Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Halloween 2007 - Our decorations

Both Pumpkins this year are fake. Mary did a vampire pumpkin and I recycled the Fu-O-Lantern


Mary created a grove of trees with eyes.



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Halloween 2007 - Trick or Treating pics

Mary leading the pack.

Mary leading the Pack off of someone's porch

Mary is not always in front! (oh wait! I just clicked on the pic to look at it closer and by gosh, Mary is on the porch - 1st in line. That's a couple of friends to the right of the tree!)

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Halloween 2007 - Misc House Decorations

Various decorations found at houses we visited.



Click on the above picture to get a good view of the leftmost pumpkin.
It's dead Jim!

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Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Woodstock GA Fourth of July Parade

The Fourth of July is a big deal for the Bartlett-Sloan family. We always get to two parades here in Cherokee County Ga. In the morning is the parade in Woodstock. In the early evening is the parade in Canton Ga (the county seat).

(oh yes, it is also Mary's Gotcha day - 8 years ago)

Louisa in back. Julia and Mary in front - all of us waiting for the candy thrown during the parade.
(Hey - they didn't throw candy in parades when I was a kid!)


My propeller hat was quite the hit at both parades.
Below is a video of it in action (in shadow)


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Woodstock GA Fourth of July Parade

The start of the Parade

I see this little British armoured car tooling around the streets of Woodstock almost any time of the year.

Honest Abe made a visit.

Can you tell that this company rents inflatables and moonwalks?

Woodstock GA Fourth of July Parade

The following video is a stilt walker in the parade. This is the first year I have seen something like this in the parade.


What's a parade without Shriners?
(notice that Louisa had moved closer to the street by now. Closer to the candy!)

The following video is the Shriners and their little go-carts. Unusually small turnout this year. I've seen as many as 12 of these cars in the parades on other years.


Ben Franklin on the Sons of the American Revolution float. I have a better picture of him in the Canton parade later.


This juggler was great!
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Woodstock GA Fourth of July Parade

This group of kids with hobby horses and horse costumes was followed by...



The Knights of Columbus marching along.


If this Uncle Sam should slip from the back of the car, he has a place to go to.

Woodstock GA Fourth of July Parade

The Towne Lake Equestrian Club is followed by ...




The girls enjoyed the eyes on this car.


The end of the parade.

Canton GA Fourth of July Parade

The girls waiting for the parade. Julia and Louisa in the car with Mary in the chair.

The start of the parade.

Ben Franklin leading the Sons of the American Revolution.


Canton GA Fourth of July Parade

Mary had fun counting the emergency vehicles. I was praying that there would be no emergency in the county while the parade was going on.

The girls insisted I take a picture of this dalmation.

Elvis isn't dead. He's just gone home!


What's a parade without a giant Fiberglas cow?
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Canton GA Fourth of July Parade

I'm not sure what this group was. They had a robot on the trailer and they were all dressed as Legos.

This dog had a great seat.




This evening we are all going to bed early. No official fireworks show this year because of our drought. The few fireworks I can hear outside are greatly diminished in quantity. I'm not even risking sparklers. We'll do some snakes in the driveway tomorrow.

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Sunday, June 24, 2007

Red Top Mountain Iron Pour


On Saturday, 06/23/07, I took the two older girls out to Red Top Mountain State Park (Georgia) for a nightime Iron Pour.

Red Top Mountain is named for the soil's rich red color caused by high iron-ore content, Red Top Mountain was once an important mining area for iron.

Before the Civil War, many iron furnaces operated in this area. Iron Ore mining continued well into the 20th century.

A few years ago, an Iron furnace was constructed here for demonstrations. Iron pours are conducted several times a year. The night pours are the most spectacular.

(remember to click on the pics for more detailed views)


The furnace with buckets of Coke fuel and scrap iron waiting for the sun to set before firing up.



Some of the crowd.

Louisa and Julia (at left) were bored at first. They were not sure if they wanted to make a scratch block to be cast in iron. They decided not to this time. I suspect they will next time.


The Bluegrass concert was well attended.
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