Fair part 5 - More Ribbons

Back to the 4-H Building:

The chalk picture of the rainbow and the Family history picture above this little girl are her contributions in the Cloverbud age group in 4-H.

And believe it or not, Pecker the chicken received a 1st place!!!! She was the only chicken of this breed entered in the fair this year. I guess Delawares are rare in these parts. Her sisters chicken had competition but still came in 3rd because of her beautiful golden color. We learned a lot about chickens after talking to some expert chicken people. I thought all chickens looked the same but now I can almost tell which is a chicken from a breeder or from a hatchery. Makes all the difference to the judge.


This guy is going to the STATE FAIR. They liked his still life photo of his bionicle.


There was many many entries for cookies this year but he took the purple ribbon and is going to the STATE FAIR! Now he just has to duplicate the same cookie again...that is the challenge in our house! GREAT JOB YOU GUYS!


And of all the funny things, the cabbage we grew in the garden won 1st place in the JR cabbage division! It was a nice looking cabbage, big, bigger then her head, round and what are we going to do with it? We have another one in the fridge at home...anyone have any favorite cabbage recipes?

Fair part 4 - Showmanship -Lambs

We start out the day with the Pee Wee Show. This is when all the siblings of the lambs showers get to take their brother or sister's lamb in the ring and walk it around to the judge, tell him your name and the lambs name then get a ribbon and a prize. Simple enough but you have to remember some of the lambs are 6 times as big as a 4 or 5 year old kid. Sometimes a parent will walk next to the Pee Wee just in case it gets away or tramples the kid. They also are allowed to keep the halter on.
I got the times mixed up so this little girl made it just in time. She was almost the last out of 120 peewees to enter the ring. Whew. She had fun and didn't get ran over.




Here we are again but this time it is showmanship! The judge will be looking at how well the kids handle their animals in the ring. They need to always look like they are having fun, keep their eye on the judge, never get between the animal and the judge because you are trying to show off the animal and they need to remember to be patient and never let down their guard. When the judge comes you move into a position that pushes the lamb just right so it flexes all the muscles in its back and legs. You need to brace the lamb so it doesn't jump when the judge feels the back muscles or I would call it tickle the lamb because that is why they jump. You also need to constantly be setting up the lamb which means moving its feet so they are "square", not one for ward or back but always in a rectangle like box position so that the muscles are flexed and it shows off all the best features of the lamb.



Then each child will have to move the lamb around and do a pivot always remembering to never turn their back to the judge or get in between them and the animal. It is a lot to remember.


In each class 2 or 3 out of the 12 will be put in the star class. The star class is where they pick the best showman from all the classes. They are invited to come back a second time in the ring all together to be lined up by how well they do and the grand champion and grand champion reserve is picked from this bunch.


The second girl, you know who because I have so many pictures of her smiling big, did great! She made it to the star class in 3rd place in her class. In the star class she ranked right in the middle - 11 out of 22. That is great! Anything lower then that would have been very disappointing. She was the only one in our club that made it to the Star Class for showmanship.



The oldest boy Iv did very well ranking right from the beginning as #5 in his class. He was in the JR. class because I got his grade mixed up when I signed the kids up but that didn't matter because he held his own. We almost missed his class because we were eating lunch and thought we had plenty of time because he was in class 12. The judge was moving right along with the JR classes and we got there just in time to go in the ring. I don't have pictures because I left the camera next to my watermelon.

BEFORE:

His lamb never settled down the whole time and got away right at the beginning but that was to his advantage because he never gave up and that was what the judge was looking at. He stuck to it when others would have just cried. Shawn his lamb was jittery the whole time at the fair but Iv stayed with it despite her stubbornness and jumpiness of his lamb.
AFTER:


Both children are very glad it is over and they both think it was worth all that walking and practice. I was glad they remembered so much this year and they really did have fun...last year it was stressful but this year they just went with it and relaxed a bit. The judge was awesome! He was from St. George and teaches down there in a school. He really took time to tell the kids tips and explain why he wants them to do different things. He was very consistent and that is the best quality in a judge.

FAIR Blue Ribbons Part 3

Some children make out like bandits when it comes to blue ribbons! And this year this kid won quite a few Purple Ribbons which means it is better then a blue and is allowed to go to STATE FAIR to compete with everyone from every county in the state!

M&M Cookie Bars won a 1st place.


The doll she made with grandma Carol is going to STATE!


The first kid made a family tree for the genealogy section and it won a blue. The little sister just wanted to stand in front of it for the picture. It is falling over and is BiG!


Three out of the four digital pictures are going to STATE!


Stay tuned, next time we see how this girl did at the fair!


It was a long day but we all did pretty good!


This little girl got to stay till it was dark and all the carnival lights are shining. We actually had 4-H building watch from 8pm to 9pm. We just sat there for an hour and told people not to touch things or run around. Actually she wanted to say, "Thank you for coming to the 4-H building. Please look with your eyes not with your hands. If you have any questions don't ask me I am just minding my own business." And then when they left, "Bye Bye Now!" All in the Toy Story Barbie voice. We were pretty bored and tired so we were getting silly.



To Be cont....

FAIR Market part 2

What a fun day! The kids didn't stress too much and did a great job with the market class. The lambs were pretty average so next year there is room for improvement. That is all part of the game. Friday, today we do the Showmanship portion of the lamb showing.




After getting to fair early in the morning to feed and wash the lambs the kids all took a break for snacks before the competition. We keep the neighbors truck at the fair to hold all our stuff. It is like a tailgate party.


This lamb is clean and ready for showing. They wear the sheep coats to stay clean. Thanks Pam for helping us make them! They fit perfectly!


Here they are in line waiting for their class to go into the ring. You need to keep your lamb calm, watch the judge at all times and hold on!
They will take off the halter when they go in the ring and only use the lambs head with both hands to guide the lamb around. Actually it is more like pulling and pushing the lamb then guiding for some.

Here are the spectators! Mike came on his lunch break and it was perfect timing. He also got the baby to fall asleep for his much needed nap, whew!



Here are the highlights of Market:

Always keep your eye on the judge. Hold your lamb because when the judge touches the lamb it might jump. Some lambs are ticklish.

Shawn the lamb was very ticklish. She got away here.

She got away again.

Oh, not again!


Line them up again. Both kids were next to each other. Luckily this helped calm the lambs.


Walk them around...go you stubborn lamb! They all did a good job.

Going to the Fair Part 1

Just in case you are wondering what we have been doing....Well, it is County Fair Time!!!

BEFORE you get there you have to do a bunch of things.

So we washed the lambs.


Before:


After:


Then we had the lambs slick sheered. BUZZED!

EB was so bored she almost fell asleep. She is such a calm creature.


Like Shawn is really going to get away, hold on tight. She just sat there.



Then we set up their pens at the fairground and put up boards to separate us from the hogs. The hogs like to bike the lambs on the nose if there isn't a barrier between them. The lambs like to sneak the pigs food, which would make them sick.

We made cool posters to hang with our 4-H club on it. But I can't find the picture of that. Then we had to make a funny little coat for them to wear so they wouldn't get too dirty.



We fed and watered them...then went to an informative meeting. Then one kid took a very interesting class on how to judge. Now time to go home until 6pm when we go back to feed the lambs again. Tomorrow morning we will be there by 7am and it will be show time by 11am!



AND we put two CHICKENS in the fair this year.


This one is really special and is sure to win a prize! Her name is FLIP. She is a pure bred chicken that will lay multiple colored eggs.

This other one is called a Delaware and it looks like it has a black pearl necklace. It is very nice and loves to peck. It's name is Pecker

Getting ready for the FAIR!

We have been so busy with the final touches on projects for the fair. I think our favorite thing is just seeing what was made by each kid on display. Hopefully quality will out weigh quantity next year but this year it is just fun!
The lambs are getting used to people, standing still and obeying. They still have their quirks and are stubborn but getting closer to show ready. I think the kids are just about DONE! The lambs take up so much time. They don't realize that there isn't any thing better they could be doing at this time in their lives. They would be eating junk food, sleeping in and playing on the computer if they didn't have a lamb to care for every morning and evening.


Last Thursday the two oldest were invited to take their lambs to a day camp/preschool. It theme was FARM Animals all week. First we had to get the lambs into the truck without our official lamb lifter (the next door neighbors super strong son). I worked all week making a ramp for the lambs to simply walk up and into the truck. Yeah right! They didn't want to walk up my silly ramp. It was kind of narrow but that was the only width I could find in the scrap wood pile. Then it was also not strong enough so after I stepped on it and broke it, I had to reinforce it with two two by fours, 8 ft. long. This was a heavy ramp! The kids helped me screw the boards on and the cross boards. It looks like a ramp for a chicken coop.

Luckily after 20 minutes we successfully loaded the sheep. Whew. Next we dropped off the younger kids and picked up an extra sheep and the neighbor girl. Her lamb had a really hard name like Galadriel, which means in elven "maiden crowned with a radiant garland". She is homeschooled too and loves Lord of the Rings. Her sheep is so calm and really funny. She follows her friend everywhere. They bonded with each other instead of the sheep bonding with another sheep. Galadriel came in really handy when we needed to demonstrate different things and have the kids pet the lamb.

The place we went had us out side under a tree in the shade. The kids had 30 mins. with each rotating group of children. The groups were 12-20 in size. We were there from 9-11:45am. The kids presented interesting facts about their lambs to 5 different groups of children. About 85 children I think.


At first they talked really quiet and read from their notes but by the end they were talking louder and giving eye contact. They were naturals in front of a crowd. They had fun and the kids really liked to pet the sheep.




Well, almost all the paperwork is filled out for each cooking, sewing, artistic project... and all the projects finished...we still need to work on some cooking this Sunday after church. I think Monday we shouldn't have to panic to get it all to the fair and turned in. We also set up the pens at the livestock area Monday evening. Wed. we bring the lambs down and relocate. I am thinking about having one of the girls enter her chicken. We will see.

Here is one of Maggie's digital photographs she entered in 4-h photography. It is a weird one in its own category. We will see how it goes. I think the hardest part was the mounting of each picture and the super mind of its own double stick tape dispenser we were trying to use. AAAAHHHH but we survived so far and the pictures look great!

Mary Emma and Company by Ralph Moody

This was such a good book! It was one I couldn't put down, such a classic. I love the Little Britches series. I think this is the 4th of 5th book.

The whole family moves to Boston. They start a family business and get odd jobs. Of course the adventures just keep coming. They are also a very blessed family and even when times are hard they stick together and rely on God and hard work to get through.

Ralph makes the bad boy book at the police station but he is the best kid ever. Gracie gets really bossy but is very talented. The little kids finally get to shine too and we also meet some uncles in this book.

I am so glad we don't have coal burning furnaces!

This book is also a math classic.

Whole Book

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies: A No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Novel (6) by Alexander Smith McCall

Another fun book in the soap opera of detective agencies in Africa. I don't know why I keep reading this series. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes I cry and sometimes it is nice to have some positive things to think about far away.

Whole Book

Calamity Jack by Shannon, Dean, Nathan Hale

This is a graphic novel, sequel to Rapunzel's Revenge. I liked it but thought the first book was better. Jack was a bit wimpy despite his character was supposed to be tough and quick witted guy. He wined too much about stuff but not out loud because it was in his voice in his head. Anyway, I could see maybe the authors were trying to get boys to like this one but he still sounded like a girl.

There was adventure and romance...overall it was a nice comic about a fairy tale character's real life, like behind the scenes and continued type stuff. And I love happy endings.

Whole Book

The Full Cupboard of Life #5 by A. McCall Smith

Really, why am I still reading this series. It isn't getting better it is just flat-lining. I still can't get over the guy writing this from an African woman's perspective. He makes fun of the male population over and over. I wonder if he hated his dad.

whole book

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

What an awful book. Okay it wasn't that bad, just a bit disappointing after reading her Anne of Green Gables series and loving them. This was a predictable love story. It was clean, sappy and dripping with drama.
BUT I love happy endings and this one wins the prize!

Whole Book

Bells On Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth

This is the sequel to Cheaper By The Dozen...not the Hollywood watered down movie version but the original classic story! These are hilarious books about a family with so many children and the parents are the founders of motion study way back in the early 1900's.

This books starts off right where the other book ended. The father died and left the mom with a whole slew of children from 2 to 18 yrs. old. She takes over the business and enters a mans world at the work place while the kids are so organized at home they keep it all together, pinch their pennies and make it through some tough times with humor. It is amazing what can be down when everyone in the family is invested together in a good cause. I loved this book.

Whole Book

The Kalahari Typing School For Men by McCall Smith

I am hooked on this series of books but they are starting to go down hill. I liked all the detective stuff but now it is just stuff about the characters daily lives. Their lives are complicated and interesting but the author seems to be really trying too hard. UHHHGGG, maybe it is time to move on to another series.

Whole Book

Leaning Into The Curves by Nancy Anderson and Carroll Hofeling Morris

I was asked to review this book as a favor to a friend and publisher who is doing a favor for Deseret Book. So get the word out because this is a Fun Book!

Having said that, I am reminded of the old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover!" To start out I read the little description on the back of the book...a retired couple joining a Mormon motorcycle gang..."uh would there be anything I could relate too?" I thought. Surprisingly, I loved this book! It was slightly cheesy yet funny and insightful. I related more then I thought because I also am not the biggest fan of my husbands hobby of riding motorcycles. After reading this book, which presented quite a few facts and different view points on motorcycling, I can honestly say I would love to ride a motorcycle and have my husband ride more too! I'm sold!

The book turned into motorcycle therapy for me, as well as the main character. Her name is Molly. She also had to work through some issues with riding. She was so afraid of motorcycles that she was completely blinded to anything good about them and was putting her hysteria and biased onto her children and grandchildren. After she learned step by step everything there is to know about motorcycles from a really good friend, she was able to come to terms with riding and excepting her husband love of riding. Their relationship improved and they started new in planning their future together in their retired years.

I love the interaction between the husband and wife in this book. It was so real as they argued or did the silent treatment or tried to second guess each other. Luckily they also took time to pray and were patient enough to listen for inspiration before their marriage became one more sad divorce. They reminded me of my mom and dad after my dad retired. I can also see a bit of my husband and myself going through some of their same conflicts. I think reading this book will actually help me look at my life and relationship with my spouse a little different.

Even though the book was about an older couple I would recommend this book to anyone that just wants to read a good adventure between two people, or if you like motorcycles or not it would be a good one to read. Plus it might even make you laugh. I did.

I didn't know there was a Mormon motorcycle gang which is actually called TRA - Temple Riders Association. So they technically aren't a gang just a group of people that like to ride and do Temple work along the way. Most of the people are retired couples and they ride touring bikes like Gold Wings. The wife usually sits behind her husband. They map out a route with plenty of tourist attractions and sightseeing along the way to a temple somewhere in the USA. Sometimes the trip takes a week or two and sometimes it is a day trip. There are also single members in the group and women sometimes ride their own motorcycle. There are even people that aren't Mormons in the group. You never know when you might need a Ferret-sitter. (ha ha read the book to find out what I mean.)

Check out more information here.

Potato Peel Pie

This was a good book but I really do not like reading letters back and forth, it was confusing to keep track of people. Daddy Long Legs is also written in letters. I didn't like that either. But after getting over the letter thing I enjoyed the book. It was predictable when it came to the romance part yet unpredictable as the story unfolds when it came to the WWII. The stories were unique and haunting. I am glad that nothing was hidden and despite the horrors people lived through People found humor as they looked back on some of the situations. Not that the WWII was funny, just that is was good to see that many people joined together to laugh as they released some of the built up trauma they had been through.

Morality For Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith is a guy and when reading the books you are just sure it is a very smart old lady writing in the voice of a heavy set an African women. Surprising! It is just a very imaginative and creative old English guy that writes really well.

I really like these books. This is the 4th in the series. They are so funny and very unpredictable. They are also full of ideas to think about. This one was mainly about how men think of women and how some women are just stupid and that is why men think of them as sex symbols. It is like we set ourselves up when we forget how to stand strong and take charge of what we do best.

Whole BOOK.

Tears Of The Giraffe book two from the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

More mystery uncovered in Africa by Mma Romotswe. These books kind of grow on you. They are unique to me because I usually don't hear about mysterious things in Africa. The last detective books I read were Nancey Drew. She never had cases like these.

I also like that this book tells the stories of the people. They get into the moral issues like telling the whole truth or only part of the truth. They talk about how it used to be and how the world is changing. The loss of respect for your elders and even sometimes ones self. Very thought provoking and with humor.

Whole Books

Net Force: The Ultimate Escape #3 by Tom Clancey and Steve Pieczenik

Another fun book, this time in a virtual air flight simulation program. One of the kids in the Net Force's team moves away but mysteriously shows up in the game and asks for help. The NF team knows he is in danger and no one will listen to them. They end up doing whatever it takes to help their friend. They of course get in trouble but also are commended for their ingenuity.

I liked the history in this book. It almost felt like historical fiction instead of YA Fiction. The History was all about past battles of the world from the sky. They got to fly everything in all kinds of wars from WWI, WWII and Pearl Harbor. Then a bunch of battles I never heard of like the Bosnian Crisis and Wild Weasel missions. They flew MiGs, F-15 fighters, Sopwith Camel, and P-51 Mustangs.

I think my dad would like this book.

Healing Book/ Almost Whole

Net Force Book Two: The Deadliest Game by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik

I have been sucked in the Young Adult Series of Net Force. This was another great adventure this time in a virtual reality game. Deep in cyber space there is a group of kids ready to take on villian that want to break laws you didn't even know existed around computers!

This time Megan and Leif are charactors playing a war game when all the key players of the game get "bounced".(passwords being wiped out, viruses or charactors being sabotaged in the game) They have to uncover the mystery of who is doing this to real people outside of the game. It gets dangerous and exciting when somebody or persons have been taking the game too seriously. When it goes from burglary to attempted murder the investigation takes on a whole new world of the real game.

Broken book/almost whole

Leaning Into the Curves by Anderson and Morris

Don't judge a book by its cover! I read the little description on the back of the book...a retired couple joining a Mormon motorcycle gang...uh would there be anything I could relate too. Surprisingly, I loved this book! It was slightly cheesy yet funny and insightful. I related more then I thought because I also am not the biggest fan of my husbands hobby of riding motorcycles. After reading this book which presented quite a few facts and different view points on motorcycling I can honestly say I would love to ride a motorcycle and have my husband ride more too!

The book turned into motorcycle therapy for me. The main character in the book, Molly, also had to work through some issues with riding. She was so afraid of motorcycles that she was completely blinded to anything good about them and was putting her hysteria and biased onto her children and grandchildren. After she learned step by step everything there is to know about motorcycles from a really good friend, she was able to come to terms with riding and excepting her husband love of riding.

I love the interaction between the husband and wife in this book. It was so real as they argued or did the silent treatment or tried to second guess each other. Luckily they also took time to pray and were patient enough to listen for inspiration before their marriage became one more sad divorce. They reminded me of my mom and dad after my dad retired. I can also see a bit of my husband and myself going through some of their same conflicts. I think reading this book will actually help me look at my life and relationship with my spouse a little different.

Even though the book was about an older couple I would recommend this book to anyone that just wants to read a good adventure between two people, or if you like motorcycles or not it would be a good one to read.

I didn't know there was a mormon motorcyle gang which is actually called TRA - Temple Riders Association. So they technically aren't a gang just a group of people that like to ride and do Temple work along the way. MOst of the people are retired couples and they ride touring bikes like Gold Wings. The wife sits behind the husband. They map out a route with plenty of tourist attractions and sightseeing along the way to a temple somewhere in the USA. Sometimes the trip takes a week or two and sometimes it is a day trip. There are also single members in the group and women sometimes drive their own motorcycle.

Virtual Vandals by Tom Clancy; Young Adults, No. 1

This turned out to be a clean and fun book based on the Net Force books Tom Clancy wrote for adults. This one was written for young adults or kids. The main characters are High School age kids. They were very clever and computer savvy, they go on quite a few adventures. They solve mysteries and out-smart bad guys.

The book takes place in the year 2025. Almost everything is run through your computer in a virtual world but the kids still have to go to normal High School. Most of the story takes place in a virtual world interacting with holographic images of others while the real person is sitting home connected to the computer through chips inserted in their skin.

Net Force was made to protect the United States of America from all online criminal activity. There is a group of teenage computer geniuses who sometimes know more than adults, who are known as the Net Force Explorers. Kind of like ROTC for kids that might want to go into the Army but aren't old enough yet.

(Spoiler Alert)
In the book the kids work together to uncover a plot to take over a section of the city from an evil genius kid seeking revenge for his mother's death. There are the rich kids and the elite kids like Senator's children and some that have amnesty because there parents are foreign diplomats living in the US. Of course there are the poor sections of DC with the gangs too.

I really liked the way the book moved right along and was original.

Broken Book, well almost Whole

Plant a Watermelon on the top of my grave...

For Memorial Day of course we got a watermelon. This is the favorite perch for one little boy that LOVES watermelon after eating it every day at Grandmas! He knew what it was and he claimed it as his.


Made a cake for Cub Scouts. ONLY IT TURNED OUT SMURFY! If only I wasn't so lazy and had got some dark blue food dye. Oh well it tasted great and the giant stencil we made for the arrow worked really well.


Here is our little box of chicks. They are each original and different. Boy #1 got a Silver laced Wyandottes (black and white). The littlest boy has a Black Australorp (black/white). The little yellow chick is unclaimed, it is a Light Brahma. It will have feathers on its feet. We got an extra one because we aren't very good at keeping the chickens alive. So when one dies we have one extra to take its place. Mine is a Welsummer (brown yellow with stripes). The coolest one!


Girl #1 is a Exo Araucana (yellow with chubby cheeks.

Girl #2 is a Single-Comb White Leghorn
(little yellow chick will be white).

The two Brit -Rhode Island red chicks are Mikes and the girl #3.



Here are the 4-H lambs! The two oldest kids are raising them for the County Fair. They have a lot of work to do this summer. They named them EB and Shawn. They are both female. They are not as noisy as the lambs we had last year. They are also friendlier.