THE HORROR! or, Our Trip to the Fair

Yes, there was no cream puff line. The first time in years we went to the Fair and when we got to the cream puff line there was none. Usually one would make several weaves through long stretches of what ever they call those barriers to get to the cream puff window. We simply walked up to order. And no young country folk working frantically to keep up with the demand. Racks sitting full of cream puffs. And talking to others and seeing a news shot on the nightly news it was the same. What has happened to America. And no discounts to spur demand. The horror.

A pig with a multitude of piglets suckling with great vigor and some how I managed to miss them all. No small animals when we were there like rabbits or ducks or the such.

We rested briefly to enjoy a bit of steeple chase before moving on.

Big American style tractor.

Christmas in August? At least they had the Fair theme with all the farm animals. We didn't buy the standard $20 product from any of the multitude of vendors. Only one ladder manufacturer, unlike other years, and they didn't have anything that would help me in the roof repairs. Maybe I'll have to rent some scaffolding. I guess no one is buying hot tubs these days as they were everywhere at the Fair. Not sure how many green houses they sold but that's some nice green house. Misao called me embarrassing after my third trip to the Ocean Spray table to get a free sample. While at the Coke Zero promotion they said "Take as many as you like."

So what's going on with the Fair? No tiny animals. No one buying cream puffs. I'm not sure but I know one thing. "The bees know." Yes, we stopped by the beekeepers display. I miss my bees and think I know what they know. But how could I know. We didn't buy any honey. I was surprised at the excitement with which Misao pulled out all her cash and money from stashes to spend at the Fair. I felt bad we have been skipping it these many years. Still we kept ourselves from spending too much.

Misao found this character extremely amusing...

And she demanded we see everything. For those who like the flowers this was part of the DNR forest, part of the Fair grounds.

Here we have the Purple Loosestrife, an invasive species from Europe threatening the diversity of our regional ecosystem. I can tell you that the bees really love this stuff and the frames will fill quickly with sweet honey when in bloom. And talk about HORROR! They put a net around the invasive species and fill it with beetles that love to eat the Purple Loosestrife. This is just like the movie "The Mummy" where they put the guy in the sarcophagus with the flesh eating beetles. Good movie.

And don't think that the bees don't know.

This is the access I created to get to my roof to do the repairs. But it was still too hot and I didn't spend long up there. Taking a few measurements and looking to buy more materials. And talk about horror, they say the humidity is returning. I have to decide if I am going to remove this bush that has been seriously dieing back. Serious yard work to come as the prime time for weeds is passing and the prime time for grass is arriving, as well as cooler temperatures.

And talk about jobs, we saw this guy when leaving the Fair. I looked them up on the Internet and asked if they needed help, but haven't heard anything back. Without finding a job or suddenly getting massive amounts of sales on e-bay, unlikely, our last chance to avoid bankruptcy will most likely be the publishing of my book. Even cutting back on my free poker tournaments to save money on gas since I haven't repaired my road bike yet. The way the furnace sounded last year I can't afford to have no way to pay for a new one if it totally breaks down this Winter. Now it may be as late as the end of September before my book is available. I am shooting for mid-September to have it published AND marketed. They said November, using their paid service, so I cut them off and am going strictly self-publishing, having to give them the properly formatted PDF's...

How do you make a PDF?

I am sure there is a lot of checking and rechecking, just like in architecture, an endless process of making corrections and changes, in order to get a great product but I have near everything complete, well refined, including a cover design and questioned why they said mid-November, especially when considering some comments the editor wrote on the first of my two stories in the book.

They used to have sign boards telling you the proper way to eat a cream puff, but no more. What's going on with the Fair?