The weather relented and was quite pleasant, which meant there was a good turnout for the festival. While Gary and Rob were performing on stage from 1 to 3, I sat in the front row of the audience spinning cashmere on a small drop spindle. This of course generated many of the usual questions. This year's prize winning exchange:

Visitor: "What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm spinning yarn from wool, as it was done before the spinning wheel was invented."
Visitor: "What is yarn?"

(This was an adult male, not a child.)

The photo shows Gary and Rob jamming with Ray James, surveyor, history professor, and bass player. Click through the photo for a larger view and access to additional photos from the festival.

Tags: art, fairs, music
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: happy

This one was in Freeport, and this year was to feature "horse power." I rode out with quickcasey and it was good. Last time we went together to this one was three years ago, I think. That year it was held in August and fell on a spectacularly hot and dry weekend, with temperatures in the high 90s and heat index over 100F. Today there were rolling clouds, mixed sun and shade, occasional rain spritzes, and temperatures in the low 70s.

The horse and mule power was great. They had a horse-powered thresher built in 1880 that has been well-maintained and still operates smoothly. We saw it running twice, once powered by six span of mules, and later by three spans plus three horse teams. The teams are hitched to the bars of a rotating turnstile like gearbox that passes their circular motion through a thirty foot drive shaft on the ground to the thresher itself. The thresher separates grain from straw and chaff.

Then we saw a horse-powered baler in operation, making the straw into bales. This was very inefficient in our estimation, but it did work. They also had a horse-powered reciprocating sawmill, which was driven by two span of mules, and a corn grinder that was operated by a single horse. The single horse who provided power to the baler and the corn grinder was a young one, just being trained, but he seemed quite eager to work and walked willingly in circles to run the machines. It actually took some urging to get him to stop when necessary. I was reminded of seeing a young filly driving an ice cream freezer several years ago at Tudor Oaks. She too was very eager and you'd have thought she was going to get some of the ice cream as a reward (actually she got apples and oats I think.) She did not require urging to push the lever around and around, but instead had to be reminded to slow down so as not to turn the cream into butter before it could freeze.

There were steam tractors again, though not as many as at Sycamore, and a large display of gasoline and diesel tractors of various ages. The parade was followed by a demonstration of team driving, with two horse drawn wagons (six horses each) and a six mule team. The mule driver demonstrated docking (just as with a semi, backing the wagon up to a loading dock.) A difference with a large team like that is the need to swing the team to one side after the wagon is positioned, so that they don't block the road or alley. The mules executed this rather tricky maneuver perfectly. Later he showed that he could turn in such a tight circle that one rear wheel would just stand perfectly still while the wagon and team revolved around it.

The most interesting demonstration, though, was something I have never seen before. A team of five men drove a Model T Ford up to the reviewing stand and parked it. They then dismantled it into a pile of parts, and reassembled it, finishing by restarting the engine and driving it off. This entire operation took less than four minutes, with one minute and 38 seconds for the reassembly. Apparently this same stunt has been performed with the reassembly taking less than a minute on some occasions. The vehicle is pretty much stripped down, having only a wooden bench seat, no fenders or sidewalls, and no lights or other non-mechanical parts. It does have fully functioning brakes, steering, and drive train, however. They don't break down the engine in that time of course, but it is removed and laid on the ground, and must be reinstalled.

Returned home where we loaded a reed organ into quickcasey's truck for later delivery to Ohio, and then went out for a quick supper in Marengo before he went on his way. A fun day, even though it didn't get any of my pressing fiber work done.

Tags: fairs, horses
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: busy

Went over to Belvidere for the Boone County Fair this morning, got there early enough that the bible-thumpers, politicians, and chiropracters were not in their booths yet so we zipped through the "commercial" buildings without being pressured, accosted, and delayed.

Horse show at that fair has expanded tremendously in recent years. They put up two new barns for ponies, freeing up space in the main horse barn for more draft horses, but that wasn't enough. Now they have a temporary tent (huge) for more draft horses and another for more ponies. Haflingers were competing in the pony hitch classes, which was also a new development though I think quite appropriate. We watched one class that they were calling a "Jack Benny" hitch, but I'm not sure what that means and I haven't looked it up yet. They were carts, usually for two people, drawn by a single horse. Most were two wheelers, but a couple had four wheels. A Welsh pony took the blue, but Haflingers got most of the other ribbons.

The Clydesdales were lovely, as always. Tall and sweet tempered, oh so handsome. *preens*

The needlework exhibits were about twice as large as the ones last week at McHenry. We had a long talk with one of the assistants in the department. She said she didn't know where to get yarn that wasn't acrylic, so we gave her a dozen possibilities. They had four entries in a class for handkerchieves with tatted edges. Several other tatted pieces as well. I haven't seen that much tatting in one place in probably 50 years. Lots of quilts, but I was disappointed that most of them had not been quilted by the entrants, but rather sent to a commercial quilting shop for the quilting. This is permitted and there is a separate category for it, but to me it defeats the purpose of the competition.

Stopped for lunch on the way home at the cafe on US 20 in Garden Prairie. We realized as we were sitting there that the last time we ate at the place was on the way to the Boone County Fair last year. They closed down a week later, and have only reopened under new ownership quite recently. Different menu, slightly higher prices, but the same friendly place. It's like the Chatterbox Cafe on Prairie Home Companion, I'd say. One of the older waitresses recognized us and came over to say she was glad to see us, and of course we told her we had missed the place, which was true.

After we got home, Gary finally managed to get hold of our hay supplier. We've bought almost all our hay from the same guy for ten years. Suddenly this summer he just wasn't returning our calls. Now he tells us he sold his haying equipment to a neighbor. Why the heck didn't he respond with that information six weeks ago. Now we are going to have to scrounge to find the 650 more bales we need for the winter, when it's already late in the season. Grrr. All he had to do was tell us the truth back in June. We wouldn't have held it against him. Now we do have reason to be grumpy with him.

The Boone County Fair is huge, and my feet are sore. Tomorrow, the Sycamore Steam Show & Threshing Bee. See you there!

Tags: fairs, horses, needlework
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: sleepy

Another county fair, since we live right on the edge between two counties. Boone County has a much larger fair because until recently it was still a much more rural area. The fairgrounds are owned and operated by The Grange and have been in the same place forever or nearly so. They have a huge horse show that runs all week, focused on draft horses and ponies, no ordinary sized horses at all. Saturday is the big day for horses because that's when they show all the hitch teams, big and little. It's great fun to watch but this year we couldn't go until Sunday.

I counted in the three "commercial" buildings just to see. There were no less than four chiropractors pushing their services. More politicians and religious groups than I wanted to bother counting, and other than that the usual hucksters selling "magic non-stick" pots, storm windows, and all kinds of quack gadgets to "purify" your water or air or whatever. Time was when there'd be a dozen sellers of cheap toys, embroidered goods, and printed t-shirts and sweatshirts, but not any more. Many, especially the real estate dealers, were trying to coax people to give their name, address, and number to be entered into a drawing for $50 or $100 in "free" gasoline. This seems like a new angle. At one time they might have offered a pair of tickets to a ball game, or a paid weekend at some hotel in Chicago, but now they think that free fuel is going to be a big draw. Sign of the times, I suppose.

The horses were beautiful, as always, at least the ones that were still there. Many had already pulled out, the competitions being over for this year. We noticed more wool sheep breeds than in the past, which I liked. In the rabbit barn there were some English Angoras, first time I've seen those since ten years ago. There were also an increased number of English Lops, the rabbits with ears so big they ought to be able to fly. (Instead, they probably trip over their own ears all the time.) Gary was looking for runner ducks to buy, and at least got a possible lead on some.

Boone normally has had four times the amount of needlework and related crafts as are found in McHenry, but their entries are dwindling too. They did have lots of vegetables and fruits, but the baking and canning seemed reduced from past years as well.

One other thing I was acutely aware of: it's true. Americans are getting morbidly fat. I've never seen so many hugely fat people in my life. I'm no little wisp myself, but I'm talking about folks who make me look like Twiggy. I can still wear normal clothing, where these people must have to shop at specialized places to get size 60 waistlines and 4XL t-shirts. You can guess where I saw the most of them too. They were all lined up to buy things like huge gooey cinnamon buns, cream puffs, greasy donuts, and so forth. Gaaah. At this rate I predict the question of social security and medicare will become moot as the average lifespan decreases significantly from heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

Tags: fairs, horses, pets
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: cynical

After a quick stop by the guild meeting to drop off show entries (three handspun skeins for my boss, who couldn't attend due to a funeral, and eight for myself) we dashed down to Sycamore, Illinois for the 51st Steam Threshing Bee. We met quickcasey there by prearrangement, and proceeded to tour the stationary engines, steam tractors, conventional Diesel and gasoline engine tractors, hit-or-miss engines, and flea markets, as well as watching the parade of equipment, enjoying a thresher's luncheon (grilled chicken and pork chops, baked beans, cole slaw, cottage cheese, applesauce, bread and butter, and cold beverages) and [mostly] resisting the urge to buy toys and junk.

( A few photos under cut )

Tags: fairs
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: chipper

Went to the county fair in neighboring Boone County this afternoon. As I've remarked before, that one is still a real agricultural fair, with serious animal exhibits and vegetables and flowers and all. It also has the usual commercial pavilions with little booths in them. At one time, those were filled with people trying to sell stuff, from self-help books to eyeglass polish. Nowadays it seems they are mostly occupied by various flavors of bible thumpers (it's a wonder they don't get in fights, they are packed so close together) and more medical quackery than you can shake a crutch at, from chiropractors who claim they can cure cancer to vitamin hawkers to snake oil sellers. And then there are the mandatory kitchen gadget demonstrators, with their magic sauce pans and vitameatavegomatic choppers or whatever. The anti abortion campaigners and the politicians fill in the gaps. It's hardly worth walking through those buildings any more.

Iron-shod feather-feet pounding the dust...

Mostly that is made up for by the huge draft horse show that has grown so large that even after putting up two new horse barns a couple of years ago, they need temporary tents with long rows of portable stalls in them to accommodate the number of attendees. So many huge horses, most of them very mild and gentle acting. I'd need a ladder to get on one, because their backs are about eye level for me and their feet are bigger around than my thighs. Even so, I think it would be a pleasant thing to try... if I didn't get altitude sickness or a nosebleed at least.

Longest ears at the fair

It's hard to say. Well, if you do it in proportion to body size, the English Lop rabbits win it, ears down. They can hardly move around without stepping on their own ears. The Nubian goats have lovely big floppy ears too, though. We saw no mules, but there were two miniature donkeys in the petting zoo with lovely long fuzzy ears.

Most surprising moment?

Being asked at the gate if I were a senior citizen because today is senior day and you could get in free. You have to be over 65 to qualify, and I still have a ways to go before that. I guess I have enough gray in my hair and beard though to get asked.

A lot of walking, even though we skipped the midway and the acres of car dealers. I think the fairgrounds are 120 acres. At least the weather cooperated, a little warm but the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Tags: fairs, horses
Current Location: Home in the oak grove
Mood: footsore