Long time no post...

Yes, I know it has been a while since I did any blogging. One of the reasons is that we had some stupid virus thing on the computer that took us about a week to get rid of. Well, really, only an afternoon of El Patron fixing it and the rest of the week of me ignoring it. I'm not really proactive with stuff like that. I tend to ignore it for a few days then tell the kids that it is off limits, then tell E.P. that something is wrong and he'll take care of it. What ya gonna do? People complain but I just ignore them.

Lots of things have happened around here so it may take me a few days to get to it all but lets try, shall we.....

County Field Day


As many of you know my boys like to do the Field Days for 4-H. They are competitions for speeches and demonstrations. J. has done them for the last 3 years, going on to Sectional, and State Presentation Days and winning Gold Metals the last two years. This year his Illustrated Talk is "Flightless Fancies...the Story of the Ratites". It is a talk about Ratites, which are Ostriches, Emus, Rheas, Cassowaries and the Kiwis. It is a very interesting subject, but due to the fact that when we were supposed to be putting it together and practicing we were all very sick..one at a time for two weeks. We had the cold, the flu, then some other respiratory gunk that we had to deal with and nobody was really up to it. The only time that we practiced was the night before. He almost didn't win a gold metal because they said that he seemed unsure of his talk. A really nice lady we know who has been involved in 4-H forever talked the Judges into the Gold. She knows how good he is at it and knew that we had been sick. So he is working hard on it for the Sectionals in May.

He had a big improvement in the Judging Competition. This is a competition for overachieving 4-Hers. They have posters with different types of animals or equipment used for farm animals and some homemaking equipment and you have to put it in order, identify it or put it in the classifications. J. usually does horrible at it but we make him do it so he gets credit in his record book. This year he won a 4th place ribbon which he was so proud of. Mainly he said that it was because he knew the cooking equipment.

I was asked to help judge Fashion Review. This is where the kids either make something from scratch or redo something they have (Do Up Your Duds, is what it is called). I gave J. my camera and told him to take pictures of him and his brother for me. Later that morning, my friend Cheryl came up with my camera and told me that he had left it on bench. Another girl from our club picked it up and gave it to her. She knows the story of the camera and brought it to me. J. said that he will NEVER take the camera ever, ever, again.

J2 did a demonstration as well. He calls it Poster Day and has so much fun with it. His is titled "Water...Again and Again." and is about the water cycle. He is supposed to say "evaporation" but it comes out "ezaperation" which is just so endearing. He got a green ribbon for participation and isn't able to move on but he can do his Demonstration at Sectionals in the mini clinic that they do there. He did the Judging Competition as well but they ran out of green participation ribbons and got blue ones. He was so ecstatic about it.



Later in the day, J. asked me if he could buy some chips. I told him no, we had no money for snacks that is why we took our lunch. He then told me "Well, J2 got some Cheetos."

"Where did he get Cheetos?"

"One of the leaders bought it for him."

Sigh....By the time I was done with my judging and went over to the concession stand he had Doritos. I asked who was feeding my kid? One of the county 4-H ladies who thinks my boys are too cute and funny said that she had because..."he said he was hungry." HE is...every 20 minutes! She bought him 2 bags of chips, a soda, and some candy which he isn't suppose to have. I'm always amazed at the way he can finagle food off of people. I didn't raise him that way...I expect it is my brother Dean in him.

At the beginning of the day the County All-Stars do an Opening Ceremony with the flag salute and the 4-H pledge. Then they had everyone stand up and they played "YMCA" by the Village People and tell everyone to dance to it while they, the too cool teenagers, stand there looking at everyone like "what is your problem?" Come on, lead by example! This happened last year too. Now, if you know me, I cant hear music and not dance. And DISCO pleeeese, have too! So up I went and showed them how it is done! Totally embarrassing my son, the pre-teen one, the little one went with me! Someone asked me later if I ever embarrass my husband like that. I told them no, he is use to that kind of behavior. He just shakes his head and stays out of the way.