Twice in two days we've been spontaneous! This is rare. An unusual occurrence in the life of a couple who each work 50-60 hours a week....or more and have multiple community and professional involvements taking up the rest of the available hours. But Mother Nature has been too seductive to allow anyone to remain inside. Highs in the upper 70's to upper 80's with beautiful clear blue skies and humidity down in the 30-40% range. Two weeks ago we strung together several of the most perfect of days....78 sunny degrees with 27% humidity. These days every convertible top is down, Harleys are everywhere, and the beaches are crowded. Yesterday I stopped in midafternoon, gazed longingly out the office window, picked up the phone and called Bill at his office. He was home in 30 minutes and we hit the road for some artsy shopping, the ferris wheel and some great seafood all along the water in Kemah.

Today we just up and decided to forego some errands and head to the rodeo. If you don't know much about the HLSR, I'm not sure I can convey the significance adequately. The rodeo has a 345 million dollar impact on our fair city. It lasts about 3 weeks beginning with trail rides entering the city from multiple directions leading up to the official rodeo opening: the Rodeo Parade downtown. Then it's on to the Reliant Park complex to watch around 30,000 cowboys and cowgirls compete, chuckwagon races and nightly entertainment performances by top name performers. What does it say that the headliners have always been stars like Johnny Cash, Reba, June Carter Cash, Brooks and Dunn, Brad Paisley, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Toby Keith and all of a sudden........ .shazaam!...this years first sellout (and I do mean in a matter of minutes after the tickets went on sale) was Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus? Whoa. A strange wind might be blowin'. General attendance at the 2007 rodeo was 1,806,129 including 1800+ foreign visitors from 57 countries. RodeoHouston is the world's largest rodeo (title of a country song there). I think there are over 19,000 volunteers involved in the running of it. It is a charity that provides dollars for scholarships, research and endowments. In the fall of 2007, 2,022 were enrolled at 88 Texas colleges and universities on direct Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo scholarships. On its website, the mission is identified as:
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was organized for charitable, educational and scientific purposes to encourage and promote the breeding, raising and marketing of better livestock and farm products at public fairs and to promote and maintain research and educational functions within the livestock industry.

Most importantly, there is Swifty the Swimming Pig with whom I once again had my (our) photo taken. It's becoming an annual event. It was a new little Swifty this year. I think those pig races might be the most popular event out on the midway.......if you want in to see them get in line, slather on the sunscreen and bring a book!