Crawfish, Floods & Frenchmen
Did you hear the one about the boiled crawfish, the flood and the three Frenchmen. I'm not sure there are too many sentences that any of us can say; 'that's the first time I ever heard that.' But for me, this is a first.
I haven't written a blog since November. I guess it's because nothing's really 'wow'd' me. Or maybe, it's because business is good and time's short. Then again, maybe it's because I forgot my password til' this morning. Whatever the reason--I'm coming off a very unusual 24 hours.
It all started around 2pm yesterday when my youngest son, Joe, and I began our last full Saturday of his summer visit @ the ranch.
We swam, goofed off, did the normal silly saturday stuff. Then as luck would have it, a friend of mine who owns an eatery in Union was holding his First Annual Crawfish Fest. So here's where the unusualness of this day begins.
First of all, to get crawfish in west Texas is like getting $3.50 gas these days. It's just not gonna happen unless it's something special or you've won a prize. So, we weren't gonna pass up the chance.
Long story short, the mud-bugs were great. Joe almost ate his weight. All in all, not so weird of a start to the day, but the unusualness is growing, festering you might say.
From crawfish, we planned the rest of our day like this; Go to grocery store, get a big dinner, cookout back at the ranch, shoot, swim. Then, I made the fateful wish.
I did it last year and should have learned my lesson, but I didn't. I said, "Joe, I wish we could have a lil' rain so we could sit inside, watch movies, eat a ton and just relax." The morale is, be careful what you wish for.
No sooner did I make my wish than clouds, big black, thick clouds began to build in the west. Then almost immediately, the rain came and came and came. Then, Zzzzt. The power went out.
Okay at this point, you have choices at the ranch. Wait. Wait. Wait. Or, go up on a hill call the electric company and wait. I chose to call and wait and that's when the most unusual part of the day began.
As I'm getting off the phone, I see a bluish SUV pulling down the ranch drive. I don't think much about it because I'm actually expecting a few friends out to visit. As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise."
It turns out, the SUV carried three Frenchmen, guys from France: the country. They're artists traveling the USA trying to sell their work. They'd heard about Windmill online and thought it'd make a nice place to stop on their way to Santa Fe.
I mean, what do you do when the electricity's out and there are three Frenchmen standing in the pouring rain in your parking lot? What could I do? Joe & I said, c'mon in!
So here it is, getting dark, no electricty, raining, lightning, windy. Who could expect a first in a lifetime experience like this? So, we ate chips, peanuts and leftover crawfish on our rainy front porch.
They were Fabian, Jean-Baptiste and Benjamin. They started in Miami. They'll wrap up their road-trip in Los Angeles @ the end of the month. One's a painter, one's a sculptor and the other's a photographer. All in all, they love the USA but miss French coffee.
I didn't get to see much of their work, except from the photographer, Benjamin, because he carried his digital camera. Turns out, he has a thing for fire hydrants. He's taking pictures of hydrants in every city he's visited because as he says, "they're all different." And you know what, he's right.
The three Frenchmen on a road trip just left the ranch bound for Santa Fe via Lubbock, Muleshoe, Clovis and beyond.
Now, the ranch is quiet. More rain looks like it's headed this way. About the only way to beat the unusualness of yesterday is if, three Germans show up, it starts to snow and we put shrimp on the barbie.
Bill Robertson
Mgr., Windmill Ranch Preserve
325.573.1200
I haven't written a blog since November. I guess it's because nothing's really 'wow'd' me. Or maybe, it's because business is good and time's short. Then again, maybe it's because I forgot my password til' this morning. Whatever the reason--I'm coming off a very unusual 24 hours.
It all started around 2pm yesterday when my youngest son, Joe, and I began our last full Saturday of his summer visit @ the ranch.
We swam, goofed off, did the normal silly saturday stuff. Then as luck would have it, a friend of mine who owns an eatery in Union was holding his First Annual Crawfish Fest. So here's where the unusualness of this day begins.
First of all, to get crawfish in west Texas is like getting $3.50 gas these days. It's just not gonna happen unless it's something special or you've won a prize. So, we weren't gonna pass up the chance.
Long story short, the mud-bugs were great. Joe almost ate his weight. All in all, not so weird of a start to the day, but the unusualness is growing, festering you might say.
From crawfish, we planned the rest of our day like this; Go to grocery store, get a big dinner, cookout back at the ranch, shoot, swim. Then, I made the fateful wish.
I did it last year and should have learned my lesson, but I didn't. I said, "Joe, I wish we could have a lil' rain so we could sit inside, watch movies, eat a ton and just relax." The morale is, be careful what you wish for.
No sooner did I make my wish than clouds, big black, thick clouds began to build in the west. Then almost immediately, the rain came and came and came. Then, Zzzzt. The power went out.
Okay at this point, you have choices at the ranch. Wait. Wait. Wait. Or, go up on a hill call the electric company and wait. I chose to call and wait and that's when the most unusual part of the day began.
As I'm getting off the phone, I see a bluish SUV pulling down the ranch drive. I don't think much about it because I'm actually expecting a few friends out to visit. As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise."
It turns out, the SUV carried three Frenchmen, guys from France: the country. They're artists traveling the USA trying to sell their work. They'd heard about Windmill online and thought it'd make a nice place to stop on their way to Santa Fe.
I mean, what do you do when the electricity's out and there are three Frenchmen standing in the pouring rain in your parking lot? What could I do? Joe & I said, c'mon in!
So here it is, getting dark, no electricty, raining, lightning, windy. Who could expect a first in a lifetime experience like this? So, we ate chips, peanuts and leftover crawfish on our rainy front porch.
They were Fabian, Jean-Baptiste and Benjamin. They started in Miami. They'll wrap up their road-trip in Los Angeles @ the end of the month. One's a painter, one's a sculptor and the other's a photographer. All in all, they love the USA but miss French coffee.
I didn't get to see much of their work, except from the photographer, Benjamin, because he carried his digital camera. Turns out, he has a thing for fire hydrants. He's taking pictures of hydrants in every city he's visited because as he says, "they're all different." And you know what, he's right.
The three Frenchmen on a road trip just left the ranch bound for Santa Fe via Lubbock, Muleshoe, Clovis and beyond.
Now, the ranch is quiet. More rain looks like it's headed this way. About the only way to beat the unusualness of yesterday is if, three Germans show up, it starts to snow and we put shrimp on the barbie.
Bill Robertson
Mgr., Windmill Ranch Preserve
325.573.1200
posted by Windmill Ranch @ 6:53 AM
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