Rice County Fair

 Faribault, MN

We came for the accordion which we thought would be accordions.

The Rice County Fair

Today we did an hour drive south to visit Rice County and see their fair.  We wanted to get there in time to see Accordions on 5th at 11am.  When we got there at 10:15ish there was a guy playing various polkas on his accordion so we walked around and looked at stuff with the intent on coming back for Accordions on 5th at 11am.  We saw some of the FFA stuff as well as some of the food stalls and returned just before 11am.  At 11am the show continued with one accordion player.  I guess he was Accordions on 5th.  Who's on first?  I don't know!  Third base!  Anyway it was fun listening to a better than average and yet obviously amateur accordion player.  He played polkas and interacted with the kids in audience.  He was a one man, two hour accordion show.  We didn't stay for the whole 11am hour because we had things to see and stuff on sticks to eat. 

It was a perfect day for a fair

The kids were playing a duck race game where you filled a trough with rubber ducks and then used a hand pump to pump water into the trough and move the ducks to the other side.  It appeared everyone was winning.

Baby chicks!

This calf was stealing the goat's feed and bedding at the same time.

Donna looked at a chicken catalog and decided which ones she would buy if we had a coop and weren't living out of a van.

I laughed while I learned!

All you can drink milk for $1.50!  This might be the most small county fair thing I have ever seen.  I could have tested that Gallon of Milk in an Hour thing.

Just the taste!

We tried to take a selfie in the teacup but it didn't read well

So I took one of just her in the teacup.

Accordions on 5th was still going strong!

You can tell this child didn't get any help from their parents or the internet for that matter.  They just went with the parts of The Bald Eagle that they knew like head, tail, body, and eye.  I'm not confident they know where the leg ends and the claws begin based on their pointers.

This kid found owl vomit and reconstructed the skeleton that was in it.  Nice work!  A+!

I learned way too much about what has soy beans in it and what doesn't

This Lasagna is great value even though it contains no soy beans.  

There's that all you can drink milk!  We didn't pull the trigger.  I would have really tried to get full value and might have gotten sick.

I went with a corn dog but didn't take a photo.

This cute little goat wagged their tail every time they took a nibble of food.

Everyone was hungry

I also learned how NOT to spell pigeon.

Usually when you lay an egg in a contest it's a bad thing but not today!

The Ring of Fire was looking cool with the clouds in the background.

I didn't count this Tiki Bar.

After my corn dog I had BBQed Pork "Nachos".  I guess the microwave was on the fritz.  They were still good but I didn't log them as nachos in my tracking document.

I have yet to attend a destruction derby.  One of these days...

After the fair we headed back up I35 towards Minneapolis.  It was 10 cent token day at Up Down so I walked there and loaded up on cheap tokens and then played some pinball.  

That was it for today.  If you missed Doughnuts, Cat Café, and Pinball, check it out unless you really want to see us enjoying that Cat Café' because it didn't end up working out this time.

 

A Few Creatures Great and Small

Princeton, TX

Tomatoes are coming in nicely despite the crazy (aka normal) heat

Visiting family and their pets

This morning we drove out to Sharon's place near here to visit with her while she did some pet chores.  We got to visit her chickens and garden (a garden isn't really a pet, or is it?) and I got to see a new bird for Texas, The Eastern Bluebird.  Next we drove out to Princeton to visit the stable where she keeps Simon.  It's a huge property and there are a few lakes so we birded there too.  We went from 25 species in Texas yesterday to 37 today adding birds including Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, and Killdeer.  

After birding for about a half and hour we accompanies Sharon while she visited Simon her horse and gave him some meds and cleaned his hoofs of mud and not mud.  I was taken back to the days of working on My Horse, not a horse that I owned but My Horse the iPhone and Android App.  After the horse chores were done it was time to head back to Sharon's and see her other pets. We got to meet Sharon's rabbit and all of her Guinea pigs that she and her daughter Erika breed and show.  This coming weekend we are going to a Guinea pig show with Sharon and Erika and will be able to experience and then report on the pageantry that takes place.

Oh the chickens!

We don't get to meet chickens very often

A free range horse on the farm we visited

Baby cow!

Donna and Sharon contributing to the wire waggon

This horse must be a super hero by night

Donna fed the stable kitty 

Even stables have legalese.

Don't touch my Red Bull

This saddle blanket gives you +5 energy I think

Sharon leading Simon out

Donna got to give Simon treats

Hoof cleaning

Donna was excited to hold a Guinea pig

Fun Fact! When Guinea pigs have babies they aren't called New Guinea pigs

Water water water water

Sharon took this one of us hamming it up in the field

After our farm and family visit we headed back to the Airbnb and I figured out some adventure days for us.  

If you didn't read about yesterday's adventure, you can get to it here.