Curious Critters at the El Dorado County Fair!

I peaked the interest of a number of animals, as did Marcy, at the El Dorado County Fair. Today’s post is all about the curiousness of the critters that I photographed at the fair. I hope that you enjoy this post of these photos of curious critters!

The first area we visited were the bovines. Here is a shot of someone who wanted to know what this thing was I had in my hand…

What is that you have there?

When we moved on to another pen, there was this guy wanted to see what Marcy tasted like!

I wonder what this tastes like?

Not bad…I need to taste more!

And then, the critter turned his attention to me!

What do you taste like?

The next bovine was most inquisitive…

Watcha doin?

Moving on…The goats were pretty amusing! See if you agree!

What is that thing you’ve got there?

How about a kiss baby?

This one was definitely asking me a question!

Can I come home with you?

One lovely sheep asked me if I wanted a photo!

You want a photo? How is this pose?

Let’s close this post with a lovely rooster, who made the one down the street that crows early every morning, sound good! Check out the look I got!

Is this a good pose?

Thank you for the visit today! I hope that you have enjoyed my posts on the El Dorado County Fair! One more post to go on this event, which will show you scenes of the fair, just in case you want to visit us here! We had a blast and you will too!

Have a great Wednesday!

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Questioning Faces at the El Dorado County Fair

The one common denominator at El Dorado County Fair were all the questioning faces of the critters. My camera makes this beeping sound and it attracted a number of curious looks. Shall we take a look?

Let’s begin with one of the most unusual haircuts on a sheep that I have ever seen.

Do you think I look like Liberace?

Looking at just the hair, what do you think of this hair style?

Don’t you just love my hair?

There was a bunny with the most unusual markings. Liz Taylor would have been jealous! Tell me you agree…

Do you like my natural eyeliner?

The cows, when looking at you, all had their eyebrows raised causing me to wonder what were they asking me?

You want to know what?

Really?

The chickens? Well…

What are you looking at?

Where are your red bits?

And the sheep and goats?

You think I am pretty – don’t you?

You think I look strange…

What was that sound?

Can I chew on that thing hanging down from your camera?

This pig in the next photo was snoring pretty loudly. He almost looks like he has a sneeze coming on, don’t you think?

I feel a sneeze coming on!

I hope that you enjoyed these photos! All the critters we saw were adorable!

Now go out and have a great Tuesday! And, thank you for visiting me today!

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Pretty Feet at the County Fair!

Yesterday my friend Marcy and I spent the afternoon at the El Dorado County Fair. This was a first trip to the fair for both of us! Yes, I have only lived here for 6 years and this was my first trip! We had a blast! I am planning on featuring a number of posts on the fair as there was so much to see. I wanted to start out the series with the pretty feet we found at the fair!

The first set of feet is something that you normally do not find at the county fair. There was a group there called the “Australian Experience,” and they brought animals native to Australia. So, our first set of pretty feet belong to one adorable little critter: A Wallaby!

Wallaby feet

We spent quite a bit of time viewing all the farm animals that were at the fair. The next photo of pretty feet belong to a huge rooster. It actually had feathers on its feet!

Rooster’s feathered feet

Then there were the bovines…

Black bovine feet

Brown and white bovine feet

Don’t forget the goats!

Fuzzy goat feet

Goats feet

And lovely pigs feet too!

Pigs feet

One of the vendors at the fair, who had “Cowboy Stuff,” had these feet converted into water containers…I guess this would be a cool cowboy item to have, but I will pass on having one of these.

Water containers

Stay tuned as I will feature more sights from the El Dorado County Fair! Have a great Monday, and thank you for stopping by!

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Throw Me a Curve! – A WordPress Photo Challenge

This week’s subject of the WordPress Photo Challenge is curves. No matter where you look around you there are curves everywhere! Let’s go and check this out, shall we?

One of the first curves that I thought of was the gentle curve of a lovely rainbow!

The curve of a rainbow

When you slice through a lemon, the results are lovely curved pieces of this tart fruit!

The curves of a cut lemon

And looking at our cute little boy Toby we can admire the lovely curves found in an eye.

The curve of an eye

Visiting a number of places, one can always find curves where ever they are, such as this curve at the top of Tonto Natural Bridge.

The curve at the top of Tonto Natural Bridge

In a rainforest, looking closely at a fern fiddle, one discovers that there are a number of curves to this beautiful plant.

The curves in a fern fiddle

At a curve in the road in Yellowstone, we find what is holding up traffic!

At the curve in the road

At the winery where I work, there are many curves most of which are found with our wine barrels!

The curve of wine barrels

I hope that you enjoyed the photos in this post! Please take some time to check out some of the other entries to this week’s photo challenge! Here are a few that I really liked:

Wingrish

A New Day

Stefano Scheda

The Rider

There are many other wonderful entries and you can visit these by clicking here!

Thank you for stopping by today! Have an amazing Saturday!

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A Day at the Food Show!

Can you imagine all kinds of food, and you can try most of it? Cheeses, meats, crackers, breads, drinks, delicatessen items, desserts….MMMMMMM! How about spending some time with me at the “Tony’s Fine Foods” food show?

Our host

Ready to attend the food show with me? OK, let’s go! Here is how we are greeted when we arrive.

The entrance to the food show

We head into the building and are handed a bag for any samples we might receive! Samples? Yes, samples! Now this affair is held in the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento. Yes an arena! So we head to the doors leading into the arena and here are two photos of the floor!

One shot of less than half of the main floor

More of the floor

Now take a look at the photo above. There is another area, hidden from view, that houses the meats and seafood. That is on the left behind that wall! Yum! Let’s head on down the stairs.

Let’s stop and try some cheese, shall we? This company is called Fiscalini. They have some extraordinary aged cheddar cheeses. Shall we ask for a taste?

Two aged cheddars

I loved the one on the left the best. How about you?

Heading further down another aisle there are some hand crafted salamis. Shall we sample these too?

Salamis

As more people are showing up the aisles are getting more crowded.

Looking down one of the aisles

Wow! Check out this food vendors fare. These are all precooked meats which all one needs to do is heat and serve! They want us to sample some tri-tip!

One vendor’s display

Yummy!

Our sales representative meets us and tells us about the money booth. Let’s go check this out!

Win money!

We see the money booth behind this sign. Looks like folks have already won some of the money, but check this out anyway!

Money, money, money, money

The idea is you get 30 seconds inside the booth and you grab what you can as air is blowing the money all over inside the booth. I think we will opt out of this. Let’s continue on.

It’s really getting crowded.

Another aisle

Let’s stop here with this vendor who has fresh meats.

Another meat vendor

Boy I am full, how about you? We have tasted a variety of cheeses, meats, sweets, and beverages! And we have been here for more than 5 hours! Time to head back as we have quite a drive.

Thanks for coming along today! See you tomorrow?

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Views of Ensenada

I realized this morning that other than an evening shot of Ensenada, located on the coast of Baja California, I did not share photos of this place with you! So today’s post are some of the views we saw while there!

Let’s start with a view of the town. The last time I was in Ensenada, back in the early 80′s, Ensenada was a small town. There were no houses on any of the hillsides, and you could walk the town in a couple of hours. Here is a shot that I took from the ship of the town today, which is quite a bit different!

A view of the town

There also were few cars on the road. Not so anymore!

One of the busy streets

It was nice to see that the square was still there which features the heads of three of Mexico’s Presidents.

The Presidents in the square

Walking down the street, we came upon an old building that offered this shot.

A spot of color

Hanging onto the wall of a building was a copy of the Mayan Calendar.

A copy of the Mayan calendar

And of course I spied some amazing bark on the side of a palm. I love the patterns in this shot!

Palm bark

Speaking of bark, one of the locals did quite a bit of barking at us as we walked by.

One of the locals

Finally, we came across some artwork on the side of a building that was pretty good!

Artwork on a wall

I hope you enjoyed these views of Ensenada!

Today I am off to a food show! I buy the food that we feature at the winery, and today, with one of the owners who is going for the first time, we will be looking for some new items to add to the current line up to pair with our wines! Maybe I should bring the camera along! Well, thank you for stopping by today! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

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Thank You!

I have to say that I am amazed at the number of awards I have won from those folks over at Let’s Be Wild, and from you my readers! Over the time of entering their challenges I have won 16 awards from this site! I wanted to thank my readers for their comments left on the Let’s Be Wild site for these awards!

The last that I featured was their challenge number 24 – Reflections. Today I wanted to share the other awards that I have since won! Again a huge THANK YOU!

Challenge #28 was “Mountains.” Here is the winning photo of the Grand Tetons from Jackson Lake:

The Grand Tetons from across Jackson Lake

The award:

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #28

The next is Challenge #30 – Movement. My photo of rafters won the Audience Choice for this challenge. Here is the winning photo:

Going under!

The award:

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #30

This was followed by Challenge #31 – Scent. My photo of fresh cut grass won the Audience Choice award on this challenge! Here is that winning photo:

Fresh cut grass

The award:

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #31

And, then I was amazed that I won Challenge #32! The subject: Beaches! The photo chosen on this Audience Choice award was the contrasting white sand beach at Honaunau Bay on the island of Hawai’i. It was surrounded by the remains of a lava flow.

A white sand beach at Honaunau Bay on the Island of Hawai’i

And, the award…

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #32

The last challenge I won the Audience Choice award for had “Forest” as the subject. And the photo chosen by the Audience:

Palm tree forest

And the award:

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #34

Many thanks to everyone who commented on my posts not only here, but at the Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

Hugs to all, and have a great Tuesday! Thank you again for your comments, and for allowing me to win these awards! And, most of all thank you for following me, visiting me, and for liking my site!

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Amazing Clouds

This is the time of year here in the Sierra Foothills that we get the thunderclouds in the afternoon. There was dry lightning overnight in the valley, while all was calm here, thankfully! Over the last couple of days I was able to capture some amazing cloud shots that I thought that I would share today!

This bank of clouds, with the tops at about 30,000 feet, was off to our east.

Rolling thunderheads

Looking closer at this bank of clouds I saw something unusual. Do you see a person in this photo?

Do you see a person?

Then there are always faces in the clouds. This face appears to be laughing!

A face in the clouds

There can be some amazing contrasts too!

Contrasts

And I even found the Energizer Bunny!

The Energizer Bunny

As the sun sets there is an amazing display of color!

Sunset

We still have the possibility of thunderstorms today. I am hoping that this passes us by! Now go out and have a great start to the week, and thanks for stopping by!

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Rudbeckia – My Black Eyed Susan!

There is nothing lovelier that to see the beautiful sunny face of a Black Eyed Susan!

The Black Eyed Susan

This is one of those plants that is perfect for the Sierra Foothills as it is deer resistant! And, it attracts a variety of butterflies! They are an amazing plant and flower continually throughout the summer. So let’s take a look at this pretty flower as it develops!

The plant starts low to the ground with fuzzy green leaves. Stalks grow rapidly and at the top the flower blossom starts to form.

The beginnings of a bud

The blossom petals start to form.

Blossom petals forming

Then they begin to unfold.

They start to unfold

And the dark center emerges.

The center emerges

There are so many! Take a look at this lovely pair!

A lovely pair!

The petals start to unfurl!

The center shines

These flowers are a true work of art!

A true work of art!

The pollen emerges on the flowers hoping to entice those pollinating butterflies!

Up close and personal

Once they go to seed, I will spread them in the garden to add more next year! These are perennials! Marcy – do you want some seeds?

I hope that you enjoyed these developing sunny faces! Now have a wonderful Sunday, and thanks for the visit!

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Fleeting Moments – A WordPress Photo Challenge

There are times in your life when you catch sight of something that is there and then gone. Fleeting moments. This is the subject of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge! Life here in the Sierra Foothills is full of fleeting moments. And today I will share some of those with you!

I was working between the vegetable garden and the greenhouse one day, and I walked back in to the greenhouse to discover a Swallowtail butterfly had flown in. I was lucky that I was able to go grab the camera and snap this photo before this lovely flew out.

A White Swallowtail Butterfly

We have a strawberry thief in our midst. This photo is from last year, and this year this thief was back and ate over 300 strawberries. After this thief went through the strawberry patch I discovered I only had 6 berries remaining.

To catch a thief

This is the time of year when the dragonflies start to appear. I was visiting my boyfriend at the lake when I spied a dragonfly perched on one of the weeds along the lake.

Capturing a dragonfly

This is also the time of year when the afternoon thunderstorms come in. For this fleeting moment I was able to capture a double rainbow!

A double rainbow

On another day we woke up to thunderstorms. Holding my finger down on the button on my camera allowed me to actually capture lightning! Quickly it was here and gone!

Lightning at sunrise

We have two types of hummingbirds here and I was lucky to catch both in this next shot. One is an Anna’s, on the left, and the other a Rufous!

In flight

The hummingbirds are not the only ones to enjoy our feeders! I was really lucky to capture this fleeting moment of a praying mantis on the feeder. He is looking at me!

Catching a mantis

Well, I hope that you enjoyed this fleeting moments! Have a great Saturday, and many thanks for stopping by today!

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