Day Five at the Fair

Jersey Day. FFA Type and Open Class
My cousin's kiddos, Austin and Aric, a couple of winners.

Max and Jon took Miss Flop out to the ring, basically the judge thought she was a nice little heifer, but it was hard to tell as she wouldn't walk.

A Blue ribbon! A number one blue ribbon, yay!

More blue means more green, as in the big bucks!

It was a long day of hurry up and wait.

Tonight Hubby and I went to a very sweet wedding, in a pretty setting, with yummy eats and libations. It was so nice to see my friend Jeffey so happy with his bride.

Day Four at the Fair

Max's day started early. Max and Jon clean and repack stalls, milk, wash all their animals and then he comes home for a shower and breakfast. Then it's back to the Fair to get ready for Holstein Open Class show.

Every year my camera picks up on the grease molecules floating around the Fair from all the deep fat frying going on. It can ruin a good picture.

Max and Brooke have been showing together for years. She is in 4-H and got first in Fit and Show this year. Now that Max is in FFA they aren't showing at the same time unless it's Open Class. I got a picture for old times sake today. Don't they look sharp?

Then it was over to the Swine barn for FFA Swine Fit and Show. Jon and Jesse were in the same class and both got to come back in the ring for finals. Jesse won champion.

Then it was Max's turn. He got a blue. Not at the top but did well. His pig got in six fights and they had to use the boards each time.

After the showing we had lunch and I zipped home to take a nap. Also did laundry.

Then the fun really got going for the day.
We went to the Foreigner concert with Bill and Jodi.

I asked Jodi what she thought would happen if I ran up to the front and took some pictures. She pointed out several security guys that she thought would come after me. About five minutes later I told her I was going for it. I had a plan, I saw Christie (a friend of Sam's) working security, so I went to her and asked her to take a close up. She told me to go for it and go up front myself. I got some good shots.

Old rockers!

On the left is Mick Jones, he is the only original band member. Bill and Fred were pleasantly surprised how good they sounded.

Fun times for sure, if nothing else watching all of the old rockers in the crowd was a hoot. Double Vision, Urgent, JukeBox Hero and other favorites brought back fun memories.

Tomorrow is Jersey Show day, I'm just waiting for the washer to get the show clothes finished and then I am off to bed.

Day Three at the Fair

FFA Swine Type show was today. Yep, it's about as exciting as the pictures show. Meatwad won a blue and even better we think we have a buyer for the little guy.
I made a sign for his stall- "Lean Pork for Sale".
While Jon and Max showed their pigs I did barn duty in the dairy barn. Scooped a lot of manure and even wiped some heifer bums today!





Later Max got a blue for the Holstein heifer, showing FFA Type.
Then he came home and got sick... heat, exhaustion, nerves etc. etc.
Cool shower, a quick nap and dinner and he went back for barn duty.
Hubby's parents and brother came over today and we had dinner on the patio. Now I just have to iron his show clothes and go to bed.
Another early morning tomorrow. I have a nap planned for the afternoon.

Day Two at the Fair

Day 2 of the Fair.
I watched a bit of 4-H Fit & Show and then met up with my friend, Emilyn. She milked a cow and got the squeeze and pull down pat.

Emilyn won a blue ribbon at the Fair. She entered her tea set collection in the Hobby barn. Her brother's Lego Eiffel Tower also won a blue ribbon.

At this point of the day we were on top of the world.

Not superstitious but we were riding in #13. And the luck did run out...

Em and I went home, had a break and then Hubby and I picked up Emilyn and we went back to the Fair, where she met up with her Dad and brother.
Fitting and Showing for FFA
This is the show where the kids get judged on how well the animal is trained, how clean the animal is and how they show it. Lots of technique etc.
Getting ready is kind of a hurry up and wait thing. Jesse helped Max and Jon. Their animals were clean, pedicured, ears triple checked for being clean, tails ratted, styled and sprayed, guys changed into full uniform, pressed and ready. Kassie came for morale support.

Auntie Shelly keeping Max relaxed before he goes into the ring.

Grandpa and Grandma always come to support Max, Uncle Darryl and Aunt Judy always come too. Max has many fans in the stands every year.

His first place streak is broken, Max placed third this year. The judge told him, "you just didn't catch my fancy."

That's okay. What goes up, must come down.

This leetle Piggy Went NoWhere

Okay, so here is the deal. The heifer with Jersey Flop, is still flopping... Everyone tries to help, they all have ideas, to no avail. She just flops and stays. Aric thought he could do it, he is ten and it's his first 4-H year. We were laughin'. People made calls, adults came out to the ring, but no cure. Thankfully, Max is still smiling.


Not smiling about the pig though...she didn't make weight. This is really bad as now no little piggy going to market, no big bucks for Max and a homeless pig on Saturday evening. Not sure what we are going to do about that yet.

Tuesday is Fitting and Show for Max... the pressure is on. Luckily he is not using Miss Flop for Fit and Show.
See you at the FAIR!

Going for the Blue Ribbons

The fig jam is a hit. I will be posting some recipes that use fig jam after the Fair. In the meantime I just couldn't put the jam in the cupboard, the color is just too pretty. So, a jam vignette in the kitchen.


I am a bit busy this week at the Fair.
I am Max's encourager, laundress and sanity this week.
This is the list of what Max is entering in the Fair:
One Jersey cow.
Two Jersey heifers.
One Holstein heifer.
One pig. Whoa, what were we thinking? Now I have to go to the Swine barn, I like the Dairy barn, thank you very much. A new venture...

This is the list of what I am not entering in the Fair:
One jar of fig jam.
One jar of strawberry fig conserve.

Apparently they have rules against the open kettle/wax seal method of jam making. Becky and I were very disappointed. I may sneak it in and display it anyway. Becky had already spent (in her mind) the possible first place $3 premium. No blue ribbons for us.

We're not bitter or anything...