I’ve been down with a bad summer cold, bracketed by my visit to the Yuba-Sutter Fair and attending the final Gold Sox game of the season, so I’m finally able to write about both.Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternak already wrote the quintessential Fair story when she reported on her visit with her teenage friend, so it’s not like you have been waiting for my report, but here goes. Key take away from the Fair? I am in love with barnyard birds. I used to feed the chickens on my aunt’s farm when I was a kid, but those were kinda plain beige no-name chickens. These prize winners at the fair were absolutely beautiful and downright regal. My favorite looked like it was wearing a dotted Swiss dress; it was a black and white guinea cockerel entered by Dakota Wilder of the Wheatland 4-H. From the same 4-H club, Abby Stineman’s feather-legged cockerel was another winner for me, and Chase Stineman’s bantam pullet was cool, too. (The Stineman family is number one for poultry in my book.) Smaller livestock was one of my important stops. Favorite goat names: Pandora, Patches and Pixie. Did you know that goats have four stomachs? Now I do. As for larger “livestock,” I passed on paying a buck to see the Giant Florida Gator. When I was a kid we lived not that far from the Everglades, and I have seen my share of gators in the wild.I was tempted by the Silver Streak ride, but I didn’t want to spill my medium-sized (two lemon) fresh squeezed lemonade. I visited all the art and garden exhibits (didja see that giant blue-ribbon kohlrabi?!!), spent a while watching some martial arts exhibit, listening to the Chicago tribute band while waiting to see if Plasterman would blink, but although I timed my visit for it, I never did find the donut-biting contest. Next year.
My brother the baseball nut is visiting, so of course we had to take in Sunday’s Gold Sox game (what a blowout!). Marysville has been a baseball town since the 1870s and it is still one of the best and biggest bargains around. And, of course, it didn’t hurt that the Appeal-Democrat was giving away free tickets to the final four games. We took our two coupons to the newspaper’s office and exchanged them for tickets (or ducats, as my brother, of course, insists on calling them). The weather was fair but Not Too Hot and we sat through the whole eight and a half innings, although when the score hit 15-zip, John started wondering when the mercy rule was invoked in this league. The Seals finally flapped out one run so it wasn’t a total rout. OK, it was still a rout. Although it is especially nice that our team had a great, winning season, the game is just part of the ballpark experience, and the Gold Sox organization hit it out of the park.
Greetings From Marysville 