Fun Times in the Middle of Nowhere

I have a few pictures from our hurrication at the ranch in west Texas. It is seriously in the middle of nowhere. How else could we go a full 48 hours without seeing anyone we weren't related to? That's probably why the polygamists chose to make their home in west Texas. The compound is actually only an hour away from there, I think. Anyway, deer hunting is the whole purpose for this ranch. My mother, sister, and I have no desire to hunt or be around hunting, so dad renovated the old (uninhabitable) ranch house and made it cute and comfy enough for us to want to come there. It reminds me a lot of our Irving house (it's about the same age). We love it! The stove is from the 1920's, the fridge is red and old-looking, the cupboards are filled with every color of Fiestaware, and some of the kitchen windows have brightly colored stained glass. It is too cute! Too bad I never took any pics of it! Next time.

Our days went something like this:
-Jackson wakes up with the sun. Mommy gets up with him. Bibby makes breakfast. The men sleep. Mommy skips her quiet time because she is out of her routine and undisciplined. She later regrets it.
-We go outside after breakfast and sit on the porch while Jackson plunges into the dirt, dust, and rocks. He remains dirty until his bath at bedtime.
-I scold the dogs for jumping on me and getting my pajamas dirty, which were my outfit for the day.
-When it gets hot, we go inside and cool off.
-When Jackson gets antsy, we go outside and sweat again.
-We take Jackson and Starzy for a ride in the golf cart. We see tons and tons of butterflies. And cactus. And armadillos. And some deer. And wild turkeys.
-Bibby makes us grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.
-Jackson and Mommy nap.
-Jackson goes back outside with Daddy. Mommy watches CNN obsessively.
-Parents cook an amazing dinner.
-Jackson goes to bed. Mommy watches CNN and bites her fingernails.

The exception was Sunday. That morning we decided to go into town and go to church. The church reminded me of a West Texas version of our church in the UK. We loved it. Then we went to eat at one of the two restaurants in town. It was very good and it had wi-fi. I was in major internet withdrawal by that time.

Now onto the pictures. This is the old Jeep that lives at the ranch. Do not be fooled by the good paint job because the inside is very rustic (dirty). Melissa and I would have died over this in high school. It has a contraption on the front that drops corn here and there for the deer. Then you can hide out and watch the deer eat the corn. Dad and I call this the "corn pooper." Mom doesn't like our humor. Wouldn't Lis and I have been cool driving this Jeep - Corn Pooper Edition in high school? When my dad suggested a ride in the Jeep, you should have seen his face when I asked Curt to put Jackson's car seat in it. It was such a classic butting of heads between the two of us. He thought I was worried about getting pulled over and ticketed by police on our own land. I can understand how stupid that sounds. But I was really just worried about the Jeep rolling over and my child not being secured. The car seat did not make it in.


We ate VERY well, thanks to mom and dad. This was steak night. Most of our dinners were cooked on the Old Smokey or whatever it's called. Mom made me chicken and dumplings on the last night. I won't tell you how many servings I had. Let's just say MANY. Listen, I'm pregnant and mom only makes it a couple times a year. Late that afternoon we knew our house had power and we could head home, but I didn't want to miss my soup. So we stayed.


Me and my daddy. Please forgive my roots. The roots on my head. Not my relations.


Geli and Star, a.k.a. the Foxy Possum. Both girls are b-a-d, but who is the baddest of them all just depends on the day. They are actually really fun and they love, love, love the ranch, as does Beckham. The house has a big, fenced yard that is perfect for dogs and little boys. The three dogs are very useful for (hopefully) scaring away rattle snakes that may have dared enter the yard.


The San Saba River. We went down to the river one evening to splash around. Mom and I put our chairs in the river and visited while dad, Curtis, and Jackson actually got in.


Jackson hurt his foot on a rock (he had on his Crocs but they didn't help) the first 10 seconds in the river. After that, this was as far in as he would get.


Daddy and Jackson snuggling early in the morning.




Mom was going crazy over this sunset, so I took a picture for her. Notice the old barn on the left. It's pretty sweet.


You can see the barn better here if you enlarge the picture. Did I mention it houses a family of bats and part of it will serve as a deer cleaning station in the future? Gross. Dad, seriously, where are the hay and horses? JK, you know I love it.