A Busy Day (long post)
I spent Ravena_Kade's birthday doing a LOT of walking. (Please note: none of these photos are mine.)
Firefly Art Fair:
We started off the morning by going to the Firefly Art Fair. We go every year, and for the last few years there hasn't been much new blood. In fact one of our favorite artists, Connie Bieber no longer attends. So it was a lot of the same old same old this year, which is a little disappointing. Even though the weather was pleasant this morning, once you get amongst all the artists tents there is no breeze, and the air was stifling. By the time we came around to the back aisle of booths, I couldn't have cared less about the art and just wanted a breeze. :-p
Zoo: Went back home for lunch, cooled off for an hour and then headed out to the zoo. It was near the end of the zoo's day, but there were still a lot of people there. There were remnants of a large corporate picnic (a honking huge tent, corn on the cob on the grill, popcorn wagon, and cotton candy cart) in our parking lot. The ellies were very happy, munching on some slightly dry browse, the tree branches must have been trimmed several days ago.
Going by the African Savanna I saw that we have a new cinereous vulture (we call them Dementors for the way they walk).
The new flamingos are settling in nicely, although our flock in now 11 instead of 13. A couple of weeks ago, we saw our pair of Crested Screamers
with a new nest and a single egg. A few days later the nest was more substantial and there were 4 eggs! So we are keeping tabs on them. Both parents take turns sitting on the nest until the chicks hatch. Today, mom was on the nest. The nest is in full sun for a good part of the day. The crested screamers have dark plumage. Mom was definitely feeling the heat. She was panting (she has a tiny tongue) and all of the feathers on her back were standing straight up to let the heat out. We hung around for a while to see if she would stand up or shift so we could check out the eggs, but no such luck. By the time we left the nest was in the shade, her feathers were down and she was no longer panting. Walking back around the zoo the orangutans were already in for the day, our new bards tapir is still in quarantine, the rhinos were out, in their separate yards, and the elephants were in. I was hot again, so home we went. I watered the flower beds, which now takes 45 minutes, and came in just in time for a quick dinner.
State Fair: M decided she wanted to go to the State Fair for the evening. The fair grounds are less than a mile from our house. Today there was a specialty National Clydesdale Horse show there, and the various hitched teams were being judged this evening. We like walking through the animal barns, seeing the horticultural building with all of the flowers, and we wanted to come early in the fair so the flowers would still be fresh; I like to see the various art, craft & food projects that people submit for judging. I especially enjoy the fiber arts, and the photography. A few years ago my Mom submitted her pumpkin pie recipe, and she won a ribbon! There are also cash prizes, but they are firmly entrenched in the 1960'S. First place in any category is less than $15. But the competition is fierce for those ribbons. ;-)
We also like the DNR building and park area which always has a really nice stream you can fish, and native plants and information. We planned to cap our evening off with a take-out order of cream puffs, which are a reason unto themselves to go to the fair.
Cream puffs are serious stuff at the fair. The fair's official mascot is even a cream puff. Need a cream puff beanie baby?
They sell about 335,000 puffs every year, which is about 33,000 made on-the-spot dairy delights every single day of the fair. They actually have to have people baking and filling puffs around the clock. All overseen by a master chef. We take them very seriously, indeed. =)
So we went to the fair. B dropped us off at one end of the Milwaukee Mile race track, at a gate that we soon found out wasn't selling admission tickets, only scanning pre-purchased tickets. So in stead of walking in right by the coliseum where the Clydesdales were being judged, we had to walk half-way around the mile race track and clear across the infield to get in. Once "inside" we couldn't move because there were a million people there. A million billion. Forget about watching the horse judging, the coliseum was crammed with a 6 person deep SRO crowd all along the edges. So we worked our way through the crowds to a barn. Only 100's of people in the hot & stuffy barn. Saw some cow rear ends while we worked our way over to a horse barn, where it was all clydesdales, all the time. They are magnificent animals, and everyone wanted to see them. More millions in this barn, and when you could work your way through the crowd you'd find yourself dead-ended by a roped off aisle that may or may not have a huge horse cross-tied beyond, getting tacked up and ready for the ring. We spent about 20 minutes watching the family from Briarwood Farms beautify and tack up a clydesdale mare for saddle. (I did not know people rode these huge, very wide horses!) You would have thought we were in a beauty salon for all of the products that they were using on her. Some white spray on powder for the feathers on her feet, followed by hairspray and careful combing, some shine stuff rubbed all over her coat, her nostrils wiped out so far I thought they could reach her eyeballs, and on and on. They finally had her all saddled up, and then everyone sat down to wait for her class to be called. So we moved along. Strolled through the sheep barn. Managed to pet a few shorn sheep (judged for their meat), and rub the ears of a few of the many, many judged for their fleece, wearing their best KKK hoods and sheets. There was even one group that belonged to Pink Lady Farms, and all of the sheets were pink, the water buckets-pink, the plastic containers holding supplies, all pink. It was a bit too much.
We emerged near the pig races, and the stands there were crammed full, even though the next race wasn't for an hour. Next stop for us, the flower building, completely kitty corner across the entire fair grounds from where we were. I think it would have been easier to either walk on top of people's heads, or exit the fair grounds, walk around the outside perimeter and reenter at the other corner, then it was to fight through the crowds.
Got to the horticultural building and received a shock. When we walked in there were no flowers. Here was all of the arts/crafts/foods that had been entered into judging. And where were the flowers? Relegated to the back 1/3 of the building. Huh? (When we eventually made it over to the building that used to house this stuff, the space had all been converted over to sales booths. (Ginsu knives, orange chamois, the mop-up-everything mop anyone?) This was a double whammy as not only was the space for the flowers greatly reduced, but this was also the smallest amount of space I'd ever seen the arts & crafts crammed into. Boo hiss. I will be writing to the Fair committee about this. Then when we finally made it down to the flower end of the building, all of the display shelves were EMPTY! There were little signs propped up, "show changeover". Huh? This was only the 3rd day of the fair! They couldn't wait until the building closed? (Yeah, yeah, I know, volunteers, late and early hours, they need sleep too, etc.) ah humbug. We did see some fabulous quilts and really wonderful photography. There are so many different categories for the photography, and some of my photos are easily as good as some of he 2nd, 3rd & 4th place photos. I will have to check out the submission guidelines for next year.
After leaving the flower (& crafts) building we walked over to the DNR area. You enter through an log building that is a permanent structure on the fair grounds. We were 5 feet from the door when they closed up for the night. Apparently 9pm was their witching hour. We decided to do a few aisles of the main building where 90% of the fair vendors are. About 5 minutes in I realized that my back hurt, my feet were killing me, and I just plain couldn't stand the crowds anymore. The later it got past 8pm the more crying kids there were. I'm not even going to mention how loud it was everywhere. Every rinky-dink little tent, kiosk, or trailer selling food or beverages had a band, DJ or radio, belting out some form of music at 110 decibels. So we put a fork in our day and called it done. Hit the outdoor order window for our 6 pack of take-out cream puffs in the nice carrier box, called B to pick us up and 45 minutes later we were home.
And now M just let Gormlaith the killer cat upstairs. ::Rolling eyes:: We won't see Shaolin for a few days now. Vansen is hiding in the top of her very tall cat tree, being very flat. Tomorrow, we do a parade of homes, because I need to walk some more this weekend. :-p
Firefly Art Fair:
We started off the morning by going to the Firefly Art Fair. We go every year, and for the last few years there hasn't been much new blood. In fact one of our favorite artists, Connie Bieber no longer attends. So it was a lot of the same old same old this year, which is a little disappointing. Even though the weather was pleasant this morning, once you get amongst all the artists tents there is no breeze, and the air was stifling. By the time we came around to the back aisle of booths, I couldn't have cared less about the art and just wanted a breeze. :-p
Zoo: Went back home for lunch, cooled off for an hour and then headed out to the zoo. It was near the end of the zoo's day, but there were still a lot of people there. There were remnants of a large corporate picnic (a honking huge tent, corn on the cob on the grill, popcorn wagon, and cotton candy cart) in our parking lot. The ellies were very happy, munching on some slightly dry browse, the tree branches must have been trimmed several days ago.
Going by the African Savanna I saw that we have a new cinereous vulture (we call them Dementors for the way they walk).
The new flamingos are settling in nicely, although our flock in now 11 instead of 13. A couple of weeks ago, we saw our pair of Crested Screamers
with a new nest and a single egg. A few days later the nest was more substantial and there were 4 eggs! So we are keeping tabs on them. Both parents take turns sitting on the nest until the chicks hatch. Today, mom was on the nest. The nest is in full sun for a good part of the day. The crested screamers have dark plumage. Mom was definitely feeling the heat. She was panting (she has a tiny tongue) and all of the feathers on her back were standing straight up to let the heat out. We hung around for a while to see if she would stand up or shift so we could check out the eggs, but no such luck. By the time we left the nest was in the shade, her feathers were down and she was no longer panting. Walking back around the zoo the orangutans were already in for the day, our new bards tapir is still in quarantine, the rhinos were out, in their separate yards, and the elephants were in. I was hot again, so home we went. I watered the flower beds, which now takes 45 minutes, and came in just in time for a quick dinner.
State Fair: M decided she wanted to go to the State Fair for the evening. The fair grounds are less than a mile from our house. Today there was a specialty National Clydesdale Horse show there, and the various hitched teams were being judged this evening. We like walking through the animal barns, seeing the horticultural building with all of the flowers, and we wanted to come early in the fair so the flowers would still be fresh; I like to see the various art, craft & food projects that people submit for judging. I especially enjoy the fiber arts, and the photography. A few years ago my Mom submitted her pumpkin pie recipe, and she won a ribbon! There are also cash prizes, but they are firmly entrenched in the 1960'S. First place in any category is less than $15. But the competition is fierce for those ribbons. ;-)
We also like the DNR building and park area which always has a really nice stream you can fish, and native plants and information. We planned to cap our evening off with a take-out order of cream puffs, which are a reason unto themselves to go to the fair.
Cream puffs are serious stuff at the fair. The fair's official mascot is even a cream puff. Need a cream puff beanie baby?
They sell about 335,000 puffs every year, which is about 33,000 made on-the-spot dairy delights every single day of the fair. They actually have to have people baking and filling puffs around the clock. All overseen by a master chef. We take them very seriously, indeed. =)
So we went to the fair. B dropped us off at one end of the Milwaukee Mile race track, at a gate that we soon found out wasn't selling admission tickets, only scanning pre-purchased tickets. So in stead of walking in right by the coliseum where the Clydesdales were being judged, we had to walk half-way around the mile race track and clear across the infield to get in. Once "inside" we couldn't move because there were a million people there. A million billion. Forget about watching the horse judging, the coliseum was crammed with a 6 person deep SRO crowd all along the edges. So we worked our way through the crowds to a barn. Only 100's of people in the hot & stuffy barn. Saw some cow rear ends while we worked our way over to a horse barn, where it was all clydesdales, all the time. They are magnificent animals, and everyone wanted to see them. More millions in this barn, and when you could work your way through the crowd you'd find yourself dead-ended by a roped off aisle that may or may not have a huge horse cross-tied beyond, getting tacked up and ready for the ring. We spent about 20 minutes watching the family from Briarwood Farms beautify and tack up a clydesdale mare for saddle. (I did not know people rode these huge, very wide horses!) You would have thought we were in a beauty salon for all of the products that they were using on her. Some white spray on powder for the feathers on her feet, followed by hairspray and careful combing, some shine stuff rubbed all over her coat, her nostrils wiped out so far I thought they could reach her eyeballs, and on and on. They finally had her all saddled up, and then everyone sat down to wait for her class to be called. So we moved along. Strolled through the sheep barn. Managed to pet a few shorn sheep (judged for their meat), and rub the ears of a few of the many, many judged for their fleece, wearing their best KKK hoods and sheets. There was even one group that belonged to Pink Lady Farms, and all of the sheets were pink, the water buckets-pink, the plastic containers holding supplies, all pink. It was a bit too much.
We emerged near the pig races, and the stands there were crammed full, even though the next race wasn't for an hour. Next stop for us, the flower building, completely kitty corner across the entire fair grounds from where we were. I think it would have been easier to either walk on top of people's heads, or exit the fair grounds, walk around the outside perimeter and reenter at the other corner, then it was to fight through the crowds.
Got to the horticultural building and received a shock. When we walked in there were no flowers. Here was all of the arts/crafts/foods that had been entered into judging. And where were the flowers? Relegated to the back 1/3 of the building. Huh? (When we eventually made it over to the building that used to house this stuff, the space had all been converted over to sales booths. (Ginsu knives, orange chamois, the mop-up-everything mop anyone?) This was a double whammy as not only was the space for the flowers greatly reduced, but this was also the smallest amount of space I'd ever seen the arts & crafts crammed into. Boo hiss. I will be writing to the Fair committee about this. Then when we finally made it down to the flower end of the building, all of the display shelves were EMPTY! There were little signs propped up, "show changeover". Huh? This was only the 3rd day of the fair! They couldn't wait until the building closed? (Yeah, yeah, I know, volunteers, late and early hours, they need sleep too, etc.) ah humbug. We did see some fabulous quilts and really wonderful photography. There are so many different categories for the photography, and some of my photos are easily as good as some of he 2nd, 3rd & 4th place photos. I will have to check out the submission guidelines for next year.
After leaving the flower (& crafts) building we walked over to the DNR area. You enter through an log building that is a permanent structure on the fair grounds. We were 5 feet from the door when they closed up for the night. Apparently 9pm was their witching hour. We decided to do a few aisles of the main building where 90% of the fair vendors are. About 5 minutes in I realized that my back hurt, my feet were killing me, and I just plain couldn't stand the crowds anymore. The later it got past 8pm the more crying kids there were. I'm not even going to mention how loud it was everywhere. Every rinky-dink little tent, kiosk, or trailer selling food or beverages had a band, DJ or radio, belting out some form of music at 110 decibels. So we put a fork in our day and called it done. Hit the outdoor order window for our 6 pack of take-out cream puffs in the nice carrier box, called B to pick us up and 45 minutes later we were home.
And now M just let Gormlaith the killer cat upstairs. ::Rolling eyes:: We won't see Shaolin for a few days now. Vansen is hiding in the top of her very tall cat tree, being very flat. Tomorrow, we do a parade of homes, because I need to walk some more this weekend. :-p