Prydelands Ranch Alpine and Boer Goats

     Day 6: Load Out.  Last day of fair, but one more competition. Our son had qualified for Round Robin so we were at the fairgrounds early to feed and water before he changed back into his show whites and FFA jacket.  He looked sharp and confident going in, but Mom has a hard time watching showmanship.  It is agonizing not to ringside coach, so I would watch for a bit, then take a walk and come back and watch some more.  The competition went on for 1 1/2 hours.  That is a long time to stay focused and keep your head in the game for a teenager!  He hung in there and did really well.  He took second  in the FFA Division losing that illusive belt buckle by .5 (half) a point to our good friend Karrie S. 

      Following Round Robin, we began to pack up.  Down came the dressing room tent, the collapsible chairs and the decorations.  The kickboards were unwired from the pens and stacked.  The astroturf picked up, shook out and folded.  It always reminds me of how a sheik and his harem must pack up to move in the desert.  At fair, everything gets dusty and gritty.  The first few days it holds the romance of camping.  By day 6, it just feels dirty.  But the kids pitched in and Kevin came to help so it went smoothly.  

     It took three loads to get all the decorations and goats back home.  The idiot guard at the livestock gate gave me a hassle allowing the truck in to load out, even after I had a signed note from the Livestock Office. This year's Livestock Superintendant was really on the ball and very calmly tried to deal with the gate guards (and every other hassle that came up). The guards are always part time security and this was an older woman in her 70's with a uniform and a badge.  WAAYYYY to much power there!

     By the time we offloaded the last of the goats, I think I had discovered a new level of tired.  Everything is just piled in the barn and will have to be gone through, washed off and stored for next year's fair.  We fed, watered and milked and came in the house.  I was too tired to even make dinner so I left our oldest daughter to that task and soaked the dust off in a bath.  I then washed up the two youngest kids and got everyone heading to bed.  Our friends the Heino's had dropped off a load of goats at our place while they ran a load up to their home (45 minutes away) and they got back in town to pick up their second load from our pens at 10:00 pm.  Another late night in the making.

     We hadn't seen the pregnant cat since last night, so we went on a search and couldn't find her anywhere.  As I was getting ready for bed, she crawled out of my dresser....skinny.  I carefully slid open my bottom dresser drawer expecting kittens and found none.  Huh.  Then I heard a soft mewing and pulled the drawer all the way out.  UNDER the drawer on the carpet are three newborn kittens; a white, a black and a tabby.  I ran and got the girls and tried very hard to keep them quiet while peeking at our newest additions. We got Momma Kitty some dinner and she took a visit to the litter box and was promptly back loving her babies. We unscrewed the bottom support bar to give her more head room and left the new little family alone.  I'm not sure where to file a paternity case....  But these are future members of Rodent Patrol, a specialized and highly trained task force necessary on the farm.  Guess I won't be using my bottom drawer for a while.  Anybody want a kitten in a few months???  The girls are trying to come up with good "fair" names for the kittens.  They are batting around Ferris (wheel) and Merry (go-round).  Let us know if you have any ideas!

   I'm glad fair is over.  My house needs cleaning, the laundry caught up, the lawn mowed and the pool cleaned.  Yikes what a week we have ahead of ourselves to recover from 6 days away from everyday tasks. 

    On our way home from fair, our Middle Princess was complaining that she wasn't going to see her friends and she didn't get to buy a rock candy sucker like she had wanted.  I explained to her that in life, we frame all our experiences.  Sometimes we frame wonderful experiences with an ugly frame and when we do that, all we can see is the ugly frame and not the beautiful picture.  So we "re-framed" her fair experience and reminded ourselves about the great friends we enjoyed, the fun competitions we got to be part of and the exciting adventure fair is for our family every year.

     Thank you so much for following our family to fair in 2011.  We can't wait for 2012!