The Dreaded Company Picnic

They can be awkward and sometimes boring or just plain weird. But this one was pretty darn good. Our family attended, courtesy of my husband's employer, the Rockin' B Ranch Cowboy Supper Show.

We started off by walking up to a big ol' barn. It was filled with picnic tables covered with butcher paper. Crayons were provided for the kids to draw with. Mason jars were on the table for our drinks, which we got from a huge barrel with spigots for water and lemonade.

We were soon directed outside for the Cowboy Showdown. It was pretty funny and my kids loved it. They even had special effects with blanks in real guns with little explosions rigged up to show where the bullets "hit".

We went back inside for the "vittles", which were quite delicious. We got in line and grabbed our tin plate, which was then filled with a baked potato, "trail music" pinto beans and a whole lot of meat: chicken, grilled beef and pork spare ribs; cornbread and applesauce. It was all you can eat. You could eat till they ran out of food. (they told us they didn't like to fill the fridge up with leftovers)

After dinner we had the main stage show. It was a combination of cowboy mucic and comedy. Lots of toe-tappin' music. There was a guitar player, bass player and fiddle player. All did an excellent job, especially the fiddler. He could play fast! Even threw in some of the fiddle playing from "Devil Went Down to Georgia" in the middle of a medley, which included "Ghost Riders in the Sky".

In the middle of the show they called all the kids up to sit in front of the stage. Then they handed out popsicles and they were told a story. This was no ordinary story. One of the cowboys came towards the stage dancing on the table dressed in a pink tutu. He sat on a saddle placed on a sawhorse and proceeded to tell the story of "Rindercella", which was the story of Cinderella with all the words mixed up. (an example was that Rindercella met the Princesom Hance at the ball and at the end of the evening she slopped her dripper and the Princesom Hance went around trying to find the one the dripper would fit. Finally she tried it on and the "shoe fit" with emphasis on NOT mixing up those words because of the obvious resulting bad word)

There was some more music and they ended with "Happy Trails". It was so well done. We laughed a lot. We tapped our toes and clapped our hands. My kids had a blast. (especially my middle son who loves cowboys and who has the nickname, "Slim") It was very family friendly and wasn't at all boring or stupid. And they infused some local history into the show, which was great. (one of the cowboys wrote a song about it)

Definately goes down in my book as one of the better Company Picnics I've ever attended.

An Ode to Steve Irwin: Crocodile Hunter

Today Steve Erwin died and the world lost a wonderful animal advocate and educator.

Today Steve Erwin died and two children will grow up without a father.

Today Steve Erwin died and a woman became a widow.

Today Steve Erwin died doing something he loved to do.

Today Steve Erwin died and I cried.

Crikey, we'll miss him!

End of Summer

Wow, where has it gone? It's September already and school starts soon. I feel as though I didn't do most of what I had planned to do this summer.

We had a yard sale this weekend and I am very glad it's over. What a lot of work! I won't have another one for a very long time!

School starts on Tuesday and my husband and I have decided to home school the boys. It is a scarey move for me but one that I think will be good for our family. I have lots of resources available and I will take advantage of them.

Fall will be here soon and with it the falling of the leaves....all over my yard! We have a double lot (as I've mentioned before) with eight trees. So we'll have lots and lots of leaves. And boys who complain about raking! But they'll have to get used to it because no way am I going to do it all! We have a very nice neighbor who has a HUGE compost bin and has told us to put our leaves there. He even provided black garbage bags for transport.

And we have to think about Christmas presents. (yes, I mentioned Christmas in September!) So with that last thought I'll end this little missive.