Changing with the Times

What the hell is going on with the people that make Beanie Babies? They were never my thing, but way back when, I could see how someone else might have found them cute (especially if they were of the monkey variety).

But over the last several years there seems to have been a trend towards making these things with large, zombie-like eyes. Now this style seems to have completely taken over their product line (as , I guess, zombies will do).

Do kids "nowadays" really like them like this? Am I really this far out of the loop? I think if someone had given me one of these when I was a little kid, it would have given me nightmares.

Though, maybe if the eyes would light up, that might be kind of cool.

Lesson in Life

Yikes. Today at work, this poor guy (or gal) landed on my window. He (or she) spent a few minutes there, crawling around, battered and beaten, struggling, resting a little - refusing to give in. Finally, after a few minutes, it somehow managed to regain some strength and eventually, it flew away, continuing it's journey to who-knows-where.

I feel like there's a lesson for me in there somewhere. I just need to figure out what it is.

Baking Season

Today marks the official beginning of weekend baking projects for Sam and I. It begins today for a couple of reasons. First, cooler, fall-like weather has finally arrived (well, except for yesterday... and today, as it turned out) and also, for some inexplicable reason, Sam came home from work on Friday with about five pounds of overripe bananas.

That said, guess what we baked? (Hint: look at the picture.)

If you guessed anything other than banana bread, I feel sorry for you. You may move along. We have nothing more to talk about.

If you guessed banana bread, congratulations. You know us well.

Maybe it was due to the long, hot summer but for whatever reason, Sam and I decided to shake things up a bit by adding some cinnamon to two out of the three loaves. This is very unlike us. We'll let you know how it worked out.

Late update: It worked out just fine.

Fair Season, Part II

Here are a few exciting photos from this year's fair. (If you want to relive the excitement from the fairs of years past, click on the links of the previous post.)

Sam in front of his blue ribbon artwork (and by "blue ribbon" I mean red), wearing a very Sam appropriate shirt .

Any pig races? Absolutely! In fact, we now arrange our entire fair schedule around the pig races.

 Helaina and her pickle in front of the Gravitron.

Not everything was the same at the fair this year. Here are some pics of Sam on, believe it or not, the Sizzler...

And the obligatory shot from the Ferris Wheel. (Odd that the height doesn't bother me.)

Nice, but I think it looks more magical at night. This, from a few years back...

And we closed our visit, like usual, with the bumper cars...

Of course, the real finale is getting cotton candy and fried dough on our way out. I have no photos of that event, though.

Fair Season

You'll be excited to hear that it's Fair Time again! What can I say that I haven't said already (like here, here, here, here, here and here, for example)? Pretty much nothing, that's what.

Like every year, the parade was on Thursday night. Unlike every year, I took a grand total of one parade photo. Here it is:

Technically speaking, this isn't even a parade photo. It was taken before the parade even started. This is a photo of one of the pre-parade vendors who spent their time walking back and forth along the route, selling high quality merchandise - while I spent my time trying to ignore them (with limited success). Look at the crap this guy's selling. Really? We're now selling political flags at the Fair Parade? God help us all. Is there no escape???

As for the parade itself, this year the parade continued it's pattern of seemingly thinning-down compared to the already thinned-down parade from the previous year. For example, this year there were only a couple of oil delivery trucks in the lineup instead of the usual twenty or so. C'mon! We must be burning more oil than that!

And not that I missed having them (at all), but I don't think there was a single Coca Cola truck in the parade! Where were all the Coke trucks? Usually, you can count on a half dozen of these trucks to bring the parade to it's agonizingly slow finale. This year? None!

What's happening to America???

Return of the Flea Market

We made it to the flea market again this past weekend. This visit brings the summer's grand total to an astounding THREE visits! Yes, I know, unbelievable! Even more unbelievable is that this time, going to it was my idea.

It's not that I wanted to get anything at the flea market - I have way too much junk already. And it's not that I wanted to walk around the place. This is not the type of place to go simply to drink in the ambiance. My only motivation in going was to give Sam the chance to do something a little bit different.

In years past, you never knew what you might find here. Now, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Maybe I've become more discriminating over the years (unlikely) but it seems to me that the quality - and definitely the variety - of crap being sold here has been on a sharp downward trend over the last several years. Here are a few shots of some of the higher quality items that we somehow managed to let slip through our fingers...

You're looking one vendor's entire inventory of goods - a golf club carrying case (with possible golf clubs inside) - and four large buckets, each filled to the brim with used golf balls. That's it. Not even any tees (unless the case is full of them). What is the thinking here? I can't believe that this is anybody's idea of a worthwhile way to spend a day - to get up early, load up the very small car, drive to the flea market field, stake out your spot - and then sit out in the hot sun all day and hope (i.e. "desperately pray") for that one customer who's been itching to buy twenty gallons of used golf balls.

Here's a fairly typical display of some of the higher quality items offered for sale at the flea market - a box of miscellaneous rusty hardware - some of which is conveniently pre-greased (note the knob thrown into the rusty hardware box, apparently to sweeten the deal). Also note: a selection of random lengths of different size chain; some old, unidentifiable hand tools (in various stages of decay);  plus a generous selection of other unidentifiable items. Oh, and lets not forget the bicycle sprocket. Someone's gotta need one of these. At least this person, unlike Golf Ball Man, sees the wisdom of catering to a diverse clientele.

Another guy was selling an old steering wheel - and not just any old steering wheel. This old steering wheel is for a Chevy! I wonder what the story is behind this. Did it have some odd sentimental value? If not, why hang onto it? And anyway, who would buy this - maybe someone who has all of the parts to an old Chevy EXCEPT the steering wheel?

I'm not sure why I found this interesting. From a distance, I couldn't tell what I was looking at - a bad wig? Uneaten spaghetti? Obviously wrong, but both good guesses. Interestingly,  quite a few people were picking these up and examining them. No buyers though - yet.

One person was selling an old water pump. Do people still use these? Is forty dollars a good price for one of these? If it is broken, are there still water pump repair(men/women/people, etc.) around?
This is also the vendor who had a (potential) customer come up and ask, "Do you have any cannons?" Are you kidding me? Cannons?

Note that the figure in the center appears to be a bird with it's face smushed in. Not only is the face smushed in but the figure is larger than the "people" figures. Does all this mean something? I have a lot of questions about this.

Remember what I was saying up above about the "fairly typical" display of merchandise? Here's an entirely different guy selling a box of door knobs. How many times has this guy lugged these door knobs back and forth to the flea market?

I can only assume that the guy that caught this has finally died and his wife, after living with this thing for thirty years, is seizing the opportunity to try and make a couple of bucks off it (before it ultimately goes in the trash).

According to the woman checking this out, "That's one of them Barvarian coo-coo clocks." That woman knows her stuff. I took the closeup so you can appreciate the quality of that world-renowned "Barvarian" craftsmanship.

Something for everyone. I have nothing in particular to say about this other than, who in their right mind would buy an old, rotting out blow torch? Maybe it's only there to make the new one look good.

I have more photos but you get the idea.

Quote of the Day

See if you can unravel this mind bender...

"I don't give out my cell phone number because no one ever calls."