Some pics

Noters Beware!! This is a “mean-note” free diary.

Slater and I had a wonderful time at the Renaissance Festival, although I managed to catch a cold and felt kinda crappy most of our 2nd day there. (This was 2 weeks ago, and I still have the cough part…gotta love the weather changes here in Michigan!)

We got to visit with friends, and Slater made many new ones. And he also made one enemy. We were sitting behind the jousting arena, which is, of course, where the joust is held several times each day. In between jousts, they also have a Falconer’s show there. He educates the audience about wild birds. It’s a great show. However, we weren’t really AT the show…just sitting on the hill behind the arena. I had purchased a set of fairy wings (these are wings that have straps on them to hook over your arms..many little girls enjoy wearing them. They are quite pretty.) and had Slater wearing them. (This particular set of wings are very much “him”-they are black with flames in glitter.) Anyway…there we were, on the hill, minding our own business. Slater had just friended a black Great Dane. All of a sudden, one of the hawks from the show came out of nowhere and attacked Slater! Now before I scare the heck out of you, let me say, he is fine! Luckily the bird did not use his talons. It could have been far worse. The bird hit him twice…hard and from high up in the sky the first time…and then after that it sat on the ground and squawked at us for a minute…and then it attacked again. The falconer said that he wasn’t sure what caused the bird to do this. It could have been the wings that Slater was wearing…although, there are so many people wearing wings at a Renaissance faire that the bird should be used to seeing those by now. He did say that this particular bird did have an issue with a dog several years ago…and maybe Slater reminded him of that dog. There happened to be a vet in the audience who came and checked Slater out. He was just severely shaken…figuratively and literally. He shook for about an hour. At the time when it happened, Slater literally screamed! I’ve never heard a noise like that come out of a dog. Poor guy!

And then, on top of that, Slater almost got sprayed by a skunk. From what I was told there have been a couple skunks that live under the buildings at this faire. The buildings are permanent structures that stay up year round. After the hawk incident…and after we got Slater calmed down, I decided to go get an ice cream at the Ice Cream booth. Being a warm day, there was a line, and it wrapped outside and around the corner. We were just standing there, and Slater was being awesome…on his best behavior. All of a sudden people started screaming and moving out of line. I turned to look and HOLYCRAP!!! There is a skunk like 6 feet away from us! He was just minding his business too…but Slater got a look at him and let out the world’s biggest WOOF! So of course it startled the stupid skunk and it sprayed…but it didn’t spray us. Just the general area it was standing in. Good job, Slater! Needless to say, we waited a while to get our ice cream. Somehow, ice cream and skunk just don’t go together.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the faire, and also some from a town near where I live. This town does a hay bale decorating contest in the fall…the pics are some of the entries.

Fire juggler.

Awesome sign outside a soap booth.

The castle.

Ded Bob. This show is awesome (and I’m a little biased…the guy under the hood is a friend of mine from when I was on the road. But it’s an awesome show anyway, friend or not!)

One of the booths, so you can see what they look like, if you’ve never been to a Renaissance Festival.

One of the mud fairy’s creations. Some of this person’s work is incredible. I have pics of other mud sculptures that I need to scan sometime…someday.

And finally…Slater modeling his kick-ass Doggles!! He hates them…but I love them. And he’s learning to leave them on for a while at a time. We are going slowly with them. But isn’t he cute?

And then for the hay bale pics…

This one is my personal fave…but unfortunately it didn’t win. A bumblebee did. I’m not a big fan of how the contest

is judged. From what I’ve been told, people are supposed to bring in canned goods to the business of the creation they like best…but I’ve also been told that certain businesses have more “pull” than others…more customers, employees that are highly involved in the town’s affairs…stuff like that. The winning bee was cute, but not original. There were two bee entries. And I just think that it was not as “awesome” as the puppy or the bear. (There was also a cow that was very nicely done, but unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of that one.)