Wisconsin State Fair

We went to the Wisconsin State Fair yesterday, and it was a blast. Saria went to the fair almost every year growing up, so she has been looking forward to the fair ever since we moved here in January.

The were lots of animals for Rhett and us to look at: cows, horses, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, geese, rabbits, chicks, piglets, and sharks - and I do mean sharks!

There was a shark show and the two men running the show were hilarious. They jumped in the tank and pretended to play nurse sharks as guitars (apparently if you flip them on their stomach they turn to a hypnotized state). They would also ride them, and all sorts of funny adventures. This was Rhett's favorite part of the fair.

Rhett, Saria and I loved all the animals - it makes me yearn to live on a farm to be with all the animals. I especially want some chickens now.

We had one funny story while we were in the pig building. In all the buildings we went through they were in the process of doing all the animal judging. To return the pigs after judging they would slap the snouts to direct the pigs where to go. Several pigs they were trying to return, but the pigs weren't cooperating. One of them ran off and ran between Saria and the stroller -  and it scared her. It was quite funny watching the men trying to get the pigs back into their pens.

Saria's favorite activity is the pig races. The first two rounds were small regular pigs and they were fun to watch. The third round the announcer said if we missed the first two races, the third would be in slow motion - it was a race of big pot belly pigs. It was hilarious as they slowly trotted around the course. One of them even stopped half way through and felt it more important to take his time to go to the bathroom than finish the race. The guy came and tried to push him to get him through the course, but the pot belly pig just continued to do his business and was big enough that the mans pushing bairly moved the pig.

Rhett got to drive a tractor simulator and loved that. We also took a picture of him and Saria in a cutout driving a tractor. They also played in a corn filled sandbox, and Saria loved dumping the corn on Rhett's head.

Saria's favorite part of the fair are the giant cream puffs. They sell these only at the Wisconsin state fair, and I think it's a yearly tradition for everybody. It was Rhett's first cream puff and he liked them, as you can tell because he got it ask over his face.

All of us had a blast. Can't wait for next year!

Sandwich maker

Saria went to a garage sale and got one of those sandwich makers, so we had to make sandwiches. we had some fresh strawberries, so we made a strawberry-filled pastry. They tasted like really good pop tarts. Mmm!

Gardening

We are renting a house and Saria really wanted a garden. We had talked about doing a raised bed or potting the plants in a lot of pots.

I then found out that my work has a community garden, so I got a plot and convinced my coworker to sign up for one as well.

Yesterday, we spent the morning planting our plot, went home and took a nap, and then spent the afternoon planting my coworker's plot. It all got planted! We have lots of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, broccoli.

Back at our home, Saria has planted pole beans, more cucumbers and tomatoes, fennel, and strawberries (that are already producing).

Saria planted most of it while I entertained Rhett with digging holes and going to a close pile of mulch, shoveling out into a wheelbarrow, taking it to the plot, dumping it out on top of Rhett, and then mulching around the plants.

Saria commented that this is the prettiest garden she has ever had.

It is currently raining, so we should have some happy plants! Here's hoping for a bumper crop. We are rationing our canned salsa and pickles until we get more to can. While in Las Vegas we used a lot of our canned produce.

Hiding Ginger

We went over to Monica's and were playing "Just Dance." While dancing, we kept running into Ginger. She didn't like that and went and hid, but I don't think it was the most comfortable hiding place.

Pot Rack

This is the pot rack that we installed. I've always wanted one of these. It took awhile to figure out how to hang it, but it looks really nice.