Grant County Fair and Rodeo Time

We had thought about going to the Fair in Moses Lake earlier this week, but it was so terribly hot! I had NO desire to walk around in 100+ weather.

Last night when Forry went out to get some things from the Toad, he discovered that she had a flat front tire. When he changed it this morning, he found a hole with a piece of sharp gravel stuck in it. Knowing we needed to get it fixed, we went in to Les Schwab in Moses Lake. Turns out the tire was unfixable (the hole was too big), so we ended up buying two new tires -- and a new set of windshield (front and back) wiper blades that we have kept forgetting to get.

It was still only a little before four o'clock (those Les Schwab guys are speedy!) and it was only in the 80s, so we decided to go out to the fair and at least see how Nephew Nick's pigs had done. I had the purple cane that Sister Sherry had given me in the car, so decided that even though my back and leg were feeling pretty good, it might be a good idea to take it along. That turned out to be one of the better ideas I've had for a while!

We found Bandit, one of Nick's pigs, but never did see the other one. There was a sign on his pen that said the pig had sold for $3 a pound -- that should have made him happy. Nick also had entered a bunch of items from their garden -- he took the "Best of Class" for that.

Of course, one of the main reasons for going to a fair is to eat "fair junk food!" We started with Mango Smoothies, moved on to deep fried Twinkies, then Forry had a barbecued pork sandwich and I ate a huge ear of sweet corn! We looked for the Cattlemen/Cowbelles booth that Mom and Dad had always worked at, but it didn't seem to be there any more.

One of the neat exhibits we saw was a raptor exhibit. They had several large eagles, hawks and owls displayed. These were magnificent birds that had either been injured or had imprinted on humans. This first one is a beautiful Bald Eagle adult:

They also a a gorgeous immature Bald Eagle:

He had "imprinted" on the humans who raised him and had no idea he was an eagle -- what a shame as he will never be able to hunt on his own.

There were 2 or 3 hawks, one a red tail:

By the time we had perused as many of the exhibits as we wanted (there were some gorgeous quilts), it was time for the rodeo. We hadn't been to one in a couple of years, so decided to stay. Before it started, they had a "Grand Entry" of all of the local 4-H Horse Clubs to recognise all of the young riders. It was fun to see all of the kids -- but surprising to see that they ALL wore riding helmets! Times have certainly changed since our kids rode -- or even more since Forry and I did! Some changes like that are certainly for the better!

We were both a bit disappointed in the team roping -- not a single team got both the head and heels. Forry used to be a "header" (roped the head of the steer so that his partner could then rope the "heels" or rear legs) so he always takes a keen interest in seeing how others do. I used to work as a timer and as an announcer at the Team Ropings we had at Ritzville many years ago.