Getting Even

1. Eat my first balanced breakfast in a week.
2. Get ready for the board meeting
3. Yes, that is straw stuck to the back of my sweater

Day 4. Today I didn’t have to go to the Fair. The Manitoba Cattle Producers Association is having its monthly board meeting here in Brandon. Since I do the Association’s newspaper, it’s pretty important that I attend these meetings so that I know what’s going on. If you're interested in seeing copies of "Cattle Country" go to the MCPA website: www.mcpa.net and click on the Cattle Country links.

I left the booth in Janice’s capable hands. In this photo she is watching the reaction of our visitors who were drawn in by the video we have of a cow giving birth to a calf. It's a wonderful video and a real attention grabber.

Janice and I became friends when I first started coordinating these events in the summer of 2006. Her name was given to me by one of the Association’s Directors who said she had volunteered to work the booth in the past. We hit it off right away. I started pestering her during the Amazing Ag Adventure last fall that she should accompany me to Brandon for the week. Being that she is the caterer for her local curling rink, she wasn’t sure if the season would be finished and couldn’t commit. I called her a few weeks prior to the Fair to get a final answer. Her husband Glen answered the phone. We had a long talk, joking and laughing and when we finished, he said, “I’m going to tell Janice you’re really mad at her.” Which of course I wasn’t. She called the following day and sounded tentative. Finally she told me that Glen had told her I was angry. We both laughed at him teasing us and I filed this away for later use.

Halfway through the Board Meeting I was called down to the display to do a media interview. Turns out it was a television interview so I quickly tried to do something with my hair which looked like I’d spent the week at the Fair. The interview went well and when it was over, the reporter asked if there was a cattle producer she could talk to. As it turns out, Glen decided to come out to Brandon for the day. He walked into the booth right then and I snagged him. Of course he did a great job, but afterwards shook his head at me.
“Even?” he asked.
“Even.”
But I don’t trust him. I’m already plotting my revenge against what he’s going to do to me next . . .

The Manitoba Equine Association had the most beautiful horses on display in their booth.




Tonight is our annual get-together after the Fair closes. We all gather in the exhibitor’s lounge and eat pizza and chicken while sampling some of my homemade fruit wine, as well as Donna's homemade cranberry liquer. Yum.