Giddy Up, Yee Ha!

In my opinion, when the college football and National Football League seasons come to an end, we enter a time of purgatory for viewing sports on television.

Football is done.  PGA has started and I like to watch it, but usually only watch the major tournaments.  I rarely tune into college basketball until the NCAA tournament.  I can only watch hockey if I am at the game live, but have soured on it.  I could care less about the NBA and baseball is still over a month away and I have to say, I have lost interest in it until it gets playoff time.

Then there is NASCAR.  After a few conversations with a neighbor and a friend of a friend that are big fans of racing I thought to myself, "Who knows, perhaps I am like the guy from Green Eggs and Ham, how do I know if I never try it?".  Well last weekend I sat down to watch the Daytona 500.  I got about seven minutes in before I realized it wasn't for me, can't do it.

After flipping through the channels today with The Little Man I realized I have found a sport that can help me through this period.  A sport I can truly relate to.  A sport that I feel like, on a small scale, I take part in every day.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the Rodeo!

A few of the primary events that take part in a full rodeo can be seen on a daily basis, right here in the arena I call home.

• Barrel Racing ~ This event features the skill of a cowgirl as she races her horse against the clock in a cloverleaf fashion around a series of three barrels.  This can be witnessed any Tuesday-Thursday morning as I try to gather both children to get ready to take Doodlebug to school. Our main floor has a foyer that runs through the middle of the floor with the living room on one side and the dining room on the other, with the kitchen and eat-in area across the back.  If you use the imagination it kind of resembles a cloverleaf.  In the morning when the call goes out its time to go, off daddy goes racing against the clock around and through the maze of the house to get everyone heading to the garage.
• Steer Wrestling ~ This is a timed event in which the cowboy leaps from his horse, grabs the steer's horns, and attempts to throw the animal to the ground.  This event can break out at anytime we are going out of the house or changing clothes.  The Little Man doesn't like putting on a coat and Doodlebug is quite the nudist, so when it comes to getting dressed, I have to run them down. Then I usually grab them right under the armpits and wrestle them to the bed, sofa, or ground with an outright tickle hold. If done correctly it leaves them on their backs with hands and feet facing skyward to finish the job of clothing the children.  Time!
• Tie-Down Calf Roping ~ Tests both horse and cowboy as they work together to rope and tie a calf against the clock.  A horse and a rope, some days that would be so nice.  I envy those cowboys.
• Bull Riding ~ The most dangerous of all rodeo events, pits the cowboy's courage and riding skill against the speed and power of a 1500 pound bull.  Well maybe my bull is only 22 pounds, but The Little Man is a force to be reckoned with when it's time to saline spray and suck his nose out.  I have to strap myself in with one hand, get the aspirator in the other and try to stay on for eight seconds (or more) to cleanse the nostrils of snot and/or boogers, all the time he is trying to buck me off by flopping of his body and limbs around.  It is an intense ride, with both parties involved coming out a lot happier in the end.

Yes, at any given time our house can become a rodeo.  The cowboy, the cowgirls, the arena, the events, and sometimes even the smell of livestock in the air, when we catch a really bad diaper.

It's truly a thrill for this rodeo clown.

Comments

[Dawn]

Please tell me the similarities between your daily routine and the rodeo end BEFORE we start talking about chaps!

[Hooray For Saturday]

I only pull out the chaps for the nightlife in Soho.

[Dawn]

I'm counting on it!!!!!!!!!!!!