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.

Butter pasteurizer

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.

Butter pasteurizer

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

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

hat3

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

Yawn,, yawn. yawn... oh ... Hullo there ... sorry - Zack and I get very sleepy when there is no-one going round the museum. The Thanks- giving weekend has gone and we discovered the museum closed for the season on the Sunday.. here we were all eager to listen in and learn things - but someone turned off the sound systems so we were unable to hear the Anna Swan music, or the whistling of workers  and clip clop horse sounds and the hands on machines would not work, and the alarm systems were turned on - so we thought we had better stay quiet and still... we are going to hibernate until the Spring and dream about the 200 million year old fossil footprints and what made them...and think about who Boiler Bob was..so ..goodbye for now  and see you in the Spring of 2014.
 Love...Jack and Zack

Jack and Zack and the Flying Cloud

scale ship model

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?"


Jack and Zack and the Perambulator

Wheeeee...here we go....Zack and I are sliding down a ramp...it's the approach to the fossil section of the Heritage Centre; I let him go first, so now it's my turn..oops..we landed in a small picnic table. Of course we had to see what was on it....hmmm -dinosaur puzzles, and blocks and 'make a picture' and 'sort' footprints...and hand puppets of fearsome creatures...we haven't got hands...oooer -they fit over our heads.... roarrrr....grrrrr. Yes, well....OHHHHHH there really IS a fearsome creature..it is brown and has awful teeth and big claws and a sort of fin along it's back and its facing us..well me, no, Zack ..no, me - Stop turning round Zack...but it is not moving....phew - it is a model...of a dimetrodon. That is a relief! It seems to be eyeing much smaller, green coloured creatures that are emerging from some water. Zack says they are called seymouria, (He must have read that), and lived over 200,000,000 years ago. Wow - that`s older than us! Look at all those oooooo. I guess it was before there were any people like you, around....I wonder what it was like then.....a strange world - even the trees were different. LOOK at that GIANT DRAGONFLY! I`ve seen small ones flying around near the water, but this one......I'm glad it's not alive.
Zack has found some buttons to press. Oh, pretty - on the wall there are coloured footprints, showing where the seymouria actually walked across the mud. Several different coloured tracks in fact, and you can see where they tails dragged...cool! Perhaps one day someone will find our footprints ...that will puzzle them as our hoof prints will be in opposite directions.
I can see a `sort tray` - I don`t care what Zack wants to do I am going to see what I can find hidden there. This will probably take a while.....yes ...a seashell fossil - it came from a desert? ..huh.?..that means at sometime the desert was water....must think about that.
Zack...stop tugging.....he's found...something..... Until next time then......J and Z


Jack and Zack and the Giants

WE ARE BACK!  Hate to tell you  but we over-hibernated, and only just woke up! To tell you the truth we are feeling a bit `wobbly` - well,  we are over 100 years old and it is beginning to tell, but we are determined to explore again.

Zack heard people saying that there were Giants in one of the rooms - so we waited until the Centre was empty then Zack peeped in through a high doorway, and there ... they...were! A huge lady and gentleman....  Zack backed out fast,( which meant I had to stumble forward),  but they didn't come after us, so this time I went in first. Of course they were photographic models, so we could get close to them - they towered above us - 8 feet tall...wow. Anna Swan was her name, and she and her husband, Captain Martin Van Buren Bates, had both lived before we were born, so they were dressed in strange clothes; there was a pair of his trousers hanging up - we could have got inside one leg they were soooo big. As for Anna's dress........

small-photo-1

We looked into a cabinet and there was one of Anna's actual shoes - it was vast -  and his wedding ring would fit over one of our hooves.  They worked in a circus - we would like that - BUT do you know that in Tatamagouche, the new micro brewery  has used  'Jack and Zack'  as their logo ...fame at last!

Zack says I have burbled on enough....but next time we are going downstairs....to see something very, very, very old! So goodbye for now and if you want to see Anna, then she is on our website, but better still, come and see for yourself at the Heritage Centre - we will be there too!


Jack and Zack and the Perambulator

July 26 009 stroller c

Zack and I had a really good time last evening - well I did - Zack is still not too sure. After everyone had left the museum, we found the old school desks and both had slates on them - small rectangles of grey slate set in a wood frame - AND we found some chalk. These were used by children before note books and paper were easily available. So we had a great time drawing on the slates, holding the chalk in our teeth. Unfortunately Zack got so excited he bit the chalk and swallowed part of it.  I kept telling him it wouldn’t hurt his stomach - well my stomach too really, but he moaned and moo-ed and burped and hiccupped for ages until we found -  the perambulator! It was beautiful and sooo inviting. We managed to clamber up the big wheels and under the canopy and lay on our back, with our legs in the air. We imagined being pushed along the Main Street of Tatamagouche with its little shops, then down a road to the Butter Trail and Pattersons Wharf then back to  Creamery Square and the Heritage Centre, sniffing the wild flowers that grow along the side of the river; we hoped we would meet a deer or a bear - or see an eagle chasing a cormorant…well it’s nice to dream - even if Zack did bring back the chalk he swallowed - I was surprised - it was a rather large piece!