Crazy Weather Calls for Indoor Measures (Tuesday, January 10th, 2017)

The weather around the country has been crazy since the start of the new year.  Floods in California and Nevada, and huge amounts of snow in Colorado.  It has snowed almost non-stop since the first day of January, and we've had huge wind for the past few days. Monday on I-25 (the main north - south highway through Colorado) was closed for hours because multiple semis blew off the road. 

Today, I-70 (the main east-west highway) was closed for hours because of an avalanche that came down over the highway.  This photo is compliments of 9-News here in Denver.

A-Basin, Crested Butte and Monarch ski areas had to close because of too much snow, and many of the mountain towns are completely snowed in.  We've never heard of that before! Tonight the news says that more snow is on the way.  Wow, what a month so far!

We're tired of being cooped up because of bad weather, so we decided it was time to get out and about, so we spent the day at the National Western Stock Show.  The snow has all melted here in town, but the wind is still blowing like crazy so it's nice to find somewhere nice and calm to walk around.

The stock show has everything related to farming and ranching that you could ever want to see, and so much food, both inside and out.

Our first stop was the cattle judging.  They are all so fluffy but other than that, we couldn't tell what the judges were looking for. 

Then we checked out what the vendors had for sale.  This is probably too big for our yard, so we'll have to keep looking.

But a Treager grill might be nice!  Oh yeah, we're de-cluttering.  I guess we'll have to just keep looking.

They even had some birds of pray.

This trailer held four horses, and still had living quarters for their owners up front.  Do you think it gets a little stinky after awhile?

It took us awhile, but we finally found the livestock.

This goat is getting groomed.  I don't think he's thrilled.

Once they are groomed, they get these pretty coats to keep them clean.

Then we headed clear upstairs to the petting farm and pony rides. Our youngest daughter really wanted to ride a pony, but I think I finally convinced her that her feet would drag.

There was even a bee keeper in the hall of education.  He took the time to find his queen bee for us.  It's somewhere in this picture, but I can't find it now.

Then we made a quick stop in the Clydesdale barn.  They are huge horses!

The most exciting part of our day was watching the tractor head out to groom the arena.  OK, maybe not!

When we checked the arena again before we left, there was a pinning competition going on.  Three cowboys have to separate three specific cows out of the herd, without getting any of the others.

The stock show was a fun way to get out of all the crazy weather we have been having, and to enjoy something that we don't often see.  We did have a little trouble with allergies in the enclosed arenas, but it was a lot of fun!