The In-law Trifecta

I didn’t know what a trifecta was until I met CSB, and he took me to the harness racing at the Windsor Fair in Maine. While we enjoyed fried dough and fried ice cream and fried cotton candy, he explained about exactas and trifectas, and how we could place bets on a horse to win, place, or show. It was all entirely new and wonderful, especially as it involved broadening my vocabulary. I chose horses based on how appealing I found their names. What else could I base it upon? Given the option, I would bet on Abstract Expression instead of Foiled Again, and I would lose. Or I would wager my $2 on Slippery Toad, and he would come in last, or maybe not at all.

So naturally, I knew what CSB was referring to when he pointed out that this past weekend he had survived a trifecta of my siblings: one sister; one sister-in-law, married to #1 brother; one brother (#3) and wife, and their daughter and fiancé. Not to mention a nephew, son of only sister.
He loves them all, but you have to admit, that’s a lot.

If we add in last night, it would be a tetrafecta, a word which thus far does not exist. But it is easy on the tongue, and certainly has more cachet than bifecta, which sounds like a very unfortunate sexual event, and also does not exist.

In gratitude for CSB’s gracious in-law trifecta, I have promised that this weekend I will do something Super Bowl-ish with him. I assume it will involve fried food, and placing my bet on the Surrealists of Cincinnattus.

Some great things about Maine you may not know

It's not a gaggle of geese. It's a book club of loons. More loons discussing literature than I have ever before seen in one place at one time.

The outliers. They preferred Moby Dick. They always prefer Moby Dick.

In case you are considering religion. Or perhaps you are seeking a new denomination that meets your needs.

The Windsor County Fair. We bet on the harness races. We lost.

South Solon Meetinghouse, South Solon (Seriously, do click on this. It's amazing.)

The Heater Hunting Quiz

This year we went to the Pond earlier in August than in past years, so we missed the Woodsman’s Day (especially the Grannies’ Hatchet Hoot) as well as the Giant Pumpkin Competition at the Windsor Fair. This was of course dismaying.
But all was not lost. For the first time, I went to the Skowhegan State Fair and witnessed a first class Ladies Skillet Toss. A much bigger event than the Skillet Toss previously seen in Windsor, it was held in the Coliseum and had 3 age categories: 18-35; 36-55; 56 and up. In case you are thinking that the latter age group would be the easy one to beat (well, that’s what I thought), you would be wrong. I watched as the barefoot Darlene, last year’s champion, won the 18-25 year class with a 42’9” toss. The winner in the 26-35 year class was less impressive, with a 37’8” toss, and then the shocker: a gray-haired little old lady of at least six-plus decades won her class with a 39’9” toss. The first prizes in each category were $75 and a skillet.
Back at the pond, where cast iron skillets are in abundance, I practiced for next year, and it is clear that I will need a lot more practice.

Talk about a culinary disconnect: At the Skowhegan State Fair (the nation’s oldest continuously run agricultural fair) the food carts featured fried dough, and fried clams, and fried dough, and fried potatoes, and fried dough, and fried onions, and caramelized popcorn. A month earlier those same fairgrounds hosted the 4th annual Kneading Conference, where organic farmers and artisanal bakers gathered to celebrate the resurgence of locally grown grains.
But we did not go to the fair for the food.
CSB went for the Harness Racing. Like his father before him, CSB is not averse to wagering small sums on large horses pulling small carts bearing small jockeys in silk. He won $8 with Riot Act. And then he went to see the darlings in the building marked “SWINE”.

In other news from Skowhegan, from a very attractive cashier at Hannaford we learned about Heater Hunting. And what is heater hunting?
a. / A competition sponsored by the Maine Woodstove Association to seek out and identify the most perfect wood-burning stove in the state. Points are given for: visual appeal; warmth generated, in BTUs; efficiency; and ease of cleaning.
b. /Driving along Hole-in-the-Wall Road in Athens and shooting at startled partridges from the comfort of a (heated) car.
c. / A form of conceptual moose hunting, in which the participants gather at Ralph Heaters’ Pub and set up a course using beer bottles as trees, a baked potato as the prey, and straws as shooters. Then they proceed to stalk a bull moose. When you miss the moose you are required to drink the nearest bottle of beer, thus clearing the terrain for the next player. The winner gets all the baked potatoes he – or she - wants.

Please email me (Christine.lehner@gmail.com) or post your answer.

One last bit of news: the seven Merganser ducklings that were tiny hatchlings in July are now almost as big as their mother and their distinctive feathery reddish crests are developing nicely, thank you very much, imparting to them a permanent bedhead demeanor.