Friends of Pecos

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

OMG! THE RADIO HOTLINE IS A-KILLIN' ME!!

I got a 25 cent raise...gee wally, I'm up to $8. an hour now.

Old-removed-from-the-window burglar bars make a good trellis.

Gene's gone to round rock for 3 days for work.

The hidden room upstairs was a big disappointment...just lots of dirt, an old rotting rug and found a little hole in the roof to repair.


RADIO HOTLINE:

For Sale-
AK 47 rifle and 12 guage shotgun. (aren't AK 47's illegal? No one out here cares.)
18 cans of baby formula.

Wanted-
Someone to trim a llama's hooves.
Wallet. (Well, they can't have mine! I think this belonged under "Lost")
10" swimming pool. ( They meant 10 feet of course...just cracked me up to picture a 10 inch pool.)

Love, Mary

Sunday, March 23, 2008

HAPPY EASTER!




I KNEW I was savin' those shot glasses for a reason!

Our neighbors acroos the street...Scott and Regina have their daughter and 4 year old granson visiting. I hopped on over and put eggs on their front porch and then rang the doorbell and ran home.
Ethan was SO excited.

Then I left some eggs at Sib and Bill's backdoor.

Thanks for the egg decorating kit dano!!!

IT'S RAINING...a little...NO WAY!!

Love, mary

Saturday, March 22, 2008

THE MUSEUM IS GETTING A NEW BARTENDER!!!!!!



This is Pancho, the current bartender who has been on duty since 1963 when the museum opened. No one knows who brought him to the saloon and put him behind the bar. We are trying to find out the skinny on that.
He has served faithfully with never a day off.
He wears a Santa hat at Christmas time.
If you look closely you can see that he has had a few fingers "shot off" by some skunk of a gunslinger.
They have been painting and fixing up the saloon and just a few days ago a worker was moving Pancho and "got the finger"...meaning Pancho lost another finger.

Debbie has ordered a new bartender from a mannequin company that specializes in old type folks.
If you need one of George Washington this company is the place to go.
I saw a phot of the new guy today...he's white, not hispanic but is quite the handsome devil.
We know that Pancho is tired but hope he won't be jealous.

Anyways, there will be a retirement party for Pancho.
There has been some talk of surprising him with a gold pocketwatch.
I proposed that the old bartender and the new bartender hang out for awhile to get the new guy trained properly.
Then of course we'll have to give the new guy a name.
Suggestions are most welcome.

But fear not...Pancho will not be relegated to some dusty old closet or storage room.
He's going upstairs in the museum to a room that is currently being created for the Golden Girls.
Cool! He gets to live with all the pretty girls from past rodeo pageants!!!!

I was looking at a newspaper today dated April 1929...searching for an obit, when I stopped to read a little article about the seasonal opening of the local "swimming hole".
It said: "There was a good sized group waiting to refresh themselves. The ribbon was cut, the swimming hole declared open and with a shout of 'Last one is a Nigger baby!' everyone jumped in."
Jeez....times have changed thank goodness....how tacky.

In case you didn't know:
The museum website is www.westofthepecosmuseum.com
Check it out.
It says:
The #11 saloon was built in 1896 of red sandstone by R.S. Johnson, a former Texas Ranger.
In 1904 the 3 story Orient Hotel was built of concrete blocks that were formed by hand operated machines. (I'd like to have seen them making those.)
The hotel was in use until the 1950's and in 1963 the museum was opened.

One of T.B. Pruett's son in law's worked at the hotel and of course Mrs. Weatherby and her sister ran the dining room in the late 1930's for a few years. Then Mrs. Weatherby married the man who owned the hotel in the 1950's...and maybe the 40's. His name was William Courtney. They didn't stay married long and got divorced. I have had a very difficult time finding out much about Mr. Courtney in my research. Ol' Mrs. Weatherby bought our house in 1958.

We are going to bust into that hidden space upstairs today...stand by.

RADIO HOTLINE:
For Sale:
1937 John Deere Model-A tractor w/ 3 sets of plows/Needs restoration.
1938 Ford body-$300.
1950 Plymouth. It runs. Best offer.
Real cowhorns $5. ( gee, they were $10....then $9...and now $5. Anyone wants the cowhorns? Anyone?)
Ice cream maker $1. ( marked down from $2.)
GIVE:
2 horses. (gee, someone's going GIVE AWAY 2 horses? Maybe they can't afford to feed 'em or something.)

That's all for now folks.
Love, Mary

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

IT'S BLUE! ETC.





We continue to see "Blue" the parakeet every now and then.
Click on this picture to make it big.

Gene stuck his head up into the attic the other day....why? I dunno...maybe just to take this picture of our defunct chimney.

This other picture is of some weird wallpaper that is on a wall in an obscure storage space upstairs. I wish i knew who put it there and why. In this same storage place we found that one of the "walls" is very thin plywood and i pushed on a seam and could see into a hidden area. We have many hidden areas and cannot access them. This particular one is GOING to be accessed. We can see some "stuff"....gotta check it out and besides that we can see daylight coming into that hidden area from outside...it must be plugged up ya know. I've been watching too much "IF WALLS COULD TALK"on the teevee....again.

Spring is REALLY here now. The mesquite trees are coming out and there are ladybugs all over the yard. Just waiting for the hummingbirds now....though it WAS 30 degrees last night.

RADIO HOTLINE:
For Sale-
a small gun collection. (yikes!)
jimmy buffet tickets in frisco texas.
2 rifles and a shotgun. (double yikes!)
exercise bed. (ain't THAT an oxymoron?)
antique BB gun. (a small yikes.)
4 bushels of turnips, $2. ea. Ask for "Buggy". (OMG...not even gonna comment on that one.)

That's all.
love, mary

Saturday, March 15, 2008

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES. AKA- A mouthful of dirt.

Yesterday we had wind gusts up to 70 m.p.h.
I think I'll have to invest in one of those devices that measures how hard the wind is blowing.
Man...talk about dirt in air....ew.
When ya went outside your teeth were gritty...well...uh...keep your mouth closed.
There was a local baseball tournament yesterday.
Bet it was hard going...either trying to pitch into the wind or hit into the wind.
The trash cans were blowing around and empty flower pots etc.
Ya gotta prepare when a "blow" is coming....tie up the wind chimes, put away the lawn chairs etc. etc.
Goggles anyone?

I was at the post office yesterday and the wind held the door open for a few seconds after someone entered.
A cute little dog came trotting in and was nosing around.
A man who was conducting business at the counter turned and saw him and said: "HEAH! Now TATER...yew git on back out thar into the truck....go on!"
Tater went.

Today is calm and sunny and beautiful.
I started planting flowers in all my various pots.
The tips of our trees are turning green...but not the mesquites.
Spring is sprung...Happy Easter.

Love, Mary

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

DEAD ANIMALS AND FASHIONISTAS.















1. It's a bear rug.
The fashion show was at Charlotte and Dick Slack's house and Dick traveled the world hunting...he's in his 90's now.
Dick's grandad was "Uncle Henry" Slack who was a big winner at the 1st Pecos Rodeo. He was grand marshal of the rodeo parades for years and years and years until he died. I've seen pictures of him riding his hoss at the head of the parades.
2. Food table at the fashion show....the wooden bunnies were my favorite thing in the house.
3. Our 2 young models lara and kaitlyn.
4. Me in the outfit I modeled...after I got home.
5. Dead heads.
6. Who likes my new flip flops? I got 'em at th' FEED STORE!
7. The Slack's livingroom where we modeled the clothes.
8. more dead heads.
9. and even more dead heads.
10.a stuffed leopard.
11.a stuffed lion.

RADIO HOTLINE:
For Sale:
Boys playpen. (why is it just for a BOY? what's a girl's playpen look like?)
Regular size pool table or trade for a calf. (i'm laughing.)
Pool table or trade for 25 joints of tubing. (still laughing.)
Wanted:
Someone to make hair bows.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

SO IF ANY OF YOU LADIES ARE LOOKING FOR AN $81. T-SHIRT...



It's my boss, on the front page of yesterday's paper.
Stay tuned for pictures of the fashion show...it's tomorrow.
MDP

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

MINISCULE NEWS.

I went to vote this morning at 9a.m.
I was the only one there...just me and ONE voting worker.
And we still use the paper where you fill in the circle by the candidate of your choice and then drop your ballot in a big metal box.
Did anyone else have that?
Doesn't everyone else use automated machines?
Only in Peeeeee-cos folks.

I was at work today and saw a big truck drive by and on the side was painted:
PUTZMEISTER-concrete pumping.
jeez...."putzmeister"?
Only in Peeeee-cos folks.

This is official...unless you have not heard it on the news or from us.
The West Texas State School in Pyote is NOT closing.
We are safe for now.
Yee-Haw.

Other reasons for the many, many fires out here:
There are ALOT of trains out here and they make sparks sometimes.
The incredibly high winds break power lines and then THEY start fires.
I had not realized either of these things.

That's your west texas lesson for today.

We had a few snow flurries on Monday.
Will the wind NEVER stop blowing?

Love, mare

Saturday, March 1, 2008

A SATURDAY PICTORIAL.



















George, Gene and I had a nice 5 or 6 hour tour out to Ft. Davis market day and then had a picnic in the Davis Mountains State Park. We'd never been before but George had. We didn't go to the town of Ft. Davis cos we've been so many times before and besides it was "t'other way".
The weather was perfect, perfect and perfect. Not too hot, not much wind and only TWO flies.
This area always gets more than Pecos...but it isn't green out there yet. The tips of the huge cottonwood trees are just starting to turn.
There's a rough and tough hike trail that goes to Ft. Davis itself. I think it's a 4 mile hike.
You can bring your horse to the park and trailride for a day or camp WITH your horse...they have a special area set aside for horse-campin'-people.
Then they have primitive campsites...if ya have a tent.
And then there's the campsites for folks with pop up campers, R.V.'s and 5th wheelers.
There's a cool adobe style hotel built in the 30's by the CCC called Indian Lodge.
You can see the Mcdonald Observatory waaaay off in the distance.
There are scenic overlooks and wildlife viewing spots.
They have certain trails for hiking and certain trails for biking.
Cost to get in was $3.
So, we actually DID something and WENT somewhere!

1. Park Entrance.
2. Park Exit.
3. Park Lookout.
4. Cool Rocks.
5. A "wild rose"...see explanation #13.
6. A windmill on the drive there.
7. Painted gourds that i bought at market day.
8. One of the park lookouts.
9. We picnic.
10. & 11. We like to take pictures of rocks.
12. An old, old rock fence that goes on for miles and miles on the way there...can you IMAGINE the backbreaking work it took to create... in the hot weather?
13. O.K. this is strange. We drive thru this little place called "Wild Rose Pass" and I always wondered why it was called that...I've never seen anything. Then today I SEE it and yell "STOP!" Turns out people stop there and tie fake flowers on the scrub bushes. I don't get it. Actually it was named Wild Rose Pass by a guy who was passing by in 1849 because there WERE demaree rose plants growing down yonder by the spring...well, there aren't any there now.
14. "Rockers" in front of a store across from the actual fort...the market day was next door.
15. duh...entrance again.
16. Indian Lodge close up...we should've gone inside it's been all remodeled and the pictures online look COOL.
17. Indian Lodge far away...click on this for a good view.

That's all.
love, mary