County Fair - Day Five and Feeling the Heat

Have you ever woke up...felt suffocatingly hot...but still too immobilized to do anything about it? Well that was this afternoon in the tent at the fairgrounds campground. Today promises to be the warmest of the year for us here in the Northwest...perhaps reaching 90. That shouldn’t be a big deal. But since we have hardly cracked 80 degrees and only since the middle of July, our bodies are not ready for it...or at least mine...it would seem. So long story short, I found myself feeling a little worn out and decided to take a quick snooze in the tent this afternoon not realizing that the windows were zipped shut. The sun had apparently moved over the tent where it had been in the shade before and bumped up the temp. I truly though I just might die but was still too groggy to do anything about it. Not fun.

But here I am now...in the shade with my Via iced coffee looking out over the scene where the cowboys and cowgirls are warming up their horses, ropes out, and seemingly oblivious to the sun while putting together this post.



I’m relishing the thought that I am lucky to be a 4-H mom. I would never have reason to experience this otherwise. Even though it is quite the draining experience, at times, it is one that sticks with you in a positive way for a long time.

Today’s main event...although Goat Princess was still working on studying for her Master Showman Contest tomorrow...was the 4-H and FFA livestock auction. The members purchase, raise, fit, and show a particular project animal with the end goal being to sell it to a community member for a profit and then some at the Saturday auction at the end of fair. Steer, lamb, goat, and hogs are the main auction animals though there have been some pens of fryer rabbits and poultry lately. Our oldest raised a steer two different years through FFA for the auction and Goat Princess took a market goat one year for 4-H when she was in fourth grade. The experience at that time was too much for Goat Princess to go through again. It was agonizing as a parent to maintain your own composure watching your child lose it emotionally in the show ring with their market animal as the auctioneer is trying to bid it up. She made a decent profit but at a emotional expense. She has not repeated it since and would rather fund her project by breeding and selling goat kids instead.



But here were tears again just a few minutes ago when the mother of a first year 4Her who had an auction goat this year just came up to me to be sure I knew that Goat Princess had stood with her daughter in the auction lineup while the member was bawling her eyes out and being as supportive as she could. The mom herself confided that she couldn’t be there for her daughter because it was too emotional for her as well. Those are the things that warm your heart and make you realize that this is why I’ve encouraged my kids to be involved in 4-H. It is definitely a positive experience. Chalk one up to life experiences.



The breeze is glorious. The view straight up into the towering firs is mesmerizing.



But I should probably wrap things up and see what’s happening down in the barn.



Take another look the piglets on display.



Tomorrow will be a long day with packing up camp, the Master Showman Contest, and breaking down the club display and pens in the barn before we take our animals and memories home with us from yet another year well spent at the fair. But you know what, I'm not going to miss these...