This Week

This week has been busy, busy, busy. As some of you might have guessed by now, my mom is a HUGE Bronco fan and part of what we do every year is fly her out for a game. This year, as soon as the San Diego game was over and I knew that we had a first round bye, I used points to fly my mom out for the first round playoff game. We got bonus points for it also being the first weekend of the National Western Stock Show. So, my horse time has been limited, but I have been incredibly busy anyway.

To start, I had a wonderful ride on Ashke a week ago Monday. He was incredible and even though we only rode for 45 minutes, I felt like he did really well and tried very hard.

Tuesday, T had a concert that lasted four and a half days. His part was only about ten minutes. He sang very well and seemed to have a good time. Afterwards, I was informed that he volunteered me to make chili for about a hundred people as part of the mystery theater concert they are going to put on in May. Ahhh, at least I have some warning. And a chili recipe that might actually be able to feed that many people.

Weds was frantic house cleaning before I drove out to get mom from the airport. She was there on time and the drive back was uneventful. Thursday she hung out and recuperated in preparation for Friday. J and I ran to the barn on Thursday night to drop of supplements and say Hi to the boy. I found the brand new blanket bag I had proudly hung on his door shredded into three pieces and the blanket out of it. Best we can figure, Ashke and the mare next to him played tug of war with it until it fell apart. J offered to fix it, but I think it's dead, Jim. After visiting with him, we hit Costco for our weekly shopping trip.

Friday we all took a half day and J, Mom, K and I headed to the stock show. T opted to stay home.

 NWSS first started as a sale house for beef being shipped back east.

The cattle are all shown and then auctions are held for each breed of cattle.

There is also an auction of the cattle, sheep, and pig raised by the 4-H kids. The money is placed into a scholarship for college for the winning bid. Usually, the beef is sold to Chris Ruth or Del Friscos, or another high end restaurant for $130k. For one steer.

 Alpacas. Fuzzy faces.

 We spent some time watching the CHJA shows. We got to see one of the trainers from TMR ride her incredible horse, Limit. They were jumping 4' and ended with 12 faults.

The green and purple fence caused a lot of rails. 

Not a bad action shot with the iPhone.

We wandered through all of the exhibits, ate some decent for show food food, bought a couple of small things (I got an ear cuff, Mom got a small pair of earrings,  and then headed home, exhausted. There is something about wandering through huge crowds of people that is too overwhelming for words. The next time I am at the Stockshow grounds will be for the Expo. I can't wait.

On Saturday, Mom and I got hair cuts, then stopped to check on Ashke before hitting Costco for some of the things we had either eaten all of since Thursday night (T has an obsession with the small Chicken Caesar salads they are carrying and managed to eat seven of them in less than 24 hours). Mom liked the barn. We headed home and watched football until late that evening.

On Sunday, J and I decided to take the dogs to the dog park prior to going to the barn. There is a small park close to the barn where we have been before. When we got to the park there were a couple of older people there with older dogs. We opted not to go in. Our dogs can be overwhelming, especially if the people aren't familiar with dog behavior, and I wasn't in the mood for the discussions and recriminations that would be coming my way if either of them was not calm and quiet. Since they are not calm or quiet dogs, I just figured I would save some heartache and just not go in. This particular park has a canal and weeds and downed trees on the far edge away from the paths and fun areas. J and walked out there and let the dogs off of leash to run and play in the weeds and snow.

They had a great time, chasing each other up and down the edge of the field, always returning when I hollered for them. After running like insane dogs, they settled down to playing with each other mixed with searching the undergrowth for scents. J and I both noticed a segment of fence that had barbed wire on it, so we moved further south away from the wire. There were poles, but we both looked and neither of us saw wire. We relaxed and watched them play, calling them back when they tore off too far.

I was watching Skittle run when I heard a twang and spun around to see Lily stagger to her feet at the end of a somersault. I knew what had happened before she managed to limp over to me. She had been running down the canal bank, cut toward her sister and hit a strand (or in this case two) of barbed wire which had flipped her head over tail. It had also cut a couple of pretty good gashes in the soft skin between her legs, as well as taking off all of the hair in a couple of other spots.

I HATE BARBED WIRE!!!

We headed back to the car. J cleaned the gashes with the wipes we had in the medical kit and we managed to bandage it as well as we could for the trip to the barn and then home. She is okay, although there was some swelling tonight (Monday) and we ended up throwing her in the tub and cold hosing the crap out of the area. We are treating with antibiotic cream and it seems to be healing okay.

It's not really slowing her down, however. The t-shirt is to keep the antibiotic gel from getting every where and to help her remember not to lick.

Sunday we went to the game.

 Early to the stadium is the best way to be.

South Stands under the rearing Bronco (the model for the Bronco statue is Trigger - Roy Rogers horse.)

This is what victory looks like - stadium version.

Tonight has been mellow. We are all tired from the game (the cold and the wind really take it out of you - not to mention we stood and stomped and screamed for the duration of the game.) Tomorrow mom heads back to sunny Arizona until April, when she'll come out for T's and her birthday. It's been a great visit and a busy week.