Friends of Pecos

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Thursday, June 26, 2008

2008 West of the Pecos Rodeo Parade.
















The parade was fun but seemed to have not as many entries this year.
Gene and I watched it from in front of Needleworks in the shade.
The stupid cops repeatedly sounding their sirens...like FIVE at a time ruined parts of it...my boss Peggy got mad and went into her store.
I bet it hurt all the horses ears...totally uneccesary and SO irritating.
Photo #4. Some of my little Girl Scout/Brownies were on this float.
Photo #5. This is our Golden Girl aka Rodeo Queen.
Photo #7 Who knows what this implement is? I'll tell ya in the next blog.

That's all.
mary

OLD TIMER'S, MUSEUM ART ETC.











The Old Timer's reunion was fine but not as many folks as usual.
I think between gas prices and health issues...some regulars didn't come.

Photo #4. Dick Slack and "the law". Mr. Slack is the grandson of "Uncle Henry" Slack, still drives a car (which is scary), and is a former State Representative. Uncle Henry was the last surviving contestant of the original rodeo. In 1883 eight cowboys gathered to settle some friendly bragging in regards to roping cows etc...and celebrate the 4th of July.
Dick used to ask his Grandaddy (Born 1868-died 1944) why he didn't win the steer roping in that first rodeo. His reply was: "Well, they cut out a suckling calf for Trav and a fresh, young steer for me. I caught the steer, and he jerked my horse down which knocked me out. By the time I came to, they were all down at the saloon spending the prize money." Uncle Henry used to be found in his later years in the lobby of the Brandon Hotel dressed up in his finest cowboy duds....holding court and meeting and greeting any passers by. His grandson Dick and wife Charlotte live here in Pecos.

Photo #5. The Pate sisters from Saragosa, TX.
Photo #7. Debbie, Jesse (the new bartender) and Mr. Odem.

I didn't take many pictures at the reunion...don't know why...just didn't see anyone or anything too interesting.
A few comments that I overheard at reunion:

"He ain't an Old Timer!" (Reply) "I should say he IS!!!"
"How you been?" (Reply) "Mean as a snake."
"Well, I used to run that water station over in Barstow. It was hard water....but it was GOOD water."
A nice woman approached me and asked: "oh say....do you still have that red bathroom in your house?" (I assured her we did.)

The art in these photos is by a western artist from Midland named Betty Sue Rose. She grew up on a ranch and you can see that she is very talented and knows her western stuff!

Our open house was fine but lightly attended.

Stay tuned for parade pictures.

MDP

NEWS FLASH....Our escaped and now "wild" parakeet Blue is ALIVE!! Don't know how many times I've typed this news in my blog...but...we hadn't seen him for over 2 months...so it's big news for us. He visits our feeder VERY seldom and has been around for a year!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

RAIN & RODEO READINESS.





This is the hanging thingie that Gene made from our beach combing on Cozumel.
More hummingbirds...they all share and don't chase each other away much...we have 4 feeders.
This is the dining room centerpiece that I made for open house.

Debbie from the museum was on the local radio the other day and mentioned our open house this Wednesday...
We should have a big group and we've been working hard getting the place ready.

I was at the museum yesterday and met the new bartender. His name is Jesse and he's a white boy. Pancho...the bartender of about 40 years is trying hard not to be jealous. Jesse has underwear...and can talk...Pancho goes "commando" and is mute. Pancho's retirement party is in August...so more about all that later.

We had a BIG storm this morning at about 5 a.m.
The thunder was SO loud and the lightening constant.
Bennie was whining and barking and both dogs were cowering and snuggling up to me in bed.
Both cats were outside....Missy came in...Harold did not...I felt sorry for him.
It's such an unusual occurrence that the pets just don't know WHAT to do.
It lasted over an hour and we got 8 tenths of an inch....yay!!!!
Out here...of course, water is our most precious commodity.
Gene got up at 7 a.m. to weed eat the front yard and I told him he'd get electrocuted...so we went back to bed.

I worked Mon., Tues., Wed. this past week and it was a monogramming hell let me tell ya.
There were machine problems and folks always wait til the last minute to bring their stuff in to get done....even though we ask them not to.
NO MORE RODEO SHIRTS!!
We put "West of Pecos Rodeo" down one sleeve and then a tri colored cow skull on the front with "Director" under it. People have NO idea what a pain the ass it is to monogram on a sleeve!!!!
It took me almost 5 hours to do 10 shirts.
Last year when I had hurt my knee and couldn't work Peggy did 116 of them!!!!!!!
This year we are at around 40 or 50...I quit counting.

Today I sent museum newsletters to Brook, Dave and Jane.
If anyone else would like one just speak up.
The museum looks SO nice...they have been doing alot of sprucing up the last couple of months.

I am volunteering during the Old Timer's Reunion on wed. morning...then it's the rodeo parade..then our open house from 2 to 5p.m.
Gene is taking Wed. off from work...he's never been able to see the parade cos he's always at work.
Toby and his friend Scott should arrive here wed. or thurs.
Friday night we will all go to the rodeo.
Jamey will arrive Sat. and we'll do the rodeo again.

Our local newspaper comes out every Mon. and Friday.
Ya know...only in Pecos can a person pass away Monday morning (which Bill Oglesby did last week...God bless him)and have your obit appear in the paper that afternoon and then have your funeral Wed. morning.
He was an old timer and I heard his funeral was HUGE...folks came from quite far away to bid him "Adieu".

RADIO HOTLINE:
For Sale-
25 bags of cans.
Wanted-
vehicle that runs, $300. range. (maybe they should just get a nice bicycle...I mean what the hell kind of car can you buy for that price?)
Breast pump. (Ew...a USED one?)
Give-
Lots of turtles. (Hahahahaha.)
Lost-
Horse, red sorrow north of Barstow. (That cracked me up..."sorrow" instead of "sorrel".)

That's all bloggers.
Thanks for bloggity bloggin' with me.
love, mary

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

LET'S WRAP UP THIS MEXICO THING.






Been home about a week...time to get this series of vacation blogs finished.

Each morning Chuco made us the nicest breakfast.
There is always fresh fruit and guacamole and then something else...like waffles, pancakes, mayan eggs or omelettes.
And I sure am someone at Alicia's B&B!!! I was the only one to be treated to freshed squeezed orange juice each morning...yumm! GRACIAS CHUCO!!!!
That's Gene and I being silly with our anniversary cake. It was coconut with an orange curd filling. It was made by a lady named Linda who lives on the island and is well known for her baking skills...her brownies were excellent too.
The cake was so good...we ate half and then the next day...the remaining half turned into Alicia's birthday cake.
That's me and Alicia and her neighbor Jan...we were all just about to sit down to Alicia's birthday dinner: pan broiled garlic shrimp, vegetables, bread and rice.
We were also lucky enough to enjoy 2 dinners (chicken soup and pork chops) made by Chcuo...we sure are family there, yes?
I had to tease them: "This ain't Alicia's bed, breakfast, lunch and dinner ya know."

We spent 2 afternoons snorkeling at Corona beach and saw lots of fish (some really big angel fish) and a little octopus. The purple sea fans have grown alot since last year. The shore snorkeling suffered tremendously after Hurricane Wilma...it takes it a long time to recover. We took cake to the waiters at the beach club.

We didn't do alot of the things we usually do when on the island. A bit because of the rain but also it was kinda: been there...done it...repeatedly.
We just kicked back and hung out.

I didn't even shop.

That's it folks.
Another too short of a trip to La Isla Bonita.
Wish we could figure out a way to stay 2 or 3 weeks!!!!

love, mary

Monday, June 9, 2008

Part 4 Cozumel.







These 2 beach pictures are on the east side of Cozumel.
There is a strong undertow and you can only swim in certain places. Instead we got rained on and hunted for coral with holes.
Alicia and Orlando drove us over there and it was fun time.
There was a darling siamese cat at the bar/restaurant where we took refuge from the rain.
Gene makes his mark at Mescalito's bar....graffiti is encouraged.
This is Venidita...the resident dog at Alicia's B&B...she was cold. She barks whenver someone walks along "her" sidewalk outside the garden wall. We thought it was hilarious that we got into a taxi and told him we wanted to go to Alicia's (alot of driver's don't know where it is) and he asked if it was where the barking dog was.

We only went to the plaza downtown once and it's the first time we've ever been to Cozumel that I didn't buy anything. No sandals, no coffee beans...no nothing.
We stopped by this wonderful art gallery that I always go to when we are there. They have fantastic art and it's expensive. Then we browsed around a really coolfurniture store...it was expensive too.

Alicia is from Oregon and has lived on the island for at least 20 years.
Her co-owners name is Chuco and his nephew Orlando lives there also.
Chuco made us the BEST food....more on that next time.

Love, mary

WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAM...

to report that we got 6 tenths of an inch of rain sat. night.
and an additional 2 tenths last night.
YAY!!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

PART 3....DAY 2 IN PLAYA DEL CARMEN.






Pictures:
Gene ponders something at Mamita's Beach Club.
They come around and charge $3. for the use of lounge chairs and the little shade palapa and give you a wrist band.
An unusual shrimp cocktail that looks strange but was REALLY good. It had avacodo, jicama,lots of shrimp and cilantro. The fish ceviche at this place was wonderful as well....and had an excellent Mojito.
Locals selling fruit at night on the PDC plaza. Great photo but I'm too scared to ever buy any....and it might be perfectly fine...but don't want to chance it.
Another shot of the beach in Playa. The beaches there are pretty but there isn't any shore snorkeling...so we are ready to be off to Cozumel.

Checked out of our hotel at noon.
By the way we got a continental breakfast there that was included in the $72. price. It was just toast...but their butter tasted special, coffee was excellent and we also got a BIG glass of fresh squeezed O.J.

People in Mexico say our name "Pole"...there is no "Oooo" sound in Spanish.

We took 3 bottlecap snakes on our trip.
One went to Trudy and Antelmo and the other two were for Alicia and gang.
Last year I took Alicia 2 small pieces of my glassart...so I've left my mark on her B&B.

By the way....the bus from Cancun to PDC was $8. each.
The ferry over to Cozumel from PDC is $12. each.
The ferries are BIG...can hold maybe 200 folks?
And it has A/C inside and a bar and T.V. and sometimes a live band.
It rained hard on the ferry ride over to La Isla.

--------------------
Pecos News:
UGH....@@$***&???!!!!! the FLIES are here.
I hate them sooooo much!!
They captured the slime bag double murder suspect in Alabama.
RADIO HOTLINE:
For Sale-
20 kegs of asphalt.
Wanted-
Amish bread starter.
1930's ford 2 door coupe or convertible...or Model A.

That's all for today bloggers.
Love, mary

Thursday, June 5, 2008

TRIP REPORT PART 2. Playa Del Carmen.







Landed in Cancun and caught the bus to Playa Del Carmen..also called PDC.
It took about an hour.
We had not been there before and it's about the same size as Cozumel (maybe) and full of very tall, good looking tourists.
It's alot more european and cosmopolitan than Cozumel.
My friend said that it's the fastest growing city in the Yucatan.
We stayed 2 nights in a small sort of charming hotel (certainly nothing fancy) about 2 blocks from the beach.

PDC has a pedestrian only area that is 32 blocks long.
It is lined with all kinds of shops, restaurants, bars and freaky goings on.

We took a stroll on the beach and then cut thru a REALLY fancy hotel to get back to the street.
It was so beautiful that we sat in the giant lobby awhile and had a margarita.
It's called The Royal, rooms range from $400.-$900. per night...all inclusive...no kids allowed.

In Mexico the beds are always hard and the pillows are very thin.

The next day our friends Trudy and Antelmo drove up from their tiny village of Macaurio Gomez. We then went South back to their house because we hadn't seen it. They have about 500 plants and hope to open a plant nursery.
Then they took us to Cenote Cristal...south of Tulum.
The Mayans regard cenotes or crystal clear holes sacred since they are believed to be doors to mysterious underwater worlds.
A cenote is a freshwater sinkhole or pool with underwater caves and caverns.
There are many in the area and they are all connected by a vast system of underground rivers.
The water is cold...about like the San Marcos river.
We saw some coati mundi (sorta like a small red raccoon) lurking around the jungle and some pretty birds.

We took the ferry over to Cozumel the next day after a few hours on the PDC beach.
Stay tuned for that.

Pictures:
Gene enjoying the cool cenote water.
A Yucatan bluejay...click and make it bigger.
Jungle path at the cenote.
Trudy and Antelmo's house.
Strange vine balls that caught my attention in PDC.

Love, mary

TRIP REPORT..San Marcos, Kyle & Austin.






It sure doesn't seem like we were gone for 10 nights.
Drove to Kyle and dropped off the dogs with the sitter.
Then went to Toby's in San Marcos and grilled alot of meat and visited with Jamey, Daniel, Scott and others. We got to see Billy, Amber and their new baby Helena.

Drove back to Kyle and spent the night with Dan & Bobbie Guerra.
Next morning drove to Austin and spent the night at Kay and Jim Wray's.
They had alot of "kids" visiting and hung out in the pool.
Got to spend time with Jamey again.
That's Kay and I giggling...probably at ourselves.
Jamey and Javier.
This is Ruby...Kay's new bird.

We flew out of Austin the next morning after sleeping for only 3 hours.
Whenever I get to see my friends and darling Jamey it's just so hard not to stay up all night talking!
Vivaaerobus has just started flying from Austin to Cancun...the flight was only half full.

Stay tuned for the Mexican trip report...part 2 & 3.
I'm still doing laundry etc.

love, mary
P.S....I forgot to give my animal count. When we left Pecos to go on this trip the 1st 45 miles is on the way to Ft. Stockton. It was early morning and we saw:
1 escaped cow.
4 jackrabbits.
1 roadrunner.
2 coyotes.
1 tarantula crossing the road.