We went to the Puyallup yesterday. This is different than just going to Puyallup; the Puyallup is local shorthand for the Washington State Fair. Among other things, we saw Dexter cattle - a very small, easy-keeping breed from Ireland, and some American Cream Draft horses - as my husband put it, a breed with a bad sense of timing, as they originated in the 1930s. Really good looking however. I wouldn't mind having one of them around for moving things, and maybe breeding heavyweight saddle horses.

I also found out something I'd wondered about for nearly twenty years - I now know what The Ugliest Bird in the World was. The original UBW was a member of a mixed flock that used to live in the SW corner of Greenlake when I used to live there, and rode around the Lake before work during the summer. It looked like the result of a turkey-goose cross, not necessarily getting the good parts of either.

There was one at the fair yesterday and now I know why it wasn't in any of the bird books I consulted. They were all for wild birds, and this was a Muscovy duck. I am comforted by the fact the UBW was not the last member of an extinct species.

This morning is housekeeping; we'll have a house guest for Foolscap later this week, and the last Foolscap meeting before the con this afternoon. There will be further meetings this week, but those will be work meetings - put the program book together and such. Next Friday is F-Day, and it looks to be fun; Michael Kaluta and Esther Friesner are our GOHs this year and we have a new hotel in Redmond. I'm not in the art show, alas - we've run out of panel space as we've become more popular. But I will have a demo table Saturday, so if you're there, please stop by. I will have a few things for sale; my new book, some prints, etc.