Our State Fair is the Best State Fair...

In keeping with tradition, Arthur and I made our third annual trip to the Kansas State Fair this weekend.  We saw the sights, ate the food, and came home exhausted.

This year's butter sculpture on a pogo stick.

Friday evening brought a cool snap to the area and my younger brother Arnold for dinner and the evening.  His wife was having a girls evening so he decided to make himself scarce.  Since it was Friday night we held forth with family tradition-- pizza night.  Over the past few months we have upgraded from frozen pizzas to homemade pizzas.  I am working on perfecting making pizza dough which is relatively easy since my mixer does all the work.  This week was extra special since I even made homemade pizza sauce from our own tomatoes and basil.  The problem of a small garden is having limited amounts of produce all at once.  I made one batch of sauce with 5 tomatoes which will be enough for 2-3 pizzas.  However the process took about the same amount of time and created the same mess as if I had a batch with 20 tomatoes.  I think my husband's career of creating efficient processes is infiltrating my kitchen.  Anyway, we had a wonderful dinner and Arthur and Arnold settled in to an evening of deep theological discussion.  Later that evening Arthur and I joined our Bible study group for a gathering for s'mores and chatting around the fire pit-- an absolutely perfect fall evening with s'mores, the smell of smoke, being mesmerized by watching the flames jump back and forth, the cool night, and a group of friends.  A wonderful way to kick off the fall season.  (I also had my first cup of hot chocolate for the year at work that afternoon.)

Doesn't anything scream state fair louder than a giant pumpkin?

Saturday morning we headed off through thick fog to the State Fair.  We caught up on world events by listening to the weekly NPR news quiz show-- this is about the only way I will listen to news.  It was also a beautiful day to spend wandering around the fair- a little cool in the morning but was quite comfortable to be out in the fresh air (fresh air may not be the correct term to use here since it was probably full of allergens from all the animals or the smell of fried foods wafting about.)  Our first stop was the Pride of Kansas building to hit the classic fair exhibits-- the butter sculpture and the giant vegetables.  Next we watched a group of divers and acrobats do a routine full of twists and flips off diving boards and trampolines.  Then we meandered through the life stock barns checking out the cattle, dairy goats, pigs, chickens, etc.  All the livestock looked pretty good since it all had been gussied up for competition.  We watched exhibitors trim with razors, wash and blow dry, and even saw some cattle get a pedicure with a grinder.  I had never really thought about comparing livestock judging to a beauty pageant before but basically in both the participants get all beautified and parade around before judges and are scored on physical characteristics.

Watusi cattle

After we had spent an appropriate amount to time wondering around the barns we headed onto the fine arts building to admire art and photography exhibits.  I almost enjoy the fine arts at the fair more than most art museums because most of it is not "too out there" like some modern or abstract art.  I can look at a piece and know instantly what it is and appreciate the beauty and the skill instead of staring at it and trying to figure out what I am looking at and if it is really art. 

Our next stop was lunch.  Arthur was in charge of food selection and being slightly exotic in his food tastes we bypassed all the food fried on the sticks.  He picked roasted chicken gyros.  We munched on refined food while watching part of the 4-H dog show-- one of the key stops at the fair.  Being a former 4-Her we also had to view the 4-H exhibits.  I listened to a demonstration on photography (please don't judge the pictures on this blog according to rule of thirds and leading lines--most are taken on my iPod and not even a real camera). Arthur looked at woodworking, electrical projects, and geology collections.  We continued on to the domestic arts building to ohh and ahh over the jams, jellies, needle point, and quilting.  We were slightly shocked by the downfall of our Midwestern morality as displayed next to the jams and jellies were the decorated brassiere entries-- what is our world coming to?

We finished off the day returning to the dog show.  We enjoyed this greatly but now Arthur wants a puppy again (I guess he always wants a puppy so that's not new.)  There were several border collies that performed well.  Growing up, Arthur's dog Jasper was a border collie so they have a special place in his heart.  My family's dog Clementine competed in the 4-H dog show for a few years at the county level and was a champion in agility.

Arthur and Jasper- a boy's best friend

Arnold and Clementine competing in agility

It was fun to see how much fun dogs have running the agility course.  They may miss a few points but the dogs don't care since they get to run, jump, and play.

My husband likes to run, jump, and play too but it looks like he needs a nap after so much fun at the fair

The dog show was just more fun than he could handle.  At least his snores were too distracting with all the barking going on.

As you can tell it was a long day so we headed home byway of one of our favorite places to eat near the fairgrounds-- Bogey's.  We had burgers, curly fries, and shakes-- isn't life wonderful.  Omnia Vincit Amor.