Central Washington Fair

Last night we went to the Central Washington Fair. The theme this year is Get Happy and I loved the 2010 Fair mascot - a smiling cow! While Mom and Susan were at a cooking show Dad and I walked around and looked at all the old automobiles and farm equipment. This is a 1930 Ford Model A pickup with a 4-cylinder engine. Notice the gas cap up by the windshield? Back then, gas got to the engine using gravity, which worked pretty well unless you had to go up a long hill.

This is an orchard sprayer built in 1920.

The agriculture building is one of our favorite stops at the fair.

Selah's grange dislay was very colorful.

The prize winning pumpkin weighed in at 420 pounds.

I really like the happy pigs in this grange display.

We had a good time walking through the animal barns. I got to pet one of the draft horses. He weighed 2600 pounds! The professional photo display was awesome, as always. Now we can look forward to next year.

Prosser Street Fair

Mom and Dad are here visiting before driving down to Arizona and last weekend we all went down to Prosser for the annual street fair. The event goes with the hot air balloon rally, but we were not there when the balloons were in the air.

It was extremely hot on Saturday afternoon, but a beautiful day.

We didn't buy hardly anything at the booths and believe it or not, we didn't even walk down the row of food booths.

In addition to the craft booths they held a street painting competition. There were so many paintings that I only captured the ones we liked the best.

This was a great one featuring the local wine business.

I love these 3D ones. It felt like we would fall right into a hole in the street.

A great flying lesson.

Next year I would like to go back and see the balloons lift off first thing in the morning.

Toby's Wheelchair

Things have been a little crazy around here lately. I started school and Toby hurt his back. I don't know how he did it, but on September 3 he started dragging one of his hind legs and by that evening his entire rear end was paralyzed. Of course, this is a holiday weekend and our regular vet was closed so I took him to a different vet. They admitted him to the hospital and started giving him IV steroids. I brought him home on Tuesday, September 7 but he still could not walk or stand.

The vet told me to keep him very quiet for at least two weeks, so he is living in his crate unless he has to go potty. I took him back to see his regular vet and she suggested that I give him oral steroids and extend his restrictions for another week. If you have ever tried to keep an active dog quiet, you know what a challenge this can be.

Today is the end of the second week. I am happy to report that Toby is eating and drinking well and he is standing now. Sometimes his paws are pads down when standing and sometimes the top of his paws are on the floor. Neither one of the vets could say how much use he will regain of his legs.

I contacted Wheelchairs for Dogs and ordered Toby a chair. Even if he regains total use of his legs, I do not want him jumping up and down on things and this is the best way to prevent him from hurting himself.

I know he doesn't look especially thrilled, but he did want around for treats. We are going to work with the chair a little each day. Toby is a very determined little dog and I think he will be roaming around soon.

Tillie Missing Mama

Susan is in Pittsburgh this week and Tillie is missing her. She keeps going into the bedroom, especially at night, looking for Susan. I think this week has been a little bit of a letdown for both dogs after having so many people here over the last three weeks.

"Where is my mama?"