Weekend Wrap and Fair Prelims

After pulling into a driveway along Sunnyside Road Saturday evening and thinking it was where my former student Cindy was staying, my gut feeling told me immediately that I'd made a mistake. 

Nonetheless, I pulled in a little further, got out of my car and even visited with the lady standing on her porch with her little barking dog.

That was AFTER I spotted the huge statue placed in a strange area of the driveway.  I couldn't figure out why anyone would put a moose statue right there.

Then, the statue moved.

Twas an OMG moment for sure as the statue turned its head decked out with the most beautiful set of antlers, looked at me and slowly ambled behind the garage.

I snapped a couple of photos and then got out of the car in hopes of more.

"You'd better be ready to move fast because he does at times," the lady told me. 

Soon, the moose appeared just south of the garage, stood, posed for a photo or two and then made its way down the incline in the yard.

"You want to come inside and take pictures from my deck?" the lady asked.

To which I told her I'd better just get going and go visit my friend who was actually next door. 

Seems this bull moose hangs out in people's yards along Sunnyside Road across from Oden Hall.  During my visit next door, I was told that it's always nice to be a bit on guard because they'll go around the corner of the house and meet eye to eye with the giant creature. 

Bottom line is that the residents out that way maintain a healthy respect for the moose which has claimed their homes as his home too.  

The fair is celebrating 90 years of existence this year, and I noticed that various areas in the main exhibit building note different decades of fair history.  I found one in the '70s era, which included all the pages of a fair tab highlighting various aspects of the fair. 

Twas kinda neat to see because I wrote pretty much all the stories and took the photos, including one of my mother, my first horse Tiny and my sister Laurie at a 4-H horse meeting in the front pasture of our family home on North Boyer. 

Love those moments when Mother comes alive again!

In other news, it's Bonner County Fair time, and yesterday was pretty much for setting up displays and entering items for competition.  Well, it was also visiting day.  Took me more than an hour to travel about 400 feet.  

So, I guess I could also call it "familiar face" day, which pretty much every day at the local fair happens to be.  

Today the main exhibit building will be closed off by noon for the judging of entries.  Both my sister Barbara and I will spend the afternoon there, trying not to visit but to do our jobs of picking winners of blue, red, white, purple and lavendar ribbons. 

I also ran across a new feature at this year's county fair.  

You'll see the concept below where folks can create their own totally original piece of "DABSTRACT ART."  

The vendors running the booth (Dempsey's) have a Sandpoint connection, but they said this fun activity has been around the Spokane Interstate Fair for years.

I gave it a try and was so pleased with my first piece of dabstract art that I looked toward the sky and said, "Mother, you'd be proud."  

Anywho, it looks like a great attraction, and I'm sure it will be going strong once the fair action gets going today.

By the way, probably the most efficient way to get to the fair (with bridge construction) is to drive HWY 95 to Bronx Road, turn left and in half a mile, another left turn gets you onto North Boyer and soon to the fairgrounds.  

I haven't figured out why they've never asked me to come back and judge this competition.

It could possibly be that the one time I did, my comments about the wine that tasted like crank case oil did not set well with the superintendent who had entered that very bottle.

If only she had been sampling too, she may not have taken offense. 

One of the queens of the fair flower department, Susan Bristow, stands next to the covered wagon, which will display this year's flower arrangements. 

Had a nice visit with Lori Jasman who was checking out history at the Farm Bureau booth. 

Ah, memories of the good life at our North Boyer farm!

Original by Marianne Love -- pricetag: a mere $50,000.

Heck, I'll even autograph it for that price. 

After coming home and enjoying a nice summer dinner with all salad goodies coming from the garden, I was working on a story when I heard clanging outside.

Turns out it was Paula and Jerry and some friends on their way down the road.

The mare on the right is new to the team, and she appeared to be adjusting just fine.

As I said on a Facebook post, this is definitely a wonderful perk that comes with living on a country road.

I have a feeling we'll be seeing a whole lot more since the Idaho Draft and Mule Show International is next month.

Drivers will be out rehearsing.

Love it! 

Happy Monday.