Summer's Almost Over

I can't believe the summer is almost officially over. This is the last weekend of August. That's right ladies and gentlemen, Labor Day is upon on next week. We are coming into my favorite time of year. Autumn. I spent this last weekend of summer in Cincinnati. Bryan had tickets for King's Island for about half price. We didn't make it.

I asked a couple of people to come with me, but they couldn't make it. Terry, my boyfriend, had to look for a job this weekend, and Dan, a friend of mine had to work. While it would have been nice to come down with someone, it was nice to spend some time with Bryan.

I got down here on Friday night and Bryan and I went to the Serpent, a dirty little bar on the North Side of Cincinnati. We then went across the street to Jacob's for 80's night. Afterward, we went to IHOP. We don't have IHOP in Columbus. Every time I come to Cincinnati, I have to go get some stuffed French toast. Or Freedom toast. Why didn't that ever catch on? But, I digress. Anyone who knows me for five minutes knows I digress. A lot.

We got up yesterday and went to the flea market to look for the lamps I collect, and found some. A whole row of them. But they were new. I'm looking for older ones that dont cost $69.95. I did buy Nicholas, Erica's seven year old son, a marshmallow gun. She's gonna skin me alive. She already told him he has to shoot it outside. Booooring.

Last night, Bryan and Melody, a friend of his, and myself went to Adonis and then to the Dock. Melody had never seen a drag show. Last night we saw two. The one at Adonis was a lot of fun. They decided to get front row seats and I knew we were in trouble. The hostess (I can't remember her name) finished her first song, and walked right over to me. She combed through the top of my head, and said, "You have the cutest little baby hairs I've ever seen." Ugh. When we left there we went to the Dock and happened to be there for the Mr. Dock finals. There were only three contestants, but the drag show/pageant went on for HOURS. We finally left there and went to White Castle. Now its noon on Sunday and it's about time to go home.

Bryan may come up to Columbus next weekend for Labor Day. I'm sure we'll find some trouble to get into.

153rd Ohio State Fair

Terry and I went to the Ohio State Fair on Wednesday. My plan was to get up early and be there all day. As it was, we didn't get there until about 12:30 and stayed until 6:30. That was plenty of time. It was one of the hottest days of the year with a temperature of about 96 degrees. Swealtering.

We parked in someone's yard and paid $5 to use their shade. I always do that when I go to the fair, because it doesn't cost any more than the fair's parking lot, its a lot closer to the gate, and with luck you can park in the shade. I think it's a much better deal. The admission fee for the first day before 6:00pm is $2. Remember that. Not many people there, cheap admission. I am a bargain hunter.

For some reason unbeknownst to me, the poultry barn is right inside the gate. It's the only animal barn on that corner of the fairgrounds. We walked thru it, but only for a few minutes before we lost interest. There were some beautiful roosters, but that only goes so far. The next building was shopping. I love watching people at the fair sell stuff. They all have their Britney Spears microphones on and they will sell anything from jewelry cleaner to slicers to car wax to mops you absolutely cannot live without. I really believe I need a V-slicer. That thing will slice any kind of food you want--into thousands of shapes and sizes. We purchased a compatibility chart for he and I to see if a Scorpio and a Libra really can get along. We also did a hand writing analysis to see if it was right. It seemed to be pretty accurate. Cost-$10.

From there we went into the Ag-Hort building where I learned that Terry used to arrange plants and flowers in large outdoor planters. Why did he stop? Maybe I'll ask someday. Maybe I'll get him to arrange some flowers for me. I got some corn on the cob for $2.50 slathered in butter. The next stop we made was the Celeste Center. More shopping. And it was air-conditioned. We stopped and got a free massage at one of several places to do so. We got an up close look at a State Highway Patrol car. And we took a stress test. This is the test where they ask about recent major changes in your life then scale your stress. The results are measured in stars.
Mine- *************
Terry's-***************************************************
I'm a little concerned about Terry's heart. After walking around the building a while, we decided that we should probably eat something. Neither one of us was very hungry, but I figured that if we didn't spend money on food, I would spend it on something else, then be really upset later when we were both starving and broke. We had some footlong corn dogs for a total of $8. Not really fantastic fair food, but relatively inexpensive. The best value of the day was the beverage. We bought a cup with free refills all day long. It was maybe 20-24oz and cost $7. We refilled that no less than eight times.

We watched the Purina Amazing Dog catch frisbees. I can do that. I don't see what's so amazing about it. We, of course, did not watch the whole show; our attention spans were lagging. We went into the natural resources area and saw some neat displays including the opportunity to shoot a bow and arrow. I haven't done that since I was six. I have the bruises to prove that I shot a bow, too. We also watched a chainsaw artist carving a stump. We tried to guess what he was carving, because his first cuts looked like tall ears. A bunny, or a cat maybe, but, you guessed it, my attention span waned again so we went to ride the Ferris Wheel. That was $4. When we checked back later, it turns out the carver had made a hummingbird in a cala lilly. I figured it would be a lumpy bunny or something. I never thought you could make something so nice out of a tree stump. The last display we saw was the Mutual of Omaha Animal Planet thingy. I'll be honest, it was kind of lame, but it was air-conditioned and we got a game card with the possibility of winning an iPod or some other prize. We each won a pen.

We decided it was probably time to head home. As we were walking out, we stopped for a minute to watch the swine racing. Channel 6 was there. That lady sure looked hot in her business suit broadcasting the news from the pig races. We left with aching feet and tired bodies, having spent $40.50, but we had a lot of fun at the fair. Terry and I slept soundly Wednesday night.