Remnants

This weekend is our local county fair. In the fall I volunteered to help out with my daughter’s 4-H group. She is a Clover Bud, which is like the introductory level for kids too young to be in full-fledged 4-H. In many ways I am also a Clover Bud since I did not grow up doing 4-H and lived in the “city”. This year has been a great experience for both us. The best part was this week when the projects were judged at the county level. The kids have done some outstanding projects from Clover Bud all the way up to the high school students. Many of the projects received blue ribbons and 6 projects are going to the state fair in August. My daughter received 3 participation ribbons for her 3 projects, including her chicken project. Way to go kids!

Yeah! Today I thinned the carrots and we actually have things growing in the ground that look like carrots. They even taste like carrots! We sampled two of the varieties, Danvers and Little Finger. The Danvers was sweeter and (for now anyway) much tastier. I’m itching to try the Red Core, but am too tired to continue weeding. It will have to wait until tomorrow.

My daughter’s guinea pig, Nature, died. We think he died sometime yesterday, but we didn’t discover him until this morning. Last month we gave him his own “hidy-hole” as we called it, a place to hide and have some private time while inside his cage. My husband noticed Nat still had plenty of food AND water, pretty unusual for a pig. When my husband lifted up Nat’s hiding place (an old shoe box with a doorway cut out of it) he discovered the still body. After school and work we said a few words over his body and buried him in the backyard.

Every year our local elementary has a family fun night. This year I decided to make some cupcakes for the cake walk. My daughter and I were trying to come up with a “theme” for a cake when we hit on the idea of worm cupcakes. Not dig em’ up from the mud worms but sour gummy worms. To complete the worm theme, the cupcakes were chocolate flavored with chocolate frosting and pudding filling (just like our muddy backyard.) Of course we saved a few for ourselves, very yummy!

I’d love to share this new song but can’t figure out how to paste it! The website is www.whenshesnear.com and it’s a song featuring Sean Watkins, former member of Nickel Creek. My husband and I saw Nickel Creek live twice. Awesome band. Luckily all three members are still performing, though not together. Oh well, it’s three times the music so that’s good. Can’t wait for Sara Watkins to release an album too.

What more is there to say? Not that I agree that the Cubs do indeed “suck” but this is pretty funny. How about Yankees instead of Cubs??

A friend of mine has decided to go without shampoo. It got me thinking of a time a few years ago when I tried to go without eating hfcs (high fructose corn syrup). It was almost impossible, since hfcs is in many things including some really surprising things. Right now the only one I can think of is Special K. That one was surprising given its advertising angle. We eat a lot of “real food” in our house. You know, made from scratch with ingredients not open package, heat, and serve. Even so, it was impossible to go completely cold corn syrup. Maybe I should try again anyway.

Today, for the first time since I started doing the daily crossword in our local paper, I solved the whole thing correctly! Though this may seem trivial to a non-cross worder, this is a banner day for me. The trick is to remember past clues like, fencing tool (Epee in today’s puzzle) or dunkable treat (Oreo, just like yesterday’s puzzle).  To think I almost gave up when my coffee turned cold and  1 across (colorful grass, ends with “top”) stumped me. How long did it take me? From start to finish, including interuptions from the pets and my husband, it took me about 35 minutes. Not bad for a novice like myself. I really owe it all to my great-grandmother, Lizzie, who first turned me on to crossword puzzles. I have found memories of sitting with her on the couch watching Lawrence Welk and doing the crosswords together. Just last year after watching a PBS show about the New York Times crossword puzzle championship, my husband and I decided to try doing the crossword puzzle in our local paper. He has since moved on to the much easier Crypto-Quote. Not me! And now my hard work has paid off. Tomorrow is another day though and the struggle begins anew.

Our family has picked up a new hobby that combines our love of camping with my love of history. It’s Civil War Reenacting. Seriously. My husband was a little reluctant at first, but once he held the gun and “fought” in a battle he was hooked. Our first event was in Belle Plaine, Iowa and our second was in Stockton, Illinois. Next summer should be lots of fun!

The State Fair was fun but super hot this year. We saw Curious George, Dan Wardell (IPTV celeb), Mark Hunter (CR celeb), Harry Potter, the Butter Cow, a bluegrass band, 4-H projects, 2 really big rams, chickens, baby chicks, horses, an emu, ducks, an elk, a llama, various plants, a sheep shearing contest, a tie-dye demo, a ferris wheel, a brand-new calf, and lots of sweaty people. New for us this year was the air-conditioned shuttle to the fair grounds. It was super convenient and super cool. One of the best things for kids was the Kids on the Farm village. Just like in the real world the farmer plants a seed, harvests a crop, sells it at market and gets one shiny dollar in exchange.