Hold Your Tongue and Say Apple

I slept well and wasn’t out of bed until almost 8am. Our plan was to go apple picking that morning. I brushed my teeth then headed downstairs and started a pot of coffee. There were a number of drinking glasses on the counter top by the sink. I went ahead and washed all of those while the coffee brewed. It was clear, sunny morning. I stepped outside and realized how chilly it was. Next, I checked the temperature online. It was a very chilly 39 degrees! Perfect timing for the first full day of autumn.

Landon joined me downstairs after a few minutes of playing on the internet. He asked if he could remove his pull-up. Sure. He then asked if he could play on the kids laptop. Yes. Then, while I poured my 1st cup of coffee, he asked if he could have some coffee, too. I guess I’ve created a bit of a monster after giving all the kids some a few weeks ago.

I made Landon a cup with 2/3s chocolate milk, whipped cream and cinnamon. While he played on the Nick Jr site, I headed back to my own PC where I checked a few more college football scores. Earlier, when I left the bedroom, Mindy asked that I bring her coffee in a little while. I took her coffee just after 9am. She suggested I leave the bedroom door open as I headed back downstairs.

Not sure the exact time when I left for my run, but it wasn’t too long after heading back downstairs. I dressed warmly wearing a thin long sleeved wicking shirt, long running pants, and my new jacket and ball cap. I wore sunglasses, too. I peed at least three times after waking and before leaving the house, but still found myself having to go during my run. I was going to duck into the woods in our neighborhood park but just as I neared the entry point a gentleman was there walking his dog. Crap! Thankfully, I wasn’t about to bust so I simply kept going.

Aside from the duck into the park, I ran the usual weekend three mile trail. Of course the first thing I did upon my return to the house was pee. Ahh! All the kids were up and Jacob was still wearing his OSU beanie and swore he wasn’t taking it off until Lindy came over to fix his haircut. Perhaps because of his hair, he was being a pill, giving everybody a hard time. He wasn’t being pleasant to anyone. He accused me of giving him a mullet and swore he’d never let me touch his hair again. I laughed it off, but also reminded him that I told him I’d never cut anyone’s hair before.

Mindy was out of the shower and ready to go by about 1020am. I headed up for a quick shower next. We had everybody ready to leave the house near 11am. We packed a cooler with soft drinks and grabbed a bag of pretzels. The battery for my small Canon camera was dead and recharging. I opted to take my bigger, 20X zoom Canon. Jacob insisted he wasn’t going up until Mindy gave him the count of three to come down stairs and head to the Pilot. We left the house near 11am.

Lynz’s Fruit Farm is located on Morse Rd but way out in Pataskala. We took 70E to 670E to 270N to Morse Rd. My best guess is that it’s another 10 miles east of 270. It didn’t take that long really. We were there soon enough. Not sure, but believe it was Jacob who shared that we should expect a crowd. Oh boy! Having never been to a fruit farm, I wasn’t sure what to expect. There were picking orchards located on both sides of the road. You turn right or left based on your preferred apple type. We opted for Jonathon. We were directed back to a parking lot. What caught my eye right away was how small in stature the orchard trees are. I expected them to be huge like backyard apple trees.

As we parked, we were offered two different bag sizes – 10 & 20lbs. We opted for one 20lb bag. Each 20lb bag would be $20. Seemed pricey to me and the bag smaller than I expected. Most trees were anywhere from 6 – 10’ tall, though their trunks fairly large. It was obvious that they cut them back often. And while their stature was small, most of the trees were loaded with large, ripe fruit. Most of the kids strayed from Mindy and I, but Landon stayed close. We filled the 20lb bag quickly. I decided to eat one while we picked. Yum! It was delicious.

I’m guessing that we picked for about 20 minutes. During our walk n’ pick, we traversed at least two aisles but also wandered about 200 yards from the parking row. I was the sucker that had to carry the full bag of apples back to the Pilot. You don’t pay until you leave the orchard, and they ask that you open the trunk so they can keep the customer honest. Mindy flipped out a $20 to cover our crop. We left the back hatch open so he could see our haul.

As we exited, the kids excitedly asked if we could stop at the Lynz Fruit Farm corn maze and play area directly across the street. We agreed. They had all the bases covered: food, entertainment and restrooms. The three older kids (Jacob, Rocky & Bella) all wanted to do the corn maze. Landon wanted to do the tractor train ride. I funded the entertainment. After getting their wrist bands the kids rushed off into the corn maze. Mindy & I took Landon to the train ride line. While awaiting its return, we hit the restroom.

The tractor train was comprised of a small tractor pulling about ten cars made from blue water barrels on wheels. Landon took two rides and was very excited. Meanwhile, the older kids were lost in the maze for almost an hour. We say many others go in and come out, but not our kids. We climbed the tower to see if we could spot them in the maze below. Nope! We waited in a straw coral. Finally, after about an hour Bella came out. But after waiting a few more minutes, we sent her back in to see if she could find the other two. Ten minutes later all three came out.

It was one of those autumn days when it was nice and warm while the sun was out and shining. But when the sun ducked behind a cloud it was chilly. Glad I wore a jacket. Mindy budgeted 3 hours for our excursion. It was near 1pm when we left the fruit farm for home. She called or texted Lindsey letting her know that we were on our way home and planned to drop the boys at their place on the way. The kids bickered all the way home. Mindy threatened Jacob’s well-being more than once.
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We dropped the boys around 145pm and gave Lindsey an armful of apples. Arrived home near 2pm. By then I was feeling incredibly sleepy. While I went to the sofa for the NFL and a nap, Mindy got busy finalizing her grocery list. I caught a glimpse of the Vikings / 49ers score. I was more than surprised to see that the Vikings were up 14-3 in the 2nd quarter. I drifted off to sleep but woke when Mindy left for the grocery. I slept for a good 90 minutes. When Mindy got back I got up from the sofa and helped Mindy carry in the groceries. Instead of watching more football and watching the Viking score flash across the bottom of the screen, I decided to watch something else less stressful. I looked for something good on the any of the knowledge channels but found nothing of interest. Their daytime programming often leaves a lot to be desired.
I stumbled upon the Mark Twain award on PBS. This year’s recipient was none other than Will Farrell. There were several stars there to speak about Will as a build up to the actual presentation. It was quite entertaining. Made me laugh. Also, I should take this opportunity to clear up some bad info I’ve been spreading about Will Farrell. I’ve told numerous folks that his father was Mike Farrell from the comedy hit, MASH. I learned last week, however, that that simply isn’t the case. I’m guilty of spreading info that someone passed on to me without doing any fact checking. That’s always dangerous.

Of course as the program wrapped up Will Farrell came on stage and accepted the award. He was hilarious, poking a little fun at his lovely wife, who was in the audience. I watched the show to its end. It had to be near 430-5pm. At that point I knew the Viking game was over. I turned the channel to the late (415p) NFL game on FOX. It wasn’t but a minute or two before the Vikings final score flashed. They beat the 49ers 24-13. I was elated!

All the while I watched TV and napped, Mindy was busy making dinner. She whipped up a tray of lasagna and baked a fresh apple pie with Bella’s help. In fact, while they were making the pie dough, I suggested that Mindy make enough so I could make a chocolate pie at another time.

It must’ve been around 6pm when niece Lindy showed up to fix Jacob’s hair and then have dinner with us. Jacob seemed relieved to remove the warm, wooly beanie. Lindy laughed at the homespun haircut. Said we simply didn’t go up high enough. She fixed him up fairly quickly, leaving him with one of the shortest haircuts he’s ever had. Looks really nice, though. I vacuumed up the gobs of fallen hair while she trimmed & tweaked her work. Before putting her tools of the trade away, Mindy had her trim up Bella’s coiffure, too.

Dug into dinner soon after the haircuts were complete. The lasagna was quite good, but tasted more like pizza than authentic lasagna. I had two helpings along with a side salad. I’m thinking that it was just after 7pm when Lindy left for home, but not before Mindy paid her for her services. After Lindy left I changed into my PJs then did some reading about the Vikings big victory. Lots of praise out there for the job Ponder’s done so far this season. The press is so fickle and the season’s so young. I’m wise enough to know that two weeks from now they could just as likely be calling him the goat. Buy hopefully the Vikings can build on the day’s success.

Mindy and Bella continued their pie making efforts baking a fresh apple pie. Unfortunately, the baked pie wouldn’t be ready for consumption until Monday. Mindy shared that it needed a day to cool. As everyone else readied for bed, I tuned the TV to NBC and SNF – Patriots / Ravens. Mindy stayed up until about 915p. Jacob headed to his room even earlier but to practice saxophone and read. On the other hand, Bella stayed up until just after 10p with me. I stayed up until 1020pm, or well into the 3rd quarter.