Sunday, September 26

Neat Day!

The hard drive has been replaced successfully! Not only did we replace it, but we *knock on wood* managed to piggyback the two drives and transferred all our files intact! It was a tense few hours and we went to bed just as the sun was thinking of coming up, but it worked! Zorak says he feels "like such a Beta nerd". (Picture the Superman pose w/ a cup of coffee in hand as he says this.)

Today...

Jacob walked! Not just one step or two, but up to five at a time, and he kept at it all day. I don't know who is more proud of him: us, the boys, or himself.

St. Mary's County Fair is where we spent our afternoon. It was absolutely wonderful, and probably one of the best County Fairs either of us has ever attended. We had a lovely time in all, saw several people we know, enjoyed the rides and the junk food.

We learned so much about goats that we hadn't known before. Neither of the boys wanted to milk one, although they both had several opportunities to do so, but they did enjoy hearing about them and touching them. One gentleman in particular spent plenty of time answering all our questions and sharing "getting started" stories about raising goats. The nubian goats are just beautiful!

We also were fortunate to find and visit with the folks who brought draft horses for the horse pull. Holy Cow! These horses are mammoth! We had to head out around seven thirty, and the teams were only pulling around 6,000 pounds when we left. (I say "only", as we heard last year's pull was up around 12,000 pounds by the end- can you even imagine? The power and grace in these animals is just awe inspiring.) They weren't even straining! It was amazing.

The bonus, the unexpected thrill of the entire fair, though, came as we headed for the gate. Among the competing sounds of loud 80's rock, the calls of the horse pull announcers, the whirrs of various vittle makers, we heard something familiar and... we stopped, listened, and turned to face one another. It was like our own personal Cricket in Times Square! We heard Western Swing! Playing live, no less! Oh, finditfinditfindit! I chirpped happily, hopping up and down, trying to discern the source of the melodies amidst the din. We found it, and we danced. We waltzed, we two-stepped, we danced the happy, strange, spinning dances that only children (and parents of children) do. We danced with the boys, we danced together, we swayed and hummed and just absorbed the familiar, warm music we both love so much. This bit of serendipity delayed our exit from the fair by about half an hour, but none of us minded. The band is truly excellent, which only added to our excitement.

Nobody seemed to know the name of the band, but we plan to track them down and if they play locally, then there's a date night coming on!

We got video from the fair on the digital camera- wow, this thing is GREAT! Not only can we take great snippets of video with it, but we can extrapolate stills from the video clips once we've uploaded the files to the computer. Wow, technology has come such a long way from the Commodore 64, or Polaroids! Neat stuff.

Anyhow, Zorak and I stayed up way too late watching Horation Hornblower (which we thoroughly enjoyed, and now I'm going to have to read the entire series!) so that's all I have time for this evening.

Enjoy a beautiful Sunday!
~Dy

2 comments:

Heather said...

I love the fair too. We also love goats. No wonder you are my friend. Heehee Maybe Dad will have to adopt you (he is the true goat appreciator out here).

Glad you and the Beta nerd got the computer fixed. I miss you when you vanish into the real world (vs. cyber space)

Anonymous said...

Dy,

Just a couple fly by comments. I loved your post about the "neverending" story. What a neat idea. "And they lived happily ever after, until..."

And thanks on the warning to update pictures. I'm so lax about this one, but so many people we know have been affected by some virus that knocks out their hard drive. I've been extra careful about everything of late! I also do a lot of finger crossing!

Now, about this new camara. If you figure out how to post the video on your blog, please pass along the info:) I to have this feature, but find little use for it. I call it lack of technical creativity. It now seems standard on all new digital cams - and am a bit stumped as how to really utilize it's potential in the short chunks of video time it allows. I hope you can fill us in as you experiment!

Diane