How to relax.... By an expert

Click the pics for some rompin' and stompin' bull riding.

Today's pictures are about my youngest son. When my son was in high school all he wanted to do was ride bulls in the rodeo. I wasn't too thrilled about that, but I didn't want my fear to stand in the way of  his dreams, so I bought him the best safety equipment I could afford and we would spend summers camping at rodeo arena's all over Colorado while he rode those bulls.

A relaxing, laid-back day today. I didn't accomplish anything useful, nor did I have a desire to. Some days are just for relaxing and putting off the things you should be doing for another day; I happen to be a world-renowned expert on days like that.

Some things are important enough that you can't put them off, but I somehow manage to find a way, to everyone's amazement. Living my motto of, "Never put off till tomorrow something you can put off for the rest of your life," allows me to find a little joy and happiness even on days when I should be busy doing things that absolutely have to get done.

When faced with that situation, I always fall back on the old military motto of; "don't sweat the small stuff, and it's all small stuff." Usually, that will put things in perspective for me, and I will realize that enjoying life is what's really important, and all the rest is just "small stuff."

Another bit of life's lessons I have always followed is the motto of Alfred E Newman of "Mad Magazine," who was famous for saying, "what, me worry?" Ever since I first started reading Mad Magazine, I have lived by that motto and spend very little of my valuable, and limited time worrying about much of anything. After all, worrying about something accomplishes nothing; you do what you can to solve the problem and then forget about it. Worrying about anything doesn't fix it; it doesn't make it go away, all it does is make your life miserable, and it's pretty hard to enjoy life when your miserable, especially when you're making yourself that way with senseless worry. So I do the best I can to solve the problem and move on to something more enjoyable.

Sometimes it was an effort to live like that when working for a living and raising kids. But when you're retired, it gets much easier. Because with any luck, you'll finally be able to make your own decisions without a "boss" of some kind telling you what to do and when. Then hopefully, you can decide how you're going to live your life on your terms and whether or not you're going to worry about things.

 That doesn't mean that life will be perfect; no one's ever is. But, to me, it means I wake up every day thankful for the life I'm living, and my family that helps make it that way.

Theboondork

It takes a special kind of nerve, courage, or arguably lunacy, to get on the back of an angry thousand pound bull, I don't know what it is but whatever it is...he had it.

So all over Colorado during the bull riding season he would be rideing bulls. And even though his high school didn't have bull riding as an officially sanctioned sport, especially since he was the only one in the entire school that did it, they still treated it as one and allowed him time off during school days to ride.

This weird picture is my son being forcibly ejected by the bull while wearing a GoPro camera on his helmet and this is the picture we ended up with. You may notice his boots are tied on with leather straps, the bull throws you around so hard that you can lose your boots in less they're tied on.

Bull riders aren't the only ones that have to be brave. Dad's that are taking videos of the event and have to watch their son getting hung up and  drug around the arena while the bullfighter's attempt to get him free, also requires a certain amount of bravery not to mention nerves of steel.

So why does a high school kid do something as crazy as climbing on the back of an angry bull? I'm not sure but it may have something to do with random girls that want an autograph, or a picture taken with you.

Fame; no matter how limited or short-lived is powerful and addictive.

So what do you do when your bull riding days are over, and you still need a little adrenaline in your life?

 You climb up  scary looking trees and dodge powerlines while you cut them down starting at the top.

This is my son scaring me to death cutting broken limbs out of a tree at my daughter's house yesterday.

And since the grandkids were absolutely thrilled as they watched him climb that giant tree, when he's finished the work he repels out of the tree upside down just like Spider-Man... The grandkids loved it !

After you've been on the back of an enraged bull that would like nothing better than to make you one with the dirt, it takes a lot to get the adrenaline flowing again and smile while you're doing it.