Yehaw and All Things Western!

February and March mean rodeo time in Texas. Even if you are not a cowgirl or guy, it is an opportunity to participate in a virtual reality world where you can pretend to understand ranch animals and the people who work with them everyday.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended our small town rodeo and had a blast sitting on the front row (thanks to a generous friend). If you have never done this, you might not realize that you will need a blanket to

 a) stay warm and b) keep the dirt and flying poop that the horses and bulls kick up on you when they are zooming all around the arena.

If you are lucky, you will get to sit close to the best looking cowboys like this little guy below:

You might even get to have a little chat with one the performers themselves who really wanted to know why we think having his head all tied up like this is necessary...

Texans really go all out with the pretend. This week's rodeo adventure included the granddaddy of all Texas rodeo cook-offs down at the Reliant Stadium grounds in Houston. They had a record crowd this year of over 200,000 people. My husband and son are on  a crew that helped to feed all those folks.

Here is a pic of the son and I hamming it up in a self-portrait shot:

Notice that I am wearing Mardi Gras beads. We Texans will borrow fun from the cajuns to make a party fun.

This guy had the best beads of the night from my viewpoint:

And the next guy was just desperate for attention---which he got plenty of since the temperature was in the low 40's that night, he had green hair, and well, you might say, he was in great shape to say the least!

Even over the hill people like me like to look.

For  great western tablescape ideas, click on over to

The Purple Goat Lady

for inspiration!

Tomorrow night, I am going with friends to THE Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  Gotta go for the gusto while I still can!