Saturday, March 27, 2010

Some Final Things

With the baby winding up his senior year, there have been a lot of final moments this year.

Final football game.
Final basketball game.
Final homecoming dance.
Final prom ... coming up.

Final track meet ... just a few weeks away.


Here's Junior passing the baton to his pal Enrique in the 4 X 100 relay.


It's the last Suwannee River Livestock Show for us too ... which means, we have raised our last show pig!!

WHOOP! WHOOP!

You know ... there was a time in my life where if someone had said, " I predict someday, you will spend a perfectly good Friday evening shaving a pig." ... I would have responded, " Waitress, GIVE ME WHATEVER HE'S DRINKING!"

That was before I had kids.

Listen ... if you haven't had them yet, think about it!! They will change you and force you to do things you never thought you would do.

(Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!")

If you already have kids ... well, there's always adoption.

I'm just kidding.
Chill.


Okay, I know I look insane, I had just set the self-timer for the 5th time and jumped over the fence for a "shaving the pig shot".
The other photos were even worse.

You don't really shave the pig of course. The idea is to trim her fur down to show off her buffness. The swine judge at the fair will be looking for solid muscle tone, muscle size, good joints as shown by her gait, and bone structure.

The hair cut accents all of that.

It's just like when human body builders shave their chests.

The swine show is Monday and the sale is Wednesday so I'll have a few fair posts this week to keep you updated.

So, I have loaded my final fair pig on to a trailer. It's been a long ride with daughter Katie starting the whole thing years ago as the first FFA DNAling of mine.

Each pig has had it's challenges, most had at least one episode of sickness that required either antibiotic injections or spending all night nursing it with baby electrolyte solution ... or both.

This pig was the healthiest of all ... almost too healthy. She weighed 260 pounds two weeks ago and we were afraid she would be over the weight limit (290) for the fair.

She had been on reduced rations for the last week or so and it paid off. She checked into the fair at a very buff 280 pounds today.

Sweet!

Pigs are fascinating animals, but I'm glad to be done with the fair experience now.

Well, almost done ... just a few more days.


The most amazing news today is that my baby girl, Emma is 21 years old today ... a fact that makes me a bit misty, until I think about what a funny, bright, beautiful woman she has become and then the mist clears a bit.

Just a bit.

Stupid mist.

Okay, I gotta switch subjects, when my contacts get this moist, the screen blurs.


It's a gorgeous day out there and I have an ex-pig pen to convert into a garden so let me go busy myself with the next chapter.

16 comments:

threecollie said...

Happy birthday to Emma, congrats on the pig weight and I just love that shirt. lol
These milestones...they sure do run up on us don't they? I can barely believe that all our teenagers have turned into twenty-somethings.

The Florida Blogger said...

Man, we just got a dog and that has changed our lifestyle. I can imagine what happens with chitlins.

Dani said...

Happy Birthday to your sweet Emma. :)

h said...

Funny stuff.

Sandcastle Momma said...

Happy Birthday Emma!
You say final but something tells me that there will be grandkids one day and your kids will say "Grandpa is an expert with pigs and he'll be glad to help!"

Anonymous said...

Hi FC,

Happy Birthday to Emma. I think that Sandcastle Momma might be right. One day.

Good luck with the pig at the fair.

P

Cathy S. said...

Happy Birthday to Emma!

Deb said...

Happy birthday to Emma! It seems like just yesterday she was graduating from high school.

who wouda thunk it?? said...

that is a perfectly acceptable expression for a guy wearing a "got ammo" shirt !!!! hahahahah

Valerie said...

The topic of kids getting older makes me sad! I always tell mine to stop growing, yet I can't wait to see the people they will become if that makes sense. My oldest turned 16 a couple weeks ago.

Thank you for taking another sweet Bear pic.

Valerie said...

Oh yeah, I forgot. Are you a Randy Wayne White reader? I'm sure you are. I finished his latest today. I thought of you because of the large creature in the lake. I'm also going to see him in Clearwater tomorrow! Can't wait!

Ivy said...

My dad ran the 4-H livestock barn at the Sarasota County Fair for years. The last few years before he died I used to go home to drive him back and forth to the fair everyday for a week. That pig-shaving shot brought it all back.

LauraHinNJ said...

Not sure just what to say, so...

I'll send hugs for your pig-lonely days in the future.

;-)

robin andrea said...

Happy birthday to Emma!

Farewell to the final pig. She is a fine looking critter.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone!!!! Love you dad!!

Miz S said...

Aw, I missed Emma's birthday! Happy belated, honey!