Five Points Off

My Dad and I went to the Gaines, Michigan Rodeo for the second straight year. In relation to some other rodeos we've been to...I guess you would say it is small time. But...still fun.

We both fished deep into our closets for our cowboy hats and boots. Since it was still 90 F...picture the boots with shorts. (Somewhere Roy Rogers is turning in his grave. I think even Trigger just snorted.) A big clump of chew between the cheek and gum completed the outfit. I never have got the spitting part down...so...soon my white cowboy shirt looked like I had spilled a giant-sized caramel latte.

I'm always surprised that they have Brahma bulls. That is one big cow. We noticed that only the young guys were riding them. Maybe it is true that age sometimes brings out the common sense. Only one young lad rode out the full 8 seconds. His photographer Dad was standing next to us. To say he was excited would be a HUGE understatement. How many WOO-HOOS can one guy let out?

Only1 guy survived the bucking broncos, too. How hard can it be to hold unto the back of a horse for 8 seconds? And...I still can't believe they don't use 2 hands. They put that second hand up in the air like they're riding on a roller coaster.

The 2 rodeo clowns were both funny and annoying. The jokes were too long and too corny. After one of the bulls tossed his rider...the announcer said..."Now watch how Ricky the clown works this bull." Ricky never quite made it to the barrel. The bull introduced his huge head to Ricky's hind parts. I've got pictures. Luckily, the bulls horns didn't connect.

The lady barrel racer was having a good run until cutting this turn too short. 5 seconds were added to her time for the infraction. The youngest barrel racer was 10 years old. She was a cutie.

1299 pictures I took. It has taken me so long to look through them...that my blip is now a back blip. Plus...now I have to go downstairs to see if I can get the tobacco stains out of my shirt.

Yippee Ti Yi Yay! Get along little doggies. With my best YEE-HAH...I'm hitting the knapsack. Catch up tomorrow.

(The clothes part and the tobacco part were pure fiction.) Check my flickr page for some wipeouts, and some roping. Slap yer little doggie to the LARGE button to see the look of concentration on the riders face. Maybe she should have concentrated before she knocked over the barrel. Just sayin.