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Monday, August 20, 2012

Mindful Monday: A Trip to the Fair

Mindful Monday: On Monday's I'm going to share what's been on my mind. I by no means have any of this figured out, I'm just thinking out loud here

Wait, it's Monday already?  Where did the weekend go?  Come to think of it, where did the summer go?  School supplies are understandable, but let's just ignore the Halloween candy already in the stores. The weather's been cooler this week and it's getting dark out earlier.  It's starting to feel like fall.  For many people, the end of the summer includes a trip to the fair.  This weekend we drove to a nearby county fair for a little entertainment.

We started out by meandering around some historical buildings known as the Village of Yesteryear.  The village included an old school house, post office, general store, log cabins, tons of farm equipment, and historical items from other businesses you might have found in a small town such as a dentist, doctor or blacksmith.  My favorite part was the general store. It was fun to look at all the old packages, logos and prices of common food items.  Coffee isn't exactly 12 cents a pound anymore is it?  I enjoyed looking at the kitchen equipment and figuring out what some of the gadgets actually were.  Toasters looked pretty different and I was surprised that waffle irons even existed.

In the dairy barn I learned about the history of butter making.  Even back then milk samples were collected and tested for quality.  It was interesting to read about the testing process as well as the process of turning milk to butter. I had never really stopped to think about how much milk a cow can produce in one day or how much milk it takes to make a stick of butter. I don't think I would make quite as many cookies if I had to make my own butter :)

We walked through some 4-H barns and then an exotic petting zoo that included kangaroos, a baby giraffe and ostriches.  I found it more entertaining to watch the little kids' reactions to the animals.  Next up were the pig races.  People riding pigs! Just kidding.  The pig races consisted of groups of three small pigs that ran around penned track.  In each of the four races the pigs ran 3/4 of the way around the track and then stopped.  They were distracted by some sort of food that had been dropped to the side and thought they needed a snack before the mini doughnut waiting at the finish line. A few of them ran for the doughnut then turned around and went back to check out that area of the track.

After the pig races we watched a round of horse showing in the arena.  Then we caught the last of the logging competition.  After a little chainsaw action, two guys in flannel shirts hopped onto a floating log for a log rolling duel.  They ran forward and backward trying to keep their balance and throw the other one off.  I doubt I could even stay up much less run backwards or strategize how to knock down my opponent.

Navigating our way through the crowds surrounding the food vendors brought us to the exhibits.  Photography, gardening, sewing, baking, woodwork and old cars were a few of the exhibits to look at.  Eventually we burned out a called it a day.  While fair was a nice change of pace for the weekend,  it couldn't compare to the spontaneous trip to Iowa I came so close to. (Sorry that didn't work out B and P.) The weather, however, was perfect and although I was in the sun all day, I didn't get burned.  I hope that continues!

Food for Thought: "Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength. " -St. Francis de Sales

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