Had me a pretty “fair” bike ride…

  You may remember my couple posts about our DeKalb County Fair A.K.A. "The Sandwich Fair"…While this fairgrounds is used for other things throughout the year, it is often empty with the exception of the horses, and their trainers.  I took a bike ride through the fairgrounds the other morning and found one of the owners out on the race track, working his horse….It would have made a great photo, but I didn’t think to bring my camera..and I am still clueless with my “smart phone” camera…

So yesterday, I took my bike AND my camera to see if I could catch them again…Nope, I was too late.  You could see where they had been though, by the hoof prints on the track..

I had missed their practice..DARN!..This contraption on the right is used to drag the track and smooth it out after the horses run on it…

I took my bike around the livestock area of the fairgrounds….

 

I know exactly what you are thinking…What is the Milk House used for???…Not being “farm bred”, I  have NO idea…storing milk??(My Dad was a Milkman, he would be so ashamed of me..)

I DO know what they keep in these buildings…(If those signs weren’t there, I wouldn’t!)

 

Speaking of signs, here are a couple that mean business!..If any kids exhibiting their animals are caught drinking on the fairgrounds property..they gotta give back the money they won and their little arses are HISTORY!!!

I took another wander over by the horse barns.  Our good friend, Don Hann, who just passed away, use to own a race horse.  They boarded it here at the fairgrounds, and it ran in lots of harness races..Maybe I neglected to state that there are harness races here on the Thursday of the fair…Those are really fun to watch…There is no betting (yeah, right.).

 

Remember the days when the horse barns had to be cleaned out with a pitchfork and some sweat equity??? Well….now I guess a Bobcat is the way to get the job done…Somehow, I think these guys are missing something in the process…It’s hard to bond with the horse when you are driving a big bulky machine to scoop out the stalls…Maybe it’s just me, but the act of stabbing the pitchfork into the hay has waaaay more ambiance…

 

 

 

 

 

I stuck my head in the barn and looked around..There are quite a few stalls and they really keep this barn very clean.  During the fair, sometimes you can walk through the barns and see the horses in their stalls.  This morning they had a rope across the entrance with a “no trespassing” sign on it.  Normally this would not deter me, but in a place with skittish animals watching me, I chose to obey the rules,…I know, …I couldn’t believe it either.

 

Just as I was about to leave, I thought I felt a pair of eyes watching me…

 

HEY!!! IT’S MR. ED!!

Of COURSE I talked to him….but he wasn’t buying my lingo and we ended up doing a  stare down…He won ..and I left…(All I wanted was one “Hello, I’m Mr. Ed”…Maybe if I looked more like Wilbur???…

This is one of the activities that goes on during the year…The 3rd weekend on every month May through September, there is a Sandwich Antiques Market on Sunday…We use to walk out, pay our $1.00 and walk around, looking at the stuff.  But then they raised the entry gradually..Last time I checked it was $5.00.  I can sit on our front porch , enjoying a cocktail and watching the people coming out with “treasures” in the back of their trucks…for FREE…

So, there it is.. a small tour of the “animal” end of the fairgrounds (did I just say “animal end”??)…By clicking on my link at the top of this blog, you can find out LOTS of info for this year’s 125th anniversary of the Sandwich Fair…

Oh, I almost forgot..An update on the baby Robins nest…I snuck out yesterday, almost got myself poked in the eye with a branch, and got this photo..

These poor dudes are just about to fall out of the nest…Mom and Dad apparently did NOT major in Nest Architecture at Robin College…

..And here’s the rub…I just went out a few minutes ago and stuck my head in the bush one more time…and..THEY WERE GONE!!  Either they fell out and walked away, or Mom was tired of paying for their insurance and kicked ‘em out!! Good luck, kids!!

“A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed.

Go right to the source and ask the horse
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse.
He's always on a steady course.
Talk to Mister Ed.

People yakkity-yak the street and waste your time of day
But Mr. Ed will never speak unless he has something to say

A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And this one'll talk 'til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?

Well listen to this: "I'm Mister Ed."”

(If only I had heard him.)