September 5, Saline fair

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For a number of logistical reasons, we didn't make it to the Michigan State Fair this year. I was sort of missing it, so I decided to go to the Saline (smaller town, basically south of Ann Arbor) Fair at our county fairgrounds.

It turned out to be a lot like the state fair, only not so much of everything.

Though it seemed like there was an awful lot of midway.......

Mom, this one is for you. I picked the horses with the red/white/blue as they seemed appropriate for the time, given the political conventions going on this week and last.....





There are a lot of careers that don't come to mind, when I think of various jobs that need doing. Here's one -- Fun House painter.............





After I made it through the midway (they do their best to make you walk around in there!), the first thing I came to was the building with the flowers, handiwork, preserving/baking, and I'm not sure what all. Once upon a time, many moons ago, I used to bring my first dog, Molly, to dog-training class in this building..........

I like to take pics of the pickles and things, but it was dark in the building, and most of the jars were draped in ribbons, making it harder to see the contents........ The flowers were somewhat better lit. I like the grass in with the zinnias.





Gladiolas.





I walked outside, and headed toward the barns with the animals. Between the barns and the midway was the ... um ... well, miscellaneous animal section? There were farm animals you could feed grain from ice cream cones, and then there was ... well, there was a menagerie.

Two kangaroos. They can't be supposed to be this thin............ This is a terrible angle -- it was standing up, bending over to hunt for goodies on the ground. I like the black toes......





The kangaroos shared space with this guy. Look at all the excellent textures! A woman said to me she'd thought he was carved out of wood until she saw him move. He was trucking around in the enclosure. Trying to get back to Africa before the weather gets colder, maybe. (The sign said African spur-thigh tortoise....)







This "little" ostrich was born July 8, the sign said. I bet its back was 24" high....





There was a truck trailer, the side of which was open to all this, which had two leopards, an African porcupine, and a bunch of lemurs. Surely they can't take proper care of such animals in so little space........... There was also yet another trailer they hoped you'd to pay extra to see. The sign said they had an 8' reptile (can't remember if it said gator or croc). Steve-o would be unhappy about that, I'm sure..... No way they were housing that one properly..... Sigh.


We will move on to the farm animals which could be fed. Well. "Farm animals." There were several kinds of goats (including an angora goat, whose fiber we call mohair), several kinds of sheep (including Jacob sheep with multiple impressive horns), llamas, a donkey, and ... a camel and a buffalo calf. I suppose it depends how you define "farm animal".......

The bigger two are dairy goats (though I couldn't find any in a short search that look just like these -- Oberhasli??), and the little black one is a pygmy.

You can tell how lightly the fair was attended on this cloudy day by the fact that everyone was still hungry in the middle of the afternoon..........




I was able to touch the buffalo's neck as it stretched for food in someone else's hand. That buffalo undercoat is very soft and nice, and a lovely rusty brown......

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