Slightly Off Center

Haven't been to the Lane County Fair in quite a few years, it always seems to fall on a busy week for us. This time, it happens I could squeeze in a day between kiln, Market, and getting ready for Anacortes, so I took Sunday afternoon to go down. Grabbed a sun hat, my water bottle, and the sketchbook and watercolor kit, and set off.

Buses used to be free fair week, but I couldn't find any evidence of that on the LTD website, and it was a nice, cool day, so I decided to ride my trike down. All went well until a rough patch by the Rose Garden, when I started to hear worrying noises from the chain. Right around 7th and Monroe, the pedal started freewheeling: the secondary drive chain had come off the gears. Fortunately, it hadn't broken, so I was able to pull over to the curb, lay it on its side and get the chain situated, at the expense of some very greasy fingers.

I'm not that interested in the rides or Midway anymore, and I'd just had lunch (and besides, the Democrats weren't grilling chicken this year), so I headed to the animal barns. Admired the fluffy bunnies and and the tiny bantam hens with even tinier chicks, watched the miniature goats play king-of-the-hill on the hay bales, and got a nice new painting of a bronze turkey hen.

But when I went to the next building, I got a disappointment: the large livestock barns were all closed. No pigs, no sheep, no cows. Huge disappointment. The horses were still in residence, so I got to see some trim little Gypsy Cobs--pony-sized and dainty, with feathered hooves--and a lovely big Norwegian Fjord with the bi-colored mane. There were also a mammoth donkey jack and jenny, and a really big mule--I'm guessing quarter horse/mammoth donkey cross. There was a pretty little miniature horse foal, only four months old, who got a special award for being "so brave in the show ring." And a little boy named Steel got to meet his namesake, a blue roan filly also named Steel.

But without the other livestock, I was done rather early, so I went in the exhibit halls,  took a look at the quilts, walked around the commercial booths, and treated myself to an ice cream cone at Prince Pucklers (fudge brownie and salted caramel) and biked home again.