Denver National Western Stock Show

It's 2:30 on Monday afternoon - and the sun is shining in a clear blue sky, while it's 18 degrees outside.  Nedi is out chasing things, and Lovey is tucked up on my pillow, watching me blog.  I am home.  I came home last night, fed and loved the kits, and fell into bed, where I slept for 12 hours. I awoke frequently, as Lovey wanted to make sure that I was aware I was in my own bed - everytime I stirred in the slightest, she washed my chin and gave me head bumps.  Nedi just snuggled closer to my right leg...  It is cold here, but at the moment, we have yet to have the high winds that were forecast for today - and I'm thankful for that.  But, on the other hand, a good Chinook would clear half of the snow that's on the ground in about 6 hours...  Hmmmm.  Guess I'd rather have the wind than piles of dirty snow.  Our temperatures are supposed to be returning to their "normal" range for the rest of the week, with highs in the mid-40s.  If you are not offended by certain words, I suggest you view a North Dakota Native American weather forecast (done tongue-in-cheek, I'm sure):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8hGIF9FljM
  Only one team that I was rooting for won a play-off game this past weekend, even though I watched all four games.  Kudos to the New Orleans Saints for being a winning team for me.  Saturday night, I caught up on two of the TV shows that I had missed episodes on - saw "The Golem" episode of Sleepy Hollow and caught the last two episodes of The Blacklist.  I feel as if I've watched more TV in the past 5 days than I did in all of December.  -  And then we have the Winter Olympics coming our way in February....  Oh, boy!
  Tonight is the final BCS Championship NCAA Football game - the Auburn Tigers against the Florida State Seminoles.  I'm rooting for Auburn, because they are SEC members, and because I've always respected FSU (under Bobby Bowden) but I want to defeat them.  Tim Tebow made his ESPN announcing debut this morning - and looked very sharp; grey suit, white shirt, and a lavender tie and coat handkerchief. (One of the other announcers called it "fuschia" - but there wasn't enough pink...) Tim did very well - spoke smoothly, answered the questions about being in the BCS Championship Bowl, and threw out at least one word that probably had folks scrambling for their dictionary.  I liked his premiere, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.
   Right now, I'm gearing up for the National Western Stock Show in Denver.  The Show will "kick off" with the annual Parade, which will start at noon on Thursday, 9 January, at the downtown Union Station, and will proceed down 17th Street.  Riders, clowns, horse-drawn wagons, and a herd of 100 longhorn steers will participate.  If the Parade is too much for you, you can go to the atrium of the Wells Fargo Building at 11:30 that morning, and enjoy the National Western BBQ Lunch (for the cost of $10, which is donated to the 4-H International Youth Group) - and listen to country-western bands and see the latest in western fashions.  The Stock Show itself runs from 11 January through 26 January.  Much more information can be found at:  http://www.nationalwestern.com/