When Was the Last Time

Have you heard the latest Darius Rucker song "The First Time"?  For me, it's one of those tunes that just sticks in my head when I hear it on the radio.  I especially like the refrain.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?
Yeah, let yourself go, follow that feeling
Maybe something new is what you're needing
Like a real life, let your hair down, feel alive
When was the last time you did something for the first time?

I took it to heart and did something for the first time.  As I mentioned in the previous post, our county fair was this past week.  A couple weeks before, I bought our tickets to the Demolition Derby.  I had never been to one and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. 

I started out the evening with another first - a corn dog.  I have never had one before and was surprised at just how good it was.  It was gourmet fair food, folks!   After that, we settled in for the main event. 

When I bought the tickets, from the seat map I could tell not many tickets had sold.  By Friday night, though, just about every seat was taken.  

The event started out with the National Anthem (no kneeling!) and then the kids "derby" was held.  It looked like herding cats, trying to get a dozen little ones in their battery operated cars to the starting lines.  But, what a hoot once they started!

Then the main event commenced.  The precautionary fire fighters took their spots and the front loaders positioned huge tires around the perimeter.  In multiple heats, cars that looked like they shouldn't be able to move at all took the field and went at it.  Bumpers, if they still had them, fell off.  Axles broke and smoke spewed.  Most of the cars were hauled off by front loaders.  The few that lasted each round moved on to the final heat.    

Holy cow, it was fun!  You want to know something?  I can seeing giving this a try.

What have you done for the first time?

AMDG

Kissed By a Cow

When I was a kid we never went to the fair.  I think the first time I went was well after college.  Mom was working for the local Soil and Water Conservation District and had to man their booth at the fair for a couple of shifts.  She gave me one of her "comp" tickets and I met her for dinner one evening after work.  I remember her drinking birch beer and me having some of the best onions rings ever.  We went to see the draft horses, but had to leave the barn because the smell of ammonia was so bad we were getting dizzy.

Fast forward a couple of decades and a different county.  Tim and I went to our fair last year for the first time.  We enjoyed it so much that this year I took a day off from work and we spent a good while just wandering the grounds and seeing what was there to see.  And, there was a lot to see.

Animals were definitely the best part. I don't remember ever seeing so many rabbits in one place. One cow seemed to like me, a lot.  She gave me lots of "kiss licks" as my niece would call them.  There wasn't anything dainty about it, unless getting kissed by 100 grit sandpaper counts. 

I've decided that I like goats much better than sheep.  Goats are cute and curious; the sheep were whiners, bleating loudly, just because.  When one of the sheep decided it didn't want to go to the ring for its showing, it took off running.  Through several barns it went, until it was cornered by nearly a dozen people and a movable fence.

The arts and crafts were okay.  As I wandered through both the photography and quilt exhibits, I kept thinking I could do better than that.  But, the exhibitors did one thing I didn't do.  They entered.  Maybe next year.

Who knew that there was a competition for alfalfa? And the choices in Fair food are almost endless, but once again we had Philly steak sandwiches.  Some things are just tradition.   Like watching poised young ladies, and one young man, make their big beastly horses dance in the ring.

We'll definitely be back next year!

AMDG