The Orange County Fair 

Paul and Mary took their daughter Robin to the county fair because Robin claimed he had "excellent carnival instincts."

Robin's first instinct was to buy a hat shaped like a fried egg. Her second was to challenge a twelve-year-old to ring toss and immediately lost seven dollars, two tickets, and his confidence.

Mary wanted a turkey leg which immediately threw the fear of God into every turkey within a radius of 300 miles from the fair. Like a lion on the prowl, Mary walked back and forth until she found the perfect leg which, by the way, weighed in at 11.23 pounds.

Robin wanted to prove the duck pond game was "mathematically beatable." She leaned over the little plastic ducks, whispering calculations, until one bumped her nose and she fell face-first into the prize bin.

She emerged wearing three plush snakes and holding a tiny whistle.

"Winner!" shouted the booth owner, mostly to get Robin to leave.

We all drifted toward Centennial Farms to visit the veggies and see the piggies.

At the petting zoo, Robin tried to impress a goat by speaking what she fondly calls "goatish." (Robin is multilingual)

The goat listened politely, then ate the fried-egg hat.

Paul laughed so hard he dropped his lemonade into Mary's purse. Mary, surprisingly calm, pulled out her phone, keys, and a very wet map.

"We are riding the Ferris wheel now," she said. Paul was jhappy it turned out to be a closed cabin with no way Mary could throw him out!

At the top, Robin pointed dramatically toward the horizon. "Behold! The funnel cake kingdom!"

Then the wheel stopped.

For ten minutes, they dangled above the fair while Robin used his tiny whistle to "signal rescue." Unfortunately, it only attracted pigeons.

When they finally got down, Mary bought a picture of a turkey, Paul bought Mary a new dry purse, and Robin bought another hat.

The new hat was shaped like a goat. The goat noticed, winked, and began chewing the brim immediately again.

We made it out of the fair and to our car just in time to hit the Freeway traffic. Lttle did we know Robin put the goat in the trunk of the car and we wondered all the way home what was the new strange noise the car was making!

A fun day was had by all!

A small dinosaur's leg might weigh only a few pounds, while a giant sauropod's leg could weigh thousands of pounds.

Rough examples:

• Velociraptor: maybe 5–15 lb per leg
  
  
• T-Rex: roughly 500–1,000+ lb for one hind leg
  
  
• Triceratops: possibly 700–1,500 lb per leg
  
  
• Brachiosaurus / Apatosaurus: a single leg could weigh 2,000–5,000+ lb

Did You Know? - Here's some fun fuchsia flower trivia:

Named after a scientist: Fuchsia was named in honor of Leonhart Fuchs, a 16th-century German botanist.

Not pronounced like it looks: It's commonly pronounced FYOO-shuh, even though it's spelled fuchsia.

Hummingbird favorite: Many fuchsia flowers are tubular and brightly colored, making them very attractive to hummingbirds.

Native origins: Most fuchsia species come from Central and South America, especially the Andes.

Edible berries: Some fuchsia plants produce small berries that are edible, though flavor varies by variety.

Dancing flowers: Their dangling blossoms are sometimes said to look like tiny ballerinas or hanging lanterns.

Popular hanging plants: Fuchsias are often grown in hanging baskets because their flowers trail beautifully.

Color name: The color fuchsia is named after the flower and is a vivid pinkish-purple.

There are many varieties: There are over 100 species and thousands of hybrids and cultivars.

They like cool conditions: Fuchsias usually prefer partial shade and cooler temperatures rather than intense heat.

Here are some fun sunflower trivia facts:

Sunflowers can track the sun when they're young — a behavior called heliotropism. Mature flowers usually face east.

A sunflower "flower" is actually made of hundreds or thousands of tiny flowers called florets.

The spiral pattern of sunflower seeds often follows the Fibonacci sequence.

Sunflowers are native to North America.

Some sunflower varieties can grow over 15 feet tall.

The tallest recorded sunflower was over 30 feet high.

Sunflowers are great for pollinators like bees and butterflies.

They can help clean contaminated soil by absorbing certain toxins, a process called phytoremediation.

Sunflower seeds are rich in vitamin E, healthy fats, and protein.

Not all sunflowers are yellow — some are red, orange, bronze, or even nearly white.