It's the FAIR!! ~ Day 5

Today started like any county fair worth its elephant ears should: with the meeting of a brand new calf born on the premises yesterday.

The birth announcement appeared on Facebook -- man, I love technology sometimes -- so we knew right where to go. Briar was predictably adorable and was already very sturdy on his feet. Mom was a pen away and occasionally mooed to let Briar's admirers know of her presence and protection. The 4-H girls invited me to pet Briar so of course I did. So soft! And what a face! The irony was lost on me at the time, but now I feel really bad that the next stop we made was a beef brisket sandwich for lunch. Oops.

So close yet still so proud Today was one of my favorite events of the Fair: Mutton Bustin'! It's basically bull riding for little kids where the bull is replaced by a wooly sheep. The kids wear protective gear and typically get dirty but I've never seen anyone get terribly hurt. With the unpredictability of both the sheep and the kids, there is lots of opportunity for drama and suspense. Today was no exception.

I was very excited that my pleas for friends to enter their kids worked. I knew three of this afternoon's busters!! Danika and Derek are competitive and hearty siblings just about a year apart (ages 5 and 6), and Karoline is a cutie-patootie 4 year old who loves anything to do with animals. All three put their game faces and helmets on and bravely entered the arena on jumpy sheep, with nervous moms standing by. They all did fantastic! They stayed on their sheep as long as they could, got tossed off into the dirt, got up, dusted themselves off, and handled the cheers and accolades from their fans like bustin' pros.

The top ten busters advanced to the final round held later in the evening during the bull riding show. As the names were being announced, we realized we needed some instruction about how to root. Turns out both of the girls wanted to advance and Derek never wanted to ride a sheep again. He had had a bit of a rough ride, getting bumped around by both the sheep and the metal gate that the sheep seemed very drawn to. Naturally, Derek was the only one of the three that made the top ten. Tears all around.

Derek's mom had about four hours to turn the situation around. Her tools included a ride bracelet for the Carnival as well as Dad's coveted attendance after work. There might have been some ice cream involved, too.

A group of supporters gathered in the stands for the evening show. Danika and her mom joined us. Derek was with Dad down with the other busters, apparently having waivered all afternoon about whether or not another sheep was in his immediate future. We cheered on a total of eight young riders, cameras at the ready for when Derek's name was called. But the eighth rider was the final one. Two busters, Derek included, exercised their right to say "Nuh-uh! I'm not gonna! You can't make me!" So close! But still so very, very impressed.

Last word from Danika and Karoline: they might both look into finding other nearby fairs and rodeos to hone their bustin' skills for next year. Rock on, cowgirls!


Utterly fascinating Once again meandering to nowhere in particular, we stumbled upon an awards ceremony for the 4-H goat kids. Their part of the Fair ended today; Open Class goats start tomorrow. We got the ceremony just in time for the awards for a milking contest. That sounded straight-forward enough -- the winner would be whomever got the most milk out of their goat. And ultimately that was criteria (11.8lbs, by the way). But the adult holding the microphone included a lot of additional details about test results taken from each milk sample. She bleated on about somatic cell count and butter fat and protein and utter health. She warned that some results could signal utter drama. I laughed, assuming she was being punny. She wasn't. Nevertheless, I was learning quite a bit from her impromptu awards ceremony-turned-dissertation, including that a diet of blackberries can make your butter fat content skyrocket. Yikes about yesterday's mixed berry pie! Sadly, though, I doubt many of the kids were actually hearing any of her wisdomy pearls. While they were being very polite and quiet and appeared attentive, I am pretty sure the hungry 4-H'ers were actually looking right past the woman to the dozens of Little Caesar's pizzas that were being delivered behind her for the post-ceremony party. She was still chattering when we left.


Cowboy strip show We have a favorite seating location for events in the grandstands. It involves the direction of the sun, shade, and back support. Today it also involved some behind-the-scenes footage of bull riding cowboys. Not that I'm complaining. While it seemed very strange when the first guy did it, it became clear that it was acceptable cowboy behavior since a number of them were doing it. Doing what, you ask? Using a pen as their dressing room. A pen that was highly visible to anyone over in our section. A pen that only had metal rails as walls. A pen that was within my camera's zoom length. Yee haw!

Now before you go getting too excited, I need to clarify that when they took off their pants, they were all wearing what looked like bicycle shorts underneath. Nevertheless, we got a nice view of their legs and the preference for white socks. None of them were wearing undershirts, though. Again, I'm not complaining.

If at next year's Bull Riding competition that particular section of the Grandstands is filled with women with impressive camera lenses, you'll know why.

Walk this way I was back on track with today's mileage, such as I am seeing a pattern so far. Today's Fair walking totaled 3.52 miles with more attention paid to proper pedometer placement. My feet, back, and legs lend credibility to the accuracy of today's measurement. I'm trying to hold off until Thursday before I dip into my heavy-duty pain med arsenal. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

And now for today's Fair Food Parade!

Beef brisket sandwich from the Izzy's BBQ place.  The meat was good but the sauce was sorta boring.  Some of that Buffalo Chipotle sauce from the chicken wings place would have been awesome.

Corn!!  And no butter stains this time!

The Young Life booth is selling this terribly named treat called a Nanaimo Bar.  What the heck is that??  It's actually a pretty good fudgy treat in a variety of flavors.  It was higher-end fare than the rest of the sweet offerings so it will be interesting to see if they bring it back.

Pina Colada/Strawberry slushy.  I recommend the combo!

OK, so it turns out the beef brisket didn't agree with me.  I remembered from last year not to eat from Izzy's for dinner (bad bedtime indigestion).  But lunch wasn't much better.  So, Izzy's joins Smokehouse on my "don't go there" list.  For the curious, the TUMS flavor was Mixed Berry (like the pie!).

Yes, that's a salad.  But wait!!!  It's a CAESAR salad.  With lots of fattening dressing.  And really big croutons.  I rarely allow myself Caesar salads during the off-season, so this really was a treat.  And very tasty -- I recommend it from the Food 4 You booth.

Pre-bull riding Red Rope snack.

Night cap elephant ear.  Boppin' Bo's still makes the best ones!