Well, there was a weekend.
The annual garage sale in the village and environs seemed to be going well. Maybe not as many commercial opportunities as usual but plenty of tents and canopies were out sheltering the displays of treasures–not much rain, thank goodness–available to the public. I even bought a small bench at the big Brookover house (the one that’s been getting major landscaping updates) at Maple & Center. I figure that at $1, I could hardly go wrong. I, basically, just bounced from location to location around town with no particular item in mind, but interest in anything that might catch my eye. There were definitely some eye-catching things out there…like the mannequins in costume on Maple Ave. Took me several turns at the Maple/Park corner to finally get it through my head that those “ladies” were not waving at me. Stopped waving back.
Went to Cuyahoga Falls to judge the “Miss Agriculture USA” Nationals on Saturday. That was an experience! This event featured an array of young ladies who knew a heckuva lot about everything Ag, from aquaculture to zebus (Look ‘em up). They were from all over, from Connecticut and Iowa to Idaho, California and Florida. There were a whole bunch of levels–from Tiny through Future Little Miss, Little Miss (You knew that was coming, right?), Petite, Junior, Teen, Miss, Ms, Mrs(Yes, there were married ladies with major ag chops), and Elite (Isn’t that a crafty title for entrants over 31?). A bunch of stuff took place before the Saturday finale–interviews and such–even an ag wearpresentation which, by all accounts, went way beyond overalls and rubber boots. They also got to write essays–the ones who could write, that is–and do all kinds of photo opportunities. I got to see the personal introduction, the speeches and the formal wear presentations (No swimsuits, thank goodness. Who swims in the horse-watering tanks anyway?). The last feature was a requirement to answer a random selected question about some agricultural topic. Some of these chicks, well, all of them really, were pretty amazing. They know a lot of stuff about every kind of agriculture, plus some things which people don’t always connect with agriculture–an organization worker in the FFA, an owner of a custom butchering operation, veterinary science majors, a John Deere employee, communication majors, a STEM advocate, rabbit growers, even a Steam Queen. Pretty interesting! Several of the ladies mentioned in their speeches, agriculture is not, as is sometimes believed, nothing but “Cows, sows, and plows.” Better believe it! This bunch is all about being AGvocates for Agriculture, educating us all and commanding respect for their calling. Watch for this event next year. Could rival Miss America on a Tractor. Watch for the results to be announced soon.
Then, of course, there’s the return of Karma. Just the other day I was thinking that it was nice that there had been no return engagements with the bat…or bats…this summer. Well, dontcha know, that was a dumb thing to do.
So I get up in the morning and the cats have done their usual dodge em car routine overnight all through the house; I hardly notice anymore. Sometimes I pick up stuff right away, more often, I don’t. That evening , as I’m closing doors and some windows and stuff like that and I look over behind a chair, only to see a dark irregular shape lying there on the carpet. I got closer, it looked even more irregular. So…I have a choice, a couple of them, actually. Turn on more lights, find out what the dark thing is. Shut the door, turn down the lights and wonder all night if the dark spot has been revived and is winging its way around the house. Put something over the spot, weigh it down, plan to check it out in the morning. Guess which one I picked. The metal colander overtop of the spot is still there and I’m wondering what I can get to slide under the trap so that I can take whatever it is outside. Now if it turns out that it’s nothing but a little poopresent left by the cats, I’m going to feel really stupid (and the carpet will have suffered again), but If it’s a bat body, that’s another story. I wonder if I should take it to County Health (They’re going to be tired of me soon, for bringing in expired flying creatures…or coming in for rabies shots). In any case, there have been no recent sightings, so I’m hoping that we’re done for the summer. I’ll look under that colander real soon…really.
Cartoon description of the week, from the “Pickles” strip : Two older guys are sitting on a bench and one says to the other, “Do you ever go into a room and forget why you came in?” Other guy says, “Oh yeah.” First guy says, “Me too. Happened just this morning. I walked into a room and had no idea why I went there.” “Then I realized it was the bathroom.” “That narrowed it down to one or two.”
And there you go….
