Items on my Desk

I have way too much junk on my desk.  Mainly books, photos, trinkets, reminders of things from the past.  This evening I looked at these old artifacts.  Were you a member of 4-H when you were growing up?  Do you remember why the club was called 4-H?  In other words, what do the four H's stand for? (Answer Below)

Head, Heart, Hands, Health

We'd meet in the gymnasium and would stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then we would remain standing for the 4-H Pledge.  I still remember it:

I pledge my head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service,
And my health to better living,
For my club, my community, my country, and my world.

4-H was just a club, but I still remember my advisors and activities that we did and important life lessons we learned, trips we went on, and friendships we developed.

46 years ago I was awarded that wooden ruler shown above for participating in a Forestry Slogan Contest.  I don't remember what slogan I came up with.  Forestry was a big deal in our area.  There were 'tree farms' where pine trees were grown.  Right down the road from where I grew up there was a nursery where pine trees were grown for the timber business.  When large areas of pine trees were clear cut, the land was replanted with pine trees from the nursery.  

To protect the tree farms from fire, there were fire towers in the area.  People were positioned in the tower to scan the horizon for smoke.  If fire was threatening the trees, trucks with bulldozers were called out to the area and fire lanes would be made to stop the forest fires from damaging and destroying the trees.  There are big facilities in Allen Parish and parishes to the north and west that make plywood.

Back to 4-H.  4-H was a fun club.  We all looked forward to going to Camp Grant Walker in Pollack, Louisiana during the summer.  We'd attend Achievement Day where we'd be tested on Seed Identification, Leaf identification, Livestock Judging and all other sorts of things.  Demonstration Day was a day that made your knees knock.  You had to get up in front of the class and give a demonstration on something.  It was your first real shot at public speaking.  I was terrified!

As I look back on it, I think of how naïve and simple the times were.  One of the more popular demonstrations was, "How to Clean a 12 gauge Shotgun."  Yes, we would bring shotguns to school and break them down and show how to properly clean a gun.  No one thought anything of it.  It was innocent.  It's kind of amazing, if you think about it, how much we've changed since then. 

The Parish Fair was a blast!  I would bring my sheep to show in the fair and would win ribbons like the faded one above.  People throughout the parish would bring all sorts of things that they grew in their gardens, or farms, or pickled or canned.  We'd walk through the barns after judging to see who grew the best looking potatoes, or who had the biggest rabbits.  Of course there were the rides!  We'd ride the Twist-A-World, and The Scrambler, The Ferris Wheel, and the Rock-O-Planes.  I got sick and threw up on the Rock-O-Planes!

It's funny how some old trinkets on your desk can transport you back almost five decades to good memories! 

Jeff Davis Parish Fair - 2018

The first week of October didn't bring any cooler weather, unfortunately, but it did bring the Parish Fair that is held each year in our town at the Fairgrounds.  Rides were set up, exhibits put together, animals brought to the barn and the smell of barbecue burgers and funnel cakes wafted over the muggy air.  Benjamin's FFA group sold 'Blooming Onions' at their booth for $8 a pop!

We brought our Jersey cow, Clarabelle, to the fair.  She's not in milk right now, but she is the best showmanship cow as she is gentle, laid back and has a feminine personality.  She bellows quite loud, but I guess that is a redundant explanation with the last trait in the previous sentence.  I kid, I kid.  Once the animal is cleaned up, there is some downtime to relax and visit with each other as well as other exhibitor families.

As show time nears, finishing touches are put on ol' Clarabelle.  Here, Tricia is applying some black shoe polish to her hooves.

It makes Clarabelle's hooves shine like a new penny!

Out in the show ring for showmanship, Benjamin (on the left) was showing against other breeds.  That is a Holstein in the center and a Brown Swiss on the end. 

The judge gave good tips on what went right... and on how to improve on things that didn't go so well.

In the end, Benjamin won Grand Champion Senior Showmanship with Clarabelle.  We took a picture of him and Clarabelle in front of the backdrop.  He didn't win a rosette ribbon or a belt buckle, but won cold, hard cash. 

Some friends in our Dairy Club took a photo of all of us.  We were very proud of Benjamin.  It takes a lot of patience and attention to detail to win Showmanship

Benjamin's 4-H Dairy Club worked on a booth in the exhibit hall to promote milk.  It was a circus theme this year and I think it turned out well.

When we loaded up Clarabelle into the trailer, we noticed that someone had left us a 'gift' in the back of the truck.  A goldfish.  I can remember when I was a boy, they had a game at the Parish Fair in which you attempted to throw a ping pong ball into a fish bowl.  If you were successful, you won the goldfish in the bowl.  I'm sure this was the same sort of game.  Benjamin and I decided to take the fish home and put him in the cows' water trough. 

The poor goldfish made it exactly ONE DAY.

The poor old goldfish was floating on the top of the water by Sunday at noon.  All good things coe to an end, I suppose.  The 2018 Jefferson Davis Parish Fair will be the last time Benjamin will exhibit and animal at the Fair as he'll be graduating from High School.  Tricia and I talked about maybe entering some of our okra or other garden produce as a fair exhibit next year.  Maybe the Sonnier's can still win a ribbon or two.  We'll have to wait until next year to see!

Clarabelle's Last Time to Show as a Heifer

On Friday morning Benjamin brought Clarabelle, our two year old Jersey heifer, to the Parish Fair Barn.  She was going to be showing in the Jefferson Davis Parish Fair on Friday and then again on Saturday Morning as part of an FFA Fall Classic Livestock Show.  Clarabelle is showing as a heifer, but she will be calving at the end of October.  After that, she'll show as a Dairy Cow.  She is getting pretty wide in girth and she is just barely starting to bag up.

Out of all of our show cows over the years, Clarabelle has the gentlest, most easy-going temperament of all.  She stood perfectly still while Benjamin clipped her, and she never gets in a rush when walking in the show ring.  Now, sometimes that changes once they calve and they are nervous looking for their calf, but for now, she is a really good show cow. 

Saturday morning Benjamin got to the barn early to feed and water Clarabelle and get her cleaned up.  He had washed her the day before, so it should have just been a touch-up spot cleaning, but ol' girl laid down in her poop overnight and Benjamin really had to give her a good scrubbing.  The fair was still going on right outside the show barn and the barn filled up with the smoke and aroma of the "fair food" being cooked by the FFA, Lion's Club, and all the other booths selling food.  That's why the photos below are a little hazy.

The judge was from Alexandria and she did a real good job, explaining what she was looking for from both the exhibitor and the animal.  She asked the exhibitors different questions about their project.  She asked Benjamin, "How much does a gallon of milk weigh?"  Answer: About 8 1/2 pounds.  She also asked, "What is the milk of Jersey cows known for?" Answer: Jerseys have a high amount of butterfat compared to other breeds.  Whereas a Holstein is known for volume, a Jersey is known for the richness (the cream).

There are two different shows that go on.  The first judges the animal and how well the animal looks.  the second is showmanship which judges how well the exhibitor shows the animal.  The judge makes the exhibitors walk around with their animals, judging how they handle the animal and set it up. 

It is crucial to keep your eyes on the judge.

The way you show a heifer as opposed to a cow (once they have a calf, they are no longer heifers, but are cows) is different.  With a heifer, the back leg closest to the judge must be positioned back like shown in the photo below.  Conversely, when showing a cow, the back leg of the cow closest to the judge should be positioned forward, so that the judge can see the udder and teat placement.

Benjamin won Reserve Champion Jersey and in Showmanship, he was the Champion Showman.  We are proud of Benjamin and Clarabelle.  They did a great job.

Benjamin won some nice looking ribbons to hang in his room.

The next time he shows Clarabelle, it will be in the Spring Livestock Shows in January.  Lots of things will have changed by then.  It will be cold, instead of hot.  Clarabelle will have a calf by her side with an udder full of milk, and she'll be shown as a cow instead of a heifer.

The Jeff Davis Parish Dairy Club Prepares

A couple of weeks ago, the Jefferson Davis Parish Dairy Club met.  It is for the kids of course, but the adults like getting together as well, visiting, carrying on and enjoying each other's company.  It wasn't just a social visit, there was work to do.  The Parish Fair was coming up in early October, and we had lots of planning to do.

First, we discussed our club's exhibit.  We came up with a theme.  We all were amazed that in all the years of doing this, we had never used the popular, "Got Milk?" campaign.  We decided to do it.  Rather than have celebrities with milk mustaches, we had the dairy club members submit pictures of themselves with a milk mustache.  Okay, we didn't actually use milk - we used shaving cream.  We decided to put dairy facts written on mustaches stuck in milk bottles to educate the public about milk cows.  Even though we live in a rural area, you'd be surprised how little people know about agriculture.

Then the club decided on when and where to have our annual BBQ Burger fundraiser.  During National 4-H Week, we'll honor our 4-H sponsors at all of the local schools and bring them a goodie basket in appreciation for their service working with 4-H in our schools.  The club members gathered on Tuesday of this week in the fair exhibit hall to put together our booth.  I think it turned out nice.  The livestock show will be Friday morning and Benjamin's big chore tomorrow is to get the clippers out and trim Clarabelle.  He'll be showing her in the fair.  She is expected to calve in late October, so this will be her last time to show as a heifer.  Benjamin and his buddies went and watched the talent show at the fair this evening and walked around the fairgrounds.  Benjamin's FFA group will be once again frying "Blooomin' Onions" for sale at the fair to raise money.

The fair always brings back great memories of my youth and I was thinking back to a funny experience I had riding a ride called The Rock-O-Planes.  I posted about it IN THIS POST FROM 2015.  If you click the link, it will bring you to it.  The story is at the very bottom of the post.  You see the craziest stuff at the fair.  Jeff Foxworthy says it best:

"If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'"
Jeff Foxworthy

2016 Jefferson Davis Parish Fair and Livestock Show

The first cool front of the year blew in, bringing lows in the low 60's and highs around 80 and it felt great.  It was perfect weather for the Parish Fair - a time that the 4-H Club and FFA rolls into high gear.  Benjamin and his Dairy Club worked to put together a booth at the fair to promote consumption of dairy products for health and its great taste.

I may be biased, but I think the "election," for us at least, is a landslide.

"Fair Day" is a fun day.  School is let out so everyone can attend the fair, the fair parade, and make their way to the livestock barn to get their animals groomed and ready for the show.  This year Benjamin chose to bring Clarabelle, his Jersey heifer, to the show.

Once Clarabelle was clipped and washed, there's some down-time - a good opportunity to just relax. It is also a great time to talk to fair-goers who bring their kids to see the animals.  You get to answer their questions, let their kids pet your animals and tell them about what it is like to have a milk cow. Even though we live in a rural area, there are many who are far-removed from their agricultural roots and are interested in showing their kids or grandkids a little bit about rural life.

Russ and Benjamin laid out some fresh wood shavings on the ground.  Cows have a bad habit of making a mess and then laying in it and this is not good, especially after you have them all cleaned up.  We like to take a little olive oil and shine up the leather show halter to make it look good.

Then it is time to bring the animals in the ring as the judge has the exhibitors parade the animals around as he checks them all out.  Clarabelle behaved herself quite well and Benjamin was proud of the way she showed.

He got a blue ribbon in Showmanship and a blue ribbon in his Jersey heifer class.

When the show was over they loaded Clarabelle up in the trailer and Russ pulled her back home in his truck.  There won't be another show until the Parish show in January 2017, but this was a good opportunity to get a little practice showing Clarabelle and also just have some fun at the fair.

The Parish Fair and Livestock Show

Today was Fair Day.  The kids were out of school so that they could attend the Jefferson Davis Parish Fair, participate in the Livestock show, watch the parade, and ride all of the rides.  We woke up and got all of the chores done and loaded Amy into the trailer.  Amy is our two year old Jersey heifer. She will be calving in late December or early January.  Benjamin decided to show her instead of bringing Rosie and her little calf Clarabelle.  Sometimes a ride in the trailer freaks the cows out.  Not Amy. She was a real sport and stuck her nose out of the window the entire drive to the Fairgrounds.

Amy

We quickly got Amy washed and dried and tied up and at 10 minutes to 9, Benjamin said, "Dad, we can still make it to the parade."  We drove off quickly and took our place on the side of Main Street just in time for the escort police car leading the parade, sirens blaring.  Benjamin brought a shopping bag to catch the loot. He's done this a time or two!  There is a formula to parade watching.  You stand there, listening to the marching bands, and when the queens atop sports cars pass by or politicians or floats full of people ride by, you make eye contact and wave. The wave is rewarded with an onslaught of candy, beads, cups and other prizes thrown at you.  Benjamin's bag was full of candy by the time the parade was over. He deemed it to be a successful parade.  3 out of 4 dentists would agree.

Back we went to the fair.  We still had work to do.  We got the clippers and gave Amy a good clipping.  Various townfolk with kids came through the barn to view the livestock and we were able to talk to them about the animals.  I figure that is a good thing.  Even in rural America, people are moving away from their agricultural roots.  To enable kids to pet a dairy cow, learn about where their milk comes from and re-engage with agriculture is a good thing in my book!  At around 12:30 the first class of Jerseys were called into the ring.  Benjamin's heifer, Amy, was the oldest heifer in the show.  He led her into the ring and she behaved quite well.

She got first in her class.  Well, she was the only heifer in her class, but the judge said she looked real good and "maternal."  I guess that's a good thing as she'll be a mother in less than three months.

The Champions from all of the classes were called back into the ring so that the judge could name the Grand Champion.  There were five other classes, so five heifers total in the champion class.

The judge was thorough and had the exhibitors parade their animals as he deliberated.

In the end, Benjamin (and Amy) won Grand Champion!  I don't think Benjamin expected that.  

He got a nice rosette ribbon to hang on the wall in his room.

Grand Champion

He also showed in the Showmanship competition and got second place in a class of three.  He won some nice ribbons.

Benjamin had to work in the FFA booth where they sold BBQ hamburgers and Blooming Onions. They are raising money for an FFA trip that they will be taking. Benjamin's job was dipping the onion in buttermilk and then battering the Blooming onion prior to frying.  Benjamin said they were $7 a piece, but they were 'selling like hotcakes'.  I told him they should have also sold hotcakes.

Later, Benjamin met up with some friends and they spent the afternoon riding rides.  He had a good time and told me that "it was a good day."  I can remember enjoying myself at the fair when I was his age. There was a ride back then called the "Rock-o-Planes"  Of course I googled a picture of it!:

The Rock-o-Planes

This ride was essentially a Ferris wheel, but you sat with one other person and the cage you were in flipped while the whole wheel turned.  You could make it go quite fast by pulling the bar in the cage and using your weight to spin it.  Five of us stood in line, but only two could fit in each cage, so one of my buddies had to ride with a kid.  When we got off the ride, we were all laughing, excited after the thrill.  My buddy came walking up to us and had purple vomit all over the front of his shirt. Of course we asked, "What happened to you?"  He said, "Some darn kid I had to ride with on the Rock-o-planes threw up all over me!"  The words were hardly out of his mouth when the kid came walking by, holding the hand of his mother and pointed to my friend and exclaimed, "Momma, there's the man that threw up on me!"  We thought we'd never stop laughing and we still tease him to this day (30 something years later)!

Yep, the fair brings back memories and Benjamin made some he'll carry along with him today.

2014 Jefferson Davis Parish Fair Livestock Show

One of the things that just screams, "Fall is Here!" is the arrival of the Parish Fair. The kids are all let out of school for Fair Day.  The carnival folks come in with tractor trailers pulling ferris wheels, the Scrambler, Tilt-a-whirl, and other rides along with an assortment of corn dog, candy apple, and Funnel Cake vendors.  Local civic organizations and clubs like the Lion's Club and the local FFA chapter have booths selling BBQ brisket burgers and sausage po-boys.  Excitement is in the air!

In addition to all of that going on, there is the Fair Parade down Main Street.  After dropping off Benjamin's Jersey Heifer, Amy (short for Amaryllis), at the livestock barn, we took off to attend the Fair Parade and lined the street along with many others.  We all smiled and waved as the police cars, horses, marching bands, fair queens riding atop convertible Corvettes, smiling political hopefuls, and firetrucks lined the streets.  They all through candy and beads and cups to the crowd.  We have almost half of a Wal Mart bag full of sweets to snack on after Benjamin caught a bunch.

The livestock show wasn't until noon, so we had a little time to kill.  We went through the exhibition hall and looked at all the produce and desserts and agricultural products that people had entered with blue, red, and white ribbons attached to them.  We also walked through and viewed the booths that different clubs had set up.  Benjamin's Dairy Club put together the booth below that promoted the consumption of dairy products.  They always do such a nice job.

The Dairy Club's Booth

We went to the livestock arena and walked through the area that contained the rabbits, chickens, turkeys, ducks, pigeons, rabbits, etc.  It was interesting to see all the different breeds of animals, some we had no idea existed.

By that time it was about time to show.  We had previously cleaned Benjamin's heifer, Amy, up. Amy is 11 months old.  Benjamin showed in a Showmanship competition and also in Amy's regular class.  We are good friends with everyone that shows and we all visit and get tips from one another. Here is Benjamin in the ring for Showmanship.  In Showmanship, the focus in on the exhibitor, not the animal.  The judge is judging on the skills of the person showing the animal, how well they control the animal, how quickly the showman sets up his animal and maintains eye contact.  They like fluid motion and confidence.

Showmanship

The Sheriff led the animals and exhibitors around the ring, assisting the judge. Manners and professionalism is taught and all the exhibitors, win or lose, walk over to the judge and shake his hand on the way out of the ring.  Seeing this gives you some hope for the next generation.

Jersey Class

Benjamin and Amy got a nice blue ribbon that says, "Jeff Davis Parish Fair 1st Place."

Nice Job!

Amy was very well behaved in the ring.  Sometimes she can be a little stubborn, but Benjamin has been working with her and she leads pretty well.  He's got a few months to get better before the Spring shows.

Amy didn't want to face the camera, a little shy about her ribbon, I guess.

Finally, here's Benjamin and his Momma posing with Amy.

Tricia, Benjamin, and Amy at the Jeff Davis Parish Fair - 2014

We loaded Amy back up in the trailer.  She was eager to get back home to her pasture and her little animal family.  Benjamin stayed behind at the fair with some friends and bought a $20 bracelet which enabled him to ride as many rides as he liked for the rest of the afternoon.  He had a good time and told me that he got his money's worth!