COVID-19: The Journey. Chapter 8, Pumpkin trebuchet

    

The Baker gang (masks in pockets) at the pumpkin patch outside of Des Moines

Baby Myla, all tuckered out after the farm visit

 

    October brought us to the end of two high school sports seasons: Grandson Collin ended in cross country while grandson Brady finished the year in football. We attended most of these sporting events as the weather was mild. We also caught a show, finally, at Circa '21 Playhouse, Rock Island.    

    Finally, most of the entire family gathered at, of all places, a pumpkin patch on a farm outside Des Moines, Iowa.

    In all we stayed at home except for one night of the month.

    Grandson Collin runs cross country for Davenport Assumption High School and he had three local meets in October. We went, wearing masks, to outdoor venues in Davenport, DeWitt and Bettendorf. 

    A clear announcement was made before the conference meet at Crow Creek Park in Bettendorf: "All those present are expected to wear masks!" I had mine on but some other folks hurried to comply.

    Davenport School District employees again had sectioned off bleachers at Brady Street Stadium, where grandson Brady's West High Falcons play football games. We sat as directed and enjoyed watching Brady play quarterback on the varsity squad. We also caught an online game when Davenport West played Pleasant Valley.

    We have been subscribers to the Circa '21 Playhouse in Rock Island for a few years, but that activity stopped in early March. It started up again with the "Savannah Sipping Society," which we caught on Oct. 4. 

    It was very different in 2020: We wore masks to the downtown Rock Island location and had our temperatures taken inside the lobby. Instead of a buffet, we had menu choices and the audience was limited to about 50 people, total.

    We gave the small cast a standing ovation after the show. Everyone is trying so hard to perform! Lately, Circa '21 has closed down again because of the high in increase in virus cases.

    In mid-October we met members of the Baker family, including almost all the grandchildren, outdoors at a pumpkin patch west of Des Moines. There are four family members living in the area and the rest of us drove in from the Quad-Cities. Two grandkids stayed home in their college towns.

    It was a blast! It was a pretty nice day and we stayed outdoors. Steve bought tickets for everyone and the ticket-taker told him he got the prize for paying for the biggest group (14 people). The baby, Myla Rodewald, enjoyed feeding goats on the property, and the grandsons all signed up to operate a trebuchet type of device that sent pumpkins flying in the air. 

    We grandparents doubled up to laugh at the boys and their pumpkin-throwing machine. It reminded me of David Letterman on his late-night television show: He'd go to the top of the Ed Sullivan theatre in Manhattan and drop pumpkins from the roof. It was pretty funny to see them splatter.

    We spent several hours at this farm by getting on a hayrack to travel out to the corn maze. This was just like you see in the horror movies. I got all messed up and finally had to stop and listen to people talking, just to get back out of that maze.

    Baby Myla was exhausted afterwards. Lunch was at a huge barbecue joint in Des Moines, where we separated at two nearby tables.

    Except for that overnight trip we stayed home about 30 days of the month. I need to stay busy, and that was accomplished by winterizing the garden. Most of the garden work was finished in October. 

    Next up: Fall house-cleaning and sanitizing. Onward (safely)!

Grandson Nathan Campbell loads up pumpkin on trebuchet-type device