Class day again -- didn't realize it had been a week since I last posted. It has been a really busy week -- my car is in the shop so I have stayed home and cleaned --especially my desk. I am a paper saver. I hate to throw something away because I feel I might need it sometimes. Now understand that I am not a hoarder, but I do like to save certain things.
for instance I save greeting cards, especially those with personal notes and/or messages inside. This week I gritted my teeth and threw away 3 years worth of cards. I feel righteous! (of course, I saved some of them...they were special.)

But, back to class day. Today I had a full class -- we were sandwiched in like sardines! The lesson was mainly on the rodeo. No one in the class has ever attended an American rodeo so it was all new material for them. Around here, rodeo is a big thing and the preparations begin at least a week before the actual starting date. That is when the trail rides begin. There are 13 trail rides that start from different places in this area. The longest ride is the "Los Vaqueros Rio Grande Trail Ride," which starts in Hidalgo, TX, and travels 386 miles. This year that group started their ride on Feb. 6. It will take them 3 weeks to make it to Houston.
There are 8 rides that start locally and travel via back roads, ending up in Houston. All the trail rides end on Friday, and everyone camps in Memorial Park. Saturday morning all the trail riders participate in the rodeo parade. I don't know of any other rodeo that has trail rides -- do you?

Sweetie and I have friends who ride with the Salt Grass and Valley Lodge rides. One of our librarians rode with the Salt Grass Trail Ride on Monday. She stopped by the class and showed off her red boots. Even though the ride is only 90 miles long, it still takes 6 days to travel that 90 miles. The riders either ride on horseback or in vintage wagons. They ride for most of the day and then they stop and make camp for the night. The evening activities consist of meals cooked over camp fires, caring for the animals, visiting with friends, and sometimes music. (There may be as many as 100 people on a particular ride.) Our librarian only gave one day to the ride but many people take a full week (or more) of vacation in order to complete the ride. Entire families ride together -- what an exciting memory those children will have!

( A note added after this posting -- there was a story about the Salt Grass Ride on TV today -- there are 1300 people along with their assorted animals in this ride. The large group consists of 30 different smaller groups, each of which is responsible for their own food, camp, etc. That makes sense -- 1300 people makes for a lot of logistics!)


Along with the actual rodeo events, there is also a Livestock Show, and various events including competitions in art and quilting, a horse show, a championship bar-b-que cook-off, and a carnival.
The cost for this is quite reasonable -- each night the rodeo performance includes a major star in concert. We went to see Neil Diamond a few years ago -- our tickets cost $16.00. Can you imagine seeing Neil Diamond for $16.00? Plus, you get the rodeo performance and can tour the livestock show, also. We could have paid more but our seats gave us a good view and were as comfortable as the higher priced seats. Why pay more?

After the lesson on the rodeo, we talked about superstitions. That was fun. It was a good class!