The Lipizzaners
This was the first and only time I ever saw these magnificent animals. It was a wonderful sight. I talked with some of the riders after the show. I took pictures most of which are long gone but I may have one still and if I find it I will put it here. They were never at the fair again while we were going to it.
One man I talked to told me a lot about the horses. He told me his name was Alexander Reinhardt Dorsch. I probably mangled the spelling of that. The horses are born black not white and they become lighter as they grow to adulthood. It sometimes takes as long as ten years and even then some are not pure white but more of a grayish white. I'd already read this in a book by Mary Stewart called Airs Above the Ground.
Disney made a movie about the horses called "The Miracle of the White Stallions". It told the story of how Patton had been instrumental in saving them in World War 2. I don't think I ever saw that movie but I would liked to have.
They were lovely horses and I got to pat the nose of one of them. The man I talked to was very nice too.
Fair Foods
Also at these fairs I ate foods I never would have eaten other wise. Lois convinced me to try something that looked like a normal hot dog which even in those days I didn't like. This one was in the Bavarian Oktoberfest Pavilion. It had not only "brown" mustard on it by mayonnaise as well. I ate it and it wasn't bad but I would never really like hot dogs. There were never any of the fantastic stuff you read about that you see at fairs now. It was mostly just good tasting and hot or cold depending on what you wanted. There were no deep fat fried candy bars for sure! I was always a cotton candy fan.
Everybody Getting Sick
One particularly cold and snowy morning in winter I woke up to discover all of my sisters and our Mom and Dad sick with colds. Dad was going to try to keep the fire going while I was at work but somebody had to deal with the animals. I fed and watered chickens, rabbits, pigs, cats and the dog. I got what food and water ready that I could for the humans and left by their bed sides. I dumped the slops bucket and then I got ready and went to work.
At home again it was go though that same routine but keeping the fire going and getting in wood as well. This lasted at least a week. Let me tell you, it was a relief to go to work because otherwise I'd have gotten no rest at all. I don't know why I didn't catch whatever germ they had but it missed me. I think with some it was bronchitis.
It probably wouldn't have stuck in my mind but it was so cold that winter. Most winters were cold there. Your breath would freeze coming out of your nose. You inhaled ice. People would say the snot froze in your nose but it was mostly the moisture in the air freezing when you sucked it in. I really grew to hate winter.
I liked the snow when it first fell because it was so beautiful. In the bright sunlight it lit up like a field of diamonds but those diamonds quickly turned deadly. Then in the spring when it all started to melt and turn brown with the mud from the sand they put on the highways it got real ugly real quick.
We had so many bad times in our lives because of the snow and ice of winter.
I even grew to hate the snowplow which you would think I would like to hear coming. It wasn't so bad if you didn't have to shovel the driveway and the paths to the animal sheds, the clotheslines, the outhouse and the mail box.
You hung up wet clothes on the line hoping they'd dry but they froze solid. You brought them inside and propped them up around the stove looking like visitors without bodies until they could unthaw enough to dry.
You might think the winter kept me from the woods but it didn't. I'd just get bundled up and tramp around out there until I'd hear Mom yelling at me that if I had so much energy I might as well haul in some wood or go get another pail of spring water.
It was sort of quiet in the woods. You could still hear birds and squirrels and sometimes the sounds of cars on the highway would filter in to the woods. If a tree was wide enough I could get a little shelter from the icy wind behind it. There was beauty in the winter in the woods. It wasn't the same as the beauty of summer or Fall but it was still beautiful. Sometimes the woodvine would still be red even though it was covered with ice. Red berries always looked nice in winter. They weren't edible to humans but the birds found them tasty. I loved seeing a blue jay in winter. It was such a bright spot of color. I took a lot of winter photos as well.
One morning I cleared the driveway of snow so I could get out, dashed back in to put my uniform on and rushed out to jump in the car ready to leave when the plow came through and dumped a whole new load in the drive way. It was about a foot high. I was irked. I was more than irked. I was ANGRY! I gunned the motor and went fast over the hump. Dad gave me hell when I got back home for that. He was afraid I'd rip the muffler off doing it which I could have done and I knew it.