Fair Time

Rhiannon and I cut out of the Farmers Market early this morning to take advantage of the free admission into our local County Fair for school groups.  We met up with the local homeschooling group we recently joined and walked around the fairgrounds for a while.

We went through the horticulture building, arts and crafts building and I drooled over the cakes and pies on display in the home economics building.  It didn't seem as if there were as many entries in any of the categories this year.  We did an obligatory sweep through the Commercial buildings, saw a few familiar faces and had to run through the aisle with the political hacks trying to slap election stickers on my kid and bribe her future vote with fun sized candy bars.  Which I was actually able to refuse as Rhiannon already had a sucker from one of the church groups.  (Hmmmm.......also trying to vie for my child's "vote" using candy.  Sneaky buggers.)

We then made our way towards the move odoriferous areas of the fair.  First was the Critter Barn where the smaller livestock were held.  Chickens that made my barnyard flock look like a bunch of meth-head, white trash poultry.  Rabbits in all sizes and furry-ness.  Pigeons that looked as if they were giving me a double-take by craning out their necks then suddenly pulling their little heads in like it was going to be sucked into their chest.  And some of the biggest looking tom turkeys I've ever laid eyes on (Which didn't have any toenails.  Is that normal to lop them off for show??)

Then we went into the larger barn where the cattle, goats, sheep and hogs were kept.  I just kept thinking about burgers, lamb chops and bacon.  And while there was really nothing for Rhiannon to "Ooooh and Aaaahhh" about as farm animals are pretty much a daily sight, she did point out a few of the hogs that she'd like to have.  As would I because we've long since consumed the bacon from our last hog and have only breakfast sausage left.

Petting the Pork Chop (with the owner's permission, of course).

Rhiannon was also a bit disappointed in the fact that the midway was closed until later that evening.  I however, was much relieved as I didn't want to have to be Mean Mommy and try explaining to her why every other kid in the world was on the rides but she wasn't allowed to go on them.  (Carnival rides freak me out.  How safe can one of those rides be when you can break them down in ten minutes then shove them into a travel trailer smaller than my Hyundai??  Or I'm just being paranoid?  Or both.)  I'm also a cheap skate.  One of the kiddie rides was four tickets.  Tickets are a buck-fifty each.  No thanks.  I would have much rather spent the six bucks on a sub-par, disappointingly-small funnel cake served by a teenager using a pair of tongues she just picked up off the floor. (I saw that one year. Seriously.)

So another County Fair has come and gone.  Paul asked me earlier this week why I've never entered anything into the Fair.  I told him it really didn't "do" it for me.  My blue ribbon for baking / cooking is the enjoyment my family gets from stuffing a cookie or baked chicken down their maws.  But I may enter something along with Rhiannon when she's old enough to pick out a category or animal.  And I'm hoping that it's something like "Photography" or "Jams & Jellies" instead of "Market Steers".