Fared Well at the Fair

I just sat down to do a bit of blogging since it’s been a while and decided to pop open one of the beers Brewmaster spared when dumping that one batch (the stout with the funky smell/taste). I must say, it’s not bad. When dumping, he noticed some of them didn’t smell quite as funny as the others, so he saved a couple that were in his Grolsch bottles. I’m starting to feel very bad that the rest all went down the drain; even his “bad” beer is still better than the Bud Light I drank at the county fair!

Speaking of which, I took a turn taking the boys out of town this past weekend. (I know, I know…people are really gonna start talking about us now that we’ve taken two trips this month without the other!) Actually, BM would’ve gone had work not been an issue.

We went to visit my folks for the East Perry Co. Fair—“the best little fair in the land”. I used to laugh at that slogan, but after going back (it’s been 12 years since I’ve been), I think they’ve earned it. The biggest thing for me right off the bat is, of course, the food. It’s the best fair food ever and the prices are at least half what you’d normally spend. The boys had a great time watching the parade Perry County style: tractors, fire trucks, new tractors, school kids, high school bands, old tractors, wagons with kids, more tractors…and of course the army of horses wrapping it up. Did I mention the tractors? It was great. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a parade that didn’t involve throwing beads (we spent five years living in LA and MS, in case you were wondering).

Another highlight of the fair is touring the Quonset hut and browsing the produce entries. There’s just something absolutely wonderful about the displays of people’s best picks from the garden resting on little paper plates with ribbons attached, not to mention the 80-pound pumpkins and watermelons resting on the floor. What pride they took in their 5 little tomatoes, cucumbers, what have you, that they took the time to get ready, stand in line to enter, and share with others at the fair. Of course, there is a little monetary incentive: I think $3 is the going rate for a blue ribbon, which my sister won again for her dill beans.

And while we did venture through some of the 4-H exibits, the poultry and livestock and visited the petting zoo, we didn't make it to the mule jump--a most popular event. We also missed the boys' cousin take 1st place at the kiddie tractor pull, but I'm sure he'll win it again next year. I could always enter our boys in the contest, but these citified homeschoolers wouldn't stand a chance...unless Brewmaster got the notion to start training them this year. Maybe we'll be adding that to our PE curriculum.

This is all stuff I grew up with year after year and never appreciated until I left the country and became a snob. We’re working on getting back to the country-life like the fine folks I grew up around enjoy, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be happening here in the ‘burbs. Someday…

And yes, I am a snob: my dad wanted to buy me a beer, and I made him go around all the beer wagons and see if they had anything other than Bud Light, Coors Light, or Old Milwaukee. Hoping to find Shiner Bock again as he had a couple years before, he tried, but no such luck. I did manage to get half a Bud Light down, but it was pretty painful. Brewmaster has me spoiled drinking the good stuff.

By the way, I just finished the pint of “funky stout” and wish we had more. You know how moms and grandmas are known to eat the bad parts of a meal, like the least desirable piece of chicken or the crunchy corner piece of lasagna so no one else has to? I think it’s safe to say that I’m on my way to drinking BM’s bad batches of beer. Hey, if they make it to the bottling phase, chances are they’ll be good enough for me.

(Pictures of the fair to follow once I get them ready.)