Fritz Goes To The Farm

Hello everyone!  Sorry it's been so long since you've heard from Fritz.  The recent string of storms made it tough for us to get out and about.  Last weekend Fritz came with the family to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Overland Park, KS.  The Farmstead is designed to look like a early century family farm, and contains almost 200 animals and birds of prey, vegetable and flower gardens, a one-room country schoolhouse, an old-time fishing pond and pony rides.  Fritz said it was the first time he has been to a farm.  Here are some pictures from our journey.

Entrance of the farm.  This is the general store, which is next to the ice cream shoppe and the old bank.



Great old Midwestern ranch sign.  Welcome to the Kansas Farm Trail Flat Fritz!

 How would you guys like to go to school in this old school house?  Can anyone say field trip?

 Fritz standing in front of an old seeding tractor.

 This was one big goose.  Fritz was scared and ran away before he could be in the picture.

 Everyone loves bunny rabbits!  What's up doc?

 A huge turkey.  Renee loved the turkey.  She kept yelling "What's that?"

 This old goat tried to eat my shirt and Flat Fritz too!  Goodness gracious!

 Pretty white swan.

 Fritz wanted to get a picture with the pretty swan.  My duck swam by just in time.

 Little Renee (Katie's cousin) looking at the pond.

 Here are the black swans.  A little far away but hopefully you can see them.

 If you look in the top right corner of this picture, you will see a red tail hawk.  They are all over the prairie.  There are a lot of mice and other rodents for them to eat.

A small goat came over to say hello.

Chickens, chickens and more chickens.

This was a very big cow.  She came inside the barn to take a little nap and get out of the sun. 

I hope you all enjoyed seeing Flat Fritz' journey in Kansas.  We hope you have a great summer.  Be safe and have fun.

Joe, Jill and Renee DeRoy

Fritz first days in Kansas!

May 20, 2011:  Flat Fritz Arrives in Prairie Village, KS

Hello Ms. Fitts; Third Grade Class!  My name is Joe DeRoy, and I am Katie Day's uncle.  My wife's name is Jill and my daughter's name is Renee.  Although I was originally born in Portsmouth, NH my family and I live in Prairie Village, KS.  Instead of sending a letter to you guys and girls, I decided to start my own blog which your class can follow.  We will try to update as much as possible before the end of the school year!  I hope you all enjoy this and learn a little about the state of Kansas.

Today we welcomed Flat Fritz to Prairie Village, KS.  After reading the classes letter, we gave him a big hug and officially made him a "Kansan."  Here's a little information about the State of Kansas.

-  Kansas was officially added as a State on January 29, 1861; the34th State overall.

-  It is located at the geographical center of the United States.

-  Kansas is approximately nine times the size of New Hampshire with 82,277 square miles of land.
-  Kansas has over twice the population of New Hampshire with over 2.8 million people.

 - The largest company in Kansas is the phone company Sprint.  I'm sure many of your parents have Sprint cellphones.

-  It's largest county is Johnson County, located om the Kansas City, MO metropolitan area.  This where Fitz is right now!

There is a Kansas City, KS and a Kansas City, MO, however Kansas City, KS is very small.  Kansas City, MO is the large city.  Kansas City area is best known for Jazz and Blues music, the Kansas City Royals (baseball), Kansas City Chiefs (football) and barbecue food.  It's amazing.  Absolutely delicious.  Unlike any other barbecue food I've eaten across the United States.

Here are a few pictures of Frtiz' arrival in Prairie Village, KS.

Frtiz waiting in the mailbox when I came home from work. Thank goodness he didn't get out before I came home.  He would have been completely lost.

Fritz was hungry so he had some pasta with my daughter Renee (Katie's cousin).  After dinner, Fritz went to bed.

May 20, 2011:  Sun, prairie grass and tornadoes.

Today we woke up to sunshine and lots and lots of humidity.  Unlike the New England, which benefits from it's Northern location and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, Kansas is very hot and humid in the late Spring and Summer.  There is such a difference in the climates between KS and NH, that some of the plants and flowers we grow here wouldn't do well in NH.

Here are some pictures of today's activities.

Fritz wanted to see some of the famous prairie grass, so we took him for a walk.  Here's a picture of Fritz in a field of prairie grass.



One of the scary things about living in Kansas, is the potential for tornadoes.  When Fritz arrived here, it was officially Tornado season.  You see, we live in an area of the country described as Tornado Alley.  That means we have a lot of strong thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes.  Right now, there are reports of thunderstorms approximately 45 miles to the Northwest of Prairie Village.  At times it can be scary, but our towns all have tornado sirens which alert it's residence when a tornado touches the ground.

Here are some pictures of tonight's weather report.  As you can see, Fritz was trying to do his own weather report.

Here is a picture of the big thunderstorm coming towards the Kansas city area.  Fritz is riding the storm!