Puppies, Renaissance, and Bob Dylan; Oh My!

Oh Neville, when will you get better?  Almost died getting neutered.  Got pneumonia.  Now he has to fight off Dock...

Good sniffin'

All work and no play

B-day cake for Papa

Ohhhh!!!  Nice use of the golf ball

The Sterling Renaissance Festival.  Right now, I'm going to tell you this is way more than I expected...

I didn't even know they would have permanent structures.  I just expected some jousting and a turkey leg.  Not theater.  It's essentially the Medieval Times restaurant outside!

Oh, and you get to use old weapons, like a bow and arrow.

Here's the midday public execution.

Chop off that head!  The kid brought up was very disappointed that he didn't get to catch a real human head...

It was "Scottish Days," so some Highland Games were in order

THROW THAT TELEPHONE POLL!!!

Ping Pong Crossbow

Tomato throwing at Tomato Justice.  You may get hit in the face with tomatoes, but you also get to insult everyone and get paid.  So...

Nothing could illustrate America's health crisis more than this...

TO THE WATER DUNK!

Misery

FINALLY!  Some jousting.  WWE style

Megan's dad got tickets to the Leon Russell/Bob Dylan concert last night at CMAC in Canandaigua.  Pretty swanky place.

"Do you think he smokes?"  Yaba Doba Gabba Do.

Off to see the Buffalo Bills practice.  They need so much practice...  

BARKTOBER FEST 2011 is on September 24th in Egypt Park (next to Lollypop Farm) and I'm on The Dirty Dogs team.  So, please support me (and the homeless and abused animals of Lollypop Farm) by going to http://lollypop.kintera.org/ba​rktoberfest/mike to make a donation!

He Use To Be Just "Mike," But Now He's "Uncle Mike."

Tachel had Veteran's Day off, but her parents did not.  So, Megan and I got to play with her all day long.



What child doesn't like going to the public market?  



Judging from the sunlight, this is Baby Jesus' Food Stand.  The sun was really bright.  So bright that I heard a few people complain throughout the day that it was too sunny.  I'll check in with them again in February



Best deal in town and another reason to seriously preserve Monroe County's agricultural and open spaces.






Every tooth you see in this picture is loose.  



This photograph was commissioned by Tachel.  It was requested repeatedly that I take this image (no, not like that.  Get closer), so her dad can "see that there is purple food."  So, Rich there is purple food.


 
Little legs get tired of walking and cold ankles need hand warmers...



Going to town on a muffin at Union Bakery where we bumped into Erin.  This place was pretty awesome.  Affordable prices and just a barebones building.  Just my style.  



CANSTRUCTION CHICAGO!  Sorry, I mean CANstruction Rochester?  Indeed!  As many of you know, Megan use to put this event on in Chicago and discovered they did it in Rochester as well.  So, we went down to the Bausch and Lomb Building to check it out.  As you can see, this is a birthday cupcake.  The flame is a bag of Flamin' Cheetos



The Wizard of Oz



Candle



So, I took the previous pic and Tachel yelled out "WAIT!  I'M NOT IN IT!!!"  It was at this point I realized that I am officially the "artist" and she is the "muse."



CANstruction site



Tachel hanging out with the guy coming out of the manhole



Downtown Rochester.  You see the Genesee River with the city skyline.  That's a semi truck crossing the bridge



A sea turtle



Tachel and the crashed UFO



A Flour Mill that made early Rochester famous



If there's anything Uncle Mike has, it's drawing supplies...



"Aunt Meg, what do you eat if you don't have any food?"  After the taco and ziti incidents, we chose our battles and went to Burger King.  



Ellison Park off Blossom Road.  You'll see a bit of this later on.



On a bathroom run to a nearby gas station (because they locked the bathrooms at the park), I found disturbing candy made in the USA.  



Uncle Mike using is art degree once again



It was a fun day with Tachel.  Unfortunately, it really wore out Megan because she had two kids to take care off all day and only one gets to go home to her parents at the end of the day...



Back at Ellison Park, which is just down the street from our apartment.  They have historic markers on everything around here.  This is for Indian Landing, "the most important place in the early history of Genesee Country."



This is a 1938 replica of Schuyler's Trading Post/Fort.  The original was from 1721 built by the British Captain Peter Schuyler, Jr. to encourage trade with the Iroquois Native American tribe. 



Stairs to nowhere in the park.  It's only a guess, but I think it's probably from a resort from the late 1800s, early 20th century that was taken over and turned into a park because church folk didn't like all the drinking and fun being had on Sundays.  That, or to a mansion Frank Ellison may have of had on the property or something.  Further investigation is needed...



Out in the middle of nowhere were about 30+ dogs and their owners running, barking, swimming, and all.  It was pretty random.



As I said previously, Megan's dad gave us tickets to the Detroit Lions (2-7) vs. the Buffalo Bills (1-8).  We had a couple of other tickets that we couldn't give away.  It was good to see the Bills win a game (the first time I've ever seen that happen live) and for the Lions to protect their 0-16 perfect season from being reached by another team...


  
Bills holding QB tryouts for the 2011 season at their practice facility...



Conklin's Tailgating Bar and Grill



 Megan with the family before the game



Heading into Ralph Wilson Stadium



These teams were so terrible that I yelled at both of them.  They are infuriating.  The dumb penalties.  The absolute lack of defense.  Poor call playing.  Timeouts at the most ridiculous times.  At moments, it was like each team was trying to lose on purpose.  Loser Bowl 2010 was everything I expected it to be!!!