Another County Fair

Alas, it was that time of year again; mid-August... county fair time.
Years ago, when I was in 4-H showing cattle, it was a big event; lots of work, lots of fun, and lots of cattle show events to conquer.  :-)

It is now a nice family trip to town, to eat fried cheese balls and corn dogs, walk around the midway, look at exhibits, and see all of the animals.  Now, I am merely a spectator.

We went to the fair mid-morning and walked through the midway first, which was not yet open.  Ramsey isn't ready for rides yet, so that was a non-issue.  He enjoyed looking at all of the games with stuffed animals for prizes, jumping over large cables that crossed the pathways, and looking at  the colorful carnival rides.

We veered to the livestock area and started out in the Bunny Barn, as that is typically high on Ramsey's list of favorites.

 He needed a closer look at the furry little fellas!

Then, we headed off to the see the Shetland ponies.  A local horse rancher gives rides every year.

 One of the ponies had a baby, a small cream-colored foal.  She was precious!  And, apparently very hot... given the fact that she was panting quite a bit.

 Based on Ramsey's reaction, he's not quite ready for a pony ride.  Next year!!!

 And, onto the goats.  The goats were Ramsey's all-time favorite last year.

 And, they were his favorite again this year.  We half expected one of the little guys to give a nip at Ramsey's finger, but they didn't.

 He wanted to pet every... single... goat.

We had to drag him out of the goat barn; he did NOT want to leave!  

 We then walked to the barn that housed the dairy cattle and the show ring.  At the time, the open class beef heifer show was going on.  I remember those days!!  At least they had a nice cool day for the showmen and the cattle.

I had walked away for a few minutes.  When I came back, this was Ramsey's expression.  I had never seen this one before!  Apparently one of the dairy cows had let out a very loud bellow.  It scared the dickens out of Ramsey and he freaked...out.  Eric had calmed him down, but it took a few minutes to get this look off his face.  Poor kid!!   I thought it was precious, so I snapped a picture. 

Knowing the fish would cheer him up, we went into the exhibit hall, straight to the US Fish & Wildlife fish tank.  Eric propped him up on the wheel well of the flat bed that the tank was sitting on.  He was entranced and sat there so nicely checking out all of the fish; various species of bass, carp, bluegill, northern, perch, walleye, etc.  He sat.

 And... he sat....  "We need to get one of these at home," we thought!   

Maybe we'll get our little 20-gallon fish tank out of storage and fired up again.  Maybe.  :-)

We checked out the bald eagle and animal pelts at the refuge table.

We walked the booths a bit more (after joking around, decided not to get a picture with the Trump cardboard cut-out - lol), got some yummy fair food, then decided it was time to go home.  Ramsey had about had enough by then.
So, another county fair has come and gone and we'll look forward to the next one.