Storkfest 2012

Hi everyone,

Well it was that time again, the annual Stork Festival by the birdclub here in Germany.  This year, Rosi worked the cakehouse and I worked steaks and bratwursts so there aren't any great cake pictures sorry, but they were as fabulous as last year.  

This year I am going to start with pictures of our Storks.  We now have three nests in our area.  The nest in the birdgrounds has 4 baby storks and the other two nests each have one.  So here they are.  Oh, you can tell who is a baby and who is an adult by the color of their beaks.  When they are babies, they have black beaks and when the start to fly, the beaks turn orange.  The adults also have orange beaks.

These are our four at the birdground.

The one that hatched at Klöß farm.  Notice the three unhatched eggs.  No one removed them because they did not want to have them break in their hands.  Rotten egg smells the same no matter what bird laid it.

This little guy is a true survivor.  When they went up to put his ring on, they found his legs wrapped in all kinds of plastic string.  If they hadn't gone up to put his ring on, he would never have been able to stand up or fly.

This is the wad of plastic found around his legs.

Our storks up in the nest.  That is a parent, notice the red beak.

Our storks used for our festival.  Notice that our babies have black beaks.  Hey, authentic is authentic, right!

The Bug house wall.  Honestly, these are so bugs have a place to lay their eggs and then the birds have stuff to eat.  Not a place I visit too often but little kids find it interesting.

OK, sorry folks but this year I only got this picture of the cake house because I wasn't there so no fabulous cakes but some fabulous ladies.  Some of you should recognize Rosi.

French Fries, the universal food and with it Rindswurst which is beef hotdogs.

This is Wolfgang, Günther and Maurice checking out the storks.  Maurice is only 9 years old.  He is going to be a really tall man.

OK, they are all starting to arrive.  We had about 300-400 visitors at our fest.  That is Günther manning the Apple Wine concession.  The birdclub makes it's own Apple Wine and Schnapps from their appletrees.  There are about 100 trees.

Pony riding is an activity we have every year at the festival.  Notice the special rider.

Standing room only!

All day people came and went.  Our fest is held on a holiday so everyone has the day off to come and enjoy the quiet.  We do not have music and it's makes for a really lovely day.

Yep, you are right, those are some very hardly stock when you consider the age of those in these pictures.  I would guess 70 is considered on the young side.  But hey, fun is fun, no matter how old you are.

You know that you are in Germany when everyone is drinking beer and apple wine.

Oh, there I am working the Steaks, Bratwurst and French Fry concession area.  Yes, I was the coordinator.  OK, when I was a kid, my mom said that I had leadership skills.  My sisters have always pointed out that it is just plain old Bossy!  It was fun this year to see the festival.

We also sold Schnapps made from our own Applewine.  It is REALLY good.  We sold it by the shot glass.  We made about 100€.  Oh and it was 1€ per shot!

OK, we always have out four legged guests.  This is Lotte.  She is a Labradoodle.  This was her first big outing.  She did great.

Finally, the end of the day for us.  Rosi, Carola and I decided to enjoy some of that delicious Schnapps.  PROST!

Sitting around and relaxing.  Enjoying a beer, eating the leftovers and just chatting.

Isn't this great.  It started to pour rain and these boys (sons, grandsons, etc.) showed up to help put things away.  The driver's dad provides us with the ponies.  I just love these horses and the beautiful carriage.

Well the ponies just couldn't stand out in the rain, so they stood under the tent.  Rosi and I just had to get in on the picture.

OK, so here is the end to our festival coverage this year.  We had a great time and hope that maybe some of you can find your way here next year to celebrate with us.  It will be on Thursday, May 30th.  It will be our tenth and final Stork Festival, so plan to get here early and leave late.