Ross County Fair - Day 1

    Take me out to the fairgrounds...take me out to the crowds...buy me a fried mozarella stick and an elephant ear...I don't care if it's full of fat - my dear...
    Today marks day one of the Ross County Fair.  We've looked forward to this day for about the past 358 days.  This day is the day everything is dropped off and weighed in if it needs weighing, like many of the market project animals.  It's loads of fun and one of Ohio's top county fairs.  The Ross County Fair is real big on the 4-H and FFA (that's Future Farmers of America) clubs.  I think our fair has the more market rabbits shown than any other county fair in the State.  I don't know how many are entered this year yet, but I think there were  around 500 last year.  I'll never forget a couple years ago when there were over 700.  That's an awful lot of hossenpheffer!
    Our day started out real early.  The Kid is taking three breeding projects again this year - turkeys, chickens, and sheep.  We could have the sheep in the barn as early as 7:00 a.m., and with the heat we wanted in there early.  Little Man, Z, Lucy and her lamb, Minnie, are all comfy cozy in their stall with hay, water, and fans to blow air on them.  We are very proud of Lucy making it through that dog attack and now being at the fair.  Since they are shown with their wool on, it can be a very hot situation for them, but if it were looking like the weather would be too harsh on them we wouldn't have let them go.
    Early this afternoon me and Eldest went back to the fair to enter some of our pictures in the photograpy show.  Eldest entered a picture of a squirrel in the junior animal group.  Hon entered a close-up picture of flowers on a tree he took this past spring.  I decided to go toe-to-toe with Hon and entered a picture I took of the sun setting over a cornfield.  I also entered a couple of other pictures.  When I look at the pictures we are competing against each other with, they are both just grand...but I like mine...no, wait...I like his better.  Gak - it's a toss up!  Thank goodness we can compete against each other in good fun.
    Hon has taken the Kid back to the fairgrounds (yes, this is the third time today) to drop off his turkey and chicken breeding projects.  Eldest and I opted to stay back and do evening chores since I've been there twice today already (and we're not close by).  The poultry couldn't be dropped off until now.  Then there's a sheep breeding meeting at 8:30.  After that they'll come home, we'll all go to bed out of shear exhaustion, and get up early to head back to take care of fur and feathers there.  It's a big job several times a day since we're here and they're all the way over there.
    I figure being as it's fair week I'll have plenty of stories to tell.  Always do.  There's the rides, the food, the animals, the vendors, the food, the folks that spend the week there, the shows and judging, and the food.  See - plenty of stuff going on!  If you get a chance to head on over to the fair this week, even if it's just for a short time, see if you can wheedle out a few minutes to check out the Kid's sheep (they're the black, brown, and two black/white Icelandic sheep), turkeys (Royal Palms), and chickens (Mille Fleur d'Uccles).  Oh, and don't forget to check out the Junior Fair building.  The kids have all put a lot of work into their fair booths.  
    Catch you at the fair!  Smiling & Waving, Sharon