Happy Independence Day!

Every family has traditions, most often surrounding the Winter months but something I remember as a child may be a little different. In the Ozarks this time of year, combines are usually rolling. Not for corn or soybeans, but fescue, the perennial crop that a lot of people use as grass seed for their yard. My dad and brother logged many hours in the combine taking in another fescue crop. Each bin would be dumped into Greeny, the ol dump truck. At the end of the day we'd drive Greeny to town to unload and wait in line for our turn. From the top of the hill I could see the fireworks from the fairgrounds 5 or 6 miles away north. Every 4^th of July I think of those days. I also think of mom's lemon tea, a mixture of lemonade and iced tea, which, come to think of, I've not had in years. I know what I'm going to drink tomorrow!!

And the fair tries to draw to a close… Sunday August 19th

Rise and shine, it’s time to load things up. While packing I call Mike just to confirm that he has the missing golf cart. That's a no. I look around the trailer, another no. Now what do I do about my missing, borrowed golf cart?

While my friend Brad and I drive around the campground in search of the cart I realize this is not going to be easy. Do you know how many white two seater golf carts exist? Exactly! I don't usually get too worried but its time to call in the professionals. For cryin out load the thing could be on the way to Mexico!

As the State Patrol pulls up, Mike calls. He’s at the Red Radio and there’s an abandoned golf cart 20 feet away that could be ours. My first thought, I know that I didn't spend much time in the Bud Tent, so I DID NOT leave it behind.

Mike checks it out and thankfully it is our golf cart. Now who played this little prank? While racking my memory, I continue loading my stuff. On the last bundle, my neighbors (who helped put the awning down) ask if my golf cart was stolen. They were enjoying the evening of fresh air around midnight when a couple guys zipped by on another golf cart. Ten minutes later the two walk (stagger) back, heading back to the fairgrounds, intoxicated and whispering about their search for another cart. When the two notice my neighbors they try to casually walk away. Within minutes one of them comes from the other side of my trailer jumps on the golf cart and zooms away. Not very subtle huh?

So did my neighbors see who it was? Do I know who they were? No!

According to my friendly neighbor, "it was a cowboy and a midget cowboy!” (I'm sorry, it's not politically correct)

Just to confirm I understand things, you mean a tall guy and a short guy, or a tall guy and………Wizard of Oz size guy?

Friendly Neighbor: "Seriously, Wizard of Oz” No Way!!

That sums it up, I don’t know who did it. Later that day I visited with my friend Stacy at the Gerken Dairy Center. When I told her the story she laughed and told me the bandits had been in the dairy center the day before getting ice cream and were part of the set up crew for the concert the previous night!

So here is what my deductive reasoning tells me… thankfully, bandits eat ice cream. Also as part of the set up crew, they entertain themselves during the concert by "borrowing" a golf cart from the fairgrounds and dump it in the campground. Instead of walking back they "borrow" a cart from the campground (ours) and take it back to the concert grandstand when they are ready to call it a night. Just so happens, that's where the radio is parked. Whew, it's time to go home!

So in 2007 State Fair Summary…

A saturated Jeep

An uncooperative Air conditioner

1 written warning on the golf cart

Mike’s car towed -- twice

Mike’s new cell phone… flattened

Janet’s keys, locked up -- twice

Two golf carts -- one busted, one stolen

Two sets of neighbors coming to the rescue

Two cowboys, one average and one vertically challenged

And 11 days of good ol fun you won’t find anywhere but at the state fair….. Priceless!

It's raining, what a surprise...

Another day which means another morning, afternoon, and evening of rain lightening and thunder. Glad I had the fun of fixing the gutter yesterday. Did it work? I don't see buckets of water pouring down in front of the window, but its wet and I'm not stepping out to check it out...

Back to the fair...

Saturday, August 18th

By now, we’ve had several experiences. The past couple days have been surprisingly calm. As I sat in the radio that morning I had a feeling. Somewhere deep inside there is another story in this 2007 State Fair. When, what, who, I have no idea but there is a sneaking suspicion.

It's Saturday night and the last night of the fair. I decide to leave the golf cart at the camper for the evening and enjoy the grounds on foot. By 1 a.m. I'm back at the camper and I realize the golf cart is gone. It has to be one of two options.

a. Mike and his family took it for the evening.

b. Someone is playing a joke and moved it a short distance just to hide it for the night.

Holy House!

That’s how I feel tonight after spending time closer to the skyline. My mom and nephew are here visiting this week. Mom does a pretty good job of keeping busy so that means a lot of things get accomplished around here. My spare bedroom now has a fresh coat of paint on it. I came home from work yesterday and finished up the top part. Mom had an unfortunate encounter with a ladder a few years ago so she avoids those these days.

Tonight I came home to another home prepared meal. After that we stepped outside to tackle another chore. With all the rain my gutters are working overtime and have started pulling away from the house in revolt. When it rains, water pours down from the gutter and it’s found a way into the dark depths of my basement…. Blah!!!

I’ve been trying to sweep the water out each day and hope for things to dry, but before you know it there’s more rain. Tonight, while mom is here to break my fall or call for an ambulance if necessary, I climbed on the house to fix the gutters. After scooting all the way around the house and replacing a few things, we are back in business!! Hopefully that will hold for a while.

The countdown is on for the next big adventure which means I need to wrap up the state fair. Stay tuned and we’ll finish things before we start the next adventure.

Back to the fair…

Thursday, August 16^th

We are back in business now that we have a golf cart again. As we travel the grounds interviewing people attending the event, one of us will be in the Red Radio while the other is on the grounds doing the interviews. We use our cell phones to keep in touch and know when an interview is ready to begin. During one such report Mike is ready to do an interview but realizes his cell phone is gone. After backtracking to where he has been on the golf cart he finds the phone in the road where its been crushed by a truck and trailer. It doesn’t work any more.

Survey Says...

On TV tonight is the Celebrity Family Fued. That really has nothing to do with this other than I thought about it after I typed the title. The survey I speak of is the Blog survey. Recently I sent this blog link to several friends to ask their opinion of this blog vs another blog that I set up through another site. This blog was the winner by several votes, so here we are and here I guess we will be.
When I came home this evening I started playing with the digital camera mom gave me. She's upgraded so she didn't need this one anymore. I have shopped around for a new one, but I may try and make this one work to save the cash, I need it for the gas tank. I set out this evening with the intent of learning how to post pictures and it appears I may be on the right track. This is a photo of an Iris from home. Beautiful isn't it?

Another day at the 2007 fair. Wednesday continued……

Later that morning I stop by Don’s Trucking and Towing (DTT) about the golf cart situation. Within minutes a huge, giant, bright yellow tow truck arrives with a very tiny golf cart on top. The cart is not really that small, just in comparison to the truck it’s a midget. The guys help hook up the broadcast equipment and everything is good to go!

Now for a little information on DTT. These guys have worked the state fair for over two decades towing vehicles (Mike’s included, and my own truck a few years ago). They don’t decide what goes, but they do as the parking attendants direct. On the grounds they have a tent set up where they host a couple gatherings throughout the fair.

During one of the events home fried Rocky Mountain Oysters are on the menu. Some people refer to them as calf fries. Let me just say, I’m a farm girl. I was around cattle before I could utter the word moo. Over the years I was there during several “Oyster Collecting” events but I’ve NEVER tried the… delicacy. With a leap of culinary faith I find that… they’re not too bad, tastes like chicken, honestly! I probably won’t go out of my way to try again, but seriously, not too bad!

I’m glad I had the chance to meet Don’s crew and I’m looking forward to more adventures with them. By the way, I asked Don about the 2004 state fair when it rained the entire week and it was muddy everywhere. So, how many vehicles did they have to pull out of the mud? Thousands. Probably didn’t get to have much fun that year.

An Adventure Ahead, and Behind...

A friend yelled at me this weekend, well, not so much yelled but sent me a strongly worded message that I’m behind and I need to update things. She’s right because there is a lot of stuff going on. The 2008 State Fair is less than a couple months away and there are things that need to be finalized. In addition, in less then two weeks I’ll hit the road to regions far away. The plan is to file back reports in a Where in the World kind of way. Now there are a few who already know the adventure, but most of our listeners don’t. I thought it might be fun to share the adventure in the Matt Lauer style of globe hopping. With that said, stay tuned… I leave on July 5^th and will be back in the office on July 24^th. Lots of miles traveled in between. The reason for the trip is my participation in the Missouri ALOT (Agriculture Leaders of Tomorrow) program. To learn more go to www.alotmissouri.com. We have spent the last several months getting to know one another and traveling across the state learning what the Show Me State ag industry has to offer. There have been some great adventures, late nights, enlightening discussions and a several events that we can look back over the years and smile about. Good people I tell you, good people!! Anyway, they’re 26 of us that will set out on the journey and for once, I’m already trying to plan my suitcase. That never happens! Usually I throw a bunch of stuff in that should work then hit the road. With a 2 week adventure I’ve gotten in touch with my planning gene. Now, shall we take bets on what I’ll forget?

Back to the fair…

Tuesday, August 14th

I’m on the trail of a replacement golf cart. A friend who works with the Department of Agriculture has introduced me to Don’s Trucking and Towing (DTT) who agree to loan us a golf cart but it won’t make it in until Wednesday.

Wednesday, the 15th

Shortly after 6am Mike calls from the Red Radio. There’s no audio coming from the Radio and he’s feeding the reports through the phone line because he can’t hear the station. Because he’s doing reports he can’t investigate further. I rush over to see if there’s something I can do. While he's doing the markets, I wiggle wires, pick things up, move things around and finally borrow a screw driver from the Shriners Cook Shack. I take the equipment out of the base unit, wiggle more wires and still can’t find the answer. Finally it dawns on me that there is no audio coming from the headphones which means the problem is not the speakers. In my foggy, delayed, deductive reasoning I look at the front of the stereo. It's set to AM. With a simple push of the button, it’s changed back to FM and we have sound. Whew!! By the way, we’re 100.7 on the FM dial when you pass through north Missouri…. Wednesday to be continued…..

Another Lovely Day!

I love Spring and Summer. The sun comes out and it's warm enough that you can get out and enjoy it. The problem this year..... it's not going to be long enough! While scanning through the calendar over the weekend, things are pretty well booked through the end of August. It's great to have things to do, but when I make it out of the fog of activities this summer, it's going to be Fall. That my friend is only a sneeze away from Winter. I guess that's a good reason to enjoy the day you're in and live it up!! So here's another day from the 2007 State Fair. Plenty of headaches and heat, but it wouldn't be right any other way!

Monday, August 13^th

After letting the golf cart rest for the night, It’s time to get another day at the fair underway. I made it to the street that leads into the campgrounds. Things weren’t sounding any better so I turn around and head back to the camper. Halfway there, she’s done! A couple nice people help me push it back to the trailer where she puttered her last backfire to an untimely and majorly inconvenient end.

During the fair we use the cart so we can broadcast reports from every corner of the fair. Knowing the cart is a necessity, I’ll spend the next 24 hours doing reports on foot and trying to find a way to replace the cart.

That same day, Mike worked the morning shift again. At three in the afternoon when it’s time to leave, there is Déjà vu. His car is gone, towed away, again. It took another couple of hours to get it fixed, but relax, it doesn’t happen again through the rest of the fair.

Hello Sunshine!

What a lovely day we have. A little bit of sunshine, breeze and the threat of more rain. Right now it might be a little warmer than some prefer, but I love it. When visiting with Scott this week we chatted about the weather and how muggy hot it’s been on a few days. I’ll tell you what I told him.. I complain all winter because it’s too cold so I will not bellyache about the summer. All my weather irritability must be reserved for anytime the temperature falls below 70!

Now back to the State Fair…. we’ll make it through sooner or later. The 2008 fair is only a couple months away.

Sunday, August 12.... Day 4

The weekend was pretty uneventful until Sunday night. The girls are gone and a couple other friends (Mark and Aubrey) have come by to visit and go to the Dirks Bentley concert. Following the concert there was a quick but mighty wind storm that blew over trashcans and ripped items away from a vendor’s tent across the street.

After it was finally over we spent a little more quality time at a couple State Fair “establishments” then rode the golf cart back to the campground.

About halfway back the golf cart backfires then there's a loud ker-thud and pop. Hoping/praying it was just a fluke, we drive it back to the trailer to let it rest for the evening.. a good 5 hours will really bring a golf cart back to life…. I hope!!

At the trailer I realize I left my keys in the Red Radio on the fairgrounds. The golf cart is retired for the night so the neighbors to the north who are enjoying an evening of fireside conversation, give me a lift back to the radio…. When we make it back, Aubrey and I sit down for a fireside chat with our new friends. During the discussion I learn that these new friends came to my rescue
once before. The windstorm that came up earlier was whipping the awning on my trailer. Afraid it would tear the thing up they rolled it up for me. That’s the awning I had no idea how to roll up from a couple days ago.

Thanks for the help x2