Welcome to the Farm and Ranch Show, or the event posing as a show - whichever you prefer.
I have been to many farm shows in the past year and a half, but this one takes the cake. In the past two days (and there are two remaining) I have been on a treasure hunt, had gas released and been told to read a politicians book.
Variety is the spice of life, or so they say.
When I arrived on Monday afternoon the booths were not labeled. Instead, I was given a map with our booth highlighted. Yay! A treasure hunt. It only took me thirty minutes to find it, after I stepped off four paces and counted from the end of a row I had to count to determine the letter. I had traveled five hours and I was not in a 'peppy' mood by any means, but I put a smile on my face. I also was glad the guy finally came with our booth sign - after I was done setting up.
After my adventure in Quonset land I headed to the hotel - and the neighboring IHOP.
The day at the show was interesting. I decided to check out the other exhibits and came across a nearby booth doing something with hands. She lured me over and without much warning started to stamp my nails. It now appears I have a french manicure - with one nail having a flower pattern. She sealed them and I don't travel with acetone. Many a farm show, but this was the first with the quasi nail salon.
Get your nails done - buy a tractor - all in a days work.
There were jewelry booths, salsa salesman, hot tubs, sleep number beds and even some foot guy that came up to me and told me I needed to read Sarah Palin's book. He loved her and I should read it because she talks about oil in Alaska and shooting things. To be honest I think he was shooting something - in his morning coffee.
The morning was slow, but my first interaction with a person came in the form of a smaller woman. She was with her sister and she belched. It was not accidental either, believe me. She asked her sister where momma was - momma was back flirting with the window salesman. Let's just say momma shouldn't have been flirting. False advertising is illegal.
After that shock I watched about twelve people walk by and only one said hello.
Then came free lunch. There were a ton of people that showed up for lunch, but none of them came through our aisle. Interesting. Lunch was pretty good actually, as far as shows go. We had raw hamburgers, spicy cole slaw, chips and room temperature bottled water. (It was about 35 degrees inside, so the water was cold).
The highlight of the day was the one intelligent conversation I had all day. I have to say thank you to the woman in the pink KSU hoodie. You made my trip worth it. She had relevant questions, comments and had genuine concerns. It was awesome.
Then it was back to less awesome when the local high school brought in a talented drum line. In a metal building.
The afternoon was slow, as in traveling at the speed of smell. I couldn't even people watch because there were no people to watch.
The weather was nice so farmers aren't walking around a show, they are out working. So it's understandable there wasn't a huge crowd, but I thought maybe sixty people would have shown.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Then again, the book I'm reading is quite good.
2 comments:
OMG Don't read it! It will kill your brain cells!
I'm open for thoughts of a new good book to read. Just nothing by Palin.
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