Introducing Jack and Zack
It’s us! Jack and Zack ! We did it - we went exploring. Our glass case was cleaned today and we were lifted out - but they didn’t put us back because they hadn’t finished. Sooo -after everyone had left we went to the wheelchair . You can see it in the picture. The trouble was how to sit in it - either I sat on Zack’s head or he sat on mine - neither of us fancied that….well the ‘sat on ‘ wouldn’t see much. In the end we climbed on sideways with our legs hanging over the side - that way we could both see and we could turn the wheels with out hooves. The chair is quite comfortable - I wonder if it came from the old Tatamagouche hospital? Anyway we passed an old dental chair and a bear trap, then we were going faster and faster and couldn’t stop……well we did because we hit a door saying "North Shore Archives"…and we fell off. We both bawled loudly but no-one came so we hobbled back to where we started. We had to leave the chair though…..I expect how it got there will be a bit of a mystery….Mooo
Jack and Zack (the two-headed calf) and the wheelchair.
It’s us! Jack and Zack ! We did it - we went exploring. Our glass case was cleaned today and we were lifted out - but they didn’t put us back because they hadn’t finished. Sooo -after everyone had left we went to the wheelchair . You can see it in the picture. The trouble was how to sit in it - either I sat on Zack’s head or he sat on mine - neither of us fancied that….well the ‘sat on ‘ wouldn’t see much. In the end we climbed on sideways with our legs hanging over the side - that way we could both see and we could turn the wheels with out hooves. The chair is quite comfortable - I wonder if it came from the old Tatamagouche hospital? Anyway we passed an old dental chair and a bear trap, then we were going faster and faster and couldn’t stop……well we did because we hit a door saying "North Shore Archives"…and we fell off. We both bawled loudly but no-one came so we hobbled back to where we started. We had to leave the chair though…..I expect how it got there will be a bit of a mystery….Mooo
Jack and Zack and a trip to the Farmer's Market, Grain Elevator, and Arts Centre
It's Jack here again - of course that means Zack is here as well, but he's asleep at the moment, so I can tell you about our latest trip outside. We managed the back stairs again and because it was a Saturday, if we were careful we could get into the Farmers' Market without being seen. We scurried behind the flower beds and got in through a side door. We were able to hide under a table- and saw an awful lot of legs -hairy ones, tanned ones, muscular ones ....none like ours so a bit boring really.
Jack and Zack and the Broom
Hullo Everyone,
Oh dear - we feel bad because we haven't written to you, but we were too tired! So many visitors meant we had to stand still for hours and by the time we could go exploring our legs just would not work. Anyway, last night we did get down the stairs to see the old creamery machinery.
There was a long silvery rectangular tank, called a 'pasteurizer'; Zack thought it was something to do with pastures, and then thought it meant 'past your eyes', but I seem to remember someone saying it was for heating the cream to a very high temperature, to kill nasty things in it…what sort of nasty things? We never found anything in the cream we drank. Then there was a very, very big silvery cylinder with an opening near the top - the churn; this was where the cream went to be actually turned into butter. We tried jumping up to see what was inside, then Zack found a pipe opening and stuck his head through - well of course he got stuck which meant I couldn't go anywhere. He started bawling and the sound was magnified by the cylinder...a dreadful noise, which frightened me so I was scrabbling and mooing - finally he laid his ears flat and I shot forward and hit a butter paddle hung on the wall - I expect the staff will wonder how it got on the floor. Never mind. Then we came to a large machine which actually put the butter into the sort of packet you see in the shops - Tatamagouche Butter! BUT next to that was a table with little jars and a carton of cream...and someone had left the lids off the salt and colouring,- sooooo...we each filled a jar and jammed the lids on, but our hooves couldn't shake them, soooo...we ran round and round the exhibit…mine turned into butter but Zack dropped his and the lid came off and yellowy liquid and bits of butter flew all over the place.... and on us. Well, we licked ourselves clean, but couldn't clear up the mess on the floor. We rather wonder what the staff will think when they come in the morning....oh well!
Jack and Zack and the Butter
Hullo Everyone,
Oh dear - we feel bad because we haven't written to you, but we were too tired! So many visitors meant we had to stand still for hours and by the time we could go exploring our legs just would not work. Anyway, last night we did get down the stairs to see the old creamery machinery.
There was a long silvery rectangular tank, called a 'pasteurizer'; Zack thought it was something to do with pastures, and then thought it meant 'past your eyes', but I seem to remember someone saying it was for heating the cream to a very high temperature, to kill nasty things in it…what sort of nasty things? We never found anything in the cream we drank. Then there was a very, very big silvery cylinder with an opening near the top - the churn; this was where the cream went to be actually turned into butter. We tried jumping up to see what was inside, then Zack found a pipe opening and stuck his head through - well of course he got stuck which meant I couldn't go anywhere. He started bawling and the sound was magnified by the cylinder...a dreadful noise, which frightened me so I was scrabbling and mooing - finally he laid his ears flat and I shot forward and hit a butter paddle hung on the wall - I expect the staff will wonder how it got on the floor. Never mind. Then we came to a large machine which actually put the butter into the sort of packet you see in the shops - Tatamagouche Butter! BUT next to that was a table with little jars and a carton of cream...and someone had left the lids off the salt and colouring,- sooooo...we each filled a jar and jammed the lids on, but our hooves couldn't shake them, soooo...we ran round and round the exhibit…mine turned into butter but Zack dropped his and the lid came off and yellowy liquid and bits of butter flew all over the place.... and on us. Well, we licked ourselves clean, but couldn't clear up the mess on the floor. We rather wonder what the staff will think when they come in the morning....oh well!
Jack and Zack and the Chaloupe
Hullo again - Yes, it's us - the famous two-headed calf! The rain is pouring down so we won't go out today, but yesterday, when no-one was looking, we slipped down the back stairs, past the Senator Stage we told you about last time, and peeked into the boat workshop. The men were working outside so we did a bit of exploring - there were all kinds of tools - old ones were hanging on the wall and rather scary ones sat on benches. Zack pressed something and a silvery round object with sharp teeth whizzed round very fast and made a loud buzzing noise - wow - we hid fast because a man poked his head in and looked very puzzled...'No-one here' he said, and pulled out a plug. We found a heap of sawdust - that was great - we kicked around in that for a bit...yeah - it flew all over the place, but I sneezed several times and we had to hide again as the man came back in. He seemed a bit cross about the mess we'd made and muttered about the 'need to sweep up'. We heard them talking about a canoe which I think was what we were hiding under -if we were a bit bigger we could have walked it out of the workshop, on our back, but perhaps they would have spotted a canoe moving around with 4 legs under it! Yes, they were certainly building a canoe - we rather fancy a trip on the Waugh River - holding the paddles could be a problem...but... we could drift up with the tide and back down again when the tide went out; navigating could be a problem - we might get taken out to sea...that's a frightening thought ....Headline in local paper - 'Canoe found at sea with two-headed calf' - perhaps we'd better not try it.
Anyway, we managed to get to another wood structure which had a much larger, partly built boat on it. Zack said it was called a scallop, but he is hopeless - it is a chaloupe. I had heard talk about this - these boats were built by early French settlers - the Acadians, in the 1700s; they used the boats to ship food to some place called Louisbourg where there was a big fort (whatever that is) and lots of soldiers. The English didn't like this so they got rid of the Acadians. I don't know if Zack and I are French or English - I guess we are just cows...or bulls...or calves! I quite like the idea of being Captain of the ship...Haul up the anchor...heave to.... walk the gang-plank...splice the main brace.....no idea what it all means but it sounds good! Zack could be cabin boy - if there was a cabin....oh well - nothing like dreaming.
'Zack - don 't do that!' He's chewing on a rope...'It's holding a flag in place...stop, before you...' Too late, and there goes the flag- flying toward the stage - and there go the men running after it. It's starting to rain so guess we had better slip back inside the Heritage Centre, while everyone is occupied elsewhere. There are more buildings we need to investigate...another time, I guess....so we'll be back again! Come on, Zack.
Jack and Zack and the Cold Room
You know, Zack and I were not really scared when we heard that voice in the dark -it was just that we didn't expect it - and later we discovered that it was a hologram and not a real person at all! Actually it was kind of fun. Anyway the next night we went to explore the old pieces of creamery machinery, but that got a bit out of control because Zack insisted on pushing open a big heavy door with iron handles....it led to a cold room, he said, where they stored the butter, and that it would be good to feel cool and perhaps try some butter. Well - we could just reach the light switch. The room wasn't cold and there was no butter, - all we could find were ladders and shelves - more a store-room really. One box said 'Dress-up for children.' It had some strange clothes in it....long dresses made of satin and brocade, and a jacket with gold buttons and braid. We tried to put them on but four legs and two heads made it difficult; however we could wear the hats and head-dresses and managed a red and green cloak with a gold chain. There were cutlasses too and we had a great time trying to use those…BUT, I don't know how it happened...somehow we knocked against the door and it shut with a great bang!
So - we had to spend the night shut in the cold room; it wasn't so bad - we found tools, and lots of drawers full of things -pictures we could colour (we found crayons), games to play, a staple gun - (we used that to put up our pictures), glue and packets of feathers and sequins - I tell you - we had a good time shut in that room, but it did get a bit messy and we couldn't control the feathers.
They flew everywhere and quite a few stuck to us. We got a bit worried about being found in the morning so we built a sort of ' hide' out of cardboard boxes and cuddled up in it when we heard people moving around. Two men came to collect ladders and didn't notice the mess or us...phew...we were able to creep back to our place without anyone seeing us - but people were VERY puzzled about the feathers, and rather cross because they drifted everywhere! Oh well!
Jack and Zack and the End of the Season
Jack and Zack and the Flying Cloud
Here we are again and we’ve just been looking at all the bits and pieces to do with ships, like telescopes, half models, things for measuring speed and depth and how ships navigated….and then we found…..a large model of a ship in a huge glass -fronted cabinet. I think we must have the sea in our blood because we would love to have sailed in the clipper ship….or any of the schooners, frigates, brigantines that were built along these shores. The clippers were the largest and fastest of the sailing ships, and this one - ‘The Flying Cloud’ wasn’t built here, but the model on display here was built nearby and donated to the museum. Zack and I are going to pretend we were on board staggering around as waves hit the bow, scampering up the rigging to set sails (come to think of it this could be difficult for us)….but we’d be good at keeping watch ‘cause we could see in two directions at once, as the ship heaves up and down, up and down…….hmmmmmm….I think I am feeling a bit peculiar - and if I am then Zack is too……perhaps we will stay on shore… and sing Sea Shanties instead……"What shall we do with the drunken sailor?…What shall we do with the drunken sailor?….What shall we do with the drunken sailor ….earl-aye in the morning?"