Category: To Occupy my Time

We had a good time at the Oregon State Fair this year, but eventually it was time to go.

This family was leaving also, and had trouble getting their large stuffed toy out the gate.

Let’s see what the kids are up to in the 4-H building.

They’ve been growing things.  (The beans are wizened because we were visiting at the end of the fair’s run.)

Lots of skirts.

A nicely dramatic cloak and fancy dress.

A denim shirt I found to be quite impressive.  There were a lot of places where crisp results are tricky (collar, placket, sleeves, buttonholes, pocket flaps) and Kadi navigated those well.

This was an amazing jacket.  I was very impressed.  Good job, Mylene.

Becca did an amazing job on this coat.  Too bad it’s covering up Ms. Folgate’s dress.

I really love looking at these informational posters.  Things have improved since I used to make them.  It’s much easier to reproduce pictures and use fun fonts.

Here you can read bios of the 4-H State Ambassadors.  (The bios were filled with typos, which was hard for me.)

Here’s an informational poster that looks more like the ones from my youth.

This art was very fun in a slightly disturbing way.

4-H has a selfie category!

I can’t remember where Matt was, but for some reason we were in two different places.  I found the robotics area and summoned him over because this was very fun.

I’d heard this and that about robotics competitions, but had never seen anything in real life.  This wasn’t an actual competition, but I learned how once per year the rules/goals/objectives for the current contest are released and then high school students form teams and design their robots to meet the objectives of the contests.

In this case, they were supposed to have their machines grab balls, carry them and then get them through the gates of the castle.  There were things to navigate around.  There were also bonus points awarded if the machine could hang from the bar of the castle for a specified amount of time (20 seconds or so).

Setting things up for competition.  I didn’t get any good pictures of the obstacles, but the machines had to make their way over teeter-totters and other such things.

The machines seemed to need a good amount of tinkering.

Getting ready for battle.  This machine lowered the back half to grab the ball, and then the yellow cords pulled the ball in the the middle of the machine for transport.

The names of the teams were very fun.

An example of one of the robots hanging.  We watched a few rounds of competition.  Once they got going, it was very fast paced and exciting.  

One of the many different puzzles available to solve.

Perhaps you need your own Dalek?

I worked for a long time to get all 8 blocks in the box and Matt solved it in no time at all.

Apparently when not farming, Glen and Ruth are making puzzles.

We were interested in attending the Motorsports Championship.  On our way in, we found my favorite fundraiser of the fair.  FFA was selling earplugs for a dollar each.  We bought.

And here we are in another microcosm I know nothing about, the monster truck world.  It’s a world where not only they make the very big trucks, but also have aliases and paint the names on the very big trucks.    The announcer told us the Scarlet Bandit was a big winner.

Before she entered the arena, the Scarlet Bandit chatted with this man and child.

The announcer was in the arena while people were coming in, but his eventual seat was near us.  I ascertained that the winners got some sort of champagne.  That box thing was linked to the sound system.   To sing the National Anthem, they plugged in a phone and hit play.  

Each monster truck was introduced and drove around the ring before coming to stop.  We had this guy, Time Flys.  I liked his truck and how there was a picture of a monster truck on his grill. 

Some trucking through the arena.

The announcer and his assistant.  We had a group of giggly young teenage girls sitting a few rows back.  At one point they all yelled his name (“Justin!!!!) together.  He turned around, scanned the stands and then smiled and waved while they all giggled.   I love teenage girls.

Thus follow many pictures of very big trucks.  It was breathtaking to watch them fly off the jumps.  The hydraulics were incredible.  It was very loud.  I wondered how much one of those trucks costs and how much gas they use.

And then there were these two.  What was their deal?  So many things I don’t know.

No part of this very large truck is touching the earth at this moment.  What does it feel like to drive them?

There was a break with the big trucks and they brought in other cars so we took our leave.  We had to wait and not be run over by any cars though.

So I got to take a picture of this kid, whose face was unfortunately a little too flooded with light.  It’s times like these I wish I had a bigger camera.

Now let’s see what kinds of things people made for the fair.

Cake decorating is going through a phase of fondant-everything.  Fondant is not my favorite thing, but it was fun to see what creative things people are doing with the fondant.

Maybe you need a high-heeled shoe cake?  

Or perhaps a Fair-themed cake?

As usual, I enjoyed reading the judges comments in the table decorating contest.

Let’s go on a quilting spectacular.  Because there were a lot of good quilts.

I like the colors, and the many patterns contained in one quilt.  

T-shirt quilt!  Maybe when I get my t-shirt quilt done (in approximately 10-15 years) I will enter it in the fair.

These people, (Matt included) were all taking a picture of a quilt, because you needed to look at the picture to see the person the quilt depicted.

It’s Nick Offerman, that guy from the TV show Parks & Recreation.  I’m interested in why someone would go to all this trouble, but there must be a backstory.  Also, the quilt in the background is also a winner!  Great colors!

Another fun quilt.  Amazing quilting and really good skulls.

A 9/11 quilt done in understated colors.

Nice use of black and white.

Impressively swirly.

Similar swirly.

We watched the Art of Cake Decorating on the creative living stage.  Not for long though.  She was sculpting with fondant. Impressive, but not good to eat.  That bust of a woman sitting on the table is actually a cake she made.

I enjoyed looking at this collection of tiny felted objects.

This next item was the most memorable thing at the fair this year.

Nice embroidery quilt.

Here were ladies partaking in a variety of work.  

Some really amazing crochet.

I loved this Steampunk outfit.

Those pleats!  So much pressing!

I also was a fan of this dress that was made to wear to her daughter’s wedding.  (Not enough to take a full-length picture of it, though. Sorry.)

Winning vegetables.

One thing I enjoy about the Oregon State Fair is that they have puzzles to solve.  People of all ages were trying their hand.

The fair is a good place to show off your license plate collection.

There were a lot of Legos for people to build with.  I love that woman in the purple shirt who seems to be tired of waiting around at the Lego table.

There were also many Legos on display.

As a counterpart to the handwork women, we have the wood turners.

Quite lovely dollhouse.

I was intrigued and repelled by this US flag made out of Army men by a youth. I guess that makes it art.

Let’s look at some fun things to purchase at the fair.

An interesting insurance requirement, which I assume has to do with child trafficking or pornography, or something along those lines.

I also enjoy the sign added to bring our attention to the steampunk possibilities, as well as the display of the woman with very large breasts.  (Note that my enjoyment for the second is in its obviousness.)

You are missing something for your wrist, aren’t you?  This shop can help you.

These dogs walk forward and also perhaps bark.

No need to cover up your angel wings.  Here they are in rhinestone hoodie, with or without pink corset laces.

The food at this fair was sub-par. There were no churches selling specialty things, no Jobs Daughters selling baked potatoes.  We ended up with generic Yakisoba, made more fun by watching the X-Treme Air Dogs.  In the background you can see the fairlift.

Later, we got stuff at the Dairywomen’s booth.

Matt poses with a certain presidential candidate.  He didn’t want to get too close.

I know you needed a telescopic flagpole.  This is your place.

I wouldn’t have though the OR DOJ would have a booth at the fair, but here they were.

The fair is very cannabis-friendly, including this booth and there was a category of home-grown strains.

For the serious quilter in your life.

Same booth, a version of the Cinderella dress.

Why spend your time embroidering, when this machine can do it for you?

It’s Mr. Statue!  He’s usually in downtown Portland, but he made an appearance at the fair.