Of Stagecoaches and Covered Wagons

 The juxtaposition of the rubber tires and the wooden wheels caught my eye.

Inside the big old barn

Milton and Chris have a huge barn where they renovate things like stage coaches, hearses, and carriages.  More photos of those to come.  But also they've got tucked in every nook and cranny tons of antiques.

 Granite wear

Coffee Grinder

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Where the deer and the antelope play

Cazadores!

Not sure I would have chosen this Mexican Restaurant and Cantina to dine at but there we were.  The food was delicious - nothing like Tex-Mex.  It's somehow different deep in the heart.

Cousins and Clingons

Cowgirl Boots

I have to admit I had boot envy.  My $50 Payless cowgirl boots paled in comparison to these fine boots.  There were about four long rows of boots for women.

Here's a pair for the Christian cowgirl.  The name of the boot is Ooh My God II and if you enlarge the photo you'll see it's $489.99. Now that's some boot.  I think it would compliment my robe quite nicely.

The ultimate.  Here's Chris in shock and awe because she found a pair of boots for three grand, YUP little paw'dner that's $3000.00.  We didn't buy them.

South Texas Tack

By this time I don't know where the heck I am in Texas but I'm sure glad we stopped at South Texas Tack.  This place was huge with lots of stuff a cowgirl could possibly use.

 Oooooo - LOVE the blinged up belts.

I got my first lesson on how to tell a good cowboy hat from another.  It's all in the felt gauge on the front brim.

Blue Bell Creamery

Well I'm back after that harrowing experience in the field full of burrs.  To soothe our souls we stopped next at Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham, Texas.

The Brenham Creamery Company opened in 1907 in Brenham, TX.  In 1930 they changed their name to Blue Bell Creameries. Sure was good on that HOT Texas day.

Milton on the left and cousin Buddy on the right.

Capital Campaign Underway and the Value of Cowboy Boots

Read below the story of an itinerant preacher and wannabe cowgirl and her boots.

So a funny story about getting these photos.  Milton was so tolerant of me yelling out, 'Wait, stop, I want to get a picture', and when we were driving away from the luxurious Kenney, Texas on a dusty road I saw this church.  Being an itinerant preacher who loves churches and with an eye for photography I yelled out once again, "Wait, stop, I want to get a picture".  So Milton pulls over, in fact he pulls right into someones driveway that posted a LARGE sign, "No Trespassing".

Of course, my mind quickly went to, 'OMG!  I'm going to be shot dead here in my tracks here in Texas for trespassing all because I wanted to take a photo so I said, 'Are you sure Milton? Sure?  Really?'  Well he assured me, go ahead, we'll wait.  So I grabbed my camera and got out.

Now it was hot on the range that day.  Very hot.  And this Connecticut Yankee itinerant preacher chose style over practicality.  Bad move.  I had on skinny pants with my fake snakeskin flats with knee highs.  I walked out from the truck and into the grasses.  I got closer, and stood still to make the adjustments for the light.  It was then that I felt my ankles being pricked.  I looked down but didn't see anything and decided to move closer, that maybe the 'no see um's' wouldn't follow me.

But no.  Another prick and then another and then there were so many that my ankles were stinging so I ran out of the field onto the road that I wasn't supposed to be on in the first place.  When I looked down my feet and ankles were covered with burrs.  I couldn't move.  I tried to take a step but it was excruciatingly painful.  So I motioned Milton to drive the truck further down the road to me.  Hell, at that point I didn't care if we all were shot dead in the middle of Texas because we were trespassing.

And so he did.  He just smiled and said nothing.  My cousins were yucking it up in the cab of the truck.  I grabbed onto the truck and had to lift up my pant legs to take off my knee highs, it was the only way to de-burr my ankles.  And did I say it was painful?  I got back into the truck and said, 'Now I know the value of cowboy boots' and again, he just smiled.

My $50 Payless cowboy boots were at the ranch and not on my feet, what was this wannabe cowgirl thinking?  And now I know the value of cowboy boots, I will never leave the ranch without them!

Just a few more of Kenney

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

Inside a Texas Saloon

Well we got a little thirsty in Kenney, Texas so we decided to stop at this lounge  saloon for a cold Lone Star.  Notice the tractor seat bar stools.  Clever!

Chris and Dee paying up.

Kenney Texas

Kenney is an unincorporated community in northern Austin County, Texas, United States. It lies along State Highway 36 north of the city of Bellville, the county seat of Austin County.  Its elevation is 390 feet (119 m).  Although Kenney is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 77452.

History

The area around Kenney was first settled in the 1820s, but the community itself was not started until 1880, when a station on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway and a post office were established. The community was originally named Thompson for its first postmaster. After four years under that name, the community was renamed Kenneyville in 1884 in honor of evangelist John Wesley Kenney; the name was shortened to Kenney in 1892.

Bellville, Texas

From the City of Bellville's website, "Bellville is a city in and the county seat of Austin County, Texas, in the southeastern part of the state. The population was 3,794 at the 2000 census. Bellville was named for Thomas B. Bell, one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred, after he donated land for the new county seat established by voters in 1846. The original county seat was located in San Felipe. Bellville is located at the intersection of State Highway 36 and State Highway 159 as well as FM 529, FM 1456, and FM 2429."

There was a great Art Gallery there, the Holland St. Gallery, but not all the pawdner's were on board.

Ride 'um Cowboy on the Ranch

I found this metal silhouette of a cowboy riding his horse getting ready to lasso something very interesting!  You never know what you will find in a barn on a Texas Ranch.

This entry is for ABC Wednesday where the featured letter this week is the letter R.  Click HERE to see more R's.

Branding Irons

Gives a whole new outlook on 'branding'!

The Beckendorff cattle are still branded because it's permanent but they also have tags in their ears that have phone numbers just in case one gets loose…which they do from time to time if one of the fences is comprimised.

House Cat!

Barn Cat!

Covered Wagon

One of the fun things about the ranch is that there is plenty of antique ranch and western equipment sitting around. No longer covered and exposed to the heat and the rain, this covered wagon sits out reminding us of bygone days and how the west was won!

An almost Halloween Hayride

We took a drive on the ranch to see where we were going to have a hayride and campfire on Halloween.  It was going to be under this tree and an oasis of trees.  Beautiful, eh?  Well the night of the hayride the skies opened up and prevented us from trekking out here.  So we roasted weenies in the cantina near the ranch house.

Karen and Chris trying to invoke the spirits for a nice weather forecast.

A bonfire under these trees would have been creepy, right? 

Our hosts, Chris and Milton Beckendorff.
Later on in the evening the skies cleared and we were able to see thousands of stars.  Gail and I even saw a shooting star as we were listening to Milton tell us ghost ranch stories.
It was the most perfect Halloween.

Friday at the Feeder will return in a few weeks.