Summer Girls

My summertime girls...

Sunshine mixed with a little hurricane.

Archery Champion

The county fair holds an annual archery competition.  

Ross wasn't positive about participating for fear he'd suck.  

He does pretty well with the beaver target in the front yard, but still.  

There was a $100 prize for ages 17+.  

16 and younger was a $25 prize.  Ross decided $25 was worth risking his pride.

The shooting range was set up on a flat, sunny field.  

The feels like temp was pushing 110+.  

I thought the flies were landing on me but it was just dripping sweat.  

Such a waste of make-up kind of day.  

And this boy-man rocked it.  

He was calm, respectful, observant, and a natural Viking.

Plus, he was one of the few who didn't have a sweat line creeping down the butt crack of his shorts. 

He knew he was doing well after the first couple of rounds and used hand gestures to alert me of his success.  

He's never been terribly discreet.  

They had to shoot in different circumstances.  One station had them shooting a spinning fish target.  Another had them shooting from a chair and another was shot while standing on sideways 2-by-4's.  

They had 3-dimensional targets placed at varying targets the contestants had to adjust for.

There were 200 points possible so I'm guessing 20 shots at 10 points each.

We sat there for nearly 2 hours.

That's when he informed me the prize wasn't $25, but a $100 Sheels Gift Card.

We're all aware of how Ross feels about gifts and money, right?

They had to shoot in different circumstances.  One station had them shooting a spinning fish target.  Another had them shooting from a chair and another was shot while standing on sideways 2-by-4's.  

They had 3-dimensional targets placed at varying targets the contestants had to adjust for.

We sat there for nearly 2 hours.

He won with 153 points.

As if there was any doubt...

Hay

We seem to have entered into the rats' ass of summer.

The air conditioner can't keep up, the goats aren't interested in grain unless they are 'hand-fed', the dog panting could be mistaken for a death rattle, my flowers look like droopy boobs and the Stranger Things marathon is in full swing.

After spending some time in the livestock barn, I noticed Willow was the only one without hay.  I'm aware goats need 'roughage', but leaves and grass should be doing the trick, right?  Besides, I've read hay is like $60.  Therefore, I'd haul grocery sacks of tree leaves into the goat barn for Willow's 'roughage'.  I'm sure Ross wasn't embarrassed at all as I'd pull tree limbs out of my sack to feed Willow walnut and hickory leaves.  

Poor thing probably felt like the poor girl in the lunchroom...

Even if I did buy hay, where would I store it?  How would I transport hay from the parking lot to her pen in the goat barn?  Bails are pretty big and heavy.  They're tied up with twine, so that's gonna make a big mess when the twine is cut, right... or do I just rip handfuls out?  

Why didn't I ever learn how to do this?

I bit the bullet and bought my first bail of hay this morning.  

It was $5.

Clearly, I'm clueless.  

Luckily for me, I don't have a fancy car to worry about messing up.

Ross noticed me walking into the fairgrounds with 2 handfuls of hay.  

He seemed excited I wasn't carrying a plastic grocery sack.

He explained the whole bail should separate into quarters and offered to cut a quarter off to bring Willow in the barn.

Fortunately for him, I travel with a corkscrew/knife at all times.

He returned with a quarter bale of hay which the 'goat lady' in the barn said was ALOT of hay for one goat.  Apparently, a goat needs a softball size amount of hay each day.  

Worst case scenario, she gets bloated.

Welcome to womanhood Willow.

In the meantime, my van smells like hay and I need to figure out how to transport it before my next grocery haul.

First world problems, folks.

Goat Show 2019

If you told me a year ago Molly and I'd be spending over an hour in a goat barn waiting for a storm to ride out, I'd think you were full of it.

Yet here we are folks.

Naturally, Ross was running around in the rain with friends during the storm, which left Molly and me trapped in the barn with each other and meat goats.

SO grateful goats don't stink.

 My boy has been itching to show an animal at a fair for as long as I can remember.  

More specifically, since he decided he liked Ally last summer. 

Guess today was his lucky day.

There wasn't much prep work as far as Willow went.  

(Don't get me started on what was required around our yard to house goats and keep them alive) Another story; another time.

I observed many 4-H'ers trimming hooves, shaving fur around feet and a-holes, bobbing tails, one appeared to have a tampon string hanging out (according to Molly - don't ask) and some even brought an entire car-wash/shop vac type system for preshow prep.  

The various clippers, blowers, brushes, sprays, and foams were mesmerizing and although the goats were harnessed up by their necks for this exquisite treatment, I couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the spa treatment.  

Willow seemed so naked compared to some of the fancy Boer goats getting pampered out there.  

Were such rookies.

There were only 5 goats in the Novelty Section.  

3 belonged to the family we bought Willow from.  

They were awarded Champion and Reserve.  

Fortunately, it was Willows' mom and sister, so we got good DNA!

Willow and Ross earned a blue and the recommendation was to beef her up a bit.

Bring on the Grain and Hay peeps!

At the end of the day, Ross can say he's shown a goat at the fair. 

He'll know more next year.  

He'll be more confident and able to help show the little ones how it's done.

What more could this mama want?

In the meantime, I'll be returning the fancy cowboy shirt he insisted on.  

Turns out he just needed a 4-H t-shirt.  

Feeling thankful I didn't fall for the $150 cowboy boot request he thought he needed as well.

For the 5-1/2 minute video of this event, click the link.
https://youtu.be/2Vfb6KLu0cc

Knives and Goats

This girl loves to help.  

She insisted on cutting the watermelon from Costco by herself.  

I suggested she use the cutting board with the "gutter" edges on it for the juice.  

She explained that one was dirty, so she put a towel under the cutting board to catch the juices.  

I asked her if she needed me to get her started, to which she was insulted.

Her knife is a sharp Santoku from the Asian market.  

She's got this.

Look out peeps, my 8-year-old has the knife skills of a ninja.

In other news, we loaded a goat into the back of the van and hauled her off to fair today.  

She was PISSED.

Spent my morning picking out a show barn shirt for Ross from the Boot Barn.

The show is Wednesday at 1.  

Stay tuned...

July Bug Bites

The bug bites are fierce right now.  

Aside from the one Ross has on the rim of his penis head which he just can't scratch well, I think I've been shown each one.  

Sunday night Maisie looked as though she'd been beaten across the forehead with a bat, and this morning her eye was completely swelled shut.  

The hydrocortisone cream doesn't seem to be working, and it's not even expired yet.  The calamine lotion is getting a workout as well as the Benedryl.  

Kids have been so sleepy today...

I showed the girls my hack of burning the insect venom out of bug bites with very hot water and a metal spoon. 

They tried it but weren't impressed.

We RV'd at Green Valley last weekend and the flies were thicker than thick.  

The kids actually broke the flyswatter.

The boys began collecting the fly carcasses in a ziplock back for a cremation ceremony later in the evening.

I have to admit our campsite was the closest one to the dumpster, and even closer to the black water dump station, which couldn't have helped our bug scenario.  

However, upon departure, which allowed us a front-row seat to everyone dumping their shooter tank as I cooked breakfast Sunday morning, Ross discovered some dead bluegill behind the dumpster and claimed he'd discovered the source of the weird odor.

Or did he?

July Updates

Goat life continues.  

Drove down to Osceola Farm and Home today to get a goat lead.  

Guess what?  

Completely SOLD OUT.  

The fair is coming soon.  Ross has to show the most nervous goat in our herd.  This could be epic.  Plus, he has to have show clothes and boots.  Stay tuned for a good time.

Meanwhile, Molly continues to care for the babies morning and night.

We've named her "Goat Queen"

 They love her.

Then I find randoms like these on my phone.

Is it me, or is summer starting to get long?

So SnapChat is wild.  

This is me as a man.

With a combover and a tank top...

Let's return to goats to get that out of our heads.

Jay had his very first playdate today.

I don't have a lot of words for it, other than my heart is completely melted.

And as promised, the 4th of July pictures I promised.

Grandchildren of 2019

The Grandchildren photo of 2019 has been captured.

Stay tuned for pond party photos- coming soon!