Cowboy Poetry Week

Every January the town of Elko is invaded by cowboy poets, musicians, artists from across the world. Also, the people who want to see what the "cowboy life" is all about show up. Some of this group are very wealthy, & never saw the front end or the back end of a cow except in a movie. Wednesday, thru the winter blizzard, our little one room school went to town for cowboy poetry. We were treated to the folklife center, where we saw the wooden longhorn heads the kids had painted hanging. Then we went to our first show, it was 3 bands - 2 from Mexico - they were fantastic; the last was a gal and her brother from Ft. Worth - she played the accordian and sang, and he played the guitar. Also, wonderful. We ate at McDonalds, kids choice. While there the students who'd finished went to play in the play room. One came in saying she was really hot and needed a drink. She then took a drink from her mom's cup, and started to pass out. She was just comatosed. She couldn't talk or respond. I got wet towels, and when I felt her face she was really clamy. While they were trying to decide what to do, I took her outside. She couldn't stand up at first but the cold kinda starts her to moving. She leans over the rail, (right in front of the take out window) and vomits - several times. She then can tell me her name, her age, but she's still not herself. They come around in the pickup and rush her to the ER. Meanwhile, her momma is our bus driver so we are stuck at McD's. The kids are gathering their stuff, when one little sister -3, comes in bawling. She's whacked her check on something and has a golf ball size knot that's shiny and turning black. One of the 5th grade boys walked over and said, "We need to get out of here, now!" I agreed, we go outside and stand in the 15 degree weather and comtemplate walking to our next show. The relief driver shows, we head for our next adventure. The sick girl's older sister who is falling apart is by my side, she's scared to death. We see the Quebe Sisters, also from Texas. They are super, the kids enjoy the fiddles.
After the show, because of the bad weather, the kids have to ride a different bus with a different school home. All ended well, thank you Lord, our sick one had an irregular heartbeat and today found out she probably had a seisure. If I was a drinking woman, I'd a had a really strong one last night.