Scenes From The Kootenai Classic
First of all: Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there:o)!
Second, it be tale time, er, maybe that should be tail time. You see, today my family hopped into our trusty little blue car and headed down to the Kootenai County Fairgrounds in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Our reason for leaving our humble abode on a beautiful, sunny Father's Day had to do with beef, and a lot of it, for this weekend was Kootenai Classic time!
What is the Kootenai Classic you might be wondering? Well, it is a three day livestock clinic and show for hogs, goats, sheep, and beef cattle. Not only do the organizers spend time teaching the kids how to show, they also let the kids show their animals for both showmanship and quality prizes.
I have never attended this function before, and as a couple of my beeflings were showing their steers in the affair, I thought it would be good form to show up and offer them some audience moral support. We arrived at the fairgrounds around 10:30am and proceeded to wander through a myriad of trucks and trailers, many with fluffy groomed bovines tied next to them. All sorts of denim and sparkly belt buckle clad folk were bustling to and fro throughout the fairgrounds, all to the mooing soundtrack that can only accompany a livestock event.
It's really fun to participate or know someone who is competing at a livestock show, as you can wander behind the scenes. My daughter helped one of my beeflings reset her steer's tail as the big beef decided to sit on his lovely coiffed tail hair-do right before her class was about to show. I got to help with some last minute hair clipping and trimming of another one of my beefling's steer, and the beast gave me a big ol slimy lick as a thank you in return.
Something that I found interesting is that I saw many representations of Fatherhood in action. There were dads in the show ring, helping their four year old beginner showmen lead their beef around the ring, dads running to North 40 to buy degreaser to get all the show product out of their kid's steer's coats, and their were dads meandering all over the place offering up advice, support, and overall dadness to their spawn and others.
There is a lot of negativity out there in our world when it comes to parenting and dad-hood, and yes, there are a lot of not so good parents out there, but if you take the time and look around our society you can and will spy parents doing a fantastic job at going above and beyond. Today I saw example after example of fatherhood in action, self-sacrifice and love for children and their efforts shining through in every picture snapped, trailer hitched, and cow patty stepped in. It was a great way to spend the afternoon of this very special day.
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