Happy Independence Day!

This year's 4th saw much more pleasant temperatures than last year's.
I looked back at my blog-entry from around that week in which I'd pasted the weather forecast for a day later and it showed a whopping 98F for the 6th and a 101 for the 8th! 
It 'only' reached 96F on the fourth ...

It was so much better this time around with only 76F on the day itself. 
We're up to 83F today but it looks like it's still not getting crazy hot for the near future ..



Unlike other years we didn't  do a lot this time around, mainly because we already went to the St Paul Rodeo two days prior.
We'd been there once before, in 2012, when we were camp-hosts in Gold Beach and drove up for a couple of days to visit James' family in Newberg.


As far as rodeos go this is a big one, complete with a big carnival, many vendors, lots of food, drinks and live musical entertainment.
We had tickets for the Wednesday night rodeo which featured bare-back and saddle bronc riding, barrel racing, steer wrestling, and the legendary bull riding.

                                    

When we got there at around 4pm the place was already packed (they sell out for every evening) and we spent some time checking out the carnival and all the cowboys and cowgirls strutting their stuff while getting a (way overpriced) bite to eat in the meantime.

                                                     

These bulls were looking very peaceful, chewing their cud and just lounging around. 
How often a bull 'bucks' depends on the length of the event weekend and previous day's buckoff time. 
During a two-day event, a bull normally bucks at least once and they could be finished after that day. During three-day events, a bull could buck twice in the weekend with a day of rest in between. No bull will ever be forced to buck back-to-back riders or days.

                                   

Every rodeo opens with a prayer said and the National Anthem sung while different flags, among which the U.S. flag (often referred to as "Old Glory") carried into the arena on horseback:

It's always a rather emotional moment ...

After which the evening competition started with bare back bronco (left), followed by sadle bronco (right):

   

After which it was time to wrestle some calfs:

And finally ... the top event ..  bull riding!



Needless to say it was a great event and we enjoyed every bit of it!
Every evening ends with fireworks but we left before that since we already had plans to see the firework show in Willamina.
Besides, it's always smart to leave these big events early. That way you beat the crowds going back to their cars and you have a fast and easy drive 'out of dodge'.

                                          

Anyways, by the time the 4th came around we weren't very motivated to participate in any other festivities. Next year!
So James went golfing and I spend most of the day reading.
We did whip up a traditional BBQ in the evening ... ribs with potato- and a green salad, and I'd made a (huge) blackberry crisp for desert!

We also went to Willamina around dusk for that firework-show I mentioned.

It seemed that there weren't as many people as last year, but that might very well have been because instead of  80F-something back than, it was only a chilly 56F at 10 pm now!

The show lasted for 30 minutes and was absolutely fantastic again, they do know their fireworks around here!

Back on the ranch more of the fields have been mowed and the hay bailed ..

                                                                   

We've stopped mowing the grass around the RV, it all died down since we've not had any rain for weeks, but the wildflowers are OK with that and are still growing and flowering.
I love this 'wild' look of the Queen Ann's lace and camomile ..                                 

         

Also, the grey barn has been taken down.

Brett had hoped to save some timber but in the end it was not worth the effort and time, so he decided to just rip it apart and push it over:

Our view from the front porch greatly improved. Here's the before and the after ..

And this is the view from the other side looking towards the RV .. before and after

    

This is how we look now from the end of the property ... no more barns next to us:

Of course this won't last, only until the new barn will be raised, but it's a fun look for a while ..

One of my two blueberry bushes produced a handful of ripe berries this week and there's probably a few more to come.
Not much, but apparently it's to be expected for only a second year plant ...

Which reminded me to go and look for some cheap fruit to get us through the winter. Since we switched to smoothies for breakfast we're going through a lot of it!
I found a U-pick (self-pick) farm that grows about any fruit you can think of and for reasonable prices, so tomorrow we'll drive the 20 minutes to Dallas for a visit to Perryhill Farm.

They should have lots of ripe raspberries and peaches at the moment so hopefully we'll bring some home!