There's a lesson about human behavior in there somewhere!!
:)

I trying to think of a butthead joke. Glad she got a dreamy goat this year and I look forward to seeing pictures -- as much of Alice as the goat.

I pass a field with darling little black goats on my way home from work. One day I will stop to take a picture. They must be escape artists because every once in awhile I notice one in a neighbor's yard or field. Around here people keep goats and sheep as pets. I think they all die of old age.

Looking forward to the pics Eileen! These islands are overrun with goats and I love to watch them. Some are so funny....they climb small trees to eat the leaves. They will surround cars on the highway but still have right of way for crossing. I would also have one for a pet if I had the room! I don't eat them, despite that they are a traditional part of Canary cuisine.

SharonCb

Congrats to Alice! 'You don't eat pretty'...hmmm. I know that phrase will be stuck in my head until an appropriate time as to which I will need to use that for something...?

Duane

Sancho was clipped to the skin a few days before show so he had to wear a t-shirt so that he wouldn't get a sunburn. Alice brought sunscreen for him a few days later.

Alice posed with Sancho for pics to send to prospective buyers that she sent letters to inviting them to come to the auction.

Walking to the scale to be weighed.

Morning judging for market worthiness. Alice's happy goat was a bit too well-fed for the judge!

Showmanship judging, many, many hours later... yawn! Alice did a good job. Apparently smiling at the judge wins points here. You might not eat pretty but it sure doesn't hurt to have a little!

Your daughter is gorgeous! And Sancho is pretty darn cute himself. THank you for sharing! Gina

Oh those are great photos Eileen. And Alice is absolutely beautiful!

I have to say I've never seen a white goat before, let alone a whole herd of them!

I'm guessing perhaps that's because they're shaved? They look so clean compared to the scruffy goats around here LOL!

SharonCb

Sharon, those are Boer goats, developed in South Africa by Dutch farmers for meat. Sometimes they are Boer goat/dairy crosses but Boer goats are the standard for meat goats here. They have white bodies and brown heads even when they aren't shaved. They actually looked a bit pink for a few days! And they are very clean, bathed often, given weekly pedicures. The judge checks hooves for proper trimming and ears for cleanliness.

Oh that explains it lol! They certainly look well cared for.

The goats here have a bath only once a year during this event down in the town.

SharonCb

Sharon, that article totally cracked me up! We are a family of goat fans since we frequent the island of Anguilla, which is overrun with ones much more similar to yours than the beautiful well-groomed specimens that Alice is showing.

Eileen, what a great thing for Alice to be involved in. It must take some serious dedication and work on her part. You must be so proud, she is a gorgeous and very together girl!

AM
The Dinner Chronicles

Absolutely Drop Dead Gorgeous Daughter!! Cute goat too. Great pictures - Love the 1st pic.

What happens to her goat now? You said it was an auction-does that mean all these goats were purchased for ummmmm dinner?

Eileen, Alice is as beautiful as always and I just love those striped muck boots, LOL.

Yes her goat is a bit pot bellied, but he's happy!

Congratulations to Alice, most goats just are "butt heads", darned their obnoxious little spirits.

Annie

I think more eyes were on Alice than on Sancho. I think it's wonderful that she has this interest and isn't concerned that someone might think it's dorky. With her looks she could be all about hair and make-up. Nice to have beauty and depth, too.

Sancho is cute and I hate to think of him as someone's dinner.

Eileen,

Sancho is cute but Alice is just stunningly beautiful!

She's as pretty in dusty jeans as in her fancy dance dress & heels.

I have seven neices/nephews who all participated in 4H. They put themselves through college with the money saved from their animal sales. It was mostly calves but I remember a few goats in the mix. My poor sister was scared witless of the goats her kids raised! :)

Hey, I see you're in Turlock. I was born in Atwater.

/tricia

Alice gets more lovely every year.

I notice they all have on hite jeans for a livestock showing. Man, I'd be scared to sit, lean, move in those with all the dust, etc. around before the show!

Oh Eileen, Alice really is beautiful. She looks like she should be modeling, not showing goats. Hope she finds a buyer for Sancho.

Ann

Do you have to beat the boys off with a baseball bat? She's really beautiful. Oh and Sancho's nice too--LOL!

Run....don't walk....and get a ticket to California. Alice has hollywood starlet written all over her. A true natural beauty is very rare....and she has it. I'm not kidding! (pun intended!)

Duane

LOL, Duane, they ARE in California. (grin)

As for modeling, showing animals is a lot like modeling. So are some horse show events (like Western Pleasure). Get pretty. Smile at the Judge(s). The only difference is that you have to feed your animal, groom your animal, train your animal, clean up after your animal, for months and months and all for that one day in the show ring.

Hmmmm. I guess it's not so much like modelling after all. (grin) And I still like the striped boots. What I really like, though, is Alice's work ethic and the fact that she loves her animals and cares for them so well. That's worth a zillion ribbons in the show ring, IMO.

Annie

Annie, that was truly a LOL moment! Ha! I guess I thought a person who's handle is 'barn mom' would be a midwesterner like us!

I really envy people who are photogenic. For some reason when I get photographed I turn from my 6'4" with a full head of hair into a short fat bald guy?! How does that happen?

...seriously...get that girl an agent! I really do admire her love for her animals. That really shines through. You must be very proud of her.

Duane

Yes, I'm sorry to say the goats become someone's dinner for the most part. An occasional one becomes a pet on someone's farm. Alice told me someone named their goat "Cabrito!" I suggested "Freezer Wrap" as a possible name. She rolled her eyes! Sancho is not a "pet" he is a bit too contrary. Some of the goats are like puppies and love to be petted. It would be harder to say goodbye to one of those goats. I've never eaten goat but I might order it when I go for Indian food close by. They have curried goat.

Pam, Alice has plenty of interest in hair and makeup! She just didn't bother for goat tending duties. Dorky never crossed her mind, I don't think. She is talking about raising a pig next year. She watched the judging and liked the handling skills, thought they were interesting. The kids have to trade pigs and handle someone else's pig. Goats are smelly enough but pig poo does me in! At least she has gotten over wanting to do a steer. Another very capable girl whom Alice admires raised a steer this year but couldn't show it, he was just too wild. In spite of all of her hours of work with him she can't even get a halter on him. She is trying to sell him to recoup the money spent but of course won't get the money the FFA and 4H supporters would bid at the fair auction.

Renee, those white jeans don't stay white for long! Alice changed between showing in the morning and showing at night and still those whites got pretty grimy. They needed a good soak to be ready for the auction on Saturday. In my world of driving back and forth (1/2 hour each way) several times a day, this will be a blessed event! Alice is several days shy of getting her driver's license.

Sharon, I love the goat bathing. What a sight that must be! Are those dairy goats? Meat goats? Or both? They are so shaggy! The boer goats have short coats even before being shaved.

Later.

I began this a few days ago thinking I'd have a chance to finish it but life got in the way. Sancho sold at auction for 3 dollars a pound, the going fair rate unless someone had a special buyer then bidding went up a few dollars a pound. Alice admitted to being a bit more wistful about saying goodbye to this goat. Last year's Buttah was really hard to feel warm and fuzzy about.

Thank you for all the nice comments about Alice. Yeah, she cleans up! She looks like my grandmother, who was a beauty. Those genes skipped a couple of generations and landed on Alice. She is also a great little human being. As a 16 year old, she is busy testing the boundaries and making poor decisions from time to time but we are getting through it! I firmly believe kids live up or down to expectation. She is too short for modeling at 5-5-ish. And she has no interest in acting, though she took a summer drama camp long ago and did a good job. Alice also rides horses competitively. See the link. I love watching her ride. She is so capable and at ease with horses. These pics were taken the day before a show while she was getting ready.

Hanging out at the county fair all week has interesting social consequences, I've discovered. She gushed one morning that she met a 19 year old bull rider who was so hot! "BULL RIDER?" I said, not quite believing my ears. A few days later I asked if she had run into the bull rider again. Yes. But he'd loss his glossiness, apparently. Knowing human nature better than I'd like to admit I asked if she'd had a little bit to drink the night she'd met him. Yup. "He was cuter when I wasn't sober." She said. Sigh.

So now she is thinking about raising a pig or a sheep next year. Since the school only has goat pens, I'm not sure where this critter will be housed. I'm not zoned for livestock! She won't need to buy it until early next spring. A lot can happen

Goat pen gossip: Maybe some of you recall that one goat died last year. The story was that it was fed a peach pit by accident. But other people closer to the event speculate that it died from neglect. It was irregularly fed, with water left low or so dirty the goat wouldn't drink. This year the same student bought another goat and once again neglected it but other kids and parents kept an eye on it and fed and watered him when he was obviously in need. She wasn't allowed to show the goat because she missed too many meetings, most of them in fact. So the poor fella was left alone in the pens when all the other goats went to fair. He was so lonesome he bleated himself hoarse. I went out one day and fed him. Another family eventually was able to take him to their farm where they will get him in good shape. His hooves had never been trimmed nor had he been bathed ever. His ear was infected where he was tagged. But he has a sweet temperament and good confirmation. Alice wished she could have shown him. Odd family under the best of circumstances but i learned that the parents had just divorced. Second marriage for the mom. Their lives derailed and the goat suffered.

So that's the skinny.

She really is a treat for the eyes. If that's how she looks without makeup, she should never even bother with it. I remember the prom pictures and she was quite the knockout.

What's Daniel up to these days?

Pam, Daniel is well. He graduated from high school this year. He is registered for fall classes at the junior college. His fondest wish is to move to Hawaii as soon as he can earn the money to make the trip and live for a bit. So he is also job hunting. Mostly he is spending this summer hanging out with friends. He also has a girl friend.

I don't see as much of Daniel because he lives with his dad but I make dates to hear music or go to movies. We hike sometimes, too.

Tricia, I forgot to mention above that we actually live in Modesto but the county fairgrounds are in Turlock. Atwater is certainly very close! Alice has a good friend in Atwater who was involved in 4H. She raised pigs, goats, and fancy chickens. She is off to college at UC Davis now, she is on her way to becoming a vet.

I'm grateful for Alice's interest in animals. It has kept her focused on things other than clothes and hair as she entered her teens. Yup, the boys are interested but the ones her age are pretty intimidated. And the older ones, well...Alice is no one's fool.

Okay, so the good looks have been fairly apportioned in your family. Those blue eyes! Those curly locks! That strong jaw! Whoo-wee. He sure is at an exciting time of life, having just escaped, I mean graduated from high school. Sounds like he is doing well. Thank you for posting his pictures.

I hope you are proud of yourself for having two good kids. Parenthood is the toughest job there is, but also the most rewarding.

Beautiful children!

: )
lyra