Wednesday, July 13, 2011

small country fair



Sunday afternoon, we packed up and headed to the first of the local fairs. The season is just beginning and around here, there are many wonderful, small country fairs to attend. I like the smaller ones, because they often have the "charm" of old fashion fairs... horse shows, lots of animals, handcrafts and the like. This particular fair was really small... smaller that even I expected, but it was fun, and great place to take Abbie.





The animals were all groomed to their finest, and lots of babies, because many of them have just been born over the past month or so.












We watched a "steer" class. Nice to see how well these animals work and I, for one, can appreciate the time, effort and training that goes into working with large animals. They had many good look "yoke of oxen", but this pair, I thought, was really good looking.








This is Zeus... a celebrity of sorts. He's a Belgian, but weighs in at 2100 lbs. and is 21 hands.... one big boy for sure. They say he eats a bale of hay a day and 50 lbs of grain a day... he sure was impressive, but I'm glad I don't have that feed bill. Abbie thought he was neat, but being around horses all the time, she wasn't as impressed as some of the other kids.






She did, however, fall in love with this sheep. He/She was particularly friendly and wanted all the attention it could get. Abbie didn't want to leave and several times kept saying... "go see baa"....












Course, you can't attend a fair without taking at least one ride. They actually didn't have that many to choose from, but the carousel worked fine for Abbie...


I hate to think that the fairs are sort of a sign of fall.. I'm far from giving up the summer... but, time is one thing I can't control...








Summer in the street


Remember our friends, Marj and Joe, who came to visit the farm a few weeks back... well, Joe (among other things) is a drummer in a small local band. We told them, that we would like to come and hear him play sometime... so Marj called us to tell us where Joe would be. This event was (is) called Summer in the Street and is hosted in a small city not too far away. Basically, they shut down one part of the main road in town, and celebrate the arts. Marj told us that it would be a great place to come and see the show and the bring the service puppies along. Which we did.


We met up with Kelli, Rick and Otis... and Mary, Scott and Louie and "worked" the puppies around the crowd and the noise. Except for the fact that we had a little glitch getting into a restaurant (they were NOT "excited" about hosting three service dogs.. and we had to do a bit of educating on the rules of service dogs), it was a wonderful summer night. Joe's band was outstanding (we even picked up his CD) and I was so glad to have the opportunity to go.





The streets were crowded and the puppies got all kinds of attention. This is a friend of Mary and Scott's.. and he is waiting for a service dog. So, he was very happy to talk with Ginger and Otis. Ginger thought he was pretty neat too and had to just get one little kiss in.









The "north church"... just thought it was so pretty with the sun setting on the steeple.













Ginger giving me the "I'm bored, can we do something more" look. She likes to be out and about, and having to sit (while we had an ice coffee) is her least favorite to do.








We stayed the better part of the evening, and by the time we headed back to the parking garage, she was ready to head for home.



But, it was one of those "perfect summer nights".. good friends, fun things to do, beautiful weather, and summer treats.... enjoy it while it's here.