Hey, It's The Nevada 150 Fair!

Yay!  Our first state fair in years!

The economy crunch hit our state pretty hard, so state fairs were, sadly, a no-go for the last few years.  Since this year marks the 150th year of Nevada statehood, everyone got it together and decided to have a state fair and to their credit, actually HELD it in the state capitol, Carson City.  From all reports it went great, no major problems.

We went opening day and although they got the show on the road a wee bit late, it was a beautiful day.

We didn't attend the ribbon cutting and official opening so we missed the Wells Fargo coach and Mark Twain lookalike, but our gov was there and let's just say that he and a few other smart politicians wore jeans and shirts and skipped the heat stroke-inducing suits.

We went to the poultry show area (where else?) and hung out with some of our new poultry friends from the NNPFA http://poultryfancier.wix.com/nnpfa and their birds.  We actually hung out there so perniciously, ha ha, that we made it on the Nevada 150 Fair's Facebook page--my kid is pictured in a shot of a buff Polish roo while her dad and I are off to the side.

But hey, chickens!  One of these little porcelain d'Uccle girls valiantly laid an egg in the sweltering heat while surrounded by people.

The poultry were all freshly scrubbed and shined up, some thanks to a special kit.

This little Dutch Bantam eventually got Best in Show for chickens.  No surprise since Dutch bantams are so dainty and pretty, and tend to stay very neat and tidy.  She's a pretty girl and knows it, and earned her award.

...although the grumpy Langshan rooboy might disagree.

These pretty little Columbian bantams were is serious danger of being tucked under my arm and spirited away.  Banty Columbians have been at the top of my very short 'Most Wanted' list for years now.

There were CALL DUCKS.  Also at the top of my 'Most Wanted' list.  I've never owned any, but they are just so damned cute.  This little female was pretty, but her owner said that she'd only had her a short while and she tended towards suckering you in and then biting you, HARD.  We kept our fingers away.

This little snowy white Call duck won Best In Show for waterfowl.  I didn't realize until later that I'd inadvertantly taken a picture for the Call Duck Witness Protection Program.

In the same tent were the small animals, including this rabbit who was much more relaxed than the uptight Call ducks.

Eventually even we got tired of hanging around the chickens like some weird poultry stalkers, and wandered over to the barns.

Stolen food tastes best.

And we were pleased to see that not only were the cows squeaky clean, but arrayed according to size.

Someone is a LOT more organized than me.

Time to wander the fair some more.  After all, you work up an appetite staring at poultry.

Yes, we tried it, and no, it wasn't *quite* up to what you'd expect--the chocolate never hardened, so it was hellishly messy, and the bacon was kinda 'meh'.

This booth sold...ah...'interesting' wares.  Not sure it's legal, but hey, then again this IS Nevada.

The local Republican booth was terrifyingly funny.  Stomp the evildoers, RAWR!

I thought the love beads some passerby had added to one of the tusks was a nice touch.

The Oscar Meyer Weinermobile was hoppin'.

We worked our way over to the Fine Arts building, where there was a nice selection of cool stuff--the fly tying booth was great but I got so engrossed I forgot to take a picture.

I was very taken with the fantastically intricate quilted wall hangings that one woman had entered.  Gorgeous, gorgeous, GORGEOUS things.  This one had a death-spiders-poison theme, the amount of detailed work she had put into it was amazing.

A few of the squares, my craptacular pics do NOT do it justice.  She had incorporated quilting, embroidery, applique, beading, buttons, numerous types of fabrics, ribbon and lace, jewelry, buttons--the more you looked the more you saw, it was amazing.  I wanted this thing in THE worst way.

Just as I turned away from this one, I saw another that she had there.

We were, however, very disgusted to see that some BB brain had placed tape over part of this piece of artwork.  You can see it on three of the squares.  Because, you know, BOOBS.

 

AUUUGGHHH, Won't someone think of the children?!

It was actually nauseating and distressing to see that someone had done this--with or without the artist's permission didn't matter.

My God, the human race saddens me sometimes.  I didn't reach up and rip off the tape, although I sure as Hell wanted to.

Time to go elsewhere and do something fun. Off to the Walk On Water attraction to torture our unwitting teen!  This is one of those things where they zip you into a giant plastic hamster ball floating on water and everyone outside the ball laughs.

Unsuspecting kid climbs in...

Ball is inflated and child hermetically sealed.  You can literally see the second thoughts she's having.  Too late!

They give her a shove and she's out with the other poor dumb suckers.

Now is when all the people who aren't sealed in hot, smelly plastic balls and trying to stand on water have a good laugh.  The guy roaming the pool was great, we'd point out the kid's ball and yell, 'Give that one a spin!' and he would.  The kid loved it.

After she got out I asked her how it smelled in there.
"Terrible!"
"But was it fun?"
"OH, YEAH!"
So I guess fun wins in the end, as it always must.

That was about it for the day, we wended our way back to the car and split.

Endless Yard Work And Second Chicken Run

I'm starting to feel like that guy in myth who had to forever push that damned rock up a hill. No matter how many days on end we spend chopping and hacking at the juniper bushes in the back yard, they never, EVER seem to be going away. We have, however, by dint of raking and ruthlessly yanking crap out from under them, produced piles and piles of yard garbage.

The score so far stands at 4 giant metal stakes, 2 giant metal grappling hooks (yeah, I don't know, either), a sprinkler head, 2 huge hunks of carpeting, assorted 2x4s and other wood bits, 3 baseballs and a metal rake. Not counting a giant pile of run-of-the-mill trash like plastic milk jugs, beer cans, airsoft pellets and snuff containers. Also not counting the 4 volunteer elm trees we've cut down that were growing in VERY bad places. On the plus side, three of the four fire ant hills in the back yard are gone, and the last one is getting all my love, attention and borax/sugar treatments. I don't care if they are dead or have just moved on as long as they are GONE.

And that's just what we've pulled out from under the EDGE of the juniper bushes, no telling what we'll find once we really get in there and chop the thrice damned things out to remove them.

Also, two unmatched horseshoes, one of which sports toe clips. I'm wondering, if I find the other two do I win a free pony? I will I just find the unfortunate wearer of the shoes at some point?

The second chicken run will be attached to the coop so they can eventually share the area. Once the chicks are part of the flock, the second run will be used for sick/injured birds, for broody hens with chicks or as a seperate living space if we want to have a dedicated breed pen. So far the wire is on the roof and one side. We figure another week or so and the chicks can move outside for good, meanwhile we're also continuing to work on the enclosed part of the back yard (where the junipers are) for all of them to roam around in during the day. We've got three chain link gates to repair before they can be safely in there.

Meanwhile the chicks wait patiently and use their sisters as big ol' floofy pillows...

We did take a break the other day and ran off to the park for the annual Carson Valley Days shinding. Got the kid a ride wristband and she happily rode carnival rides all afternoon and evening. I got a shot of this fun sign, which in Nevada brought to mind loading guns, not iffy carny rides:

Pumpkin Patch Time!

Last weekend we went out to the local pumpkin patch. Back when I was in high school, we used to buy hay for our horses from this place, but then it was simply a residence and not the operation it is today. We spent hours there and had a great time, they had all kinds of fun stuff and everyone was very relaxed and friendly.

Not only tons of varieties of pumpkins, but weird & wonderful gourds, too. The kid's eyes popped and she kept wading into the vines and emerging with more strange gourds.

We got a ride on the horse-drawn carraige, pulled by a 32 year old fella named Chance.

Chance was a chill dude.

We told his handler that hands down, she had the best job on the farm.

The secret to making the pigs run that fast is out--Oreos!

They had a little train for the kids...

...which strangely, had a pig's face with, um...steer horns. YES, it was creepy.  I swear this thing watched me all day.

Milkweed plants were growing near the irrigation ditch and sending out seeds like mad.

On the way out we stopped at the shed that held all kinds of stuff. We came away with some kick-ass pumpkin butter and a jar of pomegranate-cranberry jelly. I offered to get J. some of the one on the right, but surprisingly he declined. We were amused by how similar they looked, and briefly toyed with the evil idea of switching labels.

OK, cue juvenile giggle:

Our haul for the day...

The photo doesn't do the biggest one justice, it's a monster. We may go back with grandma this weekend, her lady's group is going to have a craft booth there, I made some origami turkeys and spirals to donate.