Yes, I have been away from the keyboard for several days. Yes, I have had way TOO many irons in the fire lately, but I can see the end in a week or two. Yes, we made it home from KC.
My parents, yes my Mom and my Dad, took a set of Shattuck FFA officers to Indianapolis to the National FFA Convention this past week. These girls went to pick up a little chapter award for the Shattuck FFA being named a National 3 Star Chapter. I’m glad that I could send these girls with such capable hands as my parents. I am jealous that I didn’t get to go to St. Elmo’s or Shapiro’s. I’m also glad that my parents could witness an event like this. Like the rest of us, they were amazed at the quality of kids that are involved in the FFA. Our nation only looks like crap when dealing with the media or politics. Otherwise, we have an unreal talent pool. If they are wearing blue and gold or green and white, polls show that there is an extremely high probability of some top shelf kids. My approval rating of FFA and 4H kids is at an ALL-TIME high.
And speaking of that talent pool. I had the pleasure of dealing with a bunch of great ones in KC this week. How did the show go? Well, we got our donkey’s kicked!! It was a beating. Was it the judges fault? Politics? NO! The judge was consistent from class 1 to class 16. We just didn’t have the right kind. End of story. And none of the kids or parents were whining about getting beat. It happens. If it was anybody’s fault, it was mine.
Even though we got our Hee Haw’s kicked hard, we had a great trip. Duke had 3 goals–have fun, go to haunted houses and eat a filet mignon at 801 Chophouse. Duke accomplished all goals. I guess I should have told him to take a good goat. I guess that would be my fault.
Did I get as retarded as last year? NO! But I did have fun. We did have multiple cart rides down the ramp from upstairs to the lower level of the royal. While doing so, I met a cool kid from Missouri that was watching. He was wearing a Star Wars hoodie, so we had some common ground to discuss. He wanted to race down the ramp but his mom wouldn’t let him. Our meatheads were taking turns riding the cart down the ramp. Tim Dunkin was at the bottom playing safety monitor and fliming. After several requests to head down the ramp and his mother saying no, this young stud threw his wheels in gear and headed down the ramp. Laughing as he went. It was awesome! He got to the bottom, cut a donut and powered back UP the ramp. Laughing as he came back up the ramp. His mom did the mother head shake from side to side as he got close to us. He pulled back up and said, “Mom, you’ve got to go home and get my old wheel chair. I’ve got to free-wheel down that ramp!” Dude!! I loved it!! We didn’t stay for the sheep show, but I hope he did well.
Speaking of Duke’s goals, we went to a haunted house on Thursday AND Friday night. Almost all of the Okie kids were in this group–which was a pile. The first night, we headed to the old school deal that they call The Beast. The line was LONG! So we headed a block away to one that they call The Edge of Hell. While in line for this event, there was a dude outside (part of the show) that was plenty scary. He was plumb ass creepy looking and then he would pull a LIVE rat out of his old tattered suit coat. Maybe, 1 rat, or 2 or 3. That’s nasty enough. But then he would take one of the rats and put in his mouth, right up to the tail. Jeeminy Nasty sideways crap– a creepy dude with a rat tail sticking OUT of his mouth–I’m out. Some girls don’t like to be approached by creepy dudes with rats. This might have led to a near incident. HUGE thanks to Mike Parrish, Gary Isbell and Lee Vanderwork for keeping Duke from getting stabbed.
While the kids were in the haunted house, I was supposed to order Papa John’s pizza for everybody. Okay, fine, but if you don’t know the address, it is hard to order pizza. Vanderwork or Schoovy, I get them confused, said, “Tell them to deliver it to the Edge of Hell.” I said, “Hell no. They will just take it to my place south of Fargo if I do that.” I was wrong. They took it to somewhere north of Matador, TX instead. Ha!! Nope, it took several phone calls and a threat to get some Domino’s pizza, but we got them to deliver to the backdoor of the edge of hell. That was good pizza and that driver liked his tip. “Dude, I owe you some change back!” Nope. He had just put new rotors and brakes pads on that Buick and needed the cash. I gave him some sound financial advice and told him to keep re-investing his profits in the machine that was making him money. That and he should quit smoking. I doubt he listened. I am pretty sure that he was NOT a former 4H or FFA member. He’ll probably vote for hillary.
I know this is getting long, but it has been awhile since I wrote a donkey-load. If you don’t want to read it, click to a different page. It’s like watching a presidential debate, turn to a channel with something good on it. Like Big Jake. Speaking of which, that was on tv today while I was eating a crappy turkey sandwich for lunch. I just love that movie. Maureen O’Hara said, “This is a harsh and unpleasant business and is going to take a very harsh and unpleasant kind of man to do this job.” I can just picture the Dragon Lady telling somebody this with me in mind for the job.
Hats off to the Schovanec, Comstock, Vanderwork, Maloney, Gregg, Powell, Parrish, Smith, Isbell, Dunkin and all of the other families that have/are raising their kids in this environment. These kids are top notch. I met a lot of new people this week and was re-acquanited with others that I don’t see but once or twice a year. No matter what—great kids. As much as I like to win at showing stock, my favorite stock to watch win are our kids.
Oh, and the atmosphere at the American Royal was very good. Shower friendly. Great changes have been made. I highly recommend attending. The quality of goats was also really good. Even those yankee goats from Hummel, Fledderjohan and Kedrick Miller. There was also a good California bred goat or two. It is worth the trip. And Duke and I might have eaten some wicked good BBQ and yes, a fork-tender filet mignon with lobster corndogs and some mac and cheese.
P.S. Oh yeah. Ask me about my Honor Show Clinic flier that I got autographed by one of the people in the pictures. Anybody can get one of these fliers signed by Kirk Stierwalt, Chad Charmasson or Troy Goretska. Those dudes are old. I like to deal with upside potential. I may very well have the first ever, ONE of A Kind, autographed picture of Dozer Dunkin. I’ve got it held in my showbox by a magnet for safe keeping. It is not for sale, unless his mother wants it. Then, she can have it. As long as she puts it on their fridge–with a magnet.
Have a great day and a better tomorrow!
