Fair memories

I started exhibiting at fair when I was about six-years-old. I remember the first pig I took to fair was a pretty small little bummer baby: she was so small that she could squirt through the fence surrounding the show area. By the way, one of the pig barns was built about then, so if anyone wants to know how old the barns are — they are old. Anyway, I ended up holding that pig by the tail to show it. I was showing against my brothers in open class and of course I didn’t win, but I did enjoy being there.
Later on, we always took a camper to the fairgrounds to stay in during the fair. There were no real “camper areas” then, people tended to stay in trucks, horse trailers, or even bed down in empty stalls. One year, there were some FFA kids from the Lovell area sleeping in the stall next to one of my horses. Some interesting things went on at night.
Once, there were several boys staying in a farm truck with a stock bed on it and a tarp over the top, across the grounds a ways was a horse trailer with a bunch of young ladies camping in it. Apparently, one of the guys was really interested in one of the girls, but instead of going over to talk to her himself, he kept sending who we assumed was his younger brother over with messages. The poor kid nearly wore himself out running back and forth. He must have made several trips when the gal sent the message to the guy to get lost in pretty strong language. By this time, the poor kid was tired and just done with all of the mess. He got about halfway back to the truck with the guys and just shouted, “She says to go to —!”
My friend Rae Dawn, my mom and I certainly enjoyed the show.
We often had a group of kids bedded down around our camper, Mom was a good, safe, but fun chaperone, so kids felt safe and the parents didn’t mind them staying as long as they were bedded near our camper. Our camper was more like a topper in a lot of ways, so the back doors were always open at night and my mom slept right across the door while Rae Dawn and I slept on the bed inside the camper. Mom wasn’t a dummy, she knew we couldn’t get past her without waking her. Mom smoked then and one night she was having a smoke when she heard someone yell, “FIRE.” She yelled back, “Grab a bucket of water and put it out.” It was about that time that she realized it was her cigarette they were talking about. She rolled out of the camper sleeping bag and all just before they got there with the bucket of water.
They didn’t have all of the food booths they do now. There was maybe one place to get food. and that was the American Legion booth. They served all you could eat pancakes every morning, and sloppy joes in the afternoon. The morning of the pig show we usually ate there, but the rest of the time we just ate sandwiches and such.
It was a special time. The memories are precious and real.

Pasta Salad
This is my own concoction after reading several recipes on the internet.
- One box penne or pasta of your choice, cooked according to package direction. I use Banza brand chickpea pasta for a gluten-free option.- Meat of your choice, I used chicken and summer sausage
- Chopped celery
- Chopped tomato
- Chopped onion.
- Italian dressing
- Salt and pepper to tasteAfter cooking noodles, rinse and drain well. Toss with a little of the dressing. Cook chicken breast until just done, put in bowl with chopped vegetables and pasta, pour over remaining dressing and toss. Chill at least two hours to let flavors develop.
The amounts of most everything depends on personal taste. Other vegetables can be added, such as peppers — green, yellow or red — I don’t care for them, but black olives would make this salad awesome. Rick also suggested kidney beans.