The Fair is a Special Kind of Fun

We took the animals to the fair over the weekend. That is always a fun time. It ranks right up there with marathon mall shopping with four kids in tow.

Many people decorate their horse stalls. They go all out, too. Pictures of the horse that is right there in the stall. Name plates so that we know who we're looking at. Sometimes there are awards and ribbons they've won in the past proudly displayed just in case you were wondering if the horse is any good, or just good to look at. And then my personal favorites, the ones that hang fabric over the entire stall and curtains in the door so that you can't see the horse you're there to see. I had the notion that I would mock them all by putting up the tackiest decor ever, but it occurred to me that it would not be perceived as tacky but as very stylish and cute. So the red leather fringed cowboy vest, green straw hat, bandanna and lasso that I took over sat in the car instead. I hung the halters and lead ropes, and that's the extent of my decor.

Somewhere between lunch and the bathing of the pigs, Micah discovered this discarded stash. He donned the vest and hat, and wanted me to tie the bandanna on him so that he could pull it up over his nose. It looked especially dashing with a shirt that said HUNK and jersey shorts. What are you gonna do? He was entertained and that was huge when there was work to be done.

Luke and Micah shared the cowboy gear back and forth as the pigs were cleaned, then we headed back across the fairgrounds to bath the ponies. While the fair is an excellent place to portray What Not to Wear, there were plenty of stares and chuckles at our urban cowboy. I told Becky, "it's a good thing that we're used to Micah, otherwise he'd be so embarrasing." He was so thrilled with his outfit. The boy makes me smile.

There is a concrete pad to wash the horses on so that you're not standing in mud. This is genius, except when the drain is plugged. The ankle deep water was such a nice shade of did that come off the horse or out of it that I wasn't about to dig around in it hoping to find the mess of yuck holding up the water flow. I was not thrilled to have to stand in it, but there was little choice, and I was covered in pig poo anyway so what was murky horse water?

It didn't take long for Micah to start wading. He took off his shoes for the event. While I was slightly grossed out, I figured that his crocs weren't any better than barefoot what with all the holes in them leaking muck onto his feet. I didn't say anything.

As he was splashing around in the murk, a few of Becky's friends wandered by. We all started chatting. Another horse was led onto the wash block and I kept gently reminding Micah to stay on our side of the muck puddle because not every horse is used to little boys splashing around behind them. I'd hate for him to get kicked.

Somewhere around this point I noticed that one of Becky's friends had a look of entertained shock on her face as she looked over my shoulder. She started to say, "Uh, Micah..." but I didn't hear the rest. I saw.

Oh.

My.

Word.

I Saw.

The boy was sitting stark naked in that lake of murk, splashing away like it was his own personal swimming pool.

He was sitting in it.

Naked.

It takes a whole lot to skeeve me out. A WHOLE lot. I was raised on a farm. I am a dog midwife. I am the mother of boys. I don't skeeve easily.

I was thoroughly skeeved by Micah sitting in that pond. Nekkid. The embarrassment factor never kicked in, but I did wonder what kind of worms one could pick up from swimming nekkidly in dung water.

Can one bleach their boy's nethers? Is that safe? What if said boy needed his nethers bleached really badly?