Happy post-Independence Day, volks! I hope everyone had a safe and sane 4th, and hopefully all the little furbabies made it past the din of all the rapid expansions of gas in the form of various exploding shells and such.

We went to Calistoga for the 4th, to the Napa County Fair. I was pleased to see upon my arrival to the photography exhibit that I had added four more ribbons to my haul for this year--one 3rd place, one 2nd place, and two 1st place ribbons. How appropriate--that's a red, a white, and some blue ribbons! Then we stayed around and rode some rides, ate some food that we thought would be gucky fair food--but turned out to be gourmet treats (what can I say--it's Napa!) Attended a cooking demonstration where they had us tasting the absolute best olive oil we've ever tasted. So good that when I had to drive back to Calistoga the following day to pick up my winnings and photos, I stopped off at the store selling this amazing oil and bought four bottles.

Then the evening was capped off by one of the best fireworks displays I had ever seen. I'm used to going "oooooh," and "ahhhh" at fireworks shows, but there were several times I went "OMG"--or was just left speechless. I had heard from some people that the Napa show was spectacular, and I have to say I believe it now. I think we may have a new yearly tradition for the 4th--especially if I can get some entries in for next year's photo show!

And speaking of fairs, the California State Fair opened on Friday. We haven't had a chance to go yet, but we are planning a trip for tomorrow. We're working through the weekend so that we can skip out on Monday. The weather has been unusually cool these last two days, so it would have been a great time to go. (The Cal State Fair is known for being scorching hot--that's one of the reasons Mary and I have never been to that fair.) Tomorrow it is supposed to get to 91 or so, so that's worse than the last couple of days, but nowhere near the low hundreds that it tends to get to. We're really looking forward to this--we have been watching it on the news and there just seems to be so much neat stuff to see!

Then just yesterday I finished framing some pieces and delivering them to the Solano County Fair, which starts just a few days after the State Fair ends. We've never been to that fair either. Then in August is the Yolo County Fair--never been there either. Basically, I hadn't been to a county fair since I was a teenager. I used to go to the Yuba/Sutter fair in Marysville. I even showed some projects there from my 4-H days. Then one time in the 80s I went to a county fair in Paso Robles, CA--but I don't really count that as going to the fair because we didn't ride anything, eat any food, or try to win any stuffed animals--we were just there to see Huey Lewis and the News! So I count that more as a concert experience. So this year is my year for the fairs!

I hope you guys can make it to the StoryTime writing session this afternoon, and then to the chat in the evening. I'm going to introduce our new family member--Freddy the Fair Frog! I won him in the water squirt-gun game on the midway at the Napa Fair. He is very cute, and now we are looking to take him to the State Fair and others and get our family photos taken with him. :)

Well, speaking of the chat tonight, I need to sign off and get busy. I'm going over to a friend's house today to try to set up the Raspberry Pi on an electronics project I'm working on with him. He's got an old Philco radio console, and we're hooking it up with a video display and blinking lights and sound system--it should be pretty cool after we're finished!

Until then, see y'all later!