We pushed hard and put in a long day driving on Saturday to make it to Wally and Bev’s in the wee hours of Sunday morning. The girls seemed happy to be back on the road and just as happy to get out and stretch their legs in TX on a Sunday to kick back and R&R before continuing on the road home. The hospitality and accommodations for both our goats and us were wonderful as usual. We all needed the rest and stretch and greatly appreciated it before heading out early Monday morning for our final home stretch.



We had a leisurely Sunday morning after sleeping in and enjoyed the morning rest with good company and it was obvious even the dogs had a great time enjoying the friendships.


Piglet is Trudy’s little companion and was our traveling buddy across country, she gave us all some moments to laugh about during the trip.



After lounging around and sharing National show news, Wally and Bev took us out for Sunday brunch to one of their favorite little TX diners.

When we’d finished the scrumptious brunch Wally took us for a drive to visit his neighbor who was harvesting his wheat off one of his parcels. During the drive back we came across a deer crossing the road (to get to the other side...haha) but all I was able to catch of the young buck was his tail end.





Once back again, the day was quickly coming to a close and Monday morning was coming all to soon. I took pleasure in Wally’s small cattle herd and couldn’t resist snapping a few photos of his fine-looking beef cattle.




As sunset quickly approached, we went outside to take in the last bit of the day outside together.


I had always loved our Barn Swallows in MN and when Beverly pointed out their nest on their front porch it brought back a flood of memories and my love of the little birds.




Almost home and I still never tire of the beauty of the Southwest.

These are a few more highlights of the 2010 National show, which were special to me. ADGA’s National show photographer Steve Pope took this photo. He’d taken this candid photo of us in the championship lineup. It’s actually the only rear udder shot I have of Pudd’n at the 2010 Nationals due to the time restraints happening in those moments of her win and a milk out for Best & Res. Best Udder. She looked so beautiful and she knew it.
Here are our two beautiful awards; the pottery piece platter we received for Res. National Champion and the pitcher was awarded for Res. National Best Udder.

Don & Lee Jackson of New Rocky Comfort Nubians owns and operates a successful business called Buck Run Pottery, creating stunning hand made stoneware. They had been commissioned by ADGA to provide the trophies for the 2010 ADGA National Show. Don and Lee had a booth set up at the show, displaying some of their work. In this photo of Don and Lee standing in their booth, you may have noticed a little paper mache goat with them. She was a little paper mache piece I made on a whim and a last minute idea for our club that was hosting the ADGA convention in 2010. She was named Tucson by majority vote of our members and became SADGA’s mascot, traveling across the United States and abroad, promoting the 2010 ADGA Convention that was held in Tucson AZ. in October of 2010, hosted by our local club SADGA. Tucson was carried about during the week of the Nationals getting lots of photo opts and was generally a lot of fun.

Here is Tucson held by ADGA's 2009-2010 Youth reps, Hannah and Bethany

The Kitchen's have been a staple for many years at the both the ADGA Nationals and ADGA Conventions over the years, so getting a photo opt with them was fun!

Here she went with Caroline into the Wine & Cheese banquet.

These last two pictures I treasure which were taken of Evin Evans of Split Creek Dairy as she handled the show secretary that day for one of the breeds.

After a long day of showing, the ladies had time to rest, relax and generally hang lose and munch on hay for a week in KY getting all kinds of attention.
One of my highlights was a surprise visit from the Wendt family! They began investing in Jacobs Pride animals back in 2006 and have flourished with them ever since, much to our delight and over the years, becoming trusted friends.

One of the joys of attending a National show is to see friends you don’t have the opportunity to see any other time other then through e-mails, phone calls or websites. Anne was one such blessing. Who truly became a true blessing for our little Morie, who’d become sick shortly after arriving. Anne being a licensed vet, was able to intervene using her knowledge that I believe was a saving grace for Morie (thank you again Anne!) Needless to say, when situations like this arise, the bond of friendships deepen.



Trudy had a taste for real southern pulled pork so she went on a search and found this small, eclectic family run establishment that is actually nationally recognized for their food. Wow, what a score! Great job Trudy! We patronized their establishment on a few occasions while we were in KY, including one evening with a small group of friends. Naturally, a great time was had by all!






One of the fun parts of the evening was the entertainment that’s an established part of the little restaurant. The singer reminded me of a male Phoebe Buffay on the T.V. series Friends who welcomed any participation, making for a fun time. As those who’ve heard Caroline sing, knows what an outstanding voice she has. She can belt out a Patsy Kline song beautifully. I think she was a surprise to the performing artist. And speaking of surprise, quiet, seemly shy Ryan got up without hesitation to sing and he sang well too! Those two belted out some western tunes to be relished and most definitely remembered!



As with everything in life, the times both good and bad come to an end. And so it was with our time at the Nationals. A great time with lasting memories had come to an end and it was time to quickly pack up and hit the road back home. Check out on Saturday, giving us a small window of time to make it back home for Marshall and Trudy and begin their workweek back at the hospital.

Kentucky! We’re here!!! We finally arrived around 5 pm that afternoon. I guess we’d cut it close but we hadn’t noticed. We had a good, safe trip and had arrived safely, with everybody making the journey without incident and in good health, always a good thing when traveling with milkers over such a distance. The herd was visibility happy to be at their destination. Tired, but definitely happy.

After arrival and going through the vet check-in, sign in, unloading, setting up and getting all our girls nestled in, we were able to begin the tasks of preparation for the big show day on Monday. Nubians were the first breed lined up to show that week, which I was glad for. No counting down the days with tension mounting when we show. With class entries of anywhere from 60 to 70 plus Nubians per age class, last minute grooming details are important. Interestingly, I found that showing in such large classes for me to be less stressful then showing in our local shows of 10 to 15 Nubians per class. At the Nationals, in a huge ring that is a sea of goats encompassing the entire ring I feel somehow comforted by the mass, knowing fellow exhibitors are feeling the same high excitement and anxiety too of showing their animal at the Nationals. Somehow that brings a strange comfort to me. Would that be likened to the saying that misery loves company? However, I had a special treat this year when a friend showed my Crisy. I think it was more nerve racking standing ringside just standing and watching, hoping she’d make the cut. In the Nubian classes the sizes they are, the Judges make a cut of 20 does out of the majority to begin their final Judging and line-up placements and excuse the rest of the animals in the class. So hoping to be in the cut holds anxiety. The up side to standing ringside and watching someone else exhibit your animal is being able to actually watch and take pictures. And take pictures I did.

I was very happy that all 7 of our girls we took to Nationals made the cut.

Starting out, with our 3 juniors.

In Class 71: Junior Kid, Morie placed 15th.

In Class 73: Senior Kid, Fiesta Puddn Ol’e placed 4th

In Class 75: Senior Yearling, Cameron Doeiaz placed 14th

In Class 76: Best 3 Junior Does, Morie, Fiesta and Cameron placed 5th

With our 4 milkers, in Class 79: Two Year Old Milker, Misty placed 3rd with 3rd udder

In Class 80: 3 Year Old Milker, Sunny placed 19th, just barely making the cut, that was a close

In Class 82: 5 And 6 Year Old Milker, Crisy placed 8th

And in Class 83: 7 Years And Older Milker Pudd’n placed 1st with 1st Udder. And the rest is history going on to achieve the National Res. Grand Champion title, Res. Udder and Top Performer

In Class 84: Nubian Dairy Herd, placing 3rd Place. Class 85: Best 3 Senior Does (Pudd’n, Crisy & Misty) 6th place

Class 87: Produce Of Dam with Pudd’n and Sunny, 2nd Place.

All in all, with all 7 animals making the cut, 3 does in the top 20 (14th, 15th & 19th pl.) one in the top 10 (8th pl.) 3 does in the top 6 (1st, 3rd & 4thpl.) it was an awesome National show for us.