Tuff Mangos and Tuff Trucks ~ Just Another Day at the Fair
A friend gave me a head’s up about a 4-H event this morning. We hustled and got to the exhibition hall in time to see an array of 4-H kids studying an array of produce. Vegetables to be exact. An annual 4-H competition that had somehow missed my radar, today was the “4-H Vegetable ID Contest.” I love it!
Kids of all ages and from any 4-H discipline were encouraged to participate. The goal was to correctly identify about 20 different vegetables, about 5 different seeds, and to rank order several collections of fruits from best to worst in terms of quality and condition. The more specific you could be, the better. For instance, Item #1 was a Granny Smith apple. Noting it was an apple was correct. Noting it was a Granny Smith would break a tie. Noting it was not a vegetable and therefore shouldn’t be in the “Vegetable ID Contest” would peg you as a smarty pants. Maybe it was best I wasn’t in 4-H as a kid?
I perused the items and commented to Pam that I didn’t see anything terribly exotic and therefore difficult. No jicama, no bok choy, no durian. She whispered that Item #15 (a mango) was tripping up a lot of the kids. And Item #5 was tricky (a yam or a sweet potato…it was the white one, not the orange one, so that’s a…yam?). She said her daughter was very excited to see Item #11, as Pam had been quizzing her at the grocery store on zucchini identification for several weeks. Sierra was apparently relieved to learn spelling didn’t count.
It was better than the Demo Derby, but that wasn’t hard Out of curiosity, we decided to check out the 2:00pm Tuff Truck show in the Grandstands. The promoter is the same that failed miserably in last night’s demolition derby. Two for two?
Actually, they did a much better job today. Although there were fewer entries than last year, the track was a bit longer. A number of the trucks had good rides up and down the hills and through the big puddle. Several lost their bumpers and popped tires. Whoo hoo! Nobody rolled over but there were enough that caught some air to make it entertaining. I did notice that Jeep SUVs tended to provide the most fun, as they seemed to be exactly the right length to smash their front ends on the three consecutive hills. I was also proud of my sleepy self for discerning that the truck with the Confederate flag was going to be a bit of a rebel and provide some good photo ops.
We made it an early day today because we will be heading to the Fair early tomorrow for some Llama Fun! I will be providing comic relief as a participant in the Open Class Halter Class and Obstacle Course competitions.
Whether for the contests or just to browse, I do highly recommend checking out the Llama Greenway. Although I mentioned Rojo yesterday, there are all sorts of great llamas and alpacas to meet, many of whom will let you pet them if a trainer is nearby. Blue Beard the Therapy Alpaca is there, along with a couple of adorable young alpacas that are less than a year old. There are also lots of great exhibit boards to teach you all sorts of fun facts about these cool animals. And don’t worry about the spitting thing. Llamas only spit as a defense mechanism. So if you don’t threaten them, they won’t moisten you.
