IT'S ART & PET DAY IN PECOS!

What we have here folks is a bunch of sideways art...cos i'm feelin' sorta sideways...and STUPID!
Then since Gene is my #1 pet....see, he LOVES bottlecaps!
Click on the picture of Harold the cat to see how beautiful his eyeballs are...AND he matches the couch.
Willie and Bennie keep a sharp lookout for neer do wells...and other pecos evil.
They do this for hours...so as the sun sinks slowly into the west.....

Not only is Elmer Kelton going to be the speaker at the chamber of commerce banquet next month...i found out today that we are to be entertained by Terra Peters. She's a singer who goes to Sul Ross University in Alpine and is from Marathon. I first heard her at the Ft. Stockton museum banquet when we first moved here. She has recently put out her first Cd of original music...she's only about 19...and sings very high and sweet country music.

I think I might go to Kyle/Austin for a few days....i feel the need to get out of dodge.

Work was really hard today...i have pain.

Hey Brook....the "girl leg" spurs sold for $850. at the auction.
I would've bought the 2 pair of kids spurs for $40. if i'd been there when they were on the block.
i could've hung 'em with my stirrups....in the computer room.
the 1928 peter hurd painting that was estimated for $15,000.-$20,000 sold for $10,000.
Also...a 1861 confederate five dollar bill sold for $100.

RADIO HOTLINE:
For Sale:
trick bike $35. (what kind of tricks can it do?)
4 acres of pecans...wants one group to pick these up "on the halves." (my back hurts just thinking about it.)
ice cream maker $2. (you must be kidding me...this person must need $2. bad!)
Wanted:
someone to work on a barber chair.
provider in saragosa area. (to provide what?)
palm trees any size. (don't they know this is desert country?)

we had a big wind storm last night and today...it's gone now and so is everything that wasn't tied down.

on that big bit of news...i guess i'll go to bed and dream of the beach...any beach.

love, mare

NOTHING MUCH. (Edited.)

We were supposed to have sleet and snow yesterday and didn't get any. It's been so cold for so long. This weekend it'll get up into the 70's.

I finally finished the darn City of Pecos bulky, hard-to-hoop coveralls and overalls yesterday. I was sore from leaning over the machine and my arms hurt from hooping. Glad that's done. Peggy said it was like wrestling a bear, which she has probably done...now I know what it must be like to wrestle a bear...I wrestled 25 of them.

There's a lady who works at the museum named Jo and she lives in Barstow...6 miles east from here. She told me a story last week about this woman named Mrs. Irby Dyer. She always called her husband "Mr. Irby." (Should I try calling Gene "Mr. Geno"?)
Now Mrs. Dyer loved hats and owned hundreds of them...and they were BIG, fancy ones. This was back when ladies wore hats and gloves every day.
Jo and her husband rented the Irby's house and eventually bought it.
Mrs. Irby rented six rooms somewhere in town to keep all her hats! One time she sold one of the four fireplace mantles in their house to finance her hat buying! I wonder what Mr. Irby thought of that? She hung a damask curtain over the fireplace so he wouldn't know the mantle was gone. After all she had 3 others and you can't wear a mantle piece on your head!
I asked Jo whatever happened to all those hats and she didn't know.
Durn...wish I could've seen the sight of them removing truckloads of hats and hat boxes from the six rooms.
Jo also said that when Mrs. Dyer would buy gas she'd write a check for a little more than the price of gas and would make the gas station attendant promise not to tell her husband....so then after gassing up a few times she'd have some "hat cash."

When I was at work the other day this lady named Donna who works across the street at the Senior Citizens Center called me to ask if I'd seen "that weird animal streak across the street". I had not seen it. She said it wasn't a fox but told me there is a family of foxes living right downtown in an empty lot. She said it was for sure not a dog. Then after she talked to herself (seemingly) for about 5 minutes with me listening on the other end of the line...she proclaimed that the animal was a baby bobcat and hung up. Gee...wild animals in downtown Pecos...sounds like a rabies story waiting to happen.

Gene claimed a ghostly experience the other day. He said that the back door that opens into the mud room (where our washer/dryer is) opened at least a foot by itself. The door now has a draft guard under it and cannot just swing or move on it's own...you gotta PUSH or PULL it open and shut. He thought it was me coming inside. He looked and out and no one was there. These things seem to happen mostly to him and not me.

I just bought my ticket to the Chamber of Commerce Banquet...the theme this year is "Hang your hat in Pecos"....it's in the middle of February. All the new billboards that I see say "Hang your hat in Pecos."

Radio Hotline:
For Sale:
Kids. (i know they mean a goat...but it looks funny.)
twin size camo comforter, pillows and canopy. (ew.)
Wanted:
a halloween devil mask for a church play.
Give:
a bag of cat litter. (why didn't they just call up 'ol Ruth the cat rescue lady?)

I guess that's all.
I'm bored and it isn't even noon yet.
I'll go run some errands and do some house wife type things.
Love, mary

FRIDAY ODDS-N-ENDS.

Hi bloggers.
It's cold here in Pecos....been in the "teen's" at night.

I went to the museum today to try to find some people that folks who visit the Reeves Co. website are looking for...couldn't find 'em...I HATE THAT!
But here are some interesting things from a newspaper dated 1930:

A giant Fokken amphibian airplane landed in town and everybody went out to see it.

In 1912 there were 5 graduating seniors from the high school...and 26 in 1930.

"Kitten Crawford was down from Toyah yesterday meowing his way about town."

The newspaper always lists the names of guests registered at the 3 hotels every week...that's weird I think.

T.B. Pruett was on the list of runners up in the campaign to beautify your home place.

Debbie (the director of the museum (gave me some red yucca plants to take home. She says ya just scoop out a shallow spot and stick 'em in the ground and they are fine....o.k. by me. The museum was thinning theirs out and had to remove some so the city workers could put up scaffolding to paint the window frames outside.

Why do people out here call their long underwear "long handles"? No one seems to know.

Sib's Father's saying: "I'm so poor I can't buy a low necked blouse for a hummingbird."

I'm pretty excited about the Chamber of Commerce banquet next month. ELMER KELTON the famous western author is going to be the speaker and I've been invited to sit at the museum table...(I have no idea why.) And then the next day Mr. Kelton will have a book signing party at the museum.

RADIO HOTLINE:
For Sale:
rope halters $7. ea....(bet ya'll don't see that in YOUR classifieds.)
Wanted:
lady with a house at Balmorhea lake. (i'm sure this is just somebody who wants the lady to call them....but it looks funny.)
2 different people were looking for a dog groomer....my groomer Sheila is great...duh. (maybe she's too expensive for them...$20.)

Gene's job still in limbo...nothing new.

that's all.
love, mary

AN AUCTION IN CARLSBAD, NEW MEXICO.

It's not very often that you see a headstone for a guy that was in the "Confederate States Army."

Well, we sure had a good time at the auction.
George came over and picked us up and we went in his truck.
Gene had not been across the state line since we've lived here (except for when we went to Ojinaga...which is t'other way.)
A BIG deer...a buck.... tried to run out in front of George's truck on the way there but wisely changed his mind at the last minute...he was very pretty.

We left the auction at about 4:30 and they were only selling lot #480 by then...out of about 800 items.
So I didn't get to see them auction the spurs, turquoise jewelry etc.
Gene and George had left earlier and gone to eat mexican food and drive around Carlsbad (i couldn't tear myself away and had already seen the town).
They went and saw how big the pecos river is there....New Mexico stole our river big time!!! And they have nice parks etc.

The auction was much more crowded this time...they had a full house and alot of folks were dealers or own stores. I didn't even get my card in the air for some of the items up for bids....the bidding just took off!
I bought 3 chairs, a doll cradle, 3 old quilts and 2 big boxes of linens that had lots of gloves in the bottom of the box. And one box had an old pair of ladies high top shoes in it. My chairs just need to be cleaned up a little.
I was really sorry to miss out on a set of 13 volumes of charles dickens books that were bound in leather and stamped with gold. They sold for $70. and i quit bidding at $50...i should've kept going.
Also a set of 12 volumes of leather bound waverly novels...but they went for $125...too rich for my blood.
I LOVE BOOKS!
And they sure had alot of them...they were selling off boxes and boxes of their antique reference books.
i also lost out on some western books.

Now, i have to tell you how funny the auctioneers are. There are 3 guys and they take turns babbling about every hour.
I bet they get tired...and one of the guys got the hiccups while he was babbling and everyone was laughing about that.
"There's no such thing as friends at an auction folks." (two pals were bidding against each other.)
"Next we have a nice hooked rug...made by a genuine hooker."
"This here rug is perforated." (it had holes in it.)
"oh...and he didn't own it very long." (as the bidding went high at a fast rate and a guy dropped out of the bidding.)
well, ya just had to be there to get the feeling...but you get the idea.
Today, as the auction continues...they are selling a peter hurd painting from 1928 and the estimated value is $15,000. to $25,000.!!! I've never seen an item there that cost that much...wonder how much they'll get for it? Saw a lady buy a mink coat yesterday that was appraised at $5,500. and she got it for $350.

RADIO HOTLINE:
For Sale:
barbed wire art.
metal screws. (are there any other kind?)
42 pair of jeans for $10.
Wanted:
a clock that works. (you've GOT to be kidding me!)
an aloe vera plant.

That's all for now kids.
love, mary

TOYAH HISTORY, CARLSBAD AUCTION, PECOS MUSEUM & funny west texas names. ETC.

Hi bloggers.
I was just looking over the catalog of items up for sale this Saturday in Carlsbad.
they have 875 items up for bids.
AN ACCORDIAN! I've always wanted one...why? Hell if I know...I just want one. Can't you JUST SEE me playing an accordian?
There is everything imaginable...hat pins...(want them)....children's spurs...(definitely want them)...a garden arch...etc.etc.
There is going to be a special pair of spurs that are estimated to bring $800. to $1,000.
The sidepart...whatever you call that....is shaped like a ladies leg.
I'll try and post a picture...don't know if you'll be able to see the leg...it's the ones pictured in the middle.
I'm pretty pumped to have something fun to do this weekend.
Wish we could spend the night and go to the sunday auction as well....after all it IS the last one.

I know that I've talked about this before...last year in my blogs...BUT I JUST LOVE THOSE 'OL WEST TEXAS NAMES! For women: Tempie, Beenie, Muriel, Bertrene (oh man, that's a doozy), Maedell (almost just as bad).
And for men: Loss, Jelly, Brushy Joe, Wimpy, Speedy, Boomer.
Creamy is still my favorite.
I think Gene and I should change our names.
I found out that "Shine" Avary was called that because his Daddy...(Shine Sr.) was a shoe shine boy down at the train station in Barstow...his Daddy's actual name was Quincy George...jeez, I'd prefer shine too if i was him.
Then some guys were just called "sonny" or simply "son".

I was reading a book today at the museum called "Toyah Taproots" (good name huh?) and it had a picture of these folks standing in front of Amelia Earhart's plane....from when she landed there.
Then I saw a horse named "skeeter" and a man named "skeeter"...but the horse-skeeter was not owned by the man-skeeter.
And the verbal histories just KILL me...they are so funny and cool and quaint:
"By golly...I should smile!"
"Boy howdy,everyone said that Aunt Bertie was a little itty bitty thing, you know wasn't bigger than a bar of soap! She was even smaller than Aunt Jo!" (said as if we all should know who aunt jo was.)

Toyah history:
it was a trading post for the ranches out here. It is the oldest townsite in the area.
then the railroad came there in 1881 and later that year the stagecoach started running from toyah to ft. davis and ft. stockton 6 times a week.
in 1910 it was the major cattle shipping town.
there was 1,000 folks living there at one time.
in 2000 the population was 100.
it's even sadder looking than pecos.
The toyah graduating class sometimes had only 4 seniors during the 20's and 30's.

That's all the dumb or interesting news.
dumb to some...interesting to others.
some parts are dumb...some parts are interesting...pick one.

TOYAH, TX.

Last Sunday I went to Toyah to try find this lady's (Effie) grave. It's hard to find graves when they look like this. She could be anywhere...c'mon Effie...give it up...a loved one is looking for you.

It looks like not even 100 folks live in Toyah which is 17 miles west of Pecos.
Isn't the old 1912 school building cool looking?
When I go to cemeteries there ARE some beautiful very old headstones...I just don't photograph them. I didn't want ya'll to think they ALL look this bad.

This weekend is the last auction in Carlsbad N.M....they are closing to retire.
Gene and his pal George and I are going to the Sat. auction...oh goody!

It has been very, very slow at work...I thought yesterday would NEVER end.

I was at the museum looking at old newspapers and saw this headline dated Aug. 21, 1931:
"Earthquake rocks Pecos homes last Sunday; melons to be served."

That's all.
I wonder what I'll do for the rest of the week?

Love, mary

SARAGOSA, TX CEMETERY

Yesterday I drove out to the Saragosa cemetery looking for a grave for Effie Roscoe who died in 1910...I'm doing research for someone.

Jeez, how can you find someone when the graves look like this? I almost didn't see this old part of the cemetery and just about drove right by...I was pretty shocked. I'm from a military family and my relatives are in military cemeteries (where the U.S. Govt. keeps everything "just so") and am not used to seeing burial plots in such a sad state. But then I reminded myself that the elements are very harsh out here and if there aren't living family members nearby who care about keeping their ancester's graves fixed up there isn't much else that can happen to them except this. Saragosa was a farming community populated by primarily poor hispanics.

This is also a very sad place because May 22, 1987 there was a devastating tornado in Saragosa that injured 121 and killed 30....many of them little children. The population was only 183 so the storm touched everyone in town.

You can be sure I kept an eye out for snakes! The new part of this cemetery is fairly well taken care of. I only saw 3 names that were caucasian....so I suppose Effie isn't there. I'll try the Toyah cemetery next...there are 3 there. I also have never been to the other 3 Pecos cemeteries...there's an old timers one on IH 20. Just call me "cemetery lady."

I guess some people would find the idea of tromping around cemeteries weird or macabre but hey...it's all part of history.

RADIO HOTLINE:
Wanted:
4 or 5 cats. (no problemo there...got plenty of those!)
Lost:
THREE bassett hounds.
For Sale:
an orange crushed velvet couch. (ew.)
a blue crushed velvet couch and chair....reduced price. (double ew...and i'm not surprised that it's reduced!)
What is this? crushed velvet day?


That's all folks.
write me.
love, mary

NOTHING MUCH GOING ON.

Random photos.
This is the 1893 Chicago world's fair ferris wheel. It was the very first ferris wheel and could hold 2,160 people! The cars were as big a school bus. It was built as an "answer" to the eiffel tower in paris...i didn't know that the eiffel tower was part of the paris world's fair in 1900.

Picture #2 is Andrew Moore, Jamey's boss the photographer. Just though you might like to know what he looks like...it's a slow news day o.k.?

Crap...why is #3 side ways? it wasn't when i opened it to add it to this blog. It's a picture jamey took in china. It's a big rock chuck!

Bullshit thoughts and news:
There is a volunteer at the museum on friday afternoons named Zelma. She's an extremely spry 80 years old or so. Man, if you ever wanna do the museum....go friday afternoons! I was sitting in the saloon reading history books and she was getting these people started on their tour and she was giving a GREAT blow by blow description of the saloon shootout.

Zelma told me that Ivy Weatherby had a reputation of getting around with all the men in town and probably the tri-county area. She sure wasn't married to W.W. Courtney very long....that was around 1940. Then she went back to being "Mrs. Weatherby" again.

My neighbor Sib said a funny expression the other day when I was over there visiting: "well, ya know that bathroom isn't big enough to cuss a cat." I told her it WAS big enough to cuss a cat.

I volunteered on the Reeves County website to do look ups for people who seek family history stuff. I finally got a bite! It's from a man who lives in San Diego and had relatives in Barstow, Monahans and Pecos. I drove out to the Barstow cemetery the other day and photographed his family burial plot. And I've been down at the museum the last 3 days finding stuff for him. It's hard not get distracted while reading old newspapers....the ads are so funny and I've come across some additional info about T.B. Pruett.

the other day i was "stoopin'"...that means a-settin' out on the front porch....and this pick up truck drove by. It had a trailer hitch on the back that was a little, metal longhorn head cut out thing...but right behind that they had a sack like thing that had 2 balls in it... a-swingin- back and forth and i quickly realized it was sposed to be BULL's BALLS!

On that note...i guess i'll go.
been pretty disappointed with the radil hotline lately.

thanks fer blogging.
love,mary