driver's seat

 

Farming is hard and not everybody can afford shiny new equipment.  This 1963 V-8 Chevrolet is  used for harvest and had a bed full of corn.  Fortunately the farmer is able to improvise and drive the truck.  BTW, the truck is about a couple of decades older than the farmer!

 





 

Fortenberry Farms

New Deal, Texas

chuckwagon still-life

 

Cowboy Symposium

Lubbock, Texas

9.9.2011

crosses

 

The telephone poles along FM 193 mimic the shape of the crosses in the Cone Cemetery.  Established in 1897, the cemetery is a few miles down the road from the village of Cone -- population maybe 50.  Cone is about 7 miles from Farmer, Texas -- childhood home of Ima Mae Smith, former First Lady of Texas.

 

Cone Cemetery

Crosby County, Texas

9.21.2013



car crazy cutie

 

Girls love their wheels - especially two-year old Ava.  The jeep was her favorite at the fair.  (Remember the Beach Boys?

"A power shift in second and a-ridin' the clutch
My car crazy cutie, man, she's just too much
I take her to the drags, man, and everyone flips
For her big blue eyes and her candy apple lips

Run a-run a doo run run"

 

South Plains Fair

Lubbock, Texas

 



laundry lady?

 

Sometimes you just can't figure out what you're seeing on the street corner.  Has this lady been to the laundry to do her washing?  And is that a turban on her head or more pillowcases?  Seems to be too monochromatic to be a street person.  Right here on University Avenue across from Texas A&M!

 



tanker fire

 

I spent a few days at Disaster City the Training Center at Texas A&M.  Fortunately my time was in an air-conditioned classroom.  Pity the poor firefighters practicing putting out tanker fires -- wearing about 70 pounds of bunker gear in 90 degree weather with high humidity!  Disaster City students range from volunteer firefighters to oil company professionals.  This week included adjunct instructors for the Medical Countermeasures planning and response course (including me!)

 

Texas A&M

College Station, Texas

 

There was a bustle of people in downtown Bryan tonight -- perhaps because Kinky Frideman was on- stage around the corner.  The Queen Theater was lit in her glory - highlight by the street lamps on Main Street.  It was quite a different building when I was last at TX A&M in 2011.

.



The Queen Theatre's  neon lights, sign, marquee and 200 pound crown have been restored to their full glory. It was first lit up in 1939. The Queen Theatre underwent a $160,000 renovation to the exterior, got a new roof, and asbestos abatement on the inside. It is now an event venue.

Queen Theater
Bryan, Texas

 



guns and babies

 

You have to wonder about the planning (or lack thereof) that positioned the military portion of the cemetery adjacent to Babyland. 

 

Masonic Cemetery

Trinidad, Colorado

8.20.2016



oyster mushrooms

 

In spite of their sea-life appearance, these are edible gourmet mushrooms.  In addition to his brick-and-mortar business, this entrepreneur also has Mushrooms Fresh-Organics.  I was tempted at this morning Downtown Farmers Market, but passed.  After researching some recipes, I'll buy some next time.

 

Downtown Farmers Market

Lubbock, Texas

he wuz a good ole dog

 

May Family Cemetery

Tahoka Lake Pasture

Tahoka, Texas

out to pasture

 

Tahoka Lake Pasture

Lynn County, Texas

8.27.2016

old abe

 

"Old Abe" served as the emblem for Case Tractors for over 100 years.  It was retired in 1969 (so just how old is this tractor sitting abandoned in a pasture?).  Named after Abraham Lincoln, Old Abe, the eagle, was the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War. After the war, Wisconsin classified Old Abe as a “War Relic” and created an “Eagle Department” in the Capitol building, which included a two-room “apartment,” a custom bathtub for the eagle, and a caretaker.

 

Lynn County, Texas

8.27.2016

swisher county barn

 

FM 2301

Swisher County, Texas

9.5.2016

goathead road

 

Do you know what a goathead is?

 

Randall County, Texas

9.5.2016

boxcar art

 

Business in Wayside has gone, well—by the wayside.  Sometimes called a ghost town, Wayside has a closed school, community church, cemetery and a defunct elevator.  The community, on Ranch Road 285 south of Palo Duro Canyon, was founded as a rural school district in 1893.   Mrs. Hervey J. Bradford named the place Wayside, for its location on the "way-side" of the canyon, when she opened a post office in September 1897.  It’s not a place you generally pass through going somewhere else.

 

Wayside, Texas

9.5.2016

roadrunner

 

Usually with roadrunners all you get is a cloud of dust as they run.  Today a pair literally posed for me at Palo Duro Canyon.  Excellent opportunity to see the crest (cousin to a cuckoo), orange eye markings on the female, and a blue tail feather.

 

Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

for those scary nights

pocket-size.....wallet available

kit carson ate here

 

About 1850 Kit Carson moved from Taos to Rayado to help his friend Lucien Maxwell protect settlers from Indians.  Today Kit's residence is a "recreated historic site" outfitted like it would have been during the time period. (PS - the dining room was the next room to where the chickens were setting!)

Kit Carson Museum
Rayado, New Mexico
8.19. 2016