Monday, November 10th, was a great day of getting lots and lots of little things done. Plants were watered, Christmas cards were labeled and ready for the newsletter, plans were set in place for a Michigan run with a family dinner set up and lunch with Jake set up, Blogging was done and pages set for the rest of the year, tickets were purchased for two events. It was simply a very productive day.
We also had our first snowfall of the season. It was not a big covering. But you could tell we were having snow and there was really snow on the ground. Some of the counties around us got several inches of snow and some of the mountain communities had enough to close roads. We were very happy to stay inside our warm home and putter and enjoy taco salads for dinner.
EMailed Steve Gulbrandsen, my brother-in-law. He had the 10 family file names which Drew and Katelyn did the baptisms for on Saturday. He sent them to me. Claude and I will do the initiatory and the endowments for these names. This feels so good to me.
Tuesday, November 11th, when I woke up, there was snow on the ground. Not a full covering so you couldn't see the grass underneath, but a covering over the lawn, trees and furniture. Lovely...from inside my home.
This was Veteran's Day so we stayed inside. I did Relief Society things: December birthday cards and worked on the newsletters for December and January. I also added the Trivial Pursuit questions to my Google Notes file for September. Claude got his shower spent the rest of the day in his pajamas. He did get up to make us hot dogs for dinner. Good day.
Wednesday, November 12th, Claude and I started our day running errands. He had cleaners and paying the county taxes. I had to purchase stamps and needed a couple more gifts from Kohl's.
When we came home, I finished reading Alice in Wonderland. I truly did not enjoy this book. I kept thinking there was some underlying, deep meaning behind her adventure. Not so. I even paused in my reading the other day to look at the history of the book. It was simply a tale told to three young girls as Lewis Carroll took a boat ride with them and a friend. Alice Liddell asked him to write it down for her. There were several editions but the final version has been continuously in publication and has been translated into 174 languages. It is Victorian literature in the fantasy genre. Wikipedia says it is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre. I would agree with that. It is totally fanciful. No deep meaning at all.
Evidence of the cold being her regularly is my putting the flannel sheets on our bed! They feel so good.
Thursday, November 13th, Claude had a morning dental cleaning. I got up and for some unknown reason, was lead to clean out some drawers in my dresser and some boxes in the coat closet. I also cleaned the glass in the door to the patio.
In the evening I attended the Relief Society "Cookies & Cocoa" activity. I made a little jar of instant cocoa mix for us to use at Thanksgiving. I spent a lot of time talking with Shelby Brimley. While talking with Jenessa Dymock, I learned the Jenna Thacker has her baby boy. He is very early and very tiny but his hitting all his marks. Such a story for Jenna and Colton. Childless for years. This year adopted a baby in May, Jenna turned up pregnant in June. In November they now have two children a few months apart. Prayers for this very preemie baby to be okay and for Jenna to get her strength back.
Friday, November 14th, our big outing was to Freedom Hall in Louisville to see the North American Championship Rodeo. This would be our third year seeing this rodeo.
Next, we wanted to find somewhere for a nice dinner. I found El Nopal Mexican and got our directions on Google Maps. We found it very easily. Getting back to Freedom Hall in the dark was a little more dangerous. Google Maps takes a few seconds to locate where you are and where to turn when leaving a parking lot. Claude is quite prone to getting in the car and starting to drive even without clear instructions. He went to a side street and wanted to turn left. I assured him Google Maps said to turn right and go down and turn around. He turned left and soon found us in on-coming traffic. It was a one direction road. Fortunately we were in the Jeep. Claude jumped the curb and down another curb into a chicken restaurant parking lot. Whew!! From there we found our way easily to the gate to get into this Kentucky State Fair area.
The Kentucky State Fair ground has several venues in its boundaries. This is the map of the fair grounds and where the parking lots are located. The rodeo was held in Freedom Hall. It is the blue circle in the middle. The yellow building extending south from there is the Louisville Exposition Center. It is huge and they held the animal show and sale in that building. Kentucky Kingdom is also located in the area. It is the gray triangular area to left lower center of the map. It is an amusement park. There is also another big building for shows and things. Around all of this is a road loop called the Circle of Champions.
We entered at a gate at the bottom of the diagram where the blue box is. We paid for parking. There were big signs telling those going to the rodeo to park in Lots B, P & R. Okay. They had all traffic turn right onto Phillips Lane. We did this and were immediately directed into what turned out to be Lot B. Thinking it was for the Exposition Center and a LONG way from our entrance, we drove through that lot and out the other side. Having been here before, we know we could park close to the back entrance to Freedom Hall. We ended up driving the entire Circle of Champions Road and were able to locate Parking Lot's P and R. During this time I found this diagram of the parking areas and told Claude to just keep going, we would need to park in Lot P or R and walk to Freedom Hall. Every other lot was full of trucks, horse and cattle trailers, people trailers, etc. We parked near the #1 in Lot P. Then we made the long hike to the Freedom Hall.
We had what would have been okay seats with the exception that the large entry to this 2nd level seating was to our left. Everyone entered there for the portion of the second floor of the arena. If the action was coming from the end of the arena there, we often had to watch the jumbotron. At one point, a very, very tall fella in a very large black cowboy hat decided to plant himself at the end of the ramp when everyone turned to come up the steps to their seats. Completely blocked the view. Ugh.
We enjoyed the rodeo though. Here are a pictures of the events and the entertainment. First, opening ceremonies.
Steer Wrestling: (This would be Claude's event of choice if he we participating in the rodeo.)
Entertainment: The six horses were very well matched. If you watched their hooves, the actually marched in time to the rhythm of the music. The wagon held the dignitaries of the sponsoring organization.
Team Roping:
Breakaway Roping:
Saddle Bronc: (This is where the tall man in the tall hat stood right in the line of sight of where the horses come out. Had to watch the jumbotron.)
Entertainment: A family of Charro's. A charro is a Mexican cowboy that specializes in tricks with the lasso and his horse. He is defined by his elaborate dress and skills with his horse and ropes. This started with their 11 year old son on his horse. He explained what a charro is and that he is the fourth generation of charros. He would perform. His father would perform. He and his father would perform together. Then his mother would come out and perform with them. They were all excellent. I especially loved watching the father stand on his horse while twirling the lasso. Then he stood on his horse to do more tricks with the lasso. His horse stayed perfectly still. Wow!!
Tie Down Roping:
Entertainment: Last year they invited Steve Buttleman to come to the rodeo. This year, he was also invited. Steve is the bugle player for the Kentucky Derby and also for Keeneland in Lexington. He has done this for many decades and is a much loved figure in Kentucky. This year, Steve came out to play his bugle in his traditional attire. He was asked to remove his Derby hat and was given a cowboy hat to wear for this rodeo. Love hearing him play that bugle.
Barrel Racing:
Bull Riding: This is my least favorite event.
It was a really good rodeo. We made it home is good fashion after our hike back to the Jeep and wading through LOTS of traffic to get onto the Interstate.
Saturday, November 15th, I started reading a book I found while dusting my bookshelf in our bedroom. It is Pearl Buck's "Dragon Seed". I did a little research to find out when she wrote this novel. As a child, my mother read Pearl Buck's "The Good Earth". My mother thoroughly enjoyed the book. I read it after her and realized I was a Pearl Buck fan. Several years ago, I purchase the trilogy with The Good Earth in it and read all of them. As I did this research and learned "Dragon Seed" was published about 10 years after "The Good Earth", I found a great quote by Pearl Buck. ""If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner. To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future."
I got this picture of Claude maintaining the yard. All those lovely trees are dropping all their lovely leaves. Claude has blown them up the hill and is covering the liriope and the fence line with them.
In the evening we began our 12 Dates of Christmas (although we may count the rodeo as the first date). This was to see TSO (Trans Siberian Orchestra) at Heritage Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. We started by having a nice dinner at City BBQ in Florence, Kentucky. Then on to find parking and wait a bit for the show to begin. Last time we went to something at Heritage Bank, the traffic was absolutely awful. This time, we left ample time to deal with that and enjoyed a few minutes of quiet time in the Jeep before going into the arena.
A little snippet of the audience getting involved with the music and singing.
There had been a little rain between Cincinnati and Georgetown. We missed all of it.
Sunday, November 16th, I had an awful night the night before. My right arm had sharp pains running down it. It may have been the weather. I may have slept a little funny on it at the beginning of the night. Nonetheless, I got out of bed and went to the living and took comfort in my recliner. Eventually I slept a bit more there. Then I moved to the sofa and slept bit longer. I had the alarm set on my cellphone to wake Claude at 6:15 to get ready for his morning Zoom meeting. I awoke on the sofa and could not feel my cellphone on the coffee table. Then I realized the end table lamp was off and I knew I left that on. That meant Claude must have gotten up and turned off the lamp and taken my cellphone. Sure enough, It was on my night stand with the alarm turned off. I curled back up in our bed and rested till 7:30am when it was time to get ready for Sacrament meeting. It would be a long day.
I always ask Heavenly Father to let me have one cup-filling moment when I attend church. This Sunday it was listening to Lily playing the pew behind us. She is close to two years old. She plays quietly. This Sunday, Lily sang as she played. It was all very quiet but that little voice singing as she played was very touching to me. A happy child would do that. A child that was comfortable in her surroundings. She was not being irreverent. Rather, she was playing reverently with a little melody thrown in for good measure. Thank you Heavenly Father for giving me that moment.
After Sacrament meeting, Jenessa and I got the left over crocheted ornaments from 2024 that I made for the ladies in Relief Society. We had Lily help us put them on the tree in the foyer. Lily kept one for herself as a bracelet. How cute.
I had Claude bring me home then. I dressed in my warm, comfy clothes and headed to my recliner. I would take a brief nap which would get me through the rest of my day.
I went back to Sandiland to finish this Blog. I had to label Rodeo and TSO pictures. Alas, my laptop' memory was full and I couldn't get the TSO pictures to download. UGH!! I spent all afternoon and evening moving my pictures to my two external drives and lightening the load on my laptop. I finished doing that and posting TSO to Facebook about 9:30pm. I gave up and went to join Claude in front of the television for the remainder of the evening. That was enough laptop time!
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