Fair Enough

I got home from work on Tuesday and mowed our neighbor's lawn, as well as trimmed and edged it (and clean up). It was getting dark and since I did not have enough time to complete our yard, I just trimmed and edged it. Fall is like that...I do not have enough time to mow both yards, so I have to do one each night. That is actually a good thing in a way...it keeps me from overdoing it.

Wednesday was "Fair Day" for me and my wife. I normally take that day off to help celebrate her birthday, since that is all she ever wants. Money has been kinda tight the past couple of months so the fair is all she is gonna get this year. I hate to do it but money is still tight.

We arrived at the fair at 11:30 AM and immediately went to the K9 show. My wife loves watching dogs perform tests of agility. the show was pretty good, but my wife liked it more than I did. There was one 2.5 year old black lab that was a champion in the pool jumping event. He made a 30 foot jump while we were there. Impressive.

After the dog show my wife and I scoped out the food vendors to see who had the best prices on food. I was amazed at all the "fried" items I saw...fried banana budding, fried Coke, fried latte's, fried Snicker's bars...the list goes on. I guess Iwe are boring...my wife and tater twisters and I had tamales with chili. We did share a banana split and drank a lot of bottled water during the day.

Before we ate anything, we hit the car show to see what the 2008's were looking like. My wife and I are Dodge fans, so we checkout the latest Mopar had to offer. I was disappointed to see that the dash design of all the 2008 cars was not something I liked. I had trouble seeing over the dash in all the vehicles except the Caravan, the Nitro and the trucks.

Since we did not get such a warm fuzzy from Dodge, we checked out models Mazda, Honda, Toyota, Subaru, Scion, Mitsubishi, and Suzuki. My wife and I really like the Mazda 3. It was the only car that we could agree on in style, price and fuel efficiency. I like the Suzuki Grand Vitara and the XL7 as well as the Dodge Nitro, but my wife was not interested in the poorer fuel efficiency of those vehicles. I agreed mostly.

One of the sticking points for me is the entry into the car. My wife's Honda was a bit of a pain for me to get into. The seat was low and required me to climb down to get into it and the steering wheel always seemed to be in the way. The Mazda and the Scion Xb were not a problem in this area, but my wife really dislikes the Scion Xb. I also liked the Nissan Sentra, but my wife never got a chance to sit in it. It fit almost perfectly.

As I was leaving, I noticed an older man struggling with a seat adjustment on one of the cars. We struck up a coversation and he told me he just bought a Hyundai Sonata and really likes it. He told me price and warranty were key selling points and he was offered (and bought) an extended bumper to bumper warranty (10 year, 100,000 miles) for $700. He was so keen on it my wife and decided to go over to see the Hyundai's. The selection was poor but it gave us an idea of what was offered. If what I hear is true, a Sonata may be an option in a couple of years.


After we wandered the fair for a few hours, we decided to head on home. Traffic at 4:00 PM in Dallas is frightful, but we finally made it home. After we got home I finished mowing our yard and then got a shower before heading over to care group. I was looking forward to eating solid food!

Care group went well. We were a few people short so things went quicker than normal. Once we got home I walked Little Man and then hit the hay. It had been a long day.