This is an expression, but in this case, also an event. I thought I’d posted one more time last week and obviously didn’t – then again, it’s been extra hectic.

At any rate, I haven’t attended a lot of rodeos although I appreciate them. Notwithstanding the usual protests, rodeo animals are well taken care of as they are valuable and the rodeo lifestyle is another of those cultures with language and traditions; some of which are only shared by insiders. Homestead holds the distinction of being the Southernmost rodeo in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). It was founded in 1949 and last year was only the third time in its history to be cancelled. In the way that Mother Nature sometimes does though, we had our “two days of winter” over the weekend with temperatures in the high 50s. With the wind it was chillier and anyone not from here was of course laughing at us wearing jackets. It was sunny, however, which certainly helped.

The rodeo runs Fri, Sat, and Sun and the events are steer roping, barrel racing, bronco riding, bull riding, and I’m probably forgetting one or two. There is also the Everglades Posse Drill team and other local activities. The arena is large for a smaller rodeo and many of the non-profits have food booths as fund raisers. Only one is allowed to have the beer concession which always makes for long lines. In the past, I didn’t get to actually watch the rodeo because I worked the beer concession with the Chamber of Commerce. (I also didn’t get to drink much beer as I was usually handling the money for sales.) The Chamber let the concession go to another organization, and a friend had tickets for this year to share with us. Hubby was shooting for the paper so I went with a girlfriend.  I did see him when we first arrived and that was it. He moves up and down the fence line to be close to the action no matter which part of the arena it’s in.