A Cowboy, a Cook and a Geek walk into a bar . . .

 

On Saturday we attended our first rodeo at the Tejas Rodeo Company http://tejasrodeo.com/ in Bulverde.  Bulverde is north of San Antonio but only about a half hour from our camp site.  They have professional rodeo every Saturday night from March until November.

We accompanied Judy's family to the event.  While waiting for dinner served adjacent to the rodeo grandstand, an old, broken down, itinerant cowboy tried to sweet talk a couple of city slickers:

I think he may have been selling used cowboy hats from the back of his truck.  They didn't fall for his spiel.  The evening started with dinner al fresco and of course included steak. What else?  Vegetarians and fish eaters were not welcomed.

Prior to the actual rodeo, there was a mutton busting event for kids under 7.  Kids, volunteered by their parents, were attired in safety helmets and chest protectors and perched atop  one of several sheep.  Their ride was timed and the winners received a ribbon and applause.  Most kids won a ribbon by staying on until the sheep was released out of the holding pen.  This was a normal sight--the rider watching the sheep run away after quickly depositing him onto the turf:

The  rodeo opened with a bit of pageantry

A cattle drive then began the performance:

And then came the bull riding and calf roping events:

 

 

About midway through the rodeo, kids were again involved in the programming.  Kids under 12 were invited onto the field to chase calves which had ribbons tied to their tails.  The kid who could capture a ribbon won a prize.  But as participants needed to get into appropriate shape before participating, each had to do sit-ups, pushups etc. in the dirt:

I am sure their parents really appreciated the effort made to get these kids in shape.  Next came the chase:

 

 

 

What do you call a Zamboni on dirt?

And to close out the event, 7 year old Mary shows how a real cowgirl does it:

 

 

Judy and Donna were still being bothered by the old cowpoke at the end of the night  but his shine was fading from the picture:

 

 



 

The following day we celebrated with a meal at Judy's for her family.  Donna spent several days cooking her lasagna and manicotti from scratch (including the pasta for the manicotti) and the results were well worth it.

Then the geek got involved and found a new Microsoft store in San Antonio.  He played with the new Surface Pro and perused the latest Windows 8 phones and Xbox. 

 

The store was about as busy as the adjacent Apple store.