Every year, we cap our summer off in serious Western style . Out come the flashy tops and sparkly belts, tiaras and buckles, canned beer and sno-cones. Horses are washed and trimmed, pigs are srubbed and shaved, animals are hustled into the fairgrounds where they will be shown and sold to charitable customers.
Its all fun and games until the last day when the kids prepare for the truck that comes early in the am and takes them all away. Except ours. You see, i have a pet lamb who is now a very fat sheep, and have recently been adopted by a goat who enjoys the afternoons on the chaise lounge on the deck. I am not a rancher - in fact , i'm a weenie. So when the truck comes I feel just as traumatized as the little girls who get in their lamb pens and snuggle their goodbyes with their summer friends. Every year I think "what am i doing ?! "
But then i think...well, we aren't vegetarians so why not really learn where it all comes from?! If it were left up to me to harvest my own meat i'd become a vegetarian immediately. My kids pigs are still here at home.
Its a tradition in this little cow town to end the summer with a rodeo and 4-H fair complete with a spotty attendance of macrame entries, a few pies, canned goods and "art". This year I didn't enter a thing. who cares!
Rosie, my daughter,the Rodeo Queen's Attendant dramatizing about something
The husband and Blue who is Red watching the Labor Day Parade in Ridgway
Roscoe showing his hog "Bonnie" for the 4-H judge. He had blue fingernail polish that matched his cowboy shirt. We Rogers like to shake it up a bit. "Clyde" missed the show, he was too fat and stayed at home. It's true, a pig can be too fat.
Did you ever think you'd see this? A chicken getting a bubble bath. Now, all she needs are some diamonds and a raspy voice like Carol Channing.
xo milady
xo milady
