Stock Show - Hog and Heifer Heaven - Yakity Yak

Guess who took no photo equipment to the Stock Show? Hmmmm. And some of us with really fancy cameras. No names. We parked at a dubious parking lot where the attendant apparently absconded with the money and left the cars unattended by the time we had left, around 4:30 - all was well, however. We especially enjoyed the Yaks, a truly intractable breed not fond of halters and especially not fond of packs. The Grand Champion Yak, a 9-yr old bull with amazingly curled and polished horns, flung his considerable bulk on the ground and rolled on his pack. They have a little grunting noise that is their form of communication, and they are talky. Unnnh, unnnnh. The Yak owners and fans accept this behavior and call it the Yak circus. My father-in-law woulda worn out a couple of sticks on those Yaks, I'll tell you.

On to the Scottish Highlanders, who were not being shown that day and generally were reclining in their stalls. There were owners from coast to coast - Vermont, Michigan, Washington State, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Nebraska. The Highlanders have cute bangs and are shaggy with long horns. Built pretty low to the ground and have to have fans going to keep them from overheating indoors. Norman, aforementioned father-in-law, had cattle in North Dakota; his Highlanders wouldn't come in from blizzards, just lay out on the hillsides dusted with snow and ice. I like the red Highlanders, but they also come in a blonde shade, and I saw some dun colored ones. Some of the owners sport kilts, which is a fine sight at the National Western Stock Show.

We breezed by the Angus, finding them incredibly well-groomed but not so interesting, other than the sight of a 900 lb docile steer being groomed with a shop vac and clippers. (The Yaks would not have tolerated that foo-foo treatment.) Also saw Suffolk sheep in beige hoods and capes, which was a startling picture (not that I have a picture of them). We admired the hogs and Herefords, but none of these were being shown, so they were pretty laid back, especially the hogs. Hogs are much leaner than they used to be, being the other white meat. Not svelte, but not porky, either. And squeaky clean.

The smells at the stock show are pungent, authentic and nostalgic: straw, alfalfa, manure; burnt sugar, barbeque and sizzling red meat. You know where you are, home on the range. The cute cowboys in their tight jeans didn't hurt either. Cowboys come in varieties: cute, rugged, or weathered and you never forget who jeans were made for. Uh huh.

I managed to exit the exhibition hall without purchasing one of those sparkly cowgirl belts, but hey. Cheynne Frontier Days is only six months away, and I can save up for one by then.