I want my tee shirt

We are back from a long week at the annual Dairy Days/Michigan Dairy Expo at East Lansing, and I want a tee shirt that says "I SURVIVED MY WEEK AT MSU".

The kids, two heifers and myself headed up on Monday for a week of "fun". This is a great event for the youth to show their knowledge and skills relating to their dairy projects. Suzanna participated in the dairy quiz bowl on Monday, showed her two heifers in the 4-H show on Tuesday, got to relax on Wednesday, then do the dairy management contest and show in the All Michigan Holstein heifer show on Thursday. Yes, my head was spinning by the end of the week too.

We had highs and lows, as are typical of any contest. Our highest high came with Rhoda, the spring yearling that Suzanna purchased a year ago. Last year at state, we were pretty much "bottom feeders" in the class. I must say there are sooooo many nice cattle that come to our show. Rhoda is beautiful in our eyes, and she caught the judge's eye on Thursday afternoon as well. She was the 2nd place Summer yearling in the junior show.

To Suzanna, it was a great moment...........once we explained to her what had happened. See the open show and the junior show all happen at the same time. There is one line up for placings, with the juniors getting both an open show placing and one for the junior show. Sounds confusing, right??? Try explaining it to a 10 year old who is getting tired!! All she saw was her "near the bottom or the class again" position in the line-up and was disappointed. But Mrs. Hart, the ribbon lady, quickly explained that she still got 2nd for juniors and would get to have her picture taken by the professional for the show coverage article on the All Michigan show. Then she got excited. She also did well in showmanship and Fancy, the other heifer.....well, we were in our usual position with her....the bottom.

Friday, I helped with the show for a while, got the stuff organized in the barn and the camper ready to go home. We were home by 3pm. Boy were those heifers happy to see their pasture. They ran circles around and around, kicking up their heels and bellowing at each other.

Now we are settling back down for a quick week at home before a brief vacation. Daddy and the dog will get to go on this trip. It will be nice to have a few relaxing days away from the busy business.