This is a placeholder OP, until I can get a roundtuit with my real story. The Cottonfield County Rodeo was a small part of a long and mostly unfun Mother’s Day weekend for me.
I took pictures, and have a narrative in mind, but I’m too darned tired to mess with it right now. Until I get the story done, here’s the link to a much bigger albumthan mine belonging to another rescue squad member.
Discuss, and carry on.
First!?
Yay!
Sticky, does it help to know that blonde is a state of mind? 
Bobbio, have we ever told you that you’re a model volunteer? Sorry it was such a long weekend. Thought you’d been awfully quiet.
Had a lovely chat then lunch with cousins. Yes, we drove up to Cleveland for a 3-hour visit; our cousins are in Cleveland to go to the Clinic because she has some heart trouble. This makes it twice in one year that we’ve seen each other, for the first time in over 30 years. When we were kids, we would see each other about once a year, but once we hit high school or so it became harder and harder. It was really fun to catch up.
Got home and took a nap.
Now up and watching Bones.
Weekend was way too short.
Hugs to all.
GT
Well here comes Johnny with his pecker in his hand
He’s a one ball man & he’s off to the rodeo
And it’s alaman left & alaman right
Maybe. 
Did you wave as you went up 77? Or maybe you went all the way up 71 instead. In which case, I probably wouldn’t have seen you waving.
5th(of gin!)
Tired. Busy day. Good day. Don’t want to go to work tomorrow, and it’s the Library(!). I just wanna get the stuff I need to get done around the house DONE.
Going out for dessert with a girlfriend tomorrow.
I had a fairly relaxing Mother’s Day.
My son gave me an azalea plant last night, since he had to be at work this morning at seven. My husband gave me a dozen red roses, and my daughter and her boyfriend gave me a box of See’s chocolate.
Once my MiL arrived, we all went out for dinner. We came back here, chatted for a bit, and then MiL left. My daughter and her boyfriend left soon after, and my son left to go work out. I went out to my comfy chair to read on my Kindle, but ended up napping for a bit.
It’s not surprising that I napped. I didn’t go to bed until 1:30 in the morning and was up again at 6:15 this morning.
At any rate, it’s back to the salt mines tomorrow.
I just have to make it till Tuesday night…
One of the big events each year in Cottonfield County is the rodeo. In a place with a total population of 10k (countywide), it ain’t hard to have a big event. Six guys gathering to play poker qualifies…
My bud Tollie and I signed up for first-run duty Friday night, the first night of the event. First-run meant that we took any call out in the county, instead of being arena crew. Lest anyone start pining for a lurid rescue tale, it won’t happen. For us, it was a rare night of butt-picking.
I wandered around the grounds, taking pictures of stuff behind the scenes. I deliberately didn’t take any action shots because theoretically cameras were banned, but no one really cared. Still, I respected the wishes of the event holders in that regard.
The sign marking the rodeo location.
A large portion of the performers came far enough that they set up a trailer city to camp out for the weekend. Lots of equipment was about to be seen.
The juniors sell peanuts to the throngs to raise money to go to the annual EMS convention.This is their stand being set up.
In the general area where the peanut stand was set up, you could buy the usual junk food and souvenirs. This flag caught my eye, and should be self-explanatory.
All of the animals were penned at the south end, but the calves that were roped needed to be held at the north end near the peanut stand because of the way the roping event was run. The calves being driven to the north end holding pens.
The loafing pen they ran back to after being roped.
The bulls at rest. While in this pen, they were pretty docile, but don’t let that fool you. We had 2 riders with minor injuries Friday night, and one got stomped Saturday.
This guy looks like a clown, but that’s not his title. He’s the bullfighter, and his job is to distract the bull by whatever means necessary from the thrown rider. The true rodeo clown also got involved, but he was much more a master of ceremonies type of role. The clown looks like a normal redneck guy, too…
I would be remiss if I did not comment on the raggedy-assed masses in the audience. There were normal looking people, lots of real horse people, and of course the morons who think you have to dress up like a cowboy to go to a rodeo, but have no idea which of a horse you stick hay in to make it go. They stood out like a sore thumb. So, which you seea cute little kid dressed as a biker, he kind of stands out. He’s Tom Tom. the son and grandson of two of the squad members.
I can’t leave this tidbit out. The oddball event of Friday night was one of the deputies caught a couple in flagrante dilecto out in the parking area. They were told to zip up and get a room, and avoided indecent exposure charges.
That’s my trip to the rodeo. Now, I have to go write my rescue tale of why my weekend overall sucked.
I killed my own damned thread. I’m going home. :mad:
C’mon, we’re busy ooing and aahing!
I deposited Mom on the train. The following appears in this week calendar:
Mom will be at the Grandparents,
I may get a call about one of the jobs I’ve got cookin’,
I will water the plants,
and eat whatever I fancy,
and nobody will tell me that “that T-shirt doesn’t go with those jeans!”, which always leaves me wondering how the bloody hell can something not go with black jeans.
Oh, yes, and on Friday I will pick The Kidlet up from school.
I live such a terribly busy life…
::Waves at Johnny and giggles at his song::
Oh, yeah, we waved, Sticky, but it was all the way from 71. Guess that’s why we couldn’t see you waving back.
I know what you mean about wanting to get stuff done, rigs. That’s the kind of morning I’m having today. I’d love to be able to skip today, but I have work waiting to be done…and it has to be done today. Boo.
Hugs to all.
GT
Will look at your pictures, bobbio- I’ve never been to a rodeo and it’s sounds like a blast.
Yesterday was wonderful. My husband arranged a great family trip for us- we took the train from New Haven to NYC. Much giggling ensued. We have memberships to MOMA so we went there to check out the Picasso exhibit. We also were introduced to an unfamiliar (to us) artist William Kentridge. He does some amazing animated work inspired by the political unrest during the fall of apartheid in South Africa. We goofed around MOMA some more and then headed out.
A long walk down Broadway, popped into the MM and the Hershey stores and then off to one of my fave restaurants-Aureole. They had a great Mother’s day dinner going and it was a blast to see my kids really enjoy fine dining. My son swooned over asparagus and poached eggs with prosciutto for an appetizer and my daughter enjoyed her crusted salmon. The waiter even commented on how they seemed to enjoying their meal. It was fun!
Train ride home was fun, sleepy, dark, the kids were funny. I really enjoy hanging out with my family. The kids are funny and interesting to talk to and everyone was very thoughtful.
Good day.
ETA: Bobbio- quite yer whining. 
Great OP, BBBobbio, I still haven’t ever been to a rodeo but it does make me think I might be missing out on one of life’s great cultural experiences, no? However, instead of going to watch some horseplay, I can instead get on a plane and go to Finland to watch a band then get on another plane back home.
Today’s bad news is that I have yet another eye ulcer so after a largely sleepless night due to an extremely painful eye, I spent my morning in the local ER with the drunks and the crazies. So I finally made it to work at midday armed with a box of medication but I will be largely unproductive because I can’t look at this bright shiny screen for more than a couple of minutes at a time.
I think tea and lunch will help though.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’.
BBBobbio sounds like a redneck time was had by all. As usual, we look forward to the rescue tale with bated breath, which is better than baited breath cause that would mean we ate worms.
{{{BooFae}}} hope the eye is better soon. Bright screens and eyesores do not go together. Oh and you have not missed out on one of life’s great cultural events by never havin’ seen a rodeo. Trust me. Now, a NASCAR race is a must do if’n you want to experience American redneck culture at it’s ummm… best.
I need more caffiene.
Later Y’all!
I’m looking forward to the whole story.
And I found out that the little wide spot down the road from us used to be known as “The Rodeo Capital of Michigan”, and they’re trying to give the event some CPR and get it breathing again. The 4th annual Portland Rodeo is coming up next month, and it’s on my MIL’s birthday. Guess who’s visiting then? Guess who’s gonna get taken to see the horses?
The whole Queen City is agog over some sort of NASCAR hall of fame or whatever that’s opening this week. I think half of the population took the day off to celebrate as the roads were clear this morning and I got to work 15 minutes earlier than normal.
Speaking of NASCAR and its firm grip on the fine people of Charlotte, I’ve decided that people driving to work are pretending to be qualifying for a race.
Driving 80 MPH on the freeway was impossible near San Francisco because there were so many cars on the roads. Here, it’s what you have to do in order not to get run over. :eek:
Don’t get me started on people who seem to think their headlights and turn signals are decals…
Morning. Sounds like a fun rodeo, bobbio. You’d think the deputies would have had the sense to wait until they weren’t at the biggest event in town to go at it. Don’t most people know that if they’re over the age of 16?
Good weekend here. We went to a wool festival on Saturday. Sheep, goats, llamas, alpacas, and angora rabbits. And yarn and knitted things. Fun event. This is the second year we’ve gone and I think we’ll probably make it an annual event.
Sunday we took out the plane and flew down to KT’s parents’. Great flight down. We had burgers and brats at their house for lunch and hung out for a while before flying back. Bumpy flight back, but not as bad as last time.
The bad news from our families continues though - one of KT’s cousins died last week. They weren’t close though. The cousin had gotten in to drugs and was in jail when he died, probably OD’d. So not unexpected and neither KT nor his family were surprised. But still unfortunate when someone young screws up their life and dies as a result of their own actions an inability to get themselves out of a bad situation.
Just googled images of angora rabbits. Do you think they may have been the inspiration for tribbles? I didn’t know something so fuzzy could be alive!
We have an awesome rodeo that hits here every year. I have heard so much about it, but have never been able to go. We must now. Your pictures make it look more fun than I’ve heard it is. And I know not to dress like a cowboy when I do! Awesome OP.
And some of us can’t get here til later. Don’t worry: your thread’s not dead. We’re still in bed.
We spent the weekend at Camp Kandu: it’s an overnight camp for children with diabetes and their families. While the kids are out playing, making crafts and exploring the great wilderness, the parents are inside learning about how to cope with diabetes and the newest technologies and advances. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come, and then how much farther we can go.
Our daughter was the only child with type 1 in her school last year: this year there are two more in the grade below. She’ll be alone again next year, as their next school is only for 6th grade. She can socialize with other kids and remember that she’s not by herself in this fight.
