On Saturday morning we were picked up at our house at 4:30 am for a ride to a bus in Harlingen to go to the Ranchhand Breakfast at King Ranch near Kingsville, Texas. We had a very interesting tour guide who did ranching in the area and told of his life and family. We got to the ranch just after first light and with the wind and misty rain with temps in the lower 40's it was less than comfortable.
Our bus wasn't full -- probably 24 to 30 people.
They had lots of servers that handled the crowd.
Breakfast was good, and hot. But, with the wind and misty rain it soon got a bit cold.
We ate at stand-up tables.
We watched a while at the arena. At right is the crew getting ready for the calf roping.
The calf is ready to go.
Calf roped, two others are on the ground to throw the calf.
All involved in tying the legs of the calf. The flag went up to give the time when they were done roping. The calf had to remain tied for 10 seconds in order for their time to stand.
Serving fried bread made over the outdoor fire. Several guys were playing guitars.
For all the photos I've taken this November check out This Link - Click HERE
At the chuck wagon, waiting for some fried bread.
The chuck wagon itself.
A little after 10 am we went back to the King Ranch Visitors Center and our Step-On Guide Dusk (She has a twin sister Dawn) got on board and narrated a very interesting history and pointed out lots of livestock and stories about the ranch.
Part of the income of the Ranch is from WildLife Management and Hunting. They have Turkeys, Deer, Grouse, Dove, Nilgies and other stuff. Wild turkeys at left.
The Santa Gertrudes breed of cattle was developed on the ranch back in the 1920's and named for the river of the same name that goes through the ranch. Some of their breeding stock is at right.
At left is one of the self-closing gates that the oil company who leased mineral rights from the ranch developed many years ago after their employees had trouble remembering to close the gates after going through.
They had a small pen of several Texas Longhorns who are direct descendents from some of the early 1800's Longhorns.
We went into Kingsville where they had a lot of craft and food booths set up in town for the event. We ate lunch at a coffee shop that was overwhelmed by the crowds of people.
We have had over 4 inches of rain in the last three days and temperature has not made it out of the 40's and the wind has not died down. Though I have worked on the wall under the awning by the deck it is now all waiting for warmer, drier weather to continue. To be cold through Thanksgiving Day. Phyllis is in charge of cooking the Thanksgiving dinner here at the Rec Hall this Thursday for the nearly 100 people who will be dining. We made one trip to Sam's Club in Brownsville last week and another run to Walmart here in Harlingen today for food. Seven Turkeys are to be picked up at El Centro early Wednesday morning (already thawed out) and Dave Kiper is in charge of cooking them that day. Thursday morning will be the heavy work day getting the potatoes, stuffing, gravy cooked and turkey will have been boned Wednesday afternoon and put in roasters for warming. Will have to set up tables and chairs and get crew lined up for serving, then cleanup. Will be nice when it is through. Though we were riding the trikes 10 miles or more each day, we have only ridden a few miles the last few days. Better weather days are ahead.
Later, Lynn
No comments:
Post a Comment