Oh My Gourd!

My favorite building to tour during the Kansas State Fair is called the "Pride of Kansas" building.  This building contains commodities, organizations and items made in Kansas.  I love the showcase of local agriculture!  This building also contains the largest pumpkin and watermelon contestants.

Well, one of the classes on display this year, featured gourd creativity.  This would totally be the class that I would choose to enter!  Contestants utilize gourds/sqash/melons to create sculptures, animals and art.  I snapped a pic of one of my favorites.  This caterpiller is too cute to resist!  Even though it was not first, it certainly ranked up there in my books!

Cantaloupe

One of Mr. Fixit's favorite fruits is cantaloupe.  He often can be found stopping at the weekly Farmer's Market to nab a ripe one or two.  Once the prize fruit arrives home, he typically guts the melon and chops it into bite size pieces right on the deck.  The seeds are tossed onto the ground.

Well, one ambitious little seed must have decided this was the perfect home!  In July we started to see signs of a plant growing near the deck.  We let it grow to see how it would do.  We figured that the dry summer and lack of care would not yield any fruit, but take a look!  One cantaloupe is happily growing.  Mr. Fixit is keeping a close watch on this one, and likely will soon be enjoying a delicious bite!

4-H Signage

Mr. Fixit was the final stop for our team's sign project!  We gave him the challenge to make our signs State Fair durable - oh, and able to be prominently displayed.  Mr. Fixit brainstormed some options that would make the signs sturdy, easy to transport and easy to display.  It took about 7 hours of work!

The signs were created from a corrugated plastic, which is quite weatherproof, but can not stand on its own.  The signs measured 4' X 8', and needed to be supported in order to be displayed.  Mr. Fixit attached some OSB board, boards and hinges to the 12 signs.  They became sandwich boards of sorts -- very heavy sandwich boards!  They were perfect for the fair, and definitely look sharp, don't you agree?

Lunch?

The hay has been cut, baled and is ready for storage.  Soon the snow will be flying, and these round bales will be looking mighty tasty to some bovine creatures!  The bales had been hanging out for about a week, when the owner came by with a tractor and a semi-flat bed to collect them.

It was about 6:30 in the evening when the process began.  The farmer was pretty speedy in rounding them all up!  Mr. Fixit and I could not believe the speed.  Our "seven summer guests," aka heifers - even became a bit curious about all the activity.  As you can see in this photo, one lady has her eyes set on a bale!

Girlfriend

Neices #1 and #2 could not resist hooking up their youngest cousin with a baby doll on a recent grandparents visit!  Baby "K" had just awaken, and the girls posed him with a very pink, girlie baby doll.  I am sure he will cringe when shown this photo some day!

Nonetheless, he seems to enjoy his plastic friend.  Let's just hope that the girls do not want to dress him up in some frilly dress some day.  That just might be too much for a little boy to stomach, or could cause his Daddy to get a bit worried ;)

Six Months

Six months ago this little guy came into the world!  He was not quite happy with this world, at first, but has been doing lots of growing and learning since.  He currently is growing teeth, adding a few more hairs to his head, a bit more length and of course, more pounds!  Check out what he learned this month:

*How to bring his toes to his mouth.
*How to roll from back to front.
*How to bang toys together.
*How to sit, with a little bit of assistance.

Baby "K's" six month appointment brought 4 more shots - including influenza - and growth stats check.  Baby "K" only gained one pound since his four month appointment.  He now weighs 18 pounds and 4 ounces.  He gained a bit in length and his head circumference increased a bit.  He is now in the 50 percentile in all three categories.  He was in the 90 percentile.  We head back to the doctor in October for another weight check and a second influenza vaccination.  We look forward to more growing and learning in the months to come!

Flour Power

One of my great chef friends has been elbow-deep in baking adventures the past several weeks.  You see, the Kansas State Fair is practically in her back yard, and she was set to bake some winning entries.  Her younger sis was also in on the action - and while this was not kitchen stadium, that baking battles ensued!

I admire my good friend BH, because she can bake bread that simply melts in your mouth - and I am not a bread person!  I am totally a fan of her cornbread muffins, even though they did not place, and her dinner rolls looked perfect!  She even entered some baking challenges during the week, which, as you can see from this photo - requires lots of flour options.  So, congratulations BH, and thanks for the fantastic recipes!