I think my age is catching up to me. I normally could work well into the night but now I power down. It doesn’t help that last week was our first full week of good weather all summer and we were all making hay. What a huge difference it makes when the weather cooperates you can cover a lot of ground! We did have a few breakdowns, but my boyfriend/partner was able to fix them. Shane was out a few days and having an extra person is very nice. Of course, because it was good weather, we were busy at the Research Station as well so it wasn’t always easy getting home early and as well, I was working to get things in a place that I could take this week off and prepare for the Fair. Which leads me to another tired story. We are only taking five animals to the fair, but they are a lot of work. The heifer that I plan to show is a head tosser and I am tempted to hook her up to the side-by-side or tractor, but I also don’t do that, so I am nervous. Everyday I think she will be over that. As well my helpers are teen-agers now and don’t spend nearly as much time with me. I really like to enter things in the Exhibition Hall, but I have not yet had a chance to make anything. I concluded today that I will not even attempt to bake anything because it is not my favourite thing to do, nor do I have the time. I will try to get some other things crafted and I will enter a few flowers. We are not going to drag our alpaca or sheep out. It is just another trip, and I am sure I will regret it next Monday but today I feel like I have enough on my plate. I am feeling guilty that I didn’t make a bigger effort to organize a Guess the Weight booth at the Fair. Truthfully it is so difficult to find people to work at these types of things that it is struggle. I think everything seems to be harder to organize after having a couple of years off.
Friday is our Open Beef Show beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday is our 4-H show, and it starts at 9:00 a.m. We are excited to have things back to normal for our cattle show. Bringing cattle to the Fair is a huge job and doesn’t come together without a lot of hard work and determination. The big event that we all look forward to is our Steer Auction that starts on Saturday at 4 p.m. We have 30 steers that will be sold! We look forward to continued support from our local businesspeople. The 4-H Members costs will likely be close to double compared to last year with the rise in grain prices, the extra costs for hay from last year’s drought, high fuel, and fertilizer. Please take the time to visit with the members and certainly talk to them about the costs and time it takes to grow and finish a market steer. Just remember you are not going to get any better meat! This is local, finished beef!
Last week I was able to attend the memorial for my dear friend June Keddie. She was so well loved by so many people in the community. June gave so much of her time to District. You just don’t find people like that anymore. If you were lucky enough to know June, you were lucky enough.
See you at the Fair!
