A few of my favorite chickens

We made it to the Minnesota State Fair last weekend, and spent some time in the poultry barn. I love the variety and color of the chickens. These guys (gals?) were some of my favorites.




The quilts were almost all behind glass, so I didn't try to take pictures of them, but I took my time browsing through them all, and picked up some ideas for how to quilt the tumbler blocks that I've been cutting out.

We ate foods on sticks, and had our fill of the traditional favorites of Tom Thumb mini-donuts and Sweet Martha's cookies. And for the first time, we even saw the parade! Great weather, and a great way to celebrate the traditional end of summer in Minnesota.

Fair Pictures

I had a nice run outside today, and it really seemed to clear my head. I was composing lots of blog entries, which I never seem to be able to do on weeknights after work. I've been working a lot lately and my brain is just too tired to write creatively in the evenings.

So, catching up on the county fair, here is one of the quilt winners...


This is some kind of pigeon (whose name I can't remember) with wild curly feathers. I really like looking at the chickens, but they must go home earlier in the week, because only pigeons were still there by Friday. Can these birds actually fly?

And then the draft horses. They are so big and majestic! And quite spruced up for their big night at the fair...blow dried hair, braids, ribbons, the works. This pair was not happy about just standing there - they wanted to pull that wagon and go!

Fair Time

Last week was the county fair, so after a long day at work on Thursday, we left work early on Friday and headed to the fairgrounds. Mike's first order of business was the milk booth (for a shake) and a bag of Tom Thumb mini-donuts. We visited the quilts and 4-H and animals and exhibits and had a not-very-nutritious dinner. A great way to start a summer weekend.

Volleyball and Goodwill

The college volleyball season is underway, so Mike and I took our seats at the university this weekend, and watched the Gophers win all of their matches in the weekend's tournament, including two against top-25 ranked teams. They are looking good this year. We went to our first matches about 14 years ago after buying tickets at a charity auction. The next year, they got a new coach and we got our first season tickets (he's still coaching, making it easy for us to keep track of how long we've been doing this). We aren't playing volleyball regularly anymore, but we still enjoy watching, especially the year they played in the championship match (but sadly lost).

We had time to kill before Sunday's match, and I noticed a Goodwill Outlet center on the way. After reading about Bonnie's trips to her local outlet, I had to check it out. I'm not sure if this stuff was unsold at the regular stores, or came straight here. It's not a fancy place, and nothing is sorted, but it was fun to dig through the bins for a little while. Everything is sold by the pound, and most of the goods were clothes, but I found some fabric, including a huge green piece (7-8 yards?) that will be perfect for quilt backings. At $1.29 per pound, I spent a grand total of $3.35.

The Great Minnesota Get-Together

The weather was gorgeous this weekend, so, along with what seemed like half the state, we headed to the fair. Mike's main goal was to eat Tom Thumb mini-donuts and the new chocolate covered bacon, a.k.a. Pig Lickers (verdict: good, but not nearly as good as the Vosges bacon chocolate bars). I wanted to see the quilts and chickens, and try the new tater Tots on a stick (verdict: good enough for a second helping). (Minnesota tradition requires a maximum number of foods to be served on sticks at the state fair.)

We succeeded in almost all fair aspects except the chickens, because we didn't realize that they closed the poultry building at 3:00. But as a consolation, we visited the "Miracle of Birth center" and saw a cow in labor, newly hatched chicks and turkeys, calves, lambs, and very newborn pigs (umbilical cords still attached, placenta nearby). We also watched the raptor show, a favorite of ours since we see so many birds of prey around the house. (They are welcome to eat all the bugs and rodents they want.)

Even with the crowds, it was a fun (if not nutritious) day

Show us your muscles!

No, that's not me, or anyone I know. But on Saturday night, Mike and I went to a body-building/fitness show. Our personal trainer, Shelly, was one of the contestants. Shelly had told us about her training and preparation for the show (twice a day work-outs, strict diet, visible reduction of body fat), and we wanted to cheer her on.

We weren't really sure what to expect from the show. Primarily, the contestants came out on stage and posed to music for about a minute each. Their goal was to show their fitness and muscle tone to the judges, while walking back and forth across the stage. We didn't have great seats, but even from the back, you could see the rippling muscles. Most of the women were in their 30's, although there were a couple of 50-year-old contestants who looked amazing. (We left before most of the men's judging.)

Shelly didn't win her class, but she's already planning on training for another contest in the fall. And she looked great to us, as did another competitor who trains with Shelly and works out at our gym.

Blue Man!

Blue Man Group is one of Mike's favorites. He's seen the show five times now (four for me): at the permanent venues in Chicago and Las Vegas, and locally with the "How To Be A Megastar" travelling version.

For the first local show last year, we stood in line to get tickets at the box office the morning they went on sale, and ended up with seats high up and to the side. Not great, but the show is still good, even from the nose-bleed sections. This year, though, I was on the local e-mail list for music acts, and was able to buy tickets before they went on sale to the general public. To our amazement, this time our seats were in the middle of the second row! And as you can see from the photo above, they were great seats.

At the show, you can send a text message to enter a contest to be eligible for a backstage tour after the show. They also play silly text message games while waiting for the main event to start. So Mike and I both entered and played games on our phones, then sat back to enjoy the show. Well, in the middle of the show, Mike got a text that he didn't win. So I checked my phone, and I had won!! So now, in addition to great seats and a great show, we got to go "backstage" (really just a meeting room behind the seats, since the arena uses a temporary stage, which they start dis-assembling immediately afterward).

The Blue Men, the band, and the opening act all came to our "backstage" session for pictures and autographs. It was a lot of fun, even if my camera's battery had died about 10 minutes into the show. (Mike took more pictures with his cell phone camera.) We were close enough to each get Blue Man guitar picks (tossed to the audience), got our autograph cards, backstage passes, and with our front-and-center seats, it was an awesome evening.

[Blue Men don't talk. And they sign autographs with the blue greasepaint that is on their heads.]