Cloud Parter

Happy 4th of July! 

Four years ago today, I was due to have Zoey. Luckily for her, she was born late; if she'd been on time she would have been named Liberty Belle. Lordy, pregnancy can make one delusional.

This year, we celebrated the 4th at the Ennis rodeo. I'm going to let the pictures tell the story; they capture a classic sort of Americana, one that feels foreign to me - compelling but a little scary too. 

The actually rodeo itself was pretty brutal. Stella covered her eyes for much of it, and I caught myself gasping repeatedly. During the bull riding competition, the bulls, motivated by ropes around their testicles, buck like crazy, flinging their riders into the air, then stomping furiously as the cowboys scrambled to get back on their feet. The goal of the bull riding competition was to stay on the horse for eight seconds, holding on with only one hand.

Sometimes I couldn't tell whether a fallen rider had been stomped in the head or chest - the only thing to do was to wait and see if the poor guy could stand up or not. Cloud Parter, a particularly wild bull, bucked off hometown cowboy hero, Cody, right away. When Cody finally dusted himself off, he stood up to reveal a huge gash down his entire face, the result of a very close encounter with Cloud Parter's massive hoof. I got the feeling that Cody's pride hurt more than his face, and heard many a mother in the stands talking about when her son would be old enough to compete.

 

 

 

 We recovered from the rodeo at a BBQ back in Bozeman at a friend of a friend's house, where the massive display of backyard fireworks put up a pretty serious challenge to the madness of the Mission district in SF on July 4.