foot feet

 

I grew up hearing this part of the vehicle called the "foot feet." It wasn't until I took drivers ed that I learned the proper terminology is foot FEED.  Amazing!  This particular foot feed is on an old army surplus ditcher parked on the farm.  It was purchased decades used to dig trenches for drip, or in-ground, irrigation systems.  Supposed this piece of equipment was built to dig trenches during the Viet Nam war.  The radiator cap says "Unitrio" but I didn't find much about the ditcher nor the company.  However, here is a link that will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about war use ditching machines!

 





the ditcher

 

The Old Homestead

Lubbock County, Texas

11.30.2014



urban cow

 

You might think I photographed this longhorn out on the lone prairie but, nope, it was in town.  I parked at the EZMart, walked back down Milwaukee Avenue and took the shot. The street traffic didn't seem to bother him but he noticed the photographer.  Then, someone slammed the dumpster lid and off he took. A lot in Terra Estates comes with acreage, barns, horses - and even cattle!

 

Terra Estates

19th and Milwaukee

Lubbock, Texas

old-fashioned toys

 

The Ranching Heritage Center offers a glimpse of a pioneer Christmas during the 36th annual Candlelight at the Ranch. Luminarias light the paths around the historic structures, where volunteers recreate holiday scenes of trimming trees with home-made decorations, playing traditional music and gathering around the campfire on a cold winter’s night.  This cowboy whittles toys just like boys and girls might have gotten more than 100 years ago.  I don't think people taking pictures with their iphones appreciated what living was like by candle or kerosene light!

 

Ranching Heritage Center

3121 4th Street

Lubbock, Texas

 

slaton santa

 

Kris Kringle is often depicted with a walking stick.  The Santa at Slaton's Harvey House had a Santa stick as an accoutrement a la "Miracle on 34th Street."

 

Harvey House

Slaton, Texas

12.11.2014

waiting for the children

 

Tonight the former dining room of the Harvey House resembled a vintage living room, complete with Mr. and Mrs. Claus.  Slaton’s Harvey House was built in 1912. Fred Harvey began his chain of 84 off-railroad restaurants in 1875. A Harvey House was essentially a fast food joint - but with china and linens. Passengers ordered while on the train and then had only about 20 minutes during the stop to eat.  The Slaton Harvey House restaurant closed in 1942 but the building continued as a passenger depot and then a cargo depot.  The railroad association saved the building from ruin; today it operates as an event center and B&B.  This evening's open house welcomed Slaton citizens and bright-eyed children with wishes.  And yes, that locomotive fortuitously stopped by the window.

Slaton Harvey House
Fred Harvey Company
Slaton, Texas

santa land tree

 

Tonight the lights went on at Santa Land illuminating a Christmas wonderland. A multitude awaited the fire truck which guided Santa's sleigh.  This is Santa's 58th appearance in Lubbock at Santa Land.  New this year, joining Duck Dynasty was the cast of Frozen (in plywood of course).  And the Lubbock Police Department added more prairie dogs to their display.  Where else can you see Peter Pan, Batman, Shrek and other favorite characters at Christmas?

 

Santa Land

Mackenzie Park

Lubbock, Texas

deer crossing

 

Sometimes the photograph is in your own backyard.

winter garden

 

It may be beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but it certainly doesn't feel like it!  With today's 66 degrees and clear blue skies, keep out the patio furniture a little longer.

 

Tech Terrance U.N.I.T. Christmas Tour

12.6.2014

ode to the olive

 

We were welcomed to Café J by the sculpture in the parking, which I've entitled "Ode to an Olive."  We had a wonderful brunch complimented by conversation among congenial friends.  Since it was Eggs Benedict, we had mimosas rather than the signature martinis.  Café J is a direct descendant of The Grapevine Restaurant which was further east on 19th Street.  The Grapevine was related to the Continental Room, a former favorite fine dining destination on the 20th floor of the Metro Tower (nee the Great Plains Life Building).

 

Cafe J

2605 19th Street

Lubbock, Texas

frosty

 

Not only is Frosty a jolly, happy soul -- he's also a clean one!  We surprised Frosty in the tub today while on the Tech Terrace U.N.I.T. Christmas tour.  It was neat to see mid-century modern homes updated, renovated and decorated for Christmas -- even the bathrooms.



rural relic

the old homestead 6

 

Once a common feature on each homestead, an outhouse is now a rare rural relic.  Many an outhouse met its demise as part of a high school prank.  It's hard to believe that conveniences that we take for granted, like electricity and indoor plumbing, were not available in farm communities in Lubbock County until the 1940s.

 

Lubbock County, Texas

Studebaker pickup

the old homestead 5

 

Most farms have an accumulation of old equipment, broken-down pickups and parts around the place and the old homestead is no exception.  It has the usual old cotton trailer axles, assorted pickups from various decades, a cotton-stripper, a pile of bent irrigation tubes, one refrigerator, a blue Volkswagen bug, and -- inexplicably, what is probably a 1949 Studebaker pickup.  A Studebaker is an unusual model for a farm vehicle in these parts, but what's odder is that in a former life it was a "New-Mex Construction Company" vehicle from Hobbs (dimly says so on the door). The 1957 Texas license tag is semi-attached to the front grill and the key is still in the ignition. But don't think about driving it off --the pickup is hemmed in by at least half a century of elm trees and knee-high brush!

 

Lubbock County, Texas



cultivator sweeps

the old homestead 4

 

If you are a farmer, there's more to plowing than just getting on the tractor.  You have to determine what type of plowing is needed and which equipment is best.  If you wish to remove weeds before planting, then probably the cultivator is what you'd use.  And then you need to know whether to use the 6" or 8" or 10" sweep, the size of the shank you're putting it on, the hole spacing and how deep to plow.  At the old homestead, back behind the house, Mr. E kept his equipment.  Mr. E was organized and built a stand for his sweeps, but it's been a while since they were used.

 

Lubbock County, Texas



canning jars still life

the old homestead 2

Farm women in the 1930s and 40s were not only responsible for maintaining the household and raising the children, but also taking care of other chores, tending the vegetable garden, feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs. Other than church, the local Home Demonstration Club was a welcome social activity.  In 1914 the U.S. Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act which officially sanctioned “demonstration work” and Texas A&M hired women county agents to work with the rural female population. Vegetable gardening, canning, bread-making and animal husbandry were typical topics for demonstration clubs. In 1926 county home demonstration councils were established to coordinate local membership and by 1934 there were nearly 49,000 women enrolled in 2,268 clubs on the county or community level.  The Avalanche-Journal reported on a meeting of the Lubbock County Home Demonstration Council in 1938 with 14 community clubs represented.

 

The first Mrs. E and my grandmother were friends and members of the New Deal Home Demonstration Club in the 1930s and 40s.  Having a garden and "putting up" vegetables were part of the farm life. The second Mrs. E  moved to the farm after marrying and assumed the role of farm wife.  .After the second Mrs. E's husband died, she ran the farm with her son until his early death; she continued on her on until becoming infirm.  As happens all too frequently, the grandkids didn't want to farm so the land was leased.  They did come to clear the house, albeit not completely, of a hundred years' of living. On the back porch are the contents of the pantry -- canning jars, some still filled with green beans, pickles and black-eyed peas.  Farm life preserved in a jar.

 

Lubbock County

the old homestead

 

Atop a broken windmill stand, amid overgrown weeds, a tattered flag flutters in the breeze-- a sad memorial.  This had been the family farm for over 100 years, since Grandpa moved here in 1911.  Then a new house was built in 1939 -- at the top of the rise and eventually surrounded by stately elm trees.  The farm was passed along, until Mrs. E, who was the last family member to run the place, became too infirm and had to move to the rest home. The place was rented to tenant farmers.  The house, which was a county showplace in its time and site of many socials, fell further into disrepair.  The once-proud front lawn was now grazed by cattle.  Weeds and trash overtook the backyard; the swing and toys lay abandoned not to be enjoyed by future generations.  And thus ends another tale of the family farm.

 

Lubbock County, Texas



ring-necked pheasant

 

Although not wonderful, this is a miracle shot.  I was at the farm, watching the guys stripping cotton.  As I drove slowly along the section road with the window down, I heard this cock crowing.  A quick glimpse to the left, hit the brakes hard, grabbed the camera and got off two frames before he took off into the brush.  He better work on his camouflage skills -- pheasant hunting season in Lubbock County begins December 6!



garage art

 

On the nice fall afternoon while on my walk, I noticed this sunflower shadow against the garage wall

 

In the Neighborhood

Lubbock, Texas

 barn abandoned

 



In these parts, abandoned buildings outnumber those that are occupied.  This forlorn barn has more character then its homestead house.  The barn ages and oxides with a patina; the house is just falling down.  Even when it was built decades ago, new materials were not used.  Faint ghost lettering is still visible of the tin's original commercial use.  I am not alone in my fondness for old buildings-- joining other photographers who try to capture the past in what the Huffington Post calls a ubiquitous trend of "ruin porn."

The old barn stands

Abandoned, rustic,

Rusting, slowly yielding

To the wind and rain.

Once home to cows or sheep,

Chickens, pigs, horses

Rafters resounded with

Moos, baas, oinks, and whineys.

Now home to crows, mice, rats

Wayfare wildlife, feral cats.

The wind howls through

Open doors, broken windows.

Every year robs

More siding

From tottering walls.

The artist pauses to capture

The testament to the past

With camera's click

Or painter's brush

Before the old grey barn finally tumbles

In splinters, done in by storm

Or wrecking crew

Unwilling to tolerate

Its drunken swaying in the wind.

Old and tired,

The ancient barn

Sighs adieu.

 

Barn Abandoned by Erin Yorke

 

County Road 5100 and Farm to Market Road 1264

Lubbock County, Texas

Happy Thanksgiving



circles

 



Sometimes, out in the country, you know what you are seeing but you just don't understand why.  And not only was there one old truck atop the concrete pipe, there were three!

Wide place in the road
Lamb County, Texas

art is in the eye of the beholder

 

One felt watched while admiring the Christmas decorations in downtown Dallas.   In case you thought this was merely a 30-foot sculpture of an eyeball, you must read the description:  “Eye” by Chicago-based artist Tony Tasset acts as a symbol of knowledge and power juxtaposed against the pop-culture notion of larger-than-life commercial advertising." Called by one newspaper "an ocular oddity" the sculpture is part of the Joule Hotel's collection of contemporary art.  You may eyeball the the orb -- through the fence!

 

Main Street

Dallas, Texas

11.21.2014



cowboy complex

 



Do cowboys get a complex if they don't live up to the John Wayne stereotype?  Oops, wrong use of the word!  This Cowboy Complex is the new, improved version of the Indoor Roping Arena.  Nearby is the Cowboy Café and what used to be a private club.  In any case, the current use of the Cowboy Complex should be beneficial for complexes afflicting saints or sinners.



Cowboy Complex
Seymour, Texas
11.21.2014

ornamental cabbage

 

Today these ornamental cabbages went into pots in the front.  They replaced the poor pansies which did not survive after the recent cold weather and snow.  Hopefully these touted "cool  season" winter annuals will make it until December.

 

My Yard

Lubbock, Texas

silver falls

 

Once a flowing waterfall, Silver Falls is normally dry unless a strong thunderstorm happens to pass. After today's showers, there was a trickle. In the 1870s Colonel Randal McKenzie camped near the falls during his pursuit of Quanah Parker. Since the 1800s travelers have stopped at this once-scenic place.  In 1935 the National Youth Association, part of President Roosevelt’s Work Project Administration, built roadside park stone facilities, which were updated in 2004.  My dad speaks of picnics here in the 1950s.  Silver Falls was a hike destination when I was at Girl Scout camp at nearby Rio Blanco.  Today I availed myself of the facilities and took a look at the "falls."

 

According to the Geological Survey of Texas - Dumble, E.T. (ed). 1892. Third Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Texas, 1891 - this is what White River at Silver Falls looked like in 1891.

 

 

Silver Falls

Crosby County, Texas

Jackie

 

Today, on the eve of the 51st anniversary of the assassination of JFK, we visited the School Book Depository's Sixth Floor Museum. Prior to the museum we had taken the JFK trolley tour which pointed out Oswald's rooming house, the site where Officer Tippitt was slain, the Texas theater where Oswald was captured and other historic places.  On exhibit at the museum are 9x6' portraits of JFK and Jackie. Done by Alex Guofeng Cao, each pixel within the portrait is a much smaller picture. In the case of Jackie, there are 50,000 tiny portraits of her husband.

Although I've often driven the motorcade route and passed by the School Book Depository on trips to Dallas, I'd never visited the museum.  It was moving, especially recalling that period of history that I lived.  And then as we were leaving, the reincarnation of Jackie crossed the street in front of us.

 

 

 

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

Dallas, Texas

 

soda fountain

 

Road Trip:  Today, after decades of driving by, I stopped at the City Drug on the square in Jacksboro.  I was lured by the sign and wanted to sit at the fountain and have an ice cream soda.  I was lured in by the sign!  City Drug bills itself as "a drug store with all the modern amenities but with old-fashioned, friendly service and a great soda fountain."  The drug store installed the soda fountain about 1911.  Any charm in the building built in 1900 has long since been modernized away. The pharmacy is still open and touts being the 7th oldest  pharmacy in Texas -- owned by the Hammond family since 1960 with a fourth generation in charge.  My ice cream soda was delicious except that it lost something being served in a styrofoam cup with a plastic spoon rather than a fluted, footed glass with a silver spoon!

 

City Drug

Jacksboro, Texas

fall reflection in black and white

 

Guadalupe River

New Braunfels, Texas

11.24.2013



ivied columns

 

The classic beauty of this once-elegant 1940s residence has faded.  Its grace is marred by boarded windows, broken transom, weeds and no trespassing signs.  It also has the misfortune of being on 13th Street, which is the wrong side of Broadway for regentrification.  The decline was not sudden; I think I went to a Sigma Chi trash party there (or maybe it was next door) back in the day.

 

1810 13th Street

Lubbock, Texas

sand dune

 

This snow and 20-degree weather makes me nostalgic for the beach -- even those rainy, overcast days in autumn.  Actually my favorite times at the beach are spring and fall -- leave the hot days for the summer crowd.

 

Seaside, Oregon

10.18,2015

brr!

 

Nothing exciting about tonight's post.  With snow flurries and 20 degrees outside, I took this image of the neighborhood from the garage with my phone and hurried back to the couch and my glass of wine.

dead end

 

The placement of the "dead end" sign is somewhat misleading because Seaside is not a dead end town.  Except that Lewis and Clark met their dead-end here.  The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail is 3,700-mile route to the Pacific Ocean, commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. At the end of the street, where the beach begins, is a statue of Lewis and Clark marking the western end of their journey.

 

Seaside, Oregon

10.19.2014



icicles

 

After several days of sub-freezing weather, it finally warmed up to the 40s; however, it was still too cold to stand outside trying to catch the drips as the icicles on the birdbath thawed!

 

My Backyard at 40 degrees

Lubbock, Texas

Who would have thought we'd need a fire in the fireplace in the middle of November with highs in the 20s and a smattering of snowflakes this morning?  This fireplace was burning brightly in mid-October at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.  The lodge, which is on National Register of Historic Places, was constructed between 1936 and 1938 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project during the Great Depression using large timbers and local stone. It has been the site of several movies, the most notable being "The Shining.:

Timberline Lodge
Mt. Hood, Oregon
10.17.2014

boarding house

 

This structure was the subject of a story by my dad.  It seems that in the 1940s it was a boarding house.  One of its lodgers was my great-uncle Charlie, who lived there while keeping books at my grandfather's gin in New Deal.  What attracted me was the asymmetry of the windows -- different sizes, a little patchwork, a dryer vent and a window air conditioner.  I don't know anything else about  the building, except it's been there a long time.  A history of Abernathy notes that the town was established in 1909 through an investment company owned by Dr. M. C. Overton and Monroe Abernathy.  It seems that nearby Bartonsite already had several buildings (perhaps even the Barton House currently at the Ranching Heritage Museum) and Abernathy had none except the small frame building for the investment firm. The founding fathers contracted with J.J. Barton to move some of the buildings to Abernathy. In the late summer of 1909 the seven mile move began. Buildings were placed on rollers pulled by steam-driven tractors at about three or four miles per hour. Buildings moved included a lumberyard, blacksmith shop, three or four residences and a two-story yellow hotel. I wonder if this building were that hotel -- there's not many two-storied buildings in town. Hmm.....

 

9th and Avenue E

Abernathy, Texas

11.9.2014

the girl who went to war

 

The Silent Wings Museum has an exhibit that replicates a World War II barracks.  Makes you wonder how many GIs had similar photos of sweethearts in their kits. Hopefully the veterans ended up with the girl back home.

 



 



poignancy

 

The "lost items" -- a baby shoe, teddy bear, glasses, a suitcase, a broken violin -- strewn along a cobblestone walk leading the Oregon Holocaust Memorial evoke a sense of sadness. Built in 2004, the back wall of the memorial is engraved with the names of people who died in the camps, followed by the names of their surviving relatives in Oregon. The memorial features a stone bench beside an area simulating a town square. During the Holocaust, many Jewish families were gathered in town squares before being loaded onto trains and taken to concentration camps. The cobblestone walkway with inlaid granite bars, simulating railroad tracks, leads to a wall of history panels. At the end of the wall is the soil vault panel with interred soil and ash from six killing-center camps of the Holocaust - Chelmno, Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec, Majdanek, and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

 

I have visited Holocaust Memorials in various states but this one brought chills like those experienced when I visited Dachau.

 

Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future. -- Elie Wiesel

Oregon Holocaust Memorial
Portland, Oregon
10.16.2014

Elie Wiesel

trout fishing

 

If you were a fisherman you couldn't ask for more than a well-stocked lake in a beautiful setting.  That's Mt. Hood reflected on the rain-dappled surface.

 

Trillium Lake, Oregon

10.17.2014

TT = tequila time

 

Equally as popular as Ginger's jewelry on the Studio Tour is Don's cantina in the back yard.  One is invited to sample a variety of tequilas -- and 10 a.m. is not too early to start!  The jalapeno-infused agave tequila was quite spicy!

 

Local Color Artists Studio Tour

Lubbock, Texas

 



free tutus

 

I'll admit that my art education is not too extensive but the pieces and installations on the Art Trail often leave me bewildered. Avant-garde?  Abstract? Weird?  I found more "art" on this wall with the sign and merchandise posted by Ballet Lubbock.  Their dancers posed as models during "Dance and Draw. " And no, I did not take a free tutu although many art aficionados were wearing them, sometimes as head gear!

 

First Friday Art Trail

Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts

Lubbock, Texas

nasturtium

 

 

The jewel tones of nasturtium brighten dreary days in Oregon. They are a cool season plant which is way we don't see them often our hot and dry part of Texas.

 

Camp 18, Oregon

10-15-2014

door series #4

courtyard door

 

A spring snow storm in March dusted Santa Fe and increased the Southwestern charm

 

Santa Fe, New Mexico

3.11.2012

door series #3

ollas azul

 

Old Town

Tucson, Arizona

2.27.2014

door series #2

casa azul

 

By definition, a series is "a number of things of a related nature coming one after another."  So by posting a second image of a door from Old Town Tucson, I've created a series!

El Presidio
Tucson, Arizona
2.27.2014

puerta azul

 

As a photographic subject, doors catch my eye.  I have a folder full of images from many different places that "some day" I going to do something with.  Evidently I am not alone in this interest.  There is a blog Legion of Door Whores for "those who appreciate doors."  It has thousands of images posted from all over the world.  This door is in the El Presido, the first neighborhood in Tucson, which is also on the National Register of Historical Places.

 

Tucson, Arizona

2.27.2014

remember to reset your sundial

 

Daylight savings time ends tonight and we're back on "regular" time -- perhaps not to be confused with solar time as measured by sundials.

 

International Rose Test Garden

Portland, Oregon

10.16.2014