Engine Show visitors

The visitors:

Last weekend the Lagrange Engine show was at the Fairgrounds. When something is over there, we keep a few extra eyes out for rif-raf. So... John went out to check on the cattle and noticed that they seemed flustered, worked up and were running around in circles. Then he figured out why....he noticed 2 ropes over in the fence row, one with a horse tied to it and one without. It wasn't too long after that discovery that a horse popped out of the trees and into the lane that we use to get around on the outside of the fence. The cows really went wild. What in the world is that doing there?!?! Then an Amish man came through the trees too and carefully walked up to the horse grabbing it's reins and putting it back on the rope. The cattle are not use to seeing horses so close by.

John came back up to the house to tell us the story. Of course I wanted to go out and see this for myself. So off we went.....



On the way there, we past one of the cows that was standing right by the fence so we stopped to get a profile shot. She wasn't too far from where we need to go.


Yep there's horses out there all right. Looks like they are both where they need to be this time.


A closer look at the easier to see one.


Upon coming out of the 'hole' in the tree line and into the fairgrounds, we looked back and saw this. There they were! Two guys watching the buggies and and horses while their friends went into the show. You never see Amish at the county fair but they show up for stuff like this.


Lagrange Engine Show:

It had been a while since we had been there last, so later that day we decided to go over to the show and see what they had going on over there. It does have a strong farm theme to it. Here are a few things we found....


We are not totally sure what this is but we think it might be what we would call a 'hand powered rototiller'. This looks like a lot of work!! I'm glad we use motors and gasoline now!


There were all kinds of styles of transportation around. This one cracked me up.



These chain saws look dangerous!



This is what I would call the horseless carriage. I think this guy was giving rides as I saw him drive by quite a few times (with different people in it) as we sat on a bench to watch and rest.

It was actually quite entertaining to just sit on that bench and watch to see what would come by next. Lots of vendors selling their wares so to see it all some would fire up their souped up lawn mower, golf cart, 4-wheeler, etc and shopped using that (some of the things they were riding we didn't know what they were). It was definitely different!

Relax This Weekend

Stinkers our cat (John named her that as she has skunk patterns but in reverse-under instead of over) has a very good idea!

We hope you find a good place this weekend to 'chill out' and relax, just like she did.

Bad Lettuce

Since we are on the subject of CAFOs (feedlots), I thought this new info would fit into place here.

E. Coli on Lettuce Likely Came from Feedlot

Analysis of possible sources of the E. coli 0145 infecting romaine lettuce from an Arizona farm has been conducted by Food Safety News. One of the largest feedlots in the country is located about 20 miles from the heart of Arizona's leafy green production in the Gila and Dome valleys. Conditions in the feedlot produce huge volumes of mud, as dirt mixes with manure and water. When dry, hot, windy weather hits, the mud dries, the cattle break down clumps into dust, and the dust blows, often for many miles.

The FDA is pushing ahead with the process of establishing new leafy green safety regulations. The new requirements fail to target the core sources of the problem--sick or stressed cattle shedding E. coli 0157, and other pathogenic strains in their manure. (Acres USA Sept '10)
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This is sad (and uncalled for) that the veggies producers lives have now become more regulated because of mismanagement 20 miles away that doesn't have anything to do with them. And the article is right that the new requirements are not addressing the real problem--feedlots. This is the same problem we'll likely have with the recent egg recalls; there is talk of pasteurizing eggs now when all that is required is better management (which will result in downsizing) and better treatment of the animals.