A Family A"fair"

Today Mom, Aunt Ardy and I took in the North Dakota State Fair. It was a perfect 75 degree day with a light breeze. We started out with a ride around the outskirts of the fairgrounds on the shuttle. We got off at the Food Court and found my neice, Whitney, serving up corndogs for the hungry fairgoers. We shimmied up in line and ordered 3 corndogs smothered in ketchup.

Next stop was the arena where my brother, Darrel, was entered in the "cuttin" horse competition. His wife, Teresa, had been enlisted to serve as the announcer for this event.

We watched and waited as many horse and riders made their way through the 120 sec. competition. None of us was sure at first what the horse and rider were trying to accomplish, but after watching quite a few of them we decided the rider was picking out a cow from the herd and then the horse was to "cut" that animal from the rest of the herd. It takes a skillful handler and a highly trained horse to perform these maneuvers. When my brother, Darrel, came out seated high on his magnificent horse we were anxious to see what he and his horse could do. We weren't to be disappointed.









The two of them become "one" and do a dance that is horesmanship at it's finest, and is a beauty and a joy to watch.



Soon night falls on the fair and the midway of rides turns magical as the neon lights come on twirling and twinkling. I hear screams of joyous terror as the rides carry folks to heights and then spin them around to the ground. From the Grandstand comes the roar of the crowd welcoming Tayor Swift to North Dakota. Walking through this maze of roller-coasters, ferris wheels, and other tummy-tumblers I think of this poem:

"Backward, turn backward, O Time in your flight

Make me a child again just for tonight."

(author unknown)