th in Las Vegas. We couldn't see her before we left...thankfully we have FaceTime (such a miracle) so we can see these new little darlings across the miles! It is sweet, but painful to see them while unable to hug them, and inhale the new baby essence...straight from Heaven!
Back to the castle...After the bird show we went to see the catapult. We stopped for the world's best hot chocolate which has a huge pile of mini marshmallows on top of a dollop of whipped cream with a couple of chocolate pieces stuck into it. The chocolate has a name. We'll tell you what it is when we remember.
The catapult, also known as a trebuchet, is situated way out in the field to prevent injury to the crowd of onlookers. The catapult is first primed, which requires some husky lads running about inside the wheel, and then a massive fireball is hurled into the air. We were hoping to see it hit a duck so we could have roast duck for dinner but no such luck! The fireball flew harmlessly through the air and landed as planned, in the unoccupied field behind a tree. We couldn't see the landing from our vantage point. Next time we'll know where to be and we'll bring our own duck.
Kimball would love the Trebuchet (Tre(like Tre-vor)bu-(like bu) chet(like shay), since he loves apparatus-es. Good news about Kimball! The tumor is shrinking! Bad news...his hair is falling out. :-(
More on Next Blog: Inside the Castle
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