Best in Show

So I promised a fair update days ago. But allergies have

kicked.
my.
butt.

all week. Ugh. I’m so thankful we got over an inch of rain last night! Not only because we desperately needed it – we haven’t had any of the rains they’ve had south of us – but also because I woke up today and magic! the allergies were (almost) gone. A little Claritin-D and ibuprofen and my head was good all day.

I had big plans to take a nice picture of Madeline and Ike and their purple ribbons this week, instead of this picture that Matt hastily snapped in front of the garbage can. But, refer to paragraph 1.

Friday night was Share-the-Fun, which is basically a 4-H talent show. Madeline sang “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera. She was a lot more nervous than last year, because last year was her first year and she wasn’t eligible to be picked for state fair. This year she was eligible, and she wanted it pretty bad. So she was disappointed when she was picked as first alternate to state.

Saturday night was the dog show. Madeline & Ike won Junior Best in Show for Obedience, and Madeline also won Junior Best Handler. Needless to say, she was elated. Not only that, she was close enough in points to the Senior Best in Show that the judge had them do a “run-off”. The senior girl won, but Madeline said, “I don’t even care about that – I just can’t believe I was anywhere close to her she’s so good!”

Two purple ribbons go a long way to easing disappointment from the night before!

I volunteered to help in the dog judging ring. One of my duties was to stand as a “post” with another person so the handlers could do a figure-8 exercise around us. First dog in the ring peed on me. From behind, so I didn’t even see it coming. So that made for an oh-so-memorable evening. It didn’t bother me. I’m a mom, and a farmer. I’ve had worse bodily fluids on me.

And thus ended the 2006 fair for us. Memorable, indeed.