County Fair

Us at the Ranch Rodeo

The beginning of the week was very low key.  We left Greencastle around 3 pm Monday to catch our flight in Baltimore.  It was nice not having to rush off in the morning.  I think it was much harder to leave this time.  I was nearly ready to cry and not go back on Tuesday morning.  We would have like to stop at the Ft. Collins temple, but they don’t rent temple clothing at that temple.  We have a year left to serve with no trips home.  It will be good in helping us stay focused.  Every time we leave, it takes a few days to get back in the swing of things.  By now we are all enthusiastic and ready to work hard again.  Play time over.

The night before we left PA, we had a fire and roasted marshmallows

Tuesday was our drive home from Denver.  All went well with our flight, although we did get a notice the flight was delayed for 2 hours, but with the next 3-4 times changes, we left on time.  Not sure United is my favorite airline right now.  We did have great timing on weather.  About 15 minutes after we got our car unloaded, a big storm came along.  It’s not unusual to get a short thunderstorm every night here.  This one was a bit more intense.  It started hailing like crazy.  The ground looked like snow when it was finished.  I did put a video up on Facebook.

Our hail storm.  Crazy Wyoming weather!

Forgot to mention my tomatoes.  Brain Vanwinkle, in PA, loves to garden and grows a ton of tomatoes every year.  He is so kind and shares with us.  He even brought some over while we were visiting for the Wedding reception.  I packed them carefully and brought them on the plane back to Wyoming.  They made it just fine, and I am really enjoying them.  Right now, there isn’t such a thing in our area.  Maybe soon.

Wednesday was our usual Senior Center Lunch.  Walt was not a fan of the menu - Shepherd’s pie, although he took a few cookies home.  One of the cooks gave her 2 week notice on Monday, so they might be hurting until someone new is hired.  It’s a tough job and jobs don’t pay well around here.  

The county fair was this week.  The Bishop wanted us to go and meet people, let people see we are normal people and friendly.  We were ok with such an assignment.  We went Wednesday after lunch.  We put on our cowboy looking missionary clothes.  Walt has acquired boots (several pair from thrift shops), a belt, several belt buckles, a bolo (thanks to my mom), and finally a hat.  He does make a fine looking cowboy.  He still wore his regular missionary pants and white shirt.  I wore a bluish polka dot dress with a leather brown belt and some cowboy looking boots I got for $2.  

Cowboy Vann with some of the Checketts 4H cows

We didn’t see much going on, so started checking out some buildings.  One had exhibits - cakes, jellies, artwork, sewing, etc.  We started looking around and a lady came up and asked if we were judges.  Since we were not, we were kindly asked to leave.  We could come back in the morning when it was open to the public. We also looked around at the poultry and rabbits.  Lots of animal competitions.  It’s not too bad a deal.  The animals that get sold, like sheep and calves can bring in some good money.  One of the Checketts children’s calf sold for $4,000.  The kids do pay for the animal’s up keep during the year, but make a net profit of $1,200.  Not too shabby. It’s a great experience for these kids and youth to have a personal responsibility like that and get to make money as well.  

Some of the rabbits, poultry and cakes

Thursday was basically fair day.  After planning and scriptures study we headed out.  It was a really nice day.  The temperature was nice and the breeze blew all day.  We found out the Checketts were there, so headed over to that area.  It’s kind of funny, the pigs are referred to as swine, but the cows are “Beef.” .  All  the Checketts children enter a calf and/or sheep in the 4H contests.  This fair is really all about the 4H and rodeo competitions.  We helped get their calves cleaned up for their showing on Friday morning and get them fed.  I also watched the sheep competition while Walt helped the Bishop.  I did chat with a few people, but most gave me an odd look.  I guess not many ladies show up in a dress - even a casual one - for the fair.  There is one part of the sheep competition where the little kids dress up in costumes and also their sheep.  The last part is 5 & 6 year olds showing sheep.  Some can barely keep them under control.  It was so cute.

Shower stalls for getting calves ready to show

Swine

One of the costume kids and sheep

Around 5 pm each Thursday in July through September, is a Farmer’s Market.  Right now only a couple of booths have produce, but that will increase later.  One had corn and I was so excited.  No one is allowed to start selling until 5 pm, but we noticed others were picking out their corn ahead of time.  To ensure we got some, we did the same.  We had it last night for dinner and it was pretty tasty.  We also bought two cherry turnovers, green salsa and some homemade ice cream.  Eventually we did buy some “real” food, a hotdog.  Not sure which thing it was, but something made me very sick.   We were waiting for the rodeo to start and my stomach started to hurt, then I started feeling very dizzy.  I was really concerned about passing out, so I went and laid down on a bench.  I did offer a prayer that it would pass and I would be fine.  The prayer worked!  It never ceases to amaze me how merciful God is to us.  He even cares if we feel sick and might miss the rodeo.  

Thursday evening was the Ranch Rodeo.  It’s a bit different than a regular one.  The tasks for these cowboys and cowgirls were all related to real things done on a ranch.  The competitions were all in groups of 5 on a team.  The first was with a large group of cows, each numbered.  There were 3 of each number.  The ranchers were to find their 3 cows with their specific number and get them across the line and then get them into the trailer.  It was interesting to watch their technique and horse skills.  Another competition included roping calves and “branding” them.  They used a cold iron with powder, not a regular branding.  Then there was the 3 cow event.  Two cows and a steer were let loose.  They had to rope one and give it “medical care”, marking its head like they do for branding to show they’ve received proper vaccines.  The 2nd cow was to be tied and had to stay down for 6 second, and the steer had to be roped by the horns and gotten into the trailer.  Those steers are really feisty and fight it the whole way.  Most events have a time limit of 3-5 minutes.  It’s amazing how fast they can do it.  It was a large crowd and we got an opportunity to see several people we already know.  We got a very nice sunset that evening during the rodeo as well.  All in all, it was quite a nice day.

Cowboys (and girls) lining up for the Ranch Rodeo

Roping and branding event

Rodeo stand with nice sunset in the background

Roping a steer and pulling him to the trailer

Beautiful sunset at the Rodeo

We were hoping to see some of the events of the fair, like the BBQ, the ice cream churn off, and the dance, on Friday,  but we had already made plans to help out with the Smiths.  Stores like Sam’s Club are not very close here, but have the best deals.  Richard and his mother-in-law, needed to go to Sam’s for their semi-monthly trip.  So they asked us to sit with Renee and Nic.  I got to be with Renee and give her meds and liquid meals, and Walt got to play with Nic.  Walt is now Nic’s favorite.  They spent time playing games, watching TV and mostly playing with Play Doh. Renee and I watched “Small Foot” - pretty cute movie, some cooking shows, and spent some time outside.  Walt and I helped unload the truck once they were back- packed full, and then had dinner with them.  The evening was a beautiful one and Renee was able to make it to the deck and sit with us for dinner.  That was really nice.    They live on a ranch and the view from the deck is simply amazing.  We try, but can never seem to capture the beauty with a camera.  We didn’t end up getting home till nearly 9 pm.  It was so nice to be of service to them.  

Before we got to the Smith’s, we stopped by Gary’s to see if he needed any help with the garden.  The beans were coming in like crazy.  We spent nearly 45 minutes picking.  Right now that’s the only thing producing, but they are producing!!  There are two rows of “Dragon Tongue Beans.”  They are quite pretty with their purple swirling design.  I had never heard of them before.  We picked nearly 4 gallon bags of those and another gallon of regular green beans.  The Dragon ones taste pretty much like regular beans.  They are great for very hot and dry areas - good choice here.  I asked Gary what he wanted to do with them all, and he said he wanted me to freeze them for him.  Also, to find a couple of people who might need some.  So Saturday, I froze his beans for him and brought them to him today.

Me picking beans at Gary's - in a dress of course

Grasshopper in the garden

Dragon Tongue beans

Saturday was rather low key.  The fair was kind of slow and uneventful.  The junior rodeo was that morning and we went to the last of it.  Those kids do a pretty good job.  Most start when they can first start riding a horse.  Then there was some roping competitions, not very exciting.  Most of the more exciting stuff was during the week and Friday.  It was good to go when we could and see a western county fair.  Quite different from our fairs.  No rides, caramel apples or funnel cake.  I asked one of the Checketts children if he had ever had a funnel cake.  He said he has heard of them.  Too funny.  

Little Cowboys, practicing their roping

Today was a fun one.  It is Gary’s birthday today!  He is 80 or younger depending on his mood.  We picked him up for church and afterwards had a birthday lunch with him, and the Elders.  He wanted something I could cook ahead of time, so I asked him if lasagna would work.  He says, “Of course!”  I put it together on Saturday, and Walt put it in the oven between sacrament meeting and Sunday school.  It turned out quite well.  Walt had to stay longer at church for his calling as Executive Secretary to the Bishop, so the Elders were my escort with Gary to the house.  While I worked on salad and bread, Gary was up for cards with the Elders.  We were able to put off eating until Walt got home, the Bishop gave him a ride.  It was a nice lunch and everyone was quite full at the end.  It was nice to help celebrate Gary’s birthday.  He doesn’t have any family nearby.

On our way this morning to pick up Gary

The other “exciting” thing for today was a new calling for Walt and me.  The Bishop actually had just me in mind for this, but Walt knew a head of time since he attends Bishopric meetings, and volunteered to help.  We have been called as Seminary teachers.  It’s a tough but rewarding calling.  The youth that are high school age, go to seminary (like bible study) before school during the school year.  Here it starts at 6:45 a.m. and ends at 7:30 a.m.  I did this when I was in high school, and so did my girls.  It can be tough teaching youth that are only half awake.  Another challenge with this calling is the time for preparation.  There will be 5 lessons to teach a week.  We have decided to divide the lessons by days.  I will teach MWF and Walt on Tues and Thursdays.  I am so grateful he is helping out.   So we will see how it goes.  

That’s about it for this week.  Our calendar for next week is filling up fast, as usual.  We miss our family, but love getting mail from them.  Cash has decided if he wrote me the most, he would become my favorite.  We’ll see how often they write.  I did give them some pretty notecards to use for writing us.  The rule was - the cards were only for us.  Time will tell!  We loved seeing so much family while in PA!  We’ll keep working hard, and helping others feel the Savior’s love for them.  It’s sad when someone doesn’t know that feeling.  We are grateful for each person who draws a little closer to Christ through our efforts.   Until next week . . .