Tri-Town Frog Jumping Contest

I noticed that the annual Tri-Town Summer-Fest celebration had a frog jumping contest on Saturday morning so I arrived early. Parents and children were waiting outside the three town hockey arena for the doors to be unlocked, so I got a photo of this contestant and his frog, undoubtedly the best picture of the day:

Then the doors opened and the frog jumping began. Most of the children were very young so parents or officials were quick to help:

Most of the frogs were quite tiny. They were placed in the center of the circle and then the official timed how long it took them to get to the outside of the circle:

To no one's surprise, the frogs didn't quit when they arrived at the outside of the circle and considerable energy was spent catching them to put them back into their containers:

The object was to encourage them to jump by stomping behind them or blowing on them. Some tiny contestants needed help knowing what to do:

One could stomp or blow, but not touch the frog, preventing the deadly catastrophe I had feared. Everyone seemed pretty good about how they handled the frogs:

That tiny spot on the floor was this boy's frog. To my surprise, however, the small frogs were at no disadvantage. A good jumper of any size could win:

This girl was trying to recapture her frog after it ran its course:

Families took pictures:

And everyone (except the frogs) seemed to have a great time:

I waited until the end so I could photograph the winner, but was told that the winners would not be announced until later on at the end of the day. So I never learned who won, but I guess it doesn't matter:

Small Animal Swap Meet In Louisville, New York

The Northern New York Poultry Club morphed, over the winter, into something called Country Thyme Living. There were several changes of name and purges of former members. I kept my head down until it was over and was eager to attend their first function this spring, a swap meet. Last autumn's swap meet was filled with small animals - chickens, ducks, goats, pigs and rabbits:

This year's swap meet, however, had only five people with animals. There were three tailgate venders outdoors, including this one with lovely Roller Pigeons. I was still hoping to find some Fantail Pigeons, but this man had none:

This woman had crossbred roosters and two Turkens (bald chickens). I suspected that neither would be hot commodities, but I kept my opinion to myself and wished her well:

Three of her roosters. They were handsome birds, but people with chickens usually already have more roosters than they know what to do with:

The third and final outdoor vender had three cages of chickens. I thought the white ones might be Phoenix because of their long tails, but the guys were so busy chatting that I never got to ask. The little black hens in the center were a breed unknown to me:

I went inside to see what else they had and was surprised to find that it was a hockey arena. This is far northern New York, almost Canada, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised to find that hockey is a major sport here:

There were vender's booths set up everywhere. This one had plants for sale:

A woodcraft booth:

Birdhouses and lamps made of birdhouses:

Wool, yarn and wool crafts, with a woman spinning:

Alpaca wool and crafts. I wished I'd have looked at this one more carefully:

There were only two tables with animals. One had fish, mice and hamsters. And this one had baby chicks and Ameraucana (a chicken breed which lays blue and green eggs) eggs, sold by the dozen. But that was about all there was to see, so I walked back out to my car and headed for home: