Judgement Day

So, last Thursday was judgement day for Punk Nephew #1 and his goats (you can tell I've been reading too much of Ree when punks = kids.) PN#1 had two goats...Fred and Eddie. To this day I can't tell you which is which. One had horns. One was bigger. One was nice in the pen. One was nice to lead. It could be all Fred or the other, I don't know.

PN#1 was extremely nervous, so I broke the tension by congratulating him on being voted Pork Princess of the fair. Of course, that honor wasn't given to him, but the congratulations did elicit a smile and a harder-than-necessary punch on my upper arm.

Last year was his first year showing goats at the county fair, and he won his showmanship class. So this year, he had to compete with kids 2-3 years older than him, and with that many more years experience. He ended up placing third, so we were all thrilled.

As for Fred and Eddie, well, one placed fourth in his weight class for market goats, the other placed third. PN#1 was just thrilled to have three ribbons to hang above his goats pen.

The best part about the goat show? Well, fair food of course. Who doesn't want an elephant ear for breakfast and sugar waffles to take home? But honestly, they do a pee-wee class. I'm sure that it's for kids probably 5 and under. They enter with their goats and a helper -- usually a big brother or sister, sometimes a mom or dad. The point is just to give them the exposure of showing, so when they're old enough to show for real, they feel comfortable. There's probably 20 goats of all different breeds and sizes -- tiny little pygmy goats to 100-pound boar goats -- and two people each to handle them. It's like a circus. The little girl who won was the one we met dancing through the barns, proudly declaring that she was showing a goat that day. Boy was she excited! She made sure she was the first one in the ring and her little face never turned away from the judge. Too cute!!

So what are Fred and Eddie's fate? PN#1 did get to sell one of the goats at the auction on Saturday. Goat bologna anyone? The other one goes back to the goat farm. I still don't know who's who.