Some sights, but not the sounds of the Sioux Empire Fair opening day!

I wish I could add some sounds of the fair but I just can't figure out how to do that ~ it is doable but not for yours truly.  Wouldn't it be great to open the blog and also hear Jimmy Buffett!  The possibilities are just endless.  Maybe someday I'll find my brain and be able to make sense of complicated, technical instructions but probably not today!

So the fair finally opened yesterday and LOOK who was there (and is required to be here all week!).  None other than Miss Sioux Empire - aka Lexy.  She won the competition Monday night and will go on to the Miss South Dakota competition next spring!!  She is a cutie and a sweetie indeed and Rick thought it would be delightful to have a photo of us with her ~ so here's lookin' at y'all!

We had so much fun (well I did anyway) walking and walking the grounds several times yesterday.  I think my favorite part is "Old MacDonald's Farm".  This is sort of a petting zoo for kids - well maybe not as a lot of the animals are not accessible but it is a nicer, much better lit area than the barns are.  We did go through a couple of the barns and Rick made a comment that the smells (hay) took him back many years to the Hingham Riding Stable where he, Patrick and especially Nancy spent many many hours - it was an interesting observation, a nice trip down memory lane I think.

Below are the piglets in the OMF area - I haven't made it to the swine barn yet so stay tuned for that ~ as some of you may know I just have this thing for pigs - it all started with the movie Babe and the stuffed Babe that Rick gave me for Christmas one year.  My Babe talks and she and her pal Wendy traveled all over the country and many Caribbean Islands with us before we retired - we have pictures of them everywhere raising havoc - Wendy has a reputation for bad behavior (problem child that she is).  Anyway, I may have to go back to OMF today and try to count the piglets in that pen cause I certainly can't tell from this picture how many there are, but that's quite a pig pile isn't it!

The pen below (not accessible for children to put their hands in!) is a bull and a buffalo.  I didn't notice the ring in the bull's nose until I uploaded the photos but when I saw it it reminded me of my mom because........... many many (perhaps a thousand or perhaps 40) when I wanted to get my ears pierced ~ this was a huge long long battle in my house ~ my mother was so horrified that one of her daughters would want to do such a trashy thing that her most often used line was "what will come next a ring in your nose" ... so I guess that was my trip  down memory lane yesterday but I think Rick's was a better one.

Here is Mama goat and baby ... that baby just would not leave Mama alone - it got really physical trying to get in there and poor Mama just put up with it.  I think that baby needed a few minutes in a time out chair but I decided not to suggest it and let Mama do her own child rearing without any outside interference.

And below are tiny horses - smaller than a Shetland Pony I think.  A few months ago I found a picture of Patrick (taken in September 1981 when he was three) walking a small pony around Hingham Riding Stable and these horses reminded me so much of that picture.  (p.s. I have been trying to upload that photo for 20 minutes and just gave up so I can post this blog entry!)

Outside OMF they had this wooden cow (Rick says it is "udderly ridiculous" isn't he so witty).

Inside the cow is a bucket of water with four "udders" sticking out the bottom and kids "milk the cow" - well I still remembered how to milk a cow successfully - I guess it may be like riding a bike tho!  Rick had no interest in trying to milk the cow .. silly Rick.

And how about these beauties - Kimberly are they guernsey or jersey cows?  They are such a nice color.  In the dairy barn there also is a cow who had just given birth two hours prior - they had already taken the calf back to the farm and were going to "hand" feed her with Mom's colostrum for three days then they feed her for three months (I think it was) rather than her having her mom's milk which, being a dairy farm, is income for them!  For some foolish reason I thought that of course they would allow the calf to nurse from Mom!

The last photo today is me with the Sioux Falls Marine - I wish it were my own Marine, who I think is visiting Graceland today.  The Marine booth here at the fair had a pull up bar set up and a list of "prizes" (stickers, shirts, visors) you could "win" for doing a certain amount of pull ups - Rick won a sticker!  Too funny.  I did discuss with the poor recruiter that my Marine preferred going to Iraq rather than recruiting again - can you imagine trying to recruit right now!  

Today we have a couple errands to do, Sir has a doctor's appointment and we need to pick up Rick's new eyeglasses.  Then tonight we start our "work job" selling tickets ........ we have official "staff" shirts and all!  Stay tuned for that one!  They wanted us to start last night but we had already made plans to have dinner with our Sioux Falls friends Rick and Jaye so we officially start at 6:00 tonight!  Sioux Empire here we come!

An "earily" busy weekend!

No I didn't mis-spell in the title of today's post - it was intentional.  Dana and Wendy, you guys know where this is going don't you!  

This weekend was very very busy here at the Sioux Empire Fairgrounds getting ready for the big day tomorrow when the fair opens!!!  Yes, our job applications are in!  We cracked up at having to seriously fill out an application ~ something we never expected to do again in our lives!  Imagine, a whole application process to work a few hours over the course of a five day fair!  HMMMMM - interesting!

Anyway, the picture above is of one of the cars participating in an autocross event here at the fairgrounds on Saturday.  We were sitting in the coach and kept hearing screeching tires and I finally decided to get on my bicycle and investigate and came across the event.  It was interesting to watch for a while and this was my favorite car there - an older (1950 ish?) jaguar.  There was also a horse show happening here on Saturday which was fun to watch.  And the local semi-pro football team, "the Law Dawgs" had a game here Saturday afternoon.  Busy, busy busy around here and all the while the fair people continue to set up! 

And that all brings me to the "earily" part!  Yesterday I decided to head out to Mitchell ~ about 60 miles west of here.  Mitchell is famous for .......... The Corn Palace!  The Corn Palace is a building that is entirely covered with corn!  Seriously, cobs, husks, you name it ~ see for yourself!  They strip the building each year (early summer I believe) then put up tar paper on which they have drawn the layout for the design for the year and start covering it.  It is "interesting" if not unique to say the least.  Our friends Dana and Wendy were there some years ago when they were full timing and they were pretty under-whelmed with the whole thing, so it is a joke of sorts between them and me.  They referenced a similarity to the corn palace and wall drug and I guess I can understand the connection.  Both places leave you scratching your head wondering who the heck dreams this stuff up!  But I am glad I went yesterday ~ I mean how could I be 60 miles away and not see it!  Plus it is on the route to Sturgis and this is rally week so there were just hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of bikes and trailers headed out there - and that sort of made me wish we were there now!  I'm glad we were there this year prior to rally but a part of me did want to be there yesterday as all these bikes were going by me!

The picture below is inside the Corn Palace, which also is covered with cobs!  Of course, there were t-shirt vendors and vendors of all things corn - all of which I left right where it was!

In closing today a brief explanation of the photos below.  When my Dad passed away a few years ago we of course had to clean out/go through and get rid of everything.  My younger son Chad (who is very family oriented) took some of the old "Peck family" photos and sent them away to be scanned.  There were photos of my siblings and me as very young children and some much more recent photos of my boys and my nieces and nephews.  Below are two of my favorites in the collection - my dad and the other of my mom reading to my brothers boys when they were much younger (weren't we all!).  I have put all of the photos on the picasa site but they did not transfer well so they really need to be "tweaked" and I'm not sure how to do it - I may wait until I get them on a cd from Chad and see if they transfer from that better ~ but they are a trip in the way back machine to see - there are some beauties there for sure, and of course a couple that I have no idea who the people are - one of the down sides of having both parents gone - there's no one to ask!  But thankfully, Chad cared enough to do something with them!

Friday ramblings ...

Above is our new Grandog ......... she is Indy and was just adopted by Chad and Amy .... she is about a year old (right Chad?) and a doberman mix ......... Indy, Chad and Amy will start dog school on Sunday - and not a moment too soon ...... Amy  shouldn't lose anymore sandals ~ a woman needs all the footwear she can get!

Below is the Lovett family that is starting a biiiiiiiig journey today.  They will be leaving CA to drive to NC for SSgt. Lovett's new assignment back at Cherry Point.  Drive safe and enjoy the travel kids - there is so much to see along the way .... make fun memories on this journey ... and Trish please keep that camera close by, Grammie wants pictures, lots of pictures!

I sent Connor a map of the United States with stickers on it to show him where he is starting and where his new house will be as well as stickers for his grandparents in Michigan, a sticker for Rick and I, a sticker for Chad and Amy, one for his Papa and Banana in MA and one for their close Marine friends in Quantico, VA and asked him to put stickers on the map showing where he stayed and he can show us his creation when we see them in a few months ..... I think it may have been too much for a three year old but we shall see!  According to Josh he was much more interested in the stickers than the map or the task!

Last night (or maybe it was early this morning ... I think it was around midnight) we were walking around the fairgrounds so Sir could get a bit of exercise before bed and I saw this absolutely incredibly shooting star (Rick did correct me that it was a meteorite) - he caught the last of it out of the corner of his eye ~ it was just outstanding to be in a place I love, a beautiful calm summer night and seeing that was like the "frosting on the cake" and I'm sure it was a chocolate cake!

Today is an errand day .. pick up the mail, pick up the repairs at the jewelry store, make vet and dentist appointments, pick up a couple things at the market and drop our "job applications" at the fair office.  We had so many laughs about filling out a job application for our fair "job" next week ... we just crack ourselves up sometimes and this is certainly one of those times.  Chad just called me to see if I'm working at the circus yet!!  Fun fun fun we are having ...

Settling in ~ we are

Rick and I are both settling back into our "routine" of being back home and "chilling" - I think I may still be recovering from my exhausting weekend.  Although, I did ride my bicycle last night in search of half and half for morning coffee.  Sioux Falls has miles and miles of bike trails, a large portion of which are along the Big Siuox River.  I was not on the bike trail however, but still had a nice ride just loving this city.

Above is Rick playing with his new toy - which takes up a large amount of his time these days ... how the man loves gadgets, particularly electronic gadgets!  He is still shaking his head in amazement at this one.

So the big happenings around the fairgrounds these days are the arrival of the carnival people and the fair equipment ~ the place is just buzzing with activity.  Such an interesting group here now - one end of the rv part of the grounds is taken over with them.  When we came in here on the tenth we knew we were going to have to move when the fair people started arriving because they get the full hook up sites (water, sewer and electric) and everyone else moves to the water and electric only sites.  Well it happened that I had to move last Friday (while Rick was still in NH and I was trying to get ready to leave for Iowa to meet up with Kim).  I was like a crazy (HUH) woman because I had a "schedule" planned for myself and it did not include breaking down our site and moving alone.  I did, however, accomplished it all and still managed to leave for Iowa around the time I had planned.  When I got back Monday I was told we had to move again!  UGH ... I waited until Rick got home to do the second move though.  So here we are for a couple more weeks, just loving it here!

So, above and below are pictures of the stuff being set up now - I think people really do go on that big loop ride called the "Ring of Fire"!  Can you imagine?  It won't be either of us I guarantee that!  When I walked by last night they were "testing" the ride!

 

Here are a couple pictures I took with "Frick" in mind - purple dinosaur and if you look at the left side of the picture with that tower ride thing there is an airplane ride - Pat we think perhaps you should come here next week and direct that traffic please!

Below are just a couple pictures of the sights around here.  The house is what is called "The governor's house" ... not as in his residence, but in some sort of low income housing project.  Apparently these houses go for $35,000 and the state gives the buyer a piece of land on which to put the house!  There certainly is a lot of open land here in South Dakota, but I have no idea the specifics of the program.  Hopefully, I'll find them out next week when the house is open and I'm sure there will be info available.

Today before I go to a hairdresser school to get my hair colored (hopefully not purple or pink) Rick and I are going over the the Fair office to see if we can "work" (ha ha ha) doing something next week at the Fair - stay tuned for that one!!!  We are so excited about it - add Sioux Empire Fair employee to our resume!

And, as I close today ~ remember that big beautiful green butterfly I posted the other day?  Well my sister Candy informed me it is a lunar moth.  My research on lunar moths told me this interesting factoid ....  "Finally as a mature adult the Lunar Moth doesn't ever eat, instead it searches only for a mate so that it can breed and then it dies."  

be it ever so humble

There's no place like home!  Rick and I both got home yesterday ........ I love going away but man do I love coming home ....

Here are a few pictures from Kimberly and my last day (which was Sunday) in the Council Bluffs, Iowa area.  Sunday was nature day for the sisters.  We did about a 100 mile loop of a scenic byway.  At one point Kim had Arlo and I hiking (yikes - out of shape "older" sister and dog hiking) now that is scary and I thought for sure either Arlo or I was going to pass out from heat stroke ...... not only am I very out of shape but it was about 93 degrees and so stinking humid you could cut the air with a knife.  Kimberly, of course never broke a sweat!!  At the visitor center of a scenic overlook I saw this huge butterfly hiding behind a light fixture - it was pretty interesting but I have NO idea what it was!

Here is a shot of another scenic overlook - there was a trail where you could go up higher to see more of this valley - Arlo and I opted out of that jaunt tho.  Arlo should have gone with Kim because he was so interested or concerned about where she went that that was all he spent the entire 1/2 hour stressing about where she went.

After we got back from out nature day we rested and went out to dinner in Omaha - Rick's Boathouse Cafe right on the Missouri River.  Terrific view, great food and horrific service - really terrible, like the worst I've had in a long long time!  After dinner we thought we could walk along the river - Omaha has beautiful beautiful parks but it was so stinking hot and humid I just couldn't do it.  We did however find a park in Council Bluffs that Kim had wanted to see.  So we searched out and finally found Bayliss Park with it lovely fountain and play area for kids with a neat water feature.  This was like one I had seen in San Diego a couple years ago and just saw one in St. George, Utah, where water squirts up randomly from holes in the ground - it is really a fun way for kids to cool off and they seem to thoroughly enjoy it.  I was tempted!  Also, the Council Bluffs "mascot" is a black squirrel and statues of these guys are scattered throughout this lovely park.  

Council Bluffs was an interesting town (city?) - it seemed to have so much potential but also seemed content to be a "suburb" of Omaha .... there were many many empty storefronts in this nice historic downtown area surrounding this park!  There is lots of history and beauty in this area ... I'm not sure if it's lack of funds or lack of desire to enhance the area.   

 

Energizer Tracey???

A "baby" sister keeps an "older" sister very busy and active and tired (well that and the fact that Sir Arlo just doesn't realize that he has to share the bed with me that he can't have the entire bed)!!!   Friday night we headed out in search of a meal - nothing fancy but NOT fast food. Totally by accident we ended up in Omaha ~ 3 miles away!!!  We somehow ended up at the old market district - what a beautiful area ... Rick would have LOVED it.  Hopefully we will get  there so he can enjoy it.  Above and below are examples of the very old buildings and the old streets.  It was pretty busy down there but we sure enjoyed ourselves and found good food, after which we did a bit of the "tourist" thing ... checking out shops and buying nothing!!!!!  Also, the restaurant we ate at had this waiting area that had old benches in it and signs for what I guess were train stations .... I had to have Kimmy take my picture in front of this sign for Rick and Moelicious ....... see, even in Iowa I can't get away from the Weymouth(isms)!

Then yesterday we did the Lewis and Clark historical sites in the area.  Below is Kimberly admiring the memorial and a shot of the "valley" looking out from the memorial.  It really was a gorgeous vies from up there over looking the Missouri River and Omaha, plus it was kind of cloudy so it wasn't unbearably hot yesterday - thankfully.  

From that memorial we moved to the other side of Council Bluffs (where we are staying right across the Missouri River from Omaha) to another park where they were having a reenactment of the Lewis and Clark expedition meeting up with the Mormon Battalion ~ yeah as soon as I heard we were seeing anything involving Mormonism I got a little freaked out and had visions of our three and a half year stay in Utah one month...... below is a picture of the Mormon side of the reenactment

and below is a couple pictures of the Lewis and Clark portion of the reenactment.  The L&C part had meat cooking over an open fire as well as a blacksmith shop area set up (one of the pictures below) and a few tents.  As many of you know, this history stuff just is not for me ~ I find it incredibly boring ... yes, I would like to know how an area came to be but please give me the 10 minute version.  Thankfully the weather was decent yesterday and there were enough stops that Arlo could get some exercise - at one point he got to play in a small very muddy little creek (where I got my flip flop stuck about 6 inches down in the mud when I slid off the bank into the creek! - a comical sight for sure) and at the reenactment park he got to play with his "wilson" for a bit on his long leash.  After the wilson play he got to go swimming and stick chasing in a pond so it was all good!

  

THEN, last night (are YOU exhausted yet) we went to the local fair!  Well I've been looking forward to the fair coming to the fairgrounds where we are staying in Sioux Falls so this was sort of a prelude to that I guess!  Below is a picture I took with you in mind Moelicious - this is how they park cars at the fairgrounds here - "pony express" riders - which is a volunteer organization that raises funds for a childrens charity in the midwest.  Anyway, Moe I thought you'd especially like this fella.

    

Below are a couple pictures of some examples of the livestock on exhibit here.  If you enlarge the turkey photo you will see his name is John!  Go figure that one (I thought they were suppose to be named Tom!!)

 

Lastly, Kimberly wanted pictures of the planting patterns here in Iowa - I guess it is an erosion protection?  A gentleman we were chatting with said between the rows of corn they plant soy beans ~ who knew soy beans in Iowa?  Surely not I!  That's all for today folks - it's taken me two days to get this post done and I am exhausted and have to try to get some shut eye.  I have lots of pictures to download but I need a couple days - I'm headed back to Sioux Falls tomorrow and my honey comes home ....... yippppppppeeeeeee ~ I need my baby back ...

a celebration

This was the week for birthday celebrations in NH ..................

Birthday balloons today for the Frickster  ......... son of the Rickster ..............

Rick's little boy Patrick turns 30 today!!!!!

Happy Birthday Patrick ....

I wish I was there to help celebrate ......

If I hadn't been so sound asleep when you called at midnight I would have done a phone celebration but I couldn't even come out of a deep sleep to figure out how to take your call before the call ended .......