As a friend, I like to support my friends and their kids. As a writer, I like to go places I would never think to go and take notes. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do both. My husband and I went to a youth agricultural show where our friends’ daughter, Mary Katharine was showing her lamb, Screamer, who she’d raised from birth on a bottle. There are several categories to showing lambs, including one that vegetarians like me don’t want to think about (i.e. identifying cuts of meat). Yesterday’s competition was for Showmanship. I think. It was a little hard to understand exactly what was going on. It was very hot and dusty and the announcers sounded like they were the adults from the Charlie Brown specials (bwabwabwabwabwa…bwabwabwabwa), so I’m not sure I’ve got all my facts straight.

Oh, and I guess I should back up and say that Mary Katharine’s sister, Hannah also helped raise Screamer (I gave him some bottled milk last spring too which is why he looked so good. Oh, right, my husband says I had nothing to do with it and I can’t take credit here). Only one person could show him though, and you had to be in at least fourth grade, so Mary Katharine represented them both.

If you’ve never been to a lamb showing, it’s quite an experience. The kids walk their lambs out into a small arena by holding onto their heads and leading them (no ropes!). The idea is to get your lamb to walk right along with you and behave, and then to stand in a showmanship like pose while the judge walks up and down, feeling the lamb’s back and asking the kid questions. Well, let me tell you, lambs are not dogs. They are more like my husband, they don’t want to be told what to do. There were lambs jumping and little kids wrestling them down, there was an escapee or two, there was a lot of bleating and a fair amount of ummmm…let’s just say pellets.

Because there are a lot of kids interested in showing lambs, there were not only three arenas, but many heats (a very appropriate word since it was about a hundred degrees in there…okay, maybe ninety) and Mary Katharine’s heat was the very last one. She led Screamer out and he walked along with her like he had nowhere else he’d rather be than walking along next to his mama. He stood in line, still and perfect, and while all the other kids were fighting with their lambs to get them to put their back feet out, he would just put his out automatically (we learned later that MK had taught him to do that when she tapped his legs!). She easily won a first place ribbon in her heat, despite the fact that the lamb next to her got away several times which can be distracting to your lamb, but wasn’t to Screamer. After that it was on to the big time. The finals!

It’s all very exciting in a slow, hot summer day down south way. And just to add to the tension, a horrendous thunder and lightning storm started, pounding rain on the metal roof and thunder cracking through the arena. The kids walk their lambs out, line up, the judge walks down the row, then he has them walk them to the other side of the arena. After that, he looks at them very intently, furrowing his brow and rubbing his chin and then he POINTS at one and the poor kid is basically “out” and has to walk his lamb back to the other side and wait. This goes on and on until the last kid, yes, Mary Katharine, is standing there with their lamb. I think the very best part of watching Mary Katharine and Screamer was the always-present smile on their faces. Okay, Screamer didn’t smile, and we found out later that he hadn’t gotten his afternoon nap and one of the reasons he was so calm is because he was dozing off while he was standing there, but it was just really a fun thing to watch. And now, should I need to write about a lamb showing, I can!

Congratulations, Mary Katharine, Hannah and Screamer!