Last week I took a trip to Seattle to spend a few days with my son.  He's so good to me, when he met me at the airport, he immediately asked what I wanted to do.  There were two things on my list, a trip to Mt. St. Helens and sushi.  I'll cover those another day.

 

 

This city girl went to her very first state fair, the Evergreen State Fair in Washington.  We saw many different animals.  The first we saw were the chickens.  There are so many varieties, but I only took a picture of one.  I guess I was distracted because they are a noisy bunch.

 

 

 

Then we went to see the guinea pigs or hamsters.  I thought this sign was interesting, maybe even redundant.

 

 

Then it was off to the building with the cows.  My first question when we entered was, "Are they tethered to something?"  My son assured me they were.  I've seen cows when I'm driving past their farms and they don't look that big.  They were huge, even if some of them were lying down.  Here, two girls were giving a demonstration on grooming your cow.

 

 

One of the highlights, was the collection of kids.  This little one had squeezed through a part of the fence that had a large hole.  The area was too narrow and he couldn't turn around, so he had to keep walking backward.  I did get a video and am in the process of uploading it to my computer, so we'll have that story another day.

I'll leave you with this snapshot of two cows.  Either they're talking to each other, or kissing.  You be the judge.

Four Down

And forty to go.

It all started six years ago on my drive out west.  While I was in Missouri and passing through Independence I saw a sign for the Truman Library.  I did something very unusual for me.  I changed my plans and visited the Library.  It was very impressive, a good history lesson.  I was quite young during the Truman years and didn't pay much attention to politics.

After the Library, I continued on my way.  But something stuck in my mind and I had a new goal.  I had to visit all the presidential libraries.  Since many of our earlier presidents did not have libraries, I've added homes to the plan.

A few years ago I visited the Kennedy Library and the Kennedy Memorial in Massachusetts, so far this is the biggest I've seen.

Last November, while I was visiting my niece and a friend, I stopped Oyster Bay on Long Island for a tour of Sagamore Hill, the home of Theodore Roosevelt.

I was just in time, since they closed the home the following week for two years for renovations and updating of the electrical.  This was a simple home, filled with his hunting trophies.  There were many animal heads and skins.  Theodore Roosevelt is the only president to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.  It was awarded to him posthumously.

Last week I went to Gettysburg, PA and toured the battlefield.  I also took a short tour of the Eisenhower Farm.



These are pictures of the sunroom, or what we would now call the family room and living room which was filled with much memorabilia from the White House years.  When Ike was at the putting green, Mamie would sit in the family room and watch him.  It was a very interesting tour.

Eisenhower raised black angus cattle and showed them.  He won many blue ribbons and awards.  Of course, who would tell the president his cattle wasn't the best?

I can't decide where to go next.  I'm leaning toward Hyde Park, FDR's home.  I could combine that with lunch at the Culinary Institute.

I have to work out a schedule for future visits.  I think a trip to Texas for LBJ and the two Bush's, then in California I could visit Reagan and Nixon. I guess Mount Vernon (Washington) and Monticello (Jefferson) would probably be close enough to visit on one trip.

All I have to do now is locate the rest of the presidents and then live to be 100 so I can get to them all.  The only problem is that every four years, there will be another one.

Chick-fil-A

Today I made my first purchase at a local Chick-fil-A.  I've been wanting to visit one of the restaurants since all this condemnation of free speech began, but I couldn't find the time to wander over to the mall where it is located.

The service was very good and very friendly.  It took me a while to order since I'm really not a fast-food fan.  I do enjoy a nice juicy burger, but they don't carry them.  I finally ordered a chicken salad sandwich on wheat bread with a side order of carrot raisen salad (my favorite).  It was good, but I could probably do a better job at home.

I may go back to support the company's policies and their right to speak freely on their beliefs and to support those beliefs. 

Those people supporting a boycott hoping to put this company out of business are not thinking of the many employees who would be out of a job were it not for this company and the future employees if this company were able to expand.

Whatever happened to the right of our citizenry to speak out on their beliefs, to contribute to causes that support those beliefs without fear of retaliation?  Why is it wrong not to follow the crowd?

Now if I could just find an Amway distributor to counter that proposed boycott.

Chick-fil-A

The TV lately has been filled with stories about this company.  The COO of this company only expressed his personal views on Gay Marriage.  As soon as these comments became public, several mayors of major cities came forward and threatened to prohibit or make it difficult for this company to open restaurants in their cities.

The one comment that struck me as odd was Rahm Emmanuel.  He said that Chick-fil-A's values were not Chicago's values and the company would not be welcome in Chicago.  All I can say in answer to that is "Thank God".  Chicago does not have a reputation as a very law-abiding town.

At the present time, their murder rate is soaring with gang wars.  Maybe if the citizens of Chicago adopted some of Chick-fil-A's values, they would be much better off.