Fair to Middling: The Kansas State Fair

Fair to middling is an American phrase, used as early as the 1820s. The term fair to middling originally referred to gradations of quality in cotton, sheep and other farm goods. Such goods may be designated into categories such as fine, good, fair, middling and poor. By the 1860s the phrase fair to middling evolved into common speech to mean something average or slightly above average.

Information from www.grammarist.com

I didn't get a purple ribbon during our trip to the Kansas State Fair this week ... unless you count the photo props we used. 

I didn't get a blue ribbon either ... except for the mosaic of the blue ribbon in the Oz Gallery.

But I did get a white ribbon - 3rd place - in one category in the Amateur Division of the Kansas State Fair photography contest. I suppose you could call that "fair to middling."

However, with only three places awarded per category, it was like a grand prize to me.  I entered this photo I took during a snowstorm in the "Seasonal Trees" category. As I was choosing, I debated: Is it a photo of a tree or is it a photo of a cow-calf pair?

Based on my past success in the fair photography contest - or, really, the lack thereof - I wasn't optimistic. So I was surprised (and thrilled!) when Randy and I were perusing the long aisles of mounted photos, and I found the third-place ribbon on one of my six entries. (It was the only one that placed.)

To enter the Kansas State Fair, there's a $1 processing fee. (That covers all the entries.) But the $5 I get for the third-place finish won't pay for the mounting materials or the gas I consumed to drive my entries 40 miles or so to Hutchinson.

Thankfully, Randy supports my "habit." He's just thankful for digital photography and the fact that I'm no longer paying for film and processing for every photo I shoot.

Photo by Jarrod Shafer, Wichita, KS

I think the blue-ribbon winner in the seasonal tree category also got a Best of Show runner-up designation and an extra $18. That makes even placing sweeter, doesn't it?

 

Our Tuesday visit to the fair wasn't really to see how my photos fared. That was just a bonus. We were there with our Kansas Master Farmer/Homemaker group. Both Randy and I are serving as vice-presidents this year of our respective organizations, so attendance was nonnegotiable, even with some things left undone at home.

Even though part of the day was spent in meetings, we had some time to wander around the fairgrounds for awhile, too.

I didn't take a whole lot of photos, but I couldn't leave the camera in my pocket the whole time, could I?

The Butterfly Experience was again one of my favorite spots. (I should have written down the name of this plant. The Monarch butterflies were choosing it over any of the other plant varieties. If one of my gardener friends knows what it is, please let me know.)

The Butterfly Experience is an inflatable exhibit south of the 4-H building. It's free (though we gave a donation.) It has butterflies still in cocoons and others enjoying the flowers inside.

Randy was much more adept at attracting butterflies to his sugar-soaked "feeder." Before entering the Butterfly Experience tent, each visitor is given a paint sponge dipped in diluted Gatorade. Holding the sponge in front of a butterfly allows it to step on and taste the juice with their feet. OK, truth be told, I was probably too busy clicking away with the camera to give the feeding thing much of a shot.

Randy had explored the real livestock barns that morning while I was in meetings. On a Tuesday, there wasn't a lot of activity there.

This kind of "livestock" was plenty active.

We attended the free Mason Ramsey concert that evening. And I couldn't resist a stroll through the carnival to snap a couple of photos before coming home.

It was back to reality yesterday. We again found dry corn to cut. We'll see if I continue the trend today and make another parts run. I went to Pratt for parts last Saturday. Parts stores were closed on Sunday, so I skipped that day. I visited the guys at the parts counter at the Hutchinson Case branch Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'd be OK without seeing them today. They're nice and all, but our pocketbook could use a reprieve.

More on corn harvest next week. And, yes, photographs, too.

The Little Things in the Big Picture

The vastness of the prairie landscape is undeniable. On a recent morning, isolated lightning flashed in the distance and the rumble of thunder punctuated the undertone of insect song. The trill of a bird in a nearby shelterbelt joined in the morning serenade. 

It looks big and vast. And, yet, if one looks closely, there are treasures. Some - like the Kansas sunflower - are big and bold, splashing bright yellow against an azure blue, cotton-cloud sky.

But even those bigger blooms reveal a smaller secret upon close examination. The dewy morning had left behind tiny droplets of moisture, enhancing it like a necklace decorating a model's delicate neck.

Likewise, the snow on the mountain wildflowers so prevalent this year rise above the shorter green grasses, swaying in the Kansas breeze.

Earlier, we had driven 4-wheelers across CRP grass and pasture vegetation attempting to get some wayward cows and their calves back in our pasture - AGAIN! And while the cattle lumbering along the fence line were my primary focus, I caught flashes of blue and purple and yellow, hidden in the underbrush below the 4-wheeler tires.

Unfortunately, these escapees have been the motivation for many a morning - and evening - ride on the 4-wheelers. And while I can't say that I've been happy about the disruption to my schedule OR the phone calls about our wayward cattle OR their unwelcome brunching on the neighbor's soybeans, the repeated excursions have revealed a bounty of treasures nestled in the prairie grasses.

Even though I've zoomed in tight to reveal each variety's intricate beauty, many are really quite small - some smaller than Randy's thumb nail.

I guess good things really do come in small packages.

It's kind of like that message on your car's rearview mirror: "Objects seen in the mirror may be closer than they appear."

I'll revise that to say, "Objects in these photos may be smaller than they appear."

 “Looking at morning dew serenading on the petals of flowers is an ecstatic moment. This makes us realize that it is the simple pleasures of life that give us the most happiness."

― Avijeet Da

Even those blooms surrounded by stickers or those fading after full bloom are beautiful in their own way.

 It just requires a closer look.

A visit to the Flint Hills during the National Master Farm Homemaker Guild convention at Manhattan in August revealed the same thing.

It's hard to capture the undulating roll of the tallgrass prairie via a camera lens.

The vastness can make us feel small in comparison.

But, yet again, the underlying beauty is there for the taking.

 

A Time to Think
Devotional from Guideposts

The simple act of stopping and looking at the beauty around us
 can be prayer.
 –Patricia Barrett, author

A Time to Act

Today notice the little things that make your day special.

 

A Time to Pray

Thank you Lord, that however small or seemingly insignificant our gifts,
You can weave them into Your glorious symphony.

I am beginning to learn
that it is the sweet, simple things of life
which are the real ones after all.
--Laura Ingalls Wilder

A "Steak" Out at the Ninnescah

With beauty like this, you'd think that creatures might want never to leave.

But we have five cow-calf pairs who keep exploring life outside the pasture fences. We've rounded them up and put them back. This story has been on repeat - morning and evening - for days. I told Randy we needed to do a "stake out" like on TV cop shows. Maybe this kind of surveillance is more appropriately a "steak" out.

Randy has spent a whole lot of time repairing fence, but once cattle have had their culinary equivalent of "prime rib" - in the form of tender soybean plants - they're willing to "leap tall buildings in a single bound" - or at least, hop some fences. Randy watched them do it while he was working on said fence.

This morning, our neighbor will bring his portable corrals and another helper. Hopefully, the four of us will complete the round-up successfully, and we'll take the five pair of offenders back home. Serves them right that they will be leaving the expansive pasture for a smaller lot at home, don't you think?

One night, we'd planned to go fishing at the Ninnescah. And even though it was delayed for a little while while we went back home for 4-wheelers and fencing supplies, we eventually dropped lines in the water.

Correction: Randy dropped lines in the water. I did more wandering and clicking shot after shot on my camera.

 I'd say we were both successful. Randy caught a 6-pound catfish. 

 

 He also caught a soft-shell turtle.

He released both the turtle and the fish back to the Ninnescah. 

And I captured a whole lot of beauty is a very unassuming place. 

These snow on the mountain wildflowers were abundant. They were beautiful whether close-up or with the lowering sun streaking across the prairie.

Because of our unexpected delay, we were there during the so-called photography "golden hour."

It's supposed to be an ideal time for photographs.

There's probably a good reason for the "golden hour" reputation.

There was time for a few more camera clicks as the sun sank lower ...

and lower ...

and lower.

It was a beautiful way to end a day.

I took the photos below the next morning to show that there are rule followers in every crowd. These cattle seem perfectly content to stay within the confines of the pasture fence. And, there is plenty to eat right there.

Let's hope they've avoid "talking" to the hooligans who are always out for an adventure.

Wish us luck getting those "repeat offenders" this morning!