It's a picture happy post :o)

Because it's only "fair" to share, right? 

Okay that was terrible (I admit it). The fair was in town last week and because they have a farm night with free admission to local farmers, we actually got to go - Woo! I thought I would share some of the night's activities with you, in case you don't actually care to go to the fair. I almost said, "...in case you are not a fair person." but that didn't sound too good, and would likely have been deemed an UNfair comment (and geez enough with the lousy puns already!) Incorrigibility, what can I tell ya? I was curious to see how my camera would do in the dark. I'm still struggling to figure out settings on the fly, but all in all not too bad for an amateur with a monster learning curve...

Chainsaw dude was our first stop. This is one of those times when it's a total bummer being broke; he had all kinds of amazing finished work for sale. The soaring eagle in the photo was one of my favorites; but only because there were no horses (ha). He was working away at a deer while we were there. DD's fascination with wood (she's studying woodworking in college) meant we had to all but drag her away by the hair (she would have stood there watching him all night :o) And you know, I'm thinking it would not be a bad idea to hide the chainsaw from now on as she DID have a rather thoughtful gleam in her eye...

There was a traveling circus there, called Wambolds. I have to say I really enjoyed his show - he talked about his tigers, their history and spouted an impressive list of facts and figures about these gorgeous creatures. He also explained that he used reward-based training, and would feed them a small chunk of meat from a short stick following each trick they performed (and major points for you buddy). The big cats looked quite content, and he did not have to poke or prod anybody (more points for you Mr. Wambold :o) Pictured below are "Ruby" on the left and "Pearl" on the right (she was a stunning, albeit slightly blurry, white tiger). Please note that I was largely shooting blind, we were near the back of a large crowd so I had my camera stuck up in the air over my head - not my first choice of picture taking positions :oP

It being Farm Night and all, there was the obligatory calf scramble and greased pig contest in the big arena. Have to say, they are a riot to watch. The contestants were all FFA members from area high schools and were all sporting crash [football] helmets. As you can see by the photo below, this was obviously a wise decision. Again, large crowd with me shooting up over my head (and way WAY off in the distance). A couple of the calves seemed to catch on, and more than one (photo below left) opted to turn the tables by pinning the person.  I believe I heard the announcer say something about some split britches, but other than that there were no casualties *grin*. I got tickled at the boy in the photo below (right) whose pig somehow ended up all wrong: or is he just on the wrong end? Anyway, the kid hit the dirt, the pig shot through his arm and he wound up facing backwards and hanging rather desperately on to the tail end of the little porker (whoops :o)

The Freak Out is DD's all-time favorite ride, so we bought a few tickets for her. There are only a couple of rides that she won't go near; she's pretty much amenable to anything out there. DH, on the other hand, only likes to ride anything that might incite cardiac arrest. Me? There's only one single ride I'll get on without a tranquilizer; can you guess what it is? It's a pitifully easy guess, actually :o) Look at the neat thing that happened when I tried to take a picture of the ride once it really got moving (check it out below - pretty cool, huh?) One of those "happy accidents" Ann! *grin*  Too bad I can't remember what setting the camera was on that time; I think it might have been the "fireworks" setting, but I'm not really sure. Looks kind of like a tulip, doesn't it? I think I probably should have been taking notes or something... Sheesh.

The happy hairball pictured below is for my dear friend Lori. Having seen your husband's expression over your heartfelt wish to Mama a llama, I'm thinking this is about as close as you're gonna get sistafriend (gotta say I do so love the 'fro though ;o)

Are you still wondering about my favorite ride is at the fair? Well, silly you:

 Have a great day ~ the bad ones are way too much trouble!

I'm adding a VERY important P.S. for other new to outdoor fish folks; goldfish hibernate once the water temperature drops below a certain point (I think it's 50). The reason I'm posting this is to let other [clueless] people like yours truly see what a fish actually looks like when it's hibernating. Their little body functions slow WAY down and they will either float just above the bottom or lay on it. It should also be noted that they do not necessarily all hit this phase at the same time; which can result in a very serious error (my profound apologies to Faith :o/  They don't have eyelids, so their little eyes are wide open. Basically? They look dead; we're talking doornail here. Just look at Charity and Hope in the photo below...