State Fair

Photo is from Georgia National Fair - unfortunately I forgot my camera (again!)

We went to the North Carolina State Fair for the first time this year. It was a crazy place with hundreds of game stands where you can try to win life size stuffed dogs and inflatable baseball bats. There were also tons of food stands - everything from sausages to hush puppies to snow cones to cotton candy to almost every fried thing you could imagine. Some of the more popular fried items this year were the deep-fried Snickers and Reeses, but also available were deep-fried Ho-Hos, deep-fried pecan pie, deep-fried mac n' cheese, deep-fried cheeseburgers, deep-fried pickles, and the newest addition, deep-fried butter. The blood is curdling in my veins just thinking about the massive amounts of oil that must have been used at the fair this year. It was my goal to try a deep-fried pickle and it was mighty tasty. I liked it a lot.

We watched a BMX bike show. It was pretty amazing but very loud and gave us headaches near the end. They did some awesome stunts on those little bikes - from back and front flips to 360s and 720s and even more stuff that I don't know the names for.

Somewhat surprisingly, I was really eager to see all the farm animals. At the fair, I made sure that we didn't miss any of the key animal buildings. Inside each, I took deep breaths and marveled at how comfortable the smell was and how much it made me think of home and Cache Valley. I loved seeing the long rows of cows - down this row, all the nice honey and tan colored cows, here, the black and spotted cows. I loved the miniature donkeys and the prize winning steers, the silly goats and the neatly-shorn sheep.

Actually, I was shocked how much I enjoyed the entire atmosphere - the animals, the smell, the Wranglers and boots. Who knew I would feel so comfortable around all that! I think my thanks must go to many places: the county fair, Emily, having horses and goats, being around animals at other times, going to school next to a dairy, just growing up in Cache Valley, etc. I suppose this means I am a country girl at heart and never really acknowledged it.

Anyways, we had a great time at the fair. It is always fun to go out and do something different.

Green Corn

So yesterday, I was playing through some old piano music and trying to get Jeran, who was sitting at the computer near me, to sing along. He, of course, refused and I, of course, called "Join in!" when starting every single song I thought he might know.

I came across the old classic She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain. I played the first line then interjected, "Green Corn!" as I always do before the next line. Jeran about fell out of his seat.

"What did you say?! Green Corn?! What are you talking about? You are supposed to say 'Choo-choo'."

"'Choo-choo?' No one says 'choo-choo'. Everyone says 'Green Corn'."

We then got into a short debate about why we would say either thing. Jeran argued that the song is about the railroad tracks being built and the train coming along, which is technically correct.

I argued that my entire family sings "Green Corn" because during one family road trip, we had that old brown song book and we were singing this song and I hollered, "Green Corn" because that was the next song in the book. From that time forward, we all sang "Green Corn!" in all the pauses of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain.

So who was right? Jeran, obviously. But he will never hear me say anything there but "Green Corn".