Abandoned - Small Town USA - Story 100

[Abandoned]

Story Note:  Before you read this last Smallville story, you may want to read or reread the first Smallville story if you have not done so already.  It has been posted on Simtropolis in the Banished Club:
https://community.simtropolis.com/journals/entry/30389-story-1-smallville/   and the pictures have been restored to Smallville on the World of Banished blog :  https://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=1312.0



Intro


  This is the 100th and final story in the Smallville Series which began 7 years ago on Oct 16, 2016.  It tells about the 20th and final expedition to leave that town.  The 1st expedition went to Pumpkin Hollow story 3 in year 26 SVT.  This last one leaves Smallville in year 100 SVT and heads south along the river, well south of Central City of story 98, to where it all began when the mountain came down and destroyed a family settlement and most of its inhabitants.  The surviving children were the founding families of Smallville, and it is their descendants who formed this final expedition to return to the homeland of their ancestors to build a memorial and establish a settlement of their own.  Like the first settlement at this location, this one has no name either; it is just a small family settlement, a small town.  I call it Small Town USA since Smallville's World was based somewhat on USA's climate, seasons, regions, and past history.  I am using the same vanilla start and some of the same mods that I used in Smallville.  Most of the other mods I am using did not exist back in early Smallville Time.







Map seed  #  713336956      Valley,   Small,   Mild,   Disasters Off, Vanilla Easy (6 Families)

 
Most Mods ever activated for a map and load order are:

Map Changing and Starting Mods:   Banished UI Maps, Labor Window, RK Minimized Status, CC Light Rain, override Climate, Settler Deco, Jinxie Natural Decorations, Kid Deco Tree Fall, New Flora Edit, New Trees, Kid Vegetable Garden Start

Tweak Mods:  Better Fields, Bigger Wheelbarrows, Hunting, Hunting Season, Increased CC, 1:1 Alternative (Voeille), Rock Respawn, Tiny Smoke

Major or Must Have Mods:    An Empty Square, Nomads (Kid), override Uneducated, Storage Crates, Jinxie Festival Park, Kid Abandoned Places SE (updated again), Kid Colonial Resources, Kid Old Town, Kid Tiny, Kid Tiny Downtown, Kid WorkPlace, Mini Buildings

Supporting Mods:   Beach, Beach Party, Chicken Coop, Christmas Mod, Colorful Little Houses, Christmas, DS Fences & Deco, DS Wagon Vendor, Deco Tombstones (new), Colorful Little 2 Floor House, Country Little House, Deco Sunflower, DS Fences and Decorations, EB Chapel, EB Ice Cream Cart, EB Statue Cristo Redentor, EB Village Resort Deco, Garden Shed, Greenhouse, Kid Animal Breeder, Kid Deco Farm Animals, Kid Deco People, Kid Deco Wreath, Kid Farmyards, Kid Festival Ground, Kid Fish n Ships, Kid Forest Fellow, Kid Frozen Ponds, Kid Fruit and Nuts, Kid Gingerbread Village (new), Kid Hedgerow, Kid Market Carts, Kid Nativity Chapel, Kid some Boats, Kid Washing Mod, Kid Workshop, Maypole, Nordic Houses, Red Creamery Cows, Sample White Chicken, Water and Other Decorations, White Picket Fence. 

Mod note:  Kid Abandoned Places has been updated again, again my fault.   A cider barrel has been added along with the deco willow tree that I love from Kid Fish n Ships.  Also added are 3 deco ponds that are the same size as the ones in Kid Frozen Ponds.  If you have a mod before Frozen Ponds that changes the climate from more-snow, you can use one of the deco ponds and then in winter replace it with a frozen pond for ice skating and ice fishing.  Thanks @kid1293 for this update.



  Yes, weary traveler, we are descendants of the founders of Smallville; their great grandchildren were our great grandparents.  Much of what we know has been passed down from generation to generation; much of that was learned from the native people and the earlier Elven ancestors, like how to take care of the trees and the animals.  We wanted to build a memorial to those ancestors in their native homeland where it all began, so we set off on an expedition being told, like so many others before us, "go bravely into the future but always remember the old ways".

Come, weary traveler, sit by the fire with a mug of warm old-time honey ale and I'll tell you my tale.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 1





  There were 18 of us, 12 adults with 6 young children who boarded the merchant ship that Smallville's town council arranged passage for us on.  The rest of our expedition would travel on foot to the homeland of our ancestors.  We filled the ship with our sheep and chickens, our iron tools and hide coats, our seeds and seedlings, and our potatoes.  I don't think anyone ever left Smallville without potatoes, lots of potatoes.  Our group had skilled builders, craftsmen, farmers, herdsmen, and fisherman although we all attended survival school and had the knowledge to perform any task that needed doing.  My name is Rolannie and my husband is Delandra, Delan and Annie for short.

  The captain of the ship told us a bit about the land and the tragedy that occurred; he was a descendant of the river boatman who visited that settlement so he heard stories that were passed down through the generations just as we did.  It was believed to have been a miracle that anyone survived.  The settlement was in the lowlands that flooded often, that's why it was back by the hills farther from the river.  It was young people who had moved closer to the river that survived when the mountain came down on the town after a torrential rainstorm.  At the outer edge of the destruction, they found a few orphaned children who survived.  There was no help to be found, there was little else in the area at the time, there's not much more now.  They had a long arduous journey north before finding the abandoned lumber camp.  Although they were little more than children themselves, they settled there and made homes for the young orphans.  They taught survival skills to countless of others over the years. 

  So, there we were back where the Smallville founders were born and raised.  They were younger when they left here than we were when we arrived.  There was no trace that a settlement had ever been here.  Well, we would build one and we would remember the old ways: shelter, food, and firewood were first priority.



By May Day we had a large storage barn and a basic wood and thatch house for each family, just like Smallville had at the start.  It was just before dawn on May Day when the mountain here came down and buried the townspeople all those years ago.  We place a May Pole by their final resting place.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 2


  It was a cold rainy spring, work was slow, and then one morning the sun came out and shone brightly from the east.  It gave us new hope.  Like the morning starts a new day and spring starts a new year; we were starting a new life; we felt like children.  I wondered how many families over the years landed on our eastern shores and thought the same thing. 



  We built a tiny sheep shed and a well while land was being cleared for the chickens and a small farmyard.  A large woodcutting yard was being built next to the stockpile.  A tiny blacksmith would be across from it and a tiny tailor down the road.  A good size fishing pier was built on the river, the river bend was a good spot for fishing.  Just like Smallville, we built a mini town hall and outdoor classroom across from the storage barn.  We were starting to feel at home. 





  The weather warmed and there were flowering lilac trees and daffodils blooming.  Behind our house I found wild asparagus and herbs.  The small farmyard had berries, cabbage, corn, and potatoes.  We had fish and eggs and would soon have chicken and venison; two of the men went off to hunt for deer.  We would also have hides that when combined with our sheep's wool would make nice warm coats for next winter.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 3


  Smallville was noted for its survival school and for its greenhouse.  We brought many seedlings with us so we built a greenhouse just like Smallville's.  We built a gardener's shed next to it to plant forester seedling there behind the woodcutter.  We also had seedling for fruit and nut trees that we would plant later.  Seedlings were always in great demand; we planned to raise seedlings for trade so we built a trading post nearby.



  By the time the green house and trading post were completed, our Small Town's population had increased.  Each of our 6 families now had a newborn; there were 2 baby girls and 4 baby boys.  Delan and I named our first-born son Grantley.  I was tending the sheep in the shed across from our house at the time and I remember thinking that the babies and other children would all have warm wool blankets when winter came.



  An 8' X 12' crop field had been cleared next to our house and was ready to be planted in spring with an assortment of vegetables.  To insure we had enough food and a nice variety until then, we did as we had done since we were children; we followed the old ways and went out to collect whatever wild foods we could find.  We added berries, roots, onions, and wild oats to the other supplies in the storage barn.  We collected branches too even though there was plenty of firewood on the stockpile to keep the home fires burning all winter long.  We did not find any wild honey to sooth a sore throat but there would be plenty of kettles of chicken soup simmering on the hearths to ease the common cold.



The sheep shed was built with its back to the winter wind; the sheep would be fine.  We built awning covers over the chicken's food and water, the outdoor classroom, and my wash lines.  There was washing to be done no matter what the season.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 4


The new crop of asparagus was coming up and the assortment of vegetables was being planted in the farm field.  A 2nd crop field was cleared but we did not have a worker to plant it.  The couple to the left of us, Terranco and Chrystle, were working in the asparagus patch and farm field.  Next to them, Jerre and Ramond were our tailor and only laborer; Jerre would become our blacksmith as soon as he finished the warm coats he was working on.  Next to the barn, Warret and Tawandace were our greenhouse botanist and forester.  Across from the outdoor classroom lived Tavo the fisherman and his wife Estin who was our teacher.  Their daughter, Lanich, would be the first student very soon.  When it was too cold or rainy, Estin would teach her daughter at home.  The girl already knew the basics of food gathering since she was a toddler; she knew which roots and mushrooms to pick and which to leave alone.  Our neighbors to the right, Sheriberto and Arthenie were tending the farmyard and the chickens.  I took care of the sheep and Delandra was our only builder.  We had no one working at the trading post or wood cutting yard.



   More lilacs and daffodils were blooming; spring had arrived and so did the rest of our expedition.  There were 20 adults with 5 children; 6 families included 4 adult children and the 5 young ones. There was 1 older man and 3 young adult males. We were glad to see them all again and to have more help.  Again shelter, food, and firewood were priority.   

  We had a meeting at our mini town hall to discuss job allocation and housing. Two farmers were immediately assigned to the new farm field that had not yet been planted.  A worker was assigned to the wood cutting yard, trading post, and another to the fishing pier.  A bait shop was built by the pier for 1 family and a house was built behind the woodcutter for the family who would take over as forester and botanist. 



  The 3 young adult males went off exploring the area and found several small ponds; south of town they found 1 that was larger and, by its color, appeared deeper than the others.  It also had a small sand beach and several summery looking willow trees.  The 3 boys built themselves 3 little beach houses by that pond.  They looked forward to some summer fun swimming in that pond. 



Ah summer, when the days were warm with the summer sun high overhead and the days were long.   There would be plenty of time to get everything done that needed doing plus time to relax and have some fun.   It's not to say these young adults weren't hard workers; all 3 worked hard all summer and longer building homes for the other families.



  The older man built a cabin just west of the tailor and across from his house was built a tiny hunting stand where he would work.  Behind that was built a small stockpile and a vegetable sorting table and storage shed.  Behind our backyard across from the farm field, a house was built for another of the families.  Fruit and nut trees were planted at the end of the first farm field and next to it was the first floor of a colorful little house like we had back in Smallville.  Next summer we would have pecans and peaches.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 5


  Behind that colorful little house was one of the smaller ponds; there were ducks in the pond and deer nearby.  They probably drank from this pond.  We would have duck meat, eggs, and down to make warm coats with the deer hides, but like the ancestors taught us, we would not over-hunt the deer or the ducks.






  Another colorful little house was built for a couple with their adult daughter.  There was a cranberry bog and a smaller duck pond in a patch of mushrooms.  It was cold and snowing before that family got into their house; that was maybe the reason their daughter preferred to stay at home rather than a house of her own or maybe she feared she would be homesick if she moved.  We were all feeling a bit homesick for Smallville; it would soon be the holidays and we missed our families. 

  The last family needing a home suggested we build a post office near the trading post; we built one next to the bait shop. Their youngest son, Sewart, moved into a 4th beach house that was built.   The couple would take over as forester and botanist, their older son still living with them, would be trader and he would see that any letters dropped off at the post office would be given to the river boatmen when they came to port.  Any letters brought by the boatman would be taken to the post office for us to pick up.



  Chanae, the general goods merchant, came to port shortly after the post office was built.  He indeed had letters from home for us, we were thrilled.  He had wheat seeds and wool, but we had no trade goods for the seeds and didn't need the wool.  He said seedlings were always needed as well as coats and tools, logs, firewood, and stone.  He took our order for seeds and our hastily written letters for families back home.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 6




  That winter, that started out snowy and mild, turned bitterly cold.  The boys in the beach houses, who had been taking turns fishing in the now frozen pond, found it too cold to remain there.  Sewart's parents wanted him to come home but they had just had a new baby boy and it was a bit crowded; Sewart would rather stay with his friends.  That prompted us to build Rooms next to the hunter's house on Main Street.  All 4 boys helped with the building and moved in as soon as it was finished.



  Sewart's parents were not the only ones with newborns.  Delan and I had our 2nd son who we named Hilarion.  The town's population was now 59; 32 adults, 1 student, and 26 young children.  The extreme cold and the fact that there were several children who would reach school age soon, prompted us to build a schoolhouse just like the one back in Smallville.  We built it across from the rooms by the farm field where pumpkins were among the mixed vegetables that were grown.  We all remembered sitting in the schoolhouse in Smallville and looking out at the pumpkin patch next to it. 

  As soon as the weather warmed in spring, the boys were back in their beach houses waiting for summer.  The Rooms did not remain empty for long; 3 couples with 1 young adult and 4 young children arrived from Smallville.  They and their children missed friends and family that were here; we welcomed them gladly.




  At the spring town hall meeting, everyone agreed that the project we had been putting off for too long should be done before more houses were built.  Especially with Thanksgiving and Christmas fast approaching, our Small Town needed a chapel; it also needed a cemetery.   We choose a spot on Main Street west of the Rooms, not far from the Maypole.  At the same time we also built a fenced in playground across from the school.  Next to that we now had a wheat field; Chanae, the general goods merchant, returned with wheat seeds.  We traded seedlings and a few iron tools for the seeds.  The families that arrived that spring brought some seeds with them too.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 7




  The beachboys spent as much time as they could enjoying the summer sun on their beach but they were pretty busy building.  A mill was built not far from the beach houses near the wheat field; beachboy, Sewart, became the miller.  Two houses were built by the chapel and cemetery; one would house the stonecutter and his family, and the couple in the other house would be caretakers for the cemetery, the chapel grounds, and the school playground.  The couples would do those jobs in addition to their regular job assignments.





  West of town, 1 of the families moved into the upper level of the colorful little house by the cranberry bog.  They had seen turkeys at the edge of the forest behind the Rooms while they were staying there.  The hunter next door caught the turkeys for them and they set up a farmyard in front of their new home.  They brought seeds with them from Smallville so they planted pumpkins and Brussels Sprouts, and an apple tree seedling from the greenhouse with the turkeys.  Next to the house, they planted another farmyard with a chestnut seedling plus oats, carrots, and sweet potatoes. 

  Genni, age 14, moved into a 1 level colorful little house that was built nearby.  She would hunt from the hunter's workplace that was built next to the house.  There were 2 large herds of deer in the immediate area; she would not have far to go.  When Genni moved out, the Rooms were empty.  Anastacey, a young single male, moved out from the bait shop and into the Rooms.  His parents, Chardy and Luvenie, were glad he moved there and did not become another beachboy.

  Beachboy, Sewart, the miller, found a hedgerow behind the mill.  It had an apple tree, wild oats and strawberries, honey, and rosehips.  There were chestnut trees and spices back along the tree line behind the caretaker.  A hedgerow with another chestnut tree, an apple tree, and flax was planted alone the stonewall behind the chapel yard.  By then, the leaves had changed color and had begun to fall.  The sun set earlier in the west; the days were getting shorter.  It was autumn.  The rapid growth of summer had slowed, the crops had matured and were being harvested.





    Millip and Catalya, in the two-story house, harvested a small crop of apple from the tree in their farmyard; they set up a barrel to make cider and a cookpot to heat it in. Anyone working outside harvesting crops or taking them to the storage barn was welcome to stop by for a mug of hot apple cider.  There was a nice variety of food in the storage barn and our pantries were again full.  We had a lot to be thankful for. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 8


  The chapel yard was the perfect place for our first Thanksgiving celebration that fourth year.  Preparations began several days before; bread and rolls were being baked with flour from our mill.  Meat and poultry were being roasted and vegetables were being prepared.  The caretakers set up more tables and cookpots in the chapel yard.



  There was turkey, chicken, and venison.  There were mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Corn, squash, and beans were served in honor of the Native people from whom we learned so much.  There were Brussels sprouts, carrots, roots, pumpkin, chestnuts, and cranberries.  It was quite a feast.



    It was a beautiful autumn day; the sun was shining and the wind was calm.  Folks had just begun to arrive and were filling their plates when the clouds covered the sun and the temperature began to drop and the first snowflakes began to fall.  We hurried to get the food into the Rooms common room, others took their plates of food and hurried home.  The rest of us gathered together to sing hymns of praise, to enjoy the feast, and to see to it that the children ate their vegetables.  All in all, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAhCLNaeMmw

[Abandoned]

Chapter 9




   It snowed through the night and on-and-off all winter.  Genni, the hunter, spent her spare time hanging around the school helping the young children build snowmen.  We all thought she was doing it because Anastacey, who still lived alone in the Rooms, was the schoolteacher.  He moved into the Rooms when she moved out.  We all thought it was rather sweet, well, all except Anastacey's parents.  The girl had been seen several times, that past summer and fall, dipping in the pond with beachboy, Gilber.



  Gilber was now helping to build the new cow barn down by the mill.  We were hoping a livestock merchant would be by soon.  Stewardo, the food merchant, came to port just after Thanksgiving.  We ordered milk for the children.  He said it wouldn't be a problem delivery milk now; milk delivery was only done during the colder months.  The winter was indeed cold and snowy; it was followed by a cold and rainy spring.  It took until early summer for the barn and pasture to be built. 







  We had 2 weddings that 5th year: in spring Anastacey married Genni and moved in with her, in summer Gilber married Kanis who had been living with her parents at the Post Office.  Anastacey and Genni did not attend that wedding, they had a baby girl a short time later.  Delan and I had our 3rd son, Joesaphus, around that same time.  Small Town's population had grown to 78, 39 adults, 7 students, and 32 young children.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 10



  We wanted to record all the town's weddings, births and deaths, and we wanted a safe place to keep the records.  Our outdoor mini town hall was only good for meetings when the weather was good.  We built a new tiny stone Town Hall across from the chapel and cemetery.  All the information we had gathered about the ancestors buried here was brought to the new town hall.  Those of us who collected the information met to compare notes and organize the facts.  Earlier in the year, our stonecutter began making memorial markers near the burial grounds, he had 6 of the 7 large markers completed.  He would carve the markers with the family information we would provide.



   There were 23 survivors, 12 were adults who formed 6 families.  As far as we knew, none of the adults were related, so there were 12 sets of parents.  Someone said one of the survivors only had 1 parent but we did not know which.  7 sets of parents had children still living at home, and 5 did not.  We did not know the names of all the parents or the children so we decided that the large markers would read "Parents of" the survivors name and the number of "siblings".  If we knew the names, we would list them.   5 sets of parents had no other children; the stonecutter made 5 sets of double stones for those parents.  Again, they would be carved as parents of the survivor, with names if known.  There must have been grandparents and maybe even some great grandparents among those who perished but again, we did not know.



  We knew there were 11 children who survived: 1 was the sister and 3 were the children of adult survivors, 7 were orphans.  We knew the names of all the orphaned children but not all their parents.  Someone said some of the orphans were siblings but we did not know for sure and did not know which ones.  All we knew for sure was their childhoods were marred by great sadness. We place a cross marker for the parents of each of the 7 orphans.

 

  We wanted our children to have good memories of their childhood, so, that autumn we had a Halloween party for the children in the chapel yard.  There was apple cider, scary ghost stories, and bobbing for apples.  It was followed a month later by our annual Thanksgiving feast.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 11




  It snowed again for Thanksgiving that year but the sky cleared soon after and it got very cold.  The beach boys took advantage of the cold to do a little ice skating on their small frozen pond.  The stonecutter and a few of the other men determined that the ice was thick enough on the big pond to be safe enough for ice skating too.  The blacksmith got busy making skates in an assortment of sizes.  He did say that the supply of iron was again low.





  The stonecutter asked if we had given any more thought to the memorial markers for the ancestors.  Our small group of fact gatherer had, in fact, had another meeting at the town hall. We all thought the stone wall and bench outside was a nice addition.  It was cold inside the stone building so we didn't stay long, only long enough to agree that our next letters to Smallville would ask if anyone remembered anything about grandparents.  Looking over the sketchy information we had about the survivor's parents and siblings, we didn't hold out much hope for getting any useful information about grandparents. 

Little did we know that we would soon be back at the town hall; first to record the birth of Gilber and Kanis' baby boy, and then again to record Small Town's first death.  Sewart, the miller, and Kanis's mother, Tomikaela, the forester, died in childbirth.  Matthia was left alone with 2 small children in the post office.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 12


  And then it was spring again, the time of rebirth.  What better way to celebrate than at the chapel and chapel yard with an Easter egg hunt.  The tailor made herself an Easter bunny custom and the caretakers hid colored eggs and baskets of treats around the chapel yard for the children to find. 




 
Ramond became tailor after husband, Jerre, became blacksmith.  She was a bit warm that day because she made the bunny custom out of sheep's wool.  She discovered that her needed textiles, wool, leather, flax, and down, were being stored all over town, some in crates and some even in the new cow barn.  She decided to take a cart to collect the materials so they would be close-by when she was busier making warm coats in fall.  That was her busiest time, when the weather got colder and mothers found that their oldest children had outgrown their warm coats: those were handed down to the younger siblings and the older children got new ones.  The children had no need for coats in the summer, even the older school children spent most of their time playing outside in the sun at the school playground.



  The laborers took advantage of the warm weather to gather iron for the blacksmith.  Surface iron was now some distance away.  It did not take much iron to make the ice skates but it was decided that no more tools should be taken to the trading post.  A livestock trader still had not come to port but there were enough seedlings, logs, and firewood there to make a trade.  A storage shed with a service window was built by the big pond, an assortment of ice skates was there waiting for the weather to get cold and the ice to became thick enough to be safe to skate upon. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 13




  In early winter of that 6th year, Gillice, the livestock merchant, came to port.  He just happened to have milk cows with him; we thought we would have to place an order and have another long wait.  We traded seedlings and logs for all the cows he had.



Luckily, we were prepared, not only with the barn and pasture but with a corn patch and a corn crib full of corn drying for winter feed.  Six cows were taken to the pasture.  There was room for a few more.  The other cow he had was an older cow from a family farm; the owners were elderly and found it too much to tend to the cow.  Gillice took the cow hoping to find a new home for it.  We took that cow also and built an animal shed for it behind the Rooms and closer to the school.  The cow would get special care and be more protected from the weather.  It would have the company of a few chickens.



  Being closer to the school would ensure that the school children always had milk in the morning; the extra laying hens would provide eggs that the teacher could boil for the children's lunch.  Small Town had 12 students: 9 in the schoolhouse and 3 in the outdoor classroom.  We looked forward to the older students finishing school so we would have a few more workers.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 14




  The cows had settled in the new pasture well.  Problem was there was no one living close by and those that were the closest did not really want to tend the cows and the pasture.  Wardo and Caleighton, in the colorful little house east of the mill, farmed one of the vegetable fields and tended the duck pond.  With 3 children at home, they had their hands full.  The beach boys were laborers, our only builder, and Sewart the miller; we did not have many laborers.  Our food surplus was very good and we had plenty of flour; we could stop work at the mill or one of the vegetable farms but those workers were still a fair distance from the cow pasture.
 


  The answered seemed to be to build a farmhouse down by the pasture for one of the young singles still living at home or one of the soon to finish school students.  I had a better solution.  I asked Delan if we couldn't move down to the farm.  I would love it; the children would have more room to run and play than in the middle of town.  They would only have a little farther to go to school; the oldest of our 3 boys would be starting school soon; Grantley was already 6.  Hilarion was 4 and Joesaphus was 2.  Delan was concerned that the farm was close to the pond but Gilber, the beachboy, said he would teach our children how to swim; he and Kanis had a one-year-old that he was already teaching.  Gilber also said that one of the boys was usually around the beach and would keep an eye out for the children, and besides that he saw a tree fellow lurking nearby. Tree fellows not only protected the forest but all the little creatures, especially children.  There were others around town; if we looked, we would probably see them.

  So, it was agreed, we would move to the farm.  Kyndallas, Killiams' and Milie's adult daughter, moved out of their lower-level colorful little house by the turkey farmyard, and into our vacant one to tend the sheep.  A large storage barn was built by our new farmhouse and I could go out in the morning to gather eggs and get fresh milk for breakfast.  It was a beautiful spot to be in summer; our boys loved it.