The Bates Family

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Cass County Fair 2009

I'm not a big fan of the County Fair.

If I could go just one day I'd be fine.

With the boys having pigs up there tho

one day just doesn't cut it.

However one thing I do enjoy about the fair is walking

thru the buildings and seeing what everyone submitted.

I love looking at the rows and rows of vegetables

The shelves lined with canned goods and ribbons, always give you

a sense of "country"

We at least had fairly descent weather this year!

Caleb didn't place with his pig but that's ok. He enjoyed the experience

and it sold for a descent price so he was pretty happy.

I'm gonna toot my own horn here..toot toot...I won a blue ribbon

for my zuchinni bread. I was pretty excited concidering I never made it before!

We attended many of the free events just to fill our day in between tending with the pig and doing shows.

Carter thought the circus was neat, but especially enjoyed the dirt bike that drove in circles all

over this cage. And when the rider took their helmet off it turned out the driver was a girl!

Mine and Carter's mouths both dropped lol!! Girls rock!

Then there was Grandpa Cratchett-I think EVERY kid enjoyed him!

I don't know how many times we watched this show..but I could recite some of the skit for you if you ask! "Everybody say Hi Grandpaw"

And then there was the monster trucks! They stole the show!

Of everything we attended at the fair the boys were estatic over the trucks!!

It really was a neat show and I was glad we got to attend it!

Of course you know Carter and Shane are hardly apart in the summer!
So he attended with us! We were glad to have him along. Their faces when the trucks did "tricks" was priceless!!

And whats a fair without a carmel apple??!!

Carter did much better this year in showing the pig, but there is still room for improvement but that's ok that's what pee wee's is all about!!

Caleb did ALOT better in showing his pig this year!!

One thing he (finally) learned this year was you don't

pick a pig to bring to the fair by it's color lol

Caleb and Carter getting ready to show...

Caleb selling his pig at the auction.

And the dreaded "final feeding"..every year after the final feeding is the hardest part

for Caleb. Knowing that the pig is going to be loaded on the slaughter truck in a matter of hours really makes him sad...but that doesn't stop him from bringing pigs the following year lol..

Dan and I always feel bad for him and it tends to be a little hard on us watching Caleb break down.

In this photo Dan isn't laughing at Caleb he's laughing at me for taking the photo.

Caleb got the chance to see how fast and how many mph he threw a baseball..

lol..he was pretty happy with 49!

Shane loved the bumper cars! Carter was bummed because he's still too short to ride them!

So he opted to try his hand at the bull instead..I gotta say he did pretty good!!

So there you have it...that was our week at the county fair..

It's easy to be a martyr about things but I guess looking back on the photos, we

did have a pretty good time especially the boys.

The whole clan!

This photo was taken at Uncle Sonny's 80th birthday party!

What started as a family of 4 (Dan, Lou,Dan jr, Lisa) sure did multiply!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

I loved reading this, I hope you all enjoy it too! (thanks Barbee!)

WOW! THOSE OF LONG AGO SURE COULD HAVE USED A GOOD HEALTH CARE PLAN AND WOODEN BUCKETS FOR DRINKING WHISKEY
- history can be Fun

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery........if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot........they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low
The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children.. Last of all the
Babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"
Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.
(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)
In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus,someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer...
And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !
So . . . get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a friend like I just did! ! !

Monday, August 10, 2009

Homemade Ice Cream YUM!!!

Caleb had went to his Grandma's and Dan went to bed

early so it was just Carter and me.

I got the typical, "mom I'm bored"..

So what's a mom to do?? Turn to google for bordom recipes of course!

I looked up the recipe for ziploc ice cream and as luck would have it we had all the ingredients!!

Here is the website and recipe we used

http://crafts.kaboose.com/ice-cream-in-a-bag.html

Squishing the mixture around in the ice. (I wrapped a towel around the bag of ice so it wasn't so cold to handle

Time for a taste test...

Yep!! It's good!!

So good infact he had to wake his dad up and insist on Dad trying his first time every making ice cream at home!!! lol..
(In all honesty it was good!!!)

Friday, July 31, 2009

Our Little Garden

Our garden may not be big, it may not be the cream of the crop,

But, our garden is our garden. We love it!

We got it planted late...ok very late..but we are pleasantly seeing more

and more harvest coming from it!

We have picked lots and lots of raddishes, spinach, lettuce and onions, as well as 4 zuchinni,2 cucumbers and lots of red tomatoes working on ripening!!

To me the most exciting thing in a garden is when you first see the fruits of your labor
starting to prosper!! These are yellow zuchinni and these ones have already been picked and eaten :)

Little green tomatoes...which are now bright orange..and soon will be RED!! :)

The start of lots and lots of cucumbers! Look out homemade dill pickles here I come!

And the fruits of our labor :)
Along with some basil out of the herb garden!!!
I hope those of you who have gardens have had a wonderful harvest and have enjoyed yours just as much as we enjoy ours. And for those of you with no garden!! Plan ahead for next year and get some plants in the ground..or in a bucket...where ever...you won't be sorry!!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!!