Denver National Western Stock Show

It's that time of year.  Stock show!  Furry Husband and I went last Thursday - we like going during the week when it's a lot less crowded.  It was sort of a boring stock show day, no big events going on, but still FUN!   

We got there around lunch - Furry Husband got his corn dog - THE, one and only, annual corndog!  I got some ribs... we went to the coliseum because we thought they had a ranch horse class going on, only it hadn't started yet, it was collegiate judging. 
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There were groups of all different animals... 4 angus bulls set up over there,  a group of 4 herefords in a pen at the end of the arena,  4 sheep held in head stanchions at the other end of the arena, another set of 4 sheep moving in a small round pen, 4 pigs in another round pen over yonder.  There must've been a couple hundred college age people/teams with clipboards.  The sheep in head stanchions were being felt and fondled while other groups were standing around or in front of the other animals evaluating, taking notes, judging.   

The entire coliseum was empty - absolutely NO ONE in the stands.  Just the few hundred college kids evaluating animals in the arena below.
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We sat down to watch while we ate.
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The announcer gets on the loudspeaker and dismisses the Junior Teams from the floor.  Suddenly the area we are sitting in is flooded with college kids.  The announcer comes on and says, "The people in section 219... please move... to the people in section 219.... please remove yourselves." 
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We are the ONLY people there... Furry Husband gets up and promptly leaves.
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Uh... honey?   A little help?
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I'm stuck in my seat, I have my purse, napkins, plate o' ribs, plastic forks to gather up and my hands are all covered in rib juice - not making for a seamless escape....all the college kids are filing into the seats around me.  I'm trying to lick and wipe my hands off as fast as I can to grab my stuff and get out.
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Lucky for me,  Furry Husband came back, took my plate and we moved... sheesh!  They didn't have the area marked off or anything... and there was NO ONE in that coliseum, I swear! 

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We walked around and looked at vendor booths... fun to see everything.  Got a pair of leather gloves at the Carhart place for $16... Dave got a pair of warm chore gloves there too for $8... I bought a book at a vendor that has all horse books...I'd read about it, wanted it, forgot I wanted it and there it was on the display table... so got it. 
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The Eighty Dollar Champion  by  Elizabeth Letts - about a time in 1958 when a poor Dutch immigrant buys a big grey plow horse from the kill van for $80... he needed a new lesson horse for the place he teaches riding lessons... they become the TOP Jumper competitors of the day - he earns the nickname "The Flying Dutchman" and the horse was named Snowman....true story. 
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I read the first couple chapters and I'm totally sucked in - it's gonna be a good book!  Love those sort o' underdog/rags to riches stories!!
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We left after walking around a couple hours... stopped at Odells brewery on our way home in Ft. Collins... sat and talked and had a beer in PUBLIC with real people all around.  We seem to rarely meet for beers or go out to dinner   not on purpose, guess we just get busy with other things so when we do meet in public, it feels so out of the ordinary. 

We always talk about how weird that is - how rare our forays into public, popular, crowded places are...tho' I suppose once everything you love is at home, there is not much reason to go out looking for entertainment! 

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Well.... that's my story anyway and I'm stickin' to it!  (Besides, it sounds much better than being a 41 yr old boring cat lady recluse...grin)