Raining and cold

Posted on October 11, 2014October 11, 2014 by Dusty Roads

I was hoping the weatherman would be wrong but he hit the nail on the head today. Rainy and cold. I might have to break down and put the heat on. I wanted to wait until I had the furnace cleaned. Of course I’ve been procrastinating. Just too many other things grabbing my attention.

The car has really been rattling and the tires are wearing unevenly. It’s 13 years old and has 180000 miles on it. If I need a ton of work is it worth it? If I were to get a new car , what would I want? I have no clue so tomorrow its going into the shop for a thorough going over. When that’s done I should have a good idea of what I need to invest if I’m going to keep it.

It’s still raining so I went to the mall for a haircut. Over an hour wait without an appointment. Lets see what else I can do to pass the day.

A stop at the used book shop to pick up some good reads. Then a visit to my friendly T-Mobile store for a quick education on the new wireless calling. Oh Look, a mattress store is right next door. I need a new mattress but I have no idea what kind. My old one is 20 years old and saggy and lumpy.

1 hour later…..

I have a new mattress being delivered on Wednesday. They will take the old one away. I really didn’t intend to buy a mattress today but it’s been on my mind. I think I tried every mattress in the store from inner springs to memory foam. I ended up with a pretty traditional one, a beauty rest. It had one extra feature that I hope will really work. It has a gel core? Or something like that, that is supposed to keep you cool at night. If that works I will really like that.

$Natural-Latex-Mattresses$

Last stop , groceries. Always a challenge. I settled on a pot roast. I’ll toss it in the crock pot tomorrow morning and that will give me meals for the week.

The rain has finally stopped but its still cold. It’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow but not much warmer. I think I’ll take a look at those books. I got a couple of Brad Meltzer’s and a couple of Iris Johansen’s. That should keep me busy.

Everybody Loves a Parade

Posted on October 9, 2014October 9, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Finally leaving the midway and rides behind we found another building we hadn’t explored.

They had a mechanical cow where you could try your hand at milking her. A stage was set up with a garden revue, animatrons that sang songs and popped up and down. Very cute.

This was also where a chick hatchery was set up. The display held a large number of eggs which were on the verge of hatching. You could see tiny cracks form and eventually out popped a baby chick! This would have held our attention for hours if the parade hadn’t stated. Having missed out on the circus I was determined to see the parade.

The theme was Carnival like the parades in New Orleans with floats and beads.

There were marching bands.

And float

after float

after float.

But the participant that made it all worth it for me were the Clydesdales!

There they were in all their splendor . Manes and tails braided, feathered feet prancing high. It took my breath away! They even had their dalmatian dog with them.

They are truly magnificent animals. The crowd’s reaction proves that they have super star status. Probably because of all the wonderful commercials Budweiser has used these animals to star in.

Yes, seeing them up close like this made the whole trip worth it for me.

The kids liked the beads 🙂

An Agricultural Fair

Posted on October 7, 2014October 7, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The Big E has it all. The midway and rides; corn dogs, funnel cakes and The Big E cream puff. They had a huge sculpture made of butter. The Mallory building held the animals, llamas, sheep, pigs…

The building wasn’t air conditioned but there were plenty fans in evidence keeping the animals cool.

Sheep shearing was going on most of the day so the ewes looked pretty cool with their new “do’s”. Yup a penful of “naked” sheep.

Nancy and the kids had a chance to get acquainted with one of the llamas. We spent a good amount of time here as both children are animal lovers.

It was time to head back to the circus tent. This time we spotted the Budweiser exhibit but chose to skip it so we wouldn’t be late. Turns out we could have stopped. The 4 pm show was already full. There was one more show at 7 pm but we didn’t plan to be there that late so no circus this year. 🙁

Time for the mid-way. That was the really expensive stop. Those little dart games and ring toss I remembered from my childhood weren’t $.50 anymore, more like $2.00 – $5.00! The kids were pretty good at the games but it’s hard to pull them away.

Tickets for the rides were $1.75 each and most rides took 3-5 tickets. Those were much more expensive than I remember too.

But the kids were having fun and I chalked it up to making memories.

The Big E

Posted on October 5, 2014October 5, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The elephant ride was in the past and we began working our way toward the big circus tent. It was loud and people were everywhere! Your senses are bombarded by noise, color, smells. Some smells were barnyard and others were mouth watering aromas as we passed food booths. It was lunchtime after all. T shirt stalls abounded and one of the buildings was crammed to the rafters with souvenirs! If you want to spend money it sure looks like we came to the right place.

We stopped to watch an automated calliope, very ornate. The kids were fascinated.

There was the circus tent, my goal du jour!

But we were too late. The 12 o’clock show was full. The attendant recommended we come back at 3 pm for the 4 pm show so that was the plan. In the meantime we headed toward the food stalls for lunch.

Progress was slow as you can imagine. The kids wanted to try everything, even the giant slide.

We were looking for the Budweiser Clydesdale Horses but didn’t see them. The kids zeroed in on the bear exhibit. That turned out to be a favorite with the kids as they visited it a second time later in the day.

It was a hot day so we were all sweaty and thirsty by this time so lunch was under an umbrella at a corn dog stand and what corn dogs they were! Foot longs or larger and giant drinks. It was a welcome break.