One day in early October Jack and Julia had been to a pumpkin patch picking out their Halloween Pumpkins.  When they’d made their selections their mother, as she was paying for the pumpkins in the big pumpkin tent, looked up behind the counter and saw a big sign.

Jack and Julia loved the movie Jurassic Park.  Why?  Because dinosaurs were really cool and as big and strong as they were, they knew that although they had roamed the earth hundreds of years ago that now they were just for movie fun---not real but fun to look at and fun to think about. Then one day they learned that there was a movie being made near their house in Georgia at a movie place near Peachtree City where they used to live.

When Grumps was a little boy one of his favorite books was The Wind in the Willows.  It was about four funny little animals who lived in far away England in the country and had adventures.  There was Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad.  The thing Grumps loved about the story the most was the Wild Adventures of Mr. Toad. Mr. Toad was what Jack and Julia’s mother would call a HAND FULL! 

In Georgia, while a young boy named Jack---with his younger sister, Julia---was being home schooled, he came up with a very good idea. After he’d finished his lessons, he told his father that he had a project that he thought would not only be fun, but very helpful to his mom when it came to doing chores around the house.

When Grumps was a little boy, he loved to read. This was a good thing; it made his momma and daddy very proud. He was a good reader and one of his favorite stories was Tom Sawyer and painting the fence.

There’s something about a tin can full of good fishing worms that can make a boy feel like a million bucks. As a kid, the smell of those big night crawlers sliding around in a rusty old soup can never failed to bring a whistle to Grumps’ lips or to quicken his step all the way to the creek. The summer he was nine, fishing for sunnies and bluegills down at Sam’s Creek was pretty competitive sport for the boys in New Windsor, Maryland, and they didn’t take nearly so much pride in the fish they caught as they did in the bait that brought them in.

Grumps loved holidays.  He loved the 4th of July and the big parades, he loved Halloween and Christmas, but one of his favorite holidays was Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving morning his grandparents, who lived a long way from his house, came and it was always fun when they arrived. He and his sister EA called them Papa and Nana. It seemed to Grumps that Thanksgiving was always cold and grey; he loved the smell from the kitchen as his Nana baked pumpkin pies, and then later for the grand finale, roasted the big turkey for the Thanksgiving dinner.

When Grumps was a little boy his Uncle Chub had a nice little meadow just outside New Windsor, Maryland, where Grumps dreamed he’d someday pasture a pony. The setup was perfect. There was a nice old barn, seven acres of pasture, and an understanding uncle, all within walking distance of Grumps’ home.

When Grumps was a little boy he lived in a big old Inn and they had so much room in the old building that there was room for a lot of pets.  This was good but sometimes it got to be a bit too much---what with the cleaning up (poop) and feeding, and exercising them and, in fact, playing with them.

When Jack brought Jeff, his new stuffed toy monkey home, he told Julia, “Jeff will be a good playmate for both of us, and I’m sure he will enjoy getting to know and play with our Mulligans.” What Jack and Julia didn’t know was that Jeff, the very cute monkey, had more than play on his mind. He looked at their big beautiful house, their playhouse, their bedrooms, their exercise room, their nice big flat screen TV and began to think about something other than play.  Jeff started thinking about business. MONKEY BUSINESS.

One evening after a long day at school for Jack and Julia, just before bedtime, they watched one of their favorite movies---Mary Poppins. When they had watched the movie again and climbed in their beds Jack said, “Momma, I have an idea. Why don’t you and Dada go out to dinner some evening and get us a baby sitter.”

There is nothing better than beautiful horses to take kids off to dreamland.  And that’s what Julia and Jack’s momma said when she tucked them off to bed with a kiss and a hug. Pretty soon both kids were fast asleep, they’d been playing hard that day and were tired, Jack had been fishing in the lake and Julia and her mom had been playing games and talking about horses----it was time for a good night’s sleep.