Fair Wrap-Up

I did pretty well before the fair and after the first day or so at the fair, but I haven't blogged about the rest of the fair yet.  Here's a wrap up of the last 3-4 days of the fair. 

The sheep show was on Thursday.  I took Dixie (the ewe lamb), and the ram. 

They both got first place in their classes.  Did I mention they were the only Southdown sheep there, which means they were the only ones in their classes?  Oh well, a first is a first!

The 4-H rabbit show was at the same time as the sheep show, so I missed Devin's pen of 3 meat rabbits getting judged, but they got first place and champion! They all weighed exactly the same weight, which is what you want.  

His rabbits enjoyed a nice snooze after the commotion of the show.  

 

David was great at helping the kids get the rabbits' pens cleaned and refreshing the water and feed.

Random picture while we were waiting for shows.  

Kylee waits for her rabbit's class in the rabbit show...

And after the show....she had fun!

Later that night Kylee made a pillow in the Home Arts building.  A group called the Homemakers Guild volunteered to help kids sew pillows. Everything was provided.

Devin went back the next night and made one too!

Devin did the lawn and garden tractor pull.

Then the next night Devin was part of the livestock auction, where he sold his pen of 3 meat rabbits.  

 He made a pretty nice profit at the auction, and was really excited!

Finally the kids were able to ride a ride.  Rides are crazy expensive (like $5 per kid per ride) so we explained there was much more to the fair than the rides, and there were better ways to spend our money. Like funnel cake.  

Our fair entries did well.  David got a ribbon for one of his carved wooden spoons!  His first entry!  And there were some really pretty entries, like this quilt below.  I did not make this quilt!  It got a champion ribbon. 

The Department of Natural Resources had their Scales & Tails program there.  They had some great birds!

All of the birds had been rehabbed and are unable to return to the wild.  Check out these cute little owls!

And there was a petting (or viewing) zoo.  Not your typical petting zoo animals...

The kids got to hear the zebra bray.  Is it called a bray?  I'm not sure, but that's what I'm calling it. 

 Ok, I think I'm finally done with pictures.  Whew.  It was a long week, but a fun one! I'm sure next year's fair will be here before we know it.  One more year until cotton candy and funnel cake!  

E's Tiger



I knitted this tiger for a friend of mine.  Actually I was knitting it for her sister, who was very ill.  Someone gave her a stuffed tiger and she liked the symbolic strength of the tiger.  I had only met her sister in person once, but I wanted to do something.  I felt really badly about her illness, because I couldn't imagine losing a sibling.  Plus, her sister was way too young to be so ill.  I wasn't sure what I could do, so I knitted a tiger for her.  I tried to knit quickly, so I could hurry up and get it to her, but I finished too late.  Her sister passed away before I could her tiger finished.  I sent it anyways, because I thought my friend might like to have it. 



The pattern is Toy Tiger in Cotton, from the Australian Womens' Weekly, dated November 23, 1966.

2013 County Fair Goat Show

Monday morning we all loaded up in the truck.  2 adults, 2 children, 4 goats, 4 rabbits, and all our gear.  We headed down to the county fair for the open class goat show.  The rabbits were due to be on the fairgrounds by that afternoon, so we squeezed their crates in the bed with the goats. 

We were ready to show!

We set the goats up in their pens, and then we set our chairs up so we could watch. 

Devin showed Ida in the fitting and showing class.  There weren't many goats (or people) there, so he was the only one in his class. 

The judge asked him a lot of questions about his goat.  He was a little stumped by the anatomy questions.  We need to work on that!

 












Then Devin and I showed Elphie (closest) and Nessa in the breed classes.  Elphie beat Nessa.

The judge really liked her, and said she had a really nice. level top line and a lot of dairy character.

Elphie then went on to compete with 2 other goats for Junior Champion.  And she won!

I showed June and Ida, but I don't have any pics of June.  Ida beat out June. The judge was very impressed with her udder and capacity for only being a first freshener (meaning she's only kidded and lactated this one time). 

Kylee didn't show this year, but she still had fun.  (David's Aunt Nancy took this picture, and I love it.)

And we were lucky enough to have family come see the show!  David's Aunt Nancy drove down to see us, and my Uncle Larry came up to see us too.  They each drove an hour and a half or more, just to see us show.  We're lucky!

Devin was pretty happy with the big ribbons we got. 

June loves the camera.  Actually I think she just loved when I talked to her.  :-)

More on the fair coming soon! 

Silent Sunday-More Fair Prep

Painting clay entries...
















Bathing Rocky the Rabbit...

The Goat Tote!

David and his friend Marc slaved away on Sunday building a box for the back of the truck.  We need to haul goats and sheep to the fair, and our new truck doesn't have a cap (yet...those suckers are expensive!).  They used a couple of cattle panels and made the frame from 2x4s. 

They did a really great job on it. That sucker is solid and can contain any wild beast!  Beasts with 4 legs...

 

And with 2!

And then we had to put the finishing touches on....

Voila!  Now we're ready to haul some animals!



Busy Day

It was such a beautiful day outside, I took advantage of it and got a lot done.  I started with cleaning out the chicken coop. I really need to pressure wash the inside again, mainly to get all the cobwebs down from the walls and ceiling.  When I do that, I'd like to paint the entire inside like I should have done when we first built it.

I happened to find a hen with a hidden nest as I was walking through the yard.  She was pretty well hidden, in a roll of spare field fence.  There must be something in the water, because I've had so many broody hens this year. They're about to drive me batty!  I'm not sure how many eggs she has, but last year she hatched something like 12 chicks.

The kids and I bathed all of the goats so we could get ready to clip them for the fair.  The older girls didn't like it much, and seemed to pout for a while.   They went in the kennel and laid down...like they wanted to be alone or something.

The sheep just grazed around them. 

The little girls didn't mind their baths too much, or at least they didn't go pout afterwards.

After the goats were bathed, I sheared Dixie (the ewe lamb) so I could bathe her and slick shear her later this week.  I left her legs and head, so I could do those with the smaller clippers.  She looks so funny!

Later in the afternoon, I went to fill up the hummingbird feeders.  One little hummingbird was really guarding her (I'm assuming it's a female) feeder and let me get SO close to take a picture!

She was just sitting there, watching me the whole time.

That's about all for my Sunday.  It was nice getting a few things checked off the list, and even nicer to do them in the cooler weather!  I am just really hoping this cool weather stays around for the fair next week!