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Published: August 19th 2016
It seems like we are skipping rocks across the pond. Hopping from one place to another with little time in between. Put your diving suits on for these excursions. We are altogether in this like a rock pile and we don't need anyone sinking.
Remember last year we joined the Howard (NY) Historical Society in Howard, NY. My mother and I lived there on my grandparents' farm after my father died. We lived there @ 3 years (1957 -) before moving into Hornell, NY. I thought it would been nice to get back to one part of my roots. It was very nice and we met a lot of good people. We have stayed on as life members but don't go to the meetings anymore. Too far and too late at night to drive to. Each year, they celebrate Howard Old Home Days. This year we went as visitors rather than volunteers. We enjoyed the parade. Our friend, Roger, rode his antique, big wheel bicycle. We visited the library and saw beautiful, framed, old barn photographs that we took a chance on winning...RATS, didn't win. Visited their Masonic museum in the upstairs of this fine old building. When I lived
Tractors in parade
And old, classic carsin Howard, it was the corner grocery store. Everything and everyone were here. Look at the old metal tiles that still line the walls and ceiling! Love it! Off to the the community building for their delicious, inexpensive chicken barbecue......after first stopping at the Historical Society's museum. Nice to see our friends and see all the memorabilia from Howard. Filled up with chicken, we meandered a different way home. Plenty of back roads to travel on in our rural neck of the woods. Hope you liked the view.
We still have to tend to our antique co-op in Salamanca, NY. -- (An Indian Reservation). Fortunately, we do continue to sell some stuff on a regular basis. This trip, we had a BOGO ticket for the buffet at the casino in Salamanca. On our way over to it, we passed a house that will remain in your memory forever. What do you think? Definitely one of a kind. Do you think it's a bit gaudy? Naw. We had to stop and ask some porch people a few houses down from it, "what is with it?" They laughed. Said a French couple bought it and decorated it to the hilt. They
Our friend, Roger
Riding his big wheel bicycle said it is equally as gaudy/pretty on the inside as we can observe on the outside. They said that often people stop and go through the gate, thinking it is a restaurant. A good way to get a peek behind the very specialized yard covering. I should have done that. We are always pretty good at getting in places not open to the public, ei."We're looking for Mr. Waldo." Remember, Sam & Sandy?
Dragging ourselves away from this residential eye-catcher magnet, we finally made it to the casino. Same scenario: I lose on the penny slots, Cory wins on the crap table.....remember to bet the hard six! Winner! We sang "??You know when to hold them, you know when to fold them??" as we pranced to the buffet. Today was the crab & prime rib special so the cost was even more than normal. We were happy we had that coupon. I try so hard to eat carefully and not too much.....but just like on the slots....I lost (my will-power) so we waddled out to our car with plenty of cookies stuffed in my money bag and the rest stuffed inside ourselves. And then I wonder why our scales
keep telling me a bad story. Bad scales! Hope you won some gambling money and had a good dinner without gaining an extra 20 pounds like I did. That's why we don't go to the casino on a regular basis. I want to lose weight and not $$$$.
Obviously, I am not true to my word. We also went to Rochester to stock our two cases in another antique co- op that we just took last month. It's a very nice antique mall but not easily found.....that may be a problem. Once done with our chores, we selected the Golden Corral restaurant to eat dinner. AKA: the Trough! A tough choice for those who love food (us) and have no will-power (us). They have one in Florida that we manage to go to a couple times .... you can't go more than that or they will put you in the "Orca the Whale" tank at SeaWorld. It was good but Florida's is better. Believe me, we didn't leave hungry. Whew! No whining, please. We'll still will go again...but in Florida.
During summer, our local library hosts a lunch out on their rooftop patio. Every Tuesday, various local restaurants
cater lunch here to the public. Once a month, I meet with a group of retired nurses for lunch. They selected the library roof this time. It was really nice. The view was great and the weather perfect. I had not gone here before but certainly would go again. Lots of "firsts" for me this year!
Now for the big finale....this week we went to the Erie County Fair in Buffalo, NY. We started going to this fair in 1964 when we got married and lived in Buffalo. We were faithful attendees every year. Never missed a year! Our kids loved it. We even took our St.Bernard to it and pulled him around it in the kids wagon. Many, many memories of this huge fair. Over the past several years, we have only gone to this fair on an occasional basis and lately, not at all. But we figured it was time to take all of you to the fair so we can share more good memories. Weather was good ...that's important. Quickly, we noticed a few new changes. We had our usual, permanent routine and path that we always took year after year. Never diverting. However, this year,
we quickly came across a new butterfly tent to wander through. They gave you (for $1.00) 2 Q-tips to dip in nectar to attract the butterfly to your little stick. Then we could plaster these fluttery bugs all over ourselves. We only stuck one on. Cory suffered through it and was glad to leave this tent infestation. I liked it a lot!
Onward to the Conservation Building and all the poor stuffed wildlife. I like seeing them better on our outdoor camera in our back field. I bet you do, too. Over to the cow and swine barns.....whoops: they are roped off, no entry...rats. However, looming in front of us was a huge, new building for the agricultural displays. It was wonderful. They had a large "moo-ternity" ward set up in the center of this big room. They had @ 8 pregnant cows here....some ready to deliver, some already delivered. The newest calf we saw was 9 hours old. There was an unpleasant pen that held a big sow and her 9 piglets. I guess they have to pen them like this so she doesn't roll on top of them. Cory tried his hand at milking a fake cow
that performed realistically. He did a fine job, ol' farmer Bucky. Behind this building, we found a cow barn open to the public. I love seeing these cows. Cory is glad when we get back out into the fresh air. He doesn't care for the manure odor. I have always said if there is reincarnation, I want to come back as a well cared for cow. Moo.
Too many delicious choices of junk food to eat. We ended splitting a slice of pizza and sharing 8 fried dough nuggets. You were on your own for lunch.
We visited all the exhibit booths....bought nothing cause it's just highly expensive crap. Real rip-offs. We used to fall for their stuff....not anymore. The older you get, the wiser you get. We watched while a group of women tried making a dress out of material over big pine tree branches. Then what do you do with it? Call it a dressy Christmas Tree?
We saw all the items put in exhibit for ribbon winning. Some were really excellent. But I loved the dead flowers that still won a prize. That would have been my entry, for sure!
A couple hours
At the museum
Cory picking out his car into traversing this multi-acre playground, I was searching for a bench to rest for awhile. I think we walked 25 miles through this fair. So much to see. We "ooed and awed" as we made our way down the Midway. How can people dare to ride some of those wild rides? How? We asked a teenage boy what he saw when he paid his $1.00 to see the smallest women alive. Said she was 2 feet tall. He said she was a midget. I asked what she said to him...he said "hi". Cool.
As we finally came to the area we started at, we remarked about the many changes that had been made to this fair. Mostly, relocation of various venues but things looked cleaner, new buildings had been built and roadways were larger. The crowd was much smaller than in the past. No shoving and squeezing. We ambled along like we were alone in some areas. But we weren't - you were with us. Hope you enjoyed yourselves...probably won't go back right away. So tuck this one away in your memory bank.
There's one thing we don't want to remember from being at the fair. Once home,
Cummunity Building
Chicken Barbecue...I ate some it before photo Cory found a big gouge in the side of our black car. Rats! Someone banged something bad into it. Taking the car, next week, to the collision place for @ $200. An expensive trip to the fair! Rats! You win a few and lose a few..right?
Time off for awhile. I can hear you......was that applause or did you just drop something? But don't worry.....we'll let you know when and where we are going when we go again. We've had some rain so the grass turned green. Cory strapped himself on to his mower and sailed around the ranch like a happy cowboy at round-up time. Yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay ! ! In the meantime, Lulu picked a few tomatoes from our little garden. They are coming on fast. Wish I could give you some, Yummy.
Please remember to scroll ALL the way down...lots of photos (35) this time. There's even a second page.
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