Ranch Update

Tres Colinas on the road less graveled

 

Ranch Update

Despite my pleas, no one showed up to help so I finished digging and running the water lines by myself.  I'm happy to report we now have yard hydrants behind the barn and next to the RV Port.  We decided to name the cats Dan and Lilly but Dan must have thought better as he disappeared about a week later.  Lilly has stuck with us and we are about to add a couple of friends for her as she seems a bit lonely.  She stays in the barn all day, leaving only when I put Shane and Mattie in their pen for the night.  She seems to have made friends with them (I suspect they pestered Dan into leaving or a coyote got him) but they play a little rough and she seems to like them best from a distance.  I'm not sure what she does at night but I haven't seen any mice or other unwanted creatures around the barn so I'm happy. 

 

All the grass standing around doing nothing but growing kept bothering me so we decided to do something about it.  We picked up five black angus heifers  at the Burleson County Auction and so are in the cattle business in a manner of speaking.  Two are sisters (I assume that means having the same father) and all are very gentle.  Having cattle can certainly be a nuisance as they are not the smartest animals on the farm.  However, they offer the following benefits: mowing grass, fertilizing the ground, source of food and possible source of income.  We will see how it goes and may add a few more before the fall.   

 

More Texas Culture

 

Some neighbors are having a baby and they decided to have a "Redneck Baby Shower".  Those invited were expected to bring a package or two of diapers, dress like rednecks (not a big stretch for most of us) and eat bar-b-que and drink beer.  You can see, we pulled out our best "jorts" and had a good time.  My friends in Tennessee will be happy to see I found a good use for the "Power T" cooler that followed me to Texas.  The baby came a week or so later and at ten pounds and eight ounces (everything is bigger in Texas), I heard half the diapers had to be exchanged due to being too small. 

To prove we hadn't completely lost touch with our urban side we drove to Austin the next day to celebrate Pam's birthday.  Nicole, Pam, Holly, Cora, Ava and I had a great lunch at Counter Café (it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives).    

s The Dam Lakefest 

Nicole was in charge of Lakefest this year at Lake Somerville.  It is a fund raiser for the Burleson County Chamber of Commerce and was held against the backdrop of the dam (hence the catchy name).  There were lots of events (5K run, sand castle contest, music, etc.) but I focused my attention on the bar-b-que cook-off contest.  There were 38 entrants and it was sanctioned as an official Texas State cook-off.  I'm not sure exactly what that means other than the winner can claim they are State Champions (but so can some 30 others in similar events across Texas).  My biggest concern was making sure I was appointed one of the judges.  I agreed to help with the 5K race (being there at 6:30am) in exchange for my judicial appointment.  With my appointment to judge brisket securely in hand, all I had to do was wait and manage my appetite.  As luck would have it, I was offered the opportunity to also judge bar-b-qued chicken around 11am.  It's a poor relation to brisket but I agreed.  As judges, we had to eat a bite of each numbered entrant and assign a score between 1 and 10 based on appearance, aroma, tenderness and taste/flavor.  There was a variety in each case but in my opinion the 38 half chickens were scored 3 poor, 32 good and 3 excellent.  It was a good preliminary for the main event.  At 2pm, the call went out to the brisket judges.  The same judging rules applied and we were warned to pace ourselves as 38 bites of brisket would be filling.  Again, I found the same quality distribution of 3 poor, 32 good and 3 excellent (I wondered if they were the same cookers but had no way of knowing as they were only identified by number).  By good, I mean I would eat that brisket anytime but those I judged as excellent were at an even higher level.  You could recognize them as soon as you opened the sample.  They looked good (brown not gray with a thick pink smoke ring and a nice bark of the cooked in rub); smelled of salt, pepper and smoke; were moist and tender to the point of falling apart on your fork; and finally tasted great.  I think I ate about 38 ounces of brisket during that hour (along with a pickle between each bite of brisket).  After writing this, I'm ready for some more.   

Go Texan

One of the fund raising organizations in Texas is Go Texan.  They raise money for college scholarships through reverse auctions.  The Burleson County chapter had an event a couple of weeks ago.  They sell 240 tickets at $125 each.  This entitles you and a guest to a rib eye dinner, all the adult beverages you can drink and a chance to win $10,000.  The theme was Duck Dynasty.  As the dinner progresses, an MC begins calling numbers drawn from a rotating basket.  If your number is called you are eliminated.  Our number was 84.  Everyone at our table agreed to put $20 in a table pot with the last number remaining, winning the pot.  For the first hour of number calling, I paid little attention to anything but the rib eye and beer.  When they reached the half-way point and 84 was still in it, I got a little more interested.  They began selling off 10 more tickets, one at a time, to the highest bidder from those already out of the raffle.  Those tickets were selling for as much as $750 each.  After 30 more minutes, only two numbers were left at our table and about 30 in the basket for the $10,000.  This was starting to get interesting.  Then I heard the other number from our table called.  $200 was passed across the table to me.  I was starting to feel lucky.  More numbers were drawn from the basket and 84 wasn't one of them.  Suddenly, I was informed I was in the final 10 numbers.  Ten of us were moved to chairs at the front of the banquet hall, given Willie Robertson head bands, beards and a duck call to wear (picture above).  At this point, they offer our tickets for sale to the highest bidder.  The first round high bid was $1500 but none of ten would agree to sell their ticket for that amount.  The basket spun, a number was called and a man two seats down from me left unhappy.  I was really starting to believe I might win the jackpot or at least sell my ticket for $3 or $4 thousand.  The next ticket was offered $1,800 but again, no one was willing to sell.  I'll admit I was starting to get really nervous.  The basket spun and the woman sitting to my left heard her number called.  A feeling of invincibility began to come over me.  I felt destined to win the $10,000.  All I needed was the courage to hang in there.  The next ticket was offered $2,150.  Hmmm, that's not bad for a $125 investment (that had already been recouped at my table).  I only had a few seconds to make my decision.  I looked at Pam and she shook her head no.  Was I pushing luck or reaching for destiny (or was the beer impeding my judgment)?   I shook my head and the offer moved to the next person.  The basket spun and I heard 84 called.  It took a second or two to sink in as I'd gone over two hours without hearing that number.  Oh well, I got a head band, duck call and made $55 on top of that.  I ditched the beard as it reminded me too much of Crash Endo (inside joke for my work friends in Knoxville).  I did lose a little sleep that night thinking of what might have been.

 

When Texas Gets Hot, Texans Go To Colorado

Kolache a square piece of fluffy dough with a fruit-filled
depression in its middle.  They also make them with sausage
and/or cheese.  Nothing about them is depressing.

With summer heat at full force (daily highs at or above 100 degrees), like many Texans we decided it was time to go to Colorado.  Southern Colorado becomes an annexation of Texas from June through August and Coloradians return the favor from November through February.  We hitched up the RV, loaded Holly and Cora and began the long drive out of Texas.  The first stop was West, Texas.  Prior to the fertilizer plant explosion in April, West (comma) Texas, was known to most Texas as a small suburb of Waco and home of the Czech Stop, perhaps the most famous kolache bakery in Texas.  Fortified with poppy seed, apricot, peach, sausage and jalapeno kolache, we headed for the panhandle. 

We broke the drive into two legs with the first ending near Amarillo at Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  Known as the grand canyon of Texas, the park was created from the JA Ranch which at one time encompassed over 1.3 million acres and over 100,000 cattle.  The ranch manager was Charles Goodnight who with Oliver Loving blazed the Goodnight-Loving cattle trail to New Mexico.  Both were retired Texas Rangers who had gotten into the cattle business.  Loving was killed by Comanches on their first trail drive.  If this sounds vaguely familiar, it was the basis for Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove TV Miniseries.  The campground was down in the Canyon as was an amphitheater where they performed a musical show called "Texas" which offered a fictional depiction of life on the Texas panhandle during the mid-late 1800's. 

Here are more pictures of the canyon.














After two days at Palo Duro (it was still in the low 90's there), it was time to head toward New Mexico and on to Colorado but that's for the next blog.  Hope all is well with everyone.

Moon rise at the end of Route 66 in New Mexico.