Fair Week--Thursday

If its Thursday, that means dairy day. For years my sons showed dairy cows for 4H, even though we have beef cattle. The 4H leader was the mother of their best friends and they spent most of each summer helping them on their dairy farm. (More fun helping there, than at home.) And dairy day at the fair starts off with...washing cattle. This year, Katie is the leader instead of her mother and she is starting with a new crew of 6 youngsters. Only her son had shown before. So here is the latest in my yearly batch of washing Jersey heifer pictures. I'm not sure, but there may just be a set of people legs there, scrubbing calves.

Of course I started with my farmers muffin--the Farm Bureau Cheese Booth's version of an Egg McMuffin, with ham and eggs cooked on a grill with a grilled English muffin and cheese, plus a large hot coffee. Luckily, this year, the weather cooled off drastically after the Wednesday night rain. I was able to wear my handknit hoodie (Wallaby is the name of the pattern, by Cottage Creations) in Cascade cotton yarn. It felt pretty good in the shady side of the show arena.

Here are some pictures from the show. Some of Austin, who had showed before, but still found time to mug for cameras instead of watching the judge. Second shot shows him back watching the judge. but chewing gum. Oh well, he as a few years ahead of him before he has to worry about the Grand Slam for the champion showmen.

And here are Austins younger brother and sister. They moved fast so were hard to capture. Lydia became my best bud and had many hugs and lots of conversations with me throughout the week.

This year, the show was a little muddled feeling. Where usually after showman ship there are 2 rings of breed judging, this year we had one judge and all the Holsteins were judged and then the "protein breeds"--the Jerseys and Brown Swiss. And both the 4H youth show and the Open class show, where farmers can bring in cattle from home to show were also combined. So each group that was judged had 2 winners, youth and Open. Sometimes the same person, sometimes 2 different. Not that I am prejudiced, but the judge didn't seem to be a fan of the Jersey breed if he had another option. But Bill, uncle to these other cute munchkins, did do OK for himself, winning Adult Showmanship.

After the dairy show ended, I checked out the goats for sale, for a friend of course. and then I had to hall sit. Since I am a member of the historical committee, when our building was open I would take a turn watching the building and exhibits. We had made a display looking like an old country school. We also had a picture board with pictures of old county schools and class pictures. I always take m spinning wheel and this year, over 2 nights, got almost 2 full bobbins. This time I spun a bag of October Sky colorway wool roving. While I was there, Kate came in. She had attended the small animal auction and ended up winning a bag of fleece. It was from a lamb and not a long staple, but nice. I will be going next weekend to the Michigan Fiber Festival and can leave it the fiber mill to process, saving postage. Luckily I was unable to attend, or I would have bid up the black fleece.

And after more fair food, end of 2nd day at the fair.

Oh, did I mention, my boss/friend Sandy came in after I had mentioned the goats for sale. She ended up possibly buying a black llama and 2 pygmy goats. The goats, Bob and Cissy, will come home after Cissy gives birth and weans her babies.

Am I a bad influence or what?

Its getting late, I will catch up tomorrow.