Cowboys and Easter Bunnies

So Mike posted a very brief synopsis of our Easter Weekend in Pocatello. I am here to post a little more elaborated version of what went down.

As Mike had mentioned we attended the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo on Saturday, March 22nd. This was the 22nd year for the rodeo and I have been going with my family ever since it began coming to Pocatello in 1986. I think I have only missed one or two rodeos in those 22 years.

It is still just as fun as it was when I was a kid. I get excited as they start off with the Bareback riding and then proceed all the way to the main event which is the bull riding.

On a sad note during the semi finals of the saddle bronc (or it could have been the bare back riding) competition one of the saddle bronc rider came out on his horse and rode it for the full 8 seconds but when he jumped off one of the pickup men (the guys on horses who wrangle the wild bucking bronc away from the contestant and corral it, went after the bucking bronc. As he and his horse were pulling up along side the bronc, the pick up man's horse slid in the dirt and as the horse was regaining his footing the bronc reared up and slammed right down on the horse's rear right leg. Mostly everyone was trying to watch the replay of the ride on the big screen and then looked over to see the pickup man and his horse on the ground. The horse got up but was not standing on it's back right leg at all. A big hush fell over the Holt Arena when everyone realized what had happened. So they got a trailer and loaded the animal up. Sad to say the next day in the Idaho State Journal it was reported that the horse had to be put down because the injury was too severe. In all my years attending the rodeo I have seen cowboys and cowgirls get injured all the time but this was the first time I had seen an animal get hurt as bad as this horse did.

So after the injured horse was taken away, it was kinda hard to get back into cheering for the cowboys and cowgirls but everyone in the arena managed to pull it together and enjoy the rest of the night.

The big excitement came when two locals, Nate Baldwin from Blackfoot and Matt Shiozawa from Chubbuck, were competing in the tie down roping (or as I still like to call it by it's old name - calf roping). They did really good in the semi finals round and then it come down to the finals with the top four competing. Something happened with Nate Baldwin and his timing of tying the calf down and he was penalized with a 9.5 second time. Then a man from California went and posted a 7.6 second time. Some other cowboy had posted an 8.4 second time during the finals as well. And then there came Matt. He has had a 7.8 in the semi finals and knew he had to post a better time than 7.6 to win it all. So he took his time, setting himself up and then walking his horse back and getting his rope just right. After what seemed like an eternity, he sprang out of the gates and the crowd was whooping and hollering as loud as they could. When he had his calf tied down, he threw his hands up and the clock said unofficially 7.3. I was already on my feet along with most of the crowd screaming and clapping. When the time was made official the whole arena was on there feet and you couldn't hear anything except thousands of cheering fans. It is always fun when a local boy beats out all those seasoned cowboys.

Here is a picture of Matt barreling out of the gates.












So where was Mike in all this excitement. Reading a book on his palm pilot. He had been good and watched the semi finals round but when it came to the finals round his nose was in his book and he would look up every now and again to see what was going on. I shouldn't complain too much since he did go with me on this trip and attend the rodeo even though I was more excited about attending it then he is. I couldn't even get him to look at the cowgirls in their tight jeans and big, bouncy hair. I personally like the steer wrestlers with their big, hunky upper bodies ( I think that was an over share but oh well). And the rodeo started at 7:00 p.m., not 6 like he had posted and we were there only until 10 p.m. and got home by about 10:30 p.m. (which is really good if you have ever tried to get out of the Holt Arena parking lot after the rodeo).

The next morning was Easter and I had convinced my mother that we needed to dye Easter eggs, even though she wasn't planning on doing it. I had dyed eggs with my friend Sarah and her 4 year old Tony in Nampa on Wednesday. We had the traditional Paas Easter Egg dye kit and she also had a cool tie dye coloring kit as well. The tie dye eggs turned out really cool. So while I was in Pocatello I told my mom about the tie dye kit and that we had to try it out. So we went shopping for Easter Egg dye on that Saturday when we got into town. Of course all the dye kits were picked over and we were going to get the traditional Paas kit when I spotted what I thought was the tie dye kit. So I convinced my mom that we had to get and we purchased it.

Well, the next morning we boiled out eggs and my dad was reading the instructions and he pulls out these plastic droppers. I hadn't remembered the kit Sarah and I using coming with droppers but I thought oh well. Then he pulled out these plastic baggies and I definitely knew this was not the same egg dying kit. What we had picked up was a marble egg dying kit. Well my mother was a little disappointed since she had wanted the Paas kit.

So my dad and I used the gel dyes and plastic baggies and this is what came of it:


Notice there are only 11 eggs. That's because there were only 11 egg holders. The 12th egg was out of the picture and sitting on the sidelines. I blame it on a poor Chinese made design (I don't know if it was made in China, but everything is being blamed on them, why not Easter Egg Dying Kits). I think the eggs turned out pretty and there are no yellow eggs because I tried to put the yellow gel dye in some water like Sarah and I had done with the tie dye kit but it didn't work and we had no yellow egg dye.

And last but not least my dad wanted me to post a picture of their dog, Bandit, on our blog.

This dog has gone from cute, cuddly puppy to mass destruction animal. He is a lovable dog but likes to jump on you and lick you to death. He also has the sharpest teeth I have ever seen on a dog. I would go to give him a treat and you had to bring your hand back as quickly as possible from his mouth and count you fingers to make sure you had all of them. And if he looks like a mutt, he is. He is a combination of Samoa, Springer Spaniel, Border Collie, and a few others that I can't think of. But he is my mom and dad's replacement child since both of their children have flown the coop. Also, this dog owes me a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He ripped a pair of my jeans back when my parents first got him in June and on this trip he ripped a hole in my t-shirt from jumping up on me. His sharp teeth and claws are not good on my clothing for some reason.

So there you have it, a more detailed version of our quick trip to Pocatello. Here are some more photos from the Rodeo (and yes as Mike mentioned we did not take our camera, these are from the DNCFR website):