Winning is half the battle

Here I am with some chickens.

Show Chickens.

Here is a picture of Lee Ann taunting said show chicken.

This is the Douglas County Museum of Cultural and Natural History's "Hoedown".

Here are some of the "hoes".

Look it's the Colonel!

This is a nice picture, however, not very good for commenting on.

These are pickles that we won. Oh wait...we didn't win them...never mind.

We also did NOT win these ribbons.

I also did not win number 5 in this months Art Forum*. (it's too complicated to explain) *this month is September

Always a winner!

Still Funtastic

This garden won the blue ribbon in the weird garden decoration competition.

This looks more like a small child than a wicked witch, assuming that was the intent.

We see this guy at every concert in Roseburg.

He is a powerful dancer.

Lexi, Katherine and Megan are also quality dancers. Especially when it comes to the Hippie Dance.

This was specially bred rooster, it is half chicken and half Australian Thorny Devil.

And these are specially bred fighting pigs. Look at them go!

This is Bad Company. They are very old.

This is the metal band that was playing simultaneously.

Here I am rocking out to the metal while eating fried dough.

Much like last years fair, we debated which ride to go on and eventually decided that the price and the risk of the rides sucking made it a recipe for disappointment.

Hate mail

This is an angry note I found at one of the festival entrances this morning.

I got in too late for the fund raising run. I ate these donuts instead.

Here is a bandage I made out of toilet paper and scotch tape.

Here is someones cookie I took from the fridge. It's their own fault for leaving cookies in the fridge.

Remember those donuts from a few pictures ago? They had been thrown in the trash and someone (not myself) spotted them there and decided to pull them out and stuck them in the fridge. I would have said something, but I was too busy eating my ill begotten cookie.

I am proud to say that I worked at the art festival all weekend and all I got was this cactus. That's sticking it to the man.

Here is a picture the cactus Mary got me as a house warming/Easter gift.

She was going to get me a chicken.

I don't really remember why she didn't.

I'm also not sure what my point was or why I took these last pictures.

Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster

Day two.

Here are Lee Ann, Steve, Chris and Ryan (?) helping kids make stuff. Well not really. They all showed up 45 minutes late and hung over. Eventually they all got bored and wandered off.

I found Steve and, somehow, convinced him to help me. I wonder if the fact that we got to drive around in the cart ("The Rig") had anything to do with it.

I had a bunch of pictures of kids making art and then I wondered why I would show you them.

This is a blog about me, not about the children I serve.

Here is Sarah the Summer Associate. I made an "ass for days" joke and Steve glared at me.

Megan had gone yard saleing (sailing?) on Friday and among the things she bought (while normal people were working) was this owl wind chime. Did I mention that I am not at all jealous of the wind chime, the glasses with nude women or the orange cardigan sweater (which she actually got a different time)?

And, boy, are my arms tired

This is my Summer Arts Festival costume.

Here I am driving a "rig". (Note: in the "country"; all vehicles are called "rigs")

I managed to injure myself while using a knife improperly. I am a good example to the kids who were assisting me.

Here is Sarah. She sang some songs and did a little dance.

While we all kind of wanted to go joy-riding in the four wheel thing; we had to come up with valid reasons to do so. And just for the record: chasing/honking at fair-goers was NOT on the list of valid uses.

Here is my assistant.

He's a special boy...

These are some sunglasses I stole from one of the kids.

I think they look pretty sweet.

Tomorrow: I am going to, seriously, rethink my choice in footwear.

Bands with stupid names

Today we prepare for the Summer Arts Festival. Steve brought over his Summer Associates; Sarah and Lynsey. I like the fact that I don't need to learn any new names.

Here is Sarah doing some work.

Lynsey helping.

Steve supervising.

Me being quite pleased with the distribution of labor.

Various attempts were made to thread the rope though this sign. Eventually we decided to staple the rope to the end of a dowel and thread it through that way.

It did work, however, the first attempt ended up threaded backwards.

As the Summer Associates are teenagers; they felt impelled to talk about bands I had never heard of.

I told them that "___ is not a band name" and "bands today need to come up with less stupid names."

I took my car in to have the door problem remedied.

While they didn't fix the problem, they did wash the car for free.

Here is the paint-by-number black velvet fantasy mural I got for Christmas.


I am very good at coloring.

Megan is doing a mosaic version of Starry Night.

It's pretty nice.

Here is another detail.

Megan and I; went over to Megan's to read magazines.

Megan and Megan thought it would be a good idea to dress up the dog.

I'll let you be the judge.

I told them that I was only going to include one picture of Megan's dog wearing clothes.

I feel, slightly, tricked.