Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Being a fan

Wow! What a week-end! Had a ball!

Thursday, I threw a few things in a bag, filled the gas tank and took off for Colorado. Got to an arena in northeast Springs in time to see my two youngest grand-daughters Annie and Laramie Jo take part in a Little Britches rodeo. It was cold, cold, and the girls weren't either one having a great night but it was fun jut to see them do their thing. I got to see son-in-law being the bull-fighter as he protected young rough stock riders. And daughter was high in the crow's nest announcing not just one arena but two, thanks to a walkie-talkie. I got to climb up there and it was worth it because the view was fantastic and it was not so cold, But the adrenalan rush of the whole weekend for this old fan was when I tripped on the top step of the stairs while looking down through the big gap between step and deck. All this while experiencing a bit of sway under hand and foot. Oh my! Who needs carnival rides when you can get spooked over climbing the crow's nest stairs!

Friday morning the five of us climbed in my trusty Rondevouz and headed for Laramie and the U of Wyoming college rodeo. G-daughter Kaylee is on the Eastern Wyoming College rodeo team at Torrington. Friday afternoon found her in slack in break-away roping. I thought for sure she would be in the top ten, looked fast to me, but her horse Havoc did a itty-bitty hesitation moment before she caught, hardly enough to notice but enough to keep them out of the money. Still pretty amazing for a self-trained girl (for the most part) on a family trained horse. Neither one is a finished deal in this event but are getting oh, so close.

Friday night perf had them in Goat Tying. Results: a smokin 7.5 seconds. I think she was in 3rd at the end of the evening. Following the Saturday perfomances, she was 5th and set to come back in the Short Go on Sunday. This meant we all stayed instead of going home. Seven of us in a nice motel room with two, yes two big tv screens.

Sunday morning we checked out of the motel, loaded up and got to the arena for the last half of Cowboy church. It drives me nuts to be late for church but when you have six girls and one good sport dad in a motel room, we did well just to get us all out of there before noon. I'm sure the Lord will know we were doing good to get there at all.

Kaylee's event led off the Sunday afternoon performance. The top ten girls were all fantastic of course. Kaylee's goat turned as she went for it and I thought for sure it was going to cost her too much time. But when all was done, she tied in 7.3 I think it was, and won the short go and the average, winning her first Champion buckle at the College level.

I'm so proud of her of course, but not because she won. I'm most happy because I know how hard she worked to get there. She decided to go the extra distance to reach this goal. Will winning make her a better person? Probably. But more important is the work ethic, the time management, the dedication, the goal setting that she exercised getting there. Those are skills she will use all her life. Even if she had not made it to the top, she would have won from the road she's traveled to try for it. And the smile muscles she got to exercise at the end were good too.



Way to go Kaylee.

The girls surprised me with an early Mother's Day present - a beautiful necklace and earrings set. I was so surprised, I don't think I did a good job of expressing my appreciation. It knocked me speachless.

We ventured back to the Colorado ranch Sunday night across Colorado backroads I'd not seen before, one of my favorite pasttimes. Monday I headed for home. Wish the distance was about half as far. But it was a good trip. I really missed being able to drive cross country when my eyes were bad. Thanks to a great surgeon, I can now handle long distance driving again. Its the greatest feeling, being that independent!

It was a great extended week-end. I must watch that I don't put off doing things like this. Life is too short!

3 comments:

Cow Pies & Mud Pies said...

Hi
Haven't been over to visit in awhile...sounds like such a fun weekend! What a blessing to be able to drive long distances again! Have a wonderful week!
Les

coloradocowgirl said...

We all read your blog as a family. Kaylee really appreciated it. Ronnie said you should have elaborated on how much he suffers by being the only guy in the motel full of girls. Ha! He wouldn't know what to do if he didn't have a semi-truck, horse trailer, pickup or motel room full of girls. What's really funny is when grandma Mary Jo brings her dog. That really dulls his ego. Ha!

Faithful said...

Wow, how I envy you..having grandkids that rodeo. What fun. Grandkids sure can make a grandma proud, esp when they set a goal and then try so hard to get there. I count my blessings every day.

I loved part about being the only guy in the motel room with so many girls although cowgirls aren't too prissy!