Boston Tour is now leaving for Concord Part One

Concord Massachewitts...The start of our nation's

revolution...The shot heard round the world...Paul Revere.......It all happened here...right in our little state of Massachewsitts..PL1+2 and Archie and I decided to go to Concord.We love it there as it is a beautiful town,chock full of political and literary history which we all love( and they have great farm stands too.....) Now this will be in two parts..Part One the History Part two the literary...
Here is a map depicting where it all happened....

And here is the entrance to the North Bridge where the American Revolution started.......

If you can biggify this it will tell you about the bridge..

I was reading it but then thought I heard cannon fire so I had to duck under...

Here it is THE BRIDGE where on 19 April 1775 the American Minutemen tried to stop the British from finding their hidden ammunition ..... This is considered the beginning of the American Revolution (or the War of American Secession, as some of our British friends call it, right Eric?)

The statue of the Minuteman by Daniel Chester French

It has a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "By the rude bridge that arched the flood,/ Their flags to the April breeze unfurled,/ Here once the embattled farmers stood,/ And fired the shot heard round the world!'

Archie thought it must have been a very big gun to be heard around the world!

The Bridge still spans the beautiful Concord River....

but instead of Minutemen, there are artists.....



And canoe-ists......

This is the quiet heard round the world!

Archie said he was getting a little confused...

He said he didn't know which side he should be on as he is British by descent but he lives in America....He refused to read this sign..

And he paid his respects by the graves of the British soldiers who fell here....

Here we are on the other side of the Bridge..

So pretty and peaceful..except for my brother who kept yapping on and on...

He made me so crazy with all his bantering I threw myself down to roach but couldn't....Which side should we be on??? Pl1+2 said we didn't have to choose sides..It was history... and this was just teaching us about what happened....

Then he told me that he was SURE he heard canon fire........

Directly next door to the Bridge is a beautiful famous house.....

Two very famous people Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne lived here, but not together.......



This is a garden that Henry David Thoreau made for Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife, Sophia, as a wedding present, and no, Archie, it is not the original plants and no you cannot eat them!

Can you see the double-decker bird house??

Then we went down the road into the main area of Concord.This hotel The Colonial Inn says that it has two haunted rooms and people LOVE to stay in these rooms and some have seen the ghosts!!(Archie said he is pretty sure that there would be no way, no how he would stay there. In fact we had to walk on the other side of the road..)

While we were walking we decided that we were hungry and Arch found this place..(actually all he really saw was the ICE CREAM)

So we went down this little alley..

And we waited with PL2 while PL1 went to get us PIZZA.....

I told Arch not to get so excited and sit patiently like I was...

Then I told him to sit under the table and act as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening....

Only I was too excited thinking about the pizza to do that...



SO we all had our pizzas(some of us did not have quite as much as we would have liked) and we were walking on...and Archie starting yapping again about which side should he be on..... and he saw this sign of a minuteman...

And he was feeling very contrary and rebellious... and ..well you can guess what he did next........Let's just say the sign got a little wet....

And on the way home we did stop at a farm stand and got blueberries and raspberries and practically ate all of them before we got home!!! Now part two we will show you some famous literary sites in Concord!!!

Just chasing the rats again!!

Well Saturday was a lovely cool day...Just the kind of day TO GO TO GROUND and chase the rats!!!! Now there was a minor change in plans.PL1 and my coach were supposed to come but something came up and PL1 had to stay home and so did Arch ...(he said it was OK because he has been having a little tummy trouble and he would have gotten even more being there from nerves...) Here is the view driving in.

There is the check in booth.Now I didn't really feel as nervous as the last time because I got my E...and there wasn't any pressure.The next level is the Senior level....I will have to study before I try for that one..This day I was really just doing it for the fun(and that is what it is all about!)

Here we are walking down the path to get to the tunnels......into the woods...

Now imagine my surprise when I turned around and saw one of my BFF"S LACIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! She was even smirking and I SWEAR I thought I heard her say something about a blender.....so I screamed LACIE!!!!!!!!!!!!! and she didn't turn to me..and I KNEW it wasn't her,because she would have said"Did you see what that one was wearing?and how about the shoes on that one? And she better get her roots touched up".....

She was looking all around at everyone....

And this smooth fox terrier was trying to get to know her but she would have NO part of that....

There were a lot of these kids around..They are a lot of fun..(even though I did sort of snap at one of them when she got a little too close...)

And tons of Lorenza's EVERYWHERE!! WHOA do these kids know how to dig!!! and they are so svelte they shoot right into the tunnels...

OK so my first tunnel was coming up......This is called Introduction to Quarry( quarry being THE RAT ) This is for kids who want to see if they like the chase.I just like to do it.........Check out the scene...

and the judge said I had the FASTEST TIME YET!!! 16 seconds!!( of course I was only the 4th one) "HEY did you kids see my time!!!!"

Look at the pretty color of this kid.......

And check out this baby!! He is an 18th month old smooth foxie who was trying the tunnel for the first time..He couldn't stop dancing( Archie said he has seen him ball room dancing where Archie goes)

So I thought I should sit back and think of my coachs tricks.....

And I did the "pump yourself up" technique that my coach taught me and was READY FOR ACTION

Here I am waiting to be called for the Junior level tunnel......Check out the hard core concentration)

I was trembling so PL2 put me here.....

There it is.......TUNNEL OF RATS......waiting for me......Agatha from Boston.. to once again demonstrate her stealth bomber technique...

OOOhhhhhhhhhhhh.. right behind those orange fences they lie....... in the tunnel...... WAITING FOR ME

AND WE ARE OFF.......................................................to go into the pre waiting area...if you thought I was trembling before....

AND I PASSED AGAIN!!(that mean I have another J?) I was soo soo quiet sneaking up on those rats... and then I dug and barked and dug and barked and dug and barked.......And then the Judge congratulates you and tells your PL to come and praise you and get you out of the tunnel..I wish there was a way to get a movie of that!! HAH!!!! It is not easy to get out of there!!!!(for me because I do not want to go and for PL2 because she is a 100 years old and doesn't bend like she used to) So we flew home to tell PL1 and Archie all about it. Here he is questioning me about various techniques and seeing what worked or didn't because he said when we train for the Senior level we have go raise the bar a little( hoo boy)

Then we both got baths.......and passed out....

And so signing off,your happy stealth bomb Junior Earthdog........

Aggie and her fabulous coach Arch

ROCK +ROLL IN BOSTON!!!!!!!!

PL1+2 had the best time last night..........They went to Fenway Park last night...Nope....... not to see the Red Sox...to see this lad........
SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY...
PL1+2 danced and sang the night away and PL2 remembered when she first saw Sir Paul...on the Ed Sullivan show...and she SCREAMED for hours......Sir Paul said that he remembered those girls..and guess what? THEY SCREAMED JUST AS HARD LAST NIGHT!!! Do you want to see what ROCK AND ROLL IS????????????????Watch this ...from last night........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBNkOCICywY

Maybe PL1+2 are a little tired and PL2 can barely talk (from screaming) and PL1 has ringing in his ears(which he hopes goes away!!) but they are two happy campers.........

Ways to stay cool by Archie

While my sister is practicing for her Saturday event( I have her training early in the morning because it is a bit hot here) I thought I would share with you some fascinating ways I have come across to help keep you cool....

The first way as you see in this demonstration is to place one ear up in the air.This allows a cool breeze to enter your ear which then keeps you cool...

Next, if you find that your feet are bit hot,you raise them up in the air like this and the breeze will cool them off..........

Do you find that your head gets hot?You can cool both your feet and your head as shown in this demonstration..

Other side of your head need cooling? Just flip over!!!(this is so easily done)

My sister(when not practicing) also has a few tricks of her own,as in the next demonstration....Place your head under the eave........

Or you could go into this stupid pool( which I do not find entertaining at all)

Or you can tell your sister a good joke.........(laughter is very cooling)

Stay cool everyone!!!

Your pal Arch

Until we meet again dearest Charlie

Until we meet again dear Charlie at that wonderfull place over the bridge.

You will be very busy with all our dearest friends and don't worry...we will help watch over those that you left behind...Love Agatha and Archie