Old stuff again

I was nosing through my mom's old keepsakes again, and found my very first report card.  In Iowa at that time, they had a grade called "primary" instead of Kindergarten.  That's what this report card is from.

I remember my first teacher quite well, and wrote to her a few years back to thank her for her efforts.  She had eight grades to teach in a one-room schoolhouse (picture to be posted at another time).

In many ways, I haven't changed:  I got a "V" for "very seldom" on "has independent work habits".  And another "V" for "show leadership within group".  Yep, that's me alright!  My teacher was very insightful to recognize this when I was five years old.  I wonder what the "U" stood for?  Unsatisfactory?  I guess Mrs. Eighmy made up a special classification just for me.

 

Our pride and joy

Here's Mandy, lying on her favorite rug which she's in the process of shredding to her liking, with a sponge she stole from Cliff's shop and carried in, herself, to chew on:

Our dog, Brandy, died in May...
Hit by a car, she slipped away.
That old Chow had been around
Through fourteen years of ups and downs.
The vacant place where once she lay
Haunted us, by night and day.
We heard about abandoned pups
And went right off to pick one up.

Part Blue Heeler, mostly Heinz,
With not a trace of blue-blood lines.
Off to the vet... no time was lost,
And our "free dog" began to cost.
Still, she's made us laugh and smile;
The money spent is all worthwhile.
Purebred dogs are fine for yuppies:
We will keep our mongrel puppy.

Cliff and I are both regaled
By swapping tons of doggy tales.
Never was a dog so smart
Nor seemed so cute, to steal our hearts.
Her half-curled tail that stays askew...
The way she plays, and loves to chew...
That funny way she'll romp and strut...
She's quite a dog, our little mutt.

 

 

 

 

Weekend assignment #20

Weekend Assignment #20: Tell us about your favorite entry of your own from the last 366 days (it's a leap year). Tell us why it still resonates for you.

I like positive people, and I try to be one; it makes me feel good to think I might have brightened someone's day... especially if it's one of my family.  The entry I've chosen as my favorite holds that position partly because of the comment my daughter left.

So here it is, my favorite entry

Extra Credit: Show us your favorite picture from your Journal in the last year.

This one was more difficult, but I settled on one of my horse rolling in the dust.

 

Christmas is coming

I work in a distribution center for a nation-wide retailer, and the Christmas selling-season has started.  They're talking about overtime already, and hiring temps for the upcoming rush.  I've doubled up on the Celebrex and glucosamine in hopes my knees make it through December.  Ah well, as I wrote in one of my poems, "Pain is a Faithful Teacher".

I like my hours, 6 AM to 2 PM, because this schedule gives me quite a bit of evening time to play with my animals and mess around on the Internet, even when I work Saturdays.  I'm a morning person, so I have no problem getting up early.  Of course, I'm usually in bed by 8.

My puppy, Mandy, is eating and growing fast.  She understands what "no" means, and isn't jumping up on me nearly as much as she did.  We're working on "heel" and "sit", but there's a long way to go.  I'm afraid I'm not the wisest teacher in the world!; I read instructions on the Internet about how to train puppies, but in real life things don't always work as well as they do in print.  Cliff built a pen from which Mandy can't escape, so my horse has his stall back.  Our renter, Vicki, calls it "doggie jail".  Mandy can come in the house, but Cliff and I don't want a full-time house dog, and we don't want her running our country neighborhood all night long, like the other dozen or so dogs around here.  I do love this mutt, and I really want her to turn out well.  She's a great companion already... all she needs is some refinement and restraint.

Our Last Day At The Fair

President Bush looks a bit pale here, doesn't he?

The first thing we did on Saturday, our last day at the fair, was window-shop for a tractor we thought Cliff would like.  Here's the one we chose (never mind the fact that you could barely turn this rig around on our 42 acres, or that it costs more than our place is worth)

Then we found the spot for the Adriatic tiger show and got a good seat on the bleachers, because it attracts a huge crowd. 

These big cats are amazing!  They cuddle up with their trainer like pussycats before the show.  (It's also amazing how much they can poop... and how much it stinks!  And they frequently mark their territory by spraying... the girls and I said, "Eeewwwww" several times.)  Unlike last year's big-cat show, these were well-trained, and put on a good show. 

We saw Professor Farquar for the second time during our visit.  He performs a vaudeville-type act in the Mo-Ag Theater, with songs, jokes, and a bit of magic.  I've been watching him for at least ten years now, and he's always enjoyable.  Monica asked to sit on the front row, while Natalie chose to take off her shoes and play in the big tractor-tires full of corn and soybeans (it's like sandboxes, only with grain instead of sand). 

Farquar asked for a volunteer for his magic act, and Natalie, with chocolate ice cream around her mouth, barefoot and covered with corn-dust, volunteered from far back.  Perhaps not the tidiest assistant he ever had, but certainly willing.

After that we saw a wonderful group of street entertainers, The Procrastinators:  These college-age guys made music with drumsticks, empty Culligan-bottles and old pots and pans. 

On our way back to the camper, we ran into a robot that must have been nine or ten feet tall; I wanted to take a picture of him with the girls, but they were scared of him... so the only photo I got was his backside, retreating in the distance.

I've only hit the high spots of our three-day adventure at the fair:  we watched a cooking demonstration, petted a live snake, talked to Otto the talking car, and so many more things.  It was a busy and fun time for me and my granddaughters.  I hope I'm able to do this until they reach the age where the fair no longer interests them; and that will happen, as it has with other grandchildren.  So I'll enjoy it while I can.

 

 

Friday was Ride Day

I had paid $20 each at Lowe's for wristbands for the three of us, so we'd have unlimited rides for one whole day.  Our main goal, on Friday, was to get all the use we could out of those!  Since the midway doesn't open till noon, we had a little time to kill, and chose to see the "extreme canines" dog act.  These incredible creatures have been on the Tonight Show, Animal Planet, and other TV shows.  They're frisbee champs, and also run obstacle courses, going through tunnels and leaping high barriers.

Then we rode...

and rode....

and I even watched the girls get stuck in one ride; the guy running it had a messed-up hand (a run-in with a sledge hammer, he said) and even after he called for help, they couldn't get the door to open:

Finally they just lifted the girls out OVER the stuck door; it makes one wonder just how safe it is to ride these contraptions at the fair, doesn't it?

One thing the girls kept going back to each day (free, thank goodness) was the Bungee Run:  kids climb up onto this inflatable platform, tie a belt around their waists that's attached to a bungee cord, and see how far they can get before they're pulled back.  This was a very popular item with all the younger fair-goers.

Of course, you're always running into interesting new characters along the way, like Bartholamule.

I did get on some of the rides with the kids.  I've always lovedthe Ferris Wheel and the Merry-go-round, and the tilt-a-whirl is my VERY favorite.

By the time Ride Friday was over, we were all dragging as we went back to the camper for the night.

Charley Daniels concert

We saw most of the Governor's speech Thursday evening at the fair, but the parade had run a little late, and I could see we were in danger of not getting a seat in the grandstand, to see Charlie Daniels.  And in fact, we did end up pretty high and far away; but with the big screens on each side of the stage, we got to see the show anyhow.

 

A little way behind us were some guys in a real party mood, buying those $5 beers from the vender like they were going out of style.  They cheered and whistled for the canned music that was playing before the concert.  One man had an ear-splitting whistle that Monica wasn't too fond of, and she kept giving him dirty looks.  I wondered if they'd ruin the whole thing for us, but really, they didn't.  The noisiest one must have been a real hard-core Charlie Daniels fan, because when the show started, he seemed to be familiar with every word of every song.  And every once in a while, we'd get that loud whistle!  I kid you not, he was buying beers (did I mention they were $5 apiece?) four at a time, setting them on the bench in front of him, and chugging them down.

Old redneck Charlie is OK, although he never was a favorite of mine;  I do like "Long-haired Country Boy", from thirty years ago.  He leaned a bit toward rock music on the instrumentals, and the girls got bored at times.  But then he did a number where he dueled each instrument in the band with his fiddle, and that got us all perked up.  It was great fun, and went on quite a while. 

Charlie announced that he was going to sing "a song of praise to my Lord and my God" and led into "How Great Thou Art".  This brought a new wave of whistles and shouting from my inebriated friend, and I looked back to see him standing, hat off, head bowed... and at one point, hands raised.  And suddenly I stopped judging, and realized that God most likely accepted that man's heartfelt worship just as surely as He accepts mine in church. 

After the concert there was quite a delay, so we headed back to the campground; but we hadn't gotten too far from the grandstand before the fireworks started, so we stopped and watched awhile before ending our amazing first day at the Missouri State Fair.