Fall, Fair, fixing, & firewood

Yesterday afternoon I wore a polarfleece jacket to the State Fair; this morning I donned a sweatshirt. Those clothes haven't seen the light of day since early spring! When we finally got some rain and cooler temperatures last weekend, we all breathed a sigh of relief, but tried not to get too used to it. 'Tis only September after all, which often holds hot weather. But autumn seems to have truly arrived, and I'm ready to embrace it with open arms.

So. This week. Whoosh. State Fair, work, State Fair, work, State Fair. Miss me? Not if you're following Boulderneigh on Instagram (link at right). Thanks to my iPhone, I've managed to post several photos there; call it bite-sized blogging (with different photos!). Finding enough time to do the "full meal deal" here is more challenging. I started this post early this morning, but then had to set it aside to do chores, a hospital employee newsletter, Brian's violin practice, housework, cooking . . . only finding time to finish it late tonight. We had tentatively planned to go horse-camping this weekend, but didn't have time to prepare for such and frankly, I was too tired. Not to mention the tomatoes all over the kitchen counter and the animals we'd leave behind that would need a sitter.... The weather may not have cooperated anyway; yay for more rain!

ANYway. I've already posted about my Sunday spinning stint at the State Fair. Tuesday Rick and Brian were there all day because Rick was the Horse Show vet. I planned to join them there in the afternoon, but didn't get home until 4:00 and still needed to finish prepping for Lance's and my show the next day. So my next visit to the Fair was Wednesday with my horse and three girlfriends, one of whom rode down with me and two who met us there and stayed for all our classes; so nice of them! Lance and I were pooped by the end, but collected a colorful rainbow of ribbons, two commemorative glasses and a plastic tumbler for our efforts. While my horse rested and ate, us gals refueled with some fair food while watching some dock-diving.

When I got home, Rick and Brian were hard at work on our winter's supply of firewood, having rented a splitter to deal with all the logs they brought home to cure last year. On top of that, Rick had had a technician out to look at our heat pump, and a fairly simple and inexpensive fix seems to be all it needed. WooHoo!

On Thursday afternoon after work, I headed to the Fair again, this time so Brian could drive in the Youth Driver Draft Horse Team competition. We got there in plenty of time to help groom, harness, and decorate the team, and I even did some spinning once everything was ready.

Brian did a great job driving his team – until he went off course in the simple pattern that was added this year. I guess I need to work on the concept of "figure eight" with him at home!

So in summary, it's full-on Fall; I got my fill of Fair food (falafel! scones! raspberry milkshake!); our heat pump is fixed; and our woodshed is filling up. I'd say it's been a fulfilling week at and away from . . .