Category Archives: Friends

West Texas Chuck Wagon

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The Camp Cook

I would think this was the best job around~

Harold Wood, who was in charge  of the LBJ Park near Johnson City once sent me an old  photograph of a camp cook with his chuck wagon and wanted me use it as a subject for an oil painting. I really enjoyed painting it and it hung in the Library and Conference Room at the park for several years. It reminded me of far West Texas and the Culberson County Ranch. Hunting camps still have camp cooks, usually one of the hunters takes on the job and does it year after year. Sometimes a real cook comes and gets to hunt for free. I can only imagine the men starting out early on a cold  morning with a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, boiled coffee and biscuits cooked in an old Dutch oven on the open fire, then heading out for the big hunt. This is where fathers bond with sons, brothers with brothers. This is where friendships are made that last a lifetime.

Country Boy

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Today I have a few pictures of one of our friends who spent a lot of time with our boys when they were growing up. One of the nicest things about having children is you sort of adopt their friends as your own and enjoy them, it is just an added bonus.

here is Matt at the place at  Huldale, the boys liked to trap varmints out there.

This is Matt Bumguardner, he was raised on a ranch with three brothers, they lost their mother at a young age, but they had a wonderful  daddy who raised them by himself and sent them all through college. They were fine boys, gifted and talented.

I asked him how he got his lip smashed, he said a headlight blew up in his face and cut it. That is the only time I remember anyone getting hurt~

Matt liked to fish and hunt, camp out, and build things

 We were closely connected to Matt. He knew how to fix things and make things, and  didn’t mind hard work. He liked fixing up old cars and pick ups, rebuilding motors getting them running. One day Daddy went to town and was gone for quite a while. I heard the fire whistle blow in town and wondered where the fire was. Then here came a truck down our road, towing Daddy’s completely burned Volkswagen. While he was going down  main street  the gas line came loose, and with a loud pop the car caught on fire. It looked like a total loss. Sometime later, Matt traded him out of it and completely restored it. When he was finished, it was probably the only Volkswagen anywhere that was painted in Texas A&M University’s  maroon and white. Matt lives in Arizona but we were able to visit with him last year at his daddy’s funeral. It was like he had never been away and it has been over 25 years.  His kids will like seeing these pictures~

he was a cowboy, he also spent summers between college semesters , working in the oil fields, blowing air for Ingersal Rand

I always worried about the boys, they weren’t reckless but there were things out there that could hurt them. I heard some scary stories later on.

here is just one of the trucks he fixed up, he had several. Believe me, he needed those spare tires in the back~ 

the boys and Daddy in the Delaware Mountains, they spent lots of good times out there and always were happy to have Daddy come along ~

Mother’s Day

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My Sweet Mama

1913-1972- what a joy to remember her, she is always in my heart~

Sunday was Mother’s Day and what a special day! This was my  mother Elizabeth Elder, she was a wonderful mother and grandmother. We were best friends for all those years and almost everything I ever learned came from her, creative in  every way, but her greatest talent was painting. To watch her paint was an inspiration, she taught art for most of her life. She introduced the world of art to this part of West Texas. There are many  people who come into our lives who mean everything to us  but there is only one mother, mine was smart, pretty, creative and so much fun to be with. She was special~

 

Bingo Singers

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Gig at the court house

Here are Dale, Leonard, Rita and Jim  singing at the court house square, our group changes often, just who ever is available and willing~

The Bingo Singers~this little group has been active for at least 19 years. It started at the nursing home when I was helping with the Bingo games. Willie Johnson was singing one day and I told her I had a guitar and brought it the next time and we were off and running. She knew every song there was, I  made copies of the lyrics for everyone and we sang for an hour before Bingo twice a week. We sang everything from old ‘he done her wrong songs to hymns’. Through the years we have had some great singers, some of the guys like Jack , George , Claudie , and Wally  to name a few, and volunteers  like Jim , James , Mary , Norma Lynn  and a group of women who love to sing . We’ve played a few gigs at socials on the court house lawn. A nice comment was, “you don’t mess around tuning guitars or warming up, you just get up and sing“.  It has been fun being a part of this sweet nursing home family, some of my best friends ever, it is nice having a good audience~We meet every Friday at 9:00 and sing our hearts out for an hour. Everyone is invited.

Ranch House

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An old home place

This wasn’t an actual place, just a scene from memory. There is something appealing about old houses, they all have an important history~

Here is an old ranch house I painted in about 1968. It seems like all of these old houses were built from one of  two house plans. This one had one front door (sometimes two) and a wing built out in front. (there was usually an add-on shed in the back). Then there was the house with a long porch across the front and two or three front doors. You would wonder which door to knock on. Most of these old places had an out house. The better ones had a pit toilet with a modern looking oak seat  and a metal floor. (home for granddaddy long leg spiders.)  Others were two and three hollers and a trap door in the back.The yard had a picket fence to keep the stock out. The barn was usually finer than the house and there was almost always  a windmill, the sound of the mill turning is something we always remember. There is something cozy about these old houses. A nice place to come home to. When my granddad retired he and my grandmother moved to their farm at Grit. Before they finished fixing up the old house, it was  primitive but it did have running water inside. I loved being there, it was wonderful, the kerosene lamps smelled good but they didn’t put out much light. What I missed was a refrigerator, they had an ice box and things were never very cold. Granddad built a big cement tank and we waited all summer for it to fill up so we could go swimming, when it was time for us to come home, there was about  nine inches of water in it. I had to save my new blow up water wings for another year.

Baked Chicken Breasts

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Sunday Company Dinner

this recipe came from my friend Pat Pfluger, it makes a delicious company dinner

This is one of those really easy to make dinners. It is great with hot rolls and a fresh fruit salad. For my Sunday company dinner yesterday I served it with Debbie’s green beans and a corn dish, dinner for eight, everyone enjoyed it. ~in the oven when I left for church, ready for the table when I got home~ Always a good anytime meal but makes a special dinner for company too, simply delicious~

Baked Chicken Breasts
8 or 10 chicken breasts
1 8 oz. can mushrooms
1 can mushroom soup
1 can Pet milk
1 8 oz. carton sour cream
1/4 c. sherry
paprika 
Split breast so they will be serving sizes
Lay chicken breasts in a large baking dish, mix all
other ingredients except paprika and spread over
chicken, then sprinkle top with paprika. Do not cover.
Bake at 350 for about 1 1/2 hours

Culberson County Texas

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The ranch in Culberson County

Here is Dan near the rim, this is as rugged and beautiful as you could imagine, like from another world

This is a picture taken on the rim of the Culberson County Ranch in the Delaware Mountains. You can see for a hundred miles, it is  spectucular, something you don’t expect  as you are driving around on the top with it’s more flat rolling terrain . When you get to the edge and see all this vast  space, it is awesome. On the other side of the rim you have a wonderful view of Guadalope Peak. Some of the larger ranches in this area are many thousands of acres. That is Dan with his walking stick, he was never without it and he needed it here that day for sure. A young friend  once  said he wished he could own some land out there,  Dan told him he only needed a small spot and  the view would be his as far as he could see~that view belongs to everyone~

Texas’ Delaware Mountains

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Culberson County Ranch

This is a remote place in Culberson County, Texas, rugged and unspoiled, I have painted several pictures with Guadalupe Peak in them~

This is a picture of  the ranch in the Delaware Mountains in far West Texas. It is 70 miles from Van Horn so is about as remote as it gets. You see Guadalupe Peak  in the background, the highest point in Texas at 8,751 ft. It is a magical place, the ranch has been in the family for around a hundred years. One day Dan’s Grandpa Pelt was in the coffee shop at the Menger Hotel in San Antonio when he got to  visiting with a man sitting there and they started talking about their ‘white elephants’. Grandpa had property in the Valley near Edinburg and the other man had a large ranch in Culberson County. When they were finished  that day, they had made a a trade for each other’s land, sight unseen. Back in those days, deals were struck like this all the time. The ranch has been  wonderful for 5 generations  to enjoy.   It is a favorite family hunting place with big mule deer, antelope, and every kind of wild life. The first time I saw it, it took my breath away, coming up to  the rim and seeing for a hundred miles, it was like the Grand Canyon of Texas. Thank you Grandpa, sweet trade~

Billy Graham’s Prayer

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The Rev. Billy Graham

my cousin sent me this prayer today, I want everyone to be as moved as I was, words spoken and thoughts to be embedded in our hearts~

Billy   Graham’s Prayer For Our Nation  
WHAT’S HAPPENING TO  OUR  COUNTRY!
‘Heavenly Father, we  come before you today  to ask your  forgiveness and to seek your direction and   guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those  who call  evil good,’ but that is exactly  what we have done. We have  lost our  spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.  We  have exploited the poor and called it  the lottery. We have  rewarded laziness and  called it welfare. We have killed  our  unborn and called it choice. We have shot  abortionists  and called it justifiable…  We have neglected to  discipline our  children and called it building self   esteem. We have abused power and called it  politics. We  have coveted our neighbor’s  possessions and called it  ambition. We  have polluted the air with profanity and   pornography and called it freedom of expression.  We have  ridiculed the time-honored values  of our forefathers and  called it  enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know  our  hearts today; cleanse us from sin and  Set us free.  Amen!’
With the Lord’s  help, may this prayer sweep over  our  nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so  that we  once again can be called ‘One  nation under  God!’

Flood on the South Concho River

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This boat needed lots of work

the boat was in much worse shape than the first one I restored, but it only took four months on this one

 

The new River Mouse

This is the River Mouse ll after I finished restoring it. Missy is ready for a ride. All the dogs love the boat, so do children~

On Sept. 10, 1994 Paul called me from the river. He said, “we have had a flash flood,everyone is alright but the River Mouse is gone.”  I took off for Christoval, Dan was on the porch yelling, you can’t go! I couldn’t believe it, there wasn’t a cloud in sight, all the way up there there was no sign of a storm, not until I was three miles  away and I saw all the patrol cars, a helicopter, water in the ditches, water everywhere. I drove in on the East side, down Moore Road as far as I could, then walked in water on up to the river. It was raging. I had my video camera going,  (later when I watched the video, I could hear sobbing, I was completely crushed). We looked for the River Mouse for days, all we found was the trunk lid. Paul and Anna had to go back to Albuquerque and the last thing he said was, ” go get another boat and start over”.  I did, this one only took 4 months to restore since I had kept all the drawings and plans from the first one. When it was finished, it was exactly like the original River Mouse (except for a small brass plaque on the dashboard~ ‘Please Lord,  Bless This Tiny Ship’).

My Pen Pal

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China plater

these seven pieces were all that survived the trip from Germany

When I was in seventh grade, our teacher gave us a list of names and addresses of kids from other countries who we could have as ‘Pen Pals’. It was right after WW ll and I chose a boy from Germany. He sent me a picture of himself, standing on a rock ledge with beautiful mountains in the background, wearing leather shorts with colorful suspenders. It didn’t hurt one bit that he was fine looking, with blond curley hair and a nice smile. His name was Freider Schmidt, but nicknamed Bio. His father taught at  Baden-Baden Württemberg University. I wrote him a letter and sent a picture (not of myself but of the prettiest girl in school). He wrote back and for several years, we corosponded. Mother often sent his family care packages with things like chocolate and coffee,  things they didn’t have available at this post war time . She even sent a wool blanked from the Eldorado Woolen Mill here. Bio asked if there was anything he could send me, and since Mother was a china painter, I told him she would like a tea pot or something in undecorated china. A few months later a wooden crate arrived on the train and it was (had been) a complete set of Bavarian china. Every single piece was broken except for a cream pitcher  and six dessert plates. I never told him about the disaster, Mother painted the the plates, and trimed the pitcher with pure Roman gold, fired it and it has been my treasure for 66 years. Some of my friends didn’t fair so well with their Pen Pals, but I always remembered my handsome friend and wondered what happened to him. Many years later, I told my children about him and the picture I sent  him of that pretty girl who was ‘not me’, and they told me that the picture I had kept of him all those years was probably ‘not him’ either. 

Debbie Pina

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Sweet little Debbie

Here is a painting of Debbie with two kid goats.

This is Debbie Pina, she grew up on the farm where we lived. She was one of the sweetest children I ever knew and simply adored by her grandmother Goya. Her mother was a nurse and her daddy worked for the city, her parents were tragically killed in a bus accident a few years ago while on a tour with a group from the First Baptist Church in Eldorado. Debbie lived with her brother Danny and his family after that. She and Danny were often the subjects in my paintings. A farm is a wonderful place for children, always something interesting going on. There was a storm cellar, tractor, barns, two ponies and a goat. We had a tree house, there was the ‘Peacock Club’ in the garage room,  and there was a cave in the pasture. (Even after my boys were in college, their friends, several from other countries, came to spend the weekends and savor the country life). Those are sweet memories