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........
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
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!
Jack and Zack and the Sickle and the Sieve
Last time Zack was dragging me off to see...of all things, old farm equipment; as if we hadn't seen that sort of thing before, being born on a farm! BUT, some of this was really old -a wood thing with iron spikes sticking out- and used by early settlers to break up the soil. No, the thing he had spotted was a sickle in a tree - yes, really IN a tree..at some time a farmer had hung his sickle in a tree and forgotten it , leaving it there for years and years so that the tree grew round it. Wonder who he was and what made him do that?
Now here is a winnowing sieve with grain on it -- perhaps if we lie on our back and balance the sieve on our hooves we...can...toss the grain so the chaff blows away and the grain falls back on the sieve....ouch....the grain has gone in my eyes and - everywhere I guess. What a mess - it's scrunching under our hooves. There are some huge ox yokes - don't know how they worked with that weight on their shoulders -poor creatures...(guess we are related to them). 
It is as much as we can do to push around a wooden, hand- made thing for sowing seeds - it's a bit wooobbblllyyy -oops - oh well. Ah, here we go - it's a thing for....winding wool? Anyway we can spin it round and round and round -yippee - oh, hmmm ...it hit a stuffed lamb standing next to it, and the lamb has shot off and landed where we... can't... reach...it... That's going to puzzle someone - I expect...what's that? We heard a voice.....coming from a dark area round the corner...there is not meant to be anyone here....I can feel Zack shaking and his hooves are clattering on the floor (mine aren't of course)...we want to hide - he is trying to go one way but I have a better place...in with the fossil models - the 'voice' will think we are part of the display.
Silence! I think it is safe to move - carefully - shhhhhhh. We can creep toward the voice and the dark patch. I'm ashamed to say we feel a bit nervous...because there shouldn't be anyone here...
"Hullo there...I'm Boiler Bob. I've lived behind ......" MooooOOOOOOOOO!
Jack and Zack and the Snowshoes
Zack saw them first - the big wood rectangular shapes with a narrow bit at one end….they are hanging on the wall. If one of us stands on our legs the other might be able to read what they are…whoops….steady there…..snowshoes? It says they are snowshoes. Hmm. If we could get on to them it would certainly stop us sinking into the snow - when it comes. I think we would have to put them on sideways, with the narrow bit sticking out at the side- I put my hooves on one and Zack uses the other, then we could sort of jump along …Hmmmm. Perhaps we could use one as a slide - with all 4 hooves on it and find a slope to go down…. Those snowshoes are rather big and heavy - hard work to use. We fancy the thick wool breeches seen there; if men aren’t wearing them - we will!
Jack and Zack and the Tartan
It’s us again – Jack and Zack - and look what we found! We both want to wear something like that …we would probably have to take it in turns to wear the kilt, and the jacket could be a problem but we like the sporran and the ‘thing’ flung over the shoulder! We found out that lots of people in this area had ancestors who came from Scotland quite a long time ago...they had ‘Mac’ as part of their surnames. We think MacZack and MacJack would be good. We heard someone wondering what the tartan was….now we have to find out…perhaps someone in the Archives will know, or we will have to listen carefully when visitors go round the exhibits – let you know next week, and perhaps who wore it!
Jack and Zack and the Toys
Zack has just found a little glass display case of old toys...he keeps trying to open it because he wants to look at the book, and try using the marbles... it says they are made of stone! That's odd 'cause the ones in the gift shop are made of glass...oh well. Perhaps it is because they are old. I want the little bath... I could put one hoof at a time in it - maybe. And I rather fancy the little stove - wonder if it works...I could cuddle it when it gets cold. But it is no good. We cannot get in to the case and it is too high for us to break by jumping on it . Bother - we will just have to look for something else to do....Zack - what do you think THAT is.....?
Jack and Zack and the Washing Machine
You know, Zack and I thought we would have a bath! We found this ‘thing’ that said it was a ‘washer‘….we climbed in but it was full of funny bits of wood that moved up and down - so there wasn’t room for us as well….and there wasn’t any water…and we didn’t know what the handle on the side was used for. So it was a bit of a disappointment…but then we realized it was a clothes washer and the wood bits moved up and down bashing the clothes in the water when the lower handle was turned. And the roller bits at the top were for putting clothes through to get the water out when that handle was turned. Someone said it was a mangle…I tell you, it certainly would have mangled us if we had used it….makes me feel funny to think of my legs being squelched like that. Don’t think we will try for another bath. Anyway it would be awfully tiring filling the machine with water and emptying it. l think we will find a stream or pond....or we could go in the river behind the heritage building...Yes!
Jack and Zack and Traps and Horns!
It’s Jack and Zack…we had a bit of a scare - we nearly walked into the bear trap - luckily the teeth were closed - but what a nasty, cruel way to catch any animal….we heard that at one time people were trapped that way too. Gamekeepers set the traps to catch men who were hunting illegally on private property. Just imagine creeping along when - zap .. and the trap closes round your leg….but Zack forgot all this because he saw the pistol on display and wants to pretend to be a Highwayman…I don’t know how he intends to do this and carry a powder horn…made from a …cow’s horn!
That's not very nice, after all we are related to cows! I said he should use the metal powder case (on the right in the photo), or the shot case (on the left; the horns are underneath). Powder and shot were used before bullets came along, but it all sounds a bit too complicated to me. Well I am not going to do it, so he will have to go alone - but he can’t without me….so there! I bet he will sulk…but I am going to have a sleep before we go exploring again.
Zack and Jack on Stage
Hullo - It's Jack and Zack again. We think we have done most of the museum! Probably lots of things we have missed, but never mind -you will have got some idea of what it is like here. Now we want to go outside; if we are very clever (which of course we are) we should be able to slip out of the back door when no-one is looking. They are all too busy to miss us....so...here we go! Luckily the floor has carpet so our hooves won't make a noise...oh dear - there is a fly screen, but if we push our noses hard at the bottom - a bit of net is torn....oops....perhaps they will not notice. The rip in the net is quite a bit larger now...we're through....and there is a flight of steps; we both want to go first...perhaps we can go sideways. Careful - there are people working in a large shed with sliding doors. Cannot think what they are doing so must get nearer...if we creep behind this other structure - what is it? There's a raised wood platform with a wood wall at the back which has railings set in it and there is a roof but no proper sides......oooeeer.... someone's coming...lie down Zack, perhaps they won't see us. It's a man and he has walked to the middle of the platform, turned and raised one arm, and held the other out in front...what on......he's shouting something.... "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...I come to bury Caesar not to praise him..." Who is he talking to? We are not his friends, and what are Romans? And we are calves not countrymen...we don't care who he buries so long as he goes away.... Oh, there are a couple of people listening to him..."That's fine Fred, we can hear you easily. Is the poster large enough? Good - see you at the rehearsal." What poster? What rehearsal? Good, they're going - now we can see what they were talking about. One, two, three and we can jump on to the platform...there's the poster..."BARD BY THE BAY", The Senator Stage, Creamery Square, Tatamagouche, September 6th and ' The Year of Her Majesty's Reign' 4 of the clock. Bring your own seat!" That's here...Zack - we are on a stage...we can prance and mooooooo and our hooves will make tap, tap noises ...yippee. We can perform! Oops - we forgot the men in the shed, so must hide again - bother. They look a bit puzzled - thought they heard a cow. Perhaps they will go soon....hmmm...some good grass here - excuse us while we munch and think about what we do on stage..to be a calf or not to be a calf, that is the question.