Friday was Auction Day at the fair. My granddaughter was the only one in the family that had a market animal up for auction. Remember she was the proud owner of the turkey that took grand champion? Was that one expensive turkey! It brought $1000! He was big, but c'mon! One thousand dollars? I think I will work at being my granddaughter's best buddy! LOL Nah... just kidding. It was the company that my youngest works for that bought the turkey. Matilda, "my daughter", brought in $600. Not shabby for a Reserve Grand Champion, I guess. "My daughter" or not, I still wouldn't pay that much!

Two of my grandkids got belt buckles (hubby calls them small hub caps LOL) as trophies for their placings with their animals. A girl from another group also won a belt buckle for her "chincilla display". My son's ex 4-H leader made the comment that she expected a fur rug next year. Everybody laughed and I turned around to her and said "Shame on you, Karen!" I got a good laugh, too. We're a group of people that are just fine with the fact that some animals just have to give their lives, some to feed us and some to clothe us. There wasn't one person there that cares much for Political Correctness. We're a tough bunch.

After the fair closed and the kids were taking their animals to the collection areas for the trucks to transport them to the slaughter house, we got caught in the middle of the steer parade. They were being taken to rodeo arena.

When they got turned loose, they realized their moment of freedom in about a year. They started running around the arena kicking up their heels, pushing each other around and every now and then, they would take off running across the arena. My husband, always ready with a smart remark, yelled out to them to take it easy with each other, one of them very well could be his next steak. My son laughed and said "Would you look at all that hamburger, filet mignon, ribeye, running around?" My husband responded with "I should go out there and get my steaks before they lose the body heat!" He likes his steaks just barely brown on the outside. When he's asked at a restaurant how he wants his steak done, he says "Just restore the body heat, please." Even I have to say "EEEWWWW" after all these years. Maybe it's a good thing that the Fair Board doesn't allow kids under 10 to have a large market animal. It was different when my son was in 4-H. They only had to be eight and the last day of fair was always heart wrenching for the kids. I didn't see any tears this year.

As usual, our family was one of the last ones out after helping others load their trailers and collect the animals that were going back home. They still had their own cages and animals to collect. We finally made our way to the RV where my son and his family stayed. I hadn't realized that they were parked right next to the beach. I took a very slight detour to look at the ocean...
and for the rest of the story, you'll have to read it in the spirituality forum...