Olmsted County Fair

The Olmsted County Fair in late July was a fun event. It is so much fun to see the 4H kids and their animals. Enjoy the pictures.

Rochester, MN

We are in Rochester MN where we needed to get two new tires for the truck. We use Discount Tire Company because they are nationwide but this time we will not. Chauncey went to the closest location and priced tires only to be told that they would only install on the rear of the truck and we needed to have them installed on the front having the front tires rotated to the rear. The rep said that it was a state law. Well, we went to a Good Year dealer and had no problem having the tires installed as we needed.

Rochester is the home of Mayo Clinic downtown and several compasses in the city. Mayo brothers, doctors who founded Mayo Clinic in the late 1800s resided in Rochester. Dr. Charles H. Mayo, a co-founder of the internationally known Mayo Clinic, created the Mayowood Estate in Rochester, Minnesota between 1911 and 1938. The centerpiece of the estate is the thirty-eight-room Historic Mayowood Mansion, affectionately referred to as the “Big House” by the family, and surrounding ornamental gardens. In 1965 the Mayo family donated the home and ten acres to the Olmsted County Historical Society. Two years later, due to its architectural and historical prominence, Historic Mayowood Mansion was declared a Minnesota Historic Site by a legislative act and in 1970 the mansion and landscape were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. We toured the mansion which we really enjoyed.

The Chateau Theatre originally opened as a Vaudeville house in Rochester, Minnesota that opened in 1927 with an interior decorated as a medieval village. The theater was converted to a movie house eventually remodeled and reopened as a Barnes & Noble bookstore. The Chateau was originally opened on October 26, 1927. The architects, Ellerbe, said," We have given this town the finest theater of its size, bar none, in the U.S." In April, 1927, Dr. Charles Mayo laid the building's cornerstone. The structure was originally called the Chateau Dodge Theatre because the Dodge Lumber Company had previously occupied this site. With construction costs of a then-unheard-of $400,000, the theatre opened on October 26, 1927, showing the movie "Spring Fever." The Chateau Theatre was one of Rochester's first air-conditioned buildings, presenting plays, concerts, operas, silent and later talking movies, and vaudeville: In 1940, 25 cents' admission provided audiences 3 acts of music/magic/juggling, "Pathé news," comedy, and a main show. Chateau headliners over the years included actresses Ethel Barrymore and Tallulah Bankhead, the husband-wife acting team of Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt, cinema cowboy Tom Mix; Mary, the rhinoceros co-starring in Johnny Ismuller's "Tarzan"; and bandleader Paul Whiteman ("The King of Jazz"). From the 1940 premiere of "Gone with the Wind" through the 1980s "Star Wars" episodes, the Chateau provided Rochester the very best in cinema. It is really neat that it is an active book store.

Chateau Theatre

Inside Chateau Theatre

Val Burn

Mayowood Mansion Grand Staircase

Addition for Entry During Winter

Wild Horse Sancuary

The Wild Horse Sanctuary has a four space RV park that we were able to stay in for six days. No cell phones or internet for miles around, very peaceful with horses and space around us. We took a tour and learned about the Sanctuary which was started in 1987 by Dayton O. Hyde and in 1988 Mustangs were brought in from several states. Mustangs were from the Medicine Hat, Grullas, Spanish Mustangs, Buckskins and Roans colors. I was able to go with the head wrangler to feed the horses early in the morning. What a special treat that was. There are over 500 horses on the range but guests only see about 150 because the rest are on ranges on the other side of the Cheyenne River. Hidalgo, the movie, was filmed here – the scenes filmed about the American west. Sitting Bull was also filmed here and several of the Ft Robinson buildings are still used by the horses for shade. The Lakota Indians use a hill top for the Sun ceremony on the summer solstice.  Also on the range is a cliff face that both Indians and cowboys marked their passing, earliest cowboy was 1895 and earliest Indian unknown. The ranch also raises registered quarter horse and paint horses to sell. Notice the head shot of the buckskin horse and how his ears look. This horse came from Nevada and has been in weather so cold that his ears froze.

Baby colt

Little Lady

Mock Ft Robinson

Lakota Sun Pow Wow

Cowboys and Settlers Signing the Wall

Indian Signs

 

 

 

 

 

Paint

 



Buckskin with Frozen Ears

Office

Chuck Wagon

 

 

Blackslash, Stripes and EB

Some of you have asked about our cats so I decided to send some pictures of our babies. Backslash is our gray and white Tabbie, EB is our yellow one and the black one is Stripes. They are so much fun to watch.
This is how they got their names.

Backslash has a tail which folds over his back and touches his head the tail reminded us of the backslash on the keyboard. Three years ago in our subdivision was a sign on the bulletin board for three free kittens but we were leaving on one of our trips. We left and came back five months later and the notice was still on the board. We set up an appointment and went to check out the kittens. We learned that his mother was a rescued cat from Katrina and she had gotten out in our subdivision and met a tom. His daddy was a cat we watched for several years because he was a big gray and white tom cat who wondered everywhere. When we no longer saw him one of his off spring was walking the neighborhood. The house where the kittens were raised was very quiet with no TV no radio and both owners at work for long hours. We entered the house and cats ran everywhere to hide. They had five. Two of the kittens ran up the stairs where Backslash waited and allowed me to pet him so we choose him. When we brought him home it took two weeks before he would come into the TV room to be with us. He now weighs 16 to 18 pounds. He is still shy and timid around people.


The black one, Stripes, I went shopping at WalMart at 242 and a lady and her two kids  had a cardboard box with four kittens in it which they were trying to give away. Chauncey had lost his cat about four months before and I called him and asked him if he wanted to have a new kitten and he agreed. After buying my groceries, getting a box and a blanket I went back outside and found the manager of the store was telling the lady and her kids they were not allowed to give away their kittens on store property so I grabbed my kitten and went to the car. As I was loading the car with groceries and kitten the lady and her kids climbed into their car which was parked next to mine. Of coarse we call him Stripes because all black cats have stripes if they lay in the full sun. He is our athlete and curious all the time. He is the first to get into a box or bag but has the bad habit of chewing the "ears" apart on plastic bags. (No bags let lying around.)

Eb is named after the Ebola virus because his tail when he holds it straight up has a natural Shepherd's crook just like the virus. We had our cats into the vet for shots and the Humane Society had some cats in the parking lot up for adoption. While I was in with the vet Chauncey wondered over to the pen and saw this little ball of orange fur. EB had been born at the shelter and had been the smallest all his life, four months old and under two pounds. He took to Chauncey and acted like he has gone to heaven. He is afraid of a lot of things and can be panicky. His health was so bad that we had to get him healthier before we could get him his shots or have him fixed. He now crawls under the covers and sleeps next to Chauncey most nights.

Needless to say we love our cats.