The Little Things

It all started with a hat, and me of course wanting the pink one...

After spending a weekend in Louisville, Ky. at the NAILE with my family and friends, one lady made me really realize about how it really is the "little things in life that matter."

This woman, Mrs. Karen Richey, is really amazing. She and her husband, Tom, are truly dedicated to agriculture, and especially the cattle industry. Karen was also diagnosed with breast cancer last spring.

Sitting ringside with them, I began to see why Karen is so wonderful.

She cares about her family. She drove 6 hrs. with her husband to see her sons working on cattle they sold, and to watch the shows of the breeds they raise themselves, many of which trace back to their bloodlines.

She is super sweet. My brother works for them with their sale cattle, and even bought his 2 favorite heifers EVER (Karen and her half sister Karebear). He, and the original Karen (Richey), text weekly, just to keep up on the calves.

Finally, she has the most positive attitude. She's currently going through her second round of chemo, and obviously has no plans of giving up.

Now, as I proudly wear my Richey Show Steers hat (the one with green writing), I understand why my little brother INSISTED on keeping the one with the pink writing.

"It's for Karen, Robin. Duh."

My Lifeline.

i am obsessed with this thing.

i use my iphone for EVERYTHING. and i'm probably their best spokesperson, apple that is. this phone is the reason i can manage my own life. the end!

so tell me, what's your lifeline?

Yay for new random followers! Look for new posts coming later this week. Perhaps even tomorrow! :)

friends in low places

it's been ... forever since i've blogged, but i've been traveling a lot! like i literally was in manhattan only 1.5 weeks the entire month of september. but now i'm back and i should probably reflect a little one where i've been and what i've done.

you should also know that the dairy judging team is full of nicknames --- robin = chong. deanna = depat, zipper, debag. justin = j-slut.

1st: the dairy judging team and i attended our first contest in viroqua, wisc. it was a decent first EVER dairy contest for 2 of us, and as a team we placed 5th in holsteins and 4th in brown swiss. this is where we learned we do NOT like milking shorthorns. but the team spent some quality time in the van, and we hung out in the ghetto of des moines --- all innocently looking for the liquor store. thank goodness for la pita, our trusty garmin.

2nd: after returning to manhattan for 2 days and then leaving for omaha on wednesday afternoon, it was time to head to ak-sar-ben to finish my summer internship. this was a wild 4 days where i ran across the qwest center like a crazyyyyy person. but i got to help with ALL parts of the event, and it was amazing to see it all come together.

3rd: sunday night, i cut out of the qwest center to head to the airport to fly to madison, wisc. to meet up with the team. i landed in madison at 10:30 and judged the World Dairy Expo contest at noon the next day. after 12 classes and 6 sets of reasons, we totally deserved the free beer they gave us at 7:30 pm. we had awards the next morning, where i placed 8th in ayershires, depat placed 6th in brown swiss, the team was 10th in reasons and ended up 13th overall. it's really sad how one class can totally RUIN your scores. whatever, we learned a LOT and walked away with a better outlook on dairy cows.

now i'm back in manhattan and getting ready to focus on school. and tough enough to wear pink, as it starts next week! more to come on that.

OH! and the name of this post is a garth brooks song, just for depat. you see, she can't handle garth brooks so we made her listen to it. i can't handle nickleback so we had a wholeeee nickleback hour in the van. perhaps the next post will have a nickleback title?

Fellowship

It's no secret that I love people. I enjoy quality conversation, and learning where people come from --- why they act the way they do --- and just getting an inside look into their world. I think by asking a few questions you can learn a lot about a person.

But FIRST, I am a huge sucker for a quality handshake. Don't skirt around, please just grab my hand, look me in the eye, and repeat my name. This makes it easier for me to remember you, and more than likely talk to you again and smile at you when I see you out and about.

After this initial handshake, I'll ask the individual where they're from. People here in Kansas are usually surprised to hear I'm from Indiana and then the conversation carries on from there.

If the hometown option doesn't work, I then usually ask them about their occupation. Coming from a diverse background, I like to think I can talk about anyone about practically anything...

Again, if that doesn't work say something about your surroundings, their outfit, etc. Remember to shy away from yes or no questions and instead focus on "why," "how," or "what" starting words.

These few rules have served me well so far, and I hope they'll work for you too.

peace&love.

Dairy Judging

According to my non-agricultural minded friend Kimbell, judging teams are where there are judges judging your judging ... and in a way she's right.

This school year I will be competing on the Kansas State University Dairy Judging Team. The cows I will be judging will be giving milk, some 20 lbs. a day (OR MORE).

We judge classes of 4 cows or heifers at a time, and then give oral reasons to an official (aka another judge) who then in turn gives us a score out of 50 points. Your original placings of the cows/heifers are judged against an "official placing" and given a score out of 50.

The point is to get you to choose exemplary livestock and then justify your placings with these aforementioned reasons. I'm sorry if this is confusing.

I judged livestock and meats in high school, but never dairy. I decided that I wanted judging to be a part of my K-State experience and dairy just kind of worked with my schedule. So here I am, embarking on the world of dairy cows.

Tomorrow I begin at 5:30am, now I just need to put phrases like "foreudder" "teat placement" and "defined vertebrae" into my vocabulary. Wish me luck!

Here's a link from the University of Georgia, that shows how I will use these terms in a set of oral reasons.

ak-sar-ben.

Alright everyone. Take a little bit, stare at that title and try to decipher what it means.

Okay, I'll admit it took me years (quite literally) to figure it out. Ak-Sar-Ben is NEBRASKA backwards, and also the name of the place I've been working. For a full explanation, keep reading.

I am currently (well, until Saturday) for the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation in Omaha, Neb. the knights are a nonprofit group who's goal is "To leverage collective business leadership to build a more prosperous Heartland."

So basically we butter up the rich business people in Omaha & beg them to give us $$. As you can tell, this is my least fave part of the job.

MY FAVORITE part is planning ARCR, Ak-Sar-Ben's River City Rodeo & Stock Show, aka the world's second largest rodeo under the NFR, and a huge stock show (my specialty) which allows about 1200 junior exhibitors from 9 states (CO, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD & WY) to show quality livestock.

The group also focuses on scholarships & "Quivera" the Coronation Ball business, which I jokingly refer to as "The Real Housewives of Omaha". It's like debutantes and escorts and kings and big dresses.

I love this job, and the people are spectacular! I would definitely recommend coming to the event, Sept. 23 - 26 at the Qwest Center Omaha. Plus, you'd get to see me :)

http://aksarben.org/

http://rivercityrodeo.com/

If you check out the rivercityrodeo website, we have done a complete website redesign this summer and I really think it's fun & exciting to look at.