Bring it on!

Summer!  Bring it on.  My favorite time of year.  

As dry as it has been, at least we are still getting some tomatoes.  The cucumbers have rolled over and died -- too hot.  But the tomatoes and peppers are hanging on.  I'm nursing one little cucumber plant, trying to hold it for cooler weather but honestly, I'm really thinking about replanting some cucumbers as I have not had my fill. 

I love all the animals at the county fairs, especially the pigs.  You just don't see pigs in hog lots anymore.  The majority of pigs in Iowa are raised inside a building.  Now, isn't that crazy?  Why don't you fence a pasture good and tight and turn the hogs outside.  Less cleanup, less smell, more fertilizer on the pasture.  Then the next crop of pigs, move them to a new pasture and let the first one grow clover or grass or whatever big pigs like to eat.  Oh, what crazy thoughts I have.

It amazes me that the pigs have their own water fountains and this one had the ambition to (half-way stand up) to drink.  The fat ol' hog in the next pen was laying with his head below the fountain and letting the water drip into his mouth! 

This display took "Best of Show".  If you look close, there's someone in the photo looks familiar. 

Can't go to the fair without eating "fair food".  Corn dogs and slushies.  Tenderloins. French fries and onion rings.   Not too many "on a stick" options at the county fair but who needs pork chops on a stick or deep fried snicker bars anyway? 

The kids sure enjoy the fowl and rabbit barn.  There are ducks and geese, chickens and bunnies of all kinds. 

See that duck in the corner? He said "aflack; aflack"