More County Fair

For some peculiar reason, last night my husband wanted to go to the Fair. I was exhausted, but knew I should humor him. He hasn't gone to the Fair in YEARS, so if he wants to go, there must be a reason.

We stopped by the Home Arts building again, and I snapped a picture of Carletta's quilt. This is the one quilt that I saw on display that I quilted. It's a monster. ;)

One thing that was new this year was a display of plastic/fake farm animals. In the past, they've always had a petting zoo with REAL animals. I mean, come on! This is Ag Country. What's with the fake animals?!!!

Come milk the plastic cow!

Or saddle the fake horse...

Or listen to the HORRIBLE robo-cow that has apparently represented Tulare County at the State Fair for the past two years. NO WONDER the rest of the State thinks we're idiots!

It was much better when we got to some of the REAL displays. Like the REAL men, REALLY singing, in this Barbershop Chorus.

See the guy in the back row, on the right, with the light hair, glasses and mustache? (If you click on the picture, it gets bigger.) That's Jerry, one of Pete's original partners at Valley Vets.

And then it came out. The real reason we were there. We headed for the Dairy Barn. Nothing says "free evening" like hanging out with the cows, eh?

(That's Pete, in the plaid.) Every corner we turned held another person for him to talk to and another hand to shake. When this kid walked up, shook his hand, and turned to leave, I stopped him. "I HAVE to get a picture of your hat!" He was embarrassed, and refused to show his face. But check out the hat:

Again, you can click to make it bigger. If you don't want to, I'll give you a hint: It says "Valley Vets."

Yes, last night the Dairy Barn was the place to be. It was the night of the Heifer Replacement Sale, and over 150 heifers were going up for auction. Here's a brief glimpse of the auction ring. There were so many people there, it would have been silly to push my way through the crowd to get a picture of the auctioneer and an animal up for bid.

And as we left the barn, I snapped this picture of the heifers, beginning to line up. They are waiting their turns, with their owners hoping for enough of a selling price to at least break even. It's not a good time for dairy, but last night? It was a testament to the support of the local community. No one has money to burn, but at the same time, no one wants to see these kids losing their shirts because of a 4-H or FFA project.

I have no idea how it turned out, but as one friend said, "This is the year that the kids are probably going to get a real life lesson."

And that's it for now. I've got 7.9 of the quilts basted, and I've run out of pins. I hoping to quilt one or two today, and finish up the basting by this evening. Goals are good and all that.