4-H

No, we're not talking about bingo, we're talking about animals - the farm kind:  cows, sheep, chickens, rabbits, etc.  It has been a stormy week here so when the clouds parted long enough for the sun to break through this evening we jumped at the opportunity and headed to the Chelsea Community Fair for dinner.  Calvin really loves animals (wonder why?) and got a real kick out of the rows and rows of bleating sheep and clucking chickens.  He found the enormous rooster that crowed right in his face to be the most amusing, while his parents were rather taken with the rabbit who was at least three times the size of Moose (that being our little dog).  It wasn't the animals, however, that had us truly incredulous, it was the price of the food.  Who wants to pay $30 for the privilege of eating a "meal" (a sausage, fries, and a drink for each adult) of run-of-the-mill carnival food?  Not I, not I!  Instead, we left the fair grounds and walked to the Chelsea Grill where we enjoyed fantastic burgers with fries and beer for only $23, and we did so while being waited on in a clean and air conditioned restaurant where we didn't have to worry about dust, bugs, or the smell of manure.  And at the end of our meal we raced home (within the speed limit, of course) just ahead of the next storm front that was coming through.

Yes, that is a kangaroo...

Cortney got a phone call this morning (thank you Annemarie!) telling us that we had to go over to the Saline Community Fair in order to see this one-in-a-million petting zoo on its last night there.  We were told that we would get to see a tiger and pet a baby zebra, that the fair was open until 11pm and that zoo alone was worth the ten dollar admission price (we figured it had better be since we weren’t paying ten dollars to see the tractor pull).  In any case, we weren’t sure we would be able to make it.  We both ended up staying late at work, and then we had dinner with Cortney’s parents because her uncle is in town for the game tomorrow (go blue!).  In fact, as the evening got later and we were just clearing the table at 9pm, we decided that we were feeling a little apathetic and decided not to go.  It’s hard to say what made us make that drive over to the fairgrounds at 9:30.  We weren’t even sure the zoo animals would still be there that late, but the guy at the gate said they were, and offered to let us in for free because we were so excited about it (ha, all the tractor pull kids had to pay).
Let us just say that deciding to go was a fantastic decision.  We don’t usually go in for the small roadside caged animal kind of thing, but these animals were from a nearby sanctuary and travel for education purposes.  The man who owns the sanctuary was there, was very interesting to talk to,  and the animals love him nearly as much as he loves them.  In cages they had a beautiful white Bengal tiger, a North American Cougar, a Two Toed Sloth, Lemurs, and Baboons.  They all seemed relaxed and all were playing with toys (yeah enrichment).  The sanctuary owner got in and wrestled/cuddled/scratched with the cougar for a while.  But the real draw for us was the petting part.  This was no ordinary petting farm.  There was a very large enclosure housing llamas, sheep, pigs and goats, as one would expect, but also included was a giant turtle, baby cows and a baby buffalo.  In the pen next door was the baby Zebra (second picture), also housed with a baby Nilgai (from India; in the third picture) and a baby Oryx (from Africa).  Then, one final pen over, were two baby kangaroos (first picture), a couple of ducks, and a pair of small turtles.  Everyone was friendly, and everyone was soft!  We bought “feed cones” (those being your run-of-the-mill ice cream cones filled with seeds) and quickly became well-loved by all.  It was sheer joy all around.

Please continue to pray for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and give if you can.
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"Another big piece of metal on the track..."

We tried on our redneck shoes tonight and hooted and hollered at a real honest to goodness demolition derby.  We went to the Chelsea Community Fair with Curtis, Mitch and Allison to grab dinner and a little bit of entertainment. Besides being taunted by the typical carnival hawkers, we had good pizza, great hotdogs and tasty pretzels with various pops, but we had to hurry to grab our seats in the stands before the 7:30 start of the Figure Eight Demolition Derby.  I must say, this pastime is way more entertaining than it should be.  Even the skeptics among us were laughing raucously by the 5th round.  Yes, the 5th round.  In fact, there were eight rounds and one finale, all of which were entertaining enough to keep us in the uncomfortable aluminum bleachers until nearly 10:00.  We saw smoke, blown tires, sparks and, yes, even fire.  Every time a bumper, or some other conspicuous car part would fall off, the announcer would blare a siren and make the cars stop mid-race so that the referees (is that what they're called?) could run on and retrieve it… “Hold up, hold up!  Another big piece of metal on the track!”  On the way out we stopped to say hello to the cows (they were lowing), the goats (they were eating their pens) and the sheep (they are really noisy), and we’ll call it a considerably enjoyable night.  One question remains…are demolition derbies endangered because the new cars are all fiberglass? What will we demolish in derbies twenty years from now?!?!?

"A lady on the left is no lady at all..."

...according to the etiquette advice provided by her majesty's ladies in waiting at Michigan's Renaissance Festival, which we attended with Jon's parents. Fortunately, Cortney was seated correctly on Jon's right for the Italian wine tasting, the special theme for the opening weekend of the festival. Certainly, the food was one of the highlights of the day, offering every authentic old world finger food from huge turkey drumsticks to soup in a bread bowl to pickles in a barrel. Care to sample the king's nuts? (Roasted almonds).
While most of the vendors maintained period costumes and accents, some of the guests took advantage of the occasion to dress more like Xena than Guinevere. This was not so good in the case of the obese women with cleavage that supported a tip jar tucked in between! The most amazing costume award goes to the walking tree man, straight out of the Ents in the Lord of the Rings. The jousting was also a good spectacle, once the long-winded introductions finished. The accompanying drummer helped to increase the importance of the event, much like the timpani player in the movie Spaceballs. We also enjoyed a romantic ride on the Flying Dragons, took in the Ded Bob Sho, bought Cortney a beautiful green ring, and got Jon a didgeridoo. We're not sure how much the didgeridoo has to do with the Renaissance, but Jon definitely enjoyed filling up the car with the sound all the way home.