Saturday, April 25, 2009

Deep in the heart...

"Where does your mom live?" and "What is there to do out there?" are the two most-asked questions I get when I say I'm going to Mexia to visit my family. Number Three is, "Are you from Texas?" and the answer is an emphatic "No!"

This is what there is to do out there:

...We drove around visiting the little towns surrounding the little town my mom lives in. This old billboard painted onto the side of a brick building is in downtown Corsicana. Why were we in Corsicana? To get fruitcake and amuse ourselves as best we could...

...the other way we amused ourselves was by eating local specialties: not just fruitcake, but barbeque, fried chicken, pretty much anything with meat...


...my sister-in-law Trish and brother Mike, sweet as can be out in Waco...


...ranchers in love: my cousins Steve and JoAnna. Mostly for fun we hung out at their ranch, just down the road from my mom's house. What'd we do?.....

...We watched the cows, like this newborn calf and his very milky mother. Between them is a slight dip with just the tiniest bit of water, but it was enough that the calf did not want to cross it. The mother lowed at him to come along now until it was dark; we saw her as the light was fading, standing over her baby and resigned to staying put for the night...

...of course there are horses. That's (from left to right) Chuck, his dam Star, Copper, and Rusty. All Quarter Horse mixes, and all yard ornaments. We fed them carrots and told them how lovely they were. Especially Chuck, who is a most-unusual roan color...

...We also fed the cows. My cousins raise Angus and Brangus (an Angus/Brahma cross). My cousin's coworker and her family came out one night for some fun, too. My cousin Steve attached a flatbed trailer to his truck, loaded it with lawn chairs, and ferried us around the property...

...loading up the flatbed trailer for our drive to the brush piles. Everybody got a drink?...

...sitting in a lawn chair atop a flatbed trailer driving across pasture is not a smooth ride. No bevvies (or occupants) were spilled...

...G-man and my cousin Dottie riding in the golf cart. Greg said he got it up to 15 mph...

...That's Aiden, who along with her sister and brother and parents came out to burn brush piles with us one evening. This little two-year-old was a handful of fun, and she had a blast swinging those glow-sticks around all night; we all did...

...my mom and cousin JoAnna enjoying the sunset as we watch the beavers in the tank. Yeah, a pair of beavers moved in about a month ago and started building a lodge. Dottie got good pictures, but my camera couldn't cope with the light/distance...



...sitting, drinking, watching stuff burn...

...I swear this is not Photoshopped. The flames are shaped like the state of Texas!...

...the zombie cows only come out after night falls...

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Zombie Cows! Sweet! But why were you in Texas again? :-)