Penn State vs. Indiana State

My Penn State hall mate Linda is a season ticket holder for Penn State football and we have done several of the home openers together, and today the tradition continued.Here we are on Rt 322 approaching Park Avenue to get to the Brown Lot parking.
Once again, we are following Mr. Engineer. We got to the stadium early, so we went to see what was going on in Bryce Jordan Center.
The basketball court was open and lit up.

The game was televised on the Big Ten Network.
Did you see us? The Blue Band did its beautiful pregame show, and then it was game time! Penn State received the opening kick and ran it back for a touchdown. A long day for Indiana State, but a lot of work by our team needed to be ready for Alabama next week.

Thank goodness for the occasional breeze because is was so hot and humid today.Indiana State teams are the Sycamores. Wish I got this this button. And here we are, two of the millions of Penn State Fans who have been a part of a game coached by Joe Paterno in Beaver Stadium.

Go State!

Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium

A great sign. I looked up!Today we went to a Penn State College of Education event at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. Alumni gathered for a lunch, and an alum who volunteers at the zoo was able to gain access to some animals for us to see up close and personal. The youngsters in the crowd were especially thrilled at being able to touch a few pint sized creatures.We even looked at GOATS!

The rest of the day we were on our own, and I have several clips to share the fun.
VIDEO OF TIGERS PLAYING IN WATER - I was surprised.

VIDEO OF FUSSING FLAMINGOS. FUNNY BIRDS!

I will tell you that the zoo was very well set up so that if you keep going in one direction, you hit everything. No backtracking or going in circles like these sharks. In the videos you may notice that this is a kid friendly place!

The Noise!!!

VIDEO OF A VERY ACTIVE SNAKE

VIDEO OF JELLYFISH.
Sort of reminds me of fireworks in a way.

On my way home, I stopped to shop and saw this in the parking lot. Perfect!

Livestock Camp Part 2 - At Hoffers

Why so serious? These young people are part of the Penn State Extension's 2011 Livestock Camp this weekend at the Westmoreland Fairgrounds, and they are in the butcher shop, learning about an important part of the food production chain. We are at Hoffer's, touring this local meat packing facility. Without the butcher, we would all have to process, harvest - yes -butcher our own meats if we wanted it. Some of the kids are raising a market animal that will go to auction on the last day of whatever fair they are participating in. Today's visit presented a reality that is hard for some on that last fair day. Where would some of you be without hamburgers and hot dogs, steaks and drumsticks? At Hoffers, Mark, the butcher, reminded us that it is all part of the food chain, and there are a lot of people to feed, and we ALL want to eat. Food production is a very large industry to which we all are responsible. A lot of times people joke that their meat comes from the grocery cooler, but we know that the process is not as simple as that.I joined these 4-H and FFA kids on the tour after they were at our farm earlier this morning. Since I was the host/teacher, I couldn't take the photos, so I will present Part 1 when the photos come from one of the visiting adults. All I can say is that it was a real pleasure to have these kids here.
All their families have great kids!LOVED having a school bus at the farm!

400 For Joe Pa

Its just nice to see this man at Penn State after all these years. Congrats Joe!




Those of you that think Joe is just a coach of a game some of us could care less about, need to know that the library at Penn State has the Paterno name on it because of the donation he and his wife Sue made. Meanwhile they live in the same little brick house a couple blocks from campus they've been in for years.

He's one of the good guys!
Thanks Joe!

Penn State Homecoming 2010

We had perfect Fall weather for homecoming this year.
If you recall, last year was the blizzard. Some fans came dressed for ready for a "white out",

even though there wasn't one - snow or otherwise!

There's my daughter, and her in-laws and friends.

Unfortunately, the football team could only make it into the end zone once for a touch down. We wont talk about the score, but Joe Pa has a lot of work to do with his young team.
At halftime, the Alumni Blue Band and Drill Team marched onto the field and gave a fun performance.

Then the alumni and current Blue Band performed together in a precision perfect drill.
Also see the "paw" in the background where you usually see the "S" for State.
Love that stuff!

VIDEO OF PRE GAME CHEER -LETS GO PSU!

Homecoming is best for spending time with friends and family. And we can't get away from the farm, even here as we tailgated by the Penn State Dairy Farm of Distinction (think wafts of smells other than grilling!).

Perfect!
(OK. Maybe not the score!)

Happy Valley

There's no better reason to visit Penn State then to see old friends,...but the other good reasons are the enthusiastic fans, young and old.

The view.

The Hoopla!

Seeing Joe Pa.

The Blue Band, and the football games, and the Nittany Lion.