Crackpots and Crockpots...

[altivo]

Went to the county fair in neighboring Boone County this afternoon. As I've remarked before, that one is still a real agricultural fair, with serious animal exhibits and vegetables and flowers and all. It also has the usual commercial pavilions with little booths in them. At one time, those were filled with people trying to sell stuff, from self-help books to eyeglass polish. Nowadays it seems they are mostly occupied by various flavors of bible thumpers (it's a wonder they don't get in fights, they are packed so close together) and more medical quackery than you can shake a crutch at, from chiropractors who claim they can cure cancer to vitamin hawkers to snake oil sellers. And then there are the mandatory kitchen gadget demonstrators, with their magic sauce pans and vitameatavegomatic choppers or whatever. The anti abortion campaigners and the politicians fill in the gaps. It's hardly worth walking through those buildings any more.

Iron-shod feather-feet pounding the dust...

Mostly that is made up for by the huge draft horse show that has grown so large that even after putting up two new horse barns a couple of years ago, they need temporary tents with long rows of portable stalls in them to accommodate the number of attendees. So many huge horses, most of them very mild and gentle acting. I'd need a ladder to get on one, because their backs are about eye level for me and their feet are bigger around than my thighs. Even so, I think it would be a pleasant thing to try... if I didn't get altitude sickness or a nosebleed at least.

Longest ears at the fair

It's hard to say. Well, if you do it in proportion to body size, the English Lop rabbits win it, ears down. They can hardly move around without stepping on their own ears. The Nubian goats have lovely big floppy ears too, though. We saw no mules, but there were two miniature donkeys in the petting zoo with lovely long fuzzy ears.

Most surprising moment?

Being asked at the gate if I were a senior citizen because today is senior day and you could get in free. You have to be over 65 to qualify, and I still have a ways to go before that. I guess I have enough gray in my hair and beard though to get asked.

A lot of walking, even though we skipped the midway and the acres of car dealers. I think the fairgrounds are 120 acres. At least the weather cooperated, a little warm but the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Comments

[corelog.livejournal.com]

If you ask me, sounds like an adventure and a half! :) With uninteresting and extremely interesting parts to it, much like any decent adventure.

Still...car dealers? At a fair??? *shakes his head* America the Corporate...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Always car dealers. They haul in truckloads of new cars and arrange them in displays like an open air showroom. Been that way all my life. Also a lot of tents pushing hot tubs, spas, and back yard swimming pools.

There are usually some agricultural equipment dealers, which makes more sense, with huge tractors and harvesters as well as little ride-around-and-mow-your-lawn toy tractors. And row after row of trailers selling junk food, from deep fried cheese chunks to lemonade to cream puffs.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Ahh the drafthorses are stampeding towards the car dealers XD They flattened the Geos o.O

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That would be amusing. Actually, while we were there today they were having the tractor pulling contest, where they put big heavy weights on sleds and use souped up tractors to pull them over a certain distance. They keep adding weight until all but one of the tractors has failed to get the sled moving and drag it over the line. It's obnoxious. Noisier than drag racing, and smellier too. But lots of people seem to love it.

Amusingly, there is an equivalent kind of competition where teams of horses do the same thing. A team of those giant horses (usually four or six of them) can move the same weights that tractors with 600 horsepower Diesel engines fail on. So much for the idea that a mechanical horsepower is equal to one horse. ;p

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

I bet I could get a pretty good pull with a steam tractor. Steam power is almost sinewy, and not as kinetic as internal combustion. It would sound pretty good too.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I believe you probably could, since you know the differences and how to go about it. I saw a pulling competition on television once with my dad, and they had a steam tractor against four or five of those big hyper Diesel jobs they like to use for those things. The steam tractor won easily, as my dad predicted, and he was a Diesel applications engineer for Detroit Diesel Allison.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

I'd pay to see the bible thumpers get into a fight with the quacks :)
I always wanted a bottle of genuine snake oil.

I don't think I've seen the real big horses, I did see clydesdales when I was a wee kitten. But most were the average sized horses that my relatives have down in country Victoria

In another life I wouldn't mind being a stable cat

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm six feet tall. I'm not kidding when I say many of these big horses are so high that their shoulders are at my eye level.

Their feet are so big that they could accidentally turn a kitty into a frisbee with a single misstep. Being a stable cat might be hazardous.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Horses are usually quite careful :) There are plenty of stable cats about who aren't flat :) But I take your point.

You should've taken the senior citizen discount XD you can be one of those annoying retirees types who think they're entitled to everything XD

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, some of us have paffers, so the stable cats only get knocked about a bit. Sort of like getting hit with a large nerf ball.

So far I haven't qualified for any senior discounts. I might be old enough this year to get a dollar off going into the horsefest (two weeks from now) though. I think their cutoff age is a lot lower.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Ack you'd hit a stable cat with your paffers? O.O *starts to snicker then gets an attack of the giggles* Paffers!!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

PAFF!

*knocks you right into the hay stack, so deep it will take you ten minutes to climb out*

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

Aiieee!! *fumphs into the hay stack, for the next ten minutes you hear yowls and swearing*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Silly. There are a lot of mice hiding in there, I saw them. I was just helping you out.

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

There are! They're all laughing at me *scrabbles around* I'll get you mice just you wait.

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

I hope the Boone County Fair doesn't always conflict with Sycamore. I'd like to go one year.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's always the second week in August. Wednesday through Sunday, so you could do Sycamore on Saturday and the fair on Sunday. Or else take a weekday off to go. Even the entered baked goods still look good on Thursday. (Usually by the weekend they have started growing mold from the heat and humidity.)

This has been a good year for tomatoes, there were a lot of big ripe ones. The tallest sunflowers were really tall, over 12 feet. The largest pumpkin was respectable for so early in the year, but there will be bigger ones at the Sandwich fair south of DeKalb. That one isn't until the end of August or beginning of September. Next week there's a county fair in Pecatonica for Winnebago County, almost as big as Boone's. I'm not sure when the one in Freeport takes place. Walworth County in Wisconsin has a good one too, I hear, but I've never been there.

Now as for Sycamore, we still plan to be there. You said 11 am, right? We could be a bit later than that because I must show at a guild meeting at 10 am but don't have to stay more than ten or fifteen minutes I hope.

[quickcasey.livejournal.com]

You tell me what time it would be comfortable for you to arrive. We could do noon or one. Let me know, I will amend the time in another AARF post.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Is the place so large that we won't be able to find you? We might make 11:00 anyway, but at a guess, 11:30 would be safe. We can hunt around for you if need be.

[drelonek.livejournal.com]

Donkehs

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yay. Oh, nice user pic. I have a special attraction to mules, but donkeys are great too. Love those long ears and their quirky voices. Some of them are really sweet tempered and friendly.

[drelonek.livejournal.com]

Donkeys are awesome, yus. They're really cute looking. I obviously haven't had much experience with them in RL, but yeah.. I have a donkey character. :P

Close encounters with donkeys

[altivo.livejournal.com]

See photos here.

[luperion.livejournal.com]

Iron shod feather feet?

Gigantic furry horsepaws!

/cuddle!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oooh, wuffy snuggles. I like!

Yeah, that's a Jethro Tull lyric, from "Heavy Horses." ;p