Well, HELLO! Remember me? I used to blog here.
BUSY BUSY has been what I've been. Thought I'd jump in and update everyone about what we have been up to!
We just wrapped up our county fair, which for us, as 4-Hers, parents of 4-Hers, Fair board and extension board member, means we run our tails off! We were pleased with our chicken helper we had for dinner last night...because we sat down and ate as a family, and it wasn't not take out, pizza, or concession stand food.
Tristen baked 6 food items. 3 cakes: German Chocolate, Citrus cake with key lime frosting, and German Apple Bundt cake, cherry pie bars, homemade Twix cookies with homemade dulce de leche, and homemade peanut butter cups. He received blues on all of them, received champion for level 2 foods on his German Chocolate cake and was THRILLED to auction it off at the livestock auction.
For his woodworking project, after he complained he couldn't think of ANYTHING to make, I mentioned "a cute little picnic table would be nice". The results were THIS:
It would not fit inside the school and had to be judged outside. He was THRILLED to receive Reserve Champion on it, and I AM THRILLED to have this beautiful thing in my yard now!
For rabbits, he took several Dutch, and received Reserve for his sr black doe, Rocky. (Now to just get her bred! He's tried 5 times, and just can't get her to take.) He got Champion for showmanship and received a duffel bag for his efforts at the trophy presentation.
And in Beef, he had a hard year when his steer project keeled over dead a few weeks after he got him. He had planned to take one of our heifers in his place, but we could never get her gentled down enough to be safe, so all he took was Black Out and Burn Out, as a cow/calf pair. He was beaten by his brother, but got the reserve!
Jacob learned this year sometimes you can't do everything, and I think it was a great lesson...one I think his mom needs to learn at times too. He didn't get his wood working project done, and his pictures just didn't go great this year. He did end up with a state fair blue and a blue though for some!
He took 2 rabbits and 2 market rabbits, and was awarded the GC rabbit with a broken havana buck and his market rabbits got some excellent comments from the judge. He is a rabbit breeder as well as a rabbit judge, and he asked Jacob if he would be interested in butchering some of HIS rabbits for him. Was a nice compliment from someone Jacob looks up to!
For his beef project Jacob took a hereford steer as well as his hereford Charlie and her calf as a cow/calf pair. He was awarded the GC Hereford award, and received a cash prize. Charlie won GC cow/calf pair, so then was included for the consideration for the grand champion breeding heifer. We were surprised when she got RESERVE! Not bad for a fat lady nursing a kid! ;) (BTW--this photo below is why WE LOVE Herefords!)
This next story might make some of you cringe, but its a good part of the fair and I wanted to share. We had asked several friends if they would help us cut the calves the night they were to leave, since it was just those two and everyone was already there. T changed his mind about his at the last minute, so all that had to be done was one bull calf. They are bigger than they probably should have been, because the boys had been told to leave them intact for the cow/calf judging. Long story short, the "its just one little calf" turned into an injury on one of the guys, and it taking several men to get the calf down. One of the guys (The one that was suppose to do the cutting. ) looked at Jacob as he was helping hold down the calf, and said "Cut him, Jacob! YOU are going to have to do it." and tossed him the scalpel. Jacob hesitated only for a moment, and under the guidance of several cowboys, including his school principle, he got the job done and then gave all the shots too. I was really proud of him!! And I now have "parts" frozen in my freezer, just waiting to be fried up and eaten..by him..not me. BTW--this calf, held a grudge and escaped a panel and a grown cowboy who was guarding the corner of the panel while being loaded up on the trailer, and almost took a jog to our local fair dance before he turned around and ran back to the beef barn. We can never do things the easy way.
The day after the fair ended I helped host a baby shower for my sister, Michelle, who is expecting a little boy very soon. I've had visions of what this time would be like, and except for being so SO tired from the fair, it was perfect and a lot of fun to plan for!
I'm so excited to meet this very loved little guy!
Thanks for checking in on us!! Hope to get settled down a bit and start blogging more! I sure missed it!
