July

The month of July is a busy one here.  Everyone is haying and irrigating and moving cows and then company comes and you do all that plus cook and eat and visit and …. sigh.  Then suddenly it is the Fourth of July, and iin Ten Sleep that is a BIG DEAL!  That means a parade…and heaven forbid if it is an election year and the prospective public servant doesn’t throw candy!  EVERYONE throws candy at the parade … it is like Halloween for Ten Sleep kids – you better take a plastic sack to put the goodies in!  Sometimes you get cans of pop or ice cream sandwiches or rulers or cheap watches!  It is great.  Then the rodeo begins.  Literally.  Ten Sleep has two days of rodeo… and traditionally it is the hottest day of the year.  On the Fourth it was 99 degrees.  Hardcore locals refuse the covered bleachers, preferring a tarp over their pickup bed or flatbed trailer.  Coolers are required.  The rodeo is a good one, giving me many opportunities to photograph some action.  The crowd favorite is the wild horse race held as the last event.  The participants are teams of three young men, crazy enough to halter an unbroke horse, mug it down, saddle it, and try to ride it to the other end of the arena.  Usually friends of my sons take part, so it is personal… and I thank God that my boys know their dad would definitely frown on their participation!!!  The rodeo ends in time to go home, shower, eat, and return to the street dance.  I have taught my boys through the years how to dance…and after a year or two at college, they are coming home, teaching me new dance moves, and dancing their boots off with all the young ladies!  Yes, they still dance with me… at 20 and 18 they have never shown embarrassment at dancing with me… yay!  But before you know it… it is 2 am… and the dance is over and you go home to rise the next day and do it over again.  Then you have to recover and clean house and get ready for the next round of visitors!!!