Medicine Hat Spring Rodeo

The Chinook wind has been blowing in our direction today, briefly lifting temperatures to 28c mid-afternoon. The Chinook brings a strange kind of warmth, outside it's like being blasted by a hairdryer - too breezy to sit in the garden, but baking behind glass.

These few weeks of springtime must be savoured though, we are at a rare point where it is warm outside, but we are not yet besieged by insects! We've yet to complete the loop on our first year, but we do know that sometime between now and July the mosquitoes will come out en masse and that we'll no longer be able to leave doors and windows open for fear of letting the aircon out and the bugs in!

So whilst this season lasts we are making the most of it. Today we went to the Medicine Hat Spring Rodeo. Despite the weather (which no one could have predicted) it was an indoor event with the usual mixture of Steer Wrestling, Calf Roping and Barrel Racing along with a quaintly North American event, Boys Steer Riding. This event involves children aged between 9-13 riding a bucking bull for as long as they can and then being thrown off into the arena. The kids then have to pick themselves up quickly enough to escape the bull when it inevitably spins round and looks for its rider!

Health & Safety in the UK would have a fit, but here it's entertainment and is often the beginning a profitable rodeo career!