Horse Bowl Time!

On Thursday Irv, Jillian, and I were in Ft. Collins for the Colorado 4-H State Conference Horse Bowl Tournament.  I've served as superintendent of this contest for several year.  It's a volunteer job I'm afraid I'll have forever. 

This contest takes place at one of my favorite places on earth--CSU in Fort Collins.


Jillian served as our scorekeeper.  I found out she is a little OCD about making straight lines on the whiteboard.  (I wonder who she gets that from.)


I have a great team of volunteers that show up year after year to help with the contest.  They all promised they would be back next year.


I tabulate the scores during the contest.  Most people do this by hand, but I made an Excel spreadsheet with all kinds of formulas that do all the calculating for me (if it's possible to do something with a spreadsheet, I'll do it).




It's against the rules to take pictures during an actual round of horse bowl so I don't have any action shots of the kids.  The contest went from 7:30 a.m until about 2:30.  It was a big contest and for the first time in several years we had to take a lunch break and then resume play afterwards.  It was a good contest, the team that won is from El Paso County.  It's a double elimination tournament and El Paso County fought to win the loser's bracket and then went on to win the whole thing.
 
Of course no trip to CSU is complete without a stop at the bookstore to load up on Rams apparel especially now that I am an official alumni.
 
 
We somehow managed to leave Fort Collins in time to hit rush hour traffic in Denver--bumper to bumper traffic forever.  It took 3 hours to get home!  I think I'd go nuts if I had to deal with that traffic everyday.
 
 
It was a fun day--I really appreciate all my volunteers including Irv who manages the holding room and Jillian who wrote all the questions (300+ questions) and kept score.  Thank you!
 
This morning I was putting away all the paraphernalia that a horse bowl contest requires.  I picked up the suitcase of resource books to move into the closet and pulled every muscle on the left side of my back.  Since then I've been on pain meds and muscle relaxers in bed with the heating pad.  Note to self--next year use the rollers on the suitcase instead of trying to pick it up.
 


Comments

Yogi♪♪♪ said…
Good for you, its the volunteers like you, Irv, and Jillian who make the earth go round I think.

Take care lifting that thing. Gramps has a fence post concreted in that needs to come out and be replaced. I think that project will work the kinks out. I'll be there to photograph the event. Maybe Sweetie can help you?
June 24, 2013 at 8:50 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Skywatch Friday: A little close for comfort

Image
We had a fire out here on the eastern plains of Colorado last week.  I kept getting reports on the fire's location on my cell phone while I was at work.  Then a warning popped up that let me know it was time to hit the road and go home to prepare to evacuate the critters. When we initially got home it was still a decent distance away. Within 30 minutes it had come up over the ridge and flames were visible. The winds were gusting 45 to 50 mph.  It was a fast moving fire that burned 5,000 acres in only four hours.  Then the most amazing thing happened--the winds died down and the firefighters got in under control by 8:15 that night.  Thank you, Lord! Have you ever had to stand in your house and wonder what you should take out with you?  There were only two things I could think of...1) my critters and 2) my passport so I could still go to Europe next month.  Irv and I agreed that we need to get things organized so we can just grab a box...
Read more

Skywatch Friday: Upper and Lower Falls

Image
Yesterday I got to visit the recently completed Uncle Tom's Overlook along the Yellowstone River in Yellowstone National Park. This is the first really good look I've ever had at the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River. These falls are almost as good as the Lower Falls. After leaving the Upper Falls you go downstream for a mile or so to.... ...Artist's Point which has the very best view of the Lower Falls (in my opinion).  In this location the view is perfect, so perfect that it look like a painting. This is just one of the features of this Park that make it my heart and soul.   Linking with Skywatch Friday
Read more

Skywatch Friday: Wild Horses!

Image
 The Salt River wild horses have been eluding us since we arrived in Arizona several weeks ago so today we went in search of them again. This time we started at the Coon Bluff Recreation Area.  First we went one way down the river, but soon had to turn back because we didn't bring any rock climbing gear. Then we turned around and went the other direction. The water in the river was crystal clear, but no sign of fish or horses. There are times when I really miss my dad especially when I want to know what kind of tree I'm looking at.  This one has something that resembles Spanish moss hanging down.  What is it? This riparian area that surrounds the river has all kinds of wildlife.  Today we saw theses white egrets. This gray heron was also hanging out in the distance. We met a guy carrying all kinds of photographic equipment and he said we needed to go about a quarter of a mile further down the river to find a spot where the horses cross every afternoon around 5:0...
Read more