Fair Photography Entries......................

Thought I would share a few of the photos that Countrychick and I entered in the fair last weekend. All of the following photos received blue ribbons except one and it received a purple ribbon......which means it was a pretty darn good photo. Countrychick enters her photos in the 4-H category, I enter mine in the open adult class.

The photo below is one Countrychick took while on a trip to California........blue ribbon. Countrychick took the photo below while camping with some friends in late June....blue ribbon.
I took this photo while on a fishing trip.....I chased this little guy around for an hour! Blue Ribbon.

Countrychick took this photo on our last camping trip. She added some special effects and entered it in the digital arts category......blue ribbon.
Another of Countrychicks photos..............blue ribbon.
I just love sheep...............blue ribbon.
This fella sure was strutting his stuff the day I took this photo.....blue ribbon.
Countrychick came in from the garden one day with this little guy on the tip of her finger. He provided an excellent photo opportunity............She held him while I snapped away. The photo won a purple ribbon!

Finding Joy..........

What is joy? The dictionary defines it as: 1. Intense or elated happiness. 2. A source of great pleasure.

How many of us experience intense or elated happiness or something that causes a great source of pleasure on a daily basis.......I bet not many do. We are so wrapped up in the every day things that life brings that we simply push aside any notion of finding JOY in every day happenings.

Several years ago I started having anxiety attacks, but I didn't know what they were at the time. I thought I was about to die! Then those attacks became full blown panic attacks.......that was scary to say the least! The Doctors didn't help........just said, "here's some pills, take them and come back in a few weeks and let us know how you feel." I took those pills for two days, had the worst panic attack ever, stopped taking those pills and hid out in my house for months. Did some research on the Internet and finally, finally found something that hit home with me. I was a wife, mother, friend, lover, keeper of all, doer of all, said yes to everything...........that was my problem. I had completely overextended myself........trying to do everything for everyone all of the time and I had completely lost myself along the way. Over the last several years I have learned the word, NO. The word YES had way to much power over me.........now I can say NO and not feel guilty. I have found time for myself, to take care of myself, to nurture myself and in the process, I have learned so much about who I am. I am still a wife, mother, friend and volunteer..........but now I feel a sense of balance in my life that I have never had before. I have learned to take time for myself and do things that I enjoy. The anxiety attacks are very few and far between these days..............which is a JOY. I don't worry about them anymore since I know what they are. If one arises, I know that I have lost touch with my inner-balance and I need to stop and take the time to find the JOY in my life.

I try very hard to find JOY in each and every day. Even on the challenging days, I believe you can find some form of JOY.

I find JOY in my family, my children, my husband, cooking, reading, 4-H activities, photography, the chickens, my cats, the dog, camping, fishing, watching the world go by, my wine..........yes, my wine...........I would have to say that a good glass of wine can be a great source of pleasure. So take some time today, tomorrow, the next and every day there after to find a little JOY in your life.........even the simple things can bring JOY.

The above photo was taken by Countrychick in the spring of 2007. It is simply titled: Peace, Clarity & Serenity...............talk about finding Joy.

Fair Results..........Finally!

After a very, very, very busy weekend, I have finally found a moment to post some of our fair results. The poultry show on Saturday was a huge success for us. Countrychick did very well and so did all of her birds. My poultry group in general did AWESOME!!! I can't say enough about this wonderful group of young ladies. I will only post a few of our results now........tomorrow I will post the rest when I have a bit more time. Below is a picture of Countrychick's silkie rooster, Simon. He won Grand Champion Light Bantam........just look at his purple ribbon. Our Modern Game birds also won Grand Champion and Reserve Champion in the pet quality class.

Below, Countrychick is in the process of showing Einstein, her Polish Cross rooster. She has him upside down and is explaining to the judge that she is measuring the keel bone for its length.
Countrychick is posing Einstein at this point in the show. She must pose Einstein in four different poses and he most hold the pose and not move while Countrychick steps back and away from him. Einstein was a very good bird and did all of his poses very well.
Countrychick won Reserve Grand Champion for the senior showmanship class. She did a wonderful job and we are so very proud of her. Congratulations Countrychick........=D
All of my 4-H poultry girls did very well. I had two of my younger girls place very well in the junior showmanship class.......We had a Grand Champion Junior showman and a Reserve Champion Junior showman out of my group. My Cloverbuds did very, very well and I'm so proud of them. Thank you to all of my girls for their hard work and dedication. I'm very proud of all of you. I will post more results tomorrow. I must go catch up on some much needed sleep for now. ( I would have posted results sooner, but the computer has decided to go on the blink! )

Chicken Spa Day..............

Welcome to Chicken Spa Day..........the washing of the 4-H show birds! Do chickens like to be washed...........ummmm, it depends. Below is Countrychick with Bo or is it Luke......I'm forever getting the names mixed up. She has two Modern Game roosters........the one below is either Bo or Luke.......He doesn't have a clue what he is in for.

First we set up our washing station.......my kitchen sink doubles as the "station." Yes, the chickens are being washed in the kitchen. I love my daughter and her birds........ very, very much! First stop is the foot bath and scrub, then we get a good dunk in the suds with a gentle wash. Then its off to the rinse cycle where we get a good dunk and lots of swishing......must get all of the suds off. Then we get a nice dip in the lemon water tub........yes, lemon water makes them shiny..........and makes them smell good too. Then we make a stop at the drying station. Yes, we are blow drying the birds. It helps them to dry faster, so they don't catch a chill. Can you tell this little guy is really enjoying his blow-dry.........This is Mumble......He is a bantam Light Brahma. He was named Mumble because when he was a cute little chick, he looked just like Mumble off of the movie Happy Feet. I bet he was wishing he had happy feet today so he could dance his way out of the water. He did not like his bath one bit......notice his hackles are up.Now this little bird was a sweetheart today........this is Dawn.......see today's earlier post and you will learn that Dawn did a "chicken run" earlier in the week. I figured she would launch herself out of the water and take off through the house today, but she was so good.........she sat through all of her washing and blowing drying and never made a peep............

This little fella...........ummmm, big fella took up the entire sink. He is only five months old, but I bet he weights a good eight pounds or so.........he is gonna be BIG!!!! Countrychick had a hard time holding onto him during his bath. He was pretty good though and only washed the kitchen window once or twice with the beating of his wet wings.This is Einstein..........he is Countrychick's "showmanship" bird. He is a Polish Cross. Gee, I will never complain about a bad hair day again.........just look at Stein.........poor fella. He was a trooper though and got through his bath without complaint.
We washed eleven birds in all today, plus put together posters for our fair decorations. It was a busy afternoon. Countrychick has six birds going to fair and my other little gals have five birds between them going. I can't wait to see how well they all do.............will try to post results on Saturday if possible. Tomorrow finds us heading to town to check-in our birds, decorate our space in the animal barn and practicing our showmanship skills in the barn. Saturday is the big show........it is going to be one very, very busy weekend. As I type this, there are six chickens in their cages behind me just snoozing away..........Come about 4 AM or so, five of those birds will be crowing.........inside the house!! I better go get some sleep while I can............because I'll be up with the chickens................no pun intended..............=)

Fair Week.....Let Me Explain

Our local county fair is held this coming weekend over Labor Day. It is the last "Hurrah" of summer around here. But for Countrychick and I, this week is the final countdown to the end of our 4-H season. I am a 4-H leader and Countrychick raises poultry to show as one of her many 4-H projects. I have a nice little 4-H poultry club......The Chicken Whisperers. This group of little gals are so much fun. I truly enjoy every minute I spend with them and their birds. I also have a 4-H cooking group and we have had a lot of fun this summer making some great dishes to share with our families........egg rolls, pizza, homemade ice-cream and cinnamon rolls. Yum, Yum, Yum!! Okay, back to my original thought......let me explain what my week has been like leading up to this weekend.............

Monday started off with our "end of summer reading program party." We have a wonderful Bookmobile that is supplied by the local county library that comes out to our little next of the sage brush twice a month throughout the summer for the summer reading program. ( it comes all year long for us, but summer is just the BEST! ) We had a nice little get together Monday morning and then I had to rush home in order to make enough cinnamon roll dough for my afternoon cooking project. The girls made three batches of cinnamon rolls on Monday afternoon. This was our group project for our fair entry. The rolls turned out very well and the girls were able to take some home to share with their families. Nothing like a busy day to make you sleep good.....but I didn't sleep good because I had Tuesday and the rest of the week on my mind.

Tuesday, Countrychick and I spent all day getting our own fair entries ready. We had to print, mount and attach hangers to our eleven photography entries. My printer is old and slow, but makes very nice prints mind you.......but still, its old and slow, so printing those ten photos took all morning. I also had to print off our cooking photos so the girls could work on their poster when they came back for their poultry meeting that afternoon. Am I confusing you yet........??????? The afternoon was filled with the cooking group working on their poster and the poultry group working with their birds. We even had a "chicken run" as we are calling it. One of my little Clovebuds ( that is what we call children under the age of 9 that are in 4-H ) has a nice little pullet that she has been working with..........Dawn, the pullet likes to take flight sometimes, usually at the most inopportune times.......Dawn took flight on Tuesday, landed on the ground and commenced to run way. She ran all the way over to the shop where Hayman was working on a tractor. The dog was sitting in the front seat of the truck and she spotted Dawn on her "chicken run" in no time........the dog was now on point......she is not a hunting dog, but she was still on point.......Hayman spots the run away bird and comes to our rescue. Here were five young ladies and myself trying to catch this bird and it only took Hayman about a minute to round her up for us. I guess he comes in handy at times..................Love you Hayman, you mighty chicken catcher you! Tuesday evening was spent baking our fair "foods" entries. There was lots and lots of baking going on in the kitchen. Countrychick made her famous ( famous in this house ), Chocolate Chip cookies. They are the best........I could eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner! I had breads to bake and also and angel food cake to bake from scratch. I fell into some sort of exhausted sleep sometime after midnight!

Wednesday saw us dashing to town to get our fair entries dropped off and checked in. I had a small problem with my angel food cake entry, but we managed to get it worked out. They didn't want to accept it because I had placed it on a glass plate and they only want disposable plates to be used. The cake was to big for a paper plate, so I had used the glass plate. Anyway, we stapled four white paper plates together and put the cake in the middle......it worked, looked okay and they accepted that. Whew............I would have cried if they had refused that cake.......not really, but I would have been disappointed for sure. After the drop off, Countrychick and I met up with Grandma for lunch and a bit of fun. We needed a bit of fun after three very busy days. Had lunch at the newest little pizza place in town.......oh my, was our lunch ever so good!! We had a pizza topped with olives, peppers, onions, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and wonderful cheese and sauce.......it was called the "Sweet Sarah" and it was oh so wonderful! When we arrived back home late in the afternoon, I had a very messy kitchen waiting for me. I wanted to go curl up in a ball and hide from my messy kitchen, but instead I tackled it with the force of a mighty wind. Then I had to make dinner..........I think I'm tired of being in the kitchen!!!!!

So today, Thursday finds us..........well are you ready for this.............we are getting ready to wash Chickens. Yes, you read that correctly.............we are going to wash our chickens. They must be squeaky clean for our fair weekend. They must be washed, rinsed and dipped, so they shine! This is not an easy task to accomplish................I will post pictures later today..........after we wash chickens, finish up some posters, clean the computer room cause company is arriving tomorrow, plan meals for the next few days and get all of the laundry done............Ummm..........I think I had better get with it.........now what was it I was supposed to be doing??????? Chickens, where are the chickens................

Man Land..........Camping, Fishing & Hunting Gear, Oh My!

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!" Hayman and I made a trip to the "Big City" over the weekend. We arose at 4:30 AM on Sunday morn...........why so early, well we had to take Countrychick out to meet a friend at a dairy where our friend was doing chores for the day. Countrychick really wanted to help out...........she just didn't know she had to get up so darn early. After dropping Countrychick off, Hayman and I headed for the City. It is a two hour drive for us.........long, long, long drive!! Our destination.........."Man Land!" At least that is what I call it. We arrived early........still had about 45 minutes before the store opened. Spent time walking around outside......how exciting..........until I realized I had my camera with me and I could go to the car, get it and take some shots. Shots of what.........well how about the landscaping. You see, I have had landscaping on my mind the past few months. We don't have any landscaping, just lots of gravel in front of the house at this point. I have seen some great ideas out there, but most of them are just not "doable" or way, way, way to labor intensive. So the landscaping at "Man Land" caught my eye. It was very minimal......I mean very, very minimal.....but in a nice, pleasant sort of way. Very basic, very functional, very doable. So I took a few shots. Wait, I don't want a giant statue of wild animals in my yard..........this is the front of "Man Land." See the following shots.............
I know what some might be thinking.........boring!! Yes, it is very basic, but would be perfect for our High Desert home. It would not require lots of water, time or maintenance and I could still manage to sneak in wild flowers throughout and herb beds. Yes, I like this idea more and more.And we have lots of rocks where we live........really big rocks. See how nice the rocks below look placed within the minimal landscaping............I could do this. It is doable in my book. I don't care for all of the pine trees, but those could easily be replaced with a different kind of tree. Maybe there is hope for my front yard yet.................smile! The journey inside of "Man Land" was not as interesting. Okay, it was okay......I'm not complaining................wandered around for a few hours and left with a few items. I even managed to find a cute lavender sweater.........very cute........I didn't plan to leave the store without it! After "Man Land," we made our way through traffic and many, many stop lights heading to meet my parents at the hotel where they were staying. ( after the well drilling saga, they needed to get away for a few days to relax........:) We had a wonderful lunch with them. I didn't take my camera in with me........shame on me..........I could have had some really good food shots and I could have taken a photo of our waiter. He was funny......his name was Matu.......he was Middle Eastern.......he put up with us and was a trooper. There was a conversation that went something like this at the table when we were giving Matu our order...........Me, " I would like the Mongolian Beef please "..................Hayman, "sure you don't want the Mongolian Cat".................Me, starting to laugh..........now I didn't think our waiter had heard this from Hayman, but he had. Up to this point, Matu had been very serious, but nice............his response to what Hayman said was this.....................Matu, " Sure you don't want Mongolian Cat, I hear it is very, very good "...................big grin on his face and laughing all around the table. I almost shot ice-tea out my nose! Then it was open season on Matu with lots of joking and sending him on a "wine hunt" for a nice bottle to compliment our lunch. It was a very nice meal and the wine........well it was wonderful!! After lunch, Hayman and I headed to the Fly Fishing store. Hayman needed a new pair of polarized sunglasses..........so he can see the fish when he goes fly-fishing. Very important you know! A few more stops were made in the "Big City" and then we headed on home. Stopped and picked up Countrychick before heading back to the farm. Countrychick had a busy day............she doesn't like to "slop" the hogs............the milk went all over her shoes! She learned how hard it was to take care of all of the critters at this little dairy farm.......lots and lots of hard work!! She enjoyed herself though, but I don't think she wants to be a dairy farmer when she grows up! When we left on our little journey it was dark, when we got home it was dark..........what a very long day...........but at least I went to sleep with landscaping ideas in my head..............and thoughts of our upcoming fair weekend........which is another story.

BIRTHDAY WISHES........

Today is Dads/Grandpa's Birthday............Happy Birthday to you! Hey, how are you enjoying that birthday present you always wanted...........you know, the new well? I would have wrapped it for you, but it was kind of big and awkward. Very hard to put a bow on a well. Maybe you would like a nice bottle of wine and a birthday dinner cooked by your very favorite daughter...........dad.........thats me, remember I'm your very favorite daughter. No really, I am.............why are you laughing?! ( dad has two daughters and one son..........but I'm the favorite daughter.......Yes, I am, why must everyone argue with me..........hey sis, if you are reading this.......I love ya, but I am his very favorite daughter...............Yes, I am! )
Anyway.....Happy Birthday Dad...........enjoy your day and enjoy that new well......I know it is what you have ALWAYS wanted. I will have wine waiting for your arrival later on today.

Update on the well.........It is up and running, or pumping or whatever it is that wells do. They have water with good pressure.........they are happy..............dad can water the lawn, trees, raspberry and blackberry bushes...........mom is finally caught up on all of the laundry..........they can shower..........thank heavens.........The well, well that chapter is closed........we hope!

I didn't take these photos.......my older brother did............with my camera......you captured the essence of our father.

Wordfull Wednesday: Inner Beauty

Cocoa over at http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/ is hosting Wordfull Wednesday and this weeks topic is Inner Beauty. What a great topic! I have had many, many thoughts going through this head of mine over the past few days, but I have finally settled on posting the following.

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover!

You may look at a "book"........ it is old, tattered, torn, wrinkled, creased.......and think, why on earth would I even bother with this.........you might just have very well passed up the best "story" you have ever read. You must look closer before you judge......open the book, give it a chance, read or listen, get to know the story.........yes, I'm speaking of judging others by what we see......it is what we don't see, the "Inner Beauty" that really matters.

Even a weed has Inner Beauty................