Fair Time is in the Past......

At the Iowa State Fair they had a building of animals being born as well as chickens, ducks and turkeys. As the chicks hatched out in the large incubator they would progress down to the big area.  They still needed heat lamps tp keep the chill from air conditioner.  I didn’t get baby ducks or turkeys. It was just too crowded to do so.

There had been a couple of lambs born over the night as well as a few kids, baby goats.  My dad raised hogs so we didn’t wait in the long lines to see piglets. A couple of calves had been born a few days before we visited.

I was pleased that so many were interest to the young farm animals.  I am sure most people had not seen young animals unless they visit a place like this.

Goats were rarely raised in our neighborhood when we lived on the farm.  People really were not milking goats for profit in southern Iowa. As a kid on the farm I do remember one stray male goat came to our house and stayed on our front door steps. No one seemed to know where he came from as we prided ourselves in knowing what people had on their farms. In a couple of days a guy drove up with his pickup and loaded him in the back.  He apologized for his taking residence and pooping in our front door area. That is the only goat experience that I had for my entire 20 years on the farm. My Uncle Bill did raise sheep for selling their wool but he was a rare farmer to have sheep. I think the goat came from a farm in an old town of Hopeville, Iowa five or six miles away.

At the fair is a long tradition of creating a sculpture in butter.  A new artist does sculpt this cow on a wooden and wire frame. The first sculptor retired eight years ago.  The replacement artist started adding other things to the display.  Other things were sculptures of things that did not relate to the agriculture themes.

This year a tribute to Sesame Street was created. You can see here Bert and Ernie made from butter.  There is a partial wing of Big Bird in the photo.  These displays are a traditional high point for the visitors to the fair.  I think politicians came in to have their photo taken with the cow.

Here is a different angel on these three characters. I didn’t have the patience to stand in line to see them so took photos on the other side of the roped of area. This is the same building as agricultural products are shown along with flowers.  I guess there is an active bee hive going on on the second floor.

There was also an ice sculpture window display. They must keep it cold in there to keep the fish and other things from melting.

Our internet was down again today but I guess it was for only an hour.  I hope this isn’t going to be a regular happening. We stopped in to the phone store yesterday and bought each of us a new cell phone.  We had a cheap one for a few years just so we had one in the car in the winter or when traveling.

Buying phones is quite an experience and sales people can be nice but also pushy.  I did know what I wanted and sneaking a tablet into the pile was not going to happen.  When he found out we both had MacBooks he settled down a little.  My wife’s phone was working by the time we left the store more than an hour later.  Mine was in trouble and I had to go establish new passwords.  For some reason I had an old extinct email address attached to my Apple site and my Facebook was the same way.  I did get the Apple account figured out and I used my wife as a second email address to get the other passwords straightened out. Anyway, by late night time I was up and running and my wife figured out how to turn the sound button on so we could hear our phones wring.

I mowed the backyard again today and I am taking the rest of Friday off.  I appreciate your stopping by today.