Saturday, March 30, 2013

Bobby's Blues & BBQ / Ramblings

New kid on the block. Bobby has opened up the Bobby's Blues & BBQ where the old Kathy's Kosmic Kowgirl Kafe used to be. Anyone who has been down here in the past and has been out 170 probably recognizes it.
He has provided some AWESOME BBQ at the last two Legion Jams. Not sure what all he has in mind for it, but hopefully it will be a world class BBQ place before long. You can follow his progress on Facebook at Bobby's Blues & BBQ

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Below are more artifact finds and a few other pictures I've taken lately.

Note the Yucca is blooming (If you could  call it that), but it doesn't look like they will put on the fruit this year. :( I'd planned to pickle some of them to see if the vinegar would offset the slightly bitter taste. I have fried them like okra before and in a pinch a person could survive off of them, but they leave some to be desired. I've also stir fried the flowers before and also added them to a salad and they are much better. The sage is also in bloom in some areas near by, but not up here. Same  goes for the ocotillo.

While looking for more artifacts I also tried to find the massive chunk of flint I lost some time back, but never found it. The picture with the failed arrowhead was found in the same area I've found most of the other stuff in and all of those chips and chunks were in a small area. Looks like someone was making an arrowhead and it didn't turn out quiet right so it was discarded.

Don't have a clue what type crystals are in the rock in the two pictures  above, but it isn't calcite which is the norm down here. I tested one and it doesn't scratch like calcite does. Maybe its quartz?

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Blue Bonnet Sunset / Legion parking lot sale?

Taken here a couple of evenings ago.

What you don't see down here very often. One of the legion customers has this parked in the Legion parking lot and wants to sell it for $500. He says he has the sails for it. Seems to be in decent shape. Not sure of the length.

Same customer has the (I think) 1966 Harley Sprint for sale also $500 I think. These were bought by Harley back in the 60s from Ducati (Italian) and rebadged as Harleys. I rode some of these back in the 60s and they were pretty cool at the time. I'd say this one would cost a fortune to restore.

Another customer of the Legion has this trailer for sale. If anyone is interested in any of them let me know here. Hopefully sales will generate a donation to the Legion?


Monday, March 25, 2013

Jam #4 Video and Pictures

Didn't take that many photos and I need to start doing a lot more of that than taking videos. It took over 2 hours just to upload the one above. I won't be uploading any more of the 16 videos I took last night. Most of the pictures below were clips from the videos. Proceeds go to help Judy pay some of her medical bills after the wreck last month after the Jam. As far as I know there were no accidents this time. Some of the musicians that were supposed to be there weren't and some that weren't supposed to be there showed up so it still turned out great!

Picture above Your's Truly and Donna Dancing.




Thursday, March 21, 2013

Legion Jam # 4

The 4th Legion Jam will be held Sunday the 24th. Its usually held on the last Sunday of the month, but being how that would be Easter this Jam was moved back a week. Not  sure who all will be there for this one (As far as musicians go), but I understand a few that have been there before will be missing and others that haven't been to one of the jams yet  will be there.

Hopefully this time there will be no accidents!


Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Woopsy Dupsy

Got the 1550 gallon tank set today with the help of Lee hauling it here and Dave Secor from the Legion fame helping. After that was set I made a trip to Study Butte for a load of water in the little 125 gallon tank on my trailer. (see below) I was a little apprehensive of making the trip since I had another blowout on the Jeep and don't have a spare again. Its also running pretty rough and still has the death wobble even after getting most of the front end parts replaced. (I have to keep it at 50 MPH or below to keep that from happening.) Sure makes for a long trip!


Now for the Woopsy Dupsy... After I got the valve installed in the big tank to run the hose to the pump I notched that the tank will have to have around 100 gallons in it just to get the water to the valve. I had about 125 gallons in the old tank and was in the process of transferring it to the new tank when I discovered that. I'm now transferring the water from the tank on the trailer so once that's done there will be about 250 gallons in the big tank, but only about 150 of it will be usable. Looks like more trips south for water. There's a 20% chance of rain tomorrow, but since I don't have the catchment set up yet that won't do me any good if it does rain. Oh well one of these days it will...

And on a side note it looks like the hose to the pump may be too short to reach the new tank. :( I also bought a 4 inch PVC street Ell to connect to the tank for the catchment when I get that setup, but after applying glue to it I found out it won't fit. $12.50 down the drain...

Temp now at 4:43 is 93 degrees.

Update

A view of the bottom of the old tank. Wonder why I don't drink water out of it? Now you know.



A worthwhile short video. Got this from one of my nieces posts on Facebook.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

St. Patrick's Day

Hope everyone has a great day. I'll be working on the pad to place the new tank on and going to a St. Patrick's Day party at the Legion this evening. (If there is one) Its Pat O'bryan's birthday so maybe there will also be a birthday party there to?

I'd had a couple of bags of ready mix concrete I've had for over a year. Fortunately it was stored where the rain and snow couldn't get to it so it was still good. I used both bags to mix with the adobe dust that was left over after I dug out all the big rocks I could get out. I've got a large piece of carpet and don't have anything else to do with it so I plan to cut a couple of pieces to lay over the concrete and then set the tank on top of that.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Coyote Turd

First picture is of Blue Bonnets growing along highway 118.
The Foots are here for a few days along with Bill's son Weston and I went over to their place for supper last night. In spite of me feeling pretty lousy I had a great time visiting and darn good steak and salad. They had eaten burgers over here a couple of days ago and I showed them the stuff I'd been finding around here. Evidently it impressed Weston enough that he got out at their place and rounded a bunch of stuff up there. They are on high ground to so it looks like the indians preferred to camp on the high places.  I've sure enjoyed having the Foots here and will miss them when they are gone.

This morning when I went out to the jeep I notices what looked like a coyote turd on the hood. I didn't know coyotes were climbers or jumpers? I have heard of a Bobcat in the area though so I guess it could be from that???

Strange!



Thursday, March 14, 2013

Got Water?

Not the actual tank



Some time back the Big Bend Valley VFD put a 1550 gallon water tank up for raffle and the drawing was held at their meeting last night. I'd only bought one ticket until just before their meeting and I bought 5 more. I won it with spending a total of $25 in tickets. Next step will be getting it setup and then get gutter to set up catchment from the roof. Once that's done I won't mind a good rain every now and then.

It appears that some of the wild flower seeds got imported when they brought in the dirt to cover up the septic system. Above is one of several Blue Bonnets growing here now. The Blue Bonnet is the Texas state flower for those who don't know.

Some other type wild flowers that are also growing.

And some more.





Sunday, March 10, 2013

Clinton Noble, IV (My brother in law)

He will be missed!

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ODESSA Clinton Noble, IV, 77, of Odessa, died Thursday, March 7, 2013 in Odessa at Medical Center Hospital.
A private memorial will be held at a later date. Arrangements are by Acres West Funeral Chapel.
He was born in Longview. He served in the U.S Air Force and was a drafting engineer in the oilfield. He was Church of Christ.
SURVIVORS Wife, Elizabeth Noble of Odessa; sons: Darren Whitehead of Fort Worth; Terry Noble Dallas; daughters, Mari Ann Condron of Houston; Elizabeth Morris of Grand Prairie; Mona Tharp of Colorado Springs, Colo., Allie Parvel of Katy; Angela Noble and Madaleine Alexander both of Odessa; Pam Brown of Arkansas; 16 grandchildren and 23 great- grandchildren.
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(Obituary from The Odessa American)

Thursday, March 7, 2013

LOST!

This morning's finds. Found a couple of very old winchester saddle rifle rounds. One was broken off. Also found some type of metal button and I don't have a clue what it was from. (Perhaps some type of uniform?) I found a few other odds and ends but still no arrowheads or spear points.  I am at least finding other interesting stuff.

The cartridges? I guess there's about 4 possibilities.
(1) a cowboy trying to shoot  lunch.
(2) one of Pancho Villa's gang shooting
(3) one of the  calvary shooting
(4) an Indian that just happened to have a Winchester saddle gun shooting.

Or I guess that could be broken down even more. (One of the above shooting at another of the above.)

Above is a massive chunk of flint I found under an Ironwood bush.

I was going to bring that back here to, but I laid it down to go investigate something else I saw in the distance. From there I forgot about it and couldn't find it again after that. :(


 Another large chunk of flint I just left where it was.

My trusty snake stick.

I'd figure this dates back to the Indians and what it was far I don't have a clue?

Out of place rock.

Above two pictures are of the button I found.


Button cactus in this picture. They are hard to see!

Very old Yucca stump

UPDATE

Turns out that what I thought was a button is volcanic.








Wednesday, March 6, 2013

And More Finds.

This is a new group of napped flint, but still the only tools is the scrapers the women used to skin game with. (No arrowheads or spear points so far.) We found a napping site and it appears someone was working on something large like a spear point at that one site. We did this search in the morning and walking toward the sun to help spot the stuff. Also started finding some fossils. Supposedly you search walking east when the sun is in the east and west when its in the west. I plan to keep scouring this place as weather and sunshine permits.