More fair photos

Some photos of our time at the 2011 Clark County Fair! It was a lot of fun.

Baylor at barn set up:

Our booth : Our 4H club at the ice cream booth:

Baylor, asleep at the fair: Piggie love:

Baylor and his steer. He won the sign competition!

The annual flood. We had 4 inches of rain in 1 hour. Up to 18 inches of running water by the expo center. Of course, Ethan has to do something goofy, so he rented a scooter for the afternoon. They had a BALL with it!

2 days until fair

Everyone has been working hard. We've had Skillathon and Miscellaneous judging. Last minute details are being completed, including open class and booth decorating. With that, I bring you the hard working crew who worked outside in 100+ degree weather to bring you the Livestock Unlimited booth. I cannot wait until we assemble all this hard work into a beautiful booth.



Priscilla came on Saturday to help with painting. She, along with many others, worked their magic with the hot knife - cutting out the shapes we needed to make our vision come to life.

Leslie and Tina worked on the cow. It's really cute.



Tina worked on our 'gigantic duck', too. It's HUGE! Almost four feet tall.




Stephanie worked on lots of things - painting, cleaning up, designing. She will be an 'official' 4H'er next year and I'd bet she will be as great at it as her sister.



Our pig, Dusty. He's not 'dusty' here, but he is now.

The rabbit... he's about 2 foot tall.

We worked again on Tuesday night because we ran out of cardstock and such. Good thing we still had plenty of paint and styrofoam for designs. This is going to be so much fun!

Bayley working on painting... I don't know if she liked painting the flowers, but she loved painting my picnic table.

Sarah came out to help as well. Leslie (in the background) was in charge of lettering. She did a great job.

Kelly can't help herself. Out of 4H for four years now, and yet she loves helping design and come up with ideas for the booth.

Taylor and Brooke working on stuff. Brooke was winding down and Taylor enjoyed working with the hot knife.

The flowers turned out really pretty. Love the colors.

And my picnic table is definitely much more colorful. It's nice to see something other than the old dirty wood.

Tonight we go to the fairgrounds to set up the barns. Friday we set up the booth and open class. After Saturday, it's all relaxation and showing. YEAH!

Berry picking, county fair and camps

The last few days have been overwhelmingly busy. There is so much going on with the fair coming up in 3 short weeks, Steph's baby shower coming up, Baylor away at camp, and berries coming ripe, although I think the berries will be low on my priority list.

I've been out picking berries in the evening for two days and have barely gotten a full gallon. Last year, I could pick a gallon in one spot. It looks like we lost a lot of the canes last winter, but there are lots of new ones coming up for next year. That's fine. I'll pick when I can, but didn't yesterday and won't today. Yesterday I had a training session for 4H and today is knit night!

The county fair is almost upon us. Just three short weeks from Friday, we will be moving in and setting up. It's an exciting time. I love fair week. I need to send in my entry today and get started on finishing things. I have a photo I am taking. There are a few more projects. Here is a list of things I need to do before fair:

• Make Baylor's scramble steer sign.


• Work on decorations for the booth


• Come up with an inexpensive quick adult make n take craft


• Get prizes together


• Ballots for the lamp contest

Hmmm... that's all I can think of right now.

Finally, it's 4H camp week, well the end of it anyway. Baylor's been gone to camp since Saturday. He'll be home today. Can't wait to see him. I hope he had a great time. It's his first year as a counselor, not a CIT. He was so excited when he was leaving. Packed up some Christmas lights and stuff to decorate the cabin. Was stopping to get more decorations at Crafts 2000 and goodies at Ollie's. He almost quit, but he was really glad I talked him out of it.

Summer is always so busy at our house, but it's fun. This weekend is the 4th and it should be a great time, with the fireworks and such. Cannot wait!

My baby is 18!

Sunday was Baylor's 18th birthday. It's been a tough way to go, but he made it to adulthood. Sort of. He still has a year of high school and then some college, but as far as the law is concerned, he is an adult. He is intelligent, funny, respectful and hard working. What else could a mother ask for in a son? I love him. He's my baby!

Actually, I am quite happy with this situation. All of my children turned 18 without having children of their own. I believe that is an accomplishment anymore. They are all individuals with various tastes and opinions, no two of which are the same. It's pretty amazing when you talk to these young people who grew up in the same home but are so very different. Baylor obviously enjoys being the life of the party:

In other news, it is hot in Springfield OH. Very hot. We have had 5 90 degree days in the last two weeks. Another 90 degree day today. People who know me know that I have a fascination with sunshine, though. So here's a photo of the sun setting behind our silo.

Wow! Can you say long distance knitting?

I just read the Yarn Harlot's blog about being 'underyarned' on the trip from Toronto to Washington for Sock Summit. Let me just say 'wow'! That woman knits like the wind! She had a sock to finish and a baby sweater she'd barely started. Now I'm not a fast knitter, but I am a tenacious one. First, not at the place where I am making baby sweaters, and I like it that way. Second, it would take me half the flight to finish the sock.

As I said, not fast, but consistant. So what would I have packed for a cross country trip? Probably what's in my bag now, which is more than I can do in several cross country trips: My mystery shawl that is ALMOST DONE!!! Twelve more rows and it is complete. I am being very careful not to rush and muck it all up now. The white stole I have yet to start for a special gift. The tidepool heather yarn and a sock pattern for grins and giggles (and to get something with some color in my life!) and the Knitting Daily Coney Island purse pattern that I think I may have to dye yarn for. I have TONS of cotton and I could overdye some for some really cool tonals. I just really like this pattern and am itching to start it. These would get me through several cross country trips since it takes me about 40 minutes to do one row of the shawl, at about 270 stitches now.

Yes, you heard me right. I only have one item on the needles right now. After years of polygomous knitting, I am trying monogymy. It's not all it's cracked up to be, although you do see results quicker. I put aside the Socks of Obscure Reference (AKA Caladras) because it is all ivories and browns and I was BORED with the lack of color. I am seriously considering Tadpole for the tidal pool heather. It should be pretty. But tonight, I will go home and dye... some cotton yarn... or rather overdye.

More babies
Just an FYI, after the debacle with Diedre Sue (sorry, girl, you were a great cow and will be missed as Mooetta's second in command), we had good news. Ronnie had her calf last night. First, YEAH! another mom that coughs and has calves. Second, it's a girl! Drag out the pink ribbons, we have a girl, a little heifer. Haven't seen her yet and Baylor said Ronnie was not happy about his 'assistance' but I will take photos tonight. Since this was Ronnie's first, she had the baby in the mud and the poor thing was cold, wet and muddy. Baylor got her inside in a nice clean bed, and cleaned her up.

Now we gotta keep Flapjack and Delmar from teaching her bad habits. They've taken to escaping from the pen and just wandering around the barn lot. Flapjack was out last night and Baylor put a lead on him and put him back in the pen. Apparently he was fussing about going in because Baylor said Roxanne was challenging him when he got to the pen.

Good stuff abounds

Well, as upsetting as some of the bad stuff of last week was - this week abounds with good and fun stuff.

Ok, so loosing a cow/calf isn't the end of the world, but Kelly's friend Robyn lost her grandmother. She'd had cancer for a while and didn't even look like herself, but it's bad anyway. Then we lost the van as well. The engine mounting brackets rusted through and the engine fell out on the road. Luckily, Steve was driving and wasn't driving fast. He was leaving Fastenal and it fell out.

Well, this week's good news : Ford is buying the van back from us. Now I get to get a new (to me!) vehicle. Granted, it won't be a new car, but I didn't like the van overly much anyway. Now, what do I want?

School Stuff
Sara Gruen who wrote Water for Elephants will be on campus April 7th. Guess what? I am going to the president's house to have dinner with her! How exciting is that? I picked up a copy of the book so I could read at least part of it before our meeting. I thought I would make her a bookmark with elephants on it. Is that cheesy? I think it would be fun and small enough that if she was like 'eh', it wouldn't really matter. I'm sure she gets lots of cool little goodies from fans, but I just thought it would be cool. Maybe do it in double knit so its two sided. We'll see.

Wrestling
Yes I am still talking about wrestling. Winter sports awards were Wednesday. Baylor was honored with Most Improved as well as 20 pins for the year. The math says that of all his varsity wins (89), 56% were by pin. That's really cool!

Knitting
I am almost done with clue #3 on the mystery shawl and finally got yarn (white) and a pattern for the stole. I have got to get on it! But I need a few little things on the side, to keep my interest. I am so tired of neutral colors. I need something BRIGHT and interesting to knit, at least for a while. I think I'll find some cool colors for the elephant brigade. I have plenty of the varigated from the slippers left, that could be cool looking.

What's new!

Spring is in the air. Today is a balmy 66 degrees, a far cry from the 20 we had three short weeks ago. Classes are nearing the end and pushing their final push. Winter sports are over and awards are this week. It is going to be a great summer.

Sick people in my life

OK, so sick isn't the exact proper way of putting it. More like unhealthy. No, not that either. Steve had surgery on his collar bone and part of it needed to be removed, since it was infected. He has a picc line in and requires IV antibiotics 3 times a day. It's a PITA.

Now Mom isn't doing so well, either. She has some kind of rash all over her arms and legs, she's lost about 20 pounds, and her sugar count is skyrocketing. Her dr. is trying to treat symptoms until she gets the bigger picture.

So they are not 'sick' people, just health challenged. None of this is prohibiting their interaction with the world, they just need a little help.

Good News- Wrestling style

Baylor did really well in wrestling. He finished out the season well and made (wait for it!) First Team All County Wrestling Team!!! YEAH! Baylor, Cameron and Levi all did. Second team included Jessi, Devin, Justin, Marcus and Cole. It's a great thing to be there.

Spring Classic

Baylor didn't show Bar B Que(er) at the classic. The steer was acting crazy and Sam wouldn't let Baylor show, but the calf was there and it was a chance to see everyone. I'm glad I went because Rachel was so sad over her dad's death, this was the first time he wasn't at the show. We talked about how it's usually cold and rainy and how beautiful the day was. She said her dad always commented on how crappy the weather was on Spring Classic. I told her the beautiful day was his gift to her to let her know he was watching. She really liked that. It really could be.

Calves and cows

I shouldn't have been bragging. I told someone we don't often loose cows, and what happens? Diedre ends up strangling on a gate. Baylor finds her. It was bad. She didn't have her calf yet. Moo had a pretty little smoke colored calf Steve named Delmar. Roxanne had a pretty little red bull Baylor calls Flapjack. They are cute as can be. Here is a photo of Delmar:

Knitting and such

I received a beautiful swap package from Anne in Grosse Point MI. It was WAY over the top. Don't you hate it when you KNOW you haven't sent in kind? I feel kind of bad, but will enjoy the Malabrigo yarn she sent. A beautiful deep cherry red. The painted yarn is beautiful as well. Peacock colors - teal, navy, yellow, etc. Beautiful. A book on toe-up sock knitting, a copy of a knitting magazine. Way too much and WAY WAY more than my mere $30 box. And the felted slippers in turquoise blue. They are so comfy.

I am working on a shawl for the Golden Splendor. I am using Creatively Dyed yarn and I am pretty sure I'll get it done, too! Then I will be working on a stole out of KnitPicks yarn, either Tidepool. Tranquility or White. Then, just to get to the $50 and free shipping mark, had to get some of the Chroma in Rollerskate colorway. I know, I didn't need more, but I am working on a particular project and needed certain colors.

School

It's going OK, even with all the distractions. Hopefully we'll be through them soon and I can concentrate on what I need to concentrate on. I did get a check+ on my last paper returned. That's a good thing. I get a re-write on my paper that Dr. Richards has now, so I'm happy to hear that. Otherwise, midterm tomorrow!