2017 Kissimmee Week 6

Hi again Anna and Rylee.  The blog you will see today is actually just from one day's photos.  On Friday, we went to the Osceola County Fair during the day, and the Silver Spurs Rodeo (at the fairgrounds) in the evening.  I took a LOT of pictures!  So here goes!                                                          




This is a fair we go to pretty much every year when we are in the area.  It's kind of like the Port Hope Fair.  

 
  Every year I have my picture taken with the bulls.  

This was a pretty tiny giraffe - a baby, I think. 





These are Asian Water Buffalo from Asia, where they are still found in the wild and in captivity.  They are also raised in North America for milk, and they are the only producers of Mozzarella cheese!  I never knew that!  

                                        
This little cutie is an African Nubian Goat, also raised for milk.  

  

  Landon is a Scottish Highland calf.  #1 Where do you think this breed originated?  The Queen of England has her own herd, and it is the only beef she will eat.  #2  What is the queen's name?  

Sally is a Dromedary.  #3  What is a Dromedary (dictionary)?  

    #4  How many humps do you think this camel has?  It may be a Bactrian, which is much rarer than the Dromedary.  Look up Bactrian in the dictionary as well.  

    Tinkerbell is a Sicilia Miniature Donkey, which originated in Italy.  Because of its short stature, it was brought to the United States to pull coal out of the mines.  Now it is usually just a pet.  I love that these all have a cross on their backs.  I like to think that it was one like this that carried Jesus to Jerusalem the week before He died on the cross.  

    
 When I first saw this kangaroo, I thought he was dead, but then I was glad to see that he was breathing, so I guess he was just sleeping.  

   We watched some pig races, and this group of 5 are siblings, 6 months old, and they are wild hogs, also known as Pine rooters,  which we have seen in previous years here in Florida in the swamps/woods.  Their mother was found here in Florida, and we could have paid $1.00 to see her.  We're too cheap!  

                                         Kids were showing animals at the fair in competitions, and this young man was shearing his sheep to make it prettier for showing......

   .....and this young lady was washing her sheep to make her pretty to show.  

  We always like to look at the poultry and rabbits as well.  This incredible rooster is a kind of chicken called Frizzy.  Pretty well named, don't you think?  

   

Anna, your brothers would have probably liked these.  They were men dressed as transformers.  

    

 These girls a lot taller than Paul.  #5  How do you think they got to be this tall?    

      The Silver Spurs Rodeo claims to be the biggest rodeo east of the Mississippi River!  #6  Check the Atlas and see if you can find the Mississippi River.  

The rodeo started with 16 kids on horses doing a square dance.  It was very cool to see this!  

 These were also young kids with some special titles, but I'm not sure what they were.  







This young lady is Miss Rodeo Canada!  Wow!  I'm guessing she may be from Calgary, Alberta.  # 7 Why do you think that I think that?   








                                        This man was the emcee, who was in the arena for the whole evening, telling us what was happening, and joking with the clown.                               

 When the flags were in the arena, the emcee introduced the rodeo, prayed for safety for the people and animals in the rodeo.  This always amazes me!  Then, of course, we sang the National Anthem.  

This is the clown that got lots of attention, but really, he was just kind of a comedian.  There were 2 other clowns who did all the work.  You'll see them later.  

I think they called this steer wrestling.  The cowboy had to grab the steer and wrestle him to the ground with his feet in the air.  

 This looked really hard, but was fun to watch.  It's called bareback bronc busting, or something like that.  

Some future cowboys!  So cute!  








                                          Team roping involves 2 cowboys.  One must rope the head of the calf, and the other must rope the back feet.  They have to hold him like that for 6 seconds I think.  

     This time, the cowboys are trying to "break" the bronco with a saddle on.  I don't think the bronco wants to be broken.

                                                                
                            

The clown was having some fun, and doing some entertaining.  

                                   Tiedown roping is when the cowboy ropes a calf, the horse backs up to keep the rope tight, and the cowboy jumps off his horse with a short rope in his teeth, turns the calf upside down, and ties 3 of his legs together.  Again, the horse has to hold the calf for 6 seconds.  

    


This little cowboy was running up and down our aisle for most of the night, and then tried this trick.  He managed to fall off, and was hanging upside down by his knees.  

    

   #8  What is it called when a cowboy throws a rope like this over an animal?  

16 adult riders did a square dance for us.  It was very fast and exciting!  

  A calf "scramble" was a lot of fun for a LOT of kids!  They set loose 4 calves with ribbons on their tails, and the kids tried to get the ribbons.  I think if they got one of the ribbons, they got $5.  You had to be under ten to participate.  

This tractor came out and smoothe out the sand for the barrel racing.  #9 If this arena had ice in it, what would this machine be called?                                                                       

    
I liked watching the girls doing the barrel racing as well.  Those horses were really moving!  

They had to ride the horses around 3 barrels, and if one tipped over, 5 seconds were added to their time.  

    For me, the bull riding is the most exciting!  Here you can see the 2 clowns who REALLY do the work!  They distract the bull if the rider is thrown off, so the bull doesn't go after the rider.  It is quite a dangerous, but very important job!  

They saved the best for last, and so did I.  I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the fair and the rodeo.  

                                                                      

             UNTIL NEXT WEEK.......

      

 

2017 Winter Week 5

Week Five!  I can't believe it!  And I understand that, as it is very warm here today, it is snowing a lot at home.  I wonder if Monday will be another snow day in Cobourg.  Anna and Rylee, I hope you will be able to see this.  Once again, we have had a great week, with much time on the bikes with the camera hanging around my neck.  I'm glad to share some of my pictures with you.  

Almost every day when we set out on the bikes, we take a picnic lunch with us.  One of my friends gave me this blue freezer lunch box, and it has been very well used!  Another friend gave me the car blanket, and we use it as a table cloth.   I have very good friends!   

                                                                 This little bird stuck his head through a chain-link fence and said "Take my picture!"  Of course, I had to do it!   

        This male and female Hooded Merganser pair are my new favorite birds.  #1 Which is the male? #2  Why do you think this?

This lovely fellow just sat there and begged me to take his picture!   

Another turtle.  I almost ran over him with my bike as he sauntered across the path.  I think he is called a Striped Mud Turtle. 

Remember "Where's Waldo?"  Can you find the fly on the flower?  

   This is a Turkey Vulture.  I know this because of his head.  He has red and white on his ugly face.  

                                          This is a Black Vulture.  I know this because of his face as well.  It is all black.  This poor little squirrel got hit by a car, and the vultures were quite willing to dispose of him.  Vultures are called scavengers.  #3  Look up scavenger in the dictionary and write a definition.                                               

                                                     Can you stand perfectly still on one foot for a long time like this Great Blue Heron?  

      These are samples of the Monarch and the Viceroy Butterflies.  

This week we went to the Florida State Fair in Tampa, and there was a big net tent with flowers and butterflies inside.  I loved it!  #4 After studying the 2 butterflies above, tell me what kind of butterfly this is.  

    I had lots of fun in the butterfly tent!  

We enjoyed watching a show which featured some Grizzly Bears.  One of them had a bit of an attitude that day and was snarling at her handler.  Made me nervous!  To calm her down, they fed her honey from a plastic bear-shaped container.  

      Another show we saw at the fair was a circus.  It's pretty cool that one price to get into the fair lets you see lots of shows and animals.  

    Best of all for me was a show hitching up and driving a team of eight horses called Clydesdales.  I love horses, and seeing 8 of them hitched up and being driven was great.  #5  What is another reason I enjoyed seeing this?  

     I love turtles, but this is one I don't want to swim with!  It is called an Alligator Snapping Turtle.  You can see that it is huge and mean-looking.    




                                                                            In the fairgrounds is an area called Cracker Country (dating back to when Florida was mostly cattle country).  It is like a Pioneer Village, and this lady was playing the piano and singing in the church.  She was singing "What a Friend We Have in Jesus", the second-most popular hymn in the world, and we were able to brag to her that it was written by Joseph Scriven, who lived in Bewdley.  

                                         Another building in the village was a schoolhouse.  This school would have had one teacher, who would have taught all of the grades from one to eight.  Not too many desks, are there?  

   This man was actually building violins, and this lady, just another visitor like us, came along and picked one up and played it.  He seemed quite happy at that.  

  This lady is from South Carolina, and was weaving baskets from Sweet Grass and long pine needles.  The baskets are beautiful, but VERY expensive!  

    This was fun to watch.  A mule with a man riding him was harnessed to this machine, walking around and around.  Another man was feeding sugar cane sticks into the machine, which were having the sap squeezed out of them.  

   The sap was dripping into a bucket after being run through a cloth to filter out any impurities.  This is then boiled, like maple sap, to make a syrup.  It's also boiled longer to make molasses.  

        Don't you just love giraffes?  Their tongues are so long!  #6  What colour is the giraffe's tongue?  They were being fed carrots, which they loved.  

        #7  What is a difference between Alpacas and Llamas?  #8  What other animal do they resemble? 

 This little calf had been born about an hour before we saw it.  People were free to watch that happen.  We watched it get to its feet for the first time.  Amazing!  

These triplet goats were born in the trailer on the way to the fair 2 days ago.  They were SO cute!  I could have watched them for hours!  Especially the black and white one - he literally was jumping straight up in the air, having a wonderful time!  

This Mocking Bird is singing in a Live Oak tree.  It is called Live Oak because it never is without leaves.  As one dies, a new one pushes it off and takes its place.We have oak trees as well.  #9  Tell me 2 differences between this oak and our oak trees.  

Well, we are back on the bikes again, visiting the Sandhill Crane, who is sitting on 2 eggs.  Do you see the nostrils in the crane's upper beak?  It's kind of neat that you can see right through it.  

  We found this Limpkin also sitting on a nest.  It's in a tree, so I can't see into it, but I'm hoping she has eggs as well.  

   This turtle and fish were hanging out together, waiting for someone to throw them a treat.  

                                                I just love the white water lilies!  

                                        How many lizards do you see?  I saw one today when we were out for lunch, but didn't have the camera with me.  It was the biggest one I have ever seen!  I should NEVER go out without the camera!  

                                          Someone threw a crumb, the fish missed it, and the turtle blew a bubble over it!  

         

   Until next week........