Morning ! ( Before the fair opens)

 Before the fair gates open, before Goth is surrounded by people taking his picture and also enjoying so many other animals, the 'Animals Of the World Barn' is busy preparing the day to greet the public.

Our granddaughter KN is spending her first time with myself and her brother for a week at the fair.She chose to spend her birthday with us here and I am thankful for this.

 A blur of activity and work. The mornings before the fair begins, each barn is busy being cleaned by the exhibitors. We know and appreciate our time in the barn to be available to exhibit the animals we love is a privilege. We start the day early, cleaning our animal pens and making sure they are presentable to the public. Hoping our exhibit is pleasing and also a good presentation for our animals and the fair. After all, that is why we are here, for you!

 KN is camera shy, but allowed me to take this picture of her. My beloved granddaughter is growing up so quickly, and for her to choose to spend her birthday with me and my sheep at the fair means more to me than I can express.She worked hard here, and there was no birthday cake & ice cream, but she seemed to be O.K. with that.

Early morning pictures of our barn. The exhibitors are slowly arriving, quickly cleaning. After our areas are clean and ready for the public, we have our doughnut & coffee break. We visit, we share, we learn about each other's animals.We become friends and begin to care about one another. We hope to see each other next year.

A special benefit of being here is the opportunity to see animals not common to so many. We get to watch camels, zebras, yaks, zedonks,Watusi,and so many other animals show their personalities. This camel was spotted by me reaching his tongue out beyond his pen to gain hay. He would also watch me closely and follow me as I worked. When I got my camera to snap photos he seemed to become very savvy and camera-shy. He would duck, dodge, and hide when my camera was seen. This is the best photo I have of him. When I put my camera away he was  in my face!

Brother and sister, grandchildren I love. A pleasure to be able to camp with them here at the fair, a pleasure to have them here to help me. A family tradition I hope they will remember with love and maybe continue.Even better, that they might love Jacob Sheep. A grandma can hope!

Puyallup Fair 2012

Another great time exhibiting at the Puyallup Fair ! This year I had more help, my granddaughter K.N. is old enough to stay with her brother C.T. & I the 4 nights and 5 days of exhibition in the Animals Of The World barn. We camp there so we're able to get some rest before each busy day.Camping in our trailer makes it even more fun too.

 The front of my exhibit, with C.T. & K.N. at the table, ready to answer questions should I have to take a break.

These pictures were taken before the fair was officially open for the day. No crowds to obscure the picture taking.The sheep pens were clean after our morning clean-up.After picture taking we enjoyed our traditional fair breakfast, doughnuts & beverages ( who eats healthy at the fair ?). Coffee for me!

Side view of exhibit...

..back view. My exhibit is in a center aisle. I needed to create walls to post information about Jacob Sheep, and also create visual borders. I have worked on the design over the years to minimize visual clutter, but as you probably realize, this often requires a cost in supplies and a lot of labor.My husband and I are refining this, because transporting the walls, the sheep, and everything else is also a big thing to take into consideration.

 Goth, my ram. Posing for the crowds.He was very accommodating to photographers this year, and even mellow.I am not exaggerating when I say there must have been thousands of pictures taken of him over the past few years.One would think he is aware of this the way he posed this year.

 

The ewes ( girl sheep ) in their pen.Thora, Tovah, Mally, & Buttercup were here this year, showing the public the varied horn count on each sheep in this breed.

A lot of time and energy, a lot of fun invested in another year at the Puyallup Fair. I am so thankful to have been invited to participate as an exhibitor here, and even more blessed to have 2 of my grandchildren help me out. Our granddaughter K.N. even chose to spend her birthday here with me and her brother.Maybe next year she'll be here too.Lord willing, I will , and so will Goth.