Perfect, like a crisp fall day but longer, drier, and just enough warmer to be delightful. Beck and I ran errands this morning and didn't even mind (much). Liz is over at this fair with the cows...and her friends, which is, after all, the real point of showing cattle....being with your friends, that is. It has nothing to do with ribbons (although we like them) and everything to do with who is there to hang around hollering "phone call" every time a critter raises her tail to take care of business. (As in, "Liz, there's a phone call for YOU," when it happens to be one of hers that is doing what cows do best.) And who is there to "accidentally" "slip" with the hose on the wash rack. Who has a set of ear clippers you can borrow. Who brought that amazing summer yearling...or junior two or aged cow.
***New sign in the Fonda Dollar General Parking Lot***Or who can get away to take a walk down to the carnival section with you and pick up a corn dog. Which serious hottie down on the end of the barn stands up and belts out, "I've got a Brand New Girl Friend", every time the song with the same title comes on the radio that somebody else has blasting loud enough to be heard over the buzz of a dozen sets of cow clippers, the calliope jangle of the rides and the shuffle of hundreds of feet of the fairgoers admiring the cows and the suntanned country kids that grace the new barn.
Fair time is not without its hassles, skimpy passes, loss of exhibitor parking and things like that, but never stops being a great place to meet your friends and have fun. I am looking forward more than I have in a long time to seeing friends at our local fair in a couple of weeks. I am entering some vegetables and such, but only so I can get in as often as I want to see the folks. I know if I go over with the boss we will be able to spend three hours, never get bored, and never make it past the Cow Palace.
***Back to school '07, college girl version 102***
Things to look forward to. My daughter is showing a lamb for the first time this year and we got a little taste of all that socializing at our township fair. Next week is the county fair. And next year she says she is showing a steer.
ReplyDeleteHi Staci, We were told when the kids started showing (when our oldest was six) that they would make friends that would last forever. I don't know yet about the forever part, but they sure have made a lot of good ones in the intervening 15 years.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to her with her new lamb enterprise. Showing has its ups and downs, but it can be a real character builder. Hope you all have a great time at the fair and thanks for visiting and taking time to comment.
A lovely narrative -
ReplyDeleteAn insider's view that we townies don't get.
Is that Becka among the geraniums? What a sweetheart!
Thanks Cathy, it is a whole 'nother world...the show ring and barn.
ReplyDeleteYes, that is Becky..she has been putting together back to college clothes and she looked so nice I took some pictures for her grandmother.