Sunday, August 26, 2018

A Tale of Two Towns

Guess who didn't want her dad making a big
deal about her 1st day of middle school?
School is back in session and for the first time, Dylan and Grady are not only going to different schools, but are going to different schools in different towns.  Grady is still an Etna Elementary Mustang, but Dylan has graduated on to become a Middle School Panther in Ft. Jones.  It's another step up in logistics prep for us, but we're 5 days in and no one's been forgotten at home or late for school, so our confidence is soaring.

Super stoked for 4th grade!
I was, back in the dark ages, the last class to complete jr. high at the high school in Etna before the old Ft. Jones high school opened up as the middle school.  I've only watched my nieces and nephew go through 8th grade graduation there, so the school is as new to me as it is to Dylan.  This is a fact that, while completely uninteresting, I chose to share with a parent of one of Dylan's friends not once, but twice at our back-to-school orientation.  She gave me a look like I'd just told her I was going to be President of the World someday and then quickly moved on.

So, while Dylan is navigating rotating classes, new classmates, and a PE program with uniforms, Grady is rockin' it in the 4th grade Boys' Academy (there are only 5 girls in his class).  It's basically the same ol' routine for him, aside from having a new teacher and a stricter hat policy.

We're excited for the challenges the year will bring us, and if you catch us at the bakery on Friday mornings, I might even tell you about the time I narrowly missed going to the jr. high in Ft. Jones.  If you're extra lucky, I'll tell you twice.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Pre-Fair, Post-Fair

I was talking to a buddy today about the fair and he said that it's a lot like running a marathon.  He's right.  But it's a little more like doing a few 100-yard windsprints during a marathon, while chugging keg beer and eating a corndog.  It is, obviously, the greatest and most challenging 5 days of summer.

For 4-H and FFA kids, fair preparation is year-round.  Last year, Dylan picked out Dolores the day after the fair.  This year, we're waiting a whole week.  Dylan and Grady have been working with their fair animals all summer long.  Dylan caught her heifer, Dolores, twice a day and brushed, washed, groomed, and walked her.  Dolores had her hair professionally clipped and her hooves trimmed.  Her showbox looked like a Jersey Shore bathroom counter.  Turkeys, of course, are a lot easier and daily baths would probably kill them, but Grady was pretty good at keeping them well fed and watered.  Robot and Batman even got a good scrubbing and bath just before the fair.  You ever have to wash a turkey?  It was an all-hands on deck kind of job.

And then, voila, fair time.  Dolores had to be there a day early to get weighed and preg-checked.  When Dr. Amy pregged Dolores, her eyes widened and she said, "Any day."  So a 1528 pound, very pregnant heifer was led to her soft bed of shavings, where she'd spend the next 5 days getting washed, fed, groomed, and coddled.  Robot arrived Wednesday morning for poultry inspection (apparently, birds carry a lot of bugs).  He passed his mite test and sat on the scales at 45.8 pounds.  A tad heavy, but since Grady is still in PeeWee Showmanship and can't sell, Robot could've weighted 100 pounds and it wouldn't have mattered.

I'll skim though the next 5 days, mostly because they're a blur.  Grady showed Robot as the only PeeWee turkey showman.  And while the judge was impressed with his turkey knowledge, he was really impressed with his beast of a bird.  Dylan showed Dolores and finished a very respectable 3rd in her class, and, the following day, finished well in her market class.  Since Grady was the only kid showing a turkey, he automatically made it to the PeeWee finals on Saturday.  There, in the big showring, he marched Robot back and forth, shook the hands of random bystanders, and pointed out all the weird parts of his bird.  Dylan got back in the ring on Sunday for her final day with Dolores.  Thankfully, our awesome neighbor, Bob, bought her and promised he'd let Dylan come visit Dolores and her new baby.  That was a huge weight off Dylan's shoulders and made her goodbye a thousand times easier.

Demobilizing our fair set up made me understand why the army just dumps its tanks and helicopters into the ocean whenever it leaves a foreign war.  I wanted to do that with all our crap, but Yreka creek is dry, so I had to cart it all to the truck.  We are, still, in a bit of post-fair hangover mode.  But things are looking up.  I'm starting to miss fried pickles and 4-wheeler crashes and we're already talking about picking out next year's fair heifer.  By August 2019, we're bound to be ready.

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Long, Long Gulch

We recently got back from Horse Camp.  Not to be confused with "horse camp," which Dylan also attended this summer and is an official camp, with counselors and sing-songs and cabins.  No, Horse Camp is a 4 day camp out for the drill team kids and their families.  I lost count of how many folks came this year, but I know it was a huge uptick from last year, in which exactly 2 families showed up with 0 horses.  This year, the Forest Service corrals were completely full, and some ponies had to get tied to random trailers and trees around camp.  On one ride in particular, I counted 25 horses and mules, and there were still more left behind.

We arrived on the first day and while we set up camp, Clara, the Drill Leader, and a couple of adults rallied the older kids for a ride into Trail Gulch Lake.  It's about 6 miles round trip and Dylan came back one horseshoe lighter and grinning.  I broke out my seldom used ferrier kit and reattached the shoe.  My shoeing skills are dodgy at best, and I honestly considered a few wraps of duct tape to reinforce the shoe.  That shoe lasted exactly half a day, and then I just stuck a boot on Romeo and called it good.

Irish looks pissed, because he is
For day 2, we decided on a lake that is just a little farther.  Everyone in camp filled up on a big breakfast and hit the trail, excited for the adventure.  Most kids and parents were horseback, but some (including me) were afoot.  One dad led a string of pack mules which carried food, beer, and floaties. With the long line of kids and horses headed down the trail, we looked like an orphanage had a collision with a rodeo.  The hike in is really a 2 part affair.  If you ride from camp, the trailhead is still a couple miles away.  That is, if you take the correct trail.  Somehow, we veered right when we should've hooked left, then hit the dirt road which leads to the trailhead, and, again, made the same navigational error.  The group started thinning out along the road.  We'd gone from a jolly group of campers to the last days of the Donner Party in just a few short hours.  We finally realized our mistake and had to turn around.  Children wept.  Adults sighed.

But, the 5 extra miles didn't stop us and Long Gulch Lake (now named Long, Long Gulch Lake), was worth it.  We tied up in a meadow, unpacked the mules, and I, for one, promptly fell asleep.  Kids swam, a couple horses went in for a dip, a few fish were caught, and cold beers helped ease the pains in my sore legs.  I daydreamed about a helicopter carrying me out.  Instead, I hopped on Irish with Grady and rode double most the way out.  I'm not sure which hurt worse, my blisters from walking or my ass from riding in a kids' saddle.

For our last day at camp the entire crew gave Trail Gulch one more shot.  I did a few quick stretches, hiked up my big boy pants (and laced up my "real" hiking boots) and led Grady, still on Irish, in.  The only excitement was the bees on the trail, which we all, except for Pancho, my pup
, maneuvered around.  We snacked and snoozed, Dylan and some buddies found a great rock to jump off into the lake, and one of the dads inflated a giant unicorn raft and drifted out into the lake, sound asleep.

The day ended with the 2nd ever Camp Chopped: S'Mores Edition Competition.  We left that night with a trailer load of tired horses, damp gear, dirty kids, and empty coolers.  We already have made plans for Horse Camp 2019, and next year we'll be sure to bring a map.