The Last Few Exciting Fair Stories!

1. On Saturday, we were delighted to find out that our girl had first place ribbons on all three of her first- year sewing projects! She loves to sew and will use these skills her whole life. We're so proud of her.

This is a plastic grocery bag holder.

This is a pillowcase made entirely of hidden french seams.

This is a lined tote bag made from a pair of her dad's old jeans.

2. One afternoon, my husband and our youngest daughter were walking hand-in-hand at the fair when suddenly our girl pointed over to the show-ring and said, "Look Dad! That dog looks a little bit like Chigger!"

"It sure does," my husband replied.

Then he saw a dog that looked an awful lot like Boone with him.

He went to take a closer look and realized that it WAS, in fact, Boone and Chigger... in the show ring.  Mortified, he called to them and Chigger came to him right away, but Boone is completely deaf in his old age and had no idea that he'd been caught red-handed.  My husband had to grab him by the collar and escort the two back to the stock trailer. Thankfully, no one was around and nothing was going on in the show-ring during the time of the incident, but we couldn't believe that they got all that way without something happening to them. Who knows how long they were wandering about in the fair.

We put them in our big old stock trailer while we were doing things at the fair grounds, and someone must have forgotten to shut the door all of the way. In order to get to the show ring, they had to go through the stock trailer parking lot, across the regular parking lot, into the fair through the ticket booth lane, under the silver turn styles,  past the security guards, and across the midway booths. Talk about embarrassing! Some day I should write a book about their travels and title it, "Boone and Chigger's Big Fair Adventure".

 3. Early one morning, we walked out of our camper and saw this blazing across the eastern sky. We didn't know what it was, but grabbed the camera to document its beauty. Later on we found out that it was from some sort of launch at the base in White Sands, NM.

4. We showed our yard birds at the fair on Saturday, and as one might have expected, it didn't go that great. I practically had to grab my kids by the collar to make them go through with the whole thing, and I had to drag my son away from the roping arena kicking and screaming so he could show his chicken. My kids thought I was the meanest woman in the whole world, but I made them finish what they started. And since I signed them up for a poultry project last December, by golly we were going to see it through to the bitter end!! 

After it was all said and done, for an inkling of a second, I considered actually seeking out and buying some high quality birds for next year's fair. Then my husband informed me that under no circumstances were we to ever set foot in a chicken show again. 

Ever.

 Never. Ever. Ever.

So for the sake of the marriage, I will honor his request to just enjoy our hens and their lovely brown eggs at home, and not try to make them into beauty queens. Who would have thought that this little 4-H project would elicit such strong reactions from the family?!?  I may never live it down. Ever.

 5. There were bats hanging from the walls in the women's bathroom at the fairgrounds. I thought that was pretty awesome. You don't see bats every day around here. I don't know why I just blogged about that, but I did. Moving on...

6. Our kids said goodbye to Hank and Beulah for the last time on Saturday.  Our girl took it the hardest. She wanted to keep Beulah forever and ever. She handled it well though, and I was proud of both of the kids.  We have raised meat animals since before they were born, so they certainly understand the circle of life around here. But I must confess that those two pigs found a soft spot in our hearts with their big personalities. The good news: the kids are already talking about next year's pigs so I know that they had a great experience.

And that, my friends, concludes this year's fair coverage! It was, indeed, a memorable week!


Trying not to dream of funnel cakes again until next year,

Nell