Day at the Fair

Today was the annual county fair day in a farm town nearby. I was raised in a rural place and have never gotten the hang of urbanity or irony, so I go to county fairs because they are fun. I took the kid -- she's old enough to ride everything, young enough to want to ride with me, pleasant enough to want to take -- an ideal companion. We got wristbands and (after charging up with Dramamine) rode everything that moved. I now feel dirty and tired, a little woozy, and see-through from
greasy fair food. But we saw the pigs and the chickens and watched kids showing their horses and listened to an old bluesman tear up the stage and basically had a ball. About the only thing we didn't like (though we gave it a try for
the sake of expanding our horizons) was the tractor pull. After two or three pulls and a lot of arcane babble from the
grandstand announcer, I asked the kid "Are you getting the point of this?" And she said "No. Seems to me that they
are wasting a lot of gasoline and polluting the air. And it's loud." Yep, that was my take on it too. So we bailed and
got some chocolate candy.

It brought back many good memories of my days at the fair, which were usually just with my mother. When Dad would
show up after work, we'd eat at the Grange Hall and then take in a country show. I've seen Mel Travis, Barbara Mandrell, the Statlers, the Oaks, Ferlin Huskey, the works... the fair here isn't well-financed enough (or maybe lacks a big enough
venue) for a headliner act, though I see that they are bringing in Charlie Louvin tomorrow night. Wow. Not to be callous
or anything, but who even knew that Charlie was still alive?!

If I figure out how to post pics, I'll put in one from the fair.