Oh My GOSH!!!

Today is November 2nd. By most accounts not a particularly fascinating day. Its a Monday. Its warm and sunny but a bit windy. And if not for what happened seven years ago today, it would pass by like any other.

But it isn't any other day.

You see...

Seven years ago today, Frieland Rex Bingo, a non-descript Holstein cow of mine, had the most fantastic black heifer calf.

To be named... Frieland Z Mandolin Rain. She would, the next two consecutive years, be named Junior Champion Holstein at the Altamont Fair. To date has shown every year but this summer. She is a big sweet gentle giant of a cow. Who has given me 3 gorgeous heifers, two by Fustead Emory Blitz and one by Silky Cousteau, and two real nice bull calves, one a cross bred and the other by Roylane Jordan.

And so, today is Mandy my most beloved living cow's birthday (sorry old gal, Dixie is still number one over all, you are a single point behind). She got a special birthday breakfast treat of some fancy second cutting alfalfa clover mix hay, and a huge extra hug, and lots of pets and scratches. Yes I love my cows dearly.

So, for all of my friends pleasure, the song Mandy is named for by Bruce Hornsby, Mandolin Rain

Ryan McConnel Mohegan Sun Invitational

Some Shots...

Sorry...

About not posting in a while. I just haven't really had the gumption. And I had planned to write about the Mohegan Sun event...wellll....

It was pretty awful. They only had about 35 riders the night I went in the long go, as a result of a plethora of injuries the first two nights. It was interesting though. Bryan Richardson had to sit out the last night, and there were empty seats in front of me. Well guess where Mr. Richardson chose to plop his cowboy butt for about 90% of the evening?

As far as bull power through both the third and short goes I felt it was down right pathetic. I've seen better bucking animals at the local Enterprise events. There were a pair of bulls from a local rodeo company that I felt, if they had to use bulls from there, there were far better choices. I've never been impressed with this particular pair. The one is just a low flat drifter type bull, and the other starts strong for about 3-4 seconds and just kind of drifts and slacks off and does a whole lot of nothing for the last half of the ride. NOT PBR BFT quality by a long shot. The fact the one score was a 69 with a re ride, and the other a mid 80's kind of proves my point on the two.

But the other bulls for the most part were not much better. The short go was packed with bulls Lambert had never seen before Friday or Saturday night. The cowboys had NO CLUE about half of them. The ride scores were pathetic. Short go rides should NOT average less than 88 points at BFT level IMHO (And with so many 83-84's it was more like an average of 85). I mean these are supposed to be the BEST bulls with the BEST riders! There were some well known bulls, Scardey Cat for instance. But compared to last year, wow was it sad. Definitely NOT worth what I paid for a ticket and gas.

(However I did meet a sweet cowboy I've been talking to online for a couple years now that lives out in Ohio and works behind the scenes. So that made up for it)

I have lots of pictures. I'll put them up in a day or two.