Color Magic for Ponies

Take one cute little black pony and one determined young lady.

Add horsey shampoo and lots of water. Wash him well and pick out the burdocks that came out of the most recent hay. 

Braid him up nice and walk him for a while. He is kind of a little stinker (the last word there is a synonym for pony) and the experience will do him good.

Put him back in his lovely box stall with a net full of hay.

And "HEY PRESTO"

Gambit

A cute little blue roan pony emerges from his chrysalis.

Yeah, as soon as the kids put the ponies back in the stalls they rolled like somebody was paying them overtime.

That's life at the Great Fonda Fair.

*The Appleyard Duck Peg exhibited won BOS waterfowl...he is a real pretty fellow. That's him with the dark green head above.

Not just another pretty face
McCall's KC Crimson
AKA Diamond

Terribly Neglectful

 

Cute little Magnolia Warbler
right in the backyard

Of this poor blog, and I'm sorry. It is just too easy to throw a couple of pictures on Facebook and go back outdoors or get back to taming this disaster area of a house.

Ralph seems somewhat better. Time will tell. At least he feels a little bit more like doing things, which was not the case before.

Immature Gray Catbird, already showing his sassy side

Birding has been sporadic. With the schedule he needs to follow for food and medicine it is a project to get out early in the morning, so that has not been happening much. Also it rains every day just about and sometimes a lot. I washed out the plastic tote I keep sunflower seeds in yesterday, laid it down to drain, then turned it up to the sun to dry. Hah! It had an inch and a half of water in it last time I checked.

Kid Rock (s)
I find pretty rocks and let the kids take what they want
when they are here.

We did our own little nighthawk watch last week. Common Nighthawks, which are anything but, are migrating through right now. We usually go down to the Schoharie/Schenectady County line where we join our good friend, George Steele, for a nice nighthawk watch. He is really good at predicting when they will come by and where.

Warbling Vireo

However, my deepest birding goal is to find as many birds in Montgomery County as is possible. With that in mind we ventured down to the Overlook Bridge in Amsterdam just before dusk to have a look. Becky came with us to get some steps in in a prettier place than looping through the house. 

The bridge did not disappoint. We were no more than halfway across when I heard an interesting call, looked up, and there were two nighthawks. We were less impressed by this idiot who chose to climb the sculpture in the park and to encourage the small children accompanying him to do the same. A little girl that was with them came up to where we were standing and concealed herself behind the hydrangeas, so as not to be associated with such disrespectful behavior. On the way home, Ralph suggested we take Queen Ann St. rather than the main road. We were halfway down when he pointed left and said, "What are those?"

Outlaw goats. 
They were in the road when we came upon them.
Thought they were deer at first but...

"Those" were 24 nighthawks...or maybe more...swooping and swirling through the dusky light. How cool is that!

Also in the road at dusk
Amish kids with wagons

Here at home, where I have been doing my early morning birding, I have been seeing the same eighteen or twenty species every day for weeks. Not boring or anything, as it is always fun or I wouldn't be doing it, but a bit disappointing, as I read reports of other folks finding dozens of warblers and wonders of waterfowl and shorebirds.

That kinda changed yesterday when I spotted first a Canada Warbler, and then a Nashville in the old Honey Locust tree. It was scheduled to be cut down years ago but the deal fell through. I am sorta glad it did. It is a danger to one and all, but the birds love the way it catches the early sun and warms up the bugs so that they can catch them.

Great Blue Heron, foggy morning

Anyhow, we are still here and on the right side of the dirt and I thought you should know. The fair starts this week...hoping the track dries out by tomorrow afternoon so the guys can enjoy the tractor pull

Member of Congress

I may or may not go over. I used to get really excited for the fair, entered everything from art to animals of all sorts, and went every day and night. Now I am just as contented to listen to the roar of the trucks and tractors and the distant jingle of the announcer's voice from right here in the living room or on the sitting porch, and call it close enough...it is right across the river.

Other side of the aisle

Of course most years I change my mind and at least take one walk around to say hi to all our friends and neighbors and look at all the good livestock. Mebbe I'll see you there.

Then again, mebbe not. 

It is a Given

That if drought-breaking rain shall fall, it shall be on the Fonda Fair

Usually on tractor pull night.

The boss went over to enjoy said event last night, but I hear tell they got rained out....not for the first time, and probably not for the last. Last week in August, first week of September are notorious for chancy weather around here.

Sorry guys, I could not believe it when, shortly after I came indoors from a lovely walk under gorgeous skies, I looked out and it was pouring

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?  You cannot be serious.

He must have found something else to entertain him though, as I don't even know what time he got home. We introverts, Becky and I, stayed home and read books and reveled in the silence.

Anyhow, I wish that it had been otherwise for those who love the sport. (I actually really like seeing the big rigs go, all that thunderous power and smoke and glory. However, I also love peaceful, quiet and calm, and guess which is easier to come by....LOL...just call me lazy.)

Of course, it is lovely outside now, although still dripping. Pastel skies are turning bright and the Carolina Wrens are going nuts, singing and whirring their warning rattles.

 Perhaps I should go join them. Have a great day.

Here is a pony, hope it helps you feel better.

Just in Case

I shamelessly stole this from Liz's Facebook page
Photo credit is hers

You get the local paper and read the Farm Side this Friday, the photo above is what kicked it off for me. I had been struggling to find an anchor for the annual Fonda Fair column, and this was it. Shazam! 

Lamb in the living room

Here is the original story of the little lamb with Peggy. My heart just skipped when I saw this shot of the two of them, wandering over at the Ag 2000 barn, no halter, no lead rope, just love to tie them together.

That kid has worked all summer with that little lamb that had such a rough start and it shows. I have many doubts that there will be any ribbons involved in this adventure, but who needs them anyhow when there is so much fun to be had?

Farm kid, right at the heart

And you know what they say about apples? Liz was six when this photo of her unloading her first show heifer, Sonora, at the fair, made the front page of the paper. Meanwhile, back to the keyboard. Deadline looms....

A few years later...

Of Apples, Trees, and Show Halters

The boss and LV 

Major Moves, a pony I used to show

Liz at 6 taking Sonora, her first show calf, off the trailer at the fair

Liz 'n Lemmie...sure wish we'd kept that cow

This year....Liz and Scooby. Not a Holstein, but whadda ya gonna do?

And....the new "apple" .....not far from the tree of generations is she?

Answering the Big Question

This fascinating critter is a potato roaster for the top of a wood cook stove. I wish I had taken the camera to the fair the second time I visited, as the antique department folks had a potato there to demonstrate how it works. 

The tubers sit upright between the little metal dogs, against the center cone, and cook very nicely I'll bet. Too bad we don't have something like this to use today....oh, wait, we do! The kind gentleman who owns it purchased it in Long Lake.

Best guesses go to Carol Williams here on the blog and Tom Cassidy and several who agreed with him on Facebook.

L. J. Hand's New Booth

Our favorite farm store has a booth under the grandstand this year. It is very attractive and has Peggy-approved lollipops as well.

You can sign up for drawings to win cool stuff, chat with the nice people taking care of things, and check out the fine products offered.

Make sure to stop by when you visit the fair. 

Peggy at the Fair

What is It?

As I strolled through the antique and farm produce building at the fair a nice gentleman of our acquaintance presented me with an object, the likes of which I had never seen before.

Mind you, when I was seven or eight, Mom and Dad opened an antique store so we grew up surrounded by cool and mysterious items of all sorts. Let's just say you can't fool me with a potato masher or a single row hand corn planter very easily.

However, the best I could do with this thing was some kind of bundt cake pan or something like that.

Alas, I was wrong.

Let's see if you can do better than I did. Answer in the comments and at the end of the fair I will share the answer.

Best guess will get credit for same.....

Gambit

Gambit didn't place, but it was fun to watch him go. Very few ponies had any clue about side passing down the pole and putting their front feet in the hula hoop and pivoting around in a circle.

Diamond at the Fair

This is the pony-in-hand obstacle class at the Fonda Fair. Most of the ponies, ours included, had never been asked to side pass or pivot a circle with their feet in a hula hoop before. However, they all gave it a go....some with more success than others.

Diamond did us proud and came in third. The voices you hear are me shushing Peggy, Peggy singing, and the dairy judge in the other ring giving reasons.

Fair Time

Lily

The fair is almost upon us, so one of the veterinarians from Midvale Veterinary Clinic, where we have done business longer than I have even been here, is here doing the "fair work". Getting legal for attending a show where many animals from many farms are all grouped together. This doctor is great with the horses and does a good job with pups too.

Coggins, rabies vaccinations, ditto Potomac Fever are being done on the horse and the three ponies. We have heard that Potomac is really bad this year so everybody got an extra booster. Even if they aren't going to the show they need their protections......

And lucky me, the doctor who is doing the work today had dog vaccines and medicines right on the truck.

Thus Fin got his rabies vaccination and his third distemper, lepto, etc. shot, plus some Frontline for the fleas that seem to have taken over his person....er....dogson.....puppyson? He saw fit to retaliate by peeing all over me during the rabies part of the deal.....

Ah, well, it's only laundry, right?

Meanwhile it is finally cool enough to feel lively again. I think I may be at least ten years younger than during recent weeks.

I Hope You Can Stand

I was trying to sneak up for some candids, but Kegan spotted me right away

A little more stuff from the fair....this time my dear brother and his  son working on getting their hit and miss engines running in their display at the fair. They make the cornmeal and it is delicious. I have a bunch in the freezer and as soon as the weather warrants I will be baking corn bread with it again.