Friends of Pecos

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

LA CALERA CHAPEL-TOYAHVALE, TX.







This chapel is just outside of Balmorhea...in the now long gone village of Toyahvale. The chapel was built about 1902 and restored in 2003.
It is open 24/7 and no one ever vandalizes it.
It's a very "zen" place. PLEASE see the 2 old photos and read more about Mission Mary at www.caleratexas.org...apparently it never had any roof?!
Jamey and I lit candles and continued on to Alpine.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

DEC. 20, 2009 Rosie and Randy's.





Gene, Jamey and I went over to Rosie and Randy's to watch the Dallas Cowboys Game.
I didn't even take pictures of anybody.
I like their birds.
1. Burgers...yum!
2. 1 bird.
3. 2 birds...they look like bookends.
4. Hey Randy, you have a bird on your head.

DEC. 17, 2009 GIRL SCOUT TROOP #90-Christmas Party.








This was the girls 4th year to have their party here.
1. A sleepy little sister.
2. Eating.
3. Troop leader Dorinda and helper Gladys.
4. Each girl made us a Christmas card.
5. Troop #90
6. The Girl Scout pledge.
7. I pledge allegiance to the flag.
There are ten girls in troop #90...three of them are new and had not been here to the house.
I made a little scavenger hunt for them. They had to go around and find five things (each) that I had hidden in the house....a pecan, a walnut, a red stone, a coin and a glue stick. Then they got candy for their five items.
They ate and then exchanged presents.
I made each girl polymer clay covered ball point pens in purple and gold...the Pecos Eagle colors. I'm annoyed that I forgot to take pictures of them w/ their pens.
Every year I make them a Christmas necklace. In past years they have had a santa, a crystal and I forgot what else. This year I made necklaces out of polymer clay and glued a "lucky coin" on the back....some were Dutch coins and some were German coins. You can see the necklaces in photo #6.
The party lasted 2 hours and everyone had fun.
Feliz Navidad!

Friday, December 11, 2009

TUFFY SKELTON...there are few of these kind left.

Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, April 18, 2003
Skelton chronicles 80 years as cowboy, soldier
By SMOKEY BRIGGS
Staff Writer
PECOS, Fri., April 18, 2003 -- If you were born in San Saba County in 1921 and lived to see the dawn of the 21st Century, you might live through a few incidents worth writing down.

Merle "Tuffy" Skelton was and did, and now the Barstow resident has written down more than a few of his experiences in a book titled, "Cowmen, Cowboys, and Soldiers I've Known."

He came by the nickname Tuffy honestly.

When he was five a sickness took hold of most of his family. One younger sister died. At one point one of his older sisters picked him up and said, "Well, it looks like little Tuffy is going to survive."

He has answered to Tuffy ever since.

The depression hit the Panhandle and West Texas hard. Tuffy's mom died when he was nine and at the age of 13 he struck off on his own.

"I stayed with an uncle of mine for awhile and went to California in the fall of 1935 and stayed the winter," he said. "I was doing anything I could get to do - I sold newspapers, worked on a hay bailer and put up flyers for grocery stores."

He graduated into cowboying early on and that is what he was doing when he enlisted in the U. S. Army two months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Tuffy enlisted in Amarillo and went to basic training at Fort Sill, Okla., where he joined a lesser-known element of the Artillery - the mule-pack artillery.

"We used 75 mm mountain howitzers that were designed to be broken down and carried by mules," he said.

The mule-pack artillery belonged to the 1st Cavalry Division, which shipped for Australia and the Pacific Theater on July 3, 1943.

Tuffy and the division were part of three major campaigns in the Pacific: the Admiralty Islands campaign, the invasion of the Philippines, and finally Luzon in 1945.

Unfortunately for Tuffy and his fellow cavalrymen the unit's animals could not be shipped to Australia.

"They used the cavalry guys as dismounted infantry and we pulled the little 75's with jeeps until the jeeps got stuck and then we broke them down and carried them by hand," he said.

According to Tuffy it took 10-12 men to carry all the pieces for one of the 75mm howitzers and that did not include ammunition for the gun.

"We put them to good use through all three campaigns," he said.

Tuffy was discharged in December of 1945.

Two years later he was working for a Wild West Show back east.

"Actually I worked for three different shows - billed as rodeos," he said. "Cowboys were pretty scarce back in the part of the world. I rode rough stock with the show and we all worked setting up and moving to different towns."

That year he met his wife Ireta in West Virginia while working for one of the wild west shows.

They were married August 8, 1947 after knowing each other for all of 30 days. It was enough. They are still married after 56 years.

After getting married Tuffy moved his new bride back to Texas and went to work as a cowboy.

He worked as a cowboy until 1976 when he leased a place west of Toyah and operated it as a ranch until 2000 when he took up book writing.

"The book is primarily about my life - friends and people I worked with and soldiered with."

Tuffy was 22 months writing the book, which has been in print since the day before Thanksgiving this past November and is in its second printing.

"I never thought I did anything worth writing about but a nephew of mine got me started. He said we ought to have it in the family so I decided to write it down."

Eighty years of living, cowboying and soldiering lends itself to more than a few tidbits of history.

It was probably worth writing down and probably worth reading as well.

Copies of the book can be found for sale here in locally in Pecos or it can be ordered directly from Tuffy at Box 125, Barstow, Texas 79719.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

THE LAST FEW SNOW PICTURES THAT I FORGOT TO POST.






Click on this first picture of Willie and make it big so you can see his snow beard. It really is cute and funny.
My old cat Missy did not like the snow and made three attempts of venturing outside and taking a few steps and then turning around and coming right back in. But she eventually decided she should check it out.
This weather was very unusual for Pecos and we don't expect it again but you never know.
We had none last year....but the year before we had this much snow Thanksgiving weekend.
It's fun and exciting for a day or two but I sure wouldn't like it all the time.

Friday, December 4, 2009

DEC.4, 2009...two snows in a week.
















It might not seem like a big deal to you....depending on where you live...but it's a BIG deal for us.
I woke up at 1 A.M....nothing.
Woke up at 3:45 A.M. and there it was and 5 hours later it's still coming down a little bit.
At 4:45 A.M. Gene's boss called to say he should stay home. His boss was going to try it and he had a 119 mile trip in to Pyote...he lives in Iraan.
The dogs seem to like it O.K....the cats....NOT!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

DUTCH OVEN CHOCOLATE SWAMP CAKE.











This a backwards blog...go down to the BOTTOM of the pictures to begin...or not, and view the baking process from end to start.
Photos by Jamey.
This was fun project for the whole family.
10. Finished cake. We lost alot of the cherries because I forgot to spray the bottom of the dutch oven with cooking spray. This is like an up-side-down cake.
9. George holding the oven...and his dog Comet hangin' out.
8. Checking....pecans getting too brown....take it out NOW!
7. Coals....8 on the bottom and 17 on top make for a 350 degree oven..supposedly.
6. Coals....Gene and George gettin' them ready.
5. Top with butter.
4. Sprinkle pecans.
3. Sprinkle Coconut.
2. Add a can of Dr. Pepper to cake mix and spread.
1. Line the dutch oven with foil (easy clean up) and spread a can of cherry pie filling in bottom.
It's more fun to make the cake than eat the cake.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

MARFA, TEXAS Part 3.













Marfa is the home of the Chinati Foundation started in 1979 (by Donald Judd) with initial assistance by the Dia Art Foundation of New York City. It is on 340 acres that used to be Fort D. A. Russell. It is very minimalist ....a contemporary art museum established to preserve and present permanent large scale installations. The emphasis being on art and surrounding landscapes...showing how they are inextricably linked.
It's not my cup of tea art-wise...but interesting just the same.
The town has dozens of upscale, quality art galleries. So...I'd say that Marfa is more "cosmo" in ambiance than nearby Alpine.
People from all over the world...especially New York come to Marfa to visit or live.
1. This old laundromat has been turned into the Marfa Vacation Rentals. Each apartment has a different colored door. They are 2 bedroom and 1 bath with a kitchen and are located in a great central part of town. The pictures I saw online of the inside are really nice.
2. Nice Bike!
3. Street scene.
4. Get it and go!
5. Liberty Hall. They have music and theatre presentations here. It likes kind of like an old fire station...or something.
6. Hardware store...gimmee that wagon wheel for my backyard!
7. Someone needs to save this old house!
8. Old jail entrance.
9. Old jail...it now houses the county extension offices.
10. A fence made from ocotillo cactus limbs....very cool...very thorny.
11. I love old adobe buildings.
12. Another old adobe.