FIRE ON MAIN STREET IN NASHVILLE, AR

Justin Billinger from KJEP posted these picture of the fire which is burning in downtown Nashville, AR. It started around 4:15 p.m. Three buildings are possible destroyed and more are expected to be destroyed.

I just saw on KLSA that all of the fire departments in Howard County are attempting to control the fire. It was reported that no one is thought to be harmed but hundreds of people are crowding the street to see the fire.

The area burning are the buildings just south of the Post Office.

2010 FAIR SEASON BEGINS...

Madasan's 2010 Fair Season started this week. For the first time she will not be starting the show season in our county. Because of a conflict with the 4-States Livestock Show she decided to show in another county so she could participate in the 4-States Fair.

There is so much work that goes into getting ready for the BIG SHOW. The girls got their cattle in the show barn on Monday afternoon. They had to put shavings out for the cattle and do a little decorating. Madasan stays at the barn all day. She exercises her cattle, bathes them and sees that they have feed and water. All day spent in a cattle barn is so much fun (in my opinion...you can tell by my picture that I was already hot and with the sun coming in it makes me look like I am bald).

Madasan is showing an older heifer and a young bull. One of her friends, Shonda, is showing one of her heifers. She is hoping she has some winners this year.

She misses a week of school so she collects her assignments and does her homework during the down time at the barn.

She participates in the county, 4-States, district and state competition. This means she misses quite a bit of school but so far she has been able to keep up with her studies and her grades don't seem to suffer.

She shows her cattle on Wednesday night starting at 6:00 p.m. After the show she is required to keep her animals in the barn until Saturday night. That makes for a long week.

Sheyanne is attending college in DeQueen so she takes Madasan and a friend to the barn, she goes to class and then returns to the barn for the remainder of the day. Their mom goes over during the day and then both parents go over until bed time and bring the girls home.

Sheyanne no longer gets to show but is around to do some bossing and helping out.

**Madasan won Reserve Champion on her bull and heifer and Shonda won Reserve Champion at the Sevier County Fair. Madasan was disqualified in Showmanship because she decided to show the young heifer that she had raised that Shonda showed. One of the fair officials disqualified her because she was not showing one of the animals she showed in the show earlier. No one told her that this was not allowed. It seemed a little strange to me that she was disqualified for having the wrong animal since Showmanship is judging the child on their showmanship skills and has nothing to do with the animal.

REMEMBERING...

It has been a while since I added to my blog. So I thought I would come up with something…Reading FaceBook tonight I saw all of the excited parents with their little ones starting back to school, teachers starting off with a new group and for a moment I had withdrawal pains of what once was. For thirty-nine years I felt that excitement on the first day. I always looked forward to what the new year would bring.

Despite the few problem children, problem parents, problem teachers, new rules and regulations I still found the majority of the people I worked with enjoyable. I tried very hard to make our school an enjoyable work place, a place that the teachers and children didn’t dread coming to each day. Today my thought went back to the good days of being at school for so many years.

I am now enjoying my retirement. I think my health could be a little better but I am thankful that things are going as well as they are. I recently spent three days in the hospital. I had a combination of dehydration, anemia and some kidney problems. Since returning home I am feeling much better. I am on a pretty rigid Renal/Diabetes Diet and am eating more but enjoying it less. Sometimes you must do things you don’t like to get better. I’m working on it.

My granddaughter is starting in a new direction with her education and I have been a little anxious about that. She had some problems with one of her classes in the nursing program so she couldn’t continue with the program until next summer. She decided to enroll in CCCUA over at DeQueen. She is taking some nursing classes but is trying Ag. Business and has joined their new Rodeo Team. The Rodeo Team will be traveling all over and participating against other College Rodeo Teams. She is really excited about this. I just hope it works out for her.

The other granddaughter is in the ninth grade. She plans to play basketball and continue showing her cattle and participating in the High School Rodeo Association. Last year she was in the finals and is hoping that she will do better the coming year. As you can see, participating in barrel racing is big on the girl’s list.

My daughter’s poultry business has been pretty exciting recently. All of her help left and she has been working extra hard to keep her head above the water. Her hens are just beginning to get with laying eggs (around 3,000 per day in each house) so the girls are pitching in to help in the afternoon and she has two guys that help in one house. They are searching for a new crew to help run things. She takes care of four egg houses but two are without hens at the present time.

Now let me share the latest on my dog, Tuff. I had kept him on a chain for quite some time and finally decided that it was just too cruel so I let him run free. Surprisingly he stays around the house and does very little wandering around and getting into trouble. He begs to stay in the cool as much as possible so guess what…he stays in the cool. He is a very well mannered dog and loves me dearly. Sometimes, when I’m having a pity party, I think he is the only one that does love me.

My quote for today is the following: Maybe it’s true that life begins at fifty. But it’s then that everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out. ~unknown

MY BEAUTIFUL COWGIRLS

MADASAN BILLEE

SHEYANNE BRETT