York Fair act headed to international competiton

Contortion in a Cube is what the Seyranyan Sisters call their act, but I call it incredible.

Take two women, both are about 5'3" and 120 pounds, and stuff them into a cube about two feet square.

Once finished at the York Fair, the sisters will take their act to Monte Carlo, where they will perform in the International Circus Competition.

Standing room at fair's Birthing Center

 The York Fair's Animal Birthing Center was a busy  place on Sunday.

A few hundred people jammed the fences around the birthing center to see first the sheep giving birth to two lambs, and then some came back a few hours later to see a holstein cow deliver a baby bull. In between, a rabbit delivered a handful of little ones, but it wasn't nearly as exciting, or noticed.

While the births were interesting from my strictly city-boy point of view, the faces in the crowd were even more intriguing. The kids seemed generally unexcited, the men bored and the women were more expressive.

A few hundred people jammed the fences around the birthing center to see first the sheep giving birth to two lambs, and then some came back a few hours later to see a holstein cow deliver a baby bull. In between, a rabbit delivered a handful of little ones, but it wasn't nearly as exciting, or noticed.

While the births were interesting from my strictly city-boy point of view, the faces in the crowd were even more intriguing. The kids seemed generally unexcited, the men bored and the women were more expressive.

The cow, from Walk-Le Holsteins in Thomasville, also delivered a calf during last year's fair.

In the next few days, more sheep, calves and pigs are expected.

Anchored boat

I've never been to Greece, but this scene somehow seemed like something out of a Greek travel brochure. OK, where do you think this was shot?

Storm dampens York Fair

It's killing me to post a storm damage photo about the York Fair, since the fair is one of the highlights of my year--and yours too, probably. But not to worry.

The storm hit the fair quick as a lightning bolt, but fortunately without all the big time damage. The 60-mile per hour winds twisted a few signs, made some of the smaller tents into kites and forced a few venders to slog through ankle deep water.

But, with York Countian's usual tenacity, the water and twisted tent poles didn't keep the fair turned off for long.

The funnel cakes at Shorty's were being fried up again as the tent next door was still laying flat on the ground. The baked potatoes never got cold and the corn dogs, well, corn dogs are as delicious cold as they are warm anyway.

Let the games begin-- again.

Northern ringneck snake

Picked up this hatchling Northern Ringneck Snake at the Nixon Park Nature Center Tuesday. Please excuse my dirty, wrinkled hands, but the ring shows its size.

It's a small snake, even fully grown, but this was more like an earthworm. Even at this size, there were still visitors to the nature center that were afraid of it. 

As an adult, it eats amphibians, other snakes and slugs. The naturalist says it grows to about the size of a pencil. 

But now, it's smaller than a good sized earthworm.

Hospice Labor Day auction over

      The annual Labor Day auction for Hospice of Lancaster County, now Hospice & Community Care, is over.
        If you didn't browse the three buildings worth of new and used stuff (wigs, bikes, dishes, desks, garden sheds, flowers or a Mickey Mantle autograph), you missed a grand day to buy more things or eat breakfast logs, macacroni salad and whoopie pies-- all Amish made.  And support Hospice and Community Care.
      Mark your calendar, we'll see you next Labor Day.

Is it a war of Us vs. Them?

Covered Vice president Joe Biden at West York High School Sunday morning, along with about 1,400 other people, and listened to plenty of other dignitaries preface what Mr. Biden was about to say.

Simply put-- "The rich are getting richer and it's time the middle class gets some gravy."

It was almost like a general revving up his troops for a battle. It's Us against Them.

But is it? I listened to one speaker say an education is a right, something we all should have. Apparently, you don't have to be intelligent or work very hard-- after all, it's a right.  Not sure it is. We've all been lectured by our parents, teachers and bosses that if we work hard, we can do anything we want.

I hope that's not true.  You don't want me rooting around in your gray matter during brain surgery. And I can't be a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. Well, maybe...

Now, I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack, and early on accepted the fact that I'd have to work for anything I got-- wasn't smart enough to let someone else do the heavy lifting. Thank goodness there are people intelligent enough to make the right decisions. It's our job to vote for the right one.

We should all be happy that people succeed and make a truckload of money. It's because of their earnings that many of us have jobs.  Our local movers and shakers give more of their money away than most of us can imagine. Apparently, they have enough and want to share the wealth. Very cool.

It must be those ungodly wealthy folks that Biden is targeting-- people with $36 million homes, 17 bathrooms and a personal trainer for the six-year old son.  But I can't even whine about those families. They worked hard for their money, they want to keep it-- can't blame 'em. At the same time, at what point is 'enough'?

Maybe a straight tax of whatever anyone makes is fair.  You make $36 million, you pay, say, six percent. You make $18,000, you pay, say, six percent.  Six percent is just an example.

This election is becoming a class war, and Sunday's speeches reinforced that. Us against Them. Shouldn't we be in this fight together?