Today I got to go to the Cowboy Church of the Valley for the first time this trip. Kathy was looking forward to going but her bad tooth caused her to stay home.
https://www.westernoutreach.org/index.html
If we go the back way to church we go by a grapefruit orchard. Driving by makes you want to stop and grab a few grapefruit, even if its picking up the ones on the ground. Usually by now we have been to the Don Wes flea market and have a $4 bag of fresh grapefruit in the refrigerator.
Pastor Chris discussed the meaning of the three gifts the "Wise Men" gave to Jesus. Below is a photo of folks leaving after the service, probably a quarter of the folks had already left.
If you are interested you can find more pictures of the church facility at:
https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2023/12/day-21-sunday-december-24-cowboy-church.html
https://bertdsblog.blogspot.com/2024/02/day-67-wednesday-february-8-work-day.html
Today was a special day, about an hour after the service ended area kids competed in the arena across the road. Not all the kids attend the church. Age brackets for each of the events was : 6 and under, 7-10, 11-14 & 15-18. There were 2 kids in the 6 & under, 7 in the 7-10 bracket, 5 in the 11-14 bracket and 4 in the 15-18 bracket.
In the first competition riders had to weave their horses through the poles. If a pole was knocked over the rider incurred a 5 second penalty. If the rider didn't follow the correct weaving pattern they were disqualified.
This little girl was in the 6 and under bracket. I didn't get a picture of her and her Dad during the Poles event. The 2nd event was barrel racing. There are 3 barrels and the rider must go around all three in a specific pattern. Dad ran while leading her horse through the competitions. He did great. I think his time beat the times of those in the 7-10 age bracket. He looked a little winded after the run through the barrels.
The last competition used 3 barrels and a table with a big red basket on it. The first barrel, on the left had an apron on it, the one in the middle had a Christmas stocking on it and the far barrel had a medium size bag on it. The kids had to ride up to the 1st barrel, grab the apron and loop it over their head; then to the 2nd barrel, grab the stocking and put it over their saddle horn. At the 3rd barrel they had to pick up the bag. After they had everything they rode over to the table and put everything in the red basket. I was impressed by their riding skills, especially one of the girls. Her horse shied violently when the wind made the apron flutter. She sat like she was glued to the saddle.
Back home we watched a little of a football game then Kathy went over and worked on a puzzle for a couple of hours. I did a 4 mile bike ride around the campground.
It was cloudy all day. The high temperature was in the low 70's. At 10PM its a humid (80%) 66 degrees.
God is good. I pray that He blesses you and yours. He has blessed me.
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