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History Repeated...and Made

8/28/2016

Once upon a time there was a nineteen year old girl who went to a college in Idaho to gain her education.   While there she met her true love, married and lived mostly-happily ever after.

Once upon a time, twenty years later, there was a nineteen year old girl who went to the same college in Idaho to gain her education.   While there she met her true love, married, and will, hopefully, live mostly-happily ever after.

Twenty years after my sweet sister Marjorie (age 19 at the time) met her husband at college in Rexburg, ID, her daughter (my niece), age 19, met her sweetheart at college in Rexburg, ID. and agreed to marry him. Lanae Noel Watkins, was sealed for time and all eternity in the San Diego temple to her true love, David Varner, on August 8, 2016…..and we were there.       WHAAAA-WHOOOO!

The wedding was nice, catching glimpses of Lanae and David amid the hubbub was great, and being with my siblings and parents was truly fabulous.    All of us gathered: Blaine and Cathy from Lompoc, CA, Wright and Carole from Issaquah, WA, Marjorie and Jason from Las Vegas, NV, and Brad and Nikki from Palm Bay, FL.

When Brad and Nikki suggested that they fly into Salt Lake City from Florida and then drive to San Diego with us in our van, I thought they were crazy.    Truly crazy.    Why would they voluntarily subject themselves to an additional travel time?   Didn’t they realize that there is an airport in San Diego?

I did not express my thoughts, only my consent.   “We’d love to have you drive with us,” I said.   And we did.    Love it. Truly love it.   We played Pinochle, ate black licorice, and explored rural CA neighborhoods as we evaded the traffic jams caused by the wildfires that shut down Interstate 15.       Let the good times roll and they did.   As our tires rolled down the freeway our fun rolled (and multiplied) in the car.

The good times rolled the whole five days, from the San Diego temple grounds to the lingerie aisles in Target to the church gym in North Las Vegas that was magically (if magic includes all-day decorating efforts performed by a large crew of family and friends) transformed to look like the lobby of a five star hotel.   I imagine the good times rolled with Lanae and David (and perhaps multiplied…!!) on their honeymoon as well.     WHAAAAA-WHOOOO!

Tanah...."Always a bridesmaid, never a bride"..... Well, not never a bride but hopefully not a bride for a long time!

My sweet sister who is 11 years younger than I and who probably will be a grandmother much sooner than I!

My youngest brother and my youngest daughter

Boys will be boys, even when they are in white shirts and ties!

Sometimes Miles had found the wedding more enjoyable than at other times....

My beautiful daughter (one of them, that is!)

My oldest brother whom everyone assumes is my older brother.

My favorite Dominican missionary and my oldest brother's favorite wife

They were trying to get Clarisse to smile. (It didn't work....)

My distinguished brother (one of them that is!)

My youngest Father

The crazy couple who flew to SLC so they could drive to San Diego with us.

My mother and her baby

The gym transformed to a five star hotel lobby

Ohhhh, how cute!!!

Clarisse's favorite brother-in-law

My baby....

...and his babes!

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Let Them Eat Cake!

8/14/2016

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“Let them eat cake.”

Let them eat cake indeed.   Literally.

Three weeks ago we weighed the pigs and discovered, much to our dismay, that they were not on track to make weight for the fair.    Not good.   Really, REALLY not good.

In order to show one’s animal at the fair it must weigh a specified minimum amount on the Tuesday of fair week.   In order to sell one’s animal at the Junior Livestock Auction, one must show one’s animal at the fair.   And, in order to make a profit on one’s animal, one must sell it at the Junior Livestock auction.   The math is simple.   Sell at the auction = make several hundred dollars on the pigs.    Don’t sell at the auction = lose several hundred dollars on the pigs.

The math to figure average daily rate of gain is relatively simple as well and the numbers indicated we were in trouble.   The 1.5 lbs./day they were gaining was not enough to get them to the target weigh by August 9.     Enter the cake.

For three weeks, every morning and every night, after eating her fill of her regular food, each pig got her own bowl of cake batter, made of a cake mix, three eggs, and whole milk.     Let them eat cake!

And they did.   Grace’s pig’s average daily rate of gain jumped to 3 lbs./day; Miles’ pig’s was slightly lower.   Both pigs made the minimum weight; Miles’ was 7 lbs. in the clear and Grace’s 11 lbs.    Let the show begin!

Show day dawned and the pigs were uncharacteristically ornery.   Grumpy.   Almost hostile.    Taking an ornery, grumpy, borderline hostile pig into the show ring is not ideal….   And they had been kind and cooperative pigs in all our past interactions.    What was going on?

Ah ha!   Could it be they wanted cake?   For weeks they’d had two-a-day but we’d not given them cake since they’d made weight two days earlier….   A quick trip to Grandma’s house, two cake mixes, six eggs, and two cups of milk later the pig’s docile temperament was restored.

The show began and it began well for us.    In the first hog class of the day, Miles’ pig placed second (in a class of 12 hogs) earning her the right to complete in the weight division finals.   [There were 165 hogs in the show, divided into 4 divisions of 4 classes each.]     In the second hog class of the day, Grace’s pig earned first place honors so she also qualified for the division finals.

In the light weight division finals Grace’s hog again placed first—FIRST!!!—which qualified her for the championship round.   Miles’ hog placed 8th in the class.   He did not qualify for the championship round but, because he qualified for the division final, his hog received “Star Class” designation which meant he got a cool ribbon (nice) and a spot high up in the auction order (VERY nice as a high auction order spot generally means a higher price at auction).

Being in the championship round made Grace very happy—VERY, VERY HAPPY—but it did NOT make her hog happy.   The animal was tired of the noise, the heat, and the exercise; its only desire was to return to the pen for a nap.   Grace tried to enter the judge’s line of sight while the pig tried to exit the show ring.   Neither of them succeeded very well. Gratefully it was the pig’s external features being evaluated, not its internal attitude.    And it had a great butt!   Its ham was huge, its shoulder wide, its torso long, and its final placing was 8th over-all.   Grace was in hog heaven!    Eighth of 165 hogs is in the top 5%, the best a Hislop animal has ever done.    WHAAAA-WHOOO!

Grace’s hog’s attitude remained ugly so showmanship was a wash.   [Junior livestock participants generally show twice a day. The first show judges the animals, the second show judges the participant’s ability to present their animals.] Miles, on the other hand, excelled.    He kept his animal in front of the judge, maintained eye contact, and radiated confidence and professionalism.    He was clearly one of the best in his class and was invited to participate in the championship round.

In the championship round he was rocking it and he knew it.   Again, he was driving the pig (rather than following it), was keeping it in the judge’s line of sight and was maintaining almost constant eye contact.    The judge told him to pen his hog, which he did effortlessly.   Then the judge told him to re-enter the show ring which he did confidently…and tragically.

When he re-entered the ring, he neglected to close the pen gate.   “Close the gate, close the gate, close the gate….” Grace, Joe Diorgano (their 4-H leader), and I silently willed him.   “Please close the gate.”    Our willed wishes did not make it across the show ring and the gate remained open.

At the championship level of competition, leaving the gate open is a fatal flaw.   Like stepping across the line in a gymnastic floor routine, it is a small error with huge consequences.     Sweet Miles, who knew he was excelling, did not realize he’d fallen and, when he did not place, he was more than crestfallen.    The tears did not show until he’d exited the show ring but they did make their appearance.    Ouch.       Nonetheless, being invited to the championship round is something to celebrate and learning, at 12, to shut the pen gate is a good thing.   (What are the chances the lesson will extend to learning to shut the house door???)

Grace also entered a sheep in the fair. Her lamb, a mediocrely muscled animal, easily made weight (which was nice) and placed in the middle of its market class (which was expected).    Her super sheep moment came in the showmanship class where, despite not having shown a lamb for years, she was invited into the championship round. Though she did not place, being there placed her on a happy high.

Market class rankings and showmanship honors are nice but the bottom line is the auction. For the kids, the livestock’s main purpose is to make money and that happens (to one degree or another) at the auction.   Though all the animals sell, some sell at much higher prices than others and everyone’s hope—parents and participants alike—is that their animal’s selling price will be on the higher end of the spectrum.

Grace and her hog entered the auction arena and the bidding began.   Much to our surprise, there was actual back and forth bidding.   [Always before our animals have sold to the first bidder, a charitable someone who took pity on us and raised their hand.]    Four dollars a pound…four and a quarter….four and a half….   Finally sold at $5.50/lb.!!!

Miles’ hog also entertained several back and forth bids, selling at $4.25/lb.

Though its auction price was not the highest, the lamb’s auction experience was the most gratifying.   The man who bought Grace’s hog last year, impressed by her letter and her demeanor, told her that he’d bid on her animal again this year.   He bid on her hog (which was the reason the price went so high) but lost the bid so he tried again with her lamb.   Grace says she saw him bid himself up several times before someone else entered the bidding.   Again, the bidding went back and forth, settling finally on $4.75/lb, sold to……. Joe Diorgano, her 4-H leader!    Grace showed wearing her FFA jacket and, aside from attending two judging contests with Joe, did little with 4-H this year.   Joe has 45 members in his 4-H club, one of whom is his own daughter.    And he bought Grace’s lamb.    “She earned it,” he told me later. “She is such a hard worker and a good person.”

My heart is so full.   SO FULL.   It is filled with gratitude for the generous folks at Wadman Construction and Les Schwab Tire of Roy who bought the pigs.    It is filled with immense and intense gratitude for the owner of Diamond K who bid on Grace’s animals both times and is the reason her sale prices were as high as they were and to Joe who donates lots and lots of hours and now lots and LOTS of money to 4-H kids.   I am also incredibly grateful to all of you, family and friends, who boosted the kids, augmenting their college/mission accounts and their confidence.    Thank you and thank you.

Cake got the kids to the fair.   The auction was definitely icing on the proverbial cake. YUM!

Let them eat cake....and eggs and whole milk!

Butt shaving is only one of the many things one does to prepare for fair.....

A blue ribbon butt!

Miles rocks it with the pig....

...and with the judge.

Happy to be in the pen!

Show lamb

Show hog

Pig tails!

Thanks to last year buyers....and a BIG SHOUT OUT to this year's buyers: Les Schwab Tire of Roy, Wadman Construction, and Joe Giordano.

A happy Hislop!

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Family Reunion or Family Vacation?

8/7/2016

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What is the difference between a family reunion and a family vacation?

I am not sure but Tanah is.   “This is not a family reunion,” she said. “This is a family vacation.   I hang out with these people all the time.”

Well, maybe not all the time but certainly a lot……   We are blessed to see our Hislop cousins/niece/nephews, siblings/aunts/uncles, and parents/grandparents frequently.   And we love it. The frequency of our exposure does not diminish the intensity of our pleasure.

Such was the case this week at Bear Lake.   We (Grandparents Hislop, all of their local grandchildren except Miles and Chick) Jill (Hislop) and Kurt Gibson, Kim (Hislop) Meikle, Chris and Sallie Hislop, and Lance and I spent Monday and Tuesday together and thoroughly enjoyed our family reunioning at our joint family vacation.

While there we performed several experiments.

Raspberry Shake Taste Test: We bought raspberry shakes at all the places in town that advertise “The Greatest Shake” (there are many!!) and compared them. The consensus opinion was that the shakes made at Chevron were the creamiest but Le Beau’s shakes were the unanimous over-all winners—more raspberry taste.
Knee in Rail Fit Test: Adult knees should not be inserted in between the slats on the porch railing. They tend to swell and can only be removed by greasing them with butter and pulling….hard. It is painful. I know this from personal experience.
Trampoline in Water Jump Test: A huge floating trampoline rented at Bear Lake and towed out into the water can provide hours of fun even with overcast skies and occasional rain. The weather was not warm but the kids and teens were not daunted.
Safe Son Test: Jill urged her father accept the trampoline challenge. “Let Kurt take you out to the trampoline on the Ski-Doo.” Knowing that Lance had not been feeling well and figuring he was safe, Chick said “The only way I will do it is if Lance does.” A nap, a roast turkey sandwich, and a few words of encouragement later, Lance agreed to venture out to the trampoline. Dad Hislop’s reaction: “Oh sh*#!”
Trampoline Trick Test: Eye witnesses declared Drew and Wakely Meikle the clear winners of the trampoline trick challenge though Grandpa’s, Jill’s and Lance’s performances were noteworthy.
B.S. Test: The grandchildren taught Grandpa how to play B.S. He won consistently. [B.S. is a card game won by those who are able to conceal the truth.]
Geography Test: Chris and I failed. We thought we’d ride our bikes around Bear Lake and instead found ourselves on the way to Evanston. FYI: The hill out of Lake Town on the way to Evanston is long….very long. I know this from personal experience too.
Trust Test: Kurt took Jill out on the lake in a kayak. “If you dump me in the water,” she said, “there will be no sex for a week.” He did not dump her…..
Sand Monster Test: Burying children in the sand does not turn them into being monsters. A.J., Grace, and Cooper were all buried to their necks in the sand….and all of them emerged again in their original form. Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the conclusion to this particular experiment is that burying children in the sand does not change them from being monsters…. (JUST KIDDING!!)
Menu Test: Sallie planned the menus—each day had its theme—and everyone’s conclusion was that she did a great job…..and that she should do it again and again and again!

One of the requirements of a valid experiment is that it is replicable, that is it must be able to be repeated and the results verified. All in all, the family vacation/reunion was a very successful experiment however it needs to be validated through replication. Let’s do it again next year folks!

Love,
Teresa