Since my last blog, Mineral Point has had a lot of humid weather, we’ve gotten a good bit of moisture, but not as extreme as parts of southern Iowa. The crops look the best I can remember.

On July 11th, our family all went to the Madison airport to see our German foreign exchange student, Natalie, off. She, with her mom and grandma were heading home back to Germany. Natalie spent approximately 11 months with our family. She was a great kid and a pleasure to have here.

I got to do a clinic at the Simmental Junior National in Des Moines on July 16th. Had a very large turnout. My nephew, Jon Gevelinger, helped me with the clipping and fitting clinic. After the clinic, Jon, Kylie Willard, and myself judged the fitting competition. There were 14 teams and we placed a very competitive group of kids. We placed the top three teams and they announced the winner Friday evening at the banquet. Thanks Jon and Kylie.

Saturday the 17th, I went to Chicago on the shore of Lake Michigan to watch Lauren in a gymnastics tournament She finished 3rd overall on the floor and vault. Lauren and her teammates performed well and seemed very focused.

After the competition, I went to Indiana to look at cattle and back to north of Milwaukee that evening to clip a county fair steer on Sunday.

We are just wrapping up most of our county fairs. We had 4 Grands, a Reserve, and a 2nd place, so we had a pretty happy group of young exhibitors.

Just 2 weeks until the State Fair starts. Good luck to all, then we’ll start gathering calves for the 2010-2011 season.

Bob May