... living in alaska from 1958-1962, the annual matanuska fair in palmer was one of the most important dates on the calendar ... we'd drive up the glenn highway between the chugiak mountains and the tidal waters of knik arm, cross the great iron bridge, then follow the highway up along the matanuska river to the fair grounds ... to most people in the world, this agricultural exposition was merely a picture in the world book of a giant cabbage several feet across, but to us it was a most exciting social gathering ...
... suzzie started smiling days before we even left the house ... when we arrived she would run to the horse pen ... mike and ma and i never ceased to be fascinated at how she would stroll up to horses so huge she could walk beneath them, her hair never touching theirs, yet remain perfectly calm in their presence ... pa, of course, he understood her ... "she speaks horse," he would say ...
... horses weren't for me ... they always seemed to be trying to knock me off my feet with a head butt, and, in any case, i'd seen enough of their teeth to believe they were truly carnivores in disguise ... cows were more my style ... friendly, rather docile, and, most important to my survival instincts, slow moving enough i knew even my short legs could run faster'n any of them ...