Local Happenings aka A Rather Random Post

 Some of these photos are a little older. (Or maybe a lot older, but who's counting? :) After the fair, we had one sheep left. Sheep are social, so it followed us (and the dog) around everywhere. Including to the swimming hole!

The kids painted some rocks and found some rocks around town.

It's always a fun surprise.

Every once in awhile you should take time for a tea party. Holding your pinky out is optional.

While it was warmer, we played soccer at the playground. Actually the "we" didn't include me, but I enjoyed watching. Maybe next year I'll work up the guts to get out there and give it a try!

Desert Girl is still working on being an animal trainer. Here was some success getting Maggie to go down the slide.

One evening I was in search of sandhill cranes. I found the cows creating quite a lot of dust.

I eventually found the sandhill cranes. Such cool looking birds!

When they took flight I was lucky to get them backlit. What beauty!


Meanwhile, the cows were curious and coming to see what I was doing.

And just playing around.

Here's a fun fact. Baker Ranch provides the hay for the National Finals Rodeo. The horses, bulls, and other animals get some delicious high desert hay. 

These cows are eating a mixture of feed grown on Baker Ranch.

As you've seen, this is very much a rambling post. So why not include Desert Girl's fish imitation?

Along with her drawing of fish. She also wants to be a marine biologist.

One day, Desert Girl and I took a trip to Garnet Hill near Ely, Nevada. Desert Girl was ready with a hammer to find some garnets.

I was fascinated watching the huge mine trucks on the next mountain. The mine trucks look tiny, which tell you how big the mine is.

It's been a busy year for our volunteer fire department. This day was someone burning brush that got out of control.

Fortunately it wasn't too windy, and the fire didn't spread much.

Each year the local school kids do a Wheel-a-thon as a fundraiser. The younger kids (grades K-2) ride eight miles, and the older kids (grades 3-6) ride sixteen miles.

This year, local law enforcement from four jurisdictions came out and did some educational activities. I think they also enjoyed sharing stories.

And here's one of our super bus drivers, Carrie. She followed the kids at the Wheel-a-thon. And she takes Desert Girl to school every day. It is great to see her smiling face every day!

It Followed Them to School One Day

 So after the county fair in August, we still had one sheep left. It was a little underweight, so we decided to keep it for a couple more weeks. Sheep are very social animals, so we let it into the yard so it could socialize a little more. Then it started following us (and the dog) all over. Including to school one day. It had managed to find a way around a fence and then jumped a cattle guard. I was impressed.

The sheep watched with interest as the school bus came.

I think if our dog had gotten on the bus, the sheep would have too.

The sheep also followed us to the swimming hole. The dog and sheep got along pretty well.

And another day the sheep got out and started following Desert Boy to school.

I even got phone calls one morning, Your sheep is walking down main street.
I headed over there and made sure I had a camera ready!

 Life never gets boring!

2017 White Pine County Fair - Part 1: Livestock

 After months of feeding, watering, walking, and trying to tame the lamb, it was time to take him to the fair. (We left his companion behind at home because he was a little sick. Thanks to Dave for keeping an eye on him.)

We arrived at the fair on Friday to weigh-in the lamb. Minimum weight was 100 pounds. "Trouble," (Desert Boy's nickname for the sheep) made it in at 101 pounds. He had been having an up-and-down feeding issue the last month and a half, so he didn't gain as much as we had hoped. But at least he made it in. Desert Girl was styling in front of the Sheep and Goat barn.

We entered our other exhibits (coming in the next post), and Desert Boy did Skill-a-thon (answer questions about animals) and showmanship clinic. Then we saw one of the horse races, went to the BBQ dinner, and then went to bed at a local motel. Saturday morning we were up early to get to the fairgrounds and wash the sheep.

Our preparations were rather simple, wash and brush the sheep. We observed others applying shoe polish or hair dye to the sheep's legs to make them darker and ice to the back to make it firmer.

We had a little spare time, so we decided to take Trouble out for a walk.

We had been coaching Desert Boy that if the sheep started to make a run for it, he was supposed to hang on and smile. He listened!

He seemed fairly confident, so we went back to the barn and waited for his class to be called.

Finally, it was time. (This photo is really overexposed, but I love the kids in their 4-H clothes. And the bib number conveniently covered Desert Boy's grass stains from getting drug on the grass earlier by the lamb).

Desert Boy kept his smile on.

Desert Boy weighs considerably less than the lamb, so it wasn't easy for him to control it (spending more time with the lamb before the fair would have helped). But he kept the lamb with him the whole time.

Much to our surprise and delight, he got a blue ribbon!


Then we watched the cousins with their steers. Megan ended up with a nice fourth place finish.

And Kayli, just barely peeking over her steer, had a good sixth place finish (also blue ribbon).

We weren't done yet, it was still time to show again for showmanship. Desert Boy and the sheep were getting along much better by now.

Showmanship was really long, and Desert Boy had a harder time keeping his eyes on the judge and showing his beautiful smile. He finished second to last, but still got a blue ribbon. (Grade inflation seems to have also affected judging, but we won't complain!)

Back in the pen, Desert Boy pretends he's mutton busting. It was a total joke, as after last year's experience with Desert Girl mutton busting and Desert Boy calf riding, neither ever want to rodeo again. And that's quite okay with me, it should help keep us out of the emergency room.

We spent the rest of Saturday looking at the exhibits and wandering around the fair (coming in next post), as well as going to a friend's birthday party and out to dinner.

We got to bed a little late, but still had to get up early to get the sheep ready Sunday morning for the White Pine County Junior Livestock Show and Sale.

The buyers had breakfast provided and then settled onto the bleachers by the covered arena.

Desert Boy with his sheep.

They're getting ready to go in.

Desert Boy kept his smile on. We were lucky to have some friends bidding on the lamb, and Desert Boy got a good price. That money will be going into his college fund.

The sheep still tried to get away, but Desert Boy managed to hold on. And even smile.

Photo with the buyers and the lamb trying to escape again. Thanks so much to the Gonders/Lystrups!

After a little break from the fair to run errands, it was time to go back and load the lamb on the livestock truck that was taking all the market animals away. The kids held up better than me. But later that night, they were very sad.

It still wasn't time to go--we had to clean the stall. Desert Boy looks like he's ready to hit the beach next!

Overall, I think having a 4-H lamb taught Desert Boy a lot about caring for an animal and a little about ranching business. He also gained some confidence about showing an animal.

We are so grateful to those who helped, especially Charlie, Gwendy, Melanie, and Tom.

Right now Desert Boy says he's never going to show a lamb again. We'll re-evaluate after awhile and see if that's still the case. Looking back at some of these photos may make him want to try it again...or maybe not.