You know the feeling, you come back off holiday and there’s this heavy weight in the bottom of your stomach – all there is to look forward to are long hours and chores. Not here!
What a weekend we’ve just had.
Ralston has it’s own Rodeo!
At the back of the village behind the school is Ralston’s rodeo ground. Running or walking past it on a normal day, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that it’s not been used in ages, but come this past Saturday it was transformed. The barriers were newly painted white, horses were tethered to trailers and calves, cows and broncs were waiting for the cowboys! Although not a Pro Rodeo (professional rodeo tour) event, there was no shortage of competitors, most local but a few had travelled quite a distance.
In addition to the regular rodeo events, there were two laid on especially for the staff at CFB Suffield and BATUS – calf roping (with three men per team as opposed to one man and a horse) and wild cow milking (also three man teams). For the calf roping, the team had to pull in a calf, tackle it to the ground, tie at least three of its legs together and have them remain tied for six seconds. They had the advantage of being handed the end of the rope to which the calf was tied! It was obviously way harder than it looked as no one team managed to get their calf tied! If you’re after a funny spectator sport than I’d thoroughly recommend wild cow milking. These aren’t from your normal dairy herd – the cow does have a calf and it does have milk but, it has never been milked previously by hand or by machine. These cows were huge and not very friendly! As with the calf roping, the teams were given one end of the rope, which was promptly ripped from their grasp as the cow raced as far away from them as possible to the other end of the arena. The few lucky competitors that managed to keep hold of the rope were dragged along behind! Most of the time allowed for the teams to get some milk was spent either chasing the cow or being charged by the cow! It was a hot, tiring but very enjoyable day.
Sunday morning came around, and with it I was prepared for the usual chores – unfortunately they had to wait. I got surprised by a visit up to 29 Flight, the Army Air Corp squadron at BATUS and a helicopter ride over the Prairie and Ralston. The squadron held a family fun day and for the first time, they were allowed to take wives other than their own up in the gazelles. I got lucky and out of the three of us on our flight was able to sit up front. The gazelle is a great helicopter to fly in if you’re a passenger up front as the Perspex canopy runs from above your head right down to your feet giving you a great view from the air. It wasn’t bad for the boys either as they got to spend the morning watching helicopters take off, hover along the runway and land.
Not content with all of the above in a week, Jonathan and I decided to fit in a flying visit to Fernie to finish off the last bits of the kitchen after the countertop had been fitted. Our good friends Sarah and Gary kindly had Jack for us last night and today so we were able to crack on with all the jobs.
It’s back onto the Prairie tomorrow for Jonathan, so you never know, next week may be a little calmer!
The Travelling Haywards 