Hanging out

Yesterday we hung out at the garage sale all day.  We had some customers even though it was a warm day.  Today we have shortened the hours as it is supposed to get real warm and we need our naps. 

We had a picker come by and buy a bunch of stuff.  I don't care if they resell "stuff."  Better at their place than ours. 

For supper I steamed those Crawfish...yum...but I have forgotten how much work they are to eat.  They had good flavor.  Not as good as in the Gulf Coast...but still good.  So much for our foodie adventure!

Towards dark we went to town stopped by DQ and then drove over to the  Church parking lot...the fairgrounds is right across the highway.  We ate our ice cream and watched the rides. 

This one gave you a two minute ride and one time over the top...sometimes two times...the two times was probably screaming girls...and they wanted to hear them scream again. 

It was a good date night! 

Far Side

The colors of summer

Quilts at the fair.

A Balloon Joint

Food Joints on the Midway

We dined at a place with picnic tables and homemade signs on the Independant Midway…the fancy smancy Carnival Food is way too expensive.  A Independant Midway…those are the places just outside the Carnival Midway.  4-H stands, church ladies food stands, pork producers and local people with food trailers or trucks….they pay for the “privilege” of setting up directly to The Fair Board and are not affiliated with the Carnival at all.

 

I hope you are enjoying the colors of summer.

Date Night: Chickens at the Fair

It is Fair time again which means a date night for Pork Burgers at the Fair…they were excellent this year…not too much sage.

French Fries were $1 at the 4 –H booth…so that was supper.

It was a very warm 88 F or 31 C eh with lots of humidity.  We walked through some of the exhibits.

Our Great Nieces exhibited their brown egg laying chickens.  We get eggs from them and they are the best eggs ever.

Far Guy liked this chicken.  I think it was the hair do that made us both smile.

As we were leaving the Chicken Barn a boy and his chicken were sharing French Fries.

You could tell that the boy and his chicken were bonded.

Midway Memories : Double Wheels

Back in the hay day of carnival business having two popular high rides was a big deal.  They could been seen from a long ways away which made for good advertizing and the capacity was fairly good.  A good wheel man was very important. 

Promotional photos were taken so a booking agent could show the Fair Board the double wheels.  We think this is Far Guys Dad in the photo.

Waukon Iowa

The wheels would have a first man, a second man and sometimes a third man..and set up help.  Men who worked the wheel over the years were Perkel, Jerry Leper, Billy Grover, Dale Merriam, Ron Zwald, Stan the Black Man, Hubert Heeren and Virgil Landgraft. Perkel was a tall guy the spitting image of John Wayne, and he had a good sense of humor.

Hubert Heeren was one of the best wheel men ever.  Far Guy worked the wheel on set up/tear down day/night.  I would find a spot out of the way, settle in and watch.  Far Guy worked the top.  Which meant he would climb up one of the towers once it was set and raised and then balance on the top and attach all the spokes.  There was a series of ropes, the spoke was assembled on the ground and then the ropes were pulled and it rose to the center where Far Guy put in the bolts. He would slide down the cable, put together another spoke and climb up the tower and pin another spoke in place until they were all in place. It was a dangerous job, but with Hubert in control all the time injuries were minor.  Far Guy used to call it fighting the pig iron.  I learned alot by watching…and didn’t get involved other than to get them water and once in awhile searching for a cotter pin in the dark.  Far Guy fell out of the top once, hit his shins, ribs and head and bled all over in Staples Minnesota, Lois (Hubert’s wife) helped doctor him up and that was the last time he ever set up a wheel. ( Hubert calls us every once in awhile, he lives in Oklahoma and is a widower…when he gets lonesome he calls us.)

Half of the wheel seats were taken off each night and covers put on over all the seats.  If the weather turned stormy the seats would come off and four ropes were tied from the wheel to trucks. 

Sometimes that didn’t work.  Columbus Nebraska 1956

Hubert Heeren, Al Merriam, Dale Merriam and Marvin Henderson.

This wheel had the old wooden seats.  That is possibly Hubert Heeren in the photo.

The wheels were a total loss. New wheels were purchased.

This is Northfield Iowa a number of years later.   Eventually one of the wheels was sold, with the advent of other more exciting carnival rides.

When I was about 12 years old, Far Guys Dad told him to take me on some rides.  Needless to say he stood there with his hands in his pockets and his head down and mumbled “You don’t want to go on any rides do you?”  Far Guy says he said “You wanna go on some rides?”  I said “No” “No thanks.” But I relented and went on the Ferris Wheel with him.

So we have a wheel seat in our yard. 

I saw

A rooster with no name.

Rock Stars

Twins

I heard roosters crowing, sheep baaing, and piglets squealing. 

The fair has only been on for two days…yet that old chicken house brought back many smelly memories.  Perhaps the smell is in the walls…we were happy to see the chicken house open this year…it has been closed for several years because of the bird flu. We enjoyed seeing all the different kinds of chickens.

There was a rabbit there that would have gone at least 30 pounds and made a heck of a dinner.  There were all kind of rabbits; long floppy ears, ears that stood up, spots and no spots…white, black, grey, brown and evey combination of those colors.   

Three little pigs were having a war over the water dispenser.  Two little pigs in the next stall were flinging a feed pan upside down and on top of each other.  Those pigs had quite an audience of watchers…they were very entertaining.

Nothing better than an evening spent at the County Fair.

1958 Impala

What a car!  First Generation Chevy Bel Air Impala built in 1958. 

So shiny it was tough to photograph.

The signature crossed flags.

Dual headlamps.

Two spoked steering wheel.

Wouldn’t you like to go for a spin?  I know I would.  I think I made the guy that owned this car a little nervous…and I tried not to drool on his car.

 

County Fair

Our County Fair is this week.  We decided to go over on Friday because that seemed to be the coolest day to go.  Years ago the fairgrounds used to be grassy with shade trees…not so much anymore, it was dusty.

We walked through the Commercial Exhibits and picked up another reusable insulated grocery bag!  Then we headed to the 4-H exhibits to see how my cousin’s daughters did.

Bailey my cousin Scott’s daughter is a great seamstress.

This is her last year in 4-H.

My cousin Todd brought his daughter Sally over last week to show me the photos that Sally wanted to enter….she had about 12 photos and could only enter two.

Sally’s Turtle

Sally’s Black Squirrel

Both girls are as sweet as they can be, their Dad’s and Mothers should be very proud of them…I sure am.

There is lots to do at the fair…you can milk a cow.

Look at the spuds and wonder if the Amazon Box is really such a good display piece?

Visit the Allan Herscheel 3-Abreast Merry Go Round that used to belong to a friend of ours.  The horses are showing some wear from being handled roughly.  In the olden days the horses were wrapped in their own padded quilts before they were hung in the truck.

It was a good day at the fairgrounds. 

Date Night

We have a standing date night from year to year.  “What night are we going to the Fair for a Pork Burger?”

I had my camera along and took a photo of Minnesota Fair Food that is NOT on a stick.

ALL of the Minnesota State Fair food is on a stick…not so much at small county fairs.

Homemade French Fries, Cheese Curds, a Pork Burger and a Coke.  We shared the fries and curds….uffda those curds were out of this world and the pork burger was awesome!

This was actually lunch and supper combined as we had been stuck in town most of the afternoon with a Clinic appointment and the Tracker needed some work.

We walked through the exhibits, visiting here and there.  It is a good place to see neighbors and family…my parents showed up for a pork burger too.

I walked through one of the barns.

The sign said Pet a Bunny FREE!  He was ever so soft…I raised bunnies once upon a time.  I think this one wanted to go home with me…but I resisted.   The goats were tough to pass up also…I had a goat once…I love goats.

My Name is Peanut  My Story: I am a shorthorn cross heifer (girl) calf.   My mom had my brother and I on July 11, 2015.  Unfortunately my mom could only care for my brother so now I have a human mom her name is Stephanie.  I get fed twice a day around 8 or 8:30 in the morning and 5-6 at night.  I love to be pet and talked to.  Thanks for reading about me.  Enjoy the fair!

Peanut the Shorthorn Cross

We walked through the Midway.

We checked out all the rides and talked with a few more people.  Far Guy asked at the Sno-Cone place if they had grape?  The answer was no…only Raspberry, Orange and Cherry.  So we went without.  If you are going to have a Sno-Cone it should be grape.

It was a warm day on the fairgrounds, there was a bit of a breeze but it was still warm.

The Tracker got new brakes and rotors…something was stuck and making a noise from time to time.  It was driving Far Guy nuts…he kept rolling down the window trying to listen for an intermittent sound…now it is fixed.

*** All about the Cheese Curds that we enjoy in the Midwest:

Cheese Curds are squeaky fresh, delectable cheddar cheese in its natural, random shape and form before being processed into blocks of cheddar.

Fresh cheese curds are a calcium enriched, low-carb, protein snack. They are a healthy alternative to junk food.

However when you dip them in beer batter and fry them up in a fryer…they become fair food!

Critter

The critter I photographed the other day.

Is it an Llama or an Alpaca..I was not sure. I will guess it is a Llama.  It was being a turd while his owner was walking him/her in the crowd. Yes, he had a body and four legs.

He or she even got a hug from his owner. He/she had been recently sheared which was probably a good thing because of our heat wave last week.  The poor thing probably needs a blanket now as our weather is now unseasonably cool for July..but I am loving every minute of it:)

Date Night at the Fair

Every year we have a date night the week of the County Fair.  We go into town and find the Pork Producers Stand and order up pork burgers.  Then we look around for French Fries and Cheese Curds and a Coke. ( I ate greens for lunch)  Oh clogging up your arteries good food, I do not have high cholesterol but Far Guy does if he doesn’t take his medication. 

We walked around the midway and Far Guy bought a Grape Sno Cone.
Times have changed when a Grape Sno cone comes in a plastic cup..what happened to the white paper cup with the picture of the frozen mountain and the snowflakes?
A red cup and red syrup..it kinda tasted like grape but not the old fashioned grape.  A long, long time ago Joyce’s family sold Sno cones and they harvested their own grapes and made their own grape syrup…it was purple..and the best Sno cone flavor Far Guy has ever tasted..you just can’t get the same flavors from store bought:)
 

A 4-H project!