My favorite summer memories

For our Summer of Yarn Love swap contest, we are to blog about our favorite summer memories. Let me say, I love summer. Of course, I also love spring, fall and winter.

Summer holds some wonderful memories. As a teen, I was in 4H and showed lambs. Each year, we would choose two to three lambs each (with three of us, that's a lot of lambs) and raise them to show at the fair.

Once, for showmanship, we were told to move to the next lamb over. This is to see how we react to a new animal. One whose temperment we did not know. There was my sister and I competing and when this happened, there was a young FFA student next to my sister. He took her lamb, who was kind of skittish. Her lamb took off like lightning. At the time, the show arena was open and we chased the lamb all over the fairgrounds.

Of course, now my children show cattle in FFA and 4H. Every year we have a great time. It's like a great big family reunion. You see people that you only see at the fair. We all work hard and play hard.

There is Donna, Carol, Patty and all the people who work in the Arts & Crafts building. They are funny, caring and wonderful people to know. We sit as we man our shift in the department and talk about what all has happened, what is going to happen, what is we've done, what we hope to do.

There are the 4H people. We set our pens up for the calves the Wednesday before the fair starts. We all have fun working together to make the area look great. Kids, parents, everyone. We work the ice cream tent for a fundraiser. We set up our 4H booth for the miscellaneous projects on Friday. Lots of fun and creativity go into that.

The FFA people are the 4H people in high school. Many of the same kids we have in our FFA chapter started in 4H. Some are still in 4H. They are funny interesting and self sufficient.

We walk around all day, every day for 8 days, talking to everyone we see, eating funnel cakes, sweet corn, pork chops, salads, giant baked potatoes with butter, cheese and bacon.

We don't worry about work, that will wait. We enjoy everyone's successes and mourn the sale of the animals, knowing they are going to be on someone's table in the next month.

Then, just when you think it's all over, there is the pig and calf scramble. Twenty boys for the calf scramble, twenty girls for the pig scramble, lots of mud, half as many animals as kids, and half come off the track with animals. Last year, of the 10 boys who got steers, 9 are in our FFA chapter!

So, I guess that county fair is my favorite summer memory.