The Rowes in the Rose City: August 2008

31 August 2008

Videos From The Fair

If you've never seen hog showing at a fair its quite a funny thing. Here's my sister Jessica's Market Hog class. There were 34 entries, so the judge had to sort some out into side pens to make room for them all. Jessie was the first one out, which placed her gilt high up in the blue ribbon hogs.

The 4-H'ers are in white shirts with green ties, the FFA'ers are wearing blue corduroy jackets, the judge is the woman in the green shirt, and the guys running around the arena with boards are there to keep the pigs from fighting, which can be quite violent. In this class only the pigs are being judged (for how well they will dress out after they are butchered).

Here's cousin Kaleigh (3rd showman) in her junior Fitting & Showing class. She was the champion junior showman! In this class the showmen are being judged on how well they trained, cleaned, and are showing their animals, but the sheep themselves are not being judged.

Here's cousin Don selling his steer, Bruce, at the fat stock auction. This is the steer that Avery loved to sit on!

26 August 2008

And, We're Back

It was a bit of a whirlwind at the Pend Oreille County Fair this last weekend (including 7.5 hours each way in the car). Avery did pretty well with the drive, but honestly, at 4.5 you'd think maybe she could sleep a little more in the car. I got 30 minutes of sleep out of her on the way home (and she was very exhausted at that point). Here are a few highlights of the fair:

Avery LOVED the fair pins, and even took along the one I gave her from last year!

Avery hanging out in the grandstands during the pig showing.

4 Generations: Grandpa-grandpa John, grandpa Gary, uncle Jon Paul, and Avery

Getting some special attention from uncle Jon Paul (before he went off to Washington State University for his freshman year of college on Monday)

Avery & aunt Jessie's best friend Rachel (although Avery considers Rachel a best friend, too)

Aunt Jessie, grandpa Gary, Avery, & uncle Jon Paul

First thing on Friday morning it was time for aunt Jessie to show her pigs. Here is just part of the group of Market Hogs. I believe there were 38 total, so they had to sort them out into whites, reds, & blues. Jessie was in the blue group, and spent along time waiting for the red & white grade pigs to get out of the way before her group was allowed out in the main arena. It was chaos -- as pigs do fight viciously (and about 5 men with boards were running around trying to break them up).

Jessie's market hog (yes, it went to slaughter on Monday morning, hence the title "market" -- it sold for $2.75/pound, and weighed 270 pounds, not a terrible way to earn $742.50).

Aunt Jessie waiting in the "blue ribbon pen" while the lower grade hogs were being judged

Blue ribbon show time

Jessie's wiener pigs being judged

A rest after a workout!

Cousin Kaleigh showing her sheep. She's a junior 4-H'er, and was the top showman in her class! She did a great job!

Kaleigh's full Fitting & Showing sheep class

Avery got to see & pet alot of animals, but was disappointed not to get a ride. Uncle Jon Paul's girlfriend, Randi, had her horse there, but it had recently dumped her, and she wasn't comfortable putting a kid on her, so no horse rides for Avery this time. She did seem oddly fascinated by this miniature, though.

Petting an angora goat

Sitting on cousin Don's steer, Bruce, with cousin Kaleigh

After Kaleigh left she had to prove to me she was brave enough to sit on Bruce by herself. But Don was never around when we were looking for him to take her for a real ride.

Avery met this sheep, Dewey, and they were fast friends. She even started pulling hay out of another sheep's pen and feeding it to Dewey. Luckily she was only feeding him one straw at a time. . . we spent hours in the sheep barn doing this. . . .

Avery loved Smokey, and loved her newest joke (learned from cousin Nathan during her trip to Waterloo a few weeks ago): What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear!

She had more than a few trips down the jumpy-slide

The Pend Oreille Spirit horse drill team

Grandpa Gary had a golf cart to ride around the fair grounds (to keep him from getting too tired). Avery and new friend Jennifer (one of Kaleigh's cousins on the other side) found that they could strap themselves in where the golf bags go and ride around like crazy

Uncle Jon Paul was very popular at the Senior Class dunk tank, and was sent into the icy-cold water many times (at least it was warm on Saturday, but they did dump ice into the water before he got up there).

On the way in -- brrrrrrr!

Avery was too hot, so she had uncle Jon Paul kick some of that icy water onto her

Right on the fair grounds is the re-built homestead house of my great grandfather, Frank Lindsey. My grandmother Martha Lindsey Driver was born in this house in 1928, and my grandma & grandfather (John) were living in it when my dad was born in 1948. It stood on our family property until the mid-1970s, and was then dis-assembled & stored for about 15 years, before it was re-assembled at the fair grounds as a historical building. Almost all the materials (inside & out) are original, except the stairs going up to the bedrooms (one girl room & one boy room) were re-built closer to current code than the "ladder" that used to be in there.

Back at the farm, there's almost always a deer (or 5) in the pasture, and we never get tired of watching them grazing around.

22 August 2008

A Fair Time At The Fair

Avery & I are off in northeastern Washington for the Pend Oreille County Fair for a few days. Devon & Jordan are holding down the fort back in Vancouver.

After a long drive yesterday (7.5 hours), and getting to bed about 3 hours later than usual, we still managed to survive a very busy day today. We watched the aunt Jessie show her pigs in the morning, and our cousins & other friends show their sheep in the afternoon. Pictures to come, but for now it's off to bed. We both need our beauty/attitude sleep before another long day with family, friends, games, bingo, magic shows, animals, junk food, and even a rodeo tomorrow.

18 August 2008

Jinxed!

Last week a nursing supervisor did her monthly visit with Jordan, and left in smiles saying that, right now, Jordan is her most stable patient. Doh! Jinxed. Of course, by Sunday Jordan was coming down with something, and by Sunday night she was barfing & spiking fevers up to 104'F! Today she's pathetic, with temps up and down, and on Pedialyte instead of food, to help keep her hydrated. To top it off, she's been having seizures off and on, which isn't uncommon when she's sick. If she's not feeling better by tomorrow it's off to the pediatrician (gotta start looking for an infection somewhere). Ugh, no more comments about being stable -- I hate being jinxed by good news. At the least she should have knocked on some wood when said that!

17 August 2008

Julie Davis -- Number 20,000 !

Our friend Julie Davis, from right here in Oregon had the 20,000th visit to the blog (although maybe it was more like 40,000, because I didn't put the counter on the blog until it had been up and running for about 13 months -- we'll never know). We met Julie when her husband Loren was a grad student at the University of Alberta in Edmonton with us.

Seeing all those hits on the counter made me curious about who's out there following our story, so feel free to comment or e-mail anytime -- we love hearing from you!

Hi-Ho Ontario

Thanks to aunt Tina & uncle Bryan for all the great pictures of Devon & Avery's trip to Waterloo, Ontario last week. At least half of these pictures are theirs.

Here are some of the highlights of the week, as told to me by Devon and a very excited Avery!

Bryan, (big) Jamie, & Devon, the 3 Musketeers since high school. Jamie was visiting for a day, on his way back to Pennsylvania.

There was a gathering of cousins & extended cousins one day in Waterloo. Here Avery is getting a pedicure from Devon & Bryan's cousin Taryn's daughter, Piper.

She got a tattoo from Piper, too, which was still partially on her forehead a week later when they got home (and consequently it's in ALL the pictures for the week as well). Devon said he would try to rub it off at night while Avery was asleep, but couldn't get it all off.

Cousin Nathan (5.5 yrs) in the pool at the Waterloo cousins party

Cousin Ally (3.5 yrs) and 2nd cousin Piper

Ally & Devon

Cousin Jamie (3.5 yrs -- he and Ally are twins)

Ally, Devon, Piper, & Avery (4.5 yrs)

All in the family: McKenzie (yellow shirt), Michaela (orange dress), Piper (white dress), Josh (in the back, white shirt), Quinn (no shirt), Avery, Nathan, Jamie (red shirt), and Ally hiding behind Nathan

One day they went to the Waterloo Children's Museum. Here Nathan & Avery are digging for bones in a rice box

Jamie riding a dinosaur

Another day they were off to the Toronto Zoo. One of the special displays at the zoo was Stingray Bay, and here they all are, petting sting rays (Bryan, Ally, Jamie, Nathan, & Avery)

Trying to get a group picture was quite a task -- but they tried & tried nonetheless.
Bryan, Ally, Avery, Nathan, Jamie, & Devon

Nathan, Avery, Jamie, Ally, Bryan, & Devon

Camel, Ally, Avery, Nathan, Jamie

Avery, Nathan, Ally, Jamie

Ally & Avery

Nathan & Avery (Avery wanted a hat like her cousins, so she had to borrow Devon's)

Avery & Nathan on a camel ride. Avery will ride anything (so far this year horses, a sheep, an elephant, and a camel -- and we're off to the fair again in a few days, so she might have a few more animals to add to the list soon!)