Fair Labor

Everyone needs a break — even from taking a break. I went up and felled a few more trees, submitted our application (about which more below), came home. And then we took some time for Labor Day weekend to visit the local fair. Our particular “agricultural” fair has been going on for the last 103 years on that particular weekend. It’s pretty early in the fair season and before the fair season (autumn) really begins. And it’s pretty small. And, like most, it has been largely given over to the midway and the truck pulls. But it’s still small enough to retain some character.

The cottage site was quite wet. All the test pits, one of which we made into a fire pit, had filled with water with the rains of the few days preceding. A toad had taken up temporary residence in the fire pit. You can’t see him here, but he was merely hiding:So much clearing for such a small area. Without my helper (one of us must work, after all), it took a much longer time to haul and clear. I think we’re nearly there. At least the ROW is finished.

Unpictured is the completely out of hand brush pile. It will cost a few hundred for a serious chipper, but we’re in need for certain.

Back in Connecticut, work on Clark is nearly done. We’ve given him a new stripe outside; all that’s really left to do is paint the inside and put some kind of a floor down. The most glaring outside holes are patched, the sink is back where it should be. And — glory be — the wiring works. I’ll test the LP lines this coming week and we may even find we have a stove and a heater.

The floor is the last/next thing for me. Jamie has claimed the painting for herself.

These came up pretty easily, leaving behind only the adhesive. It feels like a movie theater now.

The Clark castaways find their rightful end.

And then to the Fair.

WInners and placers…

…behind protective wire, smartly. We’re jealous, our garden having produced only runts and tomatoes.

Fire to iron…

…keeping skills alive.

Goats, singly…

…and in pairs.

Eyes of every shape,

…and intent. The eye was once considered the strongest argument against evolution. But the vast variety of light-organs in nature make it a great case in point for the wonder of evolution.

Fantastic,

…and proud.

A tractor pull, or…

…what?

This is what the tractor pull is now. We missed the oxen and the horse, which are my favorite. I can watch a horsepull competition for a day, easily. They have such personality and will; maybe we’ll get some in later in the fall.

As Jamie said, it’s not my thing. But I can see the fun in it and the folks who do it do as all who love a thing do: a stolen hour here and there, burning the garage light late after work, chiseling a sponsorship from the local car dealer — or being the local car dealer and sinking profits into a hobby.

We chatted with the driver for a short moment. Alcohol breathing, loud, powerful — and utterly purpose-built. The open class the next evening was in some ways more interesting. Several guys showed up with their work trucks. That, I think, is the real spirit of the Fair. Work, celebrate the work.

Pull up in your pickup and pull up a chair…or a sofa.

A roar and a blur…

…and I consider a better camera. Or perhaps an actual one, rather than my phone.

The midway.

Lemonman

Spectacle.

After the Fair, I turned the car around and back we went to Vermont to visit my sister and brother-in-law. They entertained us with a delightful weekend — the Tunbridge Tri (a concoction of Erin’s that includes biking to a hike, hiking, and returning to soak in the river) and an awesome pound cake for our birthday.

Up on the overlook above South Royalton, halfway through the “tri.”

The Tunbridge Fairgrounds, the next morning. The Tunbridge World’s Fair is coming on the 12th.

Tomorrow, it’s back to the site. Our excavator is there and Donn will meet me. We’ll finish the ROW, grade the site, dig holes for the piers, and pray for clear skies.