Riding Rides and Going Home

Finally.

We're done.

Today's the day we get to ride rides.

Today's the day we get to take our goats home.

Yaaaaa Hooooo!

My Boys and Goats

Kevin liked getting Lightning out every night to give him exercise.

Lightning was always grateful.
After all, he's just a baby.
Only one year old, with lots of energy to spare.

In other fair news, just for fun Alex entered the Goat Agility Contest.
He asked my advice about which of the 8 goats we had at the fair he should use.
I said, "Adagio, without a doubt."
Despite having not practiced the sport himself,
and using an animal that had never seen the course,
they did quite well.
Alex and Adagio completed the course in 43 seconds
and won third place in the Senior Division.
Alex had quick determination
and Adagio had an "I'll follow you anywhere" attitude.
A winning combination.

Eating at the Fair

Once a year, when the fair rolls around, we look forward to the food.

Ice Cream, pizza, beef tips, corn-on-the-cob, stir fry....

Fresh squeezed lemonade, pretzels, cotton candy, nachos....
I could go on......but you get the idea.

After 10 days of this all we can think about is
fruit and vegetables and eating at home.
Instead of on someone's shoulders.
Or in a car.
Or with the smell of the steer or swine barn nearby.
~ ~ ~
Soon it will all be over.
And we'll be sad about it.
~ ~ ~
And after a little while we will start to dream about next year's fair...
and all the projects we want to enter.
We'll have plans to enter our baked goods and our sewing projects.
We'll dream about winning a blue rosette ribbon for our photography.
And we will hope once again to raise a grand champion goat or chicken.
And then we'll start dreaming about the food.
~ ~ ~
But not now....not yet.
Let me try to find the bottom of my kitchen sink first.

Biscuit

Guess who had to come home a little early from the fair?

Biscuit, the runt.

With him being away from the farm all day I couldn't monitor his nursing.

I couldn't make sure he was getting enough.

So he started langishing.

(That's kindof a nice word for dying.)
So Biscuit came home and I put him on a bottle.

He's doing much better now.
Even though he made me break my hard and fast rule:
NO ANIMALS IN THE HOUSE.

He's been sleeping in a crate in the laundry room.
And getting fed 5-6 times a day.
Maybe once or twice at night.

And he's doing much better now.
Much, much better.
Thankfully, goats grow up quicker than children.
Because I could sure use some sleep.
Soon.

Fair Questions

Who's foot is this?

.....Just take a wild guess.....

If you said camel, then you're right!

This one was right behind the goat barn all week.

They are quite interesting animals.

Especially close up.

Here's another fair question for ya:

How are your goat's doing up at the fair?

The answer is either:
"Let me out of here!"


Or........."I'm bored"........zzzzzz.

Harness Training

At the fair we are surrounding by so many "goat people".

It's wonderful.

We always learn so much more every year.

This year we learned how to harness our goat Lightning.

I had a harness and cart for this goat but we could not figure out how to put it on.

With expert help at the fair, we did.

By the end of the fair Lightning was hitched up and pulling the cart all by himself.

No problem.

The next step is putting a person in the cart.

~ ~ ~

Any volunteers?

It's Fair Time!

We are now at the County Fair for the next 9 days.

Sarah is such a helper and will hold our baby goats

while her older brothers and sister clean out the pens.

Next year she will be old enough to show a goat at the fair.

Every year the fair gets better and BIGGER.
Half this barn is filled with goats.
The other half houses:
chickens,
roosters,
turkeys,
ducks,
geese,
quail,
pheasants,
rabbits,
and guinea pigs.

We brought 8 goats this year.

~plus Ester's four kids~

(They go everywhere with her.)

Someone told me they saw her kids on facebook and came to the fair to see them!

They attrack a lot of attention.

It's not every day that you see a goat with four kids.