Messages from January 2010

posted 1.31.10

I will be mailing entry envelopes tomorrow so be looking for them later this week.  If you don't receive any, it is because you are on the ineligible list and have not made any attempts to meet your fundraising requirements.  It is your responsibility to take care of your own business.  Call me if you want to know where you stand.  There is still time to get off the ineligible list.  We would love to see you at the spring rodeos.

 

I will be updating the finals information for Tri-State, Region 1 and Wrangler Division in the coming weeks.  Packets will be passed out at the Hereford rodeos.  But you can get a sneak peek of what to expect by checking the individual finals pages.  Region 1 and Wrangler Division money for entry fees, stalls, parking and tickets will be deposited in April when you turn in your entry forms.  This is a lot of money coming out of your bank account at the same time as your fees for the last rodeos.  The information from last year's finals is still posted.  I don't expect many changes in fees so I encourage you to start planning your budget now to avoid financial hardships in April.

posted 1.18.10

I think our board meeting went very well on Saturday.  I hope we are not starting a trend of 6+ hour meetings, though.  They wear me out - but in a good way.  I leave feeling so positive about our association.  We've got some great directors who understand the importance of the decisions they are making and the impact they will have on the membership.  Our meetings may run longer than we would prefer, but there is good discussion among the Board members and it benefits all of you in the long run.

 

If you don't know your Board of Directors yet, I hope you will make it a point to meet them this semester.  They take time away from their families and jobs to keep this association growing in the right direction.  A simple "hello" and "thank you" can go a long way to acknowledging their hard work.  Believe me, they deserve so much more.

 

In an effort to expand the responsibilities of your high school and junior high student officers, they were invited to the Board meeting to share their opinions and help make decisions on the Finals.  We were slow in getting to this level of involvement, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.  I think only good things can come from asking our student leaders to actually  be leaders.  Our future looks bright.

 

So like I mentioned above, we had a 6 1/2 hour meeting and that is a lot of notes I need to sort through so I can type the minutes and start getting the information out to all of you.

 

I know you are all excited to get back to the rodeos.  I am, too.  I will mail entry forms by early next week.   I still need semester report cards from quite a few members.  I know some of you are just getting yours.  Don't forget to send me a copy.  I will try to send e-mails to the members who are ineligible to encourage you to get your fundraising items in before the late fines increase again.

posted 1.13.10

I've been trying to get back into "full-time" mode this week but it just isn't happening yet.  I had a great time in Waco.  The Circuit Finals is not a typical rodeo so it had some new challenges for me but once I got over a few hurdles it was smooth sailing and lots of fun. 

 

Oh, and it was cold there too.  I thought it was supposed to get warmer when you head south but that was not the case last week.  I even heard of some region rodeos that were cancelled.  I don't know if they had inclement weather or if it was just cold.  I'm hoping there was more to it than just cold weather 'cause all I could think of was Gruver in October and how tough Region 1 members are!

 

Semester report cards are starting to trickle in.  That's a good sign.  These are forwarded on to the state offices just like your fundraising items so don't let a simple report card keep you from being eligible to compete this spring. 

 

The fundraising charts have been updated.  There are still quite a few members who are missing items.  If you haven't sold your ads, there is still time to get them in.  You have to turn in the money (and late fines) anyway so you might as well get advertising for it.  If you have turned in ad money with no artwork, there is still time to get that to me.  Don't let your money go to waste.  And for those of you who turn in money without your raffle tickets, don't forget to get those ticket stubs to me so they will be included in the drawings.  Please give me a call if you have questions about any of the fundraising requirements.

 

Your Board of Directors and Student Officers are meeting this weekend to work on some details for our Finals.  They'll be selecting the companies who will make your saddle and buckle awards, selecting the stock contractors and personnel and finalizing the schedule of events. 

 

I'm also expecting the information for state finals packets in the new few weeks.  I'll start updating the Finals pages for each association as this information comes in.

 

Keep an eye on the school and jackpot listings on each news page.  There are several good ones this semester and I'm sure I'll be adding more soon. 

 

Congratulations to Barrett Bland and Teryn Tate for being selected as Captains of the Region 1 Wrangler All Star team for the Wrangler Division.

posted 1.4.10

I'm taking off again for the rest of the week.  The Texas Circuit Finals Rodeo is in Waco and this is the first time I will be the secretary.  I'm pretty excited.

 

I will forward the office phone to catch as many calls as I can while I am gone.  You can also e-mail me if you need anything.

 

Have a good week.

posted 1.3.10

I think I'm going to like 2010.  So far I haven't messed up writing the correct year on anything.  LOL.  Hope all of you are off to a good start on the new year.

 

I have a checklist for the year that is broken down by months that helps me (try to) keep up with things.  As I was looking at it today, it hit me just how much goes on in the spring and how fast the time will go by.  In the next few weeks I will be getting information for the state finals.  Can you believe it is already time to be talking about the state finals?  Every year they seem to sneak up on me.  One day I'm relaxing and enjoying the end of 2009 and the next day I wake up to 2010 and the finals are just a few months away!

 

Thanks to your Directors, everything always falls into place  and gets done and when the finals are over, I look back and wonder why I was so stressed out.  I'll try to make this the year I don't get too stressed.  (Yeah, right!  I already know that won't happen.)

 

I've updated all of the fundraising charts and the ineligible chart.  There are quite a few of you who are missing items and EVERYONE needs to send in a semester report card when you get it.  Before you can compete in the spring semester, you have to be current on all fundraising requirements and have turned in your semester report card.  If late fines don't phase you and you need some more motivation to get in gear, think about this:  the entries for the Vernon rodeo open on February 15th.  That is in six weeks.

 

Now that I've got you thinking about entries, here are few notes on that topic:

I will send more information when I mail the entry envelopes later this month.  For now, I need to get back to work.  Three days into the new year and it already feels like time is flying by.