My wife's "blue" photos

No, she (A) hasn't gotten really, really cold. And (B) she isn't sad. And (C) she hasn't joined the Blue Man Group.

But of the three, "C" is closest to the truth. More on that in a moment.

We survived rodeo weekend. Wasn't easy, as we had to deal with some profound heat.

Saturday was damn busy. I got pictures (for the paper) at a road race at 8 a.m. At 10 a.m., my wife and I went to the rodeo parade, where I got pictures (for myself). At 2 p.m., the first rodeo performance of the day. At 7 p.m., the second one. I was at both of them (plus the one on Friday night) and got pictures at all three (for the paper).

What were conditions like? After getting home from the afternoon performance, I looked at the thermometer on our shaded front porch ...



Looks like 97 to me. Don't know what the "official" high was, but it was the hottest day here in maybe 10 years. Fortunately, it was a "dry" heat--relatively low humidity/dew points--and that made it manageable. During the afternoon rodeo show, I was out in the sun, under a big floppy hat and a thick coating of sunscreen. Didn't burn, even a little. That's good, because there wasn't even a trace of a cloud.

I'll post some rodeo pictures in a few days. But first, my wife's adventure.

It was at that parade in the morning. We took some chairs but couldn't find a place in the shade--those places had been snapped up long before. But we found a nice place in the sun along the route, set up our chairs, and then I pulled out the secret weapon. Sunscreen.

I put it on my wife thoroughly. Both arms, the shoulders, her neck, cheeks, ears and nose. Then I pulled down her straps and did her back--and then turned around, pulled down her front and got her sunscreened there, too. (No matter that she was facing away from the sun. You never know. It's a long parade.) Then she did up my arms, my neck, cheeks, ears and nose.

We were all set. We both had bottles of water and floppy hats, so we were ready for some serious parade viewing. Here are some of the things we saw:

Lots of horses and wagons ...


A number of riding units ...


Giant livestock ...


And even a walking fez, courtesy of the Shriners ...


People on nearly all the parade units were throwing out candy for the kids to scramble after. I asked my wife, and she said it was too hot for candy. But she likes strands of beads, and she said if anyone is throwing out beads, be sure to get some.

A little while later, a class reunion float was passing by, and, sure enough, they were throwing out strands of beads...


She caught some, and I grabbed some. We wound up with three strands of blue beads and one strand of silver beads. She happily put them around her neck.

The parade went on, and we were enjoying ourselves. After a while I looked over at her and started laughing. Then I pointed the camera at her:



What happened is that the blue from the (obviously cheap) beads was coming off on her sunscreen. The pictures tell all. My camera's photo tag says the photo of the bead-throwers was taken at 10:43, and my wife's first "blue" photo was taken at 10:57, 14 minutes later.

She laughed, as did. We didn't let it keep us from going to the store to pick up a few things, then back to the car and then home, where I got this photo ...



You'll be happy to know that the blue came off easily with a little soap and water. She isn't permanently tattooed.

*****
The trip to the "mature" park last week went very well, and we have some great photos to share in a couple days. Also, some rodeo action photos are on the way. Sunflowers, too. Got a lot of writing to catch up on.

But Sunday was nearly as warm as Saturday--it got to 94 or 95--and more humid, to boot. The rodeo was over, so we took it easy at home. There will be more time to write in the next few days, after the heat lets up a bit.