Texas 2007

Dang 'ol dang and the things I learned on my winter vacation

Been to Texas recently, yup I sure did. Learned some stuff while I was there. Please follow along in my easy to follow slide show above. First things first. Acorns taste awful. We drove in to San Angelo late on Wednesday and had xmas with Chad's mom, Liz, and brother Manzy. We played bingo for silly gag gifts and then we moved on to the good stuff. Manzy got a guitar and he put on a little show for us. If you've never heard the song "nymphomaniac" I suggest you go download it now. The next morning we awoke to low temperatures and a cemetary across the street in Liz's front yard. or was it back yard. I still don't know which way was front. They have pecan trees all over the place just throwing nuts at you. Also many acorns. Chad gave me some tasty pecans and then handed me an acorn and said "here, try this." I did, cause why would my loving boyfriend steer me wrong? It was bitter and unpleasant and I spit all of it out in the front/back yard. But I did learn how to shell pecans, that was lesson two. I didn't master it but I could do it if I had to. Although there was one nut that wouldn't crack no matter how hard I hit it with my shoe. Liz took us around and I did some shopping and we had some nice meals together. By Saturday we were out to Ballinger, which is Chad's home town. Chad and his men went hunting at the butt crack of dawn and I stayed behind. I had a curiosity about it but in the end decided that if I coudln't watch that poor bull get killed in Mexico that watching a deer get shot in the neck wouldn't be any easier. Chad's step-mom, Rita, was babysitting her grandson that morning. Now the night before I got the tutorial on how to approach, or should I say not approach Landon. I followed the steps and before you know it he's sitting on my lap watching cartoons. I watched a lot of TV on Saturday. Finally the men returned and Chad got a doh (I know that's not how you spell it but I couldn't find it in the dictionary) or female deer. I went out and apologized to it before they laid in to it with their knives. We had xmas at their house that night. The next day they all went hunting again and maybe Chad actaully shot that poor defenseless deer Sunday, either way it was shot and dead and dripping by the end of the day. They usually let the deer bleed out (yummy) for a few days and then chop it up for meat but because it was 80 degrees out they did want to risk foul meat. It took hours. Rita and I watched Grey's Anatomy and took naps and they were still cutting when we were done. I finally decided to get my hands dirty. Only felt fair if I was gonna eat it I might as well get some underneath my finger nails for a few hours. That turned out, oddly, to be a lot of fun. I learned that that one dear would last for a whole year frozen. crazy. We made summer sausage and then packed the other 15 or so pounds in plastic baggies. Later on, right at sun down Chad and Manzy took me out to let me shoot Manzy's gun. I did much better my first time I went to Texas 7 years ago. Then just for shits and giggles Chad had me shoot the rifle. Holy cow that was cool and so scary at the same time. Their cat kept getting in the way. All I hit with that gun was the top of a very big hill behind all the targets. Much later after the folks went to bed, the 3 of us stayed up and talked and Chad and i went outside so we could sing 'the stars at night are big and bright [clap clap clap clap] deep in the heart of Texas.' He went inside for a second and I ventured out into the darkness by myself. It was so dark I couldn't see anything at all except the few distant lights and the giant cross on the hill like 3 miles away. All of a sudden I heard a noise. Sounded like a snorting followed by a grunt and a scuffle. I let out a small scream and I booked it back to the house and I said to Chad "holy shit something just snorted at me!" He and Manzy got their laugh at me. It was only a deer. Well I could have figured that out except that they scare so easy that it didn't make sense to me that it would let me know it was standing there. I assumed it was either a bobcat or coyote. We went back out and I kept hearing it and finally when we turned around we could see the deer on the horizon taking off across the front yard. It made me laugh. We did some star gazing and it turns out that Chad couldn't point out the big dipper if his life depended on it. I still love him though. Final thing I learned is that aught means zero. 30aught9 translates to 3009. Not sure why you wouldn't say 3aughtaught9 but hey I don't ask these silly questions when I'm out numbered. I had a great time, as I usually do with Chad and his family. Thanks guys for showing me a great week.