the county fair

Our county fair has been the high point of my summer for nearly a decade.

It smells of dust and dry heat and leather, tastes of greasy curly fries and Pepsi, and sounds of creaking saddles and laughter and animal calls. We get up at 4:30 AM to clean stalls, sweep alleys, and wash lambs for the first two days; after that, we get to “sleep in” until 6 or 7.

It’s hard to describe if you haven’t been there and done it. It’s definitely the type of thing that anyone who doesn’t love it will hate. Even those of us who love it have our not-so-thrilled moments (like when the neighboring campers’ generator runs all night, or it happens to be the hottest day of the summer so far), but all in all, it’s a pretty awesome place to be.

One of my favorite things is watching the grand entry of the rodeo. I get chills watching the flag carried around the arena on horseback during the National Anthem. And I love, love, love roping. Breakaway, tie-down, team roping—in any form, it’s one of those things that I’ve always wanted to be able to do.

Bull dogging is pretty cool, too, but it’s not something I have any desire to do.

I just love it there. A lot of days, I could do without the sheep showing part, but it would be hard to miss the rodeo events and the cattle work. I love that stuff. Someday, I want to be in it.

In addition to my lambs, I entered 30 photos and received four awards:

top of show – youth open class

I did these photos as a series.

 top of show – 4-H

lot champions – youth open class

So another county fair has passed. They all go with a tinge of melancholy, but this one more than the others because there is a definite possibility that I won’t be participating in next year’s. As my grandma often says, “This getting old is for the birds!” :)

PS: My Windows Live Writer, which I usually use to construct and publish blog posts, isn't working... so posting could be a little erratic for awhile. :(