judifilksign

Today at school was a Celebration of Success day, the Apple Festival! Students following their school and treatment programs got to participate in the Apple Festival activities, including apple broom races, apple slingshot distance contests, apple bobbing off of strings, and a tractor pulled hayride. After some training yesterday, to confirm that knowing how to drive a lawnmower and a standard shift car would translate well, I got to drive the tractor for the hayride today!

I had a blast! The first group was delayed a bit, because when they got on, the wagon wheels squished FLAT. I had to drive the empty wagon back to maintenance in order to get the tires re-inflated. I did pick them back up for a shorter ride.

The students toured the Festival stations by residential cottages, so I made certain that each group went past their cottage, so that the kids who hadn't earned the Festival got to see them having fun on the hayride, waving as we drove past. I also made certain to drive slowly under an apple tree that my first class planted fifteen years ago, now heavily laden with fruit. The kids all reached up and picked apples fresh off the tree.

I drove along the front road of our facility, and the kids waved madly at the cars driving past, many of which honked their horns at us, with great cheering. One group was ecstatic when a semi truck passed, and they all did the "chug-chug" blow your horn move, and the truck driver blasted his air horn at us! The front has trees all in a row, and I amused myself by zig-zagging through them, making kids duck the branches.

Always on each spin around the facility, I passed by the horse barn and fields, slowly, as to not spook the horses. Many of the kids fed the horses their apple tree apples on the way past, and the horses were waiting eagerly by the fence the next trip around. The kids giggled madly when I drove the tractor and the wagon right past the patio and window of the Director's office (I was being naughty!) The Director told me at the afternoon Celebration meeting that he and his secretary got a kick out of seeing all the kids laughing and cheering on the ride.

Also great fun was bumping down and up the drainage ditches, which while I did take as slowly as the tractor could go, still bounced the kids up and down on the hay. At one point, on of the youth leaders bounced off the back of the wagon, and had to run after us, catching up a few heart-stopping moments later. I didn't realize it had happened...

I ran the tractor and wagon around the bases of the baseball diamond for two groups. The guys started cheering right away "FIRST BASE!" "ROUND TO SECOND!" "GO TO THIRD TO THIRD TO THIRD - YEAH!" "TAKE US HOME! GRAND SLAM! ALL RIGHT!" (The girls were less impressed.)

Driving along the side of a gentle slope, tipping the wagon only a little made for big cries of consternation, as did driving downhill.

The tractor was a John Deere. Some of the staff gave me grief because I wore my Caterpillar Tractor hat. Tee hee!

All in all, I think I had more fun than the students did. I hope they let me drive again next year!