A rooster, a duck, and a sheep walk into...

...a hot air balloon. No, this is not the joke of the day. We've just got hot air balloons on our minds. Why?

Because we found this throwback photo. But, what does that have to do with a rooster, a duck, and a sheep? Turns out those animals were the first "test pilots" aboard a hot air balloon. The animals landed safe and sound after a two mile float. Another fun fact about hot air balloons: Abe Lincoln commissioned a Balloon Corps to spy on Confederate troops during the Civil War. And speaking of war on hot air balloons, back in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, a pair of Frenchmen had a duel over a ballerina using matching hot air balloons. They rose over the streets of Paris, floated a few feet apart, then drew their blunderbusses. One balloon got punctured by a bullet and crashed. The other guy won the duel, and presumably, the heart of the ballerina. Anyway, there were clearly no ballerinas aboard the balloon in this photo, which taken back when Barley Creek was the official beer of the Shawnee Mountain Balloon Fest. We can assure you that no animals or humans were injured during this photo shoot. We cannot confirm what happened to the beer.