Fall is coming

Hi! Yesterday, I was feeling suddenly ready to accept that fall is almost here, so I was inspired to bring the camera on a quick walk at work. Plus, that's actually part of my job! Here are a few things I saw.


Not particularly fally, but in Oregon it kind of is because we tend to get a burst of green after the dry summer. We had some heavy rain last week and it's pumped up the color a bit.


Just a goofy photo. There are lots of Steller's jays out lately. At one point I could hear them screeching in the trees and it was pretty loud. Maybe it was only three, but it sounded like a hundred.

We actually had a heat wave this past week, so it was in the 90s for a couple of days. Then Friday it just sort of became fall, in both the weather and my mind. I do love fall, but I can't handle it too soon because I love summer so much too. Once I'm ready, though, it can give me the same boost that spring often does: the feeling of new beginnings and that anything is possible in the next few months, and the motivation to make some plans.

I think all the green and orange is also a reminder to Ducks and Beavers fans that they can live together in harmony. ;) And that's probably the only time you'll see a sports reference in my blog. I honestly don't follow it at all, but I have coworkers who do. I have a hard enough time remembering which schools have which mascots.


Happy Fall Eve. Do you have any exciting plans?

Fair pictures (Part 2)

Okay, I'm back with more photos. There are fewer animals in these ones, in case you hate living beings. Enjoy!

Fair food time! Yeah, deep fried Koolaid--what the heck? I've not actually seen it, but it's apparently Koolaid-flavored dough, so the end result is sort of a doughnut hole. Have you ever had it? I assume the soda ones are the same situation. Not sure why they spelled it Crispy Creme--maybe legal reasons.

[NOTE: I need to remember to take more photos like this, because I find it really interesting to look back on pricing and variety of particular time periods. I'm really glad I talk about gas prices a lot in my secure journal, because now I can laugh at myself when I whined about gas being "almost two dollars! :(" Oh me!]

"I mostly come for the food." --Pami. She had a special list of fair foods that she wanted to make sure and enjoy that day. This was an elephant ear.

The horse show. This was the draft horse competition.

The Clydesdales won. Nice work, guys!

I was ready to check out some other exhibits while Pami and Nancy stayed at the horse show. Here was some kind of flower competition.

I really liked all these dahlias (right?). They smelled good, and many of them are so perfect in their roundness.


I also looked at the photography competition (that I refuse to enter now :P), but they don't allow photos of the photos. I was curious about the winners and, as usual, I don't really understand the judges' decisions. There were lots of really great photos that I think were better than a few of the winners.

The girls met up with me again and we looked at the cakes. There were lots of nice ones, but here are just a couple of pictures. I loved this one.

Another adorable bird one.


And that's all.

Fair pictures! (Part 1)

I didn't intend to wait a week to show you these photos, but here we are a week later!

I apologize in advance for the ungreatness of many of these photos. I wasn't in the best photography conditions and was taking pictures more for fun than to create something to hang on the wall (unless someone wants a mediocre photo of cows on their wall?). Most of these are animals, because I really like seeing animals and thought you might too. If not, too bad so sad.

Some of these barny buildings are pretty cool inside. First stop: bunnies!

Here we have a legless bunny of adorable. He's like a soft ham with ears.

So soft-looking! Come here, softy! Let me feed you carrots!

Who needs a pheasant break after all those rabbit photos? Did you know pheasants were so colorful? I've only seen like two in my life before this fair: one bouncing on the road after the car I was in hit it, and one running off into some tall weeds.

I imagine these ones are native to foreign lands. They're like parrots.

Very stylish.

Lovely!

Adorable, like a canary. Sorry so blurry.

Not so lovely.

Back to bunnies.

Annnnnd: guinea pigs! This one is named Daniel, so I had to take a picture for my friend Dan. I bet Dan never realized his parents named him after a guinea pig--what an honor!

This one had a cute hairstyle.

Kind of a straight bob with the hair parted on the side. Trendy. We had lots of guinea pigs growing up, and one of them--Harry--was a long-haired one like this, only I don't remember him having side-swept bangs.

PS I ♥ guinea pigs. RIP Jumper, Stripe, Splasher, CC, Harry (Hairy?), Oreo, Cola, Cally, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

One more bun. I think this was named Yoda or something else Star Warsy. Yoda makes the most sense, though.

Here you go. If you'd like to purchase this print, please email me.

I loved these Belgians. They were very large, though this photo doesn't quite depict it. Seeing large horses is sort of like seeing airplanes on the ground. So big!

Just standing. "What did you do today?" "Oh, I stood facing a wall." Kind of like they're all in time out. I kept wondering aloud (to my friends) whether the animals enjoy fair time. It doesn't seem all that fun for them, but maybe they really like all the people.

An unfortunate-looking llama. How awesome it must be for animals--they just sit there totally unaware of how dorky they might appear, and none of their animal friends notice either.

Goats! I don't know why, but I took way too many goat photos. They were just being so goaty, and I kept thinking about my friend Fayelle who loves goats so much. Shout out to Fayelle!

"Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom."

She just needs a little peace.

This was a tiny goat all by his lonesome.

Goat mouth!

I'm pretty sure you weren't supposed to pet the pigs.

And I'm really sure you aren't supposed to lean over into the pen. I had this boy arrested after I took the photo.

I just now realize it says they were born in 2012. Do you think that's a typo? Baby pigs don't grow that slowly, do they? My pig expertise is limited to several viewings of Charlotte's Web, but I think Wilbur grew up a lot in a year.

Goats are like dogs.

And piles of laundry.

Can't forget a blurry sheep photo! I just thought it was cute how he was chewing on some hay. All of the sheep were freshly sheered...shorn? What's the word? I was kind of bummed not to see a big puffy one.

Okay, I just realized that I have too many photos for one post, so I'll post the rest maybe tomorrow. Have a great day!