Show me the money ...

... just because we're getting a little worried. All but one load of wheat went to one elevator. Almost a month ago. We're looking at, oh, I don't know ... about a quarter of our income for the whole year.

No check has arrived. Praying ... praying ... praying ...

Property taxes are due Friday. The state legislators crow about tax relief for homeowners but shifted the burden to farmers and other property owners, since the money had to come from somewhere.

Our last year's taxes came in two installments -- December 2008 and January 2009.

*sigh*

Back to the fairgrounds ...

...to pick up the kids' projects. Brown paths lined the parking lots. The lanes among the barns, 4-H building and food booths were empty. So was the sky of the midway. No giant Ferris wheel, or Ring of Fire, or Freak-out. Just empty blue above the rock quarry and railroad line. The horses, cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and small animals are gone. Some of the farm animals were sold at auction and have already gone to their last round-up. Others, like our dairy cows and heifers, are back home on the farm.

We ended the fair with the open dairy cattle show, which brought in youth exhibitors from all over the northern part of the state. The kids bravely participated and gathered some last-place ribbons but kind words from the judge. The winning cows looked like box cars. Ours looked like ponies compared to some. The judge did comment about DD's cow that Verna was "correct and well balanced, just not enough of her to compete with some of these long tall cows out here."

We went to the rodeo and watched most of the bull riding with grit teeth. One mean bunch of Brahmas out there.

I took the boys to the tractor pull. We watched the super modified class that look more like rockets than tractors. We were there until one of them blew one its four jet engines. A long delay shaped up as officials set out to gather shrapnel from the track. The noise is indescribable -- a lot like being on the flight line with jets taking off -- the kind of sound you feel as well as hear.

Everyone surprised me by deciding after the 4-H show to keep the cows out there all week.

DS2, "Yasha," made the rounds of all the animal barns and displays. His favorite was the cow and calf barn. The dairy association lined up several close-up cows who freshened all week during the fair. Fairgoers could see the new borns, participate in hand milking, even saw managers pull a large calf.

It was fun and now we're done. Until next year ...

The fair ...

So far we survived. However, DD's beloved Verna, a 3-year-old Holstein, placed third in a tough class. We are staying ... all week ... for the open show. Means we have to go into the fairgrounds and milk the show cows twice a day there.

Off to the Fair

If I were wired differently, I could be posting from our remote site, the dairy barn of the county fair.

However, since we do everything old school, I am home at the desk top with laundry going.

We have two cows and two heifers at the fair this year. Because they are Holsteins with a lot of white on them, the kids have their laundry going at the wash rack at the dairy barn. (Or ... "worsh" rack if we want to pronounce it correctly :-)