The first week of September and we are back at it. This week Luke started back to Taekwondo
lessons in Ames. He is a green belt and will have class twice a week. Wednesday Jayden and Jacob started youth group in Ames.
I took Jayden to an IRCA rodeo in Guthrie Center with Jake. The arena ground was shallow dirt with bad lighting. It was also a rather small rodeo with the number of entries. We are learning that the rodeos put on by Grand River rodeo Company tend to not have a great turn out and I am figuring out why. They almost always have poor ground conditions and poorly run rodeo. The first two riders out were bareback and both got hung up really bad. It was horrible to watch them hang on stuck in their riggin on the opposite side as their horse would run laps inches from being drug along the rail. The pick up men were not good and didn’t help. The second rider got hung up and then got his leg caught in the fence yanking him off and getting hauled away in an ambulance. That just makes me sick to see them get hurt. Right before barrels started I could see Ace popping up as Jayden was warming up. That made me really nervous, I don’t like to see Ace with his front feet in the air. He is getting more elevated and I don’t want him flipping over. I always pray for her safety and protection. She ran in and Ace went really wide on first and 2nd and third looked great. Her time was slow due to the wide barrel, but only by a second. We were just super glad all three barrels were still standing. Now if she can keep them all up for finals that is the goal!!
I took Jayden to an IRCA rodeo in Guthrie Center with Jake. The arena ground was shallow dirt with bad lighting. It was also a rather small rodeo with the number of entries. We are learning that the rodeos put on by Grand River rodeo Company tend to not have a great turn out and I am figuring out why. They almost always have poor ground conditions and poorly run rodeo. The first two riders out were bareback and both got hung up really bad. It was horrible to watch them hang on stuck in their riggin on the opposite side as their horse would run laps inches from being drug along the rail. The pick up men were not good and didn’t help. The second rider got hung up and then got his leg caught in the fence yanking him off and getting hauled away in an ambulance. That just makes me sick to see them get hurt. Right before barrels started I could see Ace popping up as Jayden was warming up. That made me really nervous, I don’t like to see Ace with his front feet in the air. He is getting more elevated and I don’t want him flipping over. I always pray for her safety and protection. She ran in and Ace went really wide on first and 2nd and third looked great. Her time was slow due to the wide barrel, but only by a second. We were just super glad all three barrels were still standing. Now if she can keep them all up for finals that is the goal!!
Saturday was another gorgeous day and we got to enjoy it. First I took the boys to Stratford to catch Grandpa Wahlert driving his 760 tractor in a tractor drive.
In the afternoon Mark, the boys, and I went
to Jefferson and rode bikes on the Raccoon Valley trail. It was so nice in the
upper 70’s with a strong breeze. It was peacefu,l quie,t and very scenic. I enjoy
bike riding and this trail had no hills at all. We rode a total of 5 miles. We
wanted to keep it easy on Luke who has short legs and a little bike without
gears. Jacob loves to
ride his bike and we all enjoyed it. We even rode up town to the Chinese
restaurant for supper.
Jayden opted to stay home and rest with a kitten by her
side.
We ended the week with church Sunday
morning and the Dayton Labor Day rodeo at night. The rodeo started at 7PM with
a beautiful evening in the 70’s. There was a rain cloud that just missed the
Dayton area, so it was a perfect night. Our family of 5 paid for tickets for a
total of $90. I was shocked at how expensive the rodeo was!! $20/ticket and
Luke was $10. That is so high and I can’t imagine the average person spending
that to go. We are a rodeo family and have to go every year at least once. The
past several years we haven’t had to pay because we were part of it. I was shocked at how much we paid. They don’t even
bring in the big entertainment acts like they used to in the past. Then there
is the food, it costs a lot for any type of food. It felt different this year
not participating in the serpentine. It was a stress free weekend. The rodeo
was good, a barrel race'rs horse slipped and she fell off. A wild horse race
contestant got his head kicked and was knocked out, and a little TMRA boy got his arm stepped on by
a bull. The little boy was Lane, Jayden’s little buddy. We saw the ambulance
take him away.
Allie started nursing school at ICCC in Fort Dodge. She is so excited about going back to school and getting through the program. She has two years of school in front of her. She got all her scrubs and material. She is going to work as much as possible to pay her bills. We are helping her with all her college expenses as long as she passes, we will keep helping. She wanted to try and work full time and go to class, Some days she has class 8-2, then a shift from 2-10. She really thought she could do both full time. I had to sit her down and go over a more realistic schedule that is doable. I told her never to work a shift until 10 and then turn around and go to an 8:00 class. I helped her figure out a reasonable schedule. I think this will be very challenging for her to be dedicated to the required studying and really work at it. She has not had a very successful college career. We hope and pray that she can make it through and get a good job in the end.
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