I Love A Parade

The New Man in my life is introducing me to a whole new culture that I've lived around, but not been a part of in all these years.

This weekend is the big Cattlemen's Convention in our area. There are always lots of things going on during that hot hot weekend right around Father's Day. Friday night brought a big BBQ and Dance. I've been to that before, but it has been a long time. I have to say that it is nice to have a partner, and New Man is a fabulous dancer. One good point for him.

On Saturday morning, they always have a tour of ranches in the area. I've known about it, but never gone. I've always been rather thankful that I didn't have to get up and drive around the countryside in the heat looking at cattle, or whatever the heck they look at.

This year was different. New Man picked me up and off we went to join the parade. There was breakfast under a tent to get the day started. I'd opted to ingest a peanut butter sandwich before leaving the house as knew that would stay with me. I didn't want to die of hunger along the way. I'd also cut my coffee consumption to one single cup as didn't want to have the other problem along the way either. I didn't want to hold up the parade and run to the woods. Nope.... none of that. It turned out that breakfast consisted of donuts, turnovers, and fruit. Although I didn't need one, that hand reached out and took a lemon turnover. After all, I needed to be polite and eat something. That's what I told myself, and I'm sticking with it.

The parade began after the eating was done... a little after 9:00 a.m. There were sheriff cars and others who would lead and stop traffic along the route. We had the right of way and it turned into a long long line.

Picture taking wasn't the easiest thing to do as it rained at the beginning, and also trying to get a good picture from a moving vehicle is a challenge. I did get a few that are passable, so will share a few here.

As you can see, this was a parade of cars. There were lots of them. I never could get a good picture to show just how many. We traveled the highways, then got onto the property roads and formed circles in the pastures around the cattle that the cowboys had rounded up and were containing in an area.

Everyone was instructed to tune to the local radio station so that the ranch owner could address the group. Everyone tuned to that channel, and heard a running commentary of what we were seeing. Trust me, I understood very little. I did listen carefully and try to understand, but this was my first exposure, and I sure don't know much.... yet.

Here the cars are starting to form a circle, and some of the cowboys are seen here too.

There really is something appealing about a man on horseback. Excuse me, but there were women too. I figured I'd better put that piece of information in. However, I like to look at men on horseback. I've actually ridden a horse myself a few times in my life, but those are stories for another time.



One cowboy wandered over to a vehicle to chat briefly with a friend. I caught him as he left to join the herd.

Clean vehicles are not what you expect to see. Some were in rather pristine condition, but I doubt they were at the end of the parade. I was glad we were in New Man's four wheel drive vehicle. Did I mention it had rained? The ground was a tad soft in places.





Here you see a few of the cars as we circle the herd. Since we didn't get out of the vehicles, the shots are limited to just what I can get from the window. Yep, that lovely framing is the vehicle.

Oh... I have more pictures of cattle and such. We actually ended up at a gorgeous, and famous, ranch for our BBQ lunch. I'd had the same dinner the night before, but it is always great.

You know that meals are always beef. There is nothing else in the world suitable for a cattle rancher to eat. Beef is it. Period. I've also found that each rancher probably thinks their beef is the best. I've found that New Man is partial to his own beef. Store bought beef isn't going to cut it on the table. I do like to cook, and New Man likes to eat. So he has solved the problem and just brings me meat. I'm sure you see that I can mark this in the positive column... if I were keeping a list of positives and negatives in the relationship. Stocking my freezer with beef would be a plus. You know it would.

I'm thinking I need to get this posted and move along toward getting around for the morning. I have more pics and promise to share on another post.