Fun with a Visitor

Our Cousin, once removed, or is it twice?, Comes to Visit

This is our Gram'pa "helping" our cousin into his Mini at the airport.

We gathered a pile of fun items and covered the table with them. 

 As if by magic Penguin is surrounded by Creatures,

Do you know what they are? -Penguin

Maybe these little weird creatures can have fun with us on Halloween.

A Water Game at the Pool Reported by Penguin at poolside

From the pool side Fox, Racoon, and myself, watched the human kids play a game called Monkey in the Middle. The person in the middle was supposed to catch the rubber duck as it flew over the pool. We puppets did not think it would be fun for us to play as we happen to enjoy flying only with some sort of safety device... like maybe a plane or at least a parachute. So we opted to watch.

See the duckie flying high in the sky

Here duckie is surrounded with a small box and highlighted bigger in the box beside it so you can see his spectacular water spraying loops. These duckies were aerial artists! 

Our friend Cassidy was here today and was one of the three necessary for this game to work. A kid on each side throws the duck back and forth. If the kid in the middle catches duckie then the pitcher goes to the middle. The game actually goes very fast because the duck reaches the height you see in the sky then does a nose dive. The camera, well the photographer ( the kids G'ma), was not fast enough to digitally catch the plummeting fowl. 

Eric is ready for the catch, Emily is in the middle, and Cassidy has the duck.

Here is Cassidy again making a great effort to catch UFO ducky.

This duckie was coming in for a landing and the kids were really after it.

We puppets were glad we sat the game out. We would have been soggy and probably sinking to the bottom of the pool. We also enjoyed our friends the duckies doing their daring part in the game. Here is a tribute image to Flipping Duckie.

White Mouse Experiment

White mouse bravely risks his life for science and mad scientist Eric.

Can a mouse ride a train pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine around a track?

Here is Mouse's track.

One half track later Mouse bombed !

Oh Oh Ouch Ouch AND I nearly lost my tail !

Follow the pictures from bottom to top to see his steadfast success. What a brave mouse.

Here is Mouse very proud of himself for proving that a puppet mouse can stay on if his posterior is wedged firmly in between a car and that little motorized train.

 Naturally other puppets wanted to ride now that White Mouse proved the ride is possible.

A Little Late... Here is our July 4th Celebration by White Mouse Photo's by Emily

I was so excited to be going to a fireworks celebration. It was the 4th of July, 2011. We had seats in a field with a great view. So since this was my first time I had no idea what I was going to see. I know I had to spend some time inside a pocket because the house we were going too have a playful dog and cat. I was assured that they would not be out in the dark when the Loud Noise and Bright Explosions take place. At twilight we were on our way.



This fountain on the ground looked like a shining insect big enough to cause serious injury !

Fox and Raccoon were already there and watching the show.

This ground firework had lots of loud bangs and sparkles. I ran back over to the chairs.

OH Wow

OH My

Owl was being very brave and helped hold a fire sparkler

  

Magic musical notes or dried flower pods filled the sky



This one is indescribably wonderful !

Am I glad the two owls do not see Grampa pointing me out!

The Owls were amazed by the vivid sparkle shower.

This Unicorn Horn pointed to the sky.

This was colorful and huge and LOUD.



Because I am a mouse, I found this single clear small bright burst significant in its impact and so beautiful.

White Mouse

Mammoth Donkey Foals Photos by Eric

These are not puppets. They are real adorable very large Mammoth Donkey foals. This one is the smaller of the two. 

Here is the larger baby.



Puppets visit Swimming Pool Story by Puppets and Photos by Emily and Eric

This trip was exciting because we met so many duckies and human friends. The table where we put our towels had a wonderful greeting committee.

Rubber ducks were waiting for us.

They took us immediately to the Life Guard Chair

This tire is to throw in to floundering humans.

Raccoon and I decided we would use the tire to test our balancing skills. We were definitely too small to throw it into the pool to anyone. -Penguin 

It actually does not look lie we are too good at this either.

The next thing on the tour was a pool side dip. Rubber duckies were very excited about this. Here they are giving us tips for a good and safe time. Usually we just jump in any water with a care in the world so we were very attentive. So far this has been very new. Not at all like a lake or pond.

We watched as duckies bounced down closer.

A boy with blue wings came to chat with them.

The boy gently placed rubber duckie into the water.

As we leaned in to get a closer look and a mermaid swam by. We were so so excited. In a city pool !!! Wow!

The boy had placed both rubber ducks in the pool and supplied us with a raft. The concrete was very hot. Usually there is grass or mud or trees around a pond or lake and that keeps our feet from getting burned. It was entirely to hot for penguin so he called fox to come sit with raccoon.

The boy wanted us to jump in.

We were a little nervous because we had seen the mermaid.

And sure enough a humanioid with huge eyes and another mermaid surfaced!

Close-up, what do you think?

Boy explained that we were very wrong. Maybe the summer sun and the hot hot concrete around the pool over heated our furry heads. The mermaid and and monster turned our to be human girls.

And sure enough the flowered "mermaid" has two legs not fishy fins.

POST SCRIPT

Raccoon found the flowered mermaid and just had to see her toes.

We want to acknowledge a new friend we met at the pool. Cassidy, we enjoyed meeting and playing with you. You will be in our Water game post too.

Harvesting Our Farm Prairie... by Fox with Photos by Emily

Our playing in the backyard was interrupted with an interesting concert of noise from the field. We had to investigate and record this amazing event: One wickedly hot day we were surrounded by a beautiful view of prairie and the very next evening a cropped and almost naked vista.


Raccoon and I make Penguin Rock and Roll. - Fox *sensibly in the shade*



We jumped on the empty rain barrel to get a safe look. The huge green thing with the Triceratops spike cutting the grass of with it's teeth in the back.  The crazy thing was going round and round in a circle. We have seen animals do that when they are frightened but this monster was cutting every blade of grass in a determined way. We needed a closer view.

What is it? What is it? -Penguin, Fox, Raccoon *sensibly in the shade*

We were worried about house mice and field mice and black sheep but were a bit scared to boldly go check on them.

We still don't know what it is, we still don't know what it is... -Penguin

Worry sent Penguin into the nearest tree to check on our friends the mice and black sheep. Curiosity got the best of Raccoon and I as we crept closer. 

Sitting on a tree branch. -Raccoon

How in the world did he get up in the tree first?!

All three of us in the tree.  -Penguin

The three of us crept even closer after we were sure it was OK.

Look at those teeth! Well, you can't really see them... - Fox

Penguin thought that his short little legs had had enough and he would go back to the house and look for mice and black sheep; and, raccoon and I could look out in the field.

Not a bad plan but as we scurried out into the field. We found it rough going, clever penguin. Oh well, the adventure partners were off to "fight " the monsters and to find their friends.

Hard to climb through cut prairie grass. *pant, pant* -Fox

There were monsters everywhere and after we intrepid two had climbed up on a rectangle of the cut grass we saw this amazing view of the field.

Look at all that cut prairie grass... -Raccoon

We could see that it was going to be hard to find mice and black sheep but we really thought they were OK because they knew they had to have adult permission to go somewhere. We were thirsty- the temperature was 104 today. We went to the pond and after a drink we posed on this bale of hay.



Raccoon and I on a rectangle of prairie grass. -Fox





 Fox and I sitting on the wheel of the monster. -Raccoon

 Trusting that our "lost" friends were following rules we crept over to see all the monsters. Evidently they totally sleep when a key is turned off.

Sitting on a rectangle of prairie grass in front of the Triceratops monster. -Fox

Look at those things on the side. I wonder what they are? -Raccoon

Nice seats. Please, don't wake up, monster! -Fox



Meanwhile...

It was discovered that the four mice received permission along with Black Sheep to jump on a delivery hay wagon. 
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  Squirrel accompanied his friends on the wagon as he had traveled many miles in his adventures. The wagon delivered hay to a horse farm. The mice scurried out of the truck cab and followed Squirrel and Black Sheep to the ground. The ride had been slow and bumpy and they all wanted to see the wheels, especially the mice who do have a fondness for wheels.

What steep stairs! -Field Mouse, Whisker

Gathering at a wheel the two field mice immediately tried to get the wheel to spin around and around. They pushed with their little feet with much effort. Squirrel had to call a halt to the high energy effort because it must have been 105 degrees by now and care must be taken on hot days.

You're going to be tired before we've even started, so come on! -Squirrel

The friends all scampered back up the stairs and across the load of hay. What fun they had and it was much cooler than the ground. We had our portrait taken.

Cool, a portrait! -Squirrel

Squirrel said there were chains and straps at the back of the truck that they all could play on. So off they went. Black Sheep was left behind. 

Hurry, the wagon might leave before we're done! -White Mouse 

When Black Sheep reached the stacked hay he was grumbling that he was a pasture sheep, not a mountain goat! He was starting to be frightened.

Falling behind, the others ran. -Black Sheep

Black Sheep had not caught up even by the time the "swings' were in use.

Us playing on the swings and in the hay. -Brown mouse

Squirrel took a head count of the adventurers and suddenly realized Black Sheep was missing.

The swings were fun! -Squirrel

If you look close you can see how far back Black Sheep was from his friends.

Uh-oh! We left Black Sheep behind. -White Mouse (other)

Squirrel explained to the mice that they (even Squirrel) had not been kind and that they must get Black sheep and be sure to keep him with them. So gathering themselves as a group again they had the most fun yet. Here they are being lifted into the loft by the hay workers.

Ride up the hay ladder...sounds fun... -Field Mouse, Whisker