Category Archives: Animals

NC State Vet School Open House (3/31/12)

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Note: This post is about the 2012 event. For the 2013 Open House, see this new post.
This will be the highlight of the weekend, in my opinion. The College of Veterinary Medicine at NC State University holds an open house event that showcases the new addition, the “Terry Center”. Based on the program, the Vet School went out of their way to make this interesting for everybody from the 2-year-old cow aficionado to the seasoned professor of veterinary medicine.

There is too much to see for one day – here are my recommendations:

For the little ones:

  • Gentle cow herding demo at 11a and 2p.
  • Teddy Bear Suture Clinic. Yup. Bring in Mr. Bear if he has received a bit too much love, and he will get taken care of.
  • New born foal. The website shows a foal that is not more than a few days old. I wonder how they timed the birth for the open house!
  • Milk a cow. Not a milk-filled glove that you see at other “milk a cow” demonstration. This is a real, life-size, actual cow. (These days, with all the regulations for farms, this is a rare opportunity.)
  • Visit a goat. If you go to vet school, you’ll learn to call a goat a “small ruminant”. But they are still cute.

Not for the little ones: (Perhaps you can leave the kids with mom (or dad) for a bit and go have a quick look at some exciting stuff that may be a bit too much for little eyes and brains…)

  • Ok, I had to first look up what that is: They have a fistulated steer (click at your own risk!) Gross. Fascinating. Eek. Wow!
  • Live surgery demo of spaying/neutering a dog.
  • Cardiology, Neurology, Oncology, Ophthalmology, Dermatology. Big words, small animals. The Vet school has it all.

The College of Veterinary Medicine is out by the fairgrounds, off Hillsborough street. View their excellent Open House website before you go.

Awww, a raccoon! (3/24/2012)

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I know you’re not going to say that, but your child will! Besides the quirky events on the fairgrounds and the Mythbusters show, this is perhaps a quieter, more regular way to spend Saturday morning with your child. These classes take place at the Stevens Nature Center at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve in Cary. An age-appropriate book, an ‘investigative stroll’ and finally a crafts project all related to the topic. This Saturday, you and your little one (age 3-5) will learn about the cute little raccoons that inhabit our parks, streets and backyards.

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED! If you’re planning to go, you should sign up as soon as possible this afternoon (course code 56377). If you haven’t used the somewhat cumbersome sign -up system, well, good luck. (The first time is complicated, but after that it quite easy to do online.) As of this writing, spots were still available.

The picture is Raccoon (Procyon lotor) 2 by Darkone used under the CC-BY-SA license and found on the Wikimedia Commons.

Take me out to the fairgrounds! (3/24/12)

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We have to wait another half year for the State Fair, but as most of you know, the fairgrounds serve as an event location throughout the year. This weekend sounds like a perfect time to just head out there and stroll around; because there are five (5!) events that might be interesting to checkout. So even if something does not appeal to your kids, you just move on to the next thing.

None of these events is specifically directed towards kids, but I think that children with their natural curiosity will be drawn to all these new sights, sounds and smells. Here we go:

Since this is not the State Fair, you can probably park inside the gates; I’d recommend to look somewhere near Dorton Arena (the large round modern building). (A fairgrounds map is available here.)

I would start with a little walk around the flea market,  the perfect place to find stuff you never knew you needed. You might be surprised what your little kids are drawn to, and the older ones may make their first supervised attempts at asking for the price and buying a little trinket that they absolutely, positively need to have. The flea market is hard to miss, situated inside and outside the old fairground building called “Education Building” on the map. This is of course free, but bring a little bit of spending money…

And just briefly mentioned on the side, there is also a consignment sale of kids clothes and toys in the Kerr Scott building nearby. Not worth a trip, but if you’re there and have something you need, have a look and hope for a cheap find.

As you get hungry for lunch, head over to Dorton Arena and India Fest. Over 150 acts perform on stage (dance, singing, music) over two days, and they are surrounded by booths selling crafts, clothes, and of course, Indian Food. I’m sure that the colorful saris and the sweet smell will capture your kids interest. Doors open at 11am, $5 admission (cash only) for everybody old than 5, under 5 free.

When you’re done with India, you can choose between dogs and horses. Several local kennel clubs hold the Kennel Dog Club Show in the Graham Building, next door to Dorton Arena. A poorly maintained website limits the information I can provide other than that it also costs $5, but I’m sure it is fun to watch the show dogs parade around in real life. (I’ve only seen dog shows on TV, and I think we all have.)

Maybe better to stick with the horses then, and head over to the Raleigh Spring Premiere Show in the Hunt horse complex (technically outside the fairgrounds, a short 5-minute walk away towards the RBC Center PNC Arena). Admission for spectators is free, and starting at 1pm, the ‘academy division‘ is showing. Think four-year-old girls riding show ponies in the big arena; excitement, laughter and drama guaranteed. The official website is also pretty bare, and I gleaned most information from a participating stable.

The flea market image is 5991247818 by storebukkebruse, used under the CC-BY license. The girl and horse image is 5873806568 by Sarah Elizabeth Simpson used under the CC-BY-NC license.

Southern Farm Show: vroom, bark, moo (2/2/2012)

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Checking out the product display at Southern Farm Show in Raleigh

Daddy, can we put on of these in the backyard?

(This was two weeks ago, but I still wanted to write a brief review.)

On short notice and thanks to the tip of a reliable friend, the boy and I headed out to the Southern Farm Show on the State Fairgrounds. Now this is not the State Fair where kids are expected. This is a trade show for farmers. And we all know what farmers do. They have dogs. They have cows. They ride big friggin’ tractors.

I mainly went for the tractors; my son is at the stage where everything with wheels deserves a “Wow!”. Anything that looks more exciting than a car or bus is a dee-tee, from ‘digger’. There were lots of dee-tees. I was also not the only father, it seems many farmers brought their kids, so I tried to blend in as we studied the offerings of the farm equipment industry.

... upon further inspection of this image, I realize that maybe our "farmer and son" disguise had been busted. We enjoyed it anyway.

Before going, I looked at the program (always a good idea), and saw that a cowdog demos was scheduled for that day. Cowdogs are herding cows, and they are pretty good at it. We were both impressed by the half-hour demo..

The next Southern Farm Show will be in a year (1/30-2/1), so mark your calendars. However, we’ll be heading to the fairgrounds before that, in May (18-20) for the “Got To Be NC Festival”, formerly known as NCAgFest.