It seems that there are two things all the places we have been visiting have in common: artillery and chickens. Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and the historical site we visited today, Yorktown, all have these –apparently– important additions to the sites. Today we watched cannons being fired (no actual bombs were used) by two men at the army camp, and Polly and I even got to help them! I was the Second Gunman and Polly was the Captain. My job was preparing the cannon with the First Gunman, and then lighting the fuse, according to the Captains orders. Polly was great at her job, she shouted out orders like she was born for the job. Me, I’m sure I wouldn’t have made the cut for the battlefield. You know how you are supposed to rip open the gunpowder packet with your teeth? It took me much longer than it should have to complete the job. Apparently, Second Gunmen must have very strong teeth.
As to the second important thing, we visited farms that had several chickens, a fact that –you guessed it– Nellie loved. (If you have been reading my other posts, you will already know that Nellie has loved the chickens at all the other sites we visited.) It was rather funny, actually. Nellie wanted to get close to the chickens, so a few of us (me included) tried “gently encouraging” the chickens into a corner where Nellie could fully enjoy them. We were a sight to see. I got pecked in the leg by a protective rooster, Nellie got scared when the rooster started going after her, and we unanimously decided to stop chasing chickens. Needless to say, the “friendly persuasion” isn’t something I would recommend to anyone.