Soft Hail ... Really?

Apparently in California they are calling this white stuff graupel, meaning soft hail.  I know they don't see it often, but it's actually known as SNOW everywhere else in the world.  The blizzard last night was an epic one.  The wind sounded like it was going to blow my house away.  

I had a thought of my RV being pushed down the cliff by the wind, but thankfully it was still there this morning.  And we have SNOW!  It's so heavy the limbs from this tree, that you can't touch in the sunshine, are now dragging the ground. 

Looks like about 5 inches from the trash can.  Cooper will attest to that as he tried to "get in the grass" this morning.  He wasn't all too happy about that.

No pretty snow covered cactus this morning since everything is completely smothered.  As I type, the huge flakes are again falling to the ground.  

Even my kitty cat is covered!!  Notice he puffy tail?  He doesn't like it either!  It's supposed to keep this up until noon, when the sun will finally shine again.  I see a great picture opportunity in my near future.

In the meantime, back to the rodeo.  THIS is steer wrestling, or bull dogging as they used to call it.  It was claimed to have been started by Wild West performer Bill Pickett (one of 13 children) from Travis County Texas in the 1890's.  Supposedly he watched huge dogs on the cattle ranches of old, grab an unruly bull by the nose and take him down.  

I rather doubt that particular event ... if you ever saw the bulls on our ranch, weighing in at over 1500 pounds, you would know why.  Anyway, old Bill thought he could do that from his horse, and so the sport was born for the Wild West shows.

This has to be one of the hardest cowboy sports to accomplish.  Jump off your horse (who is running about 30 mph), grab the horns, STOP the 700 pound steer, turn his head back and drop him to the ground, with all four feet sticking out.  And do it in SEVEN seconds or less to win.

Here's the stopping part.  Dig your heels in, paying no attention to the fact that they are filling up with dirt going up your pant legs.  This is a job for the big boys ... most of these guys weigh in like football linebackers.

Speaking of which ... this is Bear Pascoe, tight end who played with the San Francisco 49er's.  This is what happens when the barrel clown J.J. Harrison makes a comment to a bulldogger about missing the steer and just doing a drive-by.  Something like "excuse me sir ... you are supposed to jump off the horse and stop the steer".  Bear always has a smile on his face!!

The hazer rides along to help keep the steer going straight so the bulldogger can get close enough to fall off his horse.  Sometimes that doesn't work out so well.  Better to just ride to the end than risk a wreck, which is what Bear did on this run.

To be a hazer, you have to know how to read your cattle.  It's just something you learn on the ranch so you can position yourself to keep the steer moving in a straight line.  Every single steer runs differently.

Too far ahead and the steer will stop.  Too far behind and it will turn in front of you ... all bad news for the guy who paid the entry fee.  Amazingly, this was something I never tried, even as a kid.  I did lots of crazy things on the ranch, but trying to make a calf lay down was not one of them!!

It's going to be a gorgeous picture taking day ... assuming of course that the snow lasts more than a few hours.  It's still coming down as the tree branches touch the ground.  I guess it's going to be another INSIDE day.  That's a good thing since I started quilting a completely different way yesterday.

The problem is, I'm an accountant ... everything should come out perfectly because it's math.  Well guess what ...........