It’s My Imagination

Professional Bull Riders World Finals

One of the most interesting observations we’ve made since moving back to Texas is 1) the number of SUV’s and trucks on the road, and 2) the number of men who wear Stetson’s (that’s a hat for those who aren’t familiar).

Beings that we live on the outskirts of Dallas, there are plenty of cows and horses in our area which also means, there are plenty of cowboys as well. I’m talking about real cowboys, not the ones that wear fashion denim and fashion boots because they look good. Real cowboys work hard, wear Wrangler’s and many, ride in rodeos. If you’ve never been to a rodeo, you might want to get yourself some tickets, it’s quite a wild ride, no pun intended.

Years ago, while in college in Austin, I attended several local rodeos with friends. I don’t think anyone can fully understand the power of a steer or horse until you seen a man attempt to pull one to the ground and wrap a rope around its legs. Or how about, a man (or woman) sitting on the back of a bull while it’s doing anything it can to get him off. It can be very scary and very dangerous and very thrilling to watch.

I also attended the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and was no less fascinated. The bigger the event, the higher caliber of riders and the more exciting they become. 10 seconds sound like such a short period of time, but if you’re the one sitting on the back of the bull, it might feel like an eternity, at least while it’s happening.

Houston is just one stop on the Professional Bull Riders tour and the tour ends each year in Las Vegas, with the Professional Bull Riders World Finals in November. If you enjoy Las Vegas (and who doesn’t) and you want to see a thrilling show, get your tickets to the Pro Bull Riders World Finals before they’re sold out.

Learning Guitar

My daughter began taking guitar lessons in July.  She goes once each week, for a 30 minute lesson.  Her instructor teaches finger style and seems to think that my daughter is a natural.  Of course, I am biased, but I think she’s doing very well too.  In fact, I believe in her so much that I purchased a new acoustic guitar for her for Christmas.  We had been renting one from the instructor.

Yesterday she began learning to play chords for the first time.  She had been playing simple notes until this point.  Occasionally her teacher would pick up his guitar and play the chords to go along with her melody and it always sounded so pretty.  I love listening to the music.  So needless to say, I am very excited that she is now learning the chords herself.  He tells me that she is learning at a very quick pace.  I have to think that her 2 years of playing the baritone horn have been a help.  Even though the two instruments play on different cleffs, she has learned to read music and listen to the differences in the notes.

She will be taking a test this week at school on that very thing.  She is thinking that she might be interested in learning to play the tuba and she needs to do well on the test in order to switch instruments.  If she does switch,  she wants to continue also playing the baritone.  I think it will be cool if she can play multiple instruments.  I look forward to whatever decision she ends up making.

Blog Surfing

I was surfing through the blogosphere and ran across a very interesting and funny blog. I had just attempted to update my other site to WP2.3.2 when it all fell apart. After everyone telling me how easy it was, mine bombed. It’s now under reconstruction and I was in desperate need of a good laugh and a distraction, which is exactly what I got when I read a few posts at Caffeine Overload, a blog written by a 26 year old housewife who loves to laugh. I think she also enjoys making others laugh, it was well worth a visit.

Eve has another site, Confessions of a Housewife which is also worth a look. Both of her sites tend to be on the entertaining and fun side. I recommend them both. She also accepts funny post submissions and offers a linkback if she selects your post to be published, so I really do suggest checking out her blog.