Mid-State Fair Part II

|| ANIMAL FARM ||

Apparently here in the outback, they have competitions for raising animals, sheep, goats, cows, rabbits, you name it, they’ve got it. You know that quintessential picture of a boy and his loyal dog that never leaves it’s side? Well replace that with a cow or goat and you’ve got one of the main Mid-State Fair attractions. Like I’m talking these kids are so attached to these animals, they’re lying around in the sawdust, leaning against them, or naming them. (P.s. thanks Uncle Dolan for cooking my goat for dinner instead of bringing it home for me to have as a pet, so jealous of these kids).

The sheep were hilarious because they had all be sheared for the contest, so they had different blankets around them. Top two designs? Putting a sheep in a zebra/cheetah cover and a camo one. I think their owners were a little confused about the nature of their pet, but if I had my own sheep, I would definitely put a wolf blanket (with the wolf face hoodie part) over it, I mean come on, the opportunity is just too good of one to pass up, who wouldn’t laugh at a sheep in wolf clothing?

Then we went to the pig competition and those suckers are HUGE. They get more free reign than the horses (pun intended) and therefore are walking around from station to station with their owners, while you’re walking the same aisles observing other ones. What does this exactly mean for me? Well one second I’m taking a nice picture next to Wilbur on steroids, and the next second another pig is bounding down the same aisle after me about to take a nice chomp out of me. Umm excuse me pig, but I don’t even eat you! You think they would be kind enough to extend the same courtesy and if anything, they should eat Kelly first, she loves pulled  pork sandwiches. But I wasn’t one to argue with 125 pound pig, so I just jumped behind Kelly, and hope they had a nice luau featuring it for dinner.

We saw the tail end of a cow competition (boy am I on a roll!) and I dare you to keep a straight face when they talk about the qualifications of one heifer over another…they all looked about the same to me, so thank goodness I’m not buying any cows soon, because I am sure underqualified for the part. I really am curious as to what their standards are, because everything, and I truly me everything, had a judge and ranking, even all the identical looking vampire bunnies had ribbons.

I’m saving the best part of the farm for the last because it was all the horses! We missed the roping and the barrel racing, but some of the cowboys were running tomorrow’s paces and these animals were AMAZING. I mean it. They went from full on gallops to short stops in 2 seconds and don’t even get me started on their tight circles. I don’t know who was better, the rider or the horse, if I had to guess though, it was definitely the two working together. If your horses back legs completely drop to make that short stop and you aren’t holding one, you’re going to go flying over the rink rails. Maybe next year I’ll make it out for the rodeo, who knows, maybe I’ll star in it myself hehe.  

|| RUNAWAY JUNE ||

You know your best friend loves you when you drag her out to the straight up country concert (before John Mayer) and make here sit there for an hour with you. Thanks Kelly! I was so close to line dancing, too bad I’ve forgotten most of the steps since my CMC days, otherwise I would have taken Kelly’s embarrassment of me to a whole new level. She thought it was already bad enough that I knew every word of most of the songs they covered and was shamelessly singing along. The band was pretty good, and one of the three girls was John Wayne’s granddaughter. She happened to co-write one of my favorite Eric Paslay songs, which I had no clue about! If you’re ever looking for a good country fix, just listen to “She Don’t Love You.”

Kelly and Carolyn ft. the sleeping cowboy child and family in the back

|| JOHN MAYER ||

O.M.G. I’m going to try my best to explain this concert with words, but I am so enamored with this artist it isn’t even funny. Before, I enjoyed his songs, and I really liked his latest album, but that was about it. Now, major fangirl crush, not as bad as Pablo, because we all know that he is my one true love, but it is definitely up there. John Mayer has a quirky music nerd personality which most people don’t really get, I mean who tries to crack grammar jokes or use words like “superfluous” on stage? Slight shout out to my mom for being such an English stickler, it came in handy this concert. He is totally obsessed with his guitars, and I swear he brought a new one out for every song. Also his band has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen in concert because John Mayer will randomly start free-styling in the middle of a song, and even with my musical ear I did not notice a hitch in the beat from the keyboard, drummer, or guitarists on stage. That says something for sure, because it is not easy to keep up when your lead is going off the sheet music, I have a feeling he does it pretty often though. To his credit, John Mayer is an amazing guitarist, and I am pretty picky about who I listen to, thanks to my mom practically raising me on 80s rock. I mean when you’ve listened to the best 12 string guitarists of all time – ie Tom Petty or Eric Clapton – it’s tough to top that, but I’ve got to say that John Mayer did an amazing job and you could tell that this was his passion and he was living it. Kelly and I stood the whole concert and sang the night away….

What an amazing day, can’t wait for more adventures!!!!

Much Love,

Carolyn