test pictures from the new camera

Alright, I admit, I like to take pictures! The poor little camera was just about worn out from all the pictures I've taken in the nearly 6 years I've used it, having used it nearly every day. This I blame on Ron, as he said to me in conversation a long time ago that "you can never have too many pictures of your kids." I think I took it to an extreme. Oh well, when I am old I can look back and see what a wonderful life we had and I'll get to see my children grow up all over again and it will be wonderful! All that being said it was time for a new camera, this new one has a longer life battery (I assume they mean under normal conditions) and nearly 4 times the mega pixels and a heck of a zoom! It arrived this afternoon and I promptly got the battery charged so tonight I could just goof off with it and took like 79 pictures checking out the different settings, options and lighting, and only slightly blinded the family. Here are just a few I popped off... It's AWESOME!!! And we paid cash for it which makes it even better!

Show #1 under their belts!

Yesterday Faith and Andrew competed in their first ever dairy show. This was a pretty big show and lots of competition, and when they walked out of the ring they both said WOW, that was fun! I don't know exactly how many entries were in their classes, but Andrew went first and placed 9th of about 15-18 heifers. Faith's heifer was a bit older and went in second and was 9th or 10th out of the same number. They may have been too excited to be nervous, but as soon as the show started my stomach clamped down and I was not even competing! It was a very hot day so we were all glad that their classes were in the am so they could get back out of their show whites and into something much cooler! Let me tell you I've never seen so much pimping of cows in my life! I mean seriously, fake tails, spray paint, glue, extra grain, rosin, hair dryers, blow dryers, (yes, there is a difference!) clippers, trimmers and fake hair, all this to make a cow look "natural!" I cannot make this up! This is reality for the life of a "show cow" and it's all an attempt to make it look real. Crazy huh?! I don't get it, but the kids had so much fun!

Show day started early, we were up at 4;30am and at the fairgrounds shortly after 7am after an hour drive. That make for a long day! (Hey Andrew, got a smile to go with that swagger?)

The heifers had been prepped and re-prepped and prepped some more now it was the kids' turn. These harness type things held their numbers.

Waiting patiently to enter the ring.

More waiting, so he grabbed a brush and made the tail, excuse me switch, look fluffy, again...

Andrew's up and entered the ring. His heifer mooed all he way around the show ring, constantly.

Talking to the judge...

Headed into the final placement line up, middle of the pack! Go Andrew!

Faith's up next, and headed into the ring with an uncooperative heifer. Stubborn, man is she stubborn. I hear this tends to be the case with Holsteins...

Faith was able to get her under control and they did better after that.

Setting her up. Squaring the front feet.

Final placement line up. Middle of the pack. Go Faith!

One young girl with a huge sense of accomplishment.

Turns out that I didn't miss the 4-H show deadline like I thought, so Faith will be at the fair again this weekend showing in 4-H. And Thursday both Faith and Andrew will be showing Holsteins and Ayrshire's for a friends farm, they are excited and cannot wait to be back in the show ring. What a great experience for them.

picked because they were cute

What an adventure yesterday turned out to be! It started actually many months ago when the 4-H leader said they should do a market hog as a project, ..."it's easy and a good first show project," is what we were told. So we decided to go for it, figuring why not?! I'm sort of known for acting then thinking, despite the fact that I do usually try to think things through it doesn't always happen... but I digress. So the day before yesterday the kids and I spent a great deal of time trying to teach the famous sitting pigs to walk up a ramp, the reason for this is because I do not have a trailer; stock or horse, yet. So the pigs were going to have to ride in the bed of the truck to and from the fair. I'm fairly strong but cannot pick up a pig weighing between 150-200 pounds even if it wanted to be picked up. These pigs did not. So the only way to get them to the fair was in the back of the truck and the only way to get them in the truck was to teach them to walk the plank, or ramp I built to facilitate this event. It was easier than you might think, pigs are VERY motivated by food and if you train them with food it seems to go well. So after they seemed comfortable walking up the improvised ramp and before they lost interest we stopped and anticipated the following days event. Getting the pigs to walk a much steeper incline and into an unfamiliar place.

Morning arrived and the kids and I got ready for the day, got all the things we thought we'd need for the show and an all day trip away from the farm. Staying in clothes that we'd change out of in the event that it would be messier than the day before. That was a good idea! Pig poop s.t.i.n.k.s.! I drove the truck to the pen and corralled the pigs into a corner and set up the ramp, put sides on the ramp making it more of a chute with very little room to escape and hoped this would work. Bethany, (skinny stripe) went first and needed a little coaxing, once she found the grain bin she practically hopped up into the truck, Freedom, (wide stripe) needed more convincing, I think she smelled a rat! It didn't take as long as I had anticipated and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, beginners luck I guess.

The pigs certainly could not ride in the back of the truck with out some sort of side wall height, the last thing I needed was a pig or two flying or jumping out of the back of the truck, so I used a hog panel; that worked great; and secured it with fluorescent orange ratchet straps. They'd also need cover or shade so I threw a bright blue tarp over the top and secured that to the hog panel with zip ties. I cannot imagine a more hucklebuck way to get the pigs to the fair, fortunately we didn't have far to travel. Unfortunately for the pigs, is was far enough on the back roads to make them carsick. I felt awful when I realized that let me tell you!

So we arrived at the fair and offloaded the pigs and let them settle in and chill. The kids found the 4-H leaders and had a mini clinic on how to show the pigs, did I mention this was the first show?! They had a chance to practice with the pigs before the show and it went well being their first show, both the kids and the pigs! They changed into their 'show clothes' and put the finishing touches on their 'show pigs' and the show started. They guided the pigs into the ring and away they went. Onlooking were both sets of grandparents, an aunt and cousin, two proud parents and many fair goers. The first class was showmanship. Part of showmanship it for the judge to ask random questions about your project and you are expected to know and give the answer. Both kids were in separate classes because of age, but both were asked about their pigs and gave an appropriate answer. I'm so proud of the way they carried themselves in the ring and how they handled their pigs. Not an easy task, pigs have a mind of their own and will go where they want for the most part, especially at 150+ pounds! Both kids took first place in their class and went back in to compete for grand champion and WON! I couldn't believe it! The judge talked about the confirmation of the pigs and why Freedom and Bethany were "more correct" over the competition, he talked about the butt (ham) area, length of body (bacon and loin of pork), width of shoulders, etc.

Good stuff we've got here and to think we picked them out strictly because they were cute! Although I do admit, besides the cute personality they do have the cutest butts, especially when they are jiggling while they trot away from you! Excuse me, the cutest hams!


watering the pigs and helping them to settle in...
spitshining the pigs

Aw mom... do I have to have a bath?! I'm a pig!!!

Faith's up first, entering the ring!

First place!

Andrew's up next!

Grand Champions!

Like I said, what an adventure!

soapbox - how much is fair? reasonable? honest?

I was listening to the radio this morning to the local morning show hot topic for tomorrow advertisement and the question was asked, why are tickets to sporting events so expensive? Now I really like this morning show so I may actually tune in just to hear the response, but it got me thinking, perspective comes into to play again. Perspective and priorities.

A few weeks ago on a social networking site I posed the question what a reasonable, fair, honest wage for a farmer to earn was, I got a few off the cuff answers but not a dollar amount or salary. I thought about my own question for a while and thought well what it really boils down to is what are you willing to pay someone else to do that you are not willing or able to do yourself. Some people I know have told me point blank that they could not do what I do and others would not, I'm fine with either way, I'm not asking you to. For example I'm not willing to pay someone to pick up my trash weekly when I am perfectly capable of taking it there myself, however, I am more than willing to pay someone to sort through the trash and take care of it however it is done. I've watched 'Dirty Jobs' no thank you, that's not something I'm willing to do.

People complain about the price and quality of food and the price of health care. Health care is expensive, I think we can all agree on that. Cheap food really is an illusion, a price is paid somewhere, most of the price is paid with your health. I'm not the poster child for healthy eating, but I am making better food choices because I'm taking an active role in educating myself about it, I don't plan to or think I'm going to live forever, I just don't want to be sickly either. If you are not willing or able to grow your own food respect the efforts of those who are will and/or able and pay them fairly, reasonably and honestly. There is an old adage that states you get what you pay for, how many times have you heard that and had it not been accurate?

So this leads me back to sporting events well you can fill in the blank with anything in the entertainment area, concerts, sporting events, anything where a 'famous' person might be. I've gone to a few concerts and have enjoyed them immensely, but largely it had to do with the company I was with and the thought that went into the tickets.(Thank you Ron for the Toby tickets!) But the question was why are they so expensive, my opinion is because we allow them to be, because we as a society place so much 'value' on 'athleticism and talent' (I use the word talent here loosely!!) but I'm not sure why. Wasn't there an athlete just offered like 10 million dollars or something ridiculous like that? Seriously 10 million dollars? Who needs that kind of money? Wouldn't it be a better idea to pay teachers more? After all they are in large part shaping tomorrow through the kids in their classrooms. They have a huge part in equipping children to become what they were created to be, what happens if they fail? Where will that put those kids in relation to other kids whose teachers didn't fail? I'm in favor of paying teachers who teach well more, they are worth more, I have a very high respect for teachers, it's not an easy job, and it comes with a huge responsibility.

I also have a very high respect for volunteer fire fighters. Think about each word for a minute.

Volunteer. Fire. Fighters.

I cannot imagine what these men and women must be made of. I cannot imagine volunteering to risk my life to go into someone else's burning home. I hope I never have to go into my own but would risk it if my kids were in there, no question. But seriously what is that worth to you? I'm in favor of paying firefighters to do what I am not. I am not willing to pay high prices for a ticket to a sporting event because it goes against what I value, against my perspective and priorities. I am willing to take that same money and so to a farmers market, a local business, a lemonade stand, or a fireman's breakfast fundraiser. To me each one of those is fair, honest and reasonable.