Youth Fair

 What a full, busy, happy and chilly week we have had! The Southeastern Youth Fair has been in full swing and my grandchildren were not only involved in a number of showings and competitions but also in volunteer work to keep everything at the fair running smoothly. Believe me, there are many, many parts to this endeavor and it takes many, many helping hands to pull it all off. I guess the steer showing and auctions are the largest part because they are what bring in LOTS of money but there are so many other wonderful things as well.

Both grandchildren had a steer this year and both sold for a nice amount!

My granddaughter's steer was a sweetheart when it didn't have to move but was not a fan of the walking. It gave her a run for her money but she did incredibly well in keeping control. I can't say the same for some others. I don't know if the REALLY CHILLY weather has any affect on the animals but there were many more that broke free this year and were running and kicking all over the ring. It definitely made this old Nana a bit nervous because these are some pretty large animals. Both Presley's and Hudson's were smaller this year but many classes had steer well over 1600 pounds!

Hudson also entered the cooking competition where he presented the judges with a Bobby Flay recipe for venison steak. I hear it was pretty tasty!

We are still awaiting results but the winning/losing part of all of this isn't really important. I am just so proud of the fact that they put themselves out there, had fun and learned so much more than you would think. There are not only the things that we see, but so much more behind the scenes. The kids have logs to keep track of everything they do for their animal including how much they feed them, costs of food, how much they exercise them, comparison of muscle to fat, and so much more than I understand as well as being questioned about every aspect of what they have done and are doing. It is something they will carry with them for the rest of their lives and I was happy to be able to participate by being there to support them-although I do wish they could use some of their profits to pad those very HARD bleachers. After a few hours of sitting there, my legs didn't want to co-operate. Lol

I am giving myself the rest of today to catch up on some of the things I have neglected this week before I start to think about what I will need for our road trip next week-but, I'll be back soon with the next room of our tour. Stay safe and stay tuned.