Wednesday afternoon, Chance & Marjorie arrive for a weekend of unknowns

the beginnings of a parade float sit in the driveway



carrie & marj heading downtown for supplies


wednesday afternoon, the cherry pit spitting gear waiting for setup


the field Wednesday after work


and the setting up of the Vermont State Cherry Pit Spitting Championship 2002!



wednesday night is spent at the house, working on various wood & paper mache' projects


astronaut dolls


the finishing touches




"francis scott key" macaroni-less


prepped and ready to head down to Warren after a rain-free night (marj, chance, carrie, me)


the ladies head to the field with cherries in coolers and chance & i drive the float down Lincoln Gap Road
(what's missing in this picture?)


we realize the rocking chair is missing, jettison the float mid way down and return for the key prop of Betsy's

the chair falls off midway down Vickery Hill Road and Chance yelps for a stop, inches before the Little A crushes it!


once down in Warren, the sight is impressive






chance & i take a walk and then a wade in the river to cool off with the dogs




new york skylines were common among floats


as were cows of various sorts


waiting for the parade to start


silas in costume as the pirate francis scott key?




dressed and ready 5 minutes before launch






we take off down main street, i shut off the tractor to cool down, and she won't restart


2 minutes later and she fires up and we catch up to Uncle Sam on the head






following the parade - it was up to the field, where many, including Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien from Survivor-Marquesas fame




carrie & marj signing up people for the competition


the cow-plop bingo next door to our cherry pit spit area


me judging as the storm started to roll in




one of the contestants misses the foot foul and wipes out on the mat - SAFE!


me & the under 2002 Under 12 years old Champions in the midst of a hail storm

(l-r: steve, Nick Corbet 1st place 34 feet, Thomas Wilson 2nd place 28.5 feet)

chance bearing out the storm in the fireman's helmet


me starting the Little A up and driving the reverse parade route in the thunderstorm


and chance stops to ride through town one more time with me


after the parade at the house, carrie and her sliver decide to let me have at her feet


chance looks on in horror!


so we packed it up and headed to Sugarbush with some cherries in the cooler to wait for the fireworks display








chance in Hap's Grill of Salisbury, NC watching the explosions






Granville Falls on Friday morning
( click to enlarge!)