Flat surfaces Beware!

(Read in the tone of an Andy Rooney '60 Minutes' whinny voice)... Did you ever notice how flat surfaces around the house seem to collect 'stuff ' ?  It seems that every table, bookshelf, desk top or any other flat surface here becomes a repository for things that need to be put away, filed, trashed or dealt with in some manner.  Instead, they are gently stacked in plain sight on the nearest flat surface to be taken care of at a later time.

Here's a picture of Charlene from last night.  Glass of Blueberry juice, basket of pens, pencils and other implements of destruction, the morning's newspaper and tons of NS40 textbooks and a sprinkling of remotes.  I swear, this table is cleaned off daily but it's 'trash pile' magnetic field encompasses the entire house; it's pull is stronger than the trash can.

I'll swing the camera to my desk, the one with the strongest 'trash pile magnetic pull'.The 'pull' is so strong that the desktop is rarely clean for more than 5 minutes at a time.  I don't know why the laws of physics don't apply here as I really don't recall any facts dealing with wood, paper, cardboard, pens, pencils and magnets or magnetic fields but our place is living proof that there is a connection, at least in our house.  If I walk into the kitchen, our former kitchen dining table, the one that holds all items as 'Study Hall Numero Uno' for the nursing program, is always 'loaded'.  Here's that picture.  Notice Charlene hasn't attacked me yet for temporarily putting groceries on it:

I could go throughout the house, especially Nic and Trav's room but it would be too repetitious.  Someday, when we win the lottery, we're getting bigger trash cans or something........

The County Fair

Yesterday afternoon, Charlene and I went to the County Fair, next to downtown Ventura.  Just a couple of miles away and all roads that lead to it are closed, one-way the wrong-way for us or clogged with swat team guys waiting for something to shoot at.  Just kidding about that last one....  Anyway, we spent about 4-5 hours walking around, sampling stuff you would only eat at a 'fair', riding rides, petting horses and goats.  I took some pictures throughout the afternoon and have included them here.  Overall, it was a lot of fun, period.  And that's what it's supposed to be, isn't it! 
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On the way to find a close parking spot, I took a pic of my Fair Ticket.  If you're over 62, you get a $3 discount.  Old People Rock!  As Charlene handed me my ticket, she ask, "Senior or Child"?  I said, "Yes, that describes me perfectly....Senior Child.

Once we made it past the ticket takers, there was a plethera of garbage 'fair' food booths as far as the eye could see.  Once a year, you're allowed to eat this crap in the name of fun.  Don't bother figuring out the fat content or calorie count.  You shouldn't come to a fair if you need to watch what you eat. 

As we worked our way toward the 4H and FFA animal section, there were way, way too many really cool garbage fair food booths.

Of course, there were some with 'catch-phrase' wording like, Best Buns in Town!  But 10 lb. buns?

One thing for certain.  We do not come to the fair for Cookies and Hot Chocolate.  Even though this is a cute little A-Frame booth, please, Grease and Lard Only!

Here's one of the main reasons to come to a county fair:  Funnel Cakes.  Hopefully fried in bacon grease, turned a powder white with the 'Snowstorm Powdered Sugar Shaker'.  Calories?  Animal Fat?  Who cares, it's the once a year county fair, deal with it.

Oh, My God, they had Foot-Long Corn Dogs!  Twice the nitrates and lard.  Mmmmmmm!

As we work our way to the livestock pens, the food frenzy goes on......Austrailian, Italian, Indian and so on....

We finally made it through the garbage food gauntlet and first up were the horses.  Such beautiful animals.  Here's a gaggle of pics from the 'horsey set'.

Then, on to the rest of the animals.  The best were the goats.  Their noses were no where near as soft as horse noses.  But one had a really cool Turtleneck sweater on, the other really cool dreadlocks.

You simply must put some kind of 'fair' garbage in your stomach before you go on the rides.  We started off with potato chips.  With a few onion rings.  These are fresh made while you wait.  Sliced, boiled in fat, hit with the 'Snowstorm' salt shaker, cups and cups of Heinz Ketchup.  Almost a pound of chips per basket.  Mmmmmmm, grease!

Then, it was on to the rides.  We did the Ferris Wheel, the 'Swings', the 'Bobsled' and the giant rocking pirate boat.  The swings was the worst, more centrifical force on stomach that the other rides.  I took pictures from the Ferris Wheel in honor of Ferris Bueller. 

Here's a pic of the Pacific, right next to us.  There's a guy sitting on his 'board' in the bottom left corner.  You're looking at the Oxnard / Port Hueneme coast from the Ventura Fairgrounds.

Here's a couple more taken of the fair itself from atop the Ferris Wheel.

Now, we had some garbage in our stomachs, swirled it with rides, saw the animal displays, it's off to the other buildings full of gems, plants, paintings and other 'fair worthy' crafts.

We stumbled upon an Oxygen Bar.  Bar?  Different flavors of Oxygen?  You Betcha!

  Just before we left, I saw a sign I couldn't resist.

YES!  I had to have one of them.  Damn it, too many choices.........O.K., I went with the deep fried  Snickers.

Of course, smothered in powdered sugar......

The first bite was just the dough-ey end.  Like a corn dog only sweet.  Then I hit the Snickers and everything was well and good with the world.

If you haven't been transported to the ER  with an overdose of sugar and cholesteral, here's the parting signs as we were leaving the fair.  Kind of reminds me of the morning D.J.'s "Pat and Wags"  (before Wags and Elliot) when they were at the Ohio State Fair, years ago, and were raving about 'Pizza in a Cup' on the midway.  Here's the updated versions:

and of course,

Yes, indeed, nothing says if finer than Chocolate Covered Bacon........ Bon Appetite!

Florida Vacation, The Prologue

Most of you are aware that we spent eight days in Florida, returning last Wednesday.  Future blogs will follow each day, pictures included, but today, I'd like to explain the overall trip.  Charlene is from Florida and her brothers and sister live there, including her twin brother (yes, she is a 'twin').  They're located in Tampa as well as North Central Florida and on the East Coast near Daytona.  So, every two days, we were somewhere else visiting a new brother throughout the entire vacation.  Go somewhere, unpack, enjoy another day-and-a-half then pack it up and drive somewhere else to unpack for 2 days.  About the 5th day, Nic, Trav and I were whining about it.  On the 6th day, Nic and Trav said, "If we ever come back, can we stay in one place and send out invitations to everyone else......". 

That and the temperature and humidity.  Both in the mid-90's everyday.  Everytime I'd go into air conditioining, my glasses would fog.  Everytime I left the air conditioning, my glasses would fog.  Even if I was already outside and just opened the car door, the 1000 degree air in the car would 'woosh!' out and fog my glasses.  Now, understand that I am a 'sweathog'.  54 years in Ohio taught me to dress for cool running and drink tons of Gatoraide.  So, the first trip to the grocery store within hours of landing in Tampa was to buy a cart full of Gatoraide.  Living in the temperate Southern California Coastal area, I think I forgot how to sweat but quickly remembered within minutes of walking out of the airport.  Other than those two drawbacks, I had a lot of fun, as did the rest of the family.  And, I finally got to meet those faceless telephoners that have called for years.  Most of 'em are as goofy as my family, if not worse (in a good way).
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