The New York State Fair
Wednesday
Today I am making my way to the Great New York State Fair to judge their annual Llama show. I have judged this event a number of times over the years and it is always a fun weekend. The people watching at a state fair is only eclipsed by the quality livestock that I am adjudicating.
It is a treat to drive to an event vs dealing with airports etc, a short 3 hour trip brought me to the hotel and a quick Mexican dinner. From there, some Real Estate follow up work and research now that our multiple listing service is back on line. Believe it or not, they have been down for the past two weeks due to a ransom wear attack! But I digress…. I also took some time to review the Llama Show Association Guidelines - I always do so before an event.
I am what is called a teaching judge, based on my years of experience and degree of expertise. I have a young man apprenticing with me this weekend, someone who I have watched grow up since he started showing Llamas, I am looking forward to working with him. Teaching wise, this is a good event to apprentice as the show is not terribly large so we will have some time to review each class.
Thursday
I have to admit, I am also on the hunt for some deep fried Twinkies! I had some deep fried cookie dough last month while judging the Indiana State Fair and am hoping to scope out some Twinkies this go around. Nothing beats fair health food - curly fries - etc.
No deep fried Twinkies yet - the show crew know that I try to eat healthy and bring fruit and veggies for me to much on. Michelle & Kelly take great care of me. Old friends - How lucky am I!
Good day judging halter and my apprentice did well. When judging halter, we are primarily evaluating conformation, balance and movement. There were a nice group of animals to review and I was able to spend some time explaining how I work judging and giving my apprentice some pointers. Funny… I don’t consider myself much of a talker but oddly enough, I have the gift for gab when it comes to the Llamas - something that I am passionate about. We finished up the day judging halter and will start the day tomorrow judging performance. In performance, there are three divisions, obstacle, pack and public relations. The course consists of 8 to 10 obstacles and each obstacle is worth 10 points. A perfect 10 would be the handler and llama working together as a team negotiating each obstacle. There are a number of criteria that I will not go into for the sake of brevity, but you get the picture. Pack and Obstacle are tomorrow and Public Relations is Saturday. We’ll see if tomorrow produces some Twinkies!
Friday
Day two is a wrap, we worked through Obstacle and Pack and have Public Relations tomorrow. There were a few nice size classes and great challenging courses by Wally. And… I found the Twinkie's!! I am set now for a year with my fried junk food yearning although, I judging the Eastern States Expo in a few months - hmm…. Perhaps do a taste test.
Saturday
Day three is in the books! It is always a pleasure working with Michelle and her crew. Wally did a great job with the Public Relations course complete with a 10’ tall inflatable cat with a rotating head and a moving witch, just in time to get us prepared for the upcoming Halloween season. Now it is back to home and back to work. Next event, Indiana.
